Big Blue

We had a wonderful time at our big camping trip down to Blue lake this year. (Sad to say it will most likely be our only camping trip of the year.) Usually we go up at the 24th of July, but it worked out for everyone schedules to go up the weekend before. We went up with my Parents; my brother Jeremy, Jenn and their kids; my brother Josh and Anne; and my sister Julie and her 3 kids. I can't believe she brought the twins (10 months old), what a lot of work. But we all tried our best to jump in and keep them entertained as much as possible.

This year with all the rain and snow we have received, we didn't know what to expect while we were up there. This place is always muddy and usually rains at least a little everyday. Yet, this weekend the weather was perfect. No rain or storms at all. It was a nice 70 degrees and just felt perfect out. We didn't even get out and fishing much this year since the lakes were so full and there was still lots of snow. Due to the huge snow drifts that covered some of the roads, we ended up camping lower down the canyon instead of up on top like we always do. The kids loved it, it was really fun to explore new areas. They boys are still talking about how much they loved playing at Philadelphia Flats. We camped at a place we like to call Trailer City. We found a wonderful spot just hidden from the road tucked back into the trees. We had a fun little stream that the kids loved to play in and a beautiful field off to the side. There was still tons of room and fun to be had by all.

Eliza . Bella
These too girls were so fun. They are the best of friends and were always together from the moment they got up til it was time for bed.

Logan . Jaycob
They loved playing in the stream. They were hitting tons of golf balls into it and then we would all go on a hunt to dig them out.

Bella . Eliza
Grandma brought bird houses for all the kids to paint. They had a great time painting and it was fun to see the crazy things these kids came up with. The two little girls took this job very seriously. They made sure to paint every inch with pink.

Logan . Tyler

SMORES!
We had a great time making Smores! There was lots of the gram cracker goodness to go around. We had jumbo marshmallows, flat layer marshmallows and flavored marshmallows. We also enjoyed roasting Starbursts, swetish fish, Cinnamon bears, licorice, and pretty much anything that we could think of.

Jaycob

Check out the size of that mellow!

Bella . Grandpa

We did tons of riding this year. The kids wanted to be on the bikes every minute. I seemed to get out of it this year since I had an excuse. But I did snick a ride or two in Grandpa's new toy, the Razor. The boys keep asking Erek to go out o the 4 wheeler because they loved to drive it. They are getting really good at driving that thing but they aren't ready to go on their own, that's for sure.

Lisa . Bella . Erek

Jaycob . Logan . Erek

Jaycob . Erek

Bella "I'm waiting for YOU!"

Logan . Erek

Erek wanted to get out and go for a ride the non-motorized way. So he went down the canyon about 5 miles to Lake hill camp grounds. This is him on the way back when Jaycob and I went out in the Razor.

We had a wonderful time camping and were all ready for a bath by the time we got home.

Swimming Lessons

In the beginning of July, we signed up the kids for swimming lessons. They were so excited and looked forward to it for weeks. The boys were in level 3 together and Bella did he first swimming lessons in Pre-Level 1. The classes were at the Taylorsville Rec Center pool every day for 2 weeks. They loved it so much and you could really see them improving from one day to the next. The last day was the slide and diving board day! They had a blast going down the water slide and jumping from the diving board. Jaycob jumped from the high diving and Logan jumped tons from the regular one. Bella went down the slide with her teacher a couple of times and even jumped off the diving board too! She was scared but she did it. I think it scared me even more.

Boy or Girl???

Pregnancy Old wives tales, we have all heard them. I really, I mean really hear them a lot when I tell someone that we are waiting to find out the baby's gender. Everyone has a guess, I mean its not to hard, it is a 50% chance of being right. Everyone asks me what I think it is and mostly I say it is a Boy, why? Just because I always thought I would have all boys, then Isabella proved me wrong on that. We are all kind of hoping for a girl just to make it even two boys & two girls. But I guess the baby is the only one that really knows at this point and they aren't telling yet.

I recently did some very important research on the topic. I know this is so scientific and all, So I'm sure it will be right. Yet, some of these are just pretty ridiculous and could go either way. Lets see how wise these Old Wives are and if they know what I am having.

Heart Rate: If the heart rate is above 140 it's a girl. If it's below, it's a boy.

Results: Our doctor just recently told us the heart beat was about 135. Our Dr. Actually believes this one might be a true tale, if you look back over the pregnancy, it has been up and down and mostly above 140, therefore, GIRL!

