Florida Babymoon

In all the pregnancy books and websites I visit they recommend going on a get-away sometime during the 2nd trimester for some couple time before the baby comes. Sounded like a great idea to me so we booked our trip with the main goal being to relax and do nothing. We made no plans, scheduled no tours and left our schedule 100% open. It was just me and Taber with nothing to do but be together, my idea of the perfect vacation : )

We picked Florida because the tickets were cheap and it seemed like the perfect place to do nothing.

We were not disappointed. The beaches were beautiful, the water was warm, and the sand was full of lots of little treasures.

Once we got to the beach we read books, swam in the ocean and watched the sunset. It was the perfect first day.

That night we hit the steak house at our hotel for a late dinner. I think we got there at 10pm, which was exciting in itself because we NEVER get out anywhere that late!

The next morning we slept in till 10! Neither of us could remember the last time we slept in that late. It was awesome! We wandered around and got some breakfast, then noticed the Kayaks in the bay and decided it would be fun to go kayaking.

Unfortunately I naively decided to bring our camera along on our kayaking excursion. That picture of Taber is the last picture our camera ever took. Shortly after I snapped that shot it fell into the ocean and quickly became waterlogged with salty sea water. Luckily we were able to get the pics off the SD card but our camera was beyond saving.

It was sad to lose our camera but our phones take decent pictures so we were still able to document the rest of our trip : ) Here are the highlights in no particular order.

Reading with no distractions! We read by the pool and at the beach for hours at a time. I finished Mockingjay and introduced Taber to the Hunger Games which he read at record speed. Taber is not the kind of person to sit down and read for leisure so it was so awesome seeing him get into a book and really enjoy it!

Strolling the Boardwalk and visiting the restaurants and shops near our hotel

.

Enjoying the pool and amenities at our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Resort in Sand Key. We got a killer deal from Otel.com and I highly recommend booking through them since they were HALF the price of what I found on priceline, expedia or travelocity.

Endless Pina coladas (virgin or course) by the pool. I made a goal to only have one a day but they were just too good to stop at one.

Got my hair braided for the beach. Taber was doing a long run and I had time to kill so I thought, "why not?" The girls loved it when we got back home.

Ate lots and lots and lots of amazingly delicious food. I won't tell you how much weight I gained but lets just say I went from looking 5 months pregnant to 7 months pregnant in less than a week! ; )

Goofing off at the beach. Usually when we go to the beach we are on kid duty so it was fun having a break and actually getting to swim and play in the water.

And the number one highlight would easily be spending every minute of every day with my favorite person in the whole world : )

Many thanks to my Mom and Dad for coming out and watching the girls to make this whole thing possible. It really meant the world to us : )

Friday Foto: World's Awesomest Babysitters

My mom and dad flew into town on Wednesday.

The girls are in heaven and so am I.

I've loved late night chats with my mom, early morning chats with my dad,

and just seeing the kids interact so affectionately with their grandparents.

In a few hours Taber and I will be taking off to Florida for a little "babymoon" get-away.

I have a feeling the girls won't miss us one bit : )

20 weeks: Half way there!

Today is my 20 week mark and I'm officially half way through this pregnancy! I'm feeling great and loving my baby bump.

Here is the latest pregnancy news:

1) Cravings: Still loving the fresh berries but lately I've been putting them on top of ice cream because my sweet tooth has majorly kicked in! I also had a week where I drank a root beer float every night. (real healthy I know!)

2) Movement: This little dude is going to be one ACTIVE kid! I started feeling him move around 17 weeks and he is constantly doing acrobatics in there. Taber was even able to feel him already because he doesn't just wiggle around, I swear he's trying to ninja kick his way out of there!

3) Names: Taber gets the final say on this one since it's a boy, but so far I've submitted 10 names and he hasn't really gotten excited about any of them! Teya is still insisting on Tyke and she heard me say Spencer once and will sometimes offer that name up as well. We'll see what Taber finally ends up going for...

New Sleeping Arrangements

With number 3 on the way we've switched up the sleeping arrangements a bit. At the beginning of summer Taber and I upgraded to a King sized bed since I'll be nursing baby in there at night, plus little people tend to crawl in there when they have nightmares and Monty thinks he belongs in the bed too so we decided to get one that will fit all of us.

Which means our old bed is now occupying the guest room which has been nice for all our visitors and will be great too when our Moms come out to help after baby gets here.

We also indulged Teya in her Christmas wish from last year and bought the girls bunk beds.

We started Teya sleeping in them back in June, but the summer was so hot and the AC unit was in Teya's room so we ended up moving Brinley in there too. The first 2 nights were sketchy because Teya wasn't used to someone else making noise when she was trying to sleep. We told her to just ignore Brinley and it that did the trick. They've both been sleeping in there all summer with no problems at all.

Now all that's left to do is baby's room. I've actually never owned a crib, both girls just slept in a pack and play. Since baby will have his own room though I'm thinking it's time to do some crib shopping : )

Camp Joseph

Over the weekend we headed up to Sharon, Vermont for a ward camp out near the birthplace of Joseph Smith.

