Beach Photo Shoot

Need to post these fun pictures before they are outdated!  I wasn't too excited to do family pics while hugely pregnant, but really wanted a beach shot and figured three months before delivery would be better than a week or two after!

My favorite beaches are the ones in Laguna Beach.  I love their "natural feel" with their tide pools, a little more space from homes and buildings and that the sand isn't trucked in! I would have liked to stay here all day long!

Ironman 2013

I hope I make it obvious in this blog that Elijah is a Super-man at home. He has also continued being an Ironman on the racecourse. In May we went to St. George so Elijah could do the half Ironman with his brother-in-law, Dan. As usual, he was amazing! Elijah always impresses me on the racecourse. He studies, plans, practices and always has fun while he is racing too! We have a little joke about some advice his friend gave him when he did his first full Ironman. The friend said he could keep himself going mentally by focusing on a different person or motivating factor for each leg of the race. One suggested was to think about “the joy of doing an Ironman.” How thinking about that could propel an exhausted body forward always made me laugh, but evidently it works for Elijah. He seriously has JOY while doing these races. He has an amazing ability to push himself to do hard things; a 2 miles swim, 50 mile bike ride and 13.2 mile run worth of hard things!

Cassie made these cute shirt for all of us to cheer on our Daddy Athletes

Baby Bump

My sister-in-law just did a number of posts about each member of her family and humbly saved herself for last. So in honor of narcissism I will begin with an update on me. :) My sister asked for pics of my “baby bump.” More accurately, it is a baby mountain. I am HUGE with baby boy number four and still have a month an half to go. Baby Daniel's due date is August 1, but none of my other boys waited until their due date, so we're hoping to have a July baby. Babies are miraculous and exciting, but let's cut right down to it – this pregnancy has been really hard for me. First few months I was super emotional and more sick than I had been with any of my other pregnancies. I have been SO tired, probably because I've been trying to keep up with three busy boys. With the first three we didn't have as much on our schedule and everyone was still taking naps, that is not the case this time around and I am sure feeling it. Second trimester was better, but I already felt big. As hard as I tried to simplify life and get it to slow down, the world kept spinning at the same speed. Now third trimester is here, I feel bigger than I ever was with the other babies and I'm not even to my last month yet. For months I've been getting comments like, “Looks like you're due any day now,” or “Can you get any bigger?” or “Are you sure there's not two or three in there?” Yes, dear strangers without filters who haven't been around pregnant women enough, I'm sure. I'm beginning to feel more compassion for others who always have hard pregnancies. Technically, this pregnancy is still a good pregnancy. There are not complications, I'm not really really sick. I'm just exhausted and have so much extra weight that my belling is putting a lot of pressure on my pelvic bones, making it hurt to walk or stand or ride a bike or sit too long. Basically I'm only comfortable when I'm laying on my side or in a swimming pool. Now I know how Barbies and Action Figures must feel when tormenting children pop their legs off. That is how I feel after being up and around for a few hours.

BUT I am really excited to have this sweet baby come. He is super active; he is constantly swimming, biking and working out with a speed bag. He will have no problem keeping up with his big brothers. I'm having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions and I think he is just as ready to be born as I am for him to come! The boys regularly hug and kiss my belly and talk to the baby. Elijah has been amazing at picking up the slack I've dropped. Almost every morning he stays to help get kids ready and most days takes the boys to school, even taking Hyrum along when he can to give me a few minutes to shower. All but a few evenings during the week he makes sure he is home to put boys to bed. He never complains when he comes home to a messy house, no dinner made and crazy kids, even when he has also had a challenging day at work and spending hours on the LA roads. Most of my days end with a foot massage from Elijah and he keeps working after I fall asleep. I'm a pretty lucky girl.