Powell Trip 2009...

We just got back from a week long trip to our houseboat at Lake Powell. It is always such a relaxing trip to go on. I love packing for it- tshirts? check. swimsuits? check. sunscreen? check. a bunch of books to read? CHECK! This is the first trip in a long time that was just the family. No friends or extended family. I always think the more come the funner it is, but this was a nice change too. Both boys loved the tube and taking turns on the jet ski. Plus after watching Braden wake board with Rusty, Berk decided he had to have a turn too. It was so cute, he just kept reaching for the rope handle and was so mad Rusty was hogging it! Of course we managed to get to Dangling Rope for ice cream, and I got the cutest hat... yes there is shopping even in the middle of a huge lake.

The weather was cooler than normal, and we had a storm system pass through, so a few times the water was warmer than the air! I hung out on the boat most of the time, but I did escape to do sunset cruises, a jet ski ride and of course play with my new toy CAMERA! I finished three books and in addition I read the camera manual, and learned just a few of its fun tricks and settings. I hope to work on it more with our next trip. So here are a few (of the over 400 I took- yikes!) pictures from our time there. Can I just say that if you have never gone to Lake Powell, add it to your bucket list. The views are amazing and it is such a fun place.

Enjoy my picture overload...

Berk at the wheels!

Out on a sunset cruise

Braden chillin

Berk laughing at Kels

Rusty & I

Tubing with the boys

Jaci being mad about getting out of the water

Pops & Braden on the jet ski

Kelcie wake boarding

Kelcie & Pops

Berk loved the slide

But hated being cold

The best tube we have ever had- everyone loved it.

Check out Braden's foot- that kid is a daredevil

Cheese

Rusty jumping the wake

Berk wants to wake board

And does! Braden took turns too.

Our Cove- same spot every year

My cute hat & windy hair

The best views around

Jaci being silly

Berk and Mom snugglin'

After a storm we went to get shells and play on a beach

We take these photos every year to gage the kids growth. I love 'em.

Happy Anniversary!!!

9 Years, 2 (almost 3) kids, a dozen passport stamps, 2 houses, 5 cars, 1000 tears, a million laughs & countless adventures- Thanks hon, you're the best!

Happy This and That...

So this really should have been a Happy father's Day post but it will be more a recap of the last week of madness here. My hubby Rusty has been off the charts amazing lately. Bless his heart, no matter how tired he is, he knows I am more tired, more fed up with kids and more stressed than ever, so he is always doing the least expected things for me. Plus he has crazy willpower. He has been working out like a fiend and has lost 30 pound in the last few weeks. Pretty sure if he looses any more, we will weigh the same and I will cry. A lot. And don't get me started on how he does the laundry and clean up the house every night. But he does and he does. Love you!

But anyways, last Saturday after Braden's dive meet (more on that later), we came home and he said, "we're gonna paint today." I have been wanting to put Braden and Berk together for months now, and since Baby B is coming WAY faster than I feel like I am ready for, I have been anxious to get this first step done. So, he spent all day Saturday priming, painting and -just for kicks- putting crown molding up, as well as molding around the window. To top that off, since I couldn't be around the fumes for too long - he did all the clean up, taping, sanding, sawing, ect ect. And as an added bonus we got the stripes painted in the kids bathroom as well. (Don't get me started on how flipping textured my walls are, or how bad the lines bleed, I might hit you.)

So Monday, I get a text from my friend Steph, who knows I have been hunting for bunk beds for AGES, and she tells me they have a super cute one, just like I want at Costco. So that night for family night, we hopped in the car, went to "just look" and wha-lah-- 4 hours later we have a new twin over full bunk bed, mattress and bedding for the boys room. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the disaster that happened in my house during the 90 minutes I was getting the mattress and bedding. But let's just say, it looked like my boys had quite a fun time with the 85 billion pieces of Styrofoam that came with the bed. It looked like it snowed in my house. In fact, a week later, some of it is still flying around...

(I really need to get a photo of the room once all the picutres are on the wall, but for now...)

