Thank You Gramma!!

Gramma in the delivery room meeting Avery!
The Saturday after Avery was born we had to say good bye to Gramma(we spell it this way because that's exactly how the kids say it. No "n" or "d" to be heard :-). She got here the Saturday before and was with us in the delivery room. For me, having those I love with me when giving birth is a special experience. Grandma's, aunts and of course, Adam, will all play such an important role in my children's lives that having them there when these sweet precious babies come into the world is almost a necessity. I didn't realize that until after Spencer and Annie were born but since then have invited Grandma's, aunts and on occasion, close friends, to be with us when the baby is born. Gramma has been at my last three babies births and she holds the record. No one else, other than Adam and me, of course, has been to all three. We are so grateful she was able to come and know it was a sacrifice for her to get here.

After a week of her visiting, saying good-bye was hard. She is always such a HUGE help! Cooking, cleaning (yes, she cleaned out my fridge AND my pantry- HALELUIAH!!), grocery shopping, mending, snuggling, back tickling, and of course playing with the kids! We always have lots of fun and lots of laughs when she's here! We miss you Gramma! THANK YOU for all of your LOVE and help! WE MISS YOU!!!!
Gramma saying goodbye to Avery as she left for the airport!

Lots of People to Meet!

Since Avery was born there have been lots of people who have wanted to meet her. I haven't been too great at taking pics of everyone who has stopped by but have managed to snap a few. Thank you to all who have come to see her. Whether near or far we feel so loved and blessed to have so many people who love her already! As one of our friends said when he saw her on Sunday night "Isn't it strange how much you love someone even though its the first time you've ever met or seen them?" (not the exact word for word quote but you get the idea!) It's so true! A little person that none of us had ever met, in this life, before last Monday and yet, she is so loved by so many!

The week before Avery was born my cousin Kendall from Arizona called to tell us he'd be in town on business and would love to see us. We planned to meet for dinner that Thursday but ended up having to cancel because Logan started running a fever. It ended up that Kendall was going to be in town the next week too so we told him to call and we'd have him come over to the house since I would just be getting home from the hospital! Turned out that he finished his meetings earlier than he thought and on his way to the airport stopped by the house to say hi. His timing was perfect as he arrived a few minutes before Adam, Avery and I got home from the hospital. It was fun to see him and catch up a bit! I love my family and even though my cousins and I are all grown up, living far from eachother, we try to take time to see eachother when we can! Thanks for the visit CUZ!!!


Of course the week Avery was born would not have been complete without Julie and her kids here! I LOVED that she was able to be in the delivery room with me and that her kids were able to come and meet her and play with my other kids! This is Brady holding Avery! He was so cute! Crazy to think that almost exactly 5 years ago, I was in the delivery room with Julie when Brady was born! Love this kid!!!

Reecey needed her turn too! She was so cute and called Avery "Avwy". Reece has always been such a little peanut but looks so grown up next to Avery! Hopefully one day these two little girls will be good little friends!


Avery with Auntie Julie (we have 2 Auntie Julie's for anyone who doesn't know!). It was SOOOOOO fun having Julie come and visit from Calgary! She's never been to see us since we've lived in Denver and having her here was wonderful! She is always so fun and we had a great time laughing, eating and catching up! Just wish she could have brought her whole family with her!

Lip kisses are an Auntie Julie and Auntie Jenni special! Love those baby kisses!

While Julie was here she brought her camera and gear and took some awesome pictures of Avery and the other kids! I haven't seen her finished versions and can hardly wait to see what they all look like! She's an amazing photographer and if you are ever in Calgary or want to have her come to you to take your family portraits, check her out here! I'll let you know as soon as she has pics of Avery posted!

Avery Jean

We are so excited to introduce the newest member of our family. AVERY JEAN!!! She arrived on Monday, July 20th at 12:35 PM and weighed 8lbs 8oz, 20 1/4 inches long.

Those Chubby Cheeks and Golden Blonde hair are evidence that she really is ours!
Do you like the bow? Lots of people have asked if I made that. Nope, not that creative, the hospital put it on her. Adam thinks she looks like Aunt Gemima!
A scrunchy little face!
As hard as this pregnancy was to endure, the labor and delivery was wonderful. I opted for the epidural this time (something I haven't done with my past 2 babies) and I realized how crazy I was to NOT have an epidural. I didn't feel pain from a single contraction, pushing was hard but didn't take too long and the best part was there was NO "ring of fire" :-)!!!

