Colorado Trip

We spent two glorious weeks in Colorado in June while Allen held down the fort here at home and attended to his many Young Men's responsibilities this summer. My sister was also able to meet me there for 10 days and we got to relax and play and enjoy being together. It was a really relaxing trip and we didn't do a ton of BIG activities but we managed to squeeze in something fun every day and lounged at the pool every afternoon. I also read a couple books, did some shopping and caught up with a few of my favorite CO friends. It was really nice to get out of the desert heat and enjoy my parents amazing lush, green, beautiful yard. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Emery meeting her aunt and cousins for the first time:LOTS of swimming at the pool:{including the kids performing various stunts and making the moms rate them}Visits with "old" friends:{My kids with Melissa's kids, eating the YUMMIEST homemade fudgesicles ever}{My kids with Kayla's kids performing one of 3 plays they made up for us}{My close childhood friend Jenny and our 7 kiddos. We used to play on this trampoline together and our kids did the same - it was actually pretty surreal!}

A day spent at Belleview Park -

Playing with Grandpa's "friend" that was found in the backyard:Playing night games including egg tosses and a pinata:A day at the American Girl Store:A trip to our favorite candy store in downtown Littleton:A trip to Pirates Cove Waterpark:

The kids played endlessly in my parents fab backyard, we went to the movies a couple times and had a ball being together! It was a great time in CO that went way too fast, as usual.

{For more details on most of these activities, check out my 365 blog ----------> over there}

Welcome Summer!

Ok, not really. It feels anything but summery here today and the weather this week is supposed to get even more cold, rainy and windy (such a weird spring weather-wise). Anyway, I always feel like there is a weird decorating lull between Easter and the 4th of July and decided to do something about it this year! It's a bit early to have summer decor up but I know the next couple weeks are CRAZY with end of year activities and then the kids will be home so I decided to get it done while I can.

To me nothing says summer like bright and citrusy colors. I've been crafting like crazy this week. On my front door:



{The wreath is straight on my door, I promise. Somehow I didn't manage to get my camera straight though}


Summer banner:

Apothecary jars:

{I glittered the turquoise and orange balls and they didn't quite go according to plan but it is DONE enough for me. The small jar has gummy sour watermelon candy!}

We have a busy summer this year. On the schedule is piano lesson and swimteam for both C&M, Swim lessons for Addie, Dance camp for the girls, Star wars camp for Carter, 10 day trip to Denver, 1 week trip to Florida for the Frost family reunion and hopefully lots of relaxing, days by the pool and good times. I have some fun ideas up my sleeve for this summer so stay tuned!

Isotopes Game

This summer my big kids participated in a summer reading program that is done by a local restaurant and the minor league baseball team in ABQ. They were so excited when they earned their tickets to an Isotopes baseball game. Because of pregnancy and vacationing we ended up going to one of the last games of the season last weekend.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous - slightly cool and breezy and we even got rained on a tiny bit at one point. We all had a great time but the kids especially loved being in the park. The kids split a bag of cotton candy and Al and I shared some kettle corn. There was also a fun park/play area for the kids that they had fun in. I think Carter's favorite activity was playing baseball with a bunch of other little boys on the grass near us.

{Don't ask, she would only let me take pics of her eating her cotton candy}

We will definitely try to hit a couple of games next summer and will participate in the reading program again. It was a great end of summer activity for us!

The Truth about our Summer

Yay! We are home from our epic 17 day vacation. We had a grand time but I do not recommend coming home the day before school starts. It's been a bumpy start to the school year. I have been busy with laundry, getting groceries, unpacking and making sure my kiddos get adjusted to our new schedule. I have A LOT to blog about though and I'm going to go in chronological order.

