2013 Summer Trip | Utah!

We took our annual trip south to visit with family this summer. It's always so good to see everyone again and we always have so much fun. This year was no exception!

We left after Ben got off work on Saturday and broke the drive up into two days. We got to Utah Sunday night and didn't waste any time getting together with good friends. These guys have been buddies since highschool and even before. We always have a good time when we all get together.



We got all our kids together for a picture and this was the best I could get. None of the babies were very excited about being a part of it. :)



Before our big ultrasound, Ben decided he wanted to have a little party to announce the baby's gender to our families in person. We knew we wouldn't be able to keep the secret for long, so on our second night in Utah, we got Ben's whole family together for a little bbq so that we could make the announcement.

 



We blew up pink and blue balloons and only one of them had the gender announcement in it. The kids had fun popping them all to try and find it.









I could have sworn Evan was the one who called out, "It's a girl!!", but Ben is sure it was Asher. Either way, I heard one of my boys call it out in an excited little voice. Evan had wanted a it to be a girl, so he was all smiles. Asher had said he wanted a boy, but he didn't seem disappointed by the news.





The next day, we took a little time to go visit Grandpa Jensen in the VA home and then we hung out with family at Ben's parents' house for dinner.















We were lucky enough to spend the day at Bear Lake with some of Ben's siblings on Wednesday. It was such a fun, relaxing day and the weather was gorgeous! The kids especially had a great time playing in the sand and water with their cousins.















Water balloon fight!!









Ben and I were also able to have a little date night at the new Brigham City temple with some of Ben's family during our visit. It was a treat to be inside such a beautiful temple with family.





That same night, we got all the cousins together for the annual couch photo. The more cousins there are, the harder it is to take a picture of them all! This was the best I could do....



It seemed like no time at all before the week was over and it was time to head up to Idaho. It was so much fun to spend time with Ben's wonderful family!

It's a.......

GIRL!

Anyone who reads this blog probably already knows, but we're super excited that baby #4 is going to be a little girl! We would have been thrilled with either gender, of course, but Ben and I were both kinda hoping for a girl... just a little, tiny bit. It's just so perfect that the boys have each other and now Ellie will have a little friend, too. Besides, all the baby girl stuff is nice and handy already. ;)

We had the ultrasound on July 25th, two days before we left for our big summer trip. There was NO WAY I was waiting an extra two weeks to take a peek at the little bean. I'm just not that patient. It was so fun to take a peek and see that the baby is healthy and perfect and measuring within one day of the due date.



The boys were there for Ellie's ultrasound and loved it, so we brought them along for this one, too. The ultrasound tech was awesome and so patient with all the boys' questions. She would show them whatever they asked to see and measure whatever they asked her to measure. It was the longest of all my ultrasounds because she really took her time and showed us everything while she explained it.





Because we were keeping the gender a secret from the boys until we revealed it to our whole family, I had to wait all the way until the very end of the ultrasound to find it out. The suspense was killing me! Ben took the boys out at the end and the doctor showed me the telltale shot. It was nice and clear and even I could tell it was a girl before she told me. 

Her little profile already reminds me of my other babies.



The belly two days before the ultrasound:



Now, let the planning and projects begin! :)

Frenchfries and the International District

I have hardly picked up my camera in the past few months. I blame it on the pregnancy, and especially the morning sickness, but I've just had no desire an no creative spark.

The last few days, though, I've had the photography itch... just a little bit. Today it was enough that I felt like carrying my camera around all day. Luckily, it turned out to be a somewhat eventful day to document.

We started with some Carls Jr. for lunch in honor of National Fench Fries Day. We took it to the park and had a little picnic.



After that, we decided to go visit Ben at his booth at the Dragon Festival in the International District (aka: Chinatown).

 

We got there just in time to hear the Blue Thunder, which is the drum line for the Seattle Seahawks. They always put on a pretty good show.





After that, we wandered around a little to see what we could see. We were a little disappointed that there were no snow cones. What kind of summer fair doesn't have snow cones??



We came across an obstacle course, which the kids had fun doing.













After we got home, we decided to spend a bit of time in the pool before dinner. This was a really big deal because we've been waiting since the end of May (when MOST pools open) for the pool in our apartment complex to open! After being told "probably next weekend" for six weeks, that darn pool FINALLY opened this weekend. The kids were pretty excited. I didn't dare take my big camera down to the pool, but here's a phone pic of my happy boys (the sun was in their eyes. lol).



It was really nice to get the ol' camera out again. Maybe there will be pictures on the blog more often again. ;)

My Sillies

I took some corporate headshots for someone this morning, which means I had a backdrop and reflector all set up.... which of course means pictures of the kiddos!

I didn't put a lot of time or effort into these... just some quick snappies, some of which are not even totally in focus, or have the edge of the backdrop showing. I LOVE them, though. They just make me laugh.

Most of them came out something like this... awkward poses, weird expressions...


But I also got a few of Ellie lovin on her brothers...








The ones that made me laugh the most though are these:

I said, "Ellie, put your cheeks down by the boys' cheeks." so she pointed to their cheeks.





The boys were laughing their heads off at her so she said, "Guys! Shhh!"



I just love these silly munchkins!