We were able to stay at the beautiful camp Joseph, where some families reserved cabins and others brought up their tents.

We decided to "rough it" and stay in our tent. Of course we weren't really roughing it at all since there were bathrooms with running water and warm showers less than 50 yards from us :)

The grounds were absolutely gorgeous. There was lush green grass everywhere and we were surrounded by the beautiful mountains and hills of Vermont. I tried to capture it in this picture and this was the best I could do. You can see our little tent nuzzled back in those trees.

Teya was all about the camping scene. Especially because it meant roasting marshmallows before she even had to eat dinner.

We had a great turn out, I think if you count all the kids there were around 90 or so members of our ward who came up. Definitely well worth the 2 1/2 hour drive.

The girls were pretty worn out and when the sun went down and the temperature dropped they were more than ready to bundle up and get ready for bed.

They actually went down around 8:30 and we were able to sit by the fire and chat until close to midnight. When we came back to the tent they were both fast asleep. I snuggled in between them and Taber took this picture right as I was hoping to head off into dream land. (Don't they look restful?)

Unfortunately their restful slumber didn't last long and I spent most of the night between midnight and 6am catering to their many needs. I think I might've slept an hour or two but by 6:30 any hopes of getting more sleep than that were gone. Guess that's all part of the fun of camping with small children ; )

We started our morning with some cold cereal but everyone else was so generous with their food that we ended up eating pancakes, bacon, hash browns and sausage and too.

While we packed up camp the girls found some fun little caterpillars to play with

They were very entertained.

Then we headed over to the "Waters of Mormon" River to play by the beach while a big group went tubing.

I didn't think the girls were old enough to go tubing this year but maybe next year.

They were still more than content to be splashing around near the shore

They wore themselves out at the River and within seconds of loading them in the car they were both asleep. It seems like most of our adventures end that way but I always take it as a good sign that we've had fun : )

Joseph Smith's Birthplace

"Next to Bethlehem where the Savior was born, this site, the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith, is one of the most sacred spots on the face of the earth, and if we are worthy, we could see angels that hover over the trees, protecting this spot and those who are here."

-Joseph B. Wirthlin

One of the highlights of being in Sharon, Vermont was seeing the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The minute we stepped out of our car there was a special spirit there. The grounds were beautifully kept and everything just felt peaceful and calm.

We were given a nice tour by a pair of couple missionaries inside the visitors center. It was neat learning more about the life of Joseph Smith and especially having an opportunity to teach the girls about him.

The whole family standing by a statue of Joseph Smith

After we toured the visitors center we went on a golf cart ride to see the foundations of Joseph's grandparents' and parents' houses.

Teya peeking over the fence at the Mack farm foundation

Brinley getting a better view from Daddy's shoulders

Foundation of Joseph's parent's home.

After the golf cart ride we went down to the actual memorial. It is a single pillar pointing to heaven that stands 38 1/2 feet tall, a foot for each year of the life of Joseph Smith.

This was my first time visiting a church history site and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to feel the spirit there and to bring our family to such a special place.

Aunty Regan's Epic Visit

Last week we were SO lucky to have Taber's sister Regan come visit us for a few days. We hadn't seen her since Dec 2008! Brinley was only 6 months old then and not even crawling. It was so great getting together again and seeing how much the girls absolutely adored their super fun Aunty.

She came bearing gifts! Polly pockets, stickers, rings, cool glasses and even some baby clothes for our little bun in the oven. The girls were pretty excited about their presents!

The first day we spent time jumping on the tramp, riding bikes, and just having a good old time hanging out.

On our bike ride Teya and Brinley found some acorns and had to take a picture. You can barely see them but those are little acorns they're all holding ; )

The next day we took Regan up to Portsmouth for brunch at the Friendly Toast. Some friends of ours took us there when we first moved out here and I've been dreaming of going back ever since. It was AMAZING! Just how I remembered.

I love this picture because I think Teya could almost pass for Regan's daughter! At least we know where she gets her beautiful hair color from!

Me and Brinsie gearing up for eggs benedict and pancakes.

Teya chowing down on her M&M pancake. She doesn't like syrup so they brought her out her own bowl of whipped cream to top it instead. Yum!

After eating we walked around Portsmouth. They have a neat little museum there that's free so we dropped in for a bit. It was a great way to spend our afternoon and fun showing Regan around such a cute little town.

MAINE:

On Friday Taber took the day off and we headed up to Maine. We took Regan on a lobster boat tour and even though we didn't catch any 8 pounders we did have a very entertaining captain.

He had all the kids laughing with lobsters hanging off his shoulder and head and acting like he didn't know they were there. Teya was seriously squealing hysterically.

After the boat ride we changed into our swim suits and headed over to the beach. It was a fun and relaxing afternoon.

Me and my man : )

Sibling Shot!

And of course, had to include a pic of baby bean. 18.5 weeks now and he's definitely growing!

After the beach we changed up and went looking for some seafood. We found a great little restaurant and stuffed ourselves with scallops, fish and chips and lobster alfredo.

Teya had to be in both pictures : )

It was such a fun day and so great to have Regan in town. The girls could not get enough of her and I can already tell she will be sorely missed!