Sweet, sweet summer time.

This week we found out the gender of our new baby: A GIRL is joining our family in November! Yay! I brought home donuts with pink frosting after my appointment to share the news with the kids! We're so excited! Now we have to think of baby girl names! The twin in me loves that each of my children will have a makeshift twin. :)

We visited the zoo with our free coupon. The weather was on the cooler side that morning so the animals were extra alert. 

We had a great time!

This picture is to show how much the boys are helping around the house these days - They started their laundry then put the clothes into the dryer. They even remembered to pull out their shirts that didn't need to be in the dryer. The boys are become more and more helpful. I'm so grateful for their help, especially now while I'm pregnant! 

We miss visiting the library so we went on an adventure to Barns and Noble where each kid got to pick out a new book!

Eleanor was quiet in my bathroom one afternoon and then came out with my mascara on her face. She actually did manage to get some on her eye lashes! She's a funny girl for sure. 

The boys are participating in the Book It program sponsored by Pizza Hut. Aaron and I participated in this reading program when we were kids so it's fun to see the boys having a turn at getting rewarded for reading books!

Aaron trimmed the tree in the front yard and then the boys cleaned up the clippings. Austin made me laugh when I saw him carrying this branch that was taller than him. 

And baby bump! Here I am at 20 weeks! Half. Way. There! Yay!

We tried to take a picture with a timer before going off to church. Ha ha! 

I love this family of mine and love this period in my life. So many times I'd dream about being married and motherhood and here I am - living the best dream ever. 

Rainy Weather

It rained several days this week. One particular day it rained in the morning and then cleared up by the afternoon. It wasn't too hot so we went on a temple walk! I miss being able to attend the temple. The temple grounds were peaceful and full of life with birds, insects and beautiful flowers. It really is a blessing for us to be able to walk to the temple. 

This cup made me laugh - this is so me most of the time. 

The YW met together for the first time in person since the pandemic hit. We made cards for police officers and had s'mores. It felt like a mini-girls camp. 

Our library has books available for pickup and they even threw in some crafts for the kids to do. Here is Austin's cat puppet!

On Saturday, Austin was invited to a birthday party for a girl in his primary class. We haven't been to birthday parties for months and just a few kids from the ward were going so we felt like it was okay to attend. We've still been trying to do our part during this pandemic so we haven't gone to a ton of places. When we arrived at the party, Eli got invited to stay for it too and Eleanor cried the entire walk back home. She wanted to stay! For an hour and a half, it was just Eleanor and me. We had a popsicle together on the porch. Sometimes I forget what it was like to only have one child. It's so quiet!! When the boys arrived home, Eleanor ran and gave them big hugs and said, "Welcome home! I missed you!" It was so sweet. 

Our neighbor kids also had a little birthday party in the afternoon and Eleanor was invited this time. She loved being with the big kids! 

We also worked on the basement bathroom. I found these decorations and loved the pop of color. I'm excited to work on other rooms in our house!! 

Sunday - we worshipped at home as a family. Aaron taught a lesson about repentance and had the boys walk around the house with 25 lb weights - Eleanor's was 10 lbs. Aaron taught about the extra weight we feel when we carry our sins around. He then had the kids set the weights down and walk around the house without them. They were able to walk so much easily. I hope they remember object lessons like this!

We continue to swim most days and sprinkle in school work, reading, practicing the piano and straightening up the house. I signed the boys up for face to face learning, but they are required to wear a mask. A lot of schools are already saying they will go to virtual learning. I don't know what the future holds. I'm nervous about it, but then I feel at peace when I remember that Heavenly Father is in control. I feel more and more grateful that I'm a stay at home mom right now and if school does go completely virtual, our home life won't be too interrupted because I won't be scrambling to find a babysitter because I have to be at a job outside the home.  

Fun 4th of July

I had an appointment with my OBGYN and took a picture of this cute sign as I waited for my dr. 

We cleaned the boys' room and because I love tossing stuff when I can, I took a picture of Eli's class picture and then tossed this. He loved his little class.

This single flower at the pool entrance made me smile. 

We swim and have popsicles almost daily. 

Aaron and my kids gave me these flowers for mother's day. In May we got so much rain, I thought these flowers weren't going to make it. Then one day, these beautiful flowers popped up and I was reminded to not give up to things so quickly. 

Megan and Jeff and their 3 kids drove all the way from Arizona to visit us for the 4th of July. It's a 20 hour drive!! We finally got to meet baby Sybil. 

Car naps whenever possible during these summer adventures. 

Aaron found his old bennie baby collection and the kids each got to pick one out. 

We toured Adam-ondi-Ahman. 

My mom's friends are serving a mission at Adam-ondi-Ahman and I knocked on their door and chatted with them. The valley in Colorado has some of the best people. 

We had a 4th of July BBQ and TONS of fireworks. Aaron doesn't spend money on a lot of hobbies, so I wasn't too upset when he spent $200 on fireworks haha. In total, we had about $500 worth of fireworks we shot off. The rest of the neighbors let off tons of fireworks too. It was crazy and exciting. The Raverts said they want to come back every year to our neighborhood!!

I made this flag cake. 

I'm sad I didn't take more pictures, but here I am with our baby at 20 weeks! We're half way there! 

On Sunday we were able to attend church with our ward and it felt oh so good being back at church. We've loved church in our home and we'll continue to have it at home every other week. We're grateful we can worship at church now too!

Monday: We swam the morning away with cousins!

We played games, went to Smithville Lake and spent time out to the Volks' property helping to get their apartment ready for them to move into.

Another visitor we included in our house full of people was Mr. Gecko. We watched him for 2 weeks for our friends and he was an easy, low maintenance pet to have around. 

One more picture before our cousins headed back home. These two fought lots and also hugged lots. It was a love/hate relationship for sure. 

And home church. I love seeing their smiles as they both got to sit with their dad.