THE STORY (everyone has a story when they have a baby, right?)
Adam and I left for the hospital at about 5:45 on Monday morning. After checking in at admissions, they sent us upstairs where the nurse was waiting for us. She took us in to a room and got us all settled. I was hooked up to all the monitors, got my IV and answered all the funny "Medical History" questions. (IE/have you used any exciting and interesting drugs during this pregnancy?) At around 7:30 the anesthisiologist came in and gave me my epidural. Actually getting the epidural put in was the WORST. I hate having my back probed and the weird feeling that comes before you go numb. BUT, once it was in and working, I was in LALA Land! After they gave me the epidural they started the pitocin and then Mom, MarJane, Julie and Annie arrived. It was so fun having ALL of them there. Julie and Annie entertained us with multiple little dances one being the "Heartbeat Dance" another being the "10" dance. Everyone did a great job helping the time pass by telling funny stories or making jokes. Adam and Julie are so funny as they play off eachother and keep us all in stitches. And Julie, a soon to be "nurse in training" was awesome. Everytime I had to move, or the heartbeat monitor came off, she would jump up and help before the nurse was even there. She will one day be a phenomenal nurse and Ju "You ARE smart enough and people like you!" You can do it!
My cheering section! MarJane (Gramma), Julie (JuJu), Mom (Nana)
Annie (see more about this below)

At around 8:15 the doctor came in and broke my water. I was dialated to a 4 1/2 and hadn't even had one contraction yet. AWESOME!! By 9:30 I was at a 6 and by 10 I was at an 8. Around 11 I was feeling pressure and when the nurse checked me I was at a 9. At that point I couldn't really feel anything cause of my AWESOME epidural. I didn't want her to check me again and tell me I wasn't at a 10 so I waited another hour before asking her to check. Sure enough I was at a 10 and ready to go. We all figure I'd been at a 10 for a while but just couldn't tell. Another reason to have an epidural. If you are at a 10, and your doctor isn' there, you don't have to push yet! Anyway, once my doctor got there I started to push and about 40 minutes or so later she was here!

It's show time! We're waiting for the doctor so I can start to push!

Everyone was so excited as our sweet baby girl came into the world. She was chubby and crying and as cute as can be. She looks just like the rest of the kids and so far has the best little personality and temperment!

A chubby baby. Kinda purple but she pinked up really fast! Apgars were 8 and 9! Good girl!
Look closely and see she is 8lbs 8oz.
We named her Avery Jean. Avery is after Adam's Grandma Ellison who was Eva (pronounced with a short E). We love the name Eva but know that the spelling and pernunciation of it would be wrong her whole life, so we started looking for names that were derivatives of the same name (is derivative the right word?? hmmm). We found that both Eva and Avery come from the name Eve and both loved it. Her middle name, Jean is after my Grandma on my mom's side, Adam's Grandma on his dad's side and my sister Julie whose middle name is Jean. This baby girl, just like her sister, is named after some remarkable, faithful and amazing women!

