Summer Lovin'

This picture sums up Summer 2019! Wildness, sunshine, and swimsuits!

This is going to be one giant update of our whole summer because we spent every waking moment enjoying our time in the sun and I had very little down time for writing stuff down. It was the perfect summer (minus the morning sickness..... or all day sickness as it should be called) and I would live it all again in a heartbeat! Enjoy the collage!! It's not in any particular order as was our summer :)

We got to celebrate Briana's birthday out in Logandale and had a blast with them and our baby cousin!

Park play dates with the cutest kiddos ever!

Family sleep overs downstairs after our movie night! Austin always has his racoon close by with his own little pillow and blanket :). It's the little things like this that melt my heart.

We started a family tradition this summer of Pizza Fridays! We make homemade pizzas and watch a movie together while we eat it! Since the kids kept fighting over who got to pick the movie, we now play a round of UNO before we start and the winner gets to pick the flick!

We've spent countless hours in the sun at Wet 'n Wild! Our favorite summer hangout!

Goofballs :)

We've taken early morning walks before the heat sets in.

Exploring at the park while Mom walks her laps. I've been trying so hard to have a healthy pregnancy despite the nausea!

Finding herbs and flowers and grinding them up with stones to make potions.

We didn't get many tomatoes this year because we had such a cold spring, but we enjoyed the ones we got!

The kids loved to go outside each morning and check on our plants and tomatoes :)

I had some car troubles this summer (my air conditioner went out and Josh crashed the side of the car into the garage) so when I wasn't car-less, we were hanging out at Kneaders waiting for the mechanic to call me and tell me the car is ready for pick up!

Early morning park days and splash pad fun became a quick tradition!

As did early morning cuddles out on the porch.

We made banana bread on the hot afternoons when we couldn't be outside

And immediately after we woke up we hit up the pool!

The watermelon tasted fantastic this year! It makes the perfect poolside snack!

We also hit up the farmers markets and scored all sorts of yummy treats!

The Public Library is also a fan favorite around here!

Every morning, during the days when I couldn't exercise without puking, I made a tradition of sitting outside and listening to conference talks. If you can't work your body, you might as well work your mind and soul!

Splash pad fun!

We had all sorts of visitors come by this year to swim with us at our pool! This was Aunt Amanda and her new baby, Luke! She and my Uncle Brian aren't married anymore but it was nice to catch up!

My Autistic cousin, Josh, loved the water!

Evie has been doing so great at swim lessons! She's a natural!

With Briana living out in Logandale now, we've spent lots of time out there loving on our little squishy cousin!

Playing with left over sparklers from the 4th of July

We also made Jam this summer with 4 generations of women! It was so awesome!

Austin got his birthday present early this year from Great Grandma Wiegel and he wasn't complaining ;)

Evie is obsessed with her baby cousin, or "Grace-ly" as she calls her :)

We've gone to the movies a couple times this summer with Dad!

We've also flown kites

And every once in a while I found the energy to exercise!

Baby Gracie came to visit us!

This was such a fun day!

Grandpa Nathan took the kids for the weekend and gave Mom and Dad a much needed break! We actually got to go on a date!

And the next morning we woke up and went out to breakfast!

And followed it up with a walk around the farmers market! It was perfection!

Morning yoga with my girl :)

Cuddles with Austin while we watched Evie's swim lessons

Each morning, the kids would come outside and join me on the porch while I listened to conference talks. I'm sure going to miss these lazy summer days!

Baking cookies!

Mmmm.... sooo yummy!

Early morning cuddles with my favorite girl :)

More Wet 'n Wild days!

You can't go wrong with a full day of swimming and eating yummy food in the shade!

Monsoon season!!! The kids love the rain!

We purposely packed our last week of summer with all of our favorite things because we are going to miss this so much!

Our favorite pool pals!

Josh has been working a later shift lately, which gives me a couple hours each morning to go for a 4 mile walk and listen to podcasts or conference talks while the sun comes up. My body has been waking me up at the crack of dawn for no reason, so I figured I might as well make it worth it!

Our last family Wet 'n Wild day before school starts!

Evie loves coming with me to my baby doctor appointments and then pretending later that she's the doctor :).

Side walk chalk is always a winner!

