32 Weeks and Graham Crackers... with FROSTING!

Here I am at 32 weeks pregnant.
This week was a big week! I went to my second ultrasound (as a follow-up to the 19-week ultrasound). Basically, at 19 weeks, my placenta was "in the way" of allowing the baby to come out, unless I had a c-section. So they had to do a second ultrasound at 32 weeks to see if it had moved. So I never posted this pic. on the 19 week ultrasound post, and since little Kinzley was hiding her face this time, here's a pic. of her cute face at 19 weeks- I'm pretty sure she's smiling. (Those 3-D ultrasound pics are incredible!)

So today, it was just Alyssa and I. We found Marlin and Dory (Finding Nemo) in the fish tank!

So the news was good news! My placenta has moved and everything is well with baby! She's measuring a little smaller, so they think she'll weigh less than Alyssa did (7 lbs. 9 oz on her due date).

In other news- Alyssa found a new snack yesterday- graham crackers... with frosting! You can see how she felt about it in the pictures. :)

Heat!

We're slowly, but surely, getting back into the swing of regular life. (It's always tough after vacation.) Alyssa and I are dealing with the heat by going to the pool, then drinking lots of water, and playing with ice. :) Check out those red cheeks...

But she's still happy!

A cup of ice and just being dressed in a diaper helped her cool down pretty quickly. :) Life's simple pleasures!

Summer Breakfast

Nothin' beats fresh berries, homemade granola bars, and ice cold water for a summer breakfast in AZ!!

(Aleasha shared the yummy granola recipe with us and I love it!)

Father's Day (celebration)

Since yesterday wasn't the best Father's Day Celebration we could offer Joseph, we (Alyssa helped a little bit :)) made him a yummy breakfast with the special plate and all. :) And Alyssa made a very cute Father's Day card that she LOVED coloring.

I am so grateful for the amazing dad that Joseph is to Alyssa. She loves him so much and it just makes me smile every time I see them interact. She loves when he makes her smile and laugh and when he plays with her and reads to her. She loves giving him kisses in the morning when he leaves for work and she loves being greeted by him each morning with the Cougar fight song. :) Her favorite part of the day is hearing him at the door when he comes home from work.

So Happy (belated) Father's Day to my sweet hubby! Thank you for being such a wonderful dad to Alyssa (and soon, Kinzley, too.) I love you so much!

Also a Happy (belated) Father's Day to Joseph's dad for raising such a wonderful man who I love and adore.

And to my OWN dad- Thank you for your patience and love throughout all my growing up years- and especially now! I love you so much and am grateful for your example, support, and love. I love you!

Road Trip Home!

Poor Joseph didn't get the proper "Father's Day" celebration he deserved today, but he was sure a good dad (and husband) and drove us all the way home to AZ.

We woke up at 6:20 am (even though we'd intended to leave Provo at 6:30 am), packed up our things, packed a lunch (THANK YOU again David and Aleasha for the food!!), made Alyssa some toast, and jumped in the car for a day on the road. We did pretty well the whole way and were making good time- until we were only an hour and a half from home. We hit some MAJOR traffic for about an hour!!! We got maybe ten miles in that hour and it was NOT fun.

Alyssa did SO well on the drive and only cried for the last few minutes, literally. It felt good to be home after sitting for HOURS. We got the car unpacked, suit cases unpacked, showered, and headed over to Fullers'. They filled our tummies and were very kind to us (as always).

UT Trip Day 7

Today was the final day of vacation. The good news is, though, that we had a LOT of fun! Our morning started out very well since we woke up at about 9!! (We had to enjoy one last day of sleeping in- and since Alyssa wasn't really sleeping during the night, she slept in too.)

We got ready and packed up our things, loaded them in the car, and headed down to Provo to David and Aleasha's. We were going to stop at BYU's campus just to take a walk down memory lane, but with Alyssa asleep and no stroller, we decided it'd be best to keep her asleep and skip the "memory lane" walk.

