EFY

After an amazing week last summer at EFY, Bryson was so eager to participate again this year.  Last year at BYU-Idaho, this year at BYU.  He didn't have a buddy this year we could carpool with, and I did NOT want to drive the 12+ hours each way to drive him, so we found a fairly cheap one way ticket for him to fly down- he was SO excited because PLANES!  

His cousins Rhys and Sydney and their cousin were all attending the same week so he had a ride from the airport to BYU *grin*

Because EFY didn't end until Saturday, he missed Addison's wedding, which was a bummer, but he had such an amazing experience at BYU that I can't even regret it! (Plus, it sure made it easier to bring him home!!)

Addy's Wedding

We saddled up and headed down to Rexburg to celebrate Addison and Cade's wedding last weekend- so fun to get to see so much family!  We are so blessed to have so much family who put in such effort to get together- though we wish we got to see each other more, we're always glad for the time we do get.

What a beautiful bride!

So many boy cousins!

Hailee caught the bouquet!

Since we were in the neighborhood, we went down to Idaho Falls to enjoy a little Papa Kelsey's with cousins-

Alas, all good things (and times!) must come to an end, and of course the weekend passed too quickly- We went out to breakfast on our way out of town with Emily and Laura and her kids-

I almost can't even post this next part, but I'ma muscle through it. 

First, a little backstory.  Years ago, we were passing through Rexburg/Idaho Falls on our way home from a family reunion in Utah and we stayed at the nastiest hotel.  So nasty.  It was on itex/trade, which was the only reason why we even considering it... it was 'pet friendly' and literally reeked of wet dog, amongst other things.  Super sketchy in general.  So as we were preparing for this trip, I checked on itex, making SURE to not stay at Guesthouse Inn.  "Lucky" for us,  there was a hotel on itex (with a pool!), and it was a Fairbridge Inn, so we were good.  Feeling generous, we even booked rooms for Nathan's family members on itex.  We got there and were horrified to find it was the same disgusting place, just renamed.  So so so bad.  Add morning sickness to it all and I could barely stomach it.  Nathan was totally going to get another hotel, but I ended up sucking it up and dealing with it.  I think I have PTSD from the hotel- my kids are forbidden from mentioning it around me- it instantly makes my morning sickness worse, no lie.  So gross. *full*body*shudder*

Grandma and Papa were asked to go back to the country of Jordan for another humanitarian mission- their reporting to the MTC coincided with Addi's wedding- so wonderful that it worked out that they could be there for her wedding!

They are such wonderful examples of service and dedication.  We love you Grandma and Papa!!

Cotton Summer Basketball League

The boys have been getting pretty serious about nightly basketball with dad- it's so fun to watch them play

I'm always a little surprised by how competitive and hard they play, even against Jace, but Jace holds his own!!  He doesn't, however, always handle defeat with grace yet.  We're working on that!

Pool Time!

Bryson is at EFY and I'm determined to have fun with the rest of the kids, even if I do feel like garbage.  Ugh.  It's hit me hard.  Whatevs, life goes on.

Jace was very excited that he was big enough to go down the waterslide!

Comin' in hot, cool as can be *grin*

Dallin perfecting his dive:

Don't underestimate the cannonball *wink*

It's always easy to spot Eli with his bright neon yellow shorts!

Lightning Storm

Earlier this week we had the most amazing lightning storm!

We sat on the back deck and just watched... a little/lot worried that a wildfire would spark, but thankfully, none did.

Camping

We went camping last weekend up at the Mindens.  They're selling their land, so, sadly, we won't get to go camping up there anymore.  Jace keeps arguing why they shouldn't do that *grin*

Morning sickness reared its ugly head this week... but if I'm going to feel like crap, at least we can be somewhere the kids are occupied and having fun!

Jace caught a nice little fish one morning-

So proud!

And of course the kids did lots of jumping and diving off the dock and swimming.  I don't think I donned my swimsuit once.

It really was a great weekend, beautiful weather and fun time with family.  So sad that we won't be able to use the property any more...  We have had made such amazing memories as a family, so thankful for the Mindens sharing with us!

Haircut

-Hailee's hair was sooooooooooo long.  As in 'down-to-her waist' long, but you wouldn't know it because the curls bounce it up to just below her shoulder blades.  This morning, after battling to get it brushed out, I broke out the scissors thinking that if the ends were trimmed and even, it might be easier to brush out... my 'trim' was 8 inches!

It looks so fresh!

See how far down the 'wet' extends on her back?!?  That's how long it was when I brushed it out before it was trimmed!  To look at her, it doesn't really even seem like I cut much off, but it brushes out much better now, and she sure was excited (look at her cute smile in the mirror *grin*)

That's a lot of hair!!

Overheard at my House

 Jace: Come and get it!  Free ice cream!

Dallin: I'll take one please.

Jace: That'll be $2.

Holy Cow. This changes E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

Ohmygosh.  Brace yourselves.

And in case that didn't convince you... (because Nathan wasn't convinced!)

Wow.  Just wow.  This is coming out of left field.  Not on our radar at all. 

