Outside!

I haven't given much attention to you lately Blog because it seems that every moment that Eva is awake, we are outside. It's great! I love Spring and Summer. We get up, get dressed, then the neighbor girls ring the doorbell and out they go, up and down the street with their baby doll strollers. There is a park behind our neighbors house that we frequent and Eva has gotten really good at riding her bike so we like to ride down to the Merc to get a treat. She has even gotten a bit less stubborn on it too and she allows us to push her and pull her with out freaking out. It's nice. She tried out the neighborhood pool in her new swimsuit and life jacket that Eric picked out. She probably didn't need the life jacket in 1 ft deep water, but we had to give it a try! It will be great for going on Sam and Liss's boat (hint you guys!) and Warm River. Probably should have bought blue or green so baby boy could eventually use it, but it would have totally wrecked the pink cuteness of the swimsuit. The pool is great though. I have a feeling I will be living there this summer especially as I grow and as the temperature rises. We have also been spending a lot of time trying not to let our yard win the white trash prize, but it is our first yard we have had to take care of so we're learning. Our lawn is really patchy with yucky stuff growing all over in it and there are weeds galore. I have become friends with Round-Up and every day I spray a section of weeds. Soon it will be lovely, I hope. Yesterday, Eric took a break from yardwork and built this cardboard house for Eva in the back. It has been a hit with the girls on the street. I think their babies are sleeping in it now...

Eva with her buddies Mikayla, Afton and Maryn

Last weekend was super fun too. We went to McCall for a golf tournament Eric was playing in. We walked around in the rain on Friday and then Saturday was beautiful so we went out for a canoe ride on the lake.

The previous weekend we went to Eastern Idaho. First we stayed with Emily and Travis in Idaho Falls and discovered they have a terrific zoo. We then stayed in Island Park and went into Yellowstone for a rainy afternoon. It was a lovely time and fun to be with our fam.

Long Way Round

About 2 years ago Eric saw the documentary The Long Way Round and got obsessed with the idea of going on a long motorcycle trip like Ewen McGregor. I just liked watching cutie pie Ewen. Last weekend he went on his first one with his friend Heath (Eva calls him Heaf). They left Boise heading west on Highway 26, the scenic Oregon Trail route passing Mount Hood. They got to Portland that friday night after a long day of riding and met up with another high school buddy, Dusty Wickham. After crashing at Dusty's place, he was gracious enough to be their guide on saturday to show them Multnomah Falls, a fish hatchery with sturgeon, Astoria, Cannon Beach, Ecola, and then finally back to Portland that evening. The last day of the journey they saw the spruce goose at an airplane museum, traveled through Oregon wine country, through Sisters, Bend and then finally back to Boise sunday night. Check out the pics above.

Meanwhile, Eva and I had a nice girls weekend. We went to the zoo with our friends the Jarvis' and shoe shopping. We were happy to have the boys home safe.

Baby Brudder

If you ask Eva what kind of baby is in mommy's tummy she will tell you "baby brudder." She has said it all along. And we found out that she's right! We are thrilled with the news and excited to meet this little guy. It always helps me to visualize and feel closer to the baby when I find out what I'm having. So I'm one of those annoying patients that is begging for an ultra-sound at 16 weeks. My doctor let me come in at 18 and it was pretty clear. I think this baby wanted to make sure we got rid of all the pink in his room.

Eva likes to kiss my belly and say, "Wub you baby." It's really cute, until we are in church and she is trying to lift up my shirt! I am so glad that she is excited. I know she will be a fabulous sister...a little overbearing, maybe, but a loving one.

Easter

Easter weekend was spent in St. George, UT this year. Well, actually in Hurricane (Hurricun is how they should spell it if they are going to say it like that). The Ballou's bought a beautiful home there so we all decided to meet and check it out and enjoy Easter/ General Conference together. We had fun in the 70 degree weather and playing on the fake grass. That stuff is awesome! I wish we could put it in our yard but I think we would stand out too much in our neighborhood. Anyway, the Easter egg hunt was great and pretty funny to watch. Eva would get interested in the first egg she found, try her best to open it to get the candy out while Brenner ran like lightning to get the eggs. He was so cute because he still let Eva pick up her share of the eggs. What a relaxing weekend! The drive wasn't even all that bad.

Who is the man in this picture? Eric and I went on a hike right outside the back door. It was awesome having all that red rock to climb on! Eva bossing Clark around

I'm not fond of me and the belly in this photo but I couldn't pass up the cute loves for Uncle Travis

The Puffy Coat Dance

Last weekend our friend, and Eric's high school buddy Heath came to town with his friend, Sara. We took them to McCall and did some cross country skiing there. Eric, being the handyman that he is, constructed the perfect little sled to pull Eva behind in. He gathered some foam pads and camp pillows and made the most comfy little seat. Well, she only lasted a few minutes being pulled behind in the sled. I don't know if it was because of the monotonous way the sled jerked back and forth or if she simply wanted to run around and eat snow. Since I was enjoying myself on the skis, Eric kindly took Eva to watch a special olympics race that was going on while the rest of us skiied on the trail for a while. As you can see, she liked the excitement of the race much better than the lame trail. There was music to dance to and "kids" and people to watch her dance moves.

Come September...

This little person will be coming to our family! We are so excited to have a tiny baby again. Eva has been kissing my tummy so I think this baby will get lots of good kisses from big sister.

Happy 2nd Birthday Eva Joy!

We had a busy couple of weekends around Eva's birthday that made it fun to celebrate. The weekend before we went to Island Park with the Ballous where we enjoyed snowmobiling, sledding and as always, eating and hanging out in the lovely cabin. Eva got to have a chocolate birthday cake with the fam!

The next week, we flew out on her birthday to Scottsdale, AZ where Eric had another dental conference. We took her along this time and had fun in the sun. She and I hung around the hotel most of the time chasing bunnies and swimming. She would say, "Bunny, come 'ere." Then she couldn't understand why they would run away. There were a lot of little wild rabbits running around. A highlight of the trip was seeing our good friend from dental school, Kathryn and her two girls, who met us to go swimming. Thank you Kathryn for coming! The night of Eva's birthday we went out to dinner with some other dental folk and Eva did great, especially when they brought out a little chocolate surprise with a candle for her!

We were excited to get home because Eva could test out her new birthday prize: a bike! I think she looks pretty cute riding it. She has just now learned to pedal but we are working on the steering part still...

She was happier than she looks, I promise!

We love you Eva. You brighten every day with your smile, dancing, your little voice, and your friendly nature.