Our final update...

Well this will officially be my final update before our new "arrival" in a little over 2 weeks. CRAZY!! This post will have a LOT of pictures, but that's what you get when you have a busy month with lots of fun things to talk about. So sit tight, and get that visine out. It's a long one.

Alrighty then. Let's begin.


ME


First a disclaimer: My basement family room was in DESPERATE need of a face lift. We haven't TOUCHED this room since moving into our house 7 years ago, so that should tell you a little story. Our furniture down there was all given to us, and was put into VERY good use, but alas, that furniture needed to be updated BADLY. It all began with a couch: we bought one. I couldn't let that new couch be put into a room that wasn't updated as well, so our remodeling began. Here are some BEFORE and AFTER pictures.


Notice the beautiful wallpaper border (mother-of-pearl colored even!) around the top.


aaaaand the after picture. FYI...I am going to re-finish that entertainment center and paint it black. It'll look a LOT better.

Yep...it just keeps on getting better. No need to elaborate.

and the after.

That scrapbooking table is now outta there, along with my HUGE collection of supplies. That made a big difference.

And after.

So that was my big project this last month, and let me just say I am SOOOOOO glad that it's done. I do need to find things to decorate with, but that can come a little at a time. Whew! My pregnant self will not be taking on any other projects for awhile now.

Lets see....anything else? Well we went on 2 camping trips in the last 2 weeks, but I'll talk about THOSE down further. Hmmm. Our baby will most likely arrive the week of July 28th (yay!) and I am pretty much terrified at this point. Yes...terrified. I am happy to finally get my body back to myself, and I am happy that I will finally be able to bend over to pick something up, and I am happy to have a lap where my kids can sit, but I am scared that I have no idea what I am doing! You'd think that feeling would go away with child #4. Maybe it does for some - but for me, not so much.

Oooooh, I did forget one thing to mention. I fell yet again. I know, I know...

You want to know what happened? Pretty much the EXACT same thing as before - I was carrying Crede, I tripped, and I fell, and I dropped Crede. During my fall, I hear Morgan in the background yelling, "Mom! You're doing it AGAIN!" This time it wasn't in the church parking lot though - it was in the parking lot at Tinsletown movie theatre's in Layton. Oh joy. My legs are all bruised, scratched up, and gross looking now - (not to mention swelled up to the size of tree-trunks, thank you water-retention) but Crede is okay, and that is all that matters. I dropped him right on the back of his head, poor kid! He had a little scab and goose egg, but that's about it. He still loves his Mom, and if HE can forgive me, I suppose that is all I need.

Alright let's move on to Chance.

CHANCE

Does the song from West side Story come to mind? I feel pretty, oh so pretty.........

Chance is the BEST Dad ever. He let Morgan go to town on his hair one day. She obviously put a lot of thought into her motif. Verrrrry nice.

THIS picture was taken during our camping trip #1 up to Idaho. These meadow's were COVERED in flowers because of all the rain up there. The pictures really don't do it justice. Chance is on the 4-wheeler on the left, Morgan and her cousin Aspen are in the middle, and Chance's sister Token is on the 4-wheeler on the right.

As a little side-note, our camping trips seem to always have some sort of calamity associated with them, so when we go on trips, we make sure to pray extra hard about our Truck running well, etc. THIS trip we were pulling our camping trailer AND a 3rd trailer behind that with our 4-wheelers loaded on. It was a heavy load. Well on the way home, in Roy, we went to stop at a red light, and our brakes totally gave out. We honked our way through the intersection, and luckily, didn't hit anyone. Afterwards Chance and I were talking, and we KNOW that we were watched over that day. Those brakes could have given out in Logan canyon, Sardine canyon, anywhere else...and it would have been a HUGELY worse situation. I know our prayers were heard and answered that day. We were shown that our brakes needed to be fixed, but in a way that our family was not put in harms way. Anyway...

Here's our 2nd camping trip, up to Heber Reservoir. Every year we have a camping trip planned with 4 other families/friends of ours and it ends up being so much fun. This first picture is what Chance always ends up doing when he's around water with his "guys". That is play football...well sorta. chance is on the small tube on the right.

Now THIS camping trip I know we were being watched over because of the fact that our campsite was RIGHT next to the water, and it was a pretty big drop-off into that water. Crede and Grace ALWAYS wanted to go play in it, and as a parent, I was TOTALLY freaked out that they would fall in and drown. The last day we were at camp, Chance glanced over and sees Crede walking back towards camp from the water. By himself. Chance is thinking..."wait a minute, was he just down there by himself?" Well as Crede walks by I notice his socks are all wet. I am just glad that he didn't fall completely in, and I am reaaalllly trying not to think of "what if". I just know that my little family is watched over more than I realize.

Chance is also such an important part of our family. He makes sure that our family is taken care of at all times, and he balances my OCD behavior out quite nicely. He is an AWESOME Dad as well. Love you Chance!

