Baby Shower

On July 15th, my good friends Liberty, Jen and Shalyce threw me a baby shower. They were so kind to plan such a fun night for me and my baby girl on the way. It was so much fun to chat with lots of friends as they dropped in throughout the night to wish us well.

Here I am at 34 weeks with my friend, Monica. She and her son, Ethan, were in Tyler's preschool co-op for the past two years.



It is so much fun to imagine our baby girl wearing all these cute outfits and BOWS!




Ruth, Kelly and Angie



Megan, Liberty, Lisa, Me and Beth





Cami



Liberty and Lisa



Megan and Me (She just had her baby girl a week after this baby shower. 4 weeks early)



Arianne, Melanie and Leslie



DeAnne, her daughter, Samantha, and Shalyce

Jump in!

The weather is finally warming up around here and we have been hitting the pool and the slip n'slide in our backyard! The boys have had a good time this week in swimming lessons at a pool just down the street from our house.



Justin has a smile on his face every time his head comes out of the water and Tyler is becoming more daring each day. Tonight before bed, they both were jumping off the ladder to their bunk bed "practicing" for tomorrow. They have been having so much fun, I signed them both up for another session of swimming lessons in a few weeks.

Here are my two fish:

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great 4th of July weekend here in Oregon. We enjoyed the Hillsboro 4th of July parade near a fun park. The boys played on the playground before and after the parade. Here is a picture of my boys all decked out in their New York Yankees outfits (Travis was so proud!) along with some other pictures of the parade:






After the parade, we had a fun BBQ afternoon with our good friends, the Mattesons. Then fireworks out front with our neighbors both nights. I taught our Relief Society presidency's message on Sunday. We discussed God's hand in our nation's history. I just love the 4th of July holiday when we can focus on what is important and good about America and all the great blessings we enjoy because of the sacrifices of those who came before us. I think one of my favorite parts of this holiday is all the patriotic music and colors everywhere. It just makes my heart sing!

Basketball Baby Belly

My cute sister-in-law Shannon says it is time for a baby belly picture. How about five? A couple of weeks ago, my dad and Travis' parents came up to Portland for Justin's baptism. Here are some of the biggest belly pictures my dad took of me over the weekend. I'm 30 weeks now, but 28 in these pictures:







And here I am in my designated spot on the couch...with boys bouncing off the walls all around me.



Oh, this baby is in for some fun. I had another ultrasound yesterday and the baby looked so cute! She was opening and closing her mouth and even put her fist up to her mouth. Adorable!

2010 Baseball Season

The boys completed their baseball season this past week. Justin played on a coach pitch team and Tyler played on a K-ball team. Travis was an assistant coach on both teams. By chance both boys ended up with the same color of jerseys...yellow. Between the two of them, we cheered them on at baseball games Monday-Thursday for since the beginning of April. Travis will continue playing on his men's league team through mid-July. Here are some pictures and short video clips from our 2010 Baseball Games:



Justin



Tyler's favorite position is catcher.



"Give me five!"



Travis pitching to Ty.



What other 3rd base coach runs to home base with the batters? Justin was a good assistant to the assistant coach on Tyler's team.



Travis was driving Tyler to his t-ball game one night. Tyler asked him if they were going to be late. Travis said, "No Tyler, we are going to be early." Tyler paused and then asked, "What's early?" Ha ha! Our poor boys...

Here's a video clip of Justin batting...



Justin helping Dad help Tyler as catcher. Don't miss the "Ring around the Daddy Dance"...



Travis pitching to Tyler...



What are we going to do now that baseball is over? Ummm...actually eat dinner instead of granola bars and maybe get the boys in bed by 8:00 instead of 9:30? That sounds good to me. Until next year boys...

Bobcat

Justin received his Bobcat in Cub Scouts this week. Afterwards, he told me he wants to earn every patch offered in the Cub Scout program before he crosses over to Boy Scouts. Good thing we're already chugging along...next stop along the Wolf Trail...the religious knot.



I'm so happy he is excited about the scouting program. I know he'll learn so much about life, himself and his Heavenly Father. Way to go, Justin!

On your mark, get set, GO!

Justin and two of his neighbor buddies were all smiles today for their race to the "Last Day of School Finish Line"!

Summer Book of Mormon Challenge

We just introduced this fun reading program for our kids at Famiy Home Evening tonight.

www.scriptures4kids.com

Click on the "Scripture Reading Challenge" and scroll down on the website to read all about the challenge details. Basically, you print out a reading chart of your choice (Easy, 30 days, 60 days, entire Book of Mormon) and then mark off a stone for each day you read 15 minutes in the Book of Mormon. If the kids complete their chart before the end of August, you print them out a certificate award. Then Mom or Dad fill out a form and the kids receive a $5 gift code towards deseretbook.com if they read for 30 days or $10 gift code if they read for 60 days.

We used the special "kickoff" FHE (found on the same webpage) to get the boys excited about it all.

Go team!

Justin's Baptism

Justin was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by his Dad on June 5th. Justin was so excited and he told me how he felt so happy afterwards. Grandpa Davis gave a talk on baptism and Grandma Guptill gave the closing prayer at the Stake baptism. There were 5 children getting baptized that day and one of the girls was in Justin's 2nd grade class this year.




Grandpa and Grandma Guptill gave Justin his own set of scriptures with a red(Justin's favorite color)carrying case. Grandpa and Grandma Davis gave him a "Choose the Right" tie, a scripture hero poster for his bedroom and a really cool scripture marking mechanical pencil. Travis and I gave him his first personal journal. Aunt Nicki and Uncle Lance gave him a CTR tie tack and a fun scripture hero figurine.




Justin wanted a special BBQ dinner to celebrate. He requested rib-eye steak and grilled fish from our great fishing trip the day before. We felt so blessed to have so many family members with us to celebrate Justin's special day. We love you Justin!

Bugs, Salamanders, Peacocks and Trout

We had lots of visitors during the first weekend in June. Travis' parents drove over from Montana and my Dad flew in from Utah for Justin's baptism. My sister, Amber, had her baby, Zachary, on Thursday afternoon. So at the last minute, my mom decided to stay in Provo to help with Amber & Jeff's other kids. Travis' sister, Nicki, and her husband, Lance, came over from Vancouver. Then on Sunday, my Aunt Tammy and Uncle Craig from SLC came to the Northwest for a beach getaway. They came to church with us and had Sunday dinner afterwards. It was an exciting weekend!

I let Justin stay home from school on Friday so he and Tyler could have some fun with his grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins. The boys played board games with Grandpa Davis in the morning and then we took a trip to Trader Joe's so my dad could stock up on some favorites to take back to Utah.

He brought bug catcher nets for the boys. They had a great time hunting around the yard. They caught a huge dragonfly, a ladybug and a spider nest.





Later in the afternoon we went fishing at Horning's Hideout with everyone. It is a privately owned spot so you don't need a fishing license. They have two stocked ponds and you just pay for what you catch. I think it is in such a beautiful location. We all had a great time and between the group caught 15 fish!















Look at these happy fishermen! It was such a fun day!