Usually we head up to all the monuments in DC for the big 4th of July celebration. We have absolutely loved it the last two years. However, this year with as many contractions as I have constantly and the unbearable heat we decided to stay home and take it easy. Sorry Hallie no fireworks for you this year. (I know I sound like a mean mom but when your child does NOT sleep in despite how late she goes to bed AND is grumpy the next day AND you are 9 months pregnant it just makes sense to miss the beautiful explosions and skip your one of your top holidays.)

Here is Hallie in her cute 4th of July dress.

I gotta tell you how much I LOVE the pool. It is seriously the perfect place to be during summer. Hallie loves it as well and asks for it constantly. We are so grateful for good friends who take us to their pools. 🙂 Thanks again Lindsey we had a blast!

Isn’t she just the cutest?! When I ask her to say cheese she does the sign for the food cheese. lol

Taking a break from swimming to eat snacks. Good thing my awesome friend Lindsey brought enough snacks for Hallie to mooch off of.

The local AMC movie theater has an awesome summer promotion where they show already released kid movies for $1. Hallie has never been to a theater and so I decided before this baby comes I would take her. We got to go with one of Hallie’s little friends Olivia and her mom Stella. The two girls are only weeks apart so it makes things fun.

The little Bean CharCho ate the ENTIRE time!! I guess whatever worked to keep her entertained. (She never even makes it through a movie at home.) I’m glad we got to do this little adventure before her brother came.

P.S. We saw Monsters Vs. Aliens

Holy cow can I not be pregnant anymore!! Even my maternity clothes don’t fit around my extremely large belly!  Every where I go people stare at me like “wow she’s going to pop!” I even had some rapper thug guy at the mall ask me if I wanted to buy one of his super cool spray painted shirts for my baby. He said that I was going to “pop soon, right?” I smiled, laughed and said “yes soon”. haha it gave me a good laugh.

Overall I still feel really good, just huge! I got up 5 times last night to pee-yep that’s annoying! I have about a million contractions a day but they are pain free and don’t ever get more intense. Two things that I have noticed about this pregnancy that are different from Hallie’s are: 1-Ache. I don’t have any!!!! YAY. With Hallie it was bad. 2-weight gain. 40 pds with Hallie. 25 pds so far with this baby.  One thing that is the same is the fact that my hair has once again turned red! Once I have the baby it goes away.  Weird I know!

Tuesday was our 3 year anniversary. Everyone who is married understands the feeling of time going by fast but yet feeling like you’ve been married forever. It is true! 3 years is still newlywed time but here we are almost two kids later. I feel like we have been married forever and I love it!

Life is busy these days with Ben working full time and going to school at night. So Tuesday I wrote Ben a mushy letter and he bought me beautiful flowers, but other than that it was a normal day. Today (Saturday) however, our friend watched Hallie (thanks Anna!) and we went off to celebrate with a bunch of Portuguese soccer fans. (So romantic I know!) Ben found a Portuguese restaurant that was playing the world cup game between Portugal and Brazil. Ben wore his Portugal jersey and I wore his Portugal scarf around my neck. (I was supposed to wave  it when they scored a goal!)

As soon as we walked into the resturant we were overwhelmed by the smell of smoke. The place was full of portuguese fans who were smoking. We sat down and ordered some Portuguese soda and bread. They were delicious! After the first half of the game the owner noticed me with the scarf around my mouth and told me he could turn on a t.v. in the back (non-smoking) area. By taking the opportunity to get out of the smoke we gave up the authentic feeling of being in Portugal watching the game. Oh well, if I wasn’t pregnant we would have endured it longer.

In the end neither team scored a goal and we went home disappointed. However, it was my first time ever watching a World Cup game and now I can’t wait to see another one. Man my husband is lucky he married a girl who likes sports! 🙂

My beautiful flowers!! I love orange and pink together. (Not sure if Ben knew that or got lucky.) lol

In the back “smoke free” room at the Portuguese restaurant.

FYI: Ben served his mission in Portugal. That is why we were supporting them despite the fact that I know dozens of Brazilians and not one portuguese person. haha

It has been so hot here in Virginia that we are always looking for an opportunity to go swimming. Hallie loves it! She calls her swimming suit her “soup”.

Swimming in her new little pool:

Playing at a park:

Swimming at a friends “Big water” pool:

Where do I begin?! Seriously I have no idea…. We had the most wonderful trip and I have like 80 pictures which I know I can’t post all of. So which do I tell about and which do I leave out? Well, I think I will take this post in pieces so I don’t overwhelm anyone.

Hallie loved helping Grandpa Crane in the garden. It combined 3 of her favorite things: Grandpa, helping, and being outside!