ANNIE
After finding out that we were having a girl during my 20 week ultrasound, I started thinking about Annie. She has wanted a little sister for so long and had pretty much given up all hope since she assumed that after Logan we were done having kids. She was so excited when we told her it was a girl that it made me start thinking that it might be a special thing for her to be in the Delivery room when the baby was born. After talking to Adam, my sisters and a few others to see what they thought, I asked Annie if she would like to come to the hospital and be there with us. She immediately said "YES" and then added, "But can I leave the room when the baby is actually born?". I told her absolutely! After a few weeks of thinking about it, she came to me and asked if it would be okay if she stayed in the room when the baby was born. Again I told her absolutely! Over the past few months, she and I have watched many a "Baby Story" type shows on tv and had lots of talks about what to expect. I told her if she had ANY questions at all she could ask me, dad, Grandma, Nana, Aunt Julie, the Nurse or the Doctor. The night before Avery was born, I told her that I really wanted her there but she didn't have to be if she didn't want to. Her reply, "I know but I want to be there"! And she was! It was so fun having her there! She kept saying, "it's taking so long" and we all laughed, telling her, this was actually really fast and that some people were in labor for hours and hours and hours! Julie did a great job entertaining her and when it was time for me to push, the nurse gave her a job to stand at the head of the bed and help hold the pillow behind my head as I pushed! She did awesome! I think that she was probably a little overwhelmed by a lot of what went on and every time I asked her what she thought or how she felt she'd just smile and shrug her shoulders, but after Avery was born, Annie could hardly leave her side! She watched the nurse pink her up under the lights, watched them weigh her, measure her, wrap her, FINALLY got to hold her after Adam and I had our turns and then she even got to go to the nursery with the nurse to watch them clean her up. After she came back from the nursery, Julie and I were in the room waiting for me to be transferred to my room and we asked Annie how she felt, if she had questions, etc. She said the only question she had was what an epidural was and Grandma had answered that. I asked her if anything scared her or worried her and she said that she had felt nervous when they told me I could push and were getting everything ready. Julie and I told her that we had both felt nervous then too and it was just because we were all so excited.
A friend of mine is a nurse at the hospital where Avery was born and told us over the weekend that she'd worked a shift with our delivery nurse a few days later. She said our nurse told her she usually gets nervous about having children in the delivery room but that Annie was so wonderful that she didn't worry a bit!
Having Annie with us when Avery was born was magical for me. I honestly never thought I'd have two daughters and even still need to pinch myself into reality that I do. Two beautiful baby girls! I know Annie will be a wonderful big sister and hope that Avery will be as sweet and wonderful a little girl as Annie has become! I look so forward to watching their little relationship grow!
My Girls and Me!
Annie took this picture by herself when she went into the nursery with the nurse! She held the camera in one hand and let Avery hold the finger of her other hand! I LOVE it!

MEETING THE FAMILY
I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to have our little Avery here. The kids are all in heaven with her. Every morning they come in to see her and all wait somewhat patiently to take a turn holding and kissing her. Logan and Annie are most mezmerized by her, but G and Spence are just as in love! They all can't get enough! Adam of course is smitten and I just swoon everytime I see the look in his eyes when he gazes at her. It's the same look he's had with each of the others when they were newborns! I love it!
Daddy's first hold! See the look? That's the one that melts my heart!!
Annie officially meeting her baby sister!
Nana's first hold
Gramma's first hold
JuJu's first hold
Introducing Avery to the boys!
Spencer's first hold! Could that smile be any bigger?
The kisses begin with Garett and haven't stopped since!
G with Avery!
Logan told me "I just LOVE my baby sister! She's just so cute and smells SOOOOOOO good!"
The whole Gang! And they're all ours!!!
Auntie Lindsay came to visit (not REALLY an Aunt but for all intents and purposes she is :-)
Madison and Natalie! Nanny came earlier in the day and just hung out at the hospital with Avery, Nana and Me. She was in heaven and her cast on her broken elbow proved to be a very handy little holding tool. She'd prop a pillow on top and underneath the cast and the baby rested perfectly in the crook of her arm! Later that evening Julie, Lindsay and Madison came to see Avery too!
Jack got to meet Avery the next morning.
Logan came back on day two by himself with Daddy. He LOVED getting lots of Avery time!

HEADING FOR HOME

Wednesday afternoon, Adam came to pick Avery and I up from the hospital. As happy as I am to never be pregnant again, I get a little sad looking at this picture. Our life as a family of 6 is over and life as a family of 7 is beginning. I am so excited to see what the future holds but knowing that with every passing day my kids are growing up brings a little ache to my heart. Avery is a brand new baby and already my heart is hurting a little that she and all my kids are growing up so fast! I didn't enjoy the pregnancy part but I am absolutely going to enjoy the baby part! It's going to pass so quickly!

Now that Avery is here, I owe everyone in my family and all my friends a HUGE apology and a HUGE shout out! First the apology for being so miserable and complaining all the time. There are a few who have had to endure the worst of it, Adam, Tamara, Julie and Mindy; Thanks for putting up with me you guys. I know it wasn't the easiest thing to listen to but without your listening ears I think I may have truely gone insane. You ALL saved me and I love you! And the shout out to everyone for loving me through the past 9 months, helping me with my kids, my house, my laundry, and my spirits! I feel like a completely different person when I'm pregnant and don't like going anywhere, or socializing with anyone. I am so blessed to be surrounded by friends and family who let me be that way and still love me unconditionally. As me and my family's lives slowly begin to return to normal, it is now my turn to help you guys in whatever way I can! My "helping hiatus" is over!!! So bring it on.....:-)

Love you!

