Cute pictures and more

Well, not a whole lot has been going on lately. Up until the last couple days, the weather was relatively pleasant for about two weeks, like most days it only got to about 90 degrees. Also, it was cloudy or partly cloudy for many of the days which made a big difference in how tolerable it was to be outside. Right before the weather cooled down, we had a day that was up to 108! I am pretty sure that that's the hottest weather I have ever been in, and now it is getting hot again. The projected high for Thursday is 111 so I guess that we will be spending a lot of time indoors again. When it was cooler, we were actually able to be outside a lot, and that's always nice because it keeps the kids from messing up the house. However, there is good news. Even though the heat is increasing, we will won't have to endure for a while. In ten days, we are going to Idaho. We are leaving on July 2nd, and Trent is returning on July 13. Brooke, Jade and I won't be returning until the 29th, though. I can't believe that it is so soon, but I am really excited. I have already thought of a lot places I want to go and things I want to do including visiting my house, eating Chicago Connection pizza, and going to McCall among other things. We're excited to see all the family and for Brooke and Jade to see their cousins.

Anyway, Brooke and Jade are doing good. Jade is pretty much potty-trained; this happened a lot sooner and was a lot easier than I expected it to be. She is also talking a lot, and it's pretty cute to hear some of the things she says. When it appears that she might have hurt herself, I'll ask her if she is okay and she'll say, "I'm fine." Brooke isn't up to much. I think that she is bored especially when we have to spend so much time inside. She starts all-day kindergarten on August 10, though, so with our trip and then school starting shortly after our return, she won't have to be bored much longer. Here are some recent pictures of Brooke and Jade. There are more pictures of Jade because she actually wants me to take her picture while Brooke isn't so cooperative when it comes to photographs.

Just a cute picture of Jade.

Another cute one; she found the camera and wanted a picture.

Brooke and Jade made a little bed with their babies in Jade's crib.

Brooke is our slave; we make her fetch water for us even though we could easily get it out of the faucet in the house.

The baby is a...

GIRL! I kind of thought that that's what it would be, but since I couldn't really be sure until the ultrasound I just kept that to myself. Most family/friends reading this probably already know that it's girl, but I thought that I would post it here anyways along with two of the ultrasound pictures. I am pretty happy that it's another girl, but I also would have been happy if it was a boy. Trent was a little disappointed, but he'll be fine.

The ultrasound technician has a machine that also does the 4-D images so really got to see what the baby looks like (kind of weird and very skinny). I am not sure if she looks more like me or Trent...(just kidding)

I like this one because if you look closely you can see that she put the umbilical cord in her mouth.

Camping

Two and a half weeks ago, we went camping. Trent actually had to beg me to go. It's not that I don't like camping; it's just that I thought we would be camping in the desert or something. When I camp, I want to go to a place with pine trees and all that. So after saying maybe for a while, I reluctantly gave in but for only one night. We ended up camping near Sedona, AZ, and I was pleasantly surprised. The land was pretty much desert nearly all the way to Sedona so I was not very optimistic for most of the drive up. However, when we got really close to Sedona the landscape started to change. There were pine trees and red rock formations; it was much prettier. Thankfully the weather was also cooler. The town was very nice also with lots of very large homes, little shops, artist galleries, and things like that. We didn't make it into doing anything in town since we were there for a short time and had other things we wanted to do.

So on Friday, we didn't do too much since we got there in the late afternoon. We just kind of explored the campground and the wilderness nearby. We also had a campfire and s'mores of course. On Saturday, we packed up our stuff and drive to a trail so we could go hiking. The hiking was fun, but with Brooke and Jade, it was slow. Jade was so tired by the end of the hike that she fell asleep sitting on Trent's shoulders. After our hike, we went to a place called Slide Rock. It's a river or stream that has all these rocks that are really smooth and slick so people can slide down them. Trent slid on the rocks, but I was too nervous about getting hurt so I didn't do it. He also took Brooke and Jade on the rocks a few times. While we were there, the seam on the back of Trent's shorts came apart, and he unintentionally exposed his behind to who knows how many people. We didn't even know his shorts were like that until some woman told him. When we were done at Slide Rock, we drove home. While we were camping, I was sorry that we were only staying one night. It was so nice up there, and we did drive four or five hours to get there. Unfortunately, we weren't prepared to stay another night, and I had to teach a lesson at church the next day. There was one bad surprise from our trip, though, and it didn't come until the next week. While driving near Phoenix, a road sensor and camera caught Trent speeding. So almost a week later, we got a ticket in the mail for $181 (which I think is excessive). The speed limit was 65 and Trent was supposedly going 77. In his defense, speed limits signs were posted quite sparsley, and nearly all the cars in that area were driving at least as fast as Trent.

Embarking on our hike.

Just outside Sedona as we were heading home.

Brooke and Trent at Slide Rock.

Jade and Trent going down one of the "slides."

Trent going down a "slide."

Jade falling asleep at the end of the hike.

Jade on the hike.

Brooke on the hike, kind of pouting about something.

Jade is collecting rocks at the beginning of our hike and putting them in her pockets.

Beginning our hike.

Brooke showing her tricks at our campsite.

Brooke at the campsite.

Jade's Birthday

On May 16, Jade turn to two years old; it doesn't seem like it's been that long since she was born. We were actually camping on her birthday so we waited until the 18th, when we were home, to celebrate. Jade and her cake -- This one I bought at Albertson's because I was too tired to make it.

Brooke is helping Jade open her presents.

Jade and her gifts -- She is getting old enough that she actually gets excited about them. When she opened the Little People Castle, she said, "Yea!" However, Brooke took it over immediately so Jade has not been able to play with it a lot.