We arrived and David and Aleasha's, then figured out what to wear for the big "Family Pictures" later that day. Then we headed to Tucano's to meet the Campbells for lunch! Of course I don't have any pictures of that because every second was spent feeding Alyssa and myself. :) But the food was delicious, the lemondade was scrumptious (Alyssa downed a LOT of it), and the company was superb. It was fun to have the entire Campbell family in one place and we enjoyed celebrating Father's Day with such a yummy meal!!

After we were all completely stuffed, we headed back to David and Aleasha's where we changed and got ready for the pictures. The plan was to head up to Provo Canyon and Aleasha was the photographer! We all wore black, grey, white or red . We took a few big group shots (thanks to self-timer) and then Aleasha took shots of each individual and each "smaller" Campbell family! She did an awesome job and I'm excited to post them!

We said goodbye to the Campbells after the pics (but not for long- we're excited to have them come down for the baby blessing!), and then headed back to David and Aleasha's place. We snacked on some things for dinner, enjoyed chocolate chip cookies, got ready for bed, put the kids down, and watched a movie. It was just like old times- pretty much every Friday we'd get together, hang out, talk, eat, or watch a movie. We can't wait for them to move here so we can continue our fun "traditions".

We ended up turning off the movie and going to bed since we had an early morning.

UT Trip Day 6

Today was another eventful day of vacation! It was our last day in Bountiful so we had to fit lots of things in! The first and most important was to make cinnamon rolls! They disappeared pretty quickly, dispite the fact that they did not rise very well this time so they were not as yummy as usual.

After getting ready for the day, we went to get new wiper blades for the car since there was "rain" predicted for our drive home and our windshield wipers were torn. Since it was lunch time, however, and we had a free meal, we had to stop at Cafe Rio first! We decided it wasn't the BEST we've had b/c it's just better at night when you have all day to anticipate it- but it was still delicious! And Alyssa definately enjoyed it. :) (Actually she mostly enjoyed the lemonade, but she liked the tortilla part of my salad as well.)

I remembered to take a picture when I was almost done- still looks delicious though. :)

Later that afternoon we headed to the store to get some chips for the BBQ we were heading to that night. A bunch of Joseph's friends (and their families) planned a BBQ/get-together that night at Matt's house (next door to Joseph's family). We enjoyed seeing friends and eating a yummy dinner. Then the boys started playing basketball. And they didn't stop for a LONG time. It was only 59 degrees outside- but Alyssa and I were FREEZING!!! We finally decided to sit inside and watch the bball through the sliding glass door in the kitchen. After many "just one more game"-s and "just a couple more minutes", they finished their b-ball and it was time to head home. It was a fun BBQ and fun to see old friends!

UT Trip Day 5

Today we got up and got ready and then headed to my cousin Jessie's place to visit her cute family. Her little girl, Sammy, is just a few months younger than Alyssa. It was fun to watch them interact and play with one another. (I should've taken pictures!!) We enjoyed a quick visit before Garan had to leave for work. It was short but it was sure fun to see them!!

When we came home, we ate lunch and just hung out around the house. Later in the afternoon, after Alyssa's nap, Joseph and Daniel went to work out, so Alyssa, Becca and I headed to the church distribution center. We got the Book of Mormon reader with the pictures- it's what I grew up reading for family scriptures and I thought it'd be perfect for Alyssa. She definately enjoys them more now that there are pictures instead of just words. :) And the language is MUCH more simple.

After we got home, we enjoyed dinner and then Joseph and I and his parents went to the temple! It was PACKED. We got dressed quickly and all the sudden I was having really hard contractions and a lot of them. Each time I stood up or walked, I had a contraction. I'm pretty sure the little miss "dropped" tonight because she feels a lot lower and there was something pretty intense goin' on! :) It was fun to be able to go to the temple since that is a rare event now that we have a child! We love the Bountiful Temple and are very grateful to Becca for watching Alyssa so that we could go!!

UT Trip Day 4

First- forgot to post this pic. yesterday. Alyssa LOVED playing with all of Naomi's baby dolls and she felt like such a big girl playing with Naomi. :)
Wednesday was quite the day full of fun! I think we realized it was mid-week and our vacation was almost over, so we crammed a lot of fun into one day. We all woke up that morning and got ready to go to the Ogden Children's Museum. Aleasha had free passes to get in, which made it even better! The museum was amazing and Alyssa was totally entertained- once she was actually awake. :) She fell asleep on the way and slept for the first 15 minutes we were there, but then she woke up and enjoyed all there was to see and do!