Mar

4th of July

The Fourth of July is probably one of my favorite holidays! I don't know why, especially since I'm a Canadian-born and raised. Hmmmmm! Anyway, I love the fourth and this year in deciding what to do to celebrate, my sisters, sister in law and I all decided it would be fun to meet in Utah and go to the Stadium of Fire. Stadium of Fire you ask? Yes! Because this year guest performers were the JONAS BROTHERS!!! Our girls would be thrilled, and so, as it were, we all bought tickets and the planning began. Well, as the 4th of July drew closer, I realized I'd be too close to my due date to be able to travel. My dr. said nothing after June 27th, but the real reason was because my health insurance wouldn't cover me if I was 2 hours outside where I live within a month of my due. If anything were to happen and my baby was born in Utah, we'd be up a creek! So, since the tickets were already purchased, and all the cousins would be there, I insisted that Adam go ahead without me and take the kids to Utah. Let me just say it was the
DUMBEST IDEA I'VE EVER HAD!!!!
Seriously, being home alone for 5 days, over the weekend of my favorite holiday was SOOOOOO not a good idea!!!! I was sooooo lonely! Normally, the idea of being home alone in my house for 5 days is very appealing. All the things I could get done....but being 9 months pregnant, and it being a Holiday, made it not so fun! I did get quite a bit done, and enjoyed the quiet mornings, but that was about it. I LONGED so badly to be with my husband, children, sisters, brother and their families. I cried almost every time I talked to Adam and heard about how much fun they were having! I am glad they were able to go, but would never recommend it to anyone! I should have made everyone come out here to see me! :-) No Jonas Brothers, but we could have found something fun to do!

Anyway, while Adam and the kids were in Utah, I asked my sister to send me some pics of their fun! Julie will probably post some of these on her blog so sorry if you are seeing them twice! Here they are:


On Thursday, Adam, TJ and Steve went golfing so my awesome sisters (AKA the best aunties in the world) took ALL the kids to BOONDOCKS for a little fun, games and mini golf. Logan, Josh, Brady, Heather, Natalie, Tyler and Brooklynn
Spencer, Garett, Jackson, Annie
Julie was so smart and planned ahead getting tickets for everyone to go to the Open House of the Oquirrah Mountain Temple. THIS was a REALLY hard thing for me to miss. I have such wonderful memories of going through the Open House of the Alberta temple when I was growing up. I was soooo sad not to be there with my husband and children for the first time my kids would get to see the Temple.
On the afternoon of the 3rd, Ryan, Amber, Justin, Adam, Spencer, Annie, Julie and Jackson all decided they wanted to run in the annual FREEDOM FESTIVAL RUN. They drove down to Provo to " HOGI YOGI" to register for the 5K. Another tough thing to miss since Adam and I ran in it last year and had a great experience. This picture is of Annie and Jack before the race! I have to say this is one of my favorite pics from the weekend. Annie and Jack are only a week a part and are the BEST of pals! Julie and I joke that they were supposed to be twins but Heavenly Father knew that neither of us could handle having two babies, so instead he sent them to the same family so they could be cousins!
The kids before the race: Amber, Spencer, Justin, Annie and Jackson

Kids and Adults: Julie, Ryan, Adam

I haven't gotten any pics of the "Stadium of Fire" yet but have received reports from everyone about how amazing it was. They tail gated before the concert at the Stadium (the above picture is of all the girlie cousins minus Amber, Reece and Grace, in their matching t-shirts) and then, apparently, The Jonas Bros ROCKED and the fireworks were amazing!!! Spencer reported to me that it was the BEST FOURTH OF JULY EVER!!!!

A HUGE shout out to my awesome siblings and their spouses for helping Adam with the kids! ESPECIALLY my sisters and sister in law Nicole! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

And I can't forget to mention how AWESOME my wonderful husband is for being THE BEST FATHER in the WORLD to take four kids, by himself to UTAH. 8 hours in the car on the way there and 10 in the car on the way home because of traffic, and all the activities in between. He said it was no big deal because once they got to Utah, the kids were in heaven playing with their cousins and their Aunties took such good care of them that he didn't feel like he was doing anything on his own at all! Still, I think he is amazing!!! Love You Honey!!!

