Another month to catch up...

August started with a family reunion on Taylor's side in Swan Valley, Idaho. We drove out there and spent four days with family. It's so fun to watch Isaac with his cousins. Here is Isaac and Kendra holding hands back to the cabin :)

There was a giant slide at the cabin--which freaked me out to watch Isaac go down--but he LOVED it! Thanks so Alexa who would go with him over, and over, and over...

Isaac did his first--and a lot--of horseback riding. Here's Isaac and Kendra

Isaac loves to go out and mow with dad this summer

Taylor taught Isaac to pick flowers and bring them in to me...I think this particular day Isaac picked me three different flowers...lucky me... ;)

We've spent many days at the pool...

We went to a Colorado Rockies vs. LA Dodgers baseball game--so fun!!

We went with our really good friends, the Harline's, and in this next picture, Isaac was on Steve's shoulders and we were laughing at how Steve just bent down to get Isaac in the picture for our family picture :)

My attempt at getting the whole group in a picture

Taylor and Isaac at the beginning of the game

Isaac's new favorite: riding his John Deere tractor while being chased by the 4-wheeler

Even Taylor likes driving it...but it definitely slows it down. ;) This is Taylor trying to use his body to get the tractor up the driveway :)

Isaac was so scared of this tractor last year, but loves it this year.

Which brings us to today--Labor Day! Colorado Springs has a big hot air balloon launch every Labor Day weekend. We decided to go today--a.k.a. wake up EARLY-- and when we got there we learned there was a cold front coming in so they couldn't let the balloons launch. LAME!!! But we brought a picnic breakfast, so we decided to walk the 6+ blocks to the park and at least look at the balloons.

6 months along and feeling well!! Is it December yet??!? We are SOOO excited for our little boy to get here!!

It's A BOY!!!!!

We found out today that we will be adding another BOY to our family at the end of the year!!

I thought for sure we were having a girl--even had a name picked out--so when the gal said it was a boy I was totally taken back!! I kept asking, "Are you sure?!" So she looked from four different angles and sure enough, we're having a boy!! I just can't believe that I am going to have TWO sons! That's so crazy to me--I grew up with one sister, now I am going to raise two boys! So different, but so great! We are excited and SO grateful that he looks healthy!!

Isaac and his brother will be 3 years and 3 months apart. It will be great for Isaac to have a little brother--not to mention that they will be able to share a room (someday) since Isaac's room has bunk beds, and we already have the clothes we need in the right season!! So it will be great, it's just hard to change my thinking from "it's a girl" to "it's for sure a boy!"

And here I am at 20 weeks....

He Did It!

A few weeks ago, I tried to keep Isaac motivated about potty training. So I created an "Isaac Earning Chart" -- which essentially just means a sticker chart. He got to put a sticker under the appropriate side every time he did the said action. And once all the stickers had been put on the chart, he got to have his "Buzz Lightyear" water toy. He officially finished his chart yesterday--July 22. Here he is with his completed chart!

And his Buzz toy...

He was so excited to play in it! ...please notice his tongue sticking out!

And then when Daddy came home, the two of them went out and played with it before dinner.

Now I'm just hoping he continues doing well with the potty training even though the chart is done... so far, so good... :)

Time to Get Caught Up

Alright, well if you have been wondering what we have been up to, here is a precise update from the middle of June to today. Aren't you excited??

Right after Disney World, Taylor had the opportunity to go with the young men ages 14-18 with our church to an outdoor adventure camp. It is an awesome camp and I am so glad he got to participate in it. His comment when he came home was, "Man, I sure wish there was something like this when I grew up." So while he was away for 5 days, Isaac and I spent a lot of time with my mom (since my dad was at the camp too). And one night, this is how my mom got Isaac dressed:

Shorts on his head and shirt on his legs! It was hilarious!! Taylor came home from his camp and we spent that night surprising my mom with a birthday dinner--that deserves a post of its own!! The next day, we started our annual girls trip. Last year we went to Chicago, this year it worked best to go to Denver--since my Nana and Aunt were flying in for my mom's birthday dinner and Heather had Katie with her and we didn't want to through her too much out of her element. I really didn't do a good job of taking pictures, so here is all we have....birthday cake for my mom on the first night (we really milked her birthday!!)

