For Those of You Who Don't Know. . .

I'm Pregnant! Yep, baby #4. I still can't quite wrap my brain around the fact that I'll have four kids, but luckily I have a few months to adjust to the idea.

Picking Raspberries

I don't know if it is because of all the rain we got this year, or what but we have had such a good crop of raspberries this year! It has been awesome to have them fresh whenever we want. Last year we got about a half and bowl to a full bowl every day for about a week and then they were done. This year we have been picking a half a bucket to a full bucket every two days for the past three weeks! It has been almost too much to keep up with. We have been making fruit smoothies, angel food cake with raspberries and whipped cream and just eating them plain every day. The kids enjoyed picking them at first, but now only Isaac will help me.

He loves eating them as much as he loves picking them too.

Elephant Rock Hike

On Saturday we took the kids and met Robby's parents in Bountiful at the head of the Mueller Park trail. We were planning on just hiking for an hour or so until the kids got tired, but they wanted to keep on going so we did. It is about 3 1/2 miles up to the rock so it is 7 miles round trip. The kids did great. Isaac only fell once and the other two did awesome. Isaac was riding on Papa's shoulders for a good portion of the hike though. I'm so impressed with Bill and his ability to do that hike while carrying someone for most of it. Will only had to be carried for a little bit of it, he did most of it by himself, and Savannah walked the whole way. She said she felt like a pioneer walking that far by herself. Isaac had to stop and pee SIX times! I had to laugh when he kept needing to go again and again. It was pretty funny. Thank goodness he knows how to pee standing up now.

It was a really beautiful hike since we have had so much rain this year. Everything was really green and there were tons of flowers. We ended up with an overcast day so weather-wise it was great too. We were glad that Robby's parents could go with us too. That made it even more fun!

Bill and Issac, then Kim and Savannah and Will, and then Robby in the lead.

The whole fam

What a bunch of crazy kids

Will and Robby were in the lead for most of the hike but near the end on the way down our competitive Isaac was urging Papa to go faster so they could be in the lead. He said he and Papa were the "good team" and Robby and Will were the "bad team". It was pretty funny.

Papa had Isaac on his shoulders for most of the hike.

Throwing rocks in the stream at one of the crossings. This is one of the kids' favorite things to do.

Washing off those dirty hands.

Excited to throw more rocks rather than do more walking.

This is back at the trailhead before we headed to get some much needed lunch.

4th of July Weekend

We had such a fun weekend celebrating Independence Day. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't take a single picture, so you're stuck with just my descriptions. Sorry about that.

On Thursday the 2nd I took the kids to Bountiful to see the free movie and to go to my parent's house and see their new family room. Robby joined us after work and we ended up staying for dinner and root beer floats and it was a lot of fun, oh and the family room looks great!

On Friday the 3rd we headed down to South Jordan for a day of family fun with the Waters side. The boys all went hiking while the girls and kids just relaxed and talked. Robby's brother Ryan and his wife Sunny were there along with Robby's aunt and uncle and their grandson from Las Vegas. It was fun to have such a big group. Kim bought a new pool for the kids with a slide and a basketball hoop and the kids had a blast playing in the water. Jessica even put Jaden in his cute swimsuit and put his feet in the water. He wasn't too sure about it though. He was especially upset (As were Jess and me) when Rebecca accidentally sprayed us all in the face with the hose. It was pretty sad. My kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and Jessica's dogs. Savannah even warmed up and played with them too!

When the boys got back from hiking we had a BBQ and there was tons of good food. Kim made a chocolate cake with cool whip and she made an american flag design with strawberries and blueberries. It was very cute, and yummy! We were celebrating two birthdays from the end of June and five birthdays for July. When it got dark we moved the party outside where Bill put on an awesome fireworks show. The kids loved it! They got to do sparklers and watch Papa dance to the stobe light. It was very entertaining. Finally, after 11:00 we decided we better get the kids home to bed. What a fun day!

On Saturday the 4th we decided to head up to Pineview Reservior to do some fishing and swimming. We packed a picnic lunch and drove to Huntsville only to find out that they were not letting anyone down to the marina because it was too full. We drove part way around the reservoir before we decided to just stop somewhere and have lunch. While we were eating another car pulled up next to us and a mom and four kids piled out of the car and they all ran down to the water. We finished eating and then wandered down to what would have a been a perfect fishing spot, but unfortunately there was no room for us down there. I guess we should have checked the place out before eating our lunch. Oh well. We drove around for a bit longer and then we decided we would just go to East Canyon and see if we could find a better spot there. It was a beautiful scenic drive up to East Canyon and it was packed up there as well. We drove around for a bit before we decided to just give up on finding a secluded spot and we just joined the crowd for some swimming. I took the kids with me and Robby wandered down the shore a little ways to try some fishing. The kids were very excited to do the front crawl in the lake with their newly acquired skills from swimming lessons so it was pretty entertaining to see their reaction to the brown water and the muddy bottom. Will got in and said "Ewwww, it's gushy!" But pretty soon they were playing in it just fine with all the other hundred kids there.

After about an hour it was time to pack it up and head for home. We got cleaned up and had dinner and then Jessica and Jaden and Ryan and Sunny came over to hang out for awhile. We were glad to get the chance to see Ryan and Sunny a bit more before they headed home to California. We watched fireworks over Washington DC and New York on TV, had chocolate raspberry shakes, talked and hung out and watched part of a movie before it was time for them to go home. It was really fun!

By Sunday I was ready for a nap, and so were the kids. What a fun weekend though. Too bad I didn't get any pictures!