Camping at home: better than real camping because you have AC

We surprised the girls one night with a campout at home. We usually do this at least once a year and seeing as that I'm a little bit pregnant, we can't really do real camping(well I'm not! :) at all this year. So, this will have to count. The kids loved it and squealed with delight when we told them what our plans were. We started off the evening by making yummy foil dinners...

Followed by s'mores in the backyard...at first, the kids weren't too sure about the height of those flames:) See those looks of concern?

But they were definitely very sure about how much they loved their treat.

Ella liked hers a little burnt-thats how I like it too!

And Cali was in chocolate marshmallow heaven.

See that belly? :) Its actually a lot bigger now-this was a couple of weeks ago. I'm huge now people.

Cali doing it"all by myself"as she loves to say now. She wants to be a big girl:) And yep, thats me again. In the background. Stuffing my face.

Then Joey set up our tent inside the house. Our yard, unfortunately, is teeny and slants up:( But the kids don't care! They slept the night "roughin it" in the comfort of our air conditioned home:) I say its better that way-hehe. We told jokes, played with the flashlight, sang songs and made some fun memories. I love doing this kind of stuff as a fam!

Ammon: 35 wks

Today I hit 35 weeks(can't believe how close we're getting to having this baby!). I had a sonogram this morning and we were able to catch another glimpse of our little boy. He was quite the entertainer: moving around, opening his mouth, swallowing, sticking out his tongue and rubbing his little eyes(pictured below). It was so sweet!!

Here is a good profile picture. . .so cute.

We are so excited and anxious to meet him! The sonogram showed he is about 5 lbs 12 oz right now so if he gains half a pound a week, he'll be about 8 pounds-ish, which is what I was expecting. The girls were all right under 8. Everything on his body is looking perfect and measuring right on schedule. We are so grateful he is healthy and strong(very strong I must add-hes got quite the kick!) Its crazy how I haven't held him or seen him face to face, yet I love him so much. Its extraordinary and I'm so thankful for this little miracle. We love you Ammon!

Afternoon at the park

A new park was built just a few minutes away from our house so we decided to check it out one day. Its got a lot of fun stuff! Definitely our new favorite. And yes, there was actually a day below 90 degrees in July. Probably just this one day though. Darn Texas heat. I'm barely surviving it at 35 weeks pregnant! Almost there....

My kids LOVE these spinners. They get going so fast that I swear they are going to puke. But they don't. And that is good.

A really cool huge swing thing.


Even Aubrey got in on the swinging action. Something about this picture cracks me up. It looks like she is in a roller coaster seat or something.

Cali loved this grasshopper


And Ella was the first to scale this ginormous jungle gym. She is pretty fearless. Aubrey eventually did it too but with a little more caution(gets that from me I admit!) We were proud of them both:)
And see that storm looming in the distance? That was the only reason we had slightly cooler weather. We were grateful to have a day without the blazing heat!

Happy Birthday Pops

Love you Dad!! :)

TOXIC

Joey's way of keeping his coworkers away from his box of donuts....

July 4th

July 4th was full of yummy food, family & friends! This day is always one of my favorites. I love patriotism, I love America, I love fireworks, I love the music & I love making memories with my family.

Here are some of the patriotic treats we made with my mom to enjoy during the day...cupcakes and fruit pizza...yummm. We also enjoyed a delicious rib dinner courtesy of my bbq man, Joey.

We spent the evening watching our city's fireworks and had a great time!

My mom was there to share it with us-yea!

We had even more fun because some of our favorite friends came with us. Heres Charley and Cali enjoying Twizzlers.

Ella, Aubrey & Sydney racing. We did a couple of rounds of red light, green light, fo fun.

Me & a couple of my favorite galpals, Jess & Amanda.

The kiddos. They were all hyped up on sugar, running around like crazies, up waaay too late and having too much fun. Just the way it should be:)


Watching the fireworks. I love how Ella is hugging Cali:) My girls are so sweet to each other(about 85% of the time).

After the show, we were hanging out and talking when all of the sudden the sprinklers came on. My mom was on her cell phone and one got her good-lol. I don't think I've seen her hop out of a chair so fast-hahaha. And then my friend Amanda got pelted pretty good too. I barely escaped one. It was hilarious. And of course the kids wanted to play in them and we figured, what the heck. Let them live a little! It was a funny memory.

Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July too! God bless America!

Grandma visits!

My mom came and spent a week with us at the beginning of this month. It was so fun to have her here! We did lots of fun stuff together and she was able to spend a lot of quality one on one time with our girls while Joey and I were gone for two days. When we picked her up from the airport, we took her out to one of her favorite places, The Rainforest Cafe, just us girls. I forgot my camera, but took a phone pic which turned out super cute...

We played lots of rounds of Peanuts(an old family favorite). I taught the girls how to play a couple of weeks before she came so they were ready to rock. Our family seriously can play this for hours! My mom is known to be a peanut champ, so when I beat her once it just about made my day(or lifetime:) Thanks for letting me win Mom.

