Random happenings...

My belly went from a barely there belly to a full on, poped out pregnant belly.

This is at 26 1/2 weeks.

It has grown a ton since this picture. I had an appointment this last week and I was measuring 2 weeks bigger than my due date. My belly just gets huge (along with my butt, legs, face...). Comically huge to tell you the truth and I feel like it is much bigger at this phase than either Laine or Bode were. Oh well, we are both healthy and who could ask for any more than that?

I also turned 27 years old while in Pinetop. Jer wasn't planning on being there for that day but ended up leaving at 1 am and getting to my parents house around 4 am. It was so good to see him after not seeing him for nearly 2 weeks. To celebrate we took a little vacation inside our vacation. We left the kids at my parents house went out to lunch, went shopping for new makeup for me, slept at a motel and saw Harry Potter. It was a great birthday! 

What would a trip to Pinetop be with out a few walks around the lake?

Laine felt like pretty big stuff when she got to walk Boo.

Poor girl had a break out of eczema while we were up there. Her legs were to red here.

Bode has so much fun playing with all of grandma's office paper, pens, scissors and tape. This day he chose to make a Cat in the Hat hat for himself and Sally hair for Laine. Then taped them to their faces.

We missed dad...

During our vacation in Pinetop Jeremiah had to be a responsible adult, he couldn't a take a whole month off to enjoy the beautiful weather, he had to work. He came up with all of us for the 4th of July and came back a few weeks later. One thing was for sure during the time he was gone, we missed him, a ton. I am so grateful for him and his love for his family. Lucky for us we have the modern conveniences of cell phones and skype so he was never to far away. But nothing can take the place of actually having some with you. Made me very grateful for my husband and gain a ton of respect for those who for one reason or another are forced to be away from their spouse for long periods of time. So when Jeremiah came back up to Pinetop we were all very happy to have him back. The kids could not get enough time with him.

The morning Jer came up, Laine crawled in bed with him and just stared at him and placed her hand on his face. She was so happy to have him back.This isn't a picture of that time, but she did take any extra time she could to crawl in bed with her daddy for some extra snuggle time. This in in my parents trailer. We moved outside to clear up space in the house for everyone. It was actually kind of nice.

Bode was so very happy to have his favorite play companion back. I guess Boo, my mom's dog, was happy to have him back as well. 

Swim lessons...

We spent an extra 2 weeks in Pinetop. During this time I signed up the kids to take swimming lessons so we would have something to do. They loved them! 

Laine and I were signed up for the mom and tot class. We did one day of it before I switched her into the preschool class. She was much to old to be in that class plus she wouldn't let go of me and was really scared. I knew that if I wasn't there she would do so much better. Although technically she was not old enough to be in the older class they switched her anyway.

Bode was a bit shy the first day but after buying a pair of goggles he got brave! There were a few other kids who had goggles and he was convinced that was why they could swim better than him. He got those goggles and became a little fish. Not a fish that could get very far, but a little fish just the same. He was to proud of himself.

After Laine got switch into the older class she had so much fun! She had a little crush on her teacher and would only sit by him and do the little activities with him.

 After we came home we went swimming at the Brook's house. Bode was showing off all his newly acquired skills. He didn't want to wear a floaty and was jumping in the pool left and right. He is by no means able to swim by himself, but he can manage to jump in, touch the bottom and make his way back to the side of the pool. 

They both had so much fun and it tired them out for the rest of the day. Laine couldn't even make it back home without falling asleep.

Pioneer days...

At the end of the month everyone made their way back up the mountain to come celebrate pioneer days with my parents stake. All the grand-kids dressed up for the little parade.

Then we took the opportunity to snap a few pictures seeing as it isn't very often we are able to be all together.

 I am not to sure Laine could have hacked it as a pioneer. She does look awful cute though.

One of the booths at the Pioneer Days Celebration was a dunk tank. All the bishops and Stake President took some time in the wet seat. A few of the grand-kids and 3, who shall remain unnamed, siblings took a few throws to try and dunk Grandpa. We were all unsuccessful.

Fishing...

To look on the bright side of things, while the fire was ripping through the mountains, Big Lake was closed. During that month or so there was no fishing, so when the Lake opened up the fishing was great. I cannot tell you how many times I have been fishing up to Big Lake and no one caught a single thing. Not this time!

Jeremiah and Tim loaded up the boat and took Bode, Mike and Quinn up to Big Lake to fish.

I didn't think they would be gone too long, a few hours tops. A boat with 3 kids couldn't be that fun.

Well I was wrong. Fishing was great and that out weighed any of the stress of taking 3 young boys fishing.

They were gone all day!

Big Lake...

One Saturday morning we all hopped in the car to see Big Lake. In my mind I had this picture of ash, burnt trees, and pure desolation. It was so nice to drive up there and see the damage the fire had done with my own eyes. Truthfully, there were some bad, bad areas but over all I was so happy to see that is isn't all gone. I was happy to see that even though the fire destroyed so much we can still see the beauty and use the land.

This was a spot that was hit pretty hard. It is right across the road from the camp area we liked to go to. I say liked because the camp spot is nearly all burned down.

One place that I think everyone was happy to see standing is the Big Lake store.

The kids were so hoping we would hop in one of those boats and row away.

Lucky for them they were with grandpa and instead of going on a boat, they got ice cream.

It is a tradition to stop at the store and get a bit of ice cream. 

It may have only been like 9 in the morning  but it was still good.

Cousins...

cousins and more cousins.

During our time in Pinetop we were able to play with all the cousins.

The kids were in heaven. They played and played, and fought a bit.

Over all they loved it.