Massive Update

Okay, I've been meaning to do a massive update before this next baby is born, and I'm being induced later today! So, now's as good of a time as any, right? These are from the last couple months, starting with 4th of July this last weekend! In the morning, we went to see Cars 2 as a big group. Justin's sister, Shelly, was in town, too. Then later in the day, we went to our sister-in-law, Andrea's parents house for dinner, water games and fireworks. We had a super fun day with family and the kids enjoyed the fireworks. Kelsie got a little overwhelmed near the end from tiredness and loud fireworks, but we had a blast!
Kelsie took a couple sessions of a dance class at the rec center recently and really enjoyed herself! She had so much fun and was the biggest participator. Hopefully in the fall, the teacher said she's starting a new group that will have an actual recital at the end. So, we're looking to get her into that, because she is our little dancer and entertainer!
Two weeks ago, Robert and Don completed a 500 mile bike ride all the way from Salt Lake City! It was amazing and we are so proud of them! My mom was along too on the food crew. We missed them while they were gone and were so happy to come greet them at the finish line!

Had a little baby shower for this little man. Every baby should be celebrated! My mom and Nicole did such a beautiful job of decorations and such and we had a good time :) Especially enjoyed the yummy cupcakes from Retro Cupcake! My favorite cupcake place!

June 9, our exchange student, Maxi, returned home to Germany. We miss her, the kids just loved her!
Kelsie turned 2 on May 24!!! On her actual birthday, my mom came with me and the kiddos to Lied Discovery Museum. She also brought her over her first present of the day, a cute Dora guitar. Kelsie LOVES Dora! We are so happy to have been blessed with this little girl in our family. She brings everyone so much joy and is the cutest little 2 year old girl around! She talks and sings our ears off and is the little mother hen of the house. She loves taking care of everyone and is a Daddy's girl. If Daddy ever tells her "No", she comes running to me saying in a sad voice, "Daddy telled me something."
The Saturday following her birthday, we had her birthday party with all her cousins and family in town at the Butterfly Park. Luckily it didn't get windy until the end when we were ready to pack up. Everyone had a good time playing in the water and such, although the heat was melting the cake! But we had a tent set up with decorations for food and shade for everybody :)
This last year, Carter has been a part of a preschool group with some friends from church and as our last little activity before summer, we went on a firestation tour. Carter was so cute, holding Kelsie's hand and making sure she stayed next to him in the group. He's such a sweet brother, I love it! They kinda have a little system, where he's her little protector and she "mothers" him by always getting him his drinks, shoes, blankets, etc. Such a cute pair, these two :)
Justin and I also in May had a fun little weekend rendezvous to St. George for Justin's 30th birthday. It was just a fun little relaxing getaway for just the two of us and we enjoyed having the time alone. I love this man! He is such an amazing husband and father and I'm the luckiest girl in the world to get to share my life with him :)

Hollywood/Griffith Park

The Friday after Santa Monica Pier, we headed into Hollywood so Maxi could see the stars on the sidewalk, etc, then headed to the observatory for a viewing of the Hollwood sign, lunch, and walking through the museum.

Then Saturday morning, we headed back to Griffith Park for the train ride and fun stuff! It was so awesome going there because I remember my mom taking us there when we were kids (especially the carousel) and so it was fun taking my kids there. And Justin had come in Friday night so it was doubly fun having him there to share it with us! I sure do miss that man whenever we're separated!

The kids all had a great time on the little train ride and then we headed over to the pony rides right next to it. Everything was so reasonably priced, we got to do everything! Carter really wanted one of the horses that kept trotting, and he got his wish! Hayden also got a trotting horse and I captured the most HILARIOUS picture of him. Kelsie we were a little apprehensive about because she's never done a pony ride before. They took her from Justin, slapped her on that horse and sent her off with no one walking by her! Oh my goodness, I was just thinking, "Ive just sent my baby off on a horse all by herself!" I was afraid at first she would be afraid and try to escape the seat belt, but no! She was so cute and hilarious riding around on that horse. They sent her around the track twice, and that little girl just hung on and thoroughly enjoyed it!

After the pony ride, we got back in the car to go see our beloved carousel we so fondly remembered from childhood. It was so awesome being able to see that place again. So, we all had a fun time riding that, then we were off to Grandma's house again for some Easter fun!

