Tiny Baby Sister

At my last OB appointment I got to see a couple shots of our baby in 4D (ooooh, ahhhh). I didn't get that with the other two, so it was a new experience for me. It was cool to see more depth and features in the photo, but I have to admit she still looks like an alien. We'll just have to wait for some real pictures when she is born. I'm sure she'll be an adorable baby. Anyway, I had a couple requests to see the ultrasound picture, so I thought I post it on here. I put labels on it, so hopefully it's pretty explanatory. You can click to enlarge it.

We're steadily preparing for this little girls to join our family. We still haven't named her which bothers me, but she will eventually have a name, so I'm not too worried about it. Braden prepared a couple of lists for us to help get ready for the baby. I thought it was awesome that he was thinking about it and wanting to be involved. I scanned his lists so I could keep them. I'll translate since the spelling and the format is hard to follow.

This first one shows a proposed schedule for the baby after she is born. I think it's pretty accurate since her schedule will most likely be about as sporadic as this one. Below the schedule is a list of foods that babies cannot eat. Honey, Cereal, Alcohol, Coffee, Pizza, Candy, Prunes, Raisins, Flour, Eggs, and Hot Dogs.  I'm glad he included alcohol. I might have forgotten about that one.

This second one is a list called, "Toys Not Foor Babys". It includes things like aliens, Barbies, cars, Strawberry Shortcake set, Legos, little, and toys. Below is a picture of the baby when she grows up. So cute! I have a feeling Braden is going to be a great big brother again. We're all so excited for our tiny baby sister. 

Easter Weekend

This weekend was Easter! Braden had a three day weekend and Spencer had a half day on Friday. As a result we had a lot of fun time together enjoying spring and celebrating the sacrifice and resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
We were planning to do another camping trip this Friday, but Spencer and I wimped out and decided it wasn't really sounding fun. We wanted to go close because of gas prices, but it was hot. In addition, my back has been killing me lately and the idea of sleeping in a tent was becoming less and less appealing. In the end, we decided to have some fun at home. We had a water war in the backyard. And we had hot dogs for dinner.

Then we stayed up late, busted out sleeping bags, and watched "Sword In The Stone", one of Spencer's childhood favorites. We had popcorn and the kids loved it. Then we let them have a "sleep over" in Braden's room. It lasted for about a half-hour at which time they wanted to go to their own beds.

Saturday morning we celebrated cousin Lanae's birthday at "the land". It was so great to see Spencer's cousins and let the kids run around and play in the wide open space. Lanae was such a cute birthday girl. Every gift she got was changing her life. I was cracking up.

Later that day we hung out with the Lilly family. Cameron and Jill made pad Thai which was a-mazing! We also dyed hard-boiled eggs and then had a massive egg hunt and got loaded up with Jelly Belly's and chocolate.  We left shortly after to get the kids in bed on time. It was super fun!

Sunday was a special day as well. Church was really nice and as soon as we got home we had Easter dinner with my mom, Chelsea, Darin, Shea, and Allen. We all missed my dad who was sick and Jacob, Joni and Xelly. After dinner we had an egg hunt in the backyard. Inside the 12 eggs were little items that represented events surrounding Christ's resurrection. We read the description in each one and it was a good reminder of the reason we celebrate Easter.  It was a great weekend and I'm so grateful to have been able to do so many things together as a family. I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.

Strangely Enjoyable Date Night

Last weekend, my mom volunteered to babysit so that Spencer and I could go on a date. Awesome! Well, we didn't have a big financial allowance, and we wanted to do something different than the normal, so I started searching for free things to do around the city. As it turns out, Mesa does an event downtown every second Friday. That night happened to be a Sci-fi/ Steampunk gathering. There was going to be a costume contest, booths set up for people to sell their creations, and displays etc. Spencer and I decided to go check it out. First we went and got Italian gelato at Dolce Vita. It was delicious! Then we headed to Center and Main. We were expecting some interesting characters and we were not disappointed. As we drove in, Spencer spotted a storm trooper walking down the street.  So, our first mission once we parked the car was to find him and get a picture with him. After that it was fun to just walk down the street and see all the people that were so serious about this pretend world. The Steampunk crowd far exceeded the traditional Sci-Fi crowd. Steampunk is not a new sub-genre of Sci-Fi. It's been around since the 80's, but it's fairly new to me. The best way that I can describe it is that they create a world that combines the past and the future... think "Around The World in 80 Days" styled clothes and mechanics + the imagination of futuristic machines and lifestyles. I can't say that I could ever get into it, but it made for excellent people watching and a strangely enjoyable date night.

Simple Mini-Vacation

We went camping this weekend! Hooray! It's been a really long time since we've gone and done something like that with just the 4 of us. Spencer and I knew we wouldn't be doing a vacation this summer as a family, so we wanted to do something together even if it was a little more simple. We left after Spencer got home on Friday. We got to the campsite very late, so the kids and I made a fire and Spencer got the tent ready by the light of the car's headlights. After a few rounds of marshmallows, the kids were getting tired, so we got them situated in the tent. Spencer and I went to bed shortly after. I absolutely loved looking out through the top of the tent into the night sky and seeing an infinite blanket of stars. I drifted off to sleep to the lullaby of bullfrog soloists backed by a cricket choir.
It was an OK night for sleep. It would have been more awesome if I'd planned better for the chilly night air. I only brought sleeping bags and a couple of blankets. The kids sleeping bags (which are more like play sleeping bags) kept slipping off.  Spencer continuously checked on them during the night and ended up sacrificing the sleeping bag he was using as a mat underneath himself to put over them. He had the worst sleep of all of us, I think. We learned a couple things: A) It's time for us to get a bigger tent and B) It's time for the kids to get real sleeping bags.
The next morning, we all slept in until about 7:30.  I helped the kids get dressed while Spencer got the fire going again. Breakfast was so perfect... yogurt, strawberries, and crescents baked over the fire and drizzled with honey. It was so simple and delicious. Then we packed up and did a little bit of playing next to the nearby creek. Once the sun came up, it got warm pretty quickly. We left fairly early and got home in time to watch the second session of General Conference.
It was probably the shortest camping trip of all time. I think the kids washed their hands 0 times, brushed their teeth never, and had way too much sugar. But they also helped a lot with packing the car, making the fire, getting beds ready, and making the trip exciting like is only possible through the perspective of children. It was just right for us this weekend. It was refreshing and great to spend time together having fun. Spencer says we need to go again this spring to redeem the sleeping bag situation. I'm looking forward to another simple mini-vacation.