Father's Day pictures

He's the greatest Father ever.  Period.

Big sisters are the best

Grandma

These kids adore Grandma :)  It's always a treat when they get to spend the day at her house!

June wrap-up

We try to live it up during the summer.  I'm already DREADING school starting next month :(  Here's just a sampling of how we spent the month of June.  From sno-cones, the lake, the pool, baseball game, 7-Peaks, hiking, scout camp (me), to roasting marshmallows on the picnic table.  I'd say that these kids are pretty lucky- but I'm pretty sure I'm luckier.

Baby #5!

It still doesn't seem real, besides the fact that I've been sick for 2 solid months and my belly is quite round.  But we're going to have our 5th and FINAL baby in December!  I'm due on the 30th and I'll be induced on the 23rd.  Right now, I'm 15 weeks pregnant.  I had some major bleeding and uterus tightening a couple weeks ago and went to the dr. to be checked out.  They did and ultrasound and found NOTHING wrong.  They also found out that we're having a BOY!!!  We were SOOO hoping for a boy so Nixon could have a little buddy!  We know we're extremely blessed and we definitely count our blessings. I'm especially excited to have my days of pregnancy behind me...sometimes that's what gets me through the day, just knowing that in a few months, I'll NEVER have to feel this awful again.  I need to make a list of all my symptoms so I can remember it all when my girls start having babies and begin feeling the same way (I sure hope they somehow skip this gene.)
nauseated all day- but worse at night, bad taste in mouth all the time and I'm always spitting, super dry sinuses that irritate me all day, Braxton Hicks contractions almost the whole time, bleeding at some point with every pregnancy, bad skin, melasma, headaches that may or may not be caused by my Zofran, calf cramps at night, serious lack of energy.

So on that positive note!  Here's a picture of us telling the kids our big news.  They are so excited :)

My little girls turned 7...

I don't even know how to put into words how I feel about Camryn & Brooklyn.  They were truly meant to be sent to me FIRST!  Although they are as different as night and day, they have many similarities.  They are easy kids.  In fact, they go beyond that; they are extremely helpful and obedient.  They are motivated to succeed and they are always looking out for Kendyl, Nixon and me.  I've loved having them home this summer.  They've woken up early, gotten Nixon out of bed, fed him breakfast and played with him downstairs so I can sleep longer!  Now if I could just get them to change diapers!  I love having my little buddies and feel so blessed to have them forever.
Camryn-She has a mature little mind.  Her sense of humor is unreal.  She recognizes her talent with the violin and loves to make music.  She doesn't give Nixon an inch of space all day long....it's almost concerning.  She plays much better with boys than with girls....also concerning.  She is an amazing artist.  She rarely complains.  She is a little weirdo :)  Her dances and walks always make us laugh.
Brooklyn-She could spend all day practicing the piano.  She has flown through her books and her teacher (Grandma) is blown away.  She could also spend all day looking at the American Doll catalogue.  She is all girl and loves headbands, skirts, dolls, fairies and friends.  She is very sweet and it doesn't take much to put a smile on her face.  She loves to read- in fact, I checked out an American Girl book from the library the other day and she had it read a few hours later.  She is so patient with her siblings.  She is a bit ditsy and absent minded and sometimes we worry!  haha.  She is our worrier/tender child :)

For their birthday this year, we had a picnic at Liberty Park at the 7 Canyons Fountains- So much fun.  Their cousins came and enjoyed the day with them.

Playa Del Carmen

We took the Red Eye to Cancun on the last day of school.  We wanted to start summer vacation with a bang!  And leaving the kids at Grandma's and going on a tropical vacation with the Clark fam was the perfect way :)  We spent the first 3 days waiting for the rain to quit!  Did this stop us from our adventures?  Absolutely not. (Plus, Matt and Kate were leaving early and we wanted to make sure they got to do the fun stuff!)

We want to Xel.ha- The most perfect, "Disneyland" ever!  Instead of rides and characters, there's snorkeling, rope swings, hammocks, cliff jumping, zip lines, all you can eat buffet, dolphins and more.  Unfortunately for us, the rain put a bit of a damper on the whole "tropical feeling"  but we still had fun and made great memories :)  We spent the second half of the day at Talum- ancient ruins.  We finished off EACH AND EVERY night walking the "boardwalk".  A mile long blocked off road full of amazing Mexican restaurants and fun shops.  We always ate at fabulous authentic places and then headed over to the ice cream shop :)  Our resort was only a block away so it was just perfect.

The next day, we went cave snorkeling.  The caves are called cenotes and they are pretty amazing.  There were lamps throughout the caves and a little bit of daylight.  Our guides were great and took us to 2 sites.  The second one looked like a beautiful giant pond in the middle of the garden of Eden.  I could have sat there all day and just stared.

The next day....the sun finally made its appearance.  Sadly for Matt and Kate- that's just when they left :(  I spent the rest of my vacation laying at the beach!  When we got hungry- we'd walk to the other end of the beach where there were fruit stands with the best Mango I've ever tasted.  $2!  We played paddle ball, catch, searched for shells, swam in the Ocean, got sunburned and just enjoyed relaxing.  I spent one day reading a book while everyone else went scuba diving.  Why didn't I go?  Well for starters, I somehow developed a nasty sinus infection that basically wasn't allowing me to breath!  And secondly, I'm pregnant!  Yes- but that will be for a later post.  But naturally- when I'm pregnant, I'm very sick- and that put a bit of a damper on my vacation.  But I was just so happy to be there :)  The plane ride home almost killed me and I spent a good amount of time in the bathroom.  But to wrap it up- it was a much needed, much enjoyed trip and I'm grateful to be able to do these fun things every now and then.

*The cheap smoothies and quesadillas on "that one street".
*Papa's tat.
*Bracelets for the girls with their names on them.
*McDonalds.
*Facetime in the Lobby.
*Canadian TV