Father's Day

We kicked off Father's Day for Lance with a massage before his Triathlon from my friend

Latissa, who is a massage therapist. I felt very sneaky planning such a surprise for him and he loved it!

In St. George we made Father's day bags for a craft one day, complete with candy necklaces & bowties.

So thankful for the Fathers in my life! First of all for my own father who is a dear friend of mine and

has taught me to work hard, be industrious, and serve with a willing heart. I am also so grateful to the

wonderful father I gained when I married Lance! He is the most amazing man and I will forever be

grateful for the son he raised so well and for the loving grandfather he is to our Crew guy. And lastly,

I am especially thankful for the Father of my children who exemplifies what it means to be a Father.

I couldn't have chosen a better companion in life and head of our family.

Lance got a brand new tent for Father's Day that he is thrilled about! We are hoping to get in several 

camping trips before this babe arrives. Later in the evening we headed to Grandma and Grandpa 

Walkers for a yummy meal.

4 generations of Walkers! All with the middle name Alan.

We of course had to pick some cherries before we headed out. These trees were loaded!

We finished off the evening at my parent's house with my mom's famous Peach Pie. 

What a wonderful day!

Camping in Kolob

When I was in the deepest, darkest part of my pregnancy sickness, one of the only things that could

 keep me going was looking forward to when I would be feeling better and planning fun things.

One of those things I planned was a camping trip with all my girlfriends and husbands in St. George

at the end of our week at the condo. We've been looking forward to it for a long time and I was

excited it was finally here!

Josh and Jennica were very kind to offer up their family's cabin in Kolob, which is about an hour out

of St. George, and we had a blast! We missed Lindsey & Tony as well as Alisa & Daxton 

who just had their sweet baby boy! I was in heaven to visit her and hold that sweet baby for an entire hour.

Josh and Lance kicked off the fun before we headed up by knee boarding on the 

Virgin River behind the 4 wheeler.

The drive up was gorgeous. It was fun to see the transition from red rock to rolling

green hills in just a matter of an hour. It was green as far as the eye could see!

First thing we did was start the campfire to cook our tin foil dinners. Tin foil dinners are 

hands down my favorite camping meal. Crew loved being daddy's little sidekick.

Crew and Abbey loved being up in the mountains.

We joke that these two are mortal enemies. But seriously, they are. For some reason between their age 

gap and personality differences, they cant keep from hitting or pushing each other every moment they're

 together. Maybe they will hate each other forever, then realize they are really soul mates :)

Cute mama and babe!

Love my sweet boy more than anything

We spent the evening enjoying our meal, then sat around the campfire chatting and laughing until
after 1 am. Needless to say, we were all pretty exhausted when the kiddos woke up at 7 am, but it was
completely worth it! And all us women got great naps while the boys went fishing.

After fishing we ate lunch, then played some friendly games of Smash ball. I may or may not have
beat everyone (except Jenn, who I didn't play) at the game. Don't mess with the pregnant chick. Just sayin :)

The whole group

Me, Whitt & Jenn

Two of the best friends a girl could as for!

We had a wonderful time in Kolob. There's talk of making it a yearly trip which we would love!

On the way home we visited our good friends Mark & Tiff who just had a sweet baby boy.

He was 4 1/2 weeks early and just tiny! Crew could not get enough of him and kept stroking
his cheeks, kissing him and peaking under the blanket at his tiny feet and hands.

We did a mini photo shoot. Isn't he adorable?

It was great to get my baby fix while waiting for baby girl to get here.

Congrats Mark and Tiff! We are so excited for you two.

St. George 2012

Lance and his family, along with the Millerbergs, have been going to their time share in St. George ever

 since he can remember. They go the exact same week every year and have made so many wonderful

memories there. It's been fun for me to become a part of this yearly tradition and to watch the Walker

family grow to fit into 3 condos now! The first year I attended was my first time meeting all of his 

family and now here were are 4 years later with number two on the way.

The entire St. George group

One of the evenings we had an unbirthday party for all the kids. I think we adults had just as much

fun as the children! It was an absolute blast.

 9 out of Grandma Pat's 13 great-grandchildren. Baby girl will be #14!

The unbirthday party involved lots of fun games, a pinnate and presents for all the kids.

Large and in charge...

The boys were thrilled with their trucks from Grandma Liz!

 Crew got a few swimming lessons from uncle Keaton while we were there. As you can see, 

he was not very excited about it at the beginning...

 But soon decided it wasn't so bad.

 And was thrilled to get a stamp at the end. It's amazing what motivation a stamp can be!

Ha! This picture cracks me up. He is one happy camper with his cookie in one hand and his 

Lightening McQueen in the other. Who could ask for more?

We also had lots of yummy meals, did a kid craft every day, went to Sand Hallow and did lots of 

swimming at the pool. I was also SO excited to get to see Alisa's baby, who was only 3 days old! He

has a head full of black hair and I got to snuggle with him for an entire hour. I felt very blessed

that we could be down in St. George at such a special time in Alisa and Daxton's life. I took a

picture but it didn't work! Congrats to Al & Dax and baby Jens (who was a whopping 9lbs 4oz, btw).

We love our time in St. George and are already looking forward to next year!

