Due Date Today

Today is my due date! The day is just about over and still no baby! I've been walking, working in the yard, gorging myself on italian spices, and every other trick/myth about how to induce labor. I am ready for Julie to arrive, but she needs to decide for herself that its time to enter the world!

She must be getting ready because I have had a couple moments where I thought I might almost be going into labor, but the contractions then slowed down and eventualy stopped!

Now that my due date is here the birth is for sure very soon....but how soon?
I feel like my life is on hold.....waiting...waiting....waiting...

Camera Stolen

Dear Sweet Sony Cybershot,

Here I am 3 days away from my due date and you choose this moment to leave me! I promise I planned on using you a whole lot more very soon. I was saving your energy for the MANY picture perfect moments that will inevitably come with a new baby.
I am devastated you are gone. Julie would have loved you. If you get this message, please come back to me! I loved you!

Yours Truly,

Soon-to-be-mother-of-two-who-loves-taking-pictures-especially-of-newborns


I went to the pool and couldn't resist getting some pics of Liz's first swim of the summer. Then, the next time I checked my bag there's no camera! The bag was in eyesight the whole time, but apparently I didn't keep my eyes ON the bag the whole time. :(

4th of July

This year for the fourth we had a great family party!

The kids loved playing together.

It was complete with fireworks..



food..

more food!..

and outdoor kids games!

10 Day Countdown

The real countdown is officially ON!! Starting today there are only 10 days til my due date! We are so ready to meet little baby Julie! I just had a great joint baby shower with Melissa, put on by some friends from church. It was a ton of fun and Linda and Steph made these super adorable favors for the guests.



Its now time to start walking, doings stairs, running? Whatever it takes to usher lil Julie into the world- we are ready for her!
I dont have a Doc appt til Thurs and havent been in for almost 2 weeks so who knows if I'm progressing or not at this point! Not that pregnancy and birth has any real rhyme, reason, or ways of knowing when baby is coming anyways!!

Steph and Family

It has been so fun to have Steph in town! Her family is finally saying goodbye to NYC and moving to California now that Blake is done with school. And we are so glad she could stop by with the kids for a visit!


We have been so busy having fun and spending time with her and the rest of the family these past weeks.


The weather has been perfect for daily trips to the beach,


sitting on the steps of the train bridge (Lizzie gets so excited about the passing trains)


and just enjoying the sun!

All the little summer festivals have been great too! Lizzie is in heaven with so many cousins around lately. She asks me everday, "Grammy, Papa, Addy, Katie, Noah, Jamie, Jason, Stephy, Evy, Dane, baby Grant, and Mikey?" Its usually a random combination of these names and sometimes she goes for asking for every single name. Aaron and Michelle have been out of town for a while but sometimes she'll even throw in a, "baby June?"

Mood Swings

They say teenagers have mood swings, but Lizzie at 1 1/2 can have a full cycle of conflicting emotions within a 2 minute time period. She's laughing hysterically, then frowning, then smiling, then crying, then trying to be funny herself, then unamused, and tired. There's no keeping up with this girl's emotions. She is generally a constant happy little girl, but when put in the right circumstances she can get set into one of these cycles.

With all these flying emotions, though, she has gained a great sense of empathy for others and their emotions. Last Sunday at church she was very concerned whenever she heard a baby crying. She'd say, "Oh no! Baby crying! Baby sad!"

The other day Dave and I were talking and he said, "thats really sad that....blah blah" (not that he was actually sad, just using the word as a figure of speech in conversation )
Then Lizzie who was busy eating piped in worriedly asking, "Daddy sad? Daddy sad?" The thought of Daddy being sad made her very distraught.

Its very sweet to see her so concerned about the happiness of others. It melted my heart the other day... she was swinging a toy around and accidentally hit me, making me exclaim ouch! (more from surprise then actual pain). But she immediately ran over, stroked my face with her hand while soothing, "nice mama, nice mama", then gave me lots of hugs and kisses.

Scripture Heroes Carnival

Right now, Dave and I are Primary team teachers for a group of 5-6 yr olds. We are loving this calling in the church and having so much fun teaching together. We recently had a scripture carnival for all the Primary children and Dave and I manned the David and Goliath booth. Each kid got a turn to hit Goliath with a slingshot and some pom poms. They loved it!
It was a lot of fun, games, and dressing up! Can you guess who each of us is dressed as?

I am pregnant Mary, Lizzie is Daniel (and the Lions' Den-she did a great job taming Lenny the Lion all day), and Dave is Ammon.

Recently, Dave was called to be an early morning seminary teacher. He's looking forward to this opportunity, but I will definitely miss team teaching with him! We've really enjoyed it while it lasted!