After working so hard in the garden Hallie was a little dirty. Grandpa volunteered to bathe her in the kitchen sink. (I guess that’s how he used to do it in the good ol’ days.) haha

One of the two reason’s we made the trip. Ben’s younger brother Brogan got married to his sweetheart Stacey. It was such a beautiful ceremony in the Salt Lake Temple. What made it even better was the fact that I was sitting next to my handsome eternal companion. Marriage ROCKS!

We were able to meet Stacey the day before the wedding. Talk about cutting it close! We went out to breakfast and enjoyed getting to know Stacey just a little bit before she joined our family. A funny side note: Hallie liked Stacey way better than Brogan even though she has met Brogan several times and she only just met Stacey. Welcome to the FamDamily Stacey! We love you already!

While waiting for pictures outside the Temple Hallie and Aunt Marci looked for ants. (Hallie’s new FAVORITE thing to do.)  Between looking for ants every time they were together and calling Marci “Aunt Marci” Hallie connects Marci with the little black ants. 🙂

More searching for ants.

Ben and I at the reception that night.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa Romrell’s house Hallie got to meet her one and only cousin for the first time. She was so excited to see baby Carson in real life instead of just on skype. We told her he was her cousin and that his name was Carson so naturally she calls him “GUS”.  So cute!!

Remember how I said she loves to help. Here she is helping change Carson’s diaper. Just practicing for the many diaper changes she will be in charge of in the near future. haha

Carson sticking his finger in Hallie’s ear. She better get used to it with a little brother coming soon!

Cute Cousins!

Pushing Carson on his car.

Hallie and grandma playing with bubbles. Hallie was spoiled with all the attention she got from everyone. There was never a dull moment because there was always some one to play with. She really was in heaven. It was so fun to watch the constant excitement and happiness on her face.

One afternoon I got to escape and go see my highschool friends. I love these girls! Each one of them has accomplished so much in their lives. I love keeping up to speed on their blogs. Even though it has been 8 years since we graduated we can still get together like no time at all has passed. This time we were excited to find out that Lena is getting married! YAY!! Wish I could go in August.

Most of the trip we spent with family and so I only saw a couple friends. This is me and my old roommate Michele who I absolutely ADORE! She just had baby Lily 2 months ago. I was so excited she drove up to see me at my parents house. We got to spend a couple hours catching up and reminiscing about all of our good times together. (The biggest change we have noticed in ourselves since getting married and having kids is that we aren’t funny like we used to be. What’s up with that?! We used to be silly and crazy and now we are responsible. Dang it!) haha

One of my old mission companions also drove up to see me. Honivah Rafaranirindraibe (I just have to write out her whole name!!!) She is from Madagascar and I love her to pieces. She kept me laughing constantly on my mission. Honivah just found out that she was accepted to BYU provo starting fall semester. Congrats to her!!!

One of the best parts about the trip was all the family we got to see. Hallie loved the attention and had everyone’s name memorized. I was really impressed!

Just look at all those grandparents playing with her! Needless to say Hallie loved the attention and misses it now that we are back home.

Hallie and Uncle Shawn coloring. Once after we left the Crane’s and were going to my parents house I asked her if Shawn was her friend. She replied, “No, Uncle”. I guess she told me!

Hanging out with second cousins.

Visiting with Great Grandma and Grandpa Romrell. They were in town from Arizona. We were so happy we got to see them!

Getting kisses from Great Grandma Dutson. (We call her Chenie)

One of the many fun things Hallie got to experience while in Utah was this zip line. This is her on the way back up. Daddy rode it with her going down.

Mommy got in on the fun too.

We also took Hallie bowling. At first she was all concerned because the pins fell down. “Uh oh, fall down” she would say. (She’s tender hearted and hates when people or things get hurt.) After we explained thats what was supposed to happen she loved it! She would say “Hallie’s turn” and help carry the ball up to the lane and then push it down. So fun! I can’t wait to take her again.

We got to have a lot of really fun adventures on our vacation. Three of which were visiting the aquarium, dinosaur museum, and feeding baby goats.

THE AQUARIUM:

Watching the string rays swim by.

Hallie and Grandma. (Sorry the pictures are so blurry.)

Driving a boat with Grandma’s help.

Hallie now loves frogs!

DINOSAUR MUSEUM:

Hallie and Grandma and Grandpa

Creating a dinosaur with Grandpa.

Crawling through a cave. (I love Hallie’s smile in this picture!)

Playing with the dinosaurs in the sand and water.

Another hands on exhibit.

FEEDING BABY GOATS:

My mom’s friend has a little hobby farm that she let us come out and visit. Hallie loved the goats and the chickens.

We got to go home with fresh eggs. They were so good and made me want my own chickens… well almost!

Hallie got to pet the baby goats.

And even feed them! She loved it and talked about it for days.