At the beginning of the summer I was so jazzed about having a fun and productive summer with my kiddos. We were planned and scheduled and things went smoothly for the first couple of weeks. But then.... we got this:

And everything besides SURVIVING this summer went right out the window!! Surprised? Yeah, I'm still feeling a little shell shocked about the whole thing, even though this is a planned pregnancy. I spent the majority of July feeling like I wanted to die and my poor kids took the brunt of it. I tried hard to keep some semblance of normalcy around here but I'm pretty sure I failed miserably! Luckily, my "morning sickness" usually hit around 3 p.m. so I was able to keep it together until then and Allen was able to take over when he got home. In short, we ate out way too much, my kids watched way too much TV and my house was messy for the better part of a month! Allen also got a BIG promotion at work this summer so he has been working an insane number of hours adjusting to his new job making that first trimester rough on everyone.

The good news is that at 15 weeks most of the MS seems to have passed, though I still have my moments most days. This pregnancy feels pretty similar to my pregnancy with Carter - extreme nausea unless I am eating, plus being starving most of the time. It's been a weird combination - nausea + hunger. I've managed to pack on a few (haha) pounds already. It seems that no matter how hard I try or how much I swear "this time will be different" I still gain lots of weight. You'd think by my 4th pregnancy I would just accept that's how my body does things.

Most people know I was pretty adamantly against having a 4th baby so I will just address it right now. Allen felt very strongly that there was another baby out there for us. I felt pretty content with 3. I was so sure that we were done that I worked my tail off last fall and lost the rest of my baby weight and felt awesome. But his nagging feeling wouldn't go away. I prayed and prayed and prayed about it a lot and didn't ever really feel a definitive answer either way. So without going into a lot of details I will just say that I could have sat on the fence for the rest of my life and am pretty much going on faith with this one. I am HAPPY that the decision is made and that I'll never, ever have to think about it again.

To say that the kids are thrilled to pieces would be an enormous understatement. We told them pretty early on because I just felt so lousy and I felt like they needed to understand why. Carter and Makenna have been praying for another baby for a long time and just couldn't understand why their prayers were not being answered. The first thing out of Makenna's mouth when we told them was, "oh mom, Heavenly Father FINALLY answered our prayers." It was the cutest thing ever. She is forever kissing my tummy and they have been great helpers. Addie has no clue what is going on even though we talk about the baby all the time. Carter is 100% convinced that he is getting a brother this time around and prays about it every single day. I guess we will know in a few weeks!

Anyway, that is the truth about how our summer really went around here. I try not to think too much about having a nursing newborn next summer too but I'm sure this baby will be a huge

blessing to our family. I did already post my pregnancy news of Facebook so most of my friends already know our news but I wanted a record of this pregnancy too!

Zoo Music

Gosh, it has been forever since I posted anything on the old blog. We're just busy enjoying summertime - lots of swimming, playdates, popsicles, bike rides, afternoon reading, and trips to the park. I should take more pictures of our day -to-day activities but I never seem to remember my camera.

Last Friday we picked up dinner at one of our favorite local spots and headed over to the zoo for their Friday evening live concert. The zoo here has different local groups come in every Friday night during the summer to perform. We had a really fun time. We got set up in a shady spot on the lawn and enjoyed our dinner. We still had a little while until the concert started so we spent some time looking at our favorite animals (the adorable baby elephant, giraffe's and sea lions) and then settled on the lawn to watch the concert.

(ignore Al's full mouth in this picture!)

The group we saw was a Celtic group that were billed as Celtic rock. It ended up being VERY mellow Celtic music. Allen and I really enjoyed it but the kids were a bit restless. They ended up playing with the kids that were sitting next to us for most of the night. We'd really like to go again for a date night and hope we can squeeze it in before the summer is over. We will definitely be making this a family tradition every summer.

We only have a couple more weeks of our summer break so my posting will probably be minimal as we try to squeeze in as much fun as possible. And I hope to have my 365 blog updated in the next couple of days. I'm taking my pictures but am slow getting them off my camera!

Summer Break, Week 1

Last Tuesday was our first official day of summer break. And let me tell you, after Tuesday I feared for my summer sanity. Luckily, we have gotten into a great routine since then and so far things are pretty smooth sailing.