Here are a couple of pictures of my mom and the girls at the temple, the day of our anniversary. My mom was the one behind the camera for the family pics I posted previously(Thanks again Mom, they turned out perfect!)

We hit Chili's on our way home from the temple because thats where our family went that day ten years ago for lunch. Ahhh, the memories it brought back!

Other things we did together: visited a nearby park for an afternoon, went to the pool & went to the aquatic center. We also spent July 4th together(next post) which was fun too! And while Joey and I were gone, my mom did candy jewelry making with them, games, movie night, shopping, and eating lots of treats. They had a blast with her. We all did. Thanks Mom for coming to visit and everything you did for all of us. We love you!

Glad I'm a girl

We've been really lucky to have lots of family come and visit us over the past few weeks. First, Nana, Tata & our nephews and niece came for a few days at the end of June. The kids were in heaven with all of their buddies and Grandparents here. We did lots of fun things-went swimming, played the wii, visited a local aquatic center/water park, got shaved ices one day, ordered Rosati's pizza(we gotta make everyone try it that visits:), and the girls visited the American Girl Store & Bistro while the boys went fishing one morning. Here are lots of pics of that morning, what the boys did and what the girls did(I have to say I think the girl stuff was way more fun....:) I can't wait till we have a son Joey can bring along with him! Joey, his dad, and nephews had a blast spending some manly time together catching a few fish.

Joey and his phat bass(okay, that sounds like I just used a profanity, but I didn't!)

Don and his fish, not sure what kind of fish it is. But it looks rad.

Huckleberry Kai

Don even caught a snapping turtle-he looks like one mean lil devil.

Tata and his BIG catch!!! lol

While the boys handled slimy fish in the heat of the hot Texas sun, we ladies basked in the air conditioned comfort of the AG Bistro dining on delicious food. Nana's treat(thanks so much Cyndi!!) Notice the girls and how they match their dolls:)

The little girls, Shelby & Cali, loved "feeding" their dollies.

Aubrey & Ella pose with their Kit and Ruthie dolls. With Aubrey's new haircut, she really looks like Kit now, just darker hair! And of course Ella and Ruthie could be sisters.

A cute picture of my cute niece, Shelby. I'm so jealous of all of these girls tans!

A sweet moment between Cali and her baby doll(which she has since named Shelby)

Breakfast is served. It was deeeeelicious.

Better watch out Aubrey, Kit is eyeing your food.

Can you tell Cali loves sausage?

This is just too funny not to post. There are actual doll holders in the bathroom stalls at this place. I had to take a picture. You know me. They don't want you dropping these dolls in the toilet I guess. I thought that was quite thoughtful.

After brunch, the girls shopped till they dropped and scored some new fun accesories and clothes for their dolls. It was fun girly time with their Nana! We love you Nana!
So we all had a great time, whether it was fishing or shopping:) I'm just glad I was with the shopping group. hehe. Okay, so I do admit I like fishing too:)

The center of our home

For an anniversary gift to ourselves, we went to the LDS Bookstore here in Dallas and bought a beautiful work of art to display on our mantle. When we both saw it, we knew it was the one. For the longest time, we've wanted a meaningful Christ-centered painting in our living room and now we finally have it. I love it. What makes it even more special is that Christ is with 3 little girls and 1 boy:) I love already the Spirit it brings into our home. Every time I look at it, I feel warm inside. No one can doubt we are believers in Jesus Christ and that He is truly the center of our home.

A wonderful surprise

On the evening of our actual anniversary(we did our lil vacation a couple of days before), my mom and the girls planned something really special for us. It was a big "secret" and the girls couldn't wait to surprise us. My Mom decorated a beautiful cake, the girls made cards and there were even wedding mints and music playing from our reception years ago. It was so thoughtful and sweet. I'll never forget it! Thanks Mom for helping the girls to plan this. It meant a lot to us!

The beautiful cake

The table-our wedding colors were light green and silver which my mom tied in to the decor of the night.

We busted out some of our old stuff(I thought I'd be super cool and even wore my veil-lol.) Here we are drinking kool-aid from our wedding glasses. The kids got a kick out of this! And we did too.

Time to cut the cake!! I have to say we look a lot different cutting the cake ten years later. I wasn't knocked up back then. Sorry, but I couldn't resist typing that. lol

Even 10 years later I couldn't smash it in his face. I'm sweet like that:)

And he was sweet back.

The party planning committee-my 4 favorite ladies on this Earth!
The girls wanted to try on my tiara and be princesses. Presenting... Princess Aubrey.

Princess Ella

And little Princess Cali

After eating delicious cake and punch, we played our wedding video and danced the night away as a fam to all the fun songs from our reception. It was such a fun night reminiscing on our wedding day and remembering the fun we had. Thanks again Mom for coming up with this idea and everything you did for us. It was a memorable night!