The Prodigal Child Returns

Yes, I have returned to the blogging world! Hallelujah! My first bit of news is that I am pregnant! I am due Jan 28 with a baby girl, which means I'm about 5 months along. I've had horrible morning sickness with this one, which made the summer really hard, but luckily it's over now and I'm feeling great. We're planning on this little one being our last, barring divine intervention, and I'm excited to have our family complete.

I'm posting some pictures from our summer adventures. Because I felt so lousy I didn't take a lot of shots (proof that I didn't feel well - who can imagine me not taking pictures?!?!?!?) but I still have enough to document the fun we had.

We were gone most of July. We left on my birthday, so we celebrated the night before by going to dinner with friends. When we got home we had cake and ice cream with Marla, who had come in to drive up to Utah with me.

Singing "Happy Birthday"


Gettin' into it!




While we were in Utah,I was able to attend my cousin's wedding and take some shots. I LOVE not being the wedding photographer! No pressure, no corralling people, no trying to come up with new poses. I could just sit back and take fun candids without sweating bullets.







































I love this shot of my grandpa. He hates pictures and usually doesn't smile for them, but I caught him when he was unaware! Ha Ha!!!


I brought the kids to the wedding luncheon which was in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The kids were fascinated by the view.


The kids were pretty crazy the whole luncheon and I had a hard time keeping them in check, as evidenced by the pictures.




Pretending to be sweet angels (well, Ava's pretending to be a dog, per usual).


We went hiking in the mountains with Far Far, Far Mor, Melissa, Kurt, Kerstin and Charlotte. Ava is by far the most fearless and adventurous of our kids. Cole was scared every step and I had to be holding his hand the entire time. (Scared of what? Only Cole's imagination knows.) Claire had to be holding Far Far's hand the whole time "since he's the strongest" but Ava wouldn't let anyone hold her hand for a second. She was running all over the place checking things out and bounding into bushes and down the trails. It made me feel good that it wasn't my fault the the older two are wimps cuz I haven't done anything different with Ava. I think kids just come out a certain way.











Goofing around with Uncle Ryan and Uncle Kurt.





After a few fun days in Utah, I drove to Spokane with the kids and my brother. He was so much help in the car with the kids. We drove the whole way (10ish hours) in one day and it surprisingly wasn't too bad. Grant flew up and met us there for a few days.



I have no idea what sort of face Kevin is making here!
































Poor Wilson. Ava loved him way too much! All he wanted to do was run away every time her saw her, but she'd always strangle him into a position where she could kiss him or hug him or hold him. He was very patient with her!



The next and pretty much final leg of our trip was driving to Yellowstone to meet Grant's family for their family reunion. I was not able to enjoy Yellowstone as much as I'd have liked as the winding mountain roads did not agree with my vertigo or my morning sickness. I ended up sleeping in the car or just staying home most of the days that everyone went to the sites. But the kids loved it, which is what it's all about anyway. And it's always a blast just hanging out with Grant's family, playing games, talking, etc. so we had a great time.

I didn't take any of the following pictures, they're all borrowed from family (thanks!).

The first day we tried to get in the park the line was so long it was going to take us two hours just to drive to anything, so we decided to just pull over and have lunch and then spend the day back at the cabin.




The next day was the day I spent sleeping in the car while everyone else saw stuff. I made it out of the car for these geyser pools, but that's about it. I look about as bad as I felt!






The next day I stayed home and everyone else saw tons of stuff. I would've liked to have seen this waterfall, it looks gorgeous.












Taking pictures of the buffalo swimming.


There it is! Another thing I would've loved to have seen.




One of the best parts of family reunions when you're a kid is riding in the car with your cousins! I have my own fun memories of doing that...


Cole's making a face because it stinks!


Love this shot.


Ta Da! Buffalo! (Way in the distance)






Cole and Alice thought they were so funny trying to wipe the dirt off of the grown-ups feet.


Playing with the rocket launchers Far Mor made.










We had "Olympics" for the whole family, which included a 5K (yeah, I didn't participate in that!), a taste test, Wii tournament, ping pong tournament, among other things. It was so much fun. The kids had their own little Olympics, too, and this was their race.


And they're off!


The big kids put Ava's pull-ups on and did a little dance for everyone.






Roasting s'mores.








Charlotte wouldn't cooperate for this shot.


Watching movies on "the little t.v."




Too bad Ava isn't in this picture - it could've been our Christmas picture! :)








The kids LOVED playing the Wii.


Gummer Far Far and Grandma Violet came up to see us one day. Ava absolutely loved Gummer Far Far for some reason and was in his lap almost the whole time. It was so cute!


The Lundgren men.


Gummer Far Far and Grandma Violet with the great-grand kids. (I actually took this shot and the next one - the only ones I took the entire time.)


Claire's masterpiece!


What a great trip! It was nice to get back home, but it was also nice to miss most of the horrible July heat here in Arizona. I think we'll have to do something similar again next summer.