Tuesday the kids got up and completed their daily checklist. I've found that my kids do REALLY well with structure and clear expectations. I decided to keep things very simple and created summer clipboards for them. The expectations for the day are laid out for them and there has been minimal whining and complaining about chores and school work. I am being really flexible with things so we honestly don't get to everything on the list every day and I'm totally fine with that.

A closeup (the extra chores change every day and I write them in each morning - this week they cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, dusted, washed windows in the car, pulled weeds, etc.)

The play list is what they can expect when we don't have other plans for the day. Tuesday is the reading program at the library so we factored that in and Wednesday's are free movie day at the local theater. I don't expect we'll do them every week but they're on the schedule if we have nothing else going on.

After their checklists were done, we went to the store to restock our craft supplies, made a craft, had a picnic at the park, rode bikes/scooters, made cookies, watched a movie and had Popsicles. Even with all that the kids still said they were bored which made me really nervous for the rest of the summer.

Wednesday was the first day of swim team for Carter and Makenna. They both really enjoyed it and it will be my sanity saver this summer. Swim team is every weekday morning from 9-10 a.m., with meets on Saturdays. It is a time commitment but I love having somewhere to be every morning and love that the kids are getting exercise and having fun at the same time.

After swim team we met up with some friends to spend some time at the local children's museum. I love having passes to the museum and the zoo because I can go for a couple of hours and not feel like I have to stay forever to get my money's worth.

After swim team on Thursday, I took the kids to see

it's a weird story made even weirder in the Tim Burton adaptation but my kids liked it a lot and thought having a lunch of popcorn, soda and candy was the best. They rounded out the day with a couple hours playing in the sprinklers.

Friday afternoon we checked into a local Radisson hotel that just opened a big indoor water park. The kids were SO excited and it definitely didn't disappoint. We were able to check in and start playing at 2 p.m. and Allen joined us around 4:00. The park includes two big water slides, a lazy river, a huge kids play area, a water basketball court, a water obstacle course, a huge indoor/outdoor hot tub and an indoor Flowrider ride (a wakeboarding/surfing practice course). It was awesome and we had so much fun.

Allen & Carter on the Flowrider:

Carter was actually pretty good by the time we left and he loved it. Al was a total daredevil doing flips and tricks on his board.

Obstacle Course:

Hot tub (where Addie would have stayed the entire time if we had let her):

We randomly ended up running into some friends in our ward who were there the same night so our girls got to play together. (And seriously, 1 week into summer would you look at that tan line on her shoulder?! She's well on her way to being my little indian girl already!)

After for playing for several hours we went out to dinner and then came back to the hotel for a quick dip in the hot tub before hitting the sack.

The next morning we went out to breakfast and then were back at the waterpark by 9:00 a.m. We played all morning until the park closed at 1:00 p.m. I tried to get a picture of all three kids right as we were leaving and this is what I ended up with. We were clearly ready to head home and get everyone down for naps!

We had a great time and can't wait to go back sometime this year.

It was a GREAT first week of summer and I'm really looking forward to the rest of summer. My kids are at such fun ages right now and are pretty self sufficient and fun to be with!

Staying Cool

Now that our pool has closed, desperate times call for desperate measures. After school yesterday we stopped to get an Icee (who knew I would have to have a DRINK budget when living in the desert) and then we ran to Home Depot to buy a sprinkler. I decided to let the kids jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler going under it. It was one of my favorite summer time activities as a kid and I was interested to see if my kids enjoyed it. It's good to know that some things don't change, even after 25 years. The kids LOVED it. They played on the trampoline for at least an hour without so much as a fight or word of complaint. Other moms know that this is a feat in and of itself.
Sliding around on the slippery trampoline:Best friends. I love these next two pictures and I especially love that they are such good friends! Luckily, our friends are taking pity on us and we have a couple of swim dates planned for the rest of the week!