4th of July

When it comes to holidays, two things stand out for me as far as making them special - family and food. Most of the day we spent together as just our little family of four, and overall we had a great holiday.

We started off the day with a festive breakfast - pancakes with fat free vanilla yogurt topped with blueberries and strawberries. Yum!

That afternoon, I had to make dessert to take to the family BBQ we were going to later. Being the cake lover that I am, I opted to go with a beautiful and delicious bundt cake and then made some homemade ice cream to go with it. Sadly, I didn't take a picture once we cut into it, but it was red, white, and blue on the inside as well.

While I was busy slaving away inside, Nate took the girls outside to enjoy the new pool we got. They love the water, and had a blast.

That evening we headed over to my Aunt Jennine's for a BBQ with several members of my extended family. We had a great time visiting, eating, and ended the evening with fireworks.

Dad & Bev's Wedding Weekend

What a busy weekend! It was great to spend time with my family, especially since we're very rarely all together. And for this special occasion, everyone was there with the exception of Stuart, Sophie, Hugh, and Pete. As usual, I was terrible about taking pictures, so I had to borrow a couple of others'.

On Friday afternoon, we met up at Boondocks for a few hours. Nate and Felicity were home working and napping, but Bridget and I had a great time with everyone else.

A shot of those of us who did the bumper boats looking quite wet. (Thanks for the picture, Jessica!)

Friday evening we went to Joan and Ron's house for dinner with my family and several members of my extended family. We had pizza, birthday cake to celebrate Enoch's birthday, and enjoyed visiting while the kids played.

Felicity loves jumping on trampolines and loves any opportunity she gets. She and Colin had a great time together, but we never did get a picture of the two of them looking at the camera at the same time. I guess they were having too much fun to pose for a picture. 

Saturday was the big event, and we had to be to the temple earlier than the rest of my family because Nate was a witness. The girls and I walked around the temple and enjoyed watching the many brides and grooms as they came out and took pictures.

These girls never get tired of making funny faces for the camera.

How do you get Felicity to hold still long enough for a decent picture? Place her on a high wall so she has no choice.

And here's a picture of the newlyweds (I borrowed this one from Bev's Facebook). 

I have to admit I had a few mixed feelings about the whole day. I'm glad to see the two of them happy and for my dad to not be alone anymore. But at the same time, it was hard to not think about my mom a lot that day-especially since she and Bev were college roommates. It's just kind of weird. I doubt I'll ever feel like she's a "stepmother" to me since I'm married with my own family, but I'm glad she'll be there to give my dad companionship during whatever time he has left. It was also hard seeing how sick he's gotten the past couple of months and how hard it was for him to make it through such a long day. He didn't seem all that attentive during the ceremony, but I'm not sure if that's because he couldn't hear very well or if he was really tired or a combination of both.

After a few pictures outside the temple, we had some time to kill before the dinner at the Lion House, so we just continued to hang around and visit with family. Nate took the girls and Elaine to see a bit more of the buildings and grounds around there, but none of the pictures really turned out.

Dinner was delicious, and it was great to have more time to visit with family as well has get to know a little bit more about Bev's children and family. I doubt we'll ever have much interaction with them again, but it helped to get to know her just a little bit better.

Afterwards, we said our goodbyes to everyone since most of my family left to head home the next day. Jessica and Isla stuck around for a couple more days, and we were able to see them briefly at Megan's the morning they left.

Felicity loves babies and was excited to have the opportunity to hold Isla. She did a pretty good job, and  it made me excited for her to be a big sister in another 4 months. I think she's going to be quite the little helper.

Bridget also enjoyed her turn with Isla although her interest waned faster than Felicity's.

We had a great weekend and just wish we'd been able to spend more time with everyone or that they could have stayed a little longer.

Father's Day

Our Father's Day celebration this year was simple but nice. Amidst all the church meetings we were able to enjoy a nice breakfast and lunch/dinner together as a family. And since special occasions give me the opportunity to try yet another new cake recipe, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I did give the option of pie since he's more of a pie than cake person, but he also loves the pineapple and coconut combination so I went with cake. It ended up being a good choice, and we all enjoyed it for several days.

