Woods Canyon Lake August 7, 2011

Last weekend we made another trip up to Woods Canyon Lake. It was a bit warmer than last time and with me being nearly a month farther along in my pregnancy, it was a bit harder on me this time too. I had to stop and rest a lot more during our walking and when we decided it was time to leave, AnnaBeth and I stayed put near the spillway while Kent walked back to the car and brought it over to where we were. AnnaBeth was super excited to go search for crawdaddies (as she call them) again. We didn't find any snakes this time but did find plenty of crawdads, caught some minnows and also caught a grasshopper. During our walking we saw a little girl and her grandma feeding the chipmunks some sunflower seeds. The girl was so kind as to share not one, but two handfuls of seeds with AnnaBeth so she could feed them too. This trip was most likely our last trip up there before Mason comes, unfortunately. My belly is just getting too big and the pubic bone pain I have been experiencing isn't going away so it makes it painful for me to do a lot of walking or sitting at one time. Here's the slideshow of our pictures and a few videos from our fun filled day!

AnnaBeth meets baby Jack

A couple of weeks ago, me friend Renee came over to the house with her son Jack who was about 5 1/2 weeks old so AnnaBeth and I could meet him for the first time. I had been telling AnnaBeth most of the week that baby Jack was going to come for a visit so she was pretty excited to meet him. She doted on him the moment they walked in the door!

She kept staring at him saying "hi baby Jack!!!"

Jack was nursing and she decided to burp her baby Grace

Then she decided Grace needed to have a drink

At some point, she noticed that Jack was not being fed with a bottle so she decided Grace needed to eat the same way

I think she was really just rubbing her face but it looks like she's had a "d'oh!" moment and realized that she can't actually breastfeed her doll

 Bondo had to get in on a picture too

 I loved holding him and it seriously made me want to hold Mason even more than I already do!

Everyone was helping get an unhappy Jack buckled into his car seat

AnnaBeth did really well during Jack's visit and I'm really hoping that she will do just as well once Mason is here. She was constantly saying hi to him and when he was fussy, she kept asking what was wrong and why he was crying. And she didn't try to clobber him with anything so I'm taking those as all good signs that she should hopefully adjust well to having a little brother. 

Woods Canyon Lake July 17, 2011

We took AnnaBeth up to Woods Canyon Lake for the day and boy did she have fun!!! We saw plenty of chipmunks, the weather was amazing and it wasn't overly crowded. We bought a butterfly net in the lake store to use to catch crawdads. We managed to catch a few and AnnaBeth even touched one of them. We caught a baby trout but she didn't really show a lot of interest in it. The best thing we caught was a water snake! She was super excited about it and willing to reach right into the net and grab it. Before we headed home, we stopped in Payson to visit with Kent's cousin Tim and his family. Their yellow lab Annabelle has really grown since we last saw her at Easter. And AnnaBeth was able to meet Solomon, their African Grey Parrot. He was a bit leery of us since we were strangers though. We had a really great day and hope to be able to go back a few more times this summer before Mason is born.

28 weeks

I'm 28 weeks today...only 12 more to go! I'm officially in my 3rd trimester now and will start having doctor appointments every 2 weeks. I have my glucose test this week and hopefully I pass. Mason sure enjoys his sweets so we'll see how it goes. In case you're interested, here's a few facts about what's going on with Mason right now:
                        

I've become a human-lard-factory! It's true: I've now got myself a baby in the business of fat-collection, which I'll have to tolerate since it's critical to keep my little porker warm and healthy after they're born. Also: their eyes can now blink in response to light and dark, and their bone marrow is making red blood cells.

 

 

 To compare, here's my belly at 28 weeks with AnnaBeth:

I'm definitely carrying differently this pregnancy. It's felt as though Mason is sitting farther forward than AnnaBeth did, which is probably why I've had some additional aches and pains that I didn't experience with her. Well, the pictures prove that he sticks out more than his sister!

4th of July 2011

To start off our 4th of July holiday, AnnaBeth and I went over to Tammi's to swim in the pool at her apartment complex. 

 Headed to the pool

Love my kids! :)

There were a bunch of bigger kids playing when we first got there so AnnaBeth was fairly content just sitting on the steps.

 Watching the big kids play

Ventured out from the steps just a little bit while the big kids were still in the pool

 Once they left, the fun really started!

 We never actually let go of her and she just thought being "tossed" was the greatest thing!

  Working on her kicking

A shot of Mason at 26 weeks and 2 days gestation

 Wanting to jump in like she saw the big kids doing

 Willing to try with a little help

And she did it!

Working on her swimming

Getting a bit more comfortable swimming on her own

Jumping in the pool

For fireworks tonight, AnnaBeth donned a very festive outfit and had just as festive hair.

 She didn't actually wear the flip flops tonight but let me put them on her long enough to get a picture.

 The whole ensemble

These days there aren't as many fireworks displays as there used to be. Gilbert had one main event that was put on at 3 locations. We went to the main location and the church parking lot and the main road the church is on was packed. We ended up in a neighborhood just South of the church and parked the car in the part of the neighborhood that faced the dirt field where the fireworks were going to be done. We walked down the block from where we parked and followed the sidewalk to a nice grassy area that wasn't overly crowded with people.

 Smashing ants as we walked to our grassy seats

We had front row seats as we could see the people who were in charge of show! It was both awesome and very loud :)

 

AnnaBeth was a little scared at first so she and Kent headed back toward the car at her request.  He only went part way and made a big deal about how pretty the fireworks were and eventually she asked to come back to sit with me. 

 After they came back to sit with me

 In awe of the fireworks (they are being illuminated by the fireworks)

 After the fireworks were over

I didn't video the entire show but did get a few different segments

This longer clip includes the finale

If you want to see all of the pictures from today, you can view my facebook album here. Enjoy!!

Rice Krispy Treats

**Disclaimer: Please forgive my counter clutter and my ragamuffin child in the following pictures.**

AnnaBeth made her first batch of rice krispy treats today. She was a great helper and at the moment we are waiting for them to cool so we can enjoy them. 

Seeing how it's done

Tossing some in by hand

Some decided to jump on the floor

Helping some more

Wanted to pour in the cereal herself

Happier now that she gets to do it all on her own

 Making sure it's all pressed in perfectly