.:20 Weeks:.

Halfway! Finally! This first half has really dragged, but I'm hoping that with summertime it will start going faster. I have been feeling a lot better lately, a lot less crabby and a lot less rage-y. I'm sure my family is relieved! I've been trying to make more of an effort to exercise five days a week instead of three and I think that has been helping. We're also done with pre-school now, and my piano recital is in a week, so I think having those things done will also help a lot. I'm ready to enjoy the summer and have fun with my kids! This little guy has been a busy bee lately. It is the greatest! I haven't been able to feel him from the outside yet, but I'm hoping that will happen soon. I know the girls will love that. Reece has started kissing my belly goodnite - it is pretty sweet. They are so excited to have a baby brother! 

20 weeks

.:19 Weeks:.

Almost halfway!

Nothing really new to report this week. I am feeling him move a lot more, which is exciting. I love that feeling. This week I also got all of the baby clothes we’ve gotten so far (buying and trading, which is quite a significant amount with the trading), washed them all, and sorted them by size. After getting rid of so many boxes of baby girl clothes, I now am adding back some boxes full of baby boy clothes for his first couple of years. We will for sure need to add to what we’ve got, but it’s nice to have such a good start on it. We’re starting to clear out our basement in preparation for finishing it, so I’m hoping to get his dresser moved up into the closet in the room that will be his so I can put away the first few months of baby clothes. I’ve got a couple of sewing projects in mind to get started for him, so I’m excited for that as well. I need to move out some of the decorations in his room because they are girly, and figure out what I want to put in their for him. Blank slate! Any ideas?

19 weeks

.:Ultrasounds are still my favorite:.

We had our official anatomy scan with our little guy today, and it was awesome as usual. We got a good peek at his parts right away, and once again, left no room for misinterpretation.

We got a fun shot of his arms moving around as well.

And of course, the classic profile shot. I love that little profile, and can’t wait to kiss his little face.

He was being pretty active during the ultrasound, which was fun to feel. Everything checked out great according to the tech. He said he didn’t see any markers for anything - always nice to hear! All of the measurements he took ranged between 4 days to over a week ahead of my due date (October 18th). When he was done, he said it was probably more around October 14th. And I just sort of wouldn't mind if he decided to come early like Harper did. The girls were with us, and they were loving watching him on the screen, too. They are going to be the best big sisters!

Here’s a short video taken towards the end of the ultrasound. I love when the tech moves the wand so that baby is looking straight on.

.:Easter 2014:.

We had a nice Easter weekend this year. After going to our neighborhood Easter egg hunt, we kicked off our festivities out in Grantsville with Granny, Grandpa Ken and our cousins. The girls always love going to Granny and Grandpa Ken’s house to play dress up and play with the Barbies. Once all of our cousins got there, it was time to dye Easter eggs!

Harper might have sampled the blue dye. Luckily it was water based and not vinegar based.

After dying eggs, Granny and Grandpa Ken had a fun Easter egg hunt for all of the kids. They were spoiled with candy, cookies, and money!

The rest of the day was spent playing with the water table, on the swing set, and with the fun toy that Grandpa Ken brought home from his work. Remi didn’t go for a ride, but Reece and Harper loved it!

Once we got home and put the kids to bed, it was time for the Easter bunny to visit. I’d say he left a pretty good haul.

Sunday morning the girls were thrilled to find their baskets and go hunting for more eggs, and yes, more candy and money.

Then the girls got to get all dolled up in their new Easter dresses from Gramzee and Grandpa Paul for church. Pretty much the three most gorgeous girls I’ve ever seen!

It is always a wonderful time of year to reflect on the blessings we have and the beautiful gift of the Atonement. Reece got to give a talk during April in Primary about resurrection, and it was neat to see her start to understand things a little bit better.

Happy Easter!

.:18 Weeks:.

I don't know why, but 18 weeks feels significant for some reason. I'm happy to be to almost halfway. Until I think about what needs to happen before this baby comes (Harper being potty trained AND weaned from her binkie...not to mention getting her to stay in a dang bed). 

I maybe had a moody pregnant lady breakdown this week, but I think it was good for me to just get it out of my system. I've felt better since then. My restless legs have been giving me a slight break; I don't have them every nite at least anymore; just every other nite or every couple of nites. My battle with sleep now is the pregnancy congestion, with some allergies mixed in. At some point, I'm just going to have to realize that I am not a good sleeper and never will be. If only my body would figure out how to function better on the amount of sleep it is usually able to get. The past couple of days I have been a bottomless pit and want to eat all.the.time. It is borderline ridiculous how much I've been able to consume. I've been doing better with eating and snacking in general until just this last couple of days, so time to reign it back in! Two of my sister in laws had babies this week (two days apart!) and it just made me that more excited to have a baby of our own. Can't wait to meet this little guy! Should be going in this week or next for our official anatomy scan, so looking forward to another peek!

.:Family Comes to Town:.

Back in March, we had the treat of having my mom, sister, and her kids come down to Utah to play for a week. It was really super awesome, because we don’t often get to see those cousins and it was fun to just play the days away with them. We had fun playing outside when we could, playing in the house, and also went to see Mr. Peabody. We managed to sneak in a few fun activities for the kids on a couple of days as well.

One day we headed downtown and hit up Discovery Gateway. The kids had a blast all morning long, playing with all of the dress ups, balls, water, and other activities. I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to get them to leave!