Pina Colada Cake

A moist and delicious coconut cake with pineapple filling and a coconut cream cheese frosting

Nate didn't get to open up an actual gift this year because he took forever making up his mind about what he wanted. I presented him with 3 very good options, but he didn't actually decide until Father's Day. Two-and-a-half weeks later, it arrived - a video baby monitor that we can view either on the computer or our phones. He's been in technology heaven ever since with his new gadget, and we both enjoy taking peeks at Felicity in her bed.

At this point, it would seem appropriate to have a picture of Nate with the girls, but since remembering to take pictures is not one of my strong points this post will have to do without one.

Nate is a wonderful father, and I'm so grateful for all of the help he constantly gives me with the girls. Happy Father's Day!

7th Anniversary

This year we decided to celebrate our anniversary without our children by going on a real date - and not just any date. We left them overnight! This was a first for us, and especially me. Since Bridget was born 5.5 years ago, I've never been away from my kids at night. Nate's been away on a couple of business trips before, but for me it was a new experience. Even when Felicity was born, I had her brought into my hospital room to eat during the one night I was there. 

Needless to say, it was nice to have a little time away from our kids. Nate's parents came down for a couple of days and watched them for us which was great. Our girls love all the time they can get with Grandma and Grandpa. Friday night we headed to Salt Lake and went to dinner at The Garden Restaurant. The food was really good, and since the weather was perfect, we walked through the City Creek Center afterward. We also got some dessert at Kneaders and took it back to our hotel. We decided to splurge and stay the the Grand America, which was fun too.

Saturday morning we enjoyed the breakfast buffet at the hotel before heading back to pick our girls up so Nate's parents could do the errands and things they needed to that day. It would have been nice to have a little more time away, but it was also nice to be home with the girls again. It's amazing how much I always miss them even when I'm only away from them for a few hours.

The view of downtown SLC from our hotel room balcony.

Sunday was our actual anniversary, so I decided it was the perfect opportunity to try one of the many cake recipes I've been wanting to try. This one is called Pumpkin Dream Cake and is a pumpkin cake with cinnamon maple cream cheese frosting. It was very moist, a little more dense then I prefer, but delicious.

Overall, we had a wonderful weekend. Happy 7th Anniversary to us!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was a busy day for us this year, but we really enjoyed the time we got to spend together as our little family of four.

We started off the day with yard work and running errands including a trip to the cemetery to put flowers on my mom's grave as well as my grandparents'. Then I made some cupcakes to celebrate Bridget's half birthday which also happened to be today. The half a year is really important when your only 5 (or should I say 5 and a half). She's a chocolate lover like me, so we did chocolate cupcakes and made cookie dough frosting. So good!

After Felicity woke up from her nap, we packed a picnic for dinner and headed to the Dinosaur Park. We'd only been there briefly in November on a field trip with Bridget's school. It was snowing pretty hard that day, so we didn't get to see much of the outdoor stuff. The girls had a great time, and we (mostly Nate) took a lot of photos. It really was the perfect time to go because the weather was perfect, and there was hardly anyone there since most people were busy with more typical Memorial Day activities like barbecues. Here's a few of the many pictures we took.

Bridget's Preschool Graduation

I can't believe how fast another year has gone by and that Bridget is now officially done with preschool and registered for kindergarten. Yesterday was her last day of school which was actually just a field trip to a bounce house place called Kangaroo Zoo. She had a great time playing with her friends one more time, and it wore them all out.

Later that night, she had her program and graduation. They sang a few songs and then her teacher read a little bit about each of the kids that were graduating before giving them their portfolio/yearbook.

A few of the kids with Bridget right in the middle because she's the tallest (big surprise).

Kaleb, the boy standing next to Bridget, is one of her best friends. They played together a lot this year. He even kissed her a couple of times, and they told each other they would get married someday. Good thing we don't have to worry about that for a long, LONG time.

Here's a video of one of their songs:

And here's a short video about Bridget:

 

We've really loved Bridget's teacher and the kids in her class. It's sad to think about her moving on since none of those kids live in our neighborhood and won't be attending the same elementary school as her. 