The first day was spent shopping and eating, the second day was spent at Body Worlds Museum and then Cafe Rio, a movie and dinner, and then the last day we came home. Here is my mom, Aunt Christa and Nana!

We have spent many days at the pool. Isaac used to be scared of this slide, but this summer it's no big deal to him.

We are potty training Isaac. For record purpose, we started potty training on June 23. I'll be honest, I wanted to quit the process by the second day! I had no idea what to expect and it was proving to be a whole lot of work for not a lot of result. In retrospect, I feel like we started but we weren't 100 percent committed to the process, so it wasn't producing great results. In week one we had some good days which were often followed by terrible days. We started candy rewards and he LOVED that! Then I got him a Buzz Lightyear toy and put together a sticker chart--I told him once the chart was full of stickers he would get the toy. He loved the stickers, but didn't have a whole lot of motivation to get the toy. So, I went and got him a bag of suckers--which he loves--and since then, he was done SOOOO well with potty training. So all in all, the candy reward is what has been working for him. Here is a picture of him after eating a piece of candy :)

We took Isaac to Toy Story 3 3D. He loved it!! He sat through the whole movie, loved the popcorn and was pretty good with the 3D glasses.

Isaac has been doing swim lessons and has gotten so good! He was first not wanting to get in the water with the instructor (a gal in my dad's ward) to not wanting to get his head wet, to now doing "bobs" (his head goes all the way under) to swimming and kicking up a storm. It's so fun to watch him!! After his lesson we go in the locker room and get dressed and he loves standing under the hand dryer to dry his hair.

For the 4th of July weekend, we did the Palmer Lake Fun Run in the morning of July 3. (So not fun pregnant with too small of shoes trying to keep up with my dad!) After that we went to the zoo, and then back to my parents for a BBQ.

On July 6 (also the day we had a doctor's appointment and learned that everything looks good and healthy with our baby so far!) the Mining Museum, which is essentially down the street from our house, had a 28th year anniversary day. We went with our new neighbors and friends, Leslie Johnson and her cute son Brennan! Here they are (attempting) to mine for gold! We weren't really sure what we were doing... :)

We have done some boating so far! It's been a lot of fun and we're trying to get the whole process of "what we need to bring" down to a science and so far we have done pretty well. About a week and a half ago we were able to go down to Lake Meredith in Pueblo with some of our favorite boating people: The Kofford's! We have gone boating with them for years, we sure love them!

We buried Isaac on the beach--he thought that was pretty funny!

Despite that day being cloudy and maybe 75 degrees, Taylor and I both got FRIED with bad sunburns! Here is a picture Isaac actually took and it shows some of our sunburn--mine was just my face and I totally had raccoon eyes thanks to my sunglasses! Dang clouds!!! ;)

Last night we went to the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo and we had AWESOME seats and Isaac loved it!!! He got a cowboy hat and boots all in preparation for the big night!

My cute parents!

Hello close up!

This next picture is funny---it was when the girls do the barrel races and Isaac would scream "go, go, GOOOOO"

Isaac and Baby Katie! She's 3 months old now!

Look how cute, I caught her smiling!

I guess the thought of getting a family picture at the rodeo was pretty far-fetched! Isaac, pay attention while there are horses and fireworks going off behind him!?!? Nah!! Oh well, we tried!

Which brings us to today!! Yea! I am caught up!! We went boating again today at Lake Meredith down in Pueblo--but today it was 100 degrees!!! We didn't know what to expect in terms of crowds and it turned out to be great! We were also able to have the great company of the Harline family with us!! It was such a blast!! What was only going to be a few hours to half a day at the lake turned into a full day!

Dance Break!! Isaac loved jumping in! Don't worry...he was surrounded by people in the water... :)

Isaac's hair after a sea-doo ride with Papa!

The new crazy ION! It's a giant tube...essentially. Isaac loved sitting on it.

He even got a quick "ride" on it with Taylor, Tyson, Jordan and Steve. But once we were in the open he got pulled in so these four could go crazy on the ION! Everyone fell off at some point...

And the best way to end a fun, sun-filled day: please notice the drool :)

Whew!! I am caught up!! Yea!!!