love this girl!

This girl, at this stage . . . I can't get enough!! I love this stage. Even when she wakes me up at 6 in the morning yelling "Mom" (pause, pause) "Mom!" she makes me smile.

Lately though, it's her smile that makes me smile. Here is what she does everytime I say cheese :) Whitney did the same this. I love the cheese stage. I have at least of dozen pics of her doing this.

Other things that make me laugh. She's obsessed with water bottles. She loves them and when she gets one she protects it like a hen hiding an egg under her wing.

I love her blue eyes, her dances, laughs, and her new words and conversations each day.

she enjoys her playhouse. Yesterday she set a squash on the seat and very nicely pointed a finger in the air and informed it she'd be "right back"

She loves food, slides, and her dad

She is impressive how well she manuvers this thing.

She loves to growl, scare, and play animals.

And lastly, I just had to get a pic of this. Everytime me (or her) says "pray" this is what she does. It's just too cute. Love that she covers her mouth too. It doesn't last long :)

I love this little midget!

the number 4

So, I'm proud that this time around I was somewhat lucky in hiding my sickness and puking longer. We didn't have to explain early on luckily. But now, well, I'm pretty darn pudgy. So, rather than giving a false impression that I've just given up and let myself go. I better explain.

There is something growing inside me.

I like this angle, because, as Whitney said, "It looks like a duck."

Yes, it does. I tried to explain that it was it's arm making it look like that, but, nonetheless, it does look half duck/half alien right now.

I'm just over 13 weeks. 7 week countdown of sickness left. I'm thrilled of the prospect of having four kids. But more the idea of what it will be like in 2 years from now. When this duck is walking and talking like Hailey. I remember all too well what pregnancy and the stress of sleep-deprevation and lack of freedom of a newborn brings to be extrememly excited for that. But the end game, yes, I'm thrilled about. If I'm non-existent for a couple years though, now you know why. I may be in a mental institution somewhere.

But in all honesty. When I saw this baby on the ultrasound I couldn't help but feel the amazing awe of how life works. How blessed I am to have the healthy, happy kids I do. And how blessed I am to be carrying another one. I'll try to remember this as I gain weight like a woman hoarding wendy's drive-thru food daily in her car!

Ug....School

I still get a knot in my stomach when I think of school. I have little doubt I was more nervous for Whitney than she was for herself. Ironically, I chose to be a school teacher myself! So here is my big 1st graders first day of school. I'm still trying to convince myself that waiting until 3:00 to get her isn't that bad. But honestly, that's a long day. I'm going to miss my Whitney! She lost yet another tooth on Saturday - we call her toothless now. my fashion diva. Always up for a photo shoot.

arriving at school.

so, it's just us now. Maybe a popscicle will help heal my insides.

I'm already looking forward to fall break :)

Jeff and Selly!

This last week we enjoyed a visit from Jeff and Selly. We miss them. My kids think they're awesome. Jeff worked hard, but even Hailey warmed up to him! When they arrived we grabbed cafe rio and headed to the splash park.
Hailey enjoyed that water bottle sitting next to her, she make sure everyone was nice and cool by pouring it on their legs.

warming up on the pavement.

Later that week we played with them at our Uncles cabin. It was fun to play games, hike and just enjoy having them here. We miss them so much!

Odds and Ends

This summer has been so crazy busy I was lucky to even write down the big events. So here are a few of the odds and ends I have loved.

Hailey loves water. This little "hose" and her have bonded. I love that she will play with this for an hour without a sound! She is getting so much personality lately - makes me smile and laugh every day! Loving every bit of her! Trae came to play. We got to babysit Trae even after the big move. I love watching my kids entertain him. He is a stud. Here is Travis playing upside down peek-a-boo. It was pretty entertaining. Enough so I had to put a stop to it so Trae could eat in peace.

playing with toys

Me and Whitney had a few girls nights out. First we had a school shopping night. This girl likes fashion. We found a lot of cute shirts, when I asked her to pick 3, she responded "Mom, they're all cute, we should probably just get all of them." Way to work it :)

The next night our ward had an awesome Alice in Wonderland themed mother/daughter party. It said to "dress in your best dress" and Whitney was so excited that I would dress up with her. She asked about my outfit and demanded to see it days before the party. My idea of "dress up" is Khaki's - oh, what I do for my daughter!

