Caught You!

Tyler really hates having his photo taken. For once my camera was quicker than his hand. It's so nice to capture my happy cooperative boy.

Brielle's Cake

My friend Brittney asked me to make a cake for her daughter Brielle's birthday party today. So, I got out of my morning sickness fog for a few hours to bake and decorate. She asked for the same style I did Lily's birthday cake, but I couldn't find my heart shaped cookie cutter anywhere (thanks to Jake). So I did flowers instead. I have to say, I like the flowers better anyway. I also have to say Thank you to my mom for stopping by to help clean my house before CFS shows up at my door for unsanitary living. I appreciate all the help I can get. Anyway, she asked to see a picture of the finished cake. Here it is mom.

I took a picture before I put her name on the cake. Her family calls her "LaLa" so that is what Brittney asked me to write. It turned out pretty cute, and Brielle loved it.

Four

We are anticipating the arrival of our fourth child around Valentines Day 2012! I am 9 weeks pregnant and feeling awful. It seems that morning sickness has taken over my life for now. I'm taking prescribed medication for the nausea, but I still can't do much without feeling extremely ill. Fortunately, I have a very understanding and helpful husband as well as a helpful 7 year old to pitch in every morning while I attempt to detach myself from the bed. So if you haven't heard from me for a while, or are concerned I never leave the house, that is why. I wish I could make it to volleyball in the morning, but I can't make it happen anymore. Cross your fingers that I feel better in the coming weeks and if you so happen to drop by, leave your judgments at home and disregard my disaster of a home.

I don't have a picture of our little bean to show yet, but as soon as I do, I will post it first thing. The kids are very excited to have another brother or sister. Lily says "I wanna sister" and Jake says "I want a boy baby because I don't like girl babies" and throws out things like "peaches" as possible names for our little one. Tyler speculates on the possible drawbacks to one or the other. For example he said "I think that It wouldn't be good to have a girl baby because Lily would be mean to her and she would get beat up by the boys." he also said "But if we have a boy, then he can wrestle with us and he will be tough." He also thinks that it would be nice to have two boys and two girls. I happen to agree with this assessment.

4th of July Hair

We had a great 4th of July celebration starting with a ward breakfast at the church, a parade, a BBQ at our house with some friends, and then fireworks. We were so busy running around that I didn't take any pictures of the day, but I did get a shot of Lily's hair the night before the festivities started. Everyone loved her hair and I was frequently asked "how did you get her to hold still for that?" My answer is: Candy. Lots and lots of candy and a kids TV show. And for those of you who think I'm torturing my baby, I'll have you know I specifically asked her if she wanted a star or pigtails and she picked the star. She didn't even complain once. I hope your 4th of July celebrations were as fun as ours were.

Arizona

After San Diego, we headed to Arizona. We stopped in Chandler where we stayed at Randy's parents place. You can probably guess what we did in the 110 degree weather.

Yep, we swam...a lot. Probably twice a day everyday for four days.

Lily loves the water, but she adores her "boat" even more.Jake

Randy

Ty jumping in

We did do other things besides swim. Here are the boy putting together a Lego ship.

On the way home from Arizona we stopped at Montezuma's castle

And we stopped at the Grand Canyon

We didn't stay for very long, but it was fun to see it as a family.