Joseph taught the kids the "tricks" of tic-tac-toe. :)

He had to win a few games first, though, before teaching them the tricks.

Alyssa woke up just in time for her favorite part- the farm area! She definately thought some of the animals were real.

Sarah taught her how to milk a cow...

And she liked playing with the little bottle that she used to feed the pig.

This sheep moved its head and Alyssa could not get enough of it!

Alyssa wasn't too into the cowboy hat... even though it was pink!

I love this picture- Caleb does love Alyssa, but I think he's just hanging on for dear life. :)

Alyssa loved being on the horse- but not smiling for the camera.

The whole gang (Alyssa and Caleb were obviously anxious to go onto the next thing- no time to stop and take pictures!)

Alyssa had to visit the cow one more time before we left to go to the next room.

The next room was a huge map of Utah.

And we had to find our old "home sweet home".

Sarah and Alyssa enjoying the Indian tepee.

The little school room was very cute and Alyssa and Caleb were pros at being students.

Painting with water :) -life's simple pleasures.

Joseph was a good sport and went through the tunnel with Alyssa.

And Caleb wanted to find out where it ended too.

Sam and Alyssa made some yummy sushi.

Very focused little chef...

This little house was any little girl's dream- a cute little table and chairs and everything you need for the perfect "tea party".

The treehouse! The museum is called the Treehouse Museum so there's a HUGE tree in the middle that you can climb up and it also takes you to the second floor. Joseph and Caleb and Sarah dropped parachutes down for us to catch. Once Alyssa found this little bridge- she didn't care about anything else. After walking over it, back and forth, probably 20 times, I pulled her away and we headed up the tree to the second floor to catch up with everyone else. That made her mad, mad, mad and she was pretty much a grouch the rest of the time.

Notice she still has a tea cup in her hand from that previous little tea party- that was an event to take that away from her as well.

I got one more picture of her in this chair, but that was it.

Luckily she fell asleep on the way home and had a little nap. This afternoon, some old friends I taught with drove up to Bountiful to come say hi! THANK YOU Alexa, Lyric, and Amy for coming to visit!!! It was so fun to hear about their year of teaching and catch up with each of them. It's funny how there are those friends you don't see for a long time, but when you do catch up again, it's just like it used to be. There are great girls and it was so fun to see them.

We played more that afternoon, then ate dinner, played some more, and then David and Aleasha and their kids headed home to Provo. We headed over to see our good friends- Jeff and Nicole. They're expecting a little girl just a couple weeks after us! We enjoyed seeing their new house and chatting with them for a little bit of time.

We're sure enjoying all this extra time with Joseph and don't want our vacation to end!

UT Trip Day 3

This morning, we hung out, got ready, then headed to SLC (GATEWAY!) for some shopping! The goal was to find Becca something to wear for the family picture, get me a new "Shade shirt"- but from Downeast- and my secret goal was to find Joseph a new pair of casual shoes. We accomplished my secret goal first!! Joseph was embarrassed that we were shopping for HIM, but when you only buy one pair of shoes every 3 or more years- you gotta eventually get new ones. So he got some grey and white Vans ("boat-shoe" style) and he looks gooood in 'em! (He also go no-show socks... haha He says he feels like a girl wearing 'em- he's just so stylish these days.) :) Now that he's thoroughly embarrassed- we'll move on. So next, we found Becca a cardigan to wear in the family pic! And lastly, I got a new white Downeast basics shirt! (Getting a new white shirt is always refreshing!)

We left Gateway and headed home and David, Aleasha and the kids had arrived! The plan was to go swimming and we all had a blast. Unfortunately I didn't get a single picture of the fun day we had, but we definately all had fun!

After swimming, we enjoyed a spaghetti dinner (Alyssa's favorite) and had fun hangin' out- then Joseph, David and Daniel left to play b-ball at the stake center. Aleasha and I put the little ones to bed and waited up for the "men" to arrive home and we all went to bed.

