happy humpday!

Lots of reasons to be happy today!!  Here are a few:

• Have you heard of Larabars??  They are amazing.  And expensive.  So I made my own.  I call this one "Almond Butter and Jelly".  What's in it?  1/2 cup almonds, about 1/2 lb of dates (which I can now buy bulk at Winco... because we have one! Yes!!!), 1/4 of dried cranberries, 1 tb peanut butter.  Don't let looks deceive you - it's delicious! 
• These shorts were pants yesterday.  Really cute maternity pants that were a smidge too short and I never wore.  Now they are really cute shorts.  And I sewed!  So fun!
• I caught both of my kids licking their bowls clean after dinner.  It's always a good dinner when kids are licking their bowls clean.  Thank you roasted tomato soup. 
• Warm weather is back.  I'd like to emphasize WARM.  I don't love HOT.  But warm is fun.  Splash pads.  Cooler/aka kiddie pool on the porch.  Everything blooming (especially my allergies).  Flip flops.  Ahhh....
• I got a great haircut... and my hair holds curl.  It's a miracle.  
• I'm 34 weeks now!  Only 6 more (okay... more like 7-8) and we'll meet this little princess!  Hooray!

• There are 4 pictures of me in this blog post.  I think that is an accomplishment in and of itself. 

happy late humpday!

I'm totally counting this as a legitimate humpday post since I just got over the hump of being sick.  So today I'm happy that...

• I'm not laying in bed like I basically have been since Saturday and I'm wearing real clothes and contacts today.  Who knew there was a stomach flu that lasted 5 days?  Hide in your houses.  Trust me.  You don't want this one.
• I have the best hubby in the world who took amazing care of us... and a mom who is equally wonderful and keeps taking care of us since dad had to go back to work.  
• Even though Van (and Aaron... who is at work) are now sick too, that it's a lovely chilly, windy day and none of the barf smell can stay in my house with all of the windows open!  It feels AMAZING in my house.  Like real spring... not this crazy 90 degree Vegas spring like this weekend.  Oh, and birds are even singing to me on my porch in the middle of the afternoon! 
• Van Van is the sweetest sick kid on the planet.  Looking forward to having this Van back though. 
• I ate this last week before I got sick.  Em and Van both ate big kid-plate fulls... and then Aaron and I may or may not have eaten the rest of the pan. 

  

  Stacked roasted veggie enchiladas from Perry's Plate
  

• My friends are being blessed!!  One friend is seeing a chiropractor today for consultation about her very fussy baby (crossing fingers its a good option!), another is close to getting off bed rest in her pregnancy, and I get to see another friend next week and her so, so, so cute new little baby boy.  Oh... and my BFF is getting MARRIED June 9th.  So excited (not about the whole being the humongous brides maid part, but the wedding part!)!!!!!!  For some reasons it's extra easy to see blessings after laying around in bed feeling sorry about myself for 5 days. 

Zion and a Century Ride

Aaron signed up to ride a century ride in St. George with his buddy (and our old Bishop from our BYU days) Mike Dicou.  So we headed up a few days early and hiked around Zion!  It was beautiful and I think we had the only 30 hour period all week where it didn't rain!  Hooray!

He loves me.  Can you tell?

Silly tent faces.  Dad brought us tons of blankets (to put over our sleeping bags) to make sure we all stayed warm.  The kids slept great.  So did the big pregnant lady. 

Tent bedtime stories

Hiking to Emerald Pools - the kids did the "Moderate" hike all the way to the upper falls!  They were hiking champs!

Once again, dad came prepared to keep everyone warm when we started freezing!

I love this face.

At the lower Emerald Falls.  Van loves "waterhalls" so this hike was so fun for him!

Van with his "waterhalls."

Yum!

My belly isn't really deformed... I just carry lots of stuff in my front pockets...

Washing his hands with mud on the Virgin River.  We hung out at the river right before we left for only about 30 minutes.  The kids could have spent 3 hours there.  Good note to mom and dad.