Yes - Christa and Kristin, I squeezed into this thing. You'll find out shortly why that was a remarkable victory!

Hailey Dancing

Here's a video (long) of Hailey's new dance skills. I love watching toddlers dance, so this brings joy to my heart :) My favorite move is her squatting chicken wing (0ccurs about 2:30 if you make it that long). Travis reminds me of my little brother Jeff is this video - fighting for camera time :)

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some of each

How do you cover weeks of summer in one post when everyday could be a seperate one? You don't. At least I won't. I'll skim the highlight and perhaps fill in later. Here's five things we've been up to:

1. The Mountains. Best part about summer. Aaron has taken both Whitney and Travis on seperate campouts. I was happy to get my kind of campout - a couple hours enjoying mother nature.
Kids explored and of course fought bad guys with sticks. We were all starving. It didn't help that I swear be fireproof wood. Aaron had a great fire started, we rushed for the hot dogs, and came back to a pit of smoke. After a long fight. Aaron finally won and we got enough flame to cook our dogs.

Hailey enjoyed her banana boat. She was smothered in chocolate. Notice the smoke in the background. Yeah, that's from the smoke/fire.

We hiked for a couple minutes after.

I love that my kids love the outdoors. It's how it should be!

#2 - 24th of July festivities

Started off with a children's parade. Our ward put together a float for an activity. Here's Travis with a couple fellow sunbeam friends.

Whitney chose the big kid "I'm riding a bike" mode. I still have to remind myself that she is getting more independent.

Me, Aaron, and Hailey walked a little ways down the road to watch. It was clear when they came that Whitney was more into the social than the parade. It took lots of screaming for her to even see us. She was content to be on a ride with her friends.

This pic is somewhat hard to see. Travis is hanging off the back of the float and waving. He was a good waver. He's buddied up next to his good friends Logan and Gannon. If you can find a purple skirt in the bottom left corner - that's Whitney.

We hit the usual rides at Spanish Fork. I was shocked how willing Whit and Trav were to ride the big kid rides. Aaron was happy to have company. I love Aaron and Hailey's relationship. Here she is sneaking in a snuggle.

On the 25th (day we celebrated) the kids were ready for more face painting. Although this time it wasn't something little on the cheek. They wanted extreme!

Introducing spider man:

Whit wanted a massive butterfly

Yeah, kind of looks more like Halloween. I was shocked they kept it on half the day!

#3 Lindsay & Jared

We have loved having Lindsay and Jared and Trae live close by. They have been awesome playmates. We have done to much to even list. Last night my kids said we should go to the reservoir with them. I had to explain that they lived a little farther now, but we'll visit soon.

We attended the splash park with them. These pics are from a previous visit where I learned I should have put Hailey in a swimsuit also.

I loved seeing these two midgets together.

My kids love Trae and adore Lindsay and Jared. Here's Travis doing his favorite thing: making Trae laugh. Such a cute kid!

#4 - Idaho

I really need to be better about taking pics. Sorry, but none were taken. We enjoyed time with family in Idaho for a week. Our stay was extended for Aaron's Grandpa's funeral. It was so well done and we feel lucky to have such great examples as grandparents. I love how much my kids love playing with their cousins. They couldn't get enough. As always, everyday was action packed with swimming, hiking, swinging, and talking. On the ride home Whitney asked a usual question : What city are we in? Aaron explained that we were in Lehi, then came American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Orem, Provo, Springville, and then Spanish Fork. To which she replied "Sheesh Dad, it seems like Spanish Fork is at the end of the world!" Seems like that sometimes on a long drive :)

#5 - Summer

that's right, all the misc of summer. I love it. Today we took Whitney to the school and I was so relieved to see she has a good teacher with lots of neighborhood kids in her class. She is very excited. I'm excited as well, but it sounds like a long day with her gone so long.

Hailey is talking more:

She explored everything.

random popcorn party.

I feel so lucky to have an awesome husband and kids. We'll live up our last 2 weeks of summer.