We love to stop by our local cafe right next to the pool for some snacks before we spend the day swimming :). I love this picture so much! We are going to miss Austin while he 's in school!

The kids got invited to their little friend's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese!

One last library day....

And amongst all of this fun, my belly has been growing! I finally reached a point in this pregnancy where I only feel sick from the afternoon to bed time and not 24/7. I'll take anything I can get at this point! It hasn't been easy keeping up with this baby's older siblings while feeling like death! But, sickness or not, I am so incredibly grateful to be pregnant again and to be enjoying every minute of this precious time :).

As you can see, our summer was jam packed with fun! It left very little room for anything else (aka, cleaning ;)) and for that I am so grateful! Now onto school starting and a whole different kind of adventure!

And the Gender is......

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!

This pregnancy has been rough, but I have tried my best to not let it stop us from enjoying every ounce of our summer! I took Zofran throughout the entire first trimester and it helped a lot, but I've still struggled with nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and serious acid reflux that even into the second trimester has had me vomiting in the afternoons and struggling to get off the couch. With my other babies, I was right as rain by 16 weeks, so this has been very frustrating!! But I am so grateful to be pregnant with another angel and I feel her sweet spirit constantly. I can already tell that she is a good girl just like her sister. I have been doing prenatal yoga and meditations that have helped me connect with the child in my womb and it feels like we are best friends already. I worry about how this will affect Evie once the baby is born, because to this day, she is extremely territorial when it comes to her Mama. But when the ultrasound technician announced that it is a girl, Evie started jumping up and down and excitedly chattering on about how she's going to give the baby all her clothes and dresses and do her hair and share all her Barbies! :). It was the sweetest moment in the world! We almost didn't get to do the ultrasound as a family because my doctor's office changed the date on me and Josh had already taken the day off! I was so frustrated until a friend of mine told me that there are Groupons online for $30 to just go get your own ultrasound done and THESE are in 4D!!! So I made the appointment and we picked Austin up early from school. The kids did extremely well as we sat there waiting forever in the waiting room and they did even better once we were in the exam room in front of the giant screen looking at our sweet baby! She was all curled up in a ball with her face pressed into the placenta and she had both hands up to her ears covering up the sides of her face. Oh and her umbilical cord ran right up the middle so we literally couldn't see anything but her sweet hands and spine. The technician had me drinking water and wiggling around, trying to change her position until we finally got some semi-decent shots of her. She still refused to show much of her face but the technician was patient and did her best! 

I was in cloud nine during that time, watching in 3D as she slowly moved her hand up and down her face, resting gently on her ears. She was in the most uncomfortable looking ball  with her toes up to her nose and she kept kicking her nose with her knees :). It was incredible to watch! And apparently she is very limber! Oh and the best part of buying this on our own was they made a DVD for us to take home of the whole ultrasound along with tons of pictures!!

Hello sweet little gymnast! We love you so much already!!!

We had all made bets on whether it would be a boy or girl and Evie was the only one who guessed correctly! She was super excited about that because that meant that she got to choose where we ate dinner afterwards :). I had thought from the beginning that she was a girl, mostly because of my extreme emotional mood swings. That, and I didn't get the horrible acne like I got with Austin. But then my thoughts changed as I entered the second trimester and still felt super nauseous and terrible. I felt like I was going to die when I was pregnant with Austin so it made me question if this baby was actually a boy! But I should have stuck with my first guess because she is a sweet little girl after all :). Josh was so happy, it was adorable :). Neither of us had preferences and just wanted a healthy baby, and he thought for sure, 100% that it was a boy. But he was wrong! And he was happier than ever :). I love my dear little family so much and am so happy we get to share these special moments together. It literally makes my heart want to explode and I cry all the time, pregnant or not :).

Happy 6th Birthday Austin!!

Austin had an incredible birthday this year that was full of friends, family, and fun! He begged for a Chuck E Cheese birthday party and since I wasn't feeling well, paying for someone else to host the party sounded like music to my ears! He invited his close friends from school and church and we all had a blast!

The morning started with him waking us up bright and early begging for his presents! He got the new red scooter he has been asking for all year and the Pokemon watch he has had his heart set on :). It was the perfect start to the day! Then we had a nice birthday breakfast and by noon we were at his birthday party playing arcade games, dancing on the dance floor, singing happy birthday, eating pizza, and opening awesome presents! He was in 6 year old heaven and it made my heart so happy to see him running around in childhood bliss :).