Well, Monday's project resulted in a little Tuesday project. We had to take down the ceiling fan and get a standard light. We put a tower fan in the corner and it seems to keep it cool just fine. Poor Braden had to turn the fan off and push the blades aside to climb up to his bed. Thankfully, Berk is finally out of the crib and sleeping and napping in his very own bed!!! YEAH! Cross that off my list.

So later in the week Rusty mentions to me that he already has his Father's Day gift as well as our anniversary present. I am thinking, ok awesome! Since I had a few things already for Dad's Day I knew I needed one more thing or two and I'd be all set, but little did I know he had this up his sleeve... A Nikon D5000!

That's right, I am finally a card carrying member of the Big Girl's Camera club. In truth, the camera was my anniversary present (on the 30th- 9yrs!) and the accessories, lenses, case ect. were his presents. I am still speechless. I have secretly been coveting an SLR camera for ages, but never actually talked about my desire for one! He is the best. Now, if he will let me do more than just hold it. Because according to my slightly OCD hubby, I have to read the manual before I can use it. And frankly, since it does HD videos as well as photos the stinkin manual is like my old Art History textbook. So for now- Rusty is the shutterbug. And yes, he has read the manual.

Well, the camera came in handy the next day at Braden's third dive meet. It was the last regular season meet, Prelims and Finals are in a few weeks. They upped the required dives from 3 to 4 and it threw him for a loop- at the last minute he refused to do his 4th dive (a front flip tuck) and had a melt down. I think it may have had something to do with the kid that did a back flip and totally hit his head on the board- but that could just be me. Anyhow. At last weeks meet Braden did three dives. A front dive, an Inward dive and a back dive with a 1/2 twist. He rocked them all and ended up in 2nd place!

This week he did the same dives, and even with his low score on his "flip" attempt, he still walked away in 3rd place! We are so excited. He looks like a natural.

These are my favorite photos from last week, and then I am putting a slide show of video clips and the other pictures at the end. It is short, but he is crazy good. To think one month ago he didn't even know how to do the approach and now this...we love ya buddy! Can't wait to see how you do in finals! These two photos are of the same dive. His back dive w/ a 1/2 twist. I love that he looks like he's flying! So cool! I love the new camera!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Must Have's...

It's funny how from pregnancy to pregnancy some things stay the same, feel the same, look the same. And other things are new and different each time. As I realize this pregnancy is quickly winding down I wanted to document my must haves, likes, hates ect so when I scrapbook it, I will remember.

1. The Boppy Wedge Pillow. This thing saved my life with Berk's pregnancy and this time around I remembered and pulled it out as soon as I had a showing belly. It may not look like much but it helps me rest so much better. Try it, you'll LOVE it. I sleep with a body pillow too and this is small enough to use both. Perfect.

2. The Belly Bands. These are new for me this time around. And I really have used them since the first trimester. Now that I am growing too large for even my fav maternity clothes to cover the expanse of my belly, these are a life saver! I got two, black and white and wear them nearly everyday. I think they will come in handy post partum too.

3. Cereal & Eggos. I can eat two Eggos plain every morning and keep them down. So nice! And a novelty, that was a short lived, was having milk on my cereal. This was amusing to Rusty, since in all the years we have been together, I have never liked milk on my cereal. And preferably, it was HoneyComb, Lucky Charms or Apple Jacks that I loved. Once I went to the store to get more cereal, and they were OUT of MY cereal. How dare they, I swear...

4. Fresh fruit and nuts. I am digging grapes, of all kinds, and berries. And raw almonds, but they have to be Fresh & Easy's brand. And lately trail mix. Heavy on the M&M's.

5. Caffeine! Normally I love me some Dr P. But this pregnancy it just takes off to me. Same with my standby Pepsi. So for the last few months I have been a Coke kinda girl. I will be glad when my taste buds go back to normal.