Congratulations Bridget!

Ogden Half Marathon and Kids K

Today Nate ran his 5th half marathon and Bridget ran her 2nd Kids K. We've enjoyed some beautiful spring weather this month, but they didn't get so lucky today. The temperature was around 50 which was fine, but it poured rain all morning.  When Nate left our house at 4:30 am, I could hear how hard it was pouring and truly thought he was crazy for wanting to run 13.1 miles in that weather. Thankfully, he was fine with me not dragging the kids out of bed to stand in the cold and rain to watch him finish, so the only pictures we have from his race are the ones he took with his phone before it got too wet and shut down.

With the poor weather and his less vigilant training the past couple of months, he wasn't expecting to do very well. He finished in 2:02:27 which he was satisfied with.

Here's a shot of the start line. Everyone was soaked before the race even started.

We were extremely fortunate in that the rain let up for about an hour just in time for Bridget to run her race. She was pretty excited about it and would have done it even in the rain. Felicity and I were just happy we didn't have to get cold and wet watching it.

I snapped this shot of the two of them just a few feet from the finish line.

And here she is finishing!

All of the kids received cow bells as their "medal" for finishing.

Soon to Be a Family of Five

15 Weeks - It's definitely a boy!

It's true. As of October, our family will be expanding and including a little more testosterone. It's still sinking in for me since I feel pretty clueless when it comes to boys, but we are excited.

At first, Bridget wanted a baby sister, but the morning of my ultrasound she informed me that she changed her mind and wanted a brother. Felicity doesn't completely understand what's going on, but when I asked her that morning if she wanted a baby brother or baby sister she kept saying over and over, "baby brudder." When I ask her where baby brother is, she says, "Me." and then pats her belly. I then ask her if baby brother is in her belly and she says yes. It should be interesting to see how she reacts as my belly grows and when she'll be able to feel his movements. She absolutely loves babies though, so I anticipate her trying to be a very good helper and big sister.

We're still working on a name for him. We have a few ideas, but nothing decided yet. Boy names are hard. Good thing we have a few months to figure it out.

So far I've been feeling much like I did when I was pregnant with Felicity. My morning sickness has gone in waves and is much worse in the evenings just like it was with her. The only difference is that it's lasted past 13 weeks this time. I really can't complain though since I don't throw up at all, and it's more of a comfort to me that everything is going well with this pregnancy. The other difference is that I've been much more tired. I don't know if it's the pregnancy or just the fact that I have 2 other kids to take care of all the time - or maybe a combination of both.

Trip to St. George

This past weekend we made a very quick trip to St. George to attend the baby blessing of our newest niece, Sophie. Somehow this was the first trip we'd made to St.George since Nate's sister blessed her last baby 2.5 years ago. We arrived Friday evening and spent a little time with Nate's family before we had to head over to Nate's Grandma's house to get our kids to bed.

On Saturday, we were a little slow to get going that morning due to a rough night with our kids, so it was late morning by the time we were ready to leave the house.

A view a St. George with the temple to the left. Bridget thought all the red dirt was pretty cool.

We didn't have time to do much, so we took the girls to the temple grounds including the Visitor's Center.

They enjoyed climbing the steps, although Felicity was a little confused about how to get in the doors at the top.

After the temple, we got some lunch and then headed back to the house so Felicity could take a much needed nap. This girl loves to sleep and normally sleeps for 11-12 hours at night and then takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. The problem is she doesn't sleep well anywhere except her crib. On the way down she took about a 30 minute nap in the car. Friday night, she didn't fall asleep until 11:00 at night and then was up by 7:30 Saturday morning. It took about 30 minutes to settle her down for an afternoon nap, and then she only napped for an hour or so. Saturday night, she didn't settle down until almost 10:00 and was up by 7:30 again the next morning. Luckily she did nap for about 1.5 hours in the car on the way home Sunday. Needless to say, she was quite the sleep-deprived child by the time we got home on Sunday, but she settled right back into her normal sleeping habits as soon as we were home. And this is why we rarely go on vacations. Her poor sleeping while we're away makes for poor sleep for Nate and me too which certainly makes a vacation less enjoyable. Maybe someday she'll stop being so terrible about sleeping away from home.