Santa Monica Pier

For spring break a couple weeks ago, we decided to head to California a little early this time (we always go for Easter) so we could show Maxi some sites since she's set to go home in 5 short weeks! She really wanted to see Hollywood while she was here, so we had to do it! Justin couldn't take off work to come early with us...well, the proper word is wouldn't, ha ha. That man does NOT like taking days off work. So, it was the kids and myself, my mom, Robert & Maxi. Thursday was our first official site-seeing day and we went to Santa Monica Pier. It was beautiful! A little bit of a chilly wind going on, but beautiful :)

We first ventured onto the pier. We walked to the end and back, then decided to ride some carnival rides. Well, Carter also wanted to try one of the games where you shoot the water gun to race your character to the top. Guess what? He WON!!! First try! And he got a giraffe pillow pet. He was super excited. So, we tried to win one for Kelsie too, but failed. Robert went to the basketball hoops to try and win something and they gave him the ugliest purple stuffed dog you'll ever see! But now guess what? Kelsie LOVES it!!! Ha ha...it is very unattractive, but she still is sleeping with it 2 weeks later, so thanks Uncle Robert!

We couldn't talk Grandma Kirkham into going on the ferris wheel with us, but we all squeezed in a boat-thing and had a good time on that. Kelsie would say "Wheee!" every time we went around. However, then we got stuck at the top when they were unloading, it was a little windy, and Kelsie was getting antsy sitting there. AAAH! Good thing I had secret ammo of M&M's in my purse! It lasted her until we got off :)

After riding some rides, we headed down to play on the beach for a bit. Our kids LOVE water and sand, so you can guess how much they love the beach. The water was not warm by any stretch of the imagination, but they didn't care! Kelsie's little teeth were chattering, but she didn't want to give up...yet. She eventually became too freezing and I talked them into going back to play in the sand. However, Kelsie was cold and tired and just wanted to be snuggled. Which I didn't mind one bit! So I snuggled with her while Robert buried Carter in the sand! And then they kinda buried Maxi.

Some warmth has come our way!

Today was supposed to be almost 90, so I had plans of taking the kiddos to the sprayground! It actually ended up not being too hot with some lingering clouds and a breeze, but the kids still were able to play in the water & have a good time!

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Springtime

Things I love about spring:
*The few weeks of perfect weather it brings to Vegas
*Seeing new buds & leaves sprouting up
*Planting stuff with my kids
*Being able to play outside without bundling up or baking!

This is by far my favorite season!

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springtime

Things I love about spring:
*The few weeks of perfect weather it brings to Vegas
*Seeing new buds & leaves sprouting up
*Planting stuff with my kids
*Being able to play outside without bundling up or baking!

This is by far my favorite season!

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red rock pictures

Oops, I'm learning! Minus the accidental upload of Kelsie's foot (i'm not sure how to take it off), Here's the pics from red rock!

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Red Rock

I am so excited right now because I discovered the Blogger application on my Droid! If it works like I hope it will, I will be one happy lady (and maybe not so slackish on posting!). This last weekend we took the kids to red rock! We were hoping to find tadpoles like last year, but I think it hasn't been warm enough for hatching yet. So, maybe in a few weeks! My mom came with us since Robert & Don were working on an eagle project, Jason came with the cutest redheads around (Danielle was sick), and Andrea brought her cute munchkins too (Shane had to work). It was lots of fun & Maxi put a dent in her school project (collecting 30 different kind of bugs). I forgot my heartrate monitor for the hike, but took plenty of breaks (my lung capacity sucks!). Okay, now I'll try to upload the pictures...

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And then there were 3...

And by three, I am referring to 3 children because that's how many we'll have come July! We are expecting a new baby boy to join our family July 12 and we can't wait! I've waited a while to post it because it hasn't been the "perfect" pregnancy as far as worries go, but our little guy seems to be a trooper in there and will hang on through whatever further ailments arise! My placenta is apparently not growing quite right at the moment, something called a circumvallate placenta, but I get more ultrasounds because of it. Feel free to read about it here if you're curious. But my doctor presented it to me as more of a theoretical concern right now than something we need to be too worried about, so I am having faith everything will turn out 100% fine for our little man. Carter can't wait to have a little brother and I don't think Kelsie quite grasps the idea. She looks at me like I'm crazy when I tell her there's a baby in my tummy. Ha ha...So, YAY for our happy growing family. Pictures will come soon, I just have been pretty lazy about loading them on our computer lately. Those large memory cards for the camera tend to do that I guess!