Bubble Fun

There is nothing better than bubble fun on a hot summer day. Especially when you buy the bubble guns on clearance at Target for $2. Let's be honest, that's probably what those cheap things are worth anyways.

The faces these kids make at this age always crack me up!

On a side note, It's almost the end of October and it is still hot! Come on fall! We are more than ready for you!

Back to School

I can't believe that I am a mom to a second grader. A second grader! 

At the beginning of August, it was time to get back into a routine and send the kids off to school. Ethan was more than ready and excited to head back to the classroom. His teacher this year is Mrs. Rollins and she seems to be really good for Ethan. She demands and expects a lot of her students....perfect for our Ethan! 

He was clearly thrilled to be taking pictures. Classic boy. 

Ellie on the other hand threw out every pose she could think of! 

She started preschool the week after Ethan started school. She goes to a cute preschool in our neighborhood and her teacher is Miss, Juliette. She LOVES school and lives for activities like this. She goes 3 times a week in the afternoons- love afternoon preschool!! 

She is a social butterfly and comes home from preschool telling me about all the play dates that she has set up with her preschool friends. 

She is just a little ray of sunshine! 

More Wolf Creek, UT Pics

When I dumped all the pictures from my phone on my computer, I found a whole bunch of pictures from the Chapman Family Reunion. So they are all out of order but at least they are getting documented. 

On our way up to northern Utah for the Chapman reunion, we stopped by in St. George, UT for the Barlocker Reunion. Justin's grandma was a Barlocker and this reunion was all her siblings an their posterity. It was huge! It is so cool to be a part of such a rich and long standing LDS family. Almost all of Justin's siblings could be there...we are just missing Barrett and Chanda (and their spouses..and kid).

Up at the Chapman reunion, we played lots of family games and outdoor sports like ultimate frisbee and volleyball. 

Justin is such a good daddy. He loves his kids. 

The minute to win it games were a whole lot of fun!

Ethan is quite competitive. I have no idea where he gets it from :)

There were also many classes that we could attend during the day. Each person taught different classes and showed us their talents. Aubrey taught us a fabulous bread making class that Ellie got to help demonstrate just how easy it is to make pretzels.

We also went to card making, essential oils, origami, and a few other really cool classes. I was lucky enough to teach aerobics every morning too!

Ellie made a new friend with her 2nd cousin Raia. They are cute little friends. 

Chalene and Caryn had fun trying out new finger nail polish on Dad. We all laughed pretty hard and I think he'd be pretty embarrassed to see this picture! Good thing he doesnt really read my blog :)

Ethan and Ellie had fun finding all sorts of reptiles/amphibians around the pond area while everyone was playing volleyball. 

With the road trip up to Utah, my feet became pretty huge and swollen and stayed that way until we came back home to AZ. For some reason I always swell in Utah when I'm hugely pregnant but I never have in AZ. Weird. After the 14 hour car ride back home, and being 38 weeks pregnant, they were gigantic and jiggled with every step! This picture doesn't even do them justice, I need a before and after!

When we finally got back home, it marked the end of our summer travels. We had been traveling for almost 2 months straight all over the country. It was the best summer but considering Ethan started school a few days after we got home, we had to call our travels quits and stay put for a while. I think everyone was wiped out!

July and August Photo Dump

 I just dumped all my photos from my phone on my computer so all these pictures are kinda all over the place. 

The monsoons came and always bring tons of debris with it. Luckily I have a good sweeper to help me clean up the mess. He cleans better with just a diaper and a Dora backpack on.

 Behold the ripened state of a pregnant woman heavy with child....

37 weeks pregnant. 

We bought annual passes to the IDEA Museum in Mesa and whenever we were in town in the summer, we always made sure to go. Air conditioned fun while enduring the blistering hot AZ summer!

Mason especially loved playing Linus' piano. 

After living here for 2 years, I finally got around to decorating our formal room. Well, at least half of it anyways. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the other half where our piano is. We put in crown moulding and the plank wall and my sis in law, Stephanie, helped me put the colors and stuff together. I love it. 

 The kids went back to school early August so while Justin was in Guatemala (or somewhere foreign), I took the kids out to ice cream as a back to school treat.

 The week I was due with Cameron, I took sweet Ellie out for a mommy-daughter date for pedis and manis. I thought she would love it but unfortunately she got a lady that kept telling her to be still and sit still in a thick vietnamese accent that Ellie couldn't understand. I mean, she's 4. I think she did pretty darn good!

It was still fun to get out and have some one on one time with my favorite little girl. 

I went crazy and chopped a good amount of my hair off that same week. 

I actually really, really love having shorter hair. May I also add that it is SO wonderful that my neighbor, Angie, is a rockin' awesome hair dresser. It's pretty awesome that I can use the baby monitor and get my hair done during naptime!

A few days later, Cameron was born (see older post for details). 

Milk drunk at about 3 days old. 

Ellie is one of the sweetest people I know. She is naturally loving and caring and can always be found carefully taking care of her siblings. I caught her sweetly talking to Cam on the bed one morning....she just makes my heart swell with love!

 All our kids get jaundice bad enough to where we have to go home with a bili blanket. Cam was no exception. We just called him our little glow worm. 

I have a ton of pictures with this cute kiddo...I guess when you are hanging out together 24 hours a day, it's normal. 

The kids have just discovered how much fun it is to limbo and we sometimes have limbo-ing parties in the evening. 

I LOVE cuddling with a sleeping baby. 

Blurry picture but I just have to document the amazing dinner that our neighbor, Lily, brought over for us soon after Cam was born. Lily is from the Dominican Republic and is the sweetest lady. I guess she was talking with Justin earlier in the week and he told her that he was going to be out of town the coming up week. So to help me out, she surprised me and the kids with a yummy authentic Dominican dinner. 

We were amazed with the amount of people who provided us with dinners. The relief society set up dinner for 4 days and we had people calling and asking to bring  us dinners for 2 full weeks. Amazing. We felt so loved and are so grateful for the wonderful people we live near. So blessed. 

Ellie's battery ran out on the 4 wheeler and Ethan pushed her all the way home. I guess they do love each other sometimes!

The weather is starting to cool down over here (meaning, it's in the high 90s) so we like to be outsie any time we get! It's funny seeing all the families come out of summer hibernation when we go to the park. 

 Ellie was so proud that she put on her swimsuit all by herself. She even found her Peruvian beanie to go with it! :)

Once Cameron started to get down a schedule of sorts, I could do activities with the kids again. Playdough, painting, drawing, and coloring are always easy favorites to do. 

I felt brave and took everyone to Costco for lunch one day too. They were pretty excited since we never do this. 

Any one else enduring college football season at their house?! :) I'd say, Justin has a pretty good game watching buddy.