Finally getting a much needed nap, even if it didn't end up being as long as she needed.

Anyway, Saturday evening we spent having dinner with Nate's family. Then Sunday, we went to church and headed home right afterward. It was great to spend some time with Nate's family, and we especially enjoyed the 80 degree weather while we were there. Hopefully it won't be so long before our next trip south.

Felicity's 2nd Birthday Celebration

With Felicity's birthday falling on the Saturday of General Conference this year, it made finding time to celebrate a little tricky. Lucky for her, the celebration ended up lasting 3 days. We wanted to do something fun and decided to the girls might like going on pony rides. Last summer, Nate helped some friends of his when they moved into a home about 10 minutes from ours. These friends happen to own a very gentle pony named Buddy and told Nate would should bring our girls over to ride him sometime. After coordinating with them and planning around the weather, we took them to ride Buddy on Thursday evening. Both of the girls loved it, and had a good time. Watching Felicity ride was probably one of the cutest things I've ever seen. She was fearless and would giggle anytime he started trotting very fast. They also had a swing set, and Felicity loves to swing so she was in heaven.

Look at that smile - that's how much she loves to swing.

With the weekend being busy with General Conference and a belated Easter dinner the day after her birthday, we opted to celebrate with presents, cake, ice cream, and family on Friday evening.

Opening presents. Some of them are a little blurry because she was so excited she hardly stopped moving. She got lots of fun things - puzzles, a book, clothes, baby and toy car seat, shopping cart, and the green wagon she and Bridget are sitting in.

Felicity loves fish, so she got a fish cupcake cake for her birthday.

She loved having everyone sing to her and blowing her candle out so much that we had to relight it and sing to her a second time so she could do it again.

And last of all, on her actual birthday we celebrated with birthday cake pancakes before spending the rest of the day watching General Conference. She loved being sung to again and blowing out more candles.

 We love you Felicity! Happy birthday!

And here's her stats from her check-up at the doctor:

Height: 35.5 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 27 lbs. (55th percentile)

Head: 18.5 inches (40th percentile)

Easter Highlights

Our Easter weekend this year was packed full of lots of activities. Saturday morning we hurried out the door to go to the Dinosaur Park to use some passes I had that were expiring the next day. The weather was perfect, but sadly we got there and there were tons of people there for a big egg hunt we didn't know about. We decided not to fight the crowds and headed home. Boo!

Next, we headed to our nephew Walker's 1st Birthday Party (sorry no pictures). We had a nice lunch and visit, but were unable to stay for all of the festivities since a certain little girl was in great need of a nap.

While Felicity was napping, Nate took Bridget to the home of a family in our ward for a non-traditional Easter egg hunt. They had a little message about the true meaning of Easter and then turned the kids loose for the hunt. The catch was they couldn't put any of the candy in their own basket. Any candy they found, they had to put in someone else's basket. Bridget had a pretty good time and came home with plenty of candy.

At the non-traditional egg hunt

After Felicity's nap we head to my aunt and uncle's house to decorate my Aunt Jennine's traditional homemade chocolate marshmallow eggs and spend time with my extended family.

Nate decorated this egg all by himself. Who knew he had such amazing skills?

Felicity loved jumping on the trampoline and playing with her second cousins while we were there.

On Sunday we headed to church, as usual. I opted not to make the girls' Easter dresses this year mostly because I found cute matching dresses at Costco for a price equal to what it would have cost for me to make them. I just couldn't pass that up.

While Felicity was napping after church, Bridget got to dye eggs. I figured Felicity wasn't quite old enough for this anyway and wouldn't care if she missed out. Bridget loves dying eggs and always wishes I had dozens and dozens for her to dye.

Usually our Easter Sunday afternoon is spent with Nate's extended family eating tons of good food and the kids hunting for eggs. We had to postpone it a week this year, but here's a few shots of the girls gathering their eggs. I wasn't sure if Felicity would participate, but she ended up loving it!

Happy Easter!

Lots of memories with family, good food, and way too much candy as usual.