Triathlon

Lance has been training for the Daybreak triathlon along with our friends Levi & 

Andy and the big day finally came! It was the first triathlon I've been to and I loved it. The

energy was so much fun and we loved seeing Lance at each transition and cheering him on.

He's done a sprint triathlon some time ago, but this was his first Olympic and he was feeling 

a bit nervous for it.

 Here's Levi coming out of the swim

And Lance on his way to the bikes!

 Go babe!

After the bike about to start his run.

 Waiting for daddy to cross the finish line.

And he did it!

Andy, Levi & Lance

She is my hero! I've decided to do a triathlon next summer so it was great to watch Andy do

the entire thing even though she was a little nervous. 

We're proud of you Lance!

29 weeks

29 weeks! I cannot believe we are already here. We are ready for this sweet baby girl in every single

way short of having the hospital bag packed. I am happy to say I am officially off all anti-nausea 

medications and feeling great! It is so wonderful to really be feeling myself again and it's amazing what

I can accomplish in a day when I'm feeling well. 

A couple things about being 29 weeks pregnant:

• She is approximately 2 1/2 pounds and the size of a butternut squash.
• She can see light and hear noise and is experimenting with touch and feel.
• I'm up 15 pounds from my regular weight- the same as I was at this point pregnant with Crew. With Crew I didn't gain any more weight in the last 10 weeks (even though I ate the same) so I'm hoping it's the same this time! I like to think the pregnancies are so difficult in the beginning that I get this little gift in the end. :) Although, if I had to trade weight gain for the sickness I would take the weight gain, no questions asked!
• Things are definitely getting snugger and more uncomfortable. My wedding ring is getting pretty difficult to get on and off. I'm really sad about that even though I knew it would come.
• I love feeling baby girl kick and move around all day long. I'm carrying her low just like I did Crew and get constant kicks to the bladder.
• Even though Crew doesn't really grasp there's a baby in my tummy, he has been fascinated with babies everywhere and is so sweet towards them. He came with me to the doctors last time and reminds me constantly that we "listened to the baby's heartbeat." 
• I am feeling very baby hungry. I sit and daydream about holding her in my arms and nursing her. There is nothing like those first few days with your new little family and I'm so excited to experience that again - especially with Crew as an older brother. 

These last 11 weeks can't go by fast enough!

Crew guy

We had an early 2 year check-up for Crew yesterday so I thought I would share a little

about him and how he is growing:

• He is now 35th percentile in weight and 43rd percentile in height. His muscles are long and lean like his daddy and he has thinned way out. His skinny little legs and body fit in 18 month clothes, but they are too short on him so I've had to be a little creative with his clothes. 
• His language has exploded again (I feel like I am always saying this, but it's true!) and he is experimenting a lot with more abstract concepts like "behind you", "tomorrow", and "crazy". He is also properly using "you" and "me" which is so fun to see! He regularly says "please" and "thank you" without cuing and will pull out 5 and 6 word sentences every day.
• Crew is extremely social and woos the ladies everywhere we go. He definitely knows how to turn on the charm and will work hard to get the attention of any woman. He'll sit and chat with them and work in the smiles and flirting. It's pretty dang hilarious. 
• Crew is the apple of his grandparents' and aunts' and uncles' eye. He adores each and every one of them and they adore him. He is very affectionate and lots of hugs and kisses are a regular part of our day.
• Now, lest you think Crew is an easy child, let me assure you he is not. With all this independence and intelligence has come a very strong-willed, defiant child. Some days I feel exhausted from all of the energy it takes to keep him in line. He has very strong opinions and is not easily swayed. I'm thrilled he can now be reasoned with and I spend a lot of time every day trying to explain the reasoning behind every single thing I want him to do. I'm tired just thinking about it!
• Crew is my absolute sunshine. His temperament is very cheerful and energetic and I love having him as my little sidekick every single day. We have a very special, close and silly relationship. At the end of the day, I really wouldn't trade a single thing about him. He is going to be the best big brother to all of our children!

Kennecott & dancing

We have been up to an awful lot lately but with my camera still broken pictures have been sadly lacking. Luckily Melissa got pictures at two events, so I'll share even if it's just a fraction of what we've been doing in the last month.

Our little Kenna girl had a dance recital and it was so fun watching her perform. She is very purposeful in her moves and would hit them right on the beat, which tended to be just before the other little girls who couldn't get it quite right.

I haven't taken any belly pictures since the first one- but as you can see here I'm getting much larger! 

Crew and Avie had a blast bouncing on grandma and grandpa's laps and dancing all around.

My cute little nieces! Love these two so much.

On Memorial day, the Merrell clan packed up and headed to Kennecott Copper mine for a little tour and education on Copper mining. It's been since 4th grade that I've been there and it was very fun to go back! Crew loved the huge trucks- he is definitely a truck/tractor/motorcycle/anything-that-runs kinda kid.

It was fun having everyone there and we finished off with a BBQ back at home. Yum :)

Other activities we've been up to:

• A quick trip to St. George with Lance's parents
• Several little family outings to the park, up the canyon and to uncle Austin and aunt Kitsy's farm where they have turkeys, chickens, cows and little pigmy goats! Crew is in heaven there.
• A weekend getaway in Wolf Creek with our friends Levi & Andy
• Lance has been training for a triathlon this weekend, then we'll be heading to St. George for a week at the Walker family condo and a camping trip with all our St. George friends. I can't wait!