And, NEXT year, be rest assured that I WILL NOT be missing out on our fourth of July festivities, no matter where we end up celebrating!

A Little of This and a Little of That!!!!

Wow! I can't believe that June is over and tomorrow is the 4th of July. The days and weeks seem to go so slowly for me these days but then when I look back its as if they flew by in a snap!! Anyway, I was downloading pics off my camera from the past month and thought I'd post a few to give an update of our JUNE '09!!

BYU FOOTBALL CAMP

Spencer and some friends from church/school/football team, Ethan, Brady and Bayley (Bayley isn't in the pic as he didn't fly with the boys to get to camp) signed up for the BYU Jr. High Football Camp. Though they aren't in Jr. High for another year, the ages for the camp are "going into 6th grade through 8th grade!" That means the boys qualified and were sooooo excited to go to the camp. They flew out to Utah together, no parents, and even got to stay on campus in the dorms. Spencer and Brady were roommates and Ethan and Bayley were roommates with their rooms right next door to eachother. Ethan's mom, Sally, and I took the boys to the Airport the day before the camp started to see them off. It was soooo surreal to me to not only send Spence off on an airplane by himself but to send him to a camp, to stay in the dorms, with no parents. Am I old enough for this? I guess so cause off Spence went. Of course he had SOOOOO much fun, and to my knowledge didn't get in trouble :-). Every night he'd call and would sound absolutely exhausted but completely happy. He loved the Football part of the camp and even won a DEFENSIVE MVP award. Having him gone was so strange and we all missed him like crazy but are happy he had such a great time!

LOS ANGELES LAKERS- NBA CHAMPIONS!!!

One of our absolutely favorite and most looked forward to events of the past few months has been watching the NBA Playoffs. As most of you know, Adam is from So. California and is a life long Laker fan. When we got married, he taught me everything there is to know about the Lakers (and more :-) and since I grew up in Canada and had no affiliation to an NBA team, I easily got caught up in the Shaq and Kobe drama and became a die hard Laker fan as well. As each of our children have been born, we have taught them the Laker Fan Way and so all of our kids love them too. (Adam and I even watched a Laker game, in the hospital, the night Spencer was born (thank you epidural)--they won! :-)

Since all of us love the Lakers, playoff time each year gets pretty exciting. Last year was a tough ending for us when they lost to the Celtics. We had bought Jersey's for each of us: Adam's is 24- Bryant, Mine is 7-Odom, Spencer is 16-Gasol, Annie is 5-Farmar, Garett is 17-Bynum and Logan's was supposed to be 3-Fisher but they messed it up and didn't put anything on it- and really gotten into the excitement of the playoffs. Heartbreak came for us, especially Adam, Spencer and Annie when we lost and we've been waiting all year long for the 2009 playoffs for our beloved team to redeem themselves. And redeem they did!!! It was so much fun to watch them play, to get to know the other teams and to, in the end, see them win it all. The kids got so into it that they would wear their jerseys to school after each win, even when we were playing the Nuggets. Crazy kids! They were really good about not "rubbing it in" too much to their friends and actually ended up recruiting a few Lakers fans along the way.

Anyway, in the end, we were all sooooo happy our Lakers pulled it off. Many have their opinions of the Lakers and especially of Kobe Bryant but to us, he is an AMAZING basketball player, who has made some mistakes along his way, but who seems to have worked it out and become a better player and person. To our Lakers!! Thank you!!! You did it!!! GO LAKERS!!!!!!

LEGO

Garett is our LEGO LOVER! He is always looking at what the latest and greatest LEGO sets are and always asks for them for his Birthdays and Christmas. The funniest thing about his LEGO passion is that 9 times out of 10, they are too big, too complicated or take too long for him to sit and build by himself. Spencer, Adam or me always end up building his sets for him. The latest set he got was the Indiana Jones Airplane set. The week after Spencer got home from Football Camp he and G started working on the set. After a few hours Garett got bored and found something else to do, but not Spence, he was committed and about 6 or 7 hours later emerged from Garett's room with his masterpiece in hand! It was awesome!!! Way to go Spence!

