summer trip to utah (aka the homeland) 2013

 

 above 2 photos taken by Laurel White

ZACH! this kid has been gone for 2 years, serving our church and the wonderful people in Paraguay. It was so good to see him again and hear all his amazing stories. I am so proud of him.

 We did a lot of swimming, visiting and playing with my side. (we also took some photos...3 cheers for self timed pics.) After chilling with the Whites, we went up to a beautiful cabin at Bear lake to spend time with the Sparks side.

We hiked to Bloomington Lake

Played at Bear Lake

And had loads of fun. 

It is always sad to have these trips come to an end. I really miss living near our families and being more connected to them (especially the cousins for our little ladies). It is, however, really nice to be home and getting settled back into a routine. P starts kindergarten on Tuesday, which i don't think ANYTHING could have prepared me for. She is stoked and I'm in cold sweats... More on that later. (if sending her off doesn't kill me.)

hobble creek half marathon

I ran the hobble creek half marathon on Saturday. It was a really great run, made better by a really great running buddy, Anna. My mom and brother also ran it and totally rocked it. This was fun, but it will be my babies last half marathon until after she is born. I will probably keep running, but cut back quite a bit.

As Isla would say, "we're outta here." 

I have the cutest travel buddies.

our baby is a...

20 weeks+3 days

This week is going to be almost too great to handle. First, my little bro is getting back from his mission in Paraguay! He has been gone for 2 years and I am ready to see that guy again. Second, we get a shot at finding out the sex of our baby tomorrow. Whoot.

I am 20 weeks and 3 days in this photo. I am going to try to get Bryan to take this again, because I feel like it doesn't do the bump justice. I am feeling BIG. I started wearing maternity clothes here and there, but they are a bit on the large side still. The problem is a lot of my regular clothes aren't fitting well...it's fun. 

I am super excited to be at the half way point. we are having an ultrasound tomorrow and we will, hopefully, find out if we are having a boy or adding to the girls power of our house. Either way we will be so excited and I already have projects in mind that I want to start on. I have been feeling the baby moving around for the last 3-4 weeks, but now it is stronger and more often. I am still running, in fact I am running a half marathon on Saturday...we'll see how that one goes. Anyway, I will post tomorrow and let you know if it will be XX or XY.

Burke Museum

 Last Thursday we went to the Burke Museum with some friends. It was the free day at the museum, so we only had to pay for parking. It was a very fun and informative visit. We really loved seeing the native artifacts from the Seattle area. Penelope wants me to add that she really liked the dinosaurs best and then the telescope. After the museum we walked around the UW campus, it is a beautiful campus.

In the park

Bryan and I got to go to the Shakespeare in the Park presented by Wooden O (A part of the Seattle Shakespeare Company). We attended the performances at Pine Lake park, we saw HenryV and The Tempest. Both Plays were really well done. It was a new experience to see Shakespeare in a really informal, outdoor setting, it was charming. The best part is that they were both FREE! We did have to pay for a babysitter, but how often do you get to see a professional acting troupe free? This will definitely become a regular summer activity for us and when the kids get a little older, we will take them too.

Now, I wasn't supposed to take pictures... I didn't realize that until I had already snapped a couple of Pics and since I'm a rebel, I'm posting them

We also attended the Movies at Marymoor with the kids. That was an adventure. They had some really tasty food trucks there and some entertainment before the movie (we went to The Incredible). We filled our bellies and ran around a little and then we watched the flick. It was fun. Isla got restless in the movie and then it went pretty late. I think this is a 1x a summer activity until the kids are older.

isla's big girl quilt

Last week I finished this quilt for Isla's big girl bed. We haven't gotten her a bed yet...but we will have a quilt for it when we do. We have been debating getting the girls bunk beds, getting P a loft bed and give la la P's bed OR just getting another twin sized bed. Bryan and I are epically slow at making decisions and so we can maybe plan on getting Isla out of the crib JUST before the baby is born.

For this quilt I got 1/2 yard cuts of 9 colors and enough white to use 1 yard on the front and the back the quilt.  I cut 8 1/2" squares and then I cut the squares in half diagonally, randomly matched halves up and then sewed them into rows.  I quilted with Perl cotton size 5 and bound it with purple. The quilt was easy and pretty quick.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!

This guy is 30! We went to Lot 3 and got way too much food in celebration.

I love you Bryan!