Now heeeeere's MORGAN:

Morgan is my Queen Crafter. If she thinks of something to make, she'll grab the paper, scissors, glue stick, and anything else she can think of to make this said item. This day she wanted to make a mask. She did it completely by herself, got some string to go around back and stapled it to the front. Pretty good for a 6 year old, 'eh? (P.S. - she even got the eye-holes in the right spot! Genius!)

Here are Morgan and Grace doing what they love. No, not play together, but ride bikes. This day they happened to be getting along really well and so Morgan volunteered to drive Grace around. They had a blast. oh, and another thing - their helmets were put on the minute this picture was taken (for all you concerned parents out there.)

Before school was officially out, Morgan received the "Principal Award" at her school. Their teacher was able to pick one boy and one girl from that class who did really well throughout the year and Morgan was picked. **sniff** yeah - just a chip off the ol' block. This was her receiving the award. Cute cute.

The last day of school Morgan had a little "graduation" ceremony in her Kindergarten class. Pretty much it was them singing a couple of songs and a slideshow of their year. Here's Morgan with her teacher, Mrs. Johnson. We really enjoyed her as a teacher.

The official start of summer has lead Morgan into an entraprenuer-type of attitude. Her items to sell? Rocks. Not just any rocks I might add...these are premium, one of a kind, unpolished garden rocks. See that sign behind Morgan? It says, "Rocks for Sale: 100 dollars." Yep she should be raking in the dough by now.

Morgan also had her final ballet recital. Her class danced as "Bryce Canyon". Pretty much their dance lasted about 30 seconds, but Morgan had a BLAST performing. Here's our little Morgan the night of her performance.

Here's the video I was "legal" to take during their dress rehersal. Morgan is on the far left of the stage the whole time, and she's the shortest one in her class - so you should be able to keep track of where she's at.



OK. Now on our first camping trip, we brought up Morgan's 4-wheeler. She had a blast riding around on it. This picture was too cute because the flowers came up to the top of her 4-wheeler. Aspen is riding on the back. What you DON'T know is right after this picture was taken, WE were overtaken by mosquito's. I'm not talkin' 20 or so, I'm talkin' HUNDREDS of blood-thirsty mosquito's. I was riding around like a mad-woman trying to shake them. I'd look down and there'd be another 50 on my leg. (I'm not that much of a nature-lover as you can tell, and bugs don't sit well with me.) Grrrrooooosssssssss! Anywho, this was a pretty cool picture.


Now for camping trip #2. This was up in Heber, and Morgan had a BLAST playing in the water. Here is Morgan, Samantha and Grace sitting on our big innertube that we brought.

Morgan is growing up to be such a fun big girl. She had so much fun on this camping trip. She hung out with all her girlfriends and they made up dance routines and talked about boys, and painted their fingernails and toenails. (Crede even got in on the fingernail polish action). They hunted for "crystals" and "fairy wings" and it made me wish I was little once again. We love you Morgan

GRACE?!?!

what about Grace?

Now who got ahold of my camera and started shooting photo's? Not Grace....nosireee.... wait a minute, who's toes are those? Hmm....they look like....GRACE!! That little booger.

Grace has basically been up to her mischevious ways, as always. She is just so stinkin' cute, but she is veeeeeerry.................. creative. We'll just leave it at that.

Here is Grace on our 2nd camping trip to Heber. I don't even need to say anything about these next 2.

aaaand the close-up:

Here is Grace chowing down on her otter pop, keeping Morgan company with her rock-selling business. She's JUST figuring out how to eat the elusive otter pop. She either turns it upside down and then can't figure out why she's turning blue, or she'll just sit and bite the wrapper and get ticked off. She's catching on though.

Grace in our backyard after the ENTIRE day of swimming. Oh how I love tired kids after a full day in the sun. **sigh**

Grace, we love you little girl. We're so happy that you've had a fun summer and I'm so glad to have you in our family and we love you very very much.

CREDER:

Oh crud - I forgot to turn this photo the right way before uploading it. I love blogging and all, but don't you hate the fact that if you are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down on a post it is a PAIN IN THE BEHIND to add a photo? Ooooookay. so just PRETEND that this picture is turned the right way, alrighty?

On our trip to Heber, Crede's favorite thing to do was to find food. Didn't matter if it was ours - if it was left out on the table, Crede found it and finished it for you. Here, he's finishing off a capri sun. (not ours). It was a joy when he figured out that coolers contained all sorts of goodies, and that he was able to open these coolers. Little bugger.

Here's our little boy playing in the sand. He looooooves rocks, so this kept him busy for HOURS.

Yep, this is our little boy after a FULL day in the sun out in the backyard. That car he's holding? That is his "lellow" car (even though we correct him everytime to let him know it's blue.) This car is his alltime favorite, and he carries it around EVERYWHERE he goes. Cute kid.

Crede has had a fun summer (as you can see) and is talking sooooooooo well these days. He's the cutest little boy around, and I'm just so proud that he's mine. Love you little boy.

Well that's our family in the last month. Whew! I'm just tired reading about it. We've had a fun time, and I'm so glad that we've had the opportunity to do all the fun things we've done. We'll update again just as soon as this baby comes, and just as soon as my "cankles" subside.