Bright and early!

Now that's one cool looking kid! :)

Austin wanted a Pokemon cake and it was expensive to have Chuck E Cheese provide it, so I made it the morning before the party! It turned out so great! This pic doesn't do it justice!

The gangs all here!

This is Austin's best friend, Ben. They met in Kindergarten and had the same teacher. He moved away to California a week after this picture was taken and Austin was devastated. Why do all of his best friends move away?!! :(

Sadie is talking to Ben's Mom (Steffi) who is from Germany. I have had so much fun getting to know her and we even share the same hair dresser now! Austin and I were both so sad when they moved away.

Happiest Birthday sweet boy. I love you so much!

The moment he had been waiting for! Opening presents!

The awe inspiring nerf gun..... it was little boy heaven over there!

Make a wish!

Evie taking Gracelynn for a ride! :) There were kids running around everywhere and I gave up on taking pictures. But we all had a great time!

His actual birthday was on the following Monday, so we celebrated with Krispy Kreme Donuts for breakfast and doing whatever Austin wanted to do for the entire day. We played games and enjoyed our time with the Birthday boy and then when Daddy got home from work, we had a nice dinner for him! He had such a great day to go along with his incredible weekend!

Oh my sweet little boy.... why do you keep growing up?! It literally hurts my heart to see you get older, but it has also been so fun establishing a more grown up relationship with you! You are developing this hilarious sense of humor that keeps us laughing constantly. When you blew out those 6 candles, I wished you a life time of happiness and joy. You deserve that and more. Your Mama loves you baby.

 

Happy 4th of July 2019!!

We had a wonderful Independence Day this year (despite the fact that I was super duper sick from this pregnancy). It was a full day packed full of fun and although it took me a whole day afterward of laying on the couch to recover from it, I don't regret it one bit!

We started the day off with our Ward's Pancake Breakfast in the park! There was good food, good company, and water balloons!! You can't go wrong there!

Our fun Primary!

Water Balloon attack!

Evie throwing a balloon at Dad! Nobody's safe around these guys!

Then we took the party over to Grandma Helm's house and had our traditional BBQ in her back yard while the kids played in the sprinklers! The missionaries came over this year (Grandma is having a change of heart after 60 years of rebelling against her upbringing hehe) and we had a great time hanging out with them! We did sparklers and fireworks and pop-its! By this time, I was starting to feel terrible due to the heat and I wasn't sure if I would make it the rest of the day. So Briana was a genius and challenged my kids to see who could give me the best foot massage while I rested indoors out of the heat! :) It was so fun to have Briana and her cute family with us this year!

I can see the family resemblance here! We love Grandma Helm so much and are so grateful to spend such fun moments with her!

Good food, and even better company!

Hanging out on the porch talking and eating!

Let there be sprinklers!!!

ATTACK!!!

Evie stepped on a hot ash and burned a hole in her foot! I swear she gets burned every single year! Poor girl :(.

Baby Gracelynn was in awe of the sparklers!

The best part of the whole day! The foot massage!! :)

Once the sun began to set, we headed over to the golf course with Grandma Helm (Sadie, Josh, and Briana's crew all left early to avoid traffic like lameos) for fireworks! Our dear friends Jura and Adrien were there waiting for us in the grass with their whole family and we had such a beautiful night watching the kids run around the golf course with glow sticks and listening to the live band playing. It really was the perfect day and the kids fell asleep in the car instantly :).

Our firework crew is expanding each year as my best friend and I keep having more babies! Next year there will be one more sweet little one to love on while we lay in the grass and catch up on life! :)

Blessed is an understatement. May God Bless America Always.

Happy Father's Day 2019!

Josh is an amazing father and the kids adore him! We spent the day celebrating him with a fancy breakfast in bed, lots of homemade presents ;), and cuddles!! It's no secret that Dad is the fan favorite in this family and he is always so fun! Thank you Josh for all you do for us, and Happy Happy Father's Day!

Opening presents in bed! The kids have been dying to give these to him all week!

Cuddles and a movie party :)