Queasy Does It: Sick as a dog during the first trimester. Signs indicate you're having a girl. Little or no morning sickness points to a boy.

Results: NO morning sickness at all - BOY! Actually Jaycob was the only one that I did have morning sickness with. So I don't believe this one either way.

Ancient Chinese Secret: This ancient Chinese method uses your age at conception and the month you did the deed to determine gender.

Results: Well it says it's a GIRL! So does that mean everyone that was 31 back in November that got pregnant are having girls????

Sweet and Sour: Craving ice cream every single day? Some people believe this means it's a girl. If you have to have salty or sour stuff, then it's a boy.

Results: Ice Cream... yeah I've been craving Ice Cream for the last 30 years, it is my weakness! Early on the the pregnancy I was craving meat and salty stuff, but now I crave Chocolate and pretty much any kind of sweet stuff. So a GIRL!

Hair & Skin: If your hair grows faster than usual, it's a boy. If you're breaking out like crazy, blame it on your girl babe. The belief goes that girls steal their mother's beauty, hence, those annoying zits.

Results: Well from the beginning I was frustrated that my hair has not been growing fast with taking prenatal vitamins and all. But I really haven't had breakouts either so this one is a bust.

High or Low: If you're carrying high, it's a girl. If you're carrying low, it's a boy.

Results: I feel like I'm carrying low this time a round. I remember the pain of being kicked and shoved in the ribs and I haven't had that too much yet. But as I get closer I'm sure it will get more squished in their and I will feel the feet in my bruised ribs. Low = BOY!

Shape of the Bump: Looks like a basketball then boy; watermelon its a girl.

Results: I think I'm just big all around so many be a watermelon - GIRL!

Even and Odd: Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy.

Results: Age - 31. Year - 2010. One odd one even = BOY!

Names: They say that if you settle easier on a name for a particular gender, then that's what it will be.

Results: Well we still haven't officially decided on a name either way yet. We still have our favorite boy name from last time around and are leaning towards that name for a boy but a girl name is still up in the air we keep talking about new ones we like so we just haven't decided yet. Last time around we knew for sure if we had a girl the name would be Isabella, but I had a hard time settling on the boy name. I guess this one might actually be true. So I guess it must be a BOY!

Dad-to-be: Gaining weight in sympathy, its going to be a boy; remaining slender and athletic and really starting to annoy you with his energy and flat stomach, has to be a girl.

Results: Wait … his constant energy is always annoying, but that's why I love him. Yeah Erek has always more energy then anyone and it hasn't changed any. He still is as sexy as ever, even when he pretends to have a baby bump like me. So a GIRL!

So there you have it, it looks like it is split half and half! So I guess we still just have to wait and see.

Mountain Biking

My kids are so lucky to have such an amazing dad. They all love being with him. I always say that I wish I got the homecoming of kids running up with arms wide open and big hugs and kisses, like he does. I am jealous of that, but it is some thing special that I love to watch. He loves being with them too, recently he took the boys up for a little mountain biking ride. Erek's friend Mike come along too and took these amazing pictures of the 3 of them. This is on the trail Jacob's Ladder up Corner Canyon.

Building a Playhouse

For the last month and half we have be over whelmed with projects around our house. One of the biggest was the playhouse in the back year. The kids have been playing in the back year dirt all the time over the last few years that we have lived here. So Grandma convinced Grandpa that we needed a play ground. But of course, Grandpa doesn't build no simple playground.



The kids have had so much fun helping right along side with Grandpa. Every day the would ask and beg him if he was going to work on the playground.

We all helped paint it.

Here is the finished playground. We now have 3 swings, monkey bars, tube slide, lots of sand and a fun playhouse. Thank you so Much Grandpa! It is great to hear your kids say this is much better then video games!

Summer List

June has already flown by and we are in to the busy month of July. We have been working hard on crossing more items off our Summer of Fun list. Here a few of them.

Play in the Fountains at the Gateway....






Have our own family outdoor Drive-inn... (one of our family favorites) While we wait for it to get dark enough outside we had a little dance part show down. It is pretty fun to see the kids dance and sing around.
Go visit a Museum... We went up to Hill Air Force base to go to the Airplane Museum. This place to free and really cool to see all the airplanes up close. I guess there is a fun activity place for the kids to climb in the plane and stuff but we missed it, it closed minutes before we figured out where it was, Darn it! I guess we will have to go up there again and see the rest of the place.
We are having a wonderful Summer, we can't wait to cross off more items.