Emerson and Melody

I haven't blogged for a while, in case you didn't notice. A lot has happened. Our cute little Emerson was born on Sept 28 in Payson. He is such a sweet little baby... much calmer than Melody. We love having him in our family.

In October Melody turned two. That was the next big event in our family. Mel is such a ball of energy and talks non-stop. She loves to sing her ABCs and watch the Wonder Pets. If she could choose, she would eat cheese for every meal. She is really into copying everything we say, so Jam and I have to be very careful about what comes out of our mouths. She is a helpful big sister and loves her baby brother. She likes to tickle him and say "Gu", and occasionally feeds him with the bottle.

Emerson's blessing day

What a mess!

The Manager

Mel's 2nd Birthday

Helpful sister

Grandma and Emers

Fun with Family

Me and my cute mom!

My parents were in town this past week and we really enjoyed their visit. On Saturday they participated in the Salem Fun Run with us, a 5k run that takes place in August each year, and we all had a great time. I have been lucky with this pregnancy as well as my last one in that I am able to run the entire nine months. I came in second place in my age division with a time of 22 minutes. Jameson did an amazing job and came in second in his division with a time of 25 minutes. The amazing part is that he has gone running only once this year and still managed to get that time without really trying. My dad got 7th in his division, finishing in 31 minutes, and my mom placed 10th in her age group. My parents especially enjoyed the cool morning air, which is something they don't experience in Houston.

Me, Mel, and Jam holding our silver medal

My sister's fifth child, Kate Marie Morgan, was blessed Sunday. We drove up to Salt Lake for the blessing, which was at my sister's home. It was fun to be with family and hang out with my parents one last time before they go back to Houston.

Julia (my sister's oldest girl), Mel, and my sis holding her youngest girl, Kate Marie.

Grandpa Hanks (my dad) and Melody

Jam

Grandma Joyce, Barbara(my mom), Elasha and Kate (my sis and her baby), and me.

Last weekend Stephanie gave me a surprise fathers-day present. A camping trip. We went with Jess and Mike. And where did we go? Up to Sheep Creek. Say it right... throw that Spanish Fork accent onto it. As fun as it is and was to say, it was even more fun being up there. None of us had ever been there before so we just headed that way, turned off on a dirt road, and beauty, a campsite on top of the world. We didn't see anybody else the whole time we were up there(grazing cows don't count). A few things to note: Melody had a blast. She even went to bed early in her pack and play while we stayed up around the fire. I took a picture of our car that looks straight out of a magazine(unintentionally). Weather was perfect. Company was great. Using the bathroom in nature is kind of wild. (Note to self) For the millionth time, hot dogs cooked over a fire using a stick always turn out crappy. All in all it was a perfect weekend and a wonderful fathers day gift. Check out the polaroids.... Thanks Steph for a great camp out.

Melody in the morning.

This is Melody before she gets her hair and makeup done for the day.

The big news is here!!!

So here is the big news.........we just found out yesterday that we are expecting a BOY!! During the ultrasound when we got to the money shot, the doctor said "we will measure a lot of things today, but this is one thing we won't, but don't worry mom, he looks well endowed" He was so funny. Now for the challenge of getting Melody to understand that she'll be a big sister soon. Oh ya, he calculated the due date to be september 22.

Yesterday we drove the Alpine loop. At the top there is a turn-off that we stopped at and walked around. It was the nicest day of the year so far... 70 degrees and sunny. Melody experienced her first hike without one of us carrying her. She ran the whole time! The view was beautiful. Here are some pics.

Going for #2

So yeah, I am 18 weeks pregnant. It sure is harder to be pregnant when you already have a kid because you can't always rest when you want to. It has been a good pregnancy so far, though. I try to tell Melody there is a baby in my belly but that is a concept she just can't grasp. I am definitely showing much earlier than I did with my first pregnancy, but I hear that happens to people. We find out the sex in a few weeks, and my bet is its a boy... mostly because I had a dream about having a boy, but other than that I haven't had any intuitive feelings about it. I used to think I wanted lots of kids, but man, this whole child bearing/raising thing is tough. I'm glad they've been coming just one at a time :)