6. Subs. Now, with Braden, my go to food (meaning for what ever weird reason- I was able to keep it down) was pizza. Barro's pepperoni to be specific. With Berk, pizza was the cause of massive heartburn and so subs became my go to. This time both seemed to work, but I could eat a sub from Ned's or Port O' Sub everyday and be just fine. Oh crud, now that I typed that I really want Port O Sub. Dang. I love that I can order Ned's on the phone, and they have my order in the computer already. And I love that I can order my POS online. Yee-haw!

And last but not least...

7. Fans! I swear I have fans everywhere I go. In my room there is a fan by my bed, and on my vanity- in addition to the ceiling fan I have on 'turbo' whenever I am in the room. Plus, I put a fan in my laundry room and it blows right on me as I work. Or my Mom or Rusty, as is usually the case. And if you have seen me at Dive Team, or nearly anywhere else outside, I have 2 of the little hand held fans. Life saver! Always in my purse- with spare batteries just in case. Each of my boys have one too, but they use them more of weapons than anything else.

I'm sure I forgot a few of my fav's. So I will have to update this. Oh, I am loving this nice AZ summer. I will take the low 100's with a breeze ANY time! It is actually bearable here, ish.

Our Lil' Diver...

With Summer in full swing here in HOT AZ, we decided to try Braden out in Diving with the City. He goes to a pool near our house and the practices aren't too early in the morning. It's not super hot and they are not very long, so it's worked out nice.  He is on one of the bigger dive teams and has 3 coaches. There are about 3 times as many girls on the team as boys-he doesn't seem to mind. 

They practice out of the water everyday before they hit the 1meter spring board. I had to throw this shot in of Braden in his team Speedo- he wouldn't wear it for the meet today, lame.  In just two weeks they have learned the Three Step diving Approach, front dives, back dives (although he has yet to do one in a meet), pike and tuck jumps. They have worked a tich on front flips and back twist dives. Crazy huh? His required dives for the next meet include an Invert Dive and a Twist Dive. Yup, pretty sure I have never even tried either of those!

I just loved this 'action' shot. He is totally built for the water. Now if we can just get his flexibility up- he will be amazing. 

His first City Wide meet was this morning. Luckily for us, they split the older kids off so the meet only lasted about 90 minutes. Yesterday in practice, one of the girls on Braden's team hit her head on the board. Needless to say, it freaked the crud out of Braden and he would NOT attempt a back dive after that. Would you blame him??? So we called in a favor to a family friend and took him over to their pool. Not only did they let us use their pool (which BTW has a 1M spring board) but Mikenna (a State Champ Diver headed to BYU next Fall to dive for them) came out and worked with Braden, one on one, for over an hour! His approaches front and back got so good. As well as his dive forms. We hope to work with her a little more this summer to see just how much he can improve. 

But, even with all that help he still wouldn't do his back dive, so we had to change the dives he did today. He did a front dive, a back straight jump and a front straight jump. I'm not gonna lie, this is my first dive meet, so the scoring made little to NO sense. But most of the older kids scored as high as 5 and as low as .5.  The 5/6 year olds didn't scored higher than 3.5. The difficulty makes the score possible go up. ANYWAYS... Braden got two 3's and a 2.5 on his dive and 2's across the board for  his other jumps. 

His Front Dive Straight. 

So we were super excited when they called out the 'Participant' awards and they didn't say his name! That meant he was top 8. He ended up with 6th Place Ribbon and a HUGE boost to his confidence. Rusty and I are so proud of him! The meets start at 7am, and none of us really wanted to get up- but we are so glad we did! Thanks to Noni & Pops and Nana & Grandpa for coming all the way out to watch him. Berk was the best little brother supporter out there. 

After the meet the whole team got together to do their cheer. We are the Gators (our team color is purple though- explain that one to me) and the cheer cracks me up, no matter how often I hear it... "If you hesitate- you're GATOR bait, RAWRRRRR" and then they say "Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up- GO GATORS!" There are hand motions and everything. I will have to get a video of it... 

We celebrated with breakfast at Joe's Farm Grill and then going to see UP!

And because I have been given grief over my not-so-subtle absence of photos of a pregnant me on the blog lately, here ya go.  Kids are the perfect prop for hiding bellies, by the way.