Lil' Performer

Hanna had her dance recital over the weekend. She did a fabulous job as always. We were especially nostalgic this recital because Hanna informs us that she's not doing dance in the fall. She's wants to try gymnastics. She's been asking for 2 years now to try it again. We are a little sad because she is so graceful and really does wonderful in her dance classes. After the recital we all went out for ice-cream. We laughed at the kids choices:
Carter was so excited to get.....VANILLA!! (we have this at home in the freezer ALWAYS)
Hanna wanted Nutty Coconut hers and my new favorite (she's been trying lots of new things)
Jake got "WILD and RECKLESS" --guess I don't need to clarify why that was funny for those of you who know him
Joshy wanted the "BOWN one!"

Jakey's 5!!!

Five years old
4 years old
3 years old
2 years old
1 year old
newborn
Yesterday was Jake's 5th birthday! He's been a bundle of energy in our family and definitely knows how to have fun. We loved looking at some old pictures of him to post and remembering his other birthdays!

Lake Mead

Cute bottoms anticipating the fun

Have we really entered that phase where rabbit ears appear in every picture?


Hanna and Lauren -- they could be sisters!!


Carter and Jared having fun on the tube

We spent the day boating at Lake Mead yesterday! We took our friends the Nielson's out and had a great time. Carter and I spent a lot of time on the beach looking for seashells. We are going to try and make them into necklaces. Carter was my buddy since he doesn't love the boat as much as the other kids. I have been doing a lot better with my pregnancy, but still can not be on a bouncy boat. I was just happy to be out there even if on the beach.

More Yosemite Scenery

Yosemite Valley
Hiking to Mirror Lake
Mirror Lake
Jake at Mirror Lake
Lower Yosemite Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

So back to our Yosemite trip. We had an awesome time and I'm just now getting back to posting a few more of the most beautiful scenery pictures we took. Its an amazing place. I enjoyed the Mirror Lake hike the most. The kids loved Bridal Veil Falls and climbing all over the rocks. They also loved our hotel and "free breakfast" where they could help themselves every morning to whatever they wanted. Mostly bagels and juice. Carter and Hanna learned how to play Monopoly and Settlers of Catan. They really got into both of those games. Fun memories!!

Drum Roll Please...........

Well, the results are in. We went to peek at the baby on Saturday night once we realized that Jared wasn't going to be able to make it to my scheduled ultrasound on Monday morning due to an award ceremony for Hanna at school. Jared had to talk me into this, as I wasn't sure if I wanted the kids there depending on if this was a happy moment for me or "pretend to be happy moment for me!"

After we all stared at the elusive screen for a while and daddy tried to decipher what the "parts" were, these were the kids comments, and I quote,
Carter: It looks like a monkey!
Jake: No it looks like an elephant (everything is an elephant with Jake!)
Hanna: It looks like its naked!
But we were all the most interested in what Daddy thought it looked like.
Because Daddy said it looked like a ...........GIRL!!!!!!

After having a tech come in and Jared and him both decided it was a girl for sure and then they conferred in the hallway (before telling us) and then came in and told us all (I demanded this very strict protocol), I felt fairly good about the possibility of it actually being a girl. So I made Jared stop on the way home so I could buy Hershey bars and lots of pink cardstock. I converted the candy bars into "SHE" bars and handed them out at church to my Young Women and close friends. It was a fun way to share our most exciting news!!!!
p.s. On a side note, the placenta looks like it has moved away from my cervix. We will have more time tomorrow to really measure, at any rate, things are looking better!!