After Discover Gateway, we made our way over to Temple Square to walk around for a bit. What a good looking group of kids!

I tried to get a picture of my kids and me together, but it didn’t work out so well.

We loved walking around the temple grounds; our girls love to look for temples when we are driving, and pointing out angel Moroni. It is so cute. We also walked around City Creek and did a little shopping. We finally dragged the tired kids home just in time for dinner!

One nite, all of the ladies managed to get out to meet up with my cousins and aunt. (A huge thanks to Josh for staying home with eight kids by himself!) We enjoyed eating, chatting, laughing, and catching up. I wish we all got to see each other more often! Sharon was in town visiting her family for their spring break, so she got to join us!

It was Remi’s birthday while everyone was visiting, and on her birthday we went down to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. We had never been before, and we loved it! The displays were amazing, and the kids thought it was pretty neat. They loved playing in the sand and water, and with some of the other displays they had for explorative play.

After the museum, we took the kids out to Chik-Fil-A. We needed a lot of space!

The last day everyone was here, we were able to get together with Ben and Sharon and their kids as well. We started off over at our church, playing with balls and frisbees, eating lunch, and watching Remi and Jay open up some birthday presents.

After that, we headed to Hollywood Connection to let the kids ride on the rides, play mini golf, and arcade games. They all had a blast, and I’m so glad they all got to spend some time together!

It was also great to spend time with my sister and brothers and mom!

We’re so glad they came down to visit us, and can’t wait to see everyone again this summer!

.:17 Weeks:.

While I can say that the moodiness is still sticking around, this week didn't seem quite as bad. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that I am really starting to feel baby move regularly. And I love it. I feel like it's our special little secret that I get to have all to myself. Of course, I'll be excited for when Josh and the girls can feel him move from the outside, but I kind of like that it's just for me right now. 

I've been buying and trading like crazy, and this little guy has quite the collection of clothes started. I need to go through and size them so I can see what I really need for the first little bit. We also need to start stocking up on diapers. Which also means we really need to potty train Harper so that we don't have to buy diapers for two. Trying to work myself up to that. 

Love this baby!

.:Hawaii 2014–Part Two:.

Wednesday in Maui was spent doing the Road to Hana. We had been told by numerous people that this was a must do. We rented a couple of cars for those that wanted to go, and got on the road first thing in the morning. The drive was incredible! There were so many beautiful things to see, I know we barely scratched the surface.

Our first stop on the Road to Hana was Twin Falls. We hiked up to the falls, where we were treated to a little singing, hand holding, and undressing by some foreigners. What a treat!

The scenery was terrific, and we sometimes just stopped along the roadside to get some pictures.

I think one of our favorite stops along the way was this peninsula. The color of the water was amazing. It almost didn’t look real!

There was a cool old church on the peninsula.

We stopped at a state park that has a black sand beach. There were also some caves that we went into. It was really neat!

We drove home along the backside of the island, and while it wasn’t quite as interesting as the first part of our drive, there were certainly still some pretty sights.

The next morning we headed out to Molokini to snorkel. Yep, I decided I was still going to go. We took a boat out to the island while the guides on the boat helped us get our snorkeling gear ready and answered any questions.

I impressed the guides with my sea urchin injury before getting into the water. To my surprise, the snorkeling went great! No fast breathing, and no other injuries. The water was so clear – it was beautiful. Fish were just swimming all around us. It was so amazing!

After we did the front side of Molokini, our boat took us around to the back side. The water was the prettiest color of blue here, it looked like it was dyed. You could see the back side of the crater, but then it just dropped off into darkness. It was a little exciting, but also a little scary. Who knew what was going to swim up out of that darkness? We saw a reef shark cruising along the back side, which was pretty cool. The other cool thing we discovered? If you went under water just a few feet, you could hear the whales singing! It was so amazing!

Once we finished the backside, we headed to a place where sea turtles like to hang out. We got in the water, and after some searching found quite a few. They would just pop up right next to you, which was again cool, but also a little scary – they are strong!

This nite we went into La Haina to wander around and shop, as well as eat at Fleetwood’s. We ate up on the roof patio, and the food, atmosphere, and service was incredible.

There was live music, and even some history about Hawaii that included bagpipes and a conch shell!

The next day was our last full day in Hawaii, and we decided to make it a beach day. It was a gorgeous day, and we were sure to get in our fill of sun, sand, and water! We hit the boogie boards for another go, and just enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

Of course, we had to hit Ululani’s for one last shave ice.

That nite we went to Outback for one last dinner together. And we just had to document the creeper van we had been sporting the entire week we were there together. It was pretty awesome to be able to all ride in the same car together, though I’m sure we got a lot of looks.

Creepers!

The next day it was time to head home, and we were lucky to be able to meet up in the airports on Maui and Honolulu. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but we were certainly ready to get home to our kids!

It was an amazing week, and we are so grateful that my parents made it possible for us. They put a lot of effort, time, and money into making sure that we had an amazing experience, and that’s exactly what it was! We won’t soon forget this trip!

I think it was also a really neat trip for all of us to be together because leading up to the trip, my dad had gotten seriously sick and spent some time in the ICU. It was a very scary time for our family, and we were so relieved when he pulled out of it and that he was able to still come on the trip. We always love spending time with each other, but I think this just reinforced how important our relationships with one another are. I maybe started crying when I first saw my dad at the airport; it was so good to get eyes on him and reassure myself that he was okay! No more scares, Dad, okay? 

When are we going back?