It was another fun day of vacation!

UT Trip Day 1 and 2

So we arrived safely in Bountiful last night. We had fun chatting with family and Alyssa enjoyed playing with her aunts and uncles (minus Rebecca who ditched us for a boy until Sunday night) :).

Sunday morning, the Campbells headed down to Mapleton to hear Becca sing at her boyfriend's "missionary farewell" (or whatever they call 'em these days). We got ready for church just in time for David, Aleasha, Caleb, and Livvy to arrive. Alyssa enjoyed playing with Caleb and tending to baby Livvy before we all headed to church with Daniel. Joseph's fam. arrived back in the middle of church and then we all headed home and ate a yummy homemade pizza dinner! Sundays are usually Alyssa's most grumpy days because of afternoon church- she misses her nap and ends up sleeping in Priesthood for 45 minutes and that's it! So add being on vacation to that (I don't think any child sleeps well on vacation- haha) and it made for one grumpy girl!! She sure had fun playing "hide-and-seek" though with Sarah, Sam, Naomi, and Caleb! Pretty soon there'll be 4 little cousins running around playing! Crazy!

Anyway, Alyssa finally went to bed, however, so that was a relief to everyone! :) Oh and we were happy Becca decided to come home Sunday night so we could see her. :)

Monday morning, Joseph, his dad, Sarah, and Sam hiked Elephant Rock. Alyssa and I decided it would be best if we skipped out on hiking this time. :) So we got ready for the day and went to the craft store with Becca. We got some ribbon to make a bow for Alyssa's hair, but I ended up not making it... haha That's how a lot of projects seem to end up for me lately. Just a couple months and I'll have my motivation and energy back. :) Right when we sat down to eat lunch, the hikers arrived at home. Joseph got ready and we drove to Salt Lake to go to Mr. Mac and visit Brad. Joseph's dad has bought suits, ties, etc. from Brad for years and we love working with him, so it was fun to go in and see him. Joseph finally got a new pair of church shoes- Eccos, of course! He's been needing some for a LONG time- the last pair was purchased 5 years ago- so it was exciting to finally get them! :)

Alyssa fell asleep on the way to Mr. Mac, slept the whole time we were in there, and slept more after we got home. It was the first good nap she'd had in a couple days, so it was great! Grandma and Grandpa Campbell came over for dinner that night, so it was fun to see them!

After dinner, Daniel, Becca, Joseph, Alyssa and I headed up to the cemetery to see their mom's grave.

It was fun to take Alyssa since she's getting older and understands more than she used to. She still doesn't totally understand, but as she gets older she will. Her middle name, Renee, came from "Grandma Debbie", so we know Alyssa will always hold a special place for her in her heart.

It's such a beautiful cemetery and although it was a little chilly out, we had a great time. (Side note: Joseph and Daniel spotted a dead snake in the road when we first arrived- they poked at it for a few minutes before knowing it really was dead. I won't recap. the details- but it was gross...)

And here's Aunt Becca and Alyssa before we left to the cemetery- gotta love Instagram for those phone pics!

When we got home, Alyssa and I went to bed, and Joseph and Daniel went to the rec. center and worked out. Joseph has gotten back in the "work out" routine- which he's actually done for the last little while- mostly running- but he's started lifting again, so he had fun working out with Daniel. They talked about "lifting and working out" pretty much every day we were there. :)

UT Road Trip- Glen Canyon Dam

We decided to stop at the Glen Canyon Dam (at Lake Powell) for one of our "rest stops". We had stopped briefly when we originally moved to AZ, but we didn't get to stay as long as we wanted. So this time we took full advantage of the time out of the car! Alyssa definatley enjoyed the exercise!

She just wished she could've gone swimming in these fountains...

Yes, my belly looks ginormous here... haha This was just a few days before I feel like the baby dropped, so I was definately stickin' out there!

Alyssa loves her dad!

She was fascinated by the water waaaaaayyyy down below!

I can't believe we actually drove across this bridge!!

Alyssa just couldn't get enough!! The pictures don't do it justice... but it is SUCH a huge dam!

We were wishing we were out on the water, wakeboarding... one day. :)