Summertime Fun!

We have had a lot of fun this summer. The girls have spent a lot of time in the backyard playing in the little pool and on the slip and slide. We had a fun trip to Utah where we got to go to a really cool family reunion and spend so much time with cousins.

We had fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Bella got to have her birthday party there. She had a "water" themed party. We did slip and slide and water balloon games and she even had an ariel cake. Bella turned six and is enjoying being older. She still had a very hard time waiting until it was time to open her presents. That was really all she cared about. I guess she will need to be a few years older before she gets past that. She is such a good big sister to Gracie and cannot wait to help with the new baby coming next week. (hopefully!!!) She starts first grade next week and is excited to make new friends and meet her new teacher.

Utah was the only trip we took this summer and since then we have been enjoying a regular schedule at home and just making preparations for another baby to join the family. I figured I would make some documentation of the summer and now you can stay tuned for the new arrival. Hopefully she won't be 4 months old before I actually post about her. :)

My Wicked Weekend!

I just got to have the most fun weekend in San Francisco. Two of my sisters and myself left friday afternoon and drove to San Francisco and went to see Wicked. I have been listening to the music for a long time and it was so great to see it all come together in a live theater. It is an amazing and very clever production. My sisters had seen it once before in New York, but this was my first time and it was so great to be there with them.

We slept in as long as we could on Saturday, which was not long since we are all used to getting up for kids or work and headed out for a day of shopping in the city. We hit mostly mainstream stores but they are huge there! I have never seen such a big GAP. It was so much fun to mostly watch my sisters try stuff on and see how cute they looked. Lets face it, it is not that much fun to go clothes shoppping when you are pregnant. :) I did find a few cute things though and had a lot of fun laughing with my sisters. Mostly I was so proud of how little I spent. They both spent quite a bit and then I realized that if I didn't look like a cow in everything I put on I would have spent more too. :) I was just grateful to get to sit and rest in the dressing room and let them know if they had found something cute or not.

The best part about the whole trip was knowing that Bryan was home taking care of the girls, and he did an awesome job. He took them swimming and to the park to fly kites and out to eat and they had movie night with all kinds of treats and snacks at home. He is such a good an fun dad! Isabella acted like she was really going to miss me when I left but she sure does love spending time with her dad.:) Thanks Bryan for all you do!

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So excited!

We are so happy to be having another girl. We really like the girl groove we are in and hope this one will fit right into it. There are so many adorable little boys out there and I think you all are doing an amazing job with them. I will let everyone else keep doing that and I will try my best to help my girls grow up to be the kind of girls that your cute boys will want to marry someday. :)

Thank goodness we will get more use out of all the adorable pink ruffles we have everywhere around here!

Walt Disney World 2009

We recently returned from an awesome trip to Florida where we experienced all of the magic that Disney has to offer. We got to take an 8 day trip and it really was fun. The girls loved it and have not stopped talking about it since. Gracie loved seeing the characters and giving them hugs. She prefers not to smile for the camera but don't mistake that for her not having a good time, she loved it. Bella had a great time and was a real trooper going on most of the "scary rides." Her favorite this trip was splash mountain. We rode it three times and were lucky enough not to get wet any of those times. She liked just the little spashed she got on her face and that was as wet as we got. It was a good thing too becuase it was quite cold as far as Florida weather goes. We did get pretty chilly the last few days but it didn' t really stop us from having fun.

We had the ultimate Disney dining experience. We ate and ate and ate. We did the prepaid meal plan and it was awesome. It kept things so simple and made it feel like you weren't paying for your food since it was already paid for. :) We did eat way too much though, it turns out that being on Disney's meal plan for a whole week does terrible things to your weight gain during pregnancy, YIKES! I have been learning to adjust my caloric intake since I have been home. :)

Here are a bunch of pictures from the trip. We are a family that loves Disney so I don't know if you can take our word for it but it really is a very happy, magical place. Gracie and I could not get enough of Cinderella's Castle!

What have you done?

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it was fun! Just Bold the ones you have done and then post it on your blog!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland or Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Olde Faithful Geyser Erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (sketched not painted, in Paris and it was awful )
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (the workers were on strike when we were there and we were unable to go up)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie or on a TV show
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Had an encounter with a wild animal
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a Jury
91. Met someone famous (if general authorities are considered famous)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Taken a martial arts class

43 out of 100 isn't bad, but I bet plenty of you could beat that. :)

The Cat is out of the bag!

So this is for any of you out there who possibly have not heard, we are having baby #3 in August. I had planned on not telling for a few more weeks at least but the beans kind of got spills at an enrichment night last week. It is kind of fun though because there is quite a group of us all due about the same time. So I have to admit that I totally stole the cute little baby badge posted to the right from some other friends blogs.

It probably has worked out for the best because really who was I kidding that people wouldn't start noticing my little poochy belly. I would have been all excited to tell everyone and people would just look at me and say, ya duh!

So yeah! We are very excited and we will be looking forward to that ultrasound in a while. Bryan and I feel pretty good about just sticking with girls but Isabella is convinced that it is a boy. I guess we will see. :)

Life is Good.

There is nothing especially special happening to make me say that statement, I am just feeling it so I thought I should say it out loud before the feeling passes.:)

It was a good day at church and we love our Sunday afternoons as a family. Bryan and I were talking about our day at church and at a lull in our conversation Bella piped in and said, "lets talk about what I did in primary today." She never does that so I thought it was so cute and she shared quite a bit about what she learned about Joseph Smith in her class. It was really sweet. She has been being such a sweet big sister lately. She really does watch out for and take care of Gracie. She has been calling her Sweetie lately, it is so cute.

Gracie happily climbed the stairs all by herself to go take a nap and hollered down, "I love you Dad, I love you Bella." She was prompted to do that but it was still very sweet. Bella hollerd back, "I love everyone," and Gracie repeated, "I love you Bella."

I am feeling very grateful for my sweet girls and my sweet husband today. Bryan has been doing a lot around the house lately and really helping me while I have been feeling so tired from moving and putting together a new home. Yesterday he asked me if I would like to go take a nap and while I napped he hauled away two loads of cardboard boxes and styrofoam and such from all of the furniture and things we have purchased for the house. It was very sweet.

We still have not hung anything on the walls and there are still some boxes that have not found homes yet, but that is ok. I have a mountain of laundry to do tomorrow and the house needs to be cleaned (After two weeks I guess I need to do some regular cleaning in the bathrooms and such) and there is a major grocery run that needs to be made. Sooo I still have lots to do and no energy to do it with, but for now I am going to enjoy my Sunday afternoon and my family and enjoy the feeling of life being good - because it is.

P.S. We had a great Christmas and my sisters wedding was beautiful and we had the most fun 40th anniversary party for my parents, and right after we got back from Utah we moved into a house, but that all seemed too overwhelming to write about so I just decided to start from now instead of trying to catch up on everything. :)