Juliet

 She's finally arrived!  Juliet Noel was born at 1:05pm on July 16th.  7 lbs 6 oz 19 1/2 in.  Brown hair with blue eyes and straight from heaven!  I am so excited that I now have a little girl.  Jeremy and I checked in at 6:45am that morning to be induced and I was only dilated to a 2, but after they started the pitocin and the doctor broke my water, things moved pretty quickly.  And the amazing part was that I did not get an epidural...that's right....I did the whole thing natural.  Wow....it was painful, but worth it.  I wanted the experience of having natural childbirth and I'm proud of myself that I was able to do it.  Now...I think I deserve to make a big cake when I get home and eat the whole thing!  The boys were thrilled.....well, I guess I should say Michael was thrilled.  He came running into the room after she was born and wanted to hold her immediately and kept saying "I love my baby sister Juliet" "she's so cute".  Bryce held her, but wasn't quite sure what to think of her.  Once we were home, he has been so sweet and wants to give her the binky all day.  They have been wonderful with her.  I feel so blessed to have a healthy little baby girl and two charming boys.  I couldn't be happier!

Snowbird

 Our last weekend before the baby comes is here.  Time has flown by and I can't believe that we'll actually have three kids in a couple days.  To celebrate we took the kids for ice cream and then to snowbird and they had a blast bouncing on the bounce houses and exploring.  Then we met up with my sister's family and went out to eat at Costa Vida and then took the kids shopping.  It was a great weekend.  And of course I had to add the picture of my belly the night before the baby comes.  It is huge!  The kids are so excited.  I wonder if they realize their life is about to change. 

Fireworks

 I am proud to be an American!  I do love the 4th of July and feel so grateful to live in this country.  We celebrated this year with my sister-in-law and family.  We had a yummy dinner, let the kids swim in our little pool and jump on the tramp with sprinklers, and then headed over to watch the fireworks.  I feel very blessed right now to live in such a wonderful place and that we can spend time with family!

Fires

 This summer has been one of excitement, that is for sure.  Last weekend a fire broke out in the hills behind our subdivision caused by a target shooter.  Why crazy men feel like they need to go out and shoot their guns in these hills when it has been a very hot and dry summer, I don't know.  This is the third fire started this summer by target shooting!  Anyways.....Friday morning June 22nd, we got the call to evacuate our homes by 10:30 due to the close proximity of the fire to our homes.  Looking outside earlier that morning and seeing the ash raining down on us and the smokey skies, I had thought there was a strong possibility we would be evacuated.  Luckily when the call came to leave, I had already packed a suitcase for the kids and I.  I had 15 minutes to vacate the house, so it was enough time for me to load our suitcases and cat, grab our 72 hour kits, throw some pictures, our laptap, the kids babybooks, our journals, and our scriptures into a bin and take off.  The kids thought this was all very exciting and wanted to drive up and see the fire.  While I was packing and driving away, I was surprised at how calm everyone was.  People were waving to each other and smiling and asking if anyone needed help and everything was orderly.  I feel blessed to live around such wonderful people. Luckily my mom only lives about 12 minutes away, so we were able to stay there until the evacation order was lifted.  We were able to go back to our house the next evening and we were so happy to have a house to go back to.  Our yard and porch were covered in ash and our house smelled like smoke, but it was there.  And what was amazing was that all the houses were there.  The fire had not burned one house down.  9,000 people had been evacuated and everyone was able to go home that night.  Some may call it luck, but I know that we were all blessed.  Blessed to have our homes spared and our families safe.  It has given me a greater appreciation for my family and for those dear fireman who fought for our homes.  As I have been watching the coverage of the fires in Colorado my heart aches for those who have lost homes.  Life is unpredictible and when crisis comes you realize what is most important.  And nothing is more important to me than my faith and my family.

This is what the fire looked like from our deck at 7:00am on Friday

Later on Friday this is what our neighborhood looked like from the crossroads shopping center

 

Look how close it got the the houses in our neighborhood.  Scary!

 

 More pictures of the fire on Friday

 

Thank you to the Firefighters.  We are indebted to you!

Vacation Time

 I just love the summer.  Full of sunshine and swimming and being outdoors and vacationing!  We were able to go up to Eden a couple weeks ago with Jer's mom and step-dad for a family vacation.  All of Jeremy's siblings and their families were able to make it, so it was a grand celebration.  The condo we stayed in was awesome and big enough for each family to have their own room.  We spent our time swimming, exploring, hot tubing, eating yummy food, and just spending time together.  We also celebrated all the grandkids birthday, played games, opened presents, and had cupcakes.  It was a great trip and we feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Swimming

 Michael had had a busy summer and just finished his two week session of swimming lessons.  He is so close to swimming and will actually swim from my arms to the side of the pool by himself.  It is so much fun watching him grow and learn.  I'm hoping he will be swimming all on his own by the end of the year.  He had a great time at swimming lessons with his coach Nate and thinks that we now need to go swimming every day!