NATALIE RAE

I wish I had taken more pictures, but this is all I got of the three days we were able to have my niece, Natalie, come and stay with us. My sister's inlaws, who all live here, were in Utah for a few days and brought Nanny back with them to stay with us until Julie and TJ arrived for their visit here. Nan is such a fun, cute, happy, easy and sweet little thing to have around and ALL of my kids (and Adam and I) LOVED having her here.

*SIDE NOTE: Natalie went home after a week in CO, 1/2 with us and 1/2 with her Brinkerhoff cousins and grandparents and 2 days after getting home broke and dislocated her elbow. Julie will be posting about that on her blog I'm sure brinks-blog.blogspot.com. She ended up having surgery at 11:30 at night and is doing well. Just a shout out to my Nanny Rae (as we call her) to tell her I love her, miss her and hope her arm gets better soon!

BRINKS II Visit

Even though Ju, TJ and the kids were staying with TJ's parents, we were lucky enough to see them a few times while they were here. One day they came to our neck of the woods with Lindsay and her girls and invited us to meet them at the pool. The kids had so much fun swimming and playing together. Above are the two goofiest little boys in the world. Brady, who was less than thrilled wearing Madison's pink floaties, and Logan were two little fish and we could hardly get them out of the water!
Spencer and Jack had a great time running from the inside pool to the outside pool. Garett, Natalie and Josh were with them two but again, I'm dumb and didn't get a picture of all of them. Annie was at basketball camp all week so had to miss out on the Brink fun!

While all the kids played in the water, Julie, LouAnne, Lindsay, TJ and I sat in the shade chatting. It was a short little jaunt for us as the clouds rolled in and they closed the pool, but it was nice to see everyone and let the kids play!

ANNIE BASKETBALL CAMP

I don't have any pictures (again), but Annie spent 4 days at the local High School Girls Basketball camp. Everyday she went from 9-4. I can't even begin to tell you how proud and amazed I am of her. None of her friends from school or her basketball team were able to go to the camp but that didn't phase her in the least. She was so excited to go and spend four days playing basketball that she didn't care who was there. When I dropped her off the first day she was wearing her LAKERS basketball jersey. On the way to the school she asked if I thought anyone would be mad at her for wearing it since so many people are Nuggets Fans. I told her she might get a few comments but it'd be okay. As we were checking in the HS Girls Head Coach was there and said "Awesome Laker's Jersey, and its even got Jordan Farmar's number on it". Well, I don't have to tell you what that did to her confidence level. Turns out the coach is from So. Cal and a huge Laker's fan. When I picked her up at the end of the day, every one at the camp was calling her "Kobe". She said she played pretty good and all the HS girls (who help run the camp) started calling her that and all the girls followed suit. After the second day of camp a few girls even came up to her and asked her if Kobe was her real name. Hilarious!

On the last day of camp, when I went into the gym to pick her up she came over with a piece of paper that was a registration information form for the local competitive basketball league. The leagues games are on Sundays so we've never considered playing in it. I was curious to know if there are any other leagues that are competitive but don't play Sundays so I asked the head coach if he knew. He called over two guys, who were picking up their daughters too, but who are involved in the Sunday league. I spent a good half hour talking to them about how we don't play Sundays but want to find a league. They were SOOOOO cool and went onto say that even if she can't play on Sundays, they do have a few games on Saturdays and a few tournaments that aren't Sunday. They both said they'd been watching Annie and really want her to play in their league, even if its just to practice and get to know all the girls so when she gets to HS she'll know them already. They said they have lots of LDS kids who play in their league and its great.

Soooo, as I was talking to these guys, it comes out that the last two days of camp Annie was playing with the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders, not the 3rd and 4th graders (she'll be in 4th grade) and a few of the older girls even came over and patted her on the back saying "great job Annie", etc. Then one of the guys I was talking to told her that the HS coach had pointed her out to him and said "See that one right there, she's only in 4th grade". He THEN told me that the league that plays Sundays starts when the girls are in the 6th grade but that they make acceptions and would love to have Annie start playing with them THIS YEAR!!!! WOW!!! Of course Adam and I are beaming with pride, especially me, since I was a basketball lover but never took or had the opportunities to play more than on school leagues. Annie was excited about it and we told her if she wants to do it, she can with the understanding she won't play in many games, since they are on Sundays. She said as long as she gets to still play in her regular Saturday Rec league, then she wants to at least try out this year! So, I think she's gonna do it.