Might be a little TMI, but here goes.  I had my IUD taken out in January because I've been having this weird heel pain for years.  My sister Kristi does foot zonology and indicated that it could be related to my IUD.  So I had it taken out, and we were very careful.  Totally.  And then I had a reeeeeally short cycle and a long period and it threw things off and I had a doctors appointment to get to the bottom of my heel pain and when the medical assistant asked me the first day of my last period, my cycle tracker app told me that I was just passing my really fertile phase and ohmygoodness... Nathan just went off to scout camp and so I had to wait 2 days to tell him that we might be pregnant.  Again.  And I don't think he really thought it could be possible.  I, on the other hand, was pretty confident we were pregnant for some reason.  So exactly 2 weeks from when my app said I'd ovulated (four days early), I took a test.  There was no waiting to see if the 2nd line turned up, it was instantly pink.  And, the same thing happened twice in a row the next morning.  I just can't even wrap my head around it...it's not at all that I'm upset, it just doesn't seem real.  At all.

We waited a few days to tell the kids.  And then, we figured that now (on the way to Perry and Sandy's ward for Jacob's mission homecoming) was as good of time as any.  The kids reactions were priceless.  I wish I had it on video, but I think it's just forever cemented in my brain.  Bryson screwed up his face, sooooo grossed out, Jace was so confused ("but you said you weren't having more kids") and Eli was SO excited.  

So we arrived at the church, and most all of my family was there- my parents already knew, as well as my sister Kim... Jace started telling people that he was going to be a big brother!  It was so fun to see the confusion on their faces, not sure if they'd understood him correctly, and then the dawning of realization.  Kim's girls are SO excited.  Since Jace is the youngest grandchild on my side, this baby will be all alone, but despite my assurances that it's not too late for my sisters to give him a cousin the same age, they all declined.

 A few days later, I could tell that it all just wasn't sitting well with Bryson.  I asked him how he was feeling about having another baby in the family, and he said something along the lines of, "I just don't see why we need to have another baby... we've already got a big family..."  I told him that mom and dad had thought that our family was complete also, that this was a huge surprise for us, but that Heavenly Father had a different plan for our family and that I trust that it's going to be wonderful.  With that, Bryson completely softened, his entire attitude changed from being maybe a touch upset, maybe a little embarrassed, to acceptance.  I love that boy.

Flashback to when we were in the hospital after having Hailee... we were trying to decide on her name (so we could fill out the paperwork and be discharged). We had mostly decided on the name Lucia (from the book All the Places to Love that Nathan and I read at Barnes and Noble on one of our first dates), but at the last second, Nathan said, "no, let's name her Hailee... I PROMISE, she'll have a sister and we'll name her Lucia."  So for 7 years, Nathan has been a liar... but maybe this is his chance to redeem himself!

Welcome Home Jacob

Can't believe it's been two years already!  Jacob got home from the Quito Ecuador North Mission this week- I'm guessing it'll feel a little longer when it's my own kids gone 😉

His flight didn't arrive until 10:50pm and he wanted a CROWD!  Even if he hadn't specified that, we wouldn't have missed it!

Hiawatha

I've been dying to do the Hiawatha Trail for SO long- and it finally worked out this year!  We went up with Mimi and Papa (on their e-bikes) and Dan and Sarah and their family. 

Jace was so excited to ride his new motorcycle bike!

Getting headlamps adjusted-

Heading into the first tunnel- almost TWO MILES LONG!  It was so dark, there was NO light at the end of the tunnel for a very, very long time 😳

I stuck right behind Hailee and I was super proud of her and her perseverance- she just kept going!  The dark is NOT her favorite thing, so to be in a cold tunnel for nearly 2 miles when she's not super confident on a bike anyway was pretty amazing!

Love the kids stair-stepped up on the side of the tunnel 💗

About 1/2 a mile after the first tunnel, Hailee decided that she was D.O.N.E.  The Hiawatha is a 2% grade for pretty much the entire trail... except for one slightly steeper 'hill' on which she lost control because she was trying to use her feet to slow down instead of her brakes and ended up falling.  But quitting at this point wasn't really an option!!  I somehow managed to talk her into continuing and soon, she was distracted by the educational point-of-interest signs every few hundred yards on the trail-

We stopped at every.single.sign so that she could read it!  While it made our ride much, much longer, it kept my girl happily pedaling, so it was worth it!

The other tunnels were less than 1000 feet long- but still pretty amazing-

Bryson was technically supposed to be back in Spokane by 3pm for a drivers ed 'drive'- after talking with other people who had done the trail we figured we'd be able to make it if we got an early start (which we did), but it became apparent pretty quickly that we were not going to make it in time... at least not as a group.  SO, we ended up splitting up, sending the older kids (and Jace!) ahead with Nathan and and Dan, while Hailee, Sydney and Kyla stayed back with Sarah, Mimi, Papa and me.  It made it much nicer to not feel like they were rushing Hailee us.

The lines for the shuttle back to the top were crazy long since it was a holiday weekend, and when it came down to it, there was no way we could have gotten Bryson back for drivers ed in time... oh well!  Good thing we had a great time 😊  We were all exhausted on the shuttle ride back-

and FILTHY!!

You know it was worth it when the kids are this tired!

Jace had NO problem keeping up with the big kids because of his new motorcycle bike *wink*  In fact, when we got home, he hopped right on his old tiny bike because he was too impatient to wait for his new bike to get unloaded 😄

Oh the energy of youth!