Van was obsessed with the shuttle buses.  He'd yell "shuttle bus!" every time he saw one... which was a lot.

Dad and Emery at the top of the 2nd hike we did - The Canyon View trail.  Beautiful - and windy - views from the top.  It was fun!!

While dad rode his century ride in St. George... in the rain and low 40s... burr... we had to find some place fun to play inside.  Antigravity Trampoline Arena is the place to be!!  We all loved it!

Despite the near freezing and rainy weather, Van thought it was a good idea to play in the fountain at the finish line in downtown St. George.  This kid has a thing for water... regardless of temperature. 

And then he finished waiting like this.  He was frozen.

And she was frozen, too.  What a trooper waiting to yell for dad as he crossed the finish!

The biking dudes at about mile 50.  Aaron was this happy when he crossed the finish line too.  Though I'm sure he was walking better at mile 50.  Crazy husband!  He loves a good adventure!

Finishing this race was a big accomplishment.  It rained ALL day when they were on the bike.  They were covered in mud, freezing and soaked to the bone.  What a guy!

Imperial Beach with the Sampsons

 Remember these 4?

We invited our friends the Sampsons to go to Imperial Beach last year with us, too, when Aaron was out of town during busy season.   They were able to come again this year and we had a blast again!  I love CC and her kids!

Here are the 4 kids now!

same 4 kids - lots bigger this year!

The mermaids and the mermen

 

I can't even begin to tell you the deliciousness of Cowabunga's Ice Cream on the Imperial Beach pier.  A month before this I had fresh blueberry ice cream - made that day.  This time it was peanut butter brownie and coconut.  Life changing.  If I lived there I'd surely weight 300 lbs.  (Have I mentioned I have a weird thing for peanut butter and chocolate this pregnancy.  Yum.)

Emery and Skye.  These girls played and played and played on the beach.  They had so much fun!

I love Em's little bum in this picture.  Why don't weggies bother kids like they do adults? 

The freezing cold beach dudes.  Van was freezing because he swam for 1/2 an hour.  He was soaked.  CJ was freezing like the rest of us... because it was cold!!

sand monster

Spot the sand monster - see the ring around his eye?

February and March... and happy humpday!

Happy humpday!  I promise I've had many a happy Wednesday in my blogging off time... just no posting about them!  What makes me happy today?  Catching up on my blog.  :)  Here are some random things we did in February and March. 

1st family bike ride.  All of us on our own bikes.  We didn't go very far, but it was awesome and it made us feel like a real, legitimate family... instead of two silly people taking care of these really cute kids who everyone thinks are ours.  :)

Van picked his nose on the bike ride.  I know, you're shocked. 

Em and dad went on a date.  Just the two of them.  She insisted on getting all dressed up.  They went and got ice cream.   She got cotton candy ice cream and talked about the whole night for a week.  She loves her dad. 

Family dinner.  Uncle Bry has been around a lot.  Which we love.  He's hilarious.  The kids ADORE him.  And he makes ridiculous faces for pictures. 

I used underage child labor to get my house clean.  Thanks Van....

And Em and Jayne.   They actually did a really nice job of the kids' bathroom.  Hand a 4 and 5 year old girl pink rags and they'll do almost anything.

We had a yard makeover.  Just some lovely plants (that will eventually fill in the space), took out rocks and put in bark.  Very simple, but our space out there is so much cleaner and more appealing now!

We tested out the new rain gear we got the kids at end of season clearance at REI ($2.83 for each piece - tops and bottoms for both kids).  Worked great and we all had a blast running around in the rain!

We went to two shows - both for free.  I love free.  We saw Viva Elvis (a Cirque du Soleil show) with Aaron's co-workers in celebration of them completing the year-end City Center audit.  (Viva Elvis is AT City Center.)   In March we saw Phantom of the Opera at The Venetian compliments of some friends of ours... who got them free from another friend.   Both were really fun and now we feel like we can really call ourselves locals since we've seen a show together.