We're so proud of her and her determination to go after what she loves. Way to go Annie!

WE'RE GOING TO THE ZOO ZOO ZOO!!

With the heat of the summer finally kicking in I've been a bit of a bump on a log and haven't really done a ton of "FUN" stuff with my kids like I usually do in the summer. Last Friday my girlfriend said she was going to the zoo and wondered if I wanted to meet her there. I knew it would be hot, but I also knew it would probably be the last time we'd go to the zoo for a while so away we went. Spencer was at Scout Camp so he couldn't come but Annie, G, Logan and I had a great time. Thankfully there is a ton of shade at the zoo so it didn't end up being too hot (at least not for everyone else).
Waiting for our friends in a shady spot!
My pregnant self, swollen and everything, with G and Logan or as I have been calling them lately "The Little Boys". -Adam asked me if I'd always call them that even though they aren't so little anymore. It made me laugh that he asked that because when we were growing up my cousin Laurie and sister Julie were always referred to as "the little girls", even when they started getting older, we all still called them the little girls.

WATER WORLD

Last Saturday, with the Brinks II in town, they invited us to go with them and all their family to Water World. Of course WW was a no go for me, but Adam and the kids went and had a blast. I stayed home and took care of my little niece Reece and Lindsay's little Brooklyn. Though I had myself a little pity party while they were gone, I call it "Pre-Pardom Depression" because I was so bummed I couldn't go. I LOVE WATER WORLD!!! I did however have a fun time with the little girlies. They were so fun to watch and play with and it made me excited to have another little girl of my own in a few weeks.

The kids and Adam had a fabulous time at the water park! They only had one little mishap when they lost Garett for about 20 minutes and didn't even know he was gone until a lifeguard walked up to them with G in tow--long story but it all turned out ok so I won't get into it :-). They all came home exhausted but happy after a fun day in the sun!

MISSIONARIES

Since January I've tried to make an effort to have the missionaries in our home more. It's hard because our mission likes to have the elders fed dinner at 5:00 but Adam doesn't usually get home until after 6 or 6:30. When the calendar comes around Sundays are usually already taken so we hadn't had them over for quite some time. With Spencer getting close to turning 12 and starting Young Men's I really wanted to have the missionaries over more. Not only because of the great spirit they bring, but also because they are such good examples for my kids. Since having them over, we've gotten to know some really great Young Men. In January we had Elder Bragg and Elder McMurray. McMurray is from Cardston and knows our summer babysitter Brigitte. It was fun to get to know him and make So. Alberta connections. He was BRAND NEW when he was in our ward and it was so great to watch him grow into his mission. Elder Bragg was transferred and in came Elder Fauvell. Fauvell is a happy, fun, hard working, positive attitude missionary. We loved having him over and he and McMurray always left us with a wonderful gospel message. A few months after Fauvell got here, McMurray was transferred and in came Elder Anderson. Anderson is a bit quieter than Fauvell but still a good, hardworking kid! Well, unbeknownst to me until about a week ago, our ward was Elder Fauvell's last area as he would be going home in July! I'd asked him about a month ago how much longer he had to serve and with a big grin on his face he said, "I've got quite awhile left". I assumed that meant at least 6 months or more but the good missionary he is, he didn't want to start thinking about home so he would never say how long he actually had. Anyway, the Elder's were over about a week and a half ago and Fauvell let it spill that he goes home July 3rd (today). On Tuesday this week he stopped by to say goodbye. The kids were so cute and told him they were sad to see him go. Garett's final goodbye was "Have a good life. We'll see ya when we see ya!". Before he left we had the kids take a picture with him. Good luck Fauvell!!!

So that brings us up to date! July is now here and I'm anxiously awaiting my baby girl's arrival. I had a dr. appt. on Wednesday where an ultrasound was done to determine her estimated weight. Right now she's measuring 7 lbs 12 oz, give or take a pound and a half, with 2 1/2 weeks to go! She's gonna be a big one!!!! We'll keep you posted!!!