The picture tells the story

So this is for everyone that has asked if I have had the baby yet...

I hope I don't sound like I am bugged with anyone that has asked me this, because I am definitely not, I am just finally ready to have this baby out! I will keep everyone posted, as soon as I know, that I am no longer pregnant.

Our little December baby

So when I found out that Baylie (our 2nd) was due in December I have to admit I was pretty upset. Then when she was born on December 22, I was even more upset. How can you really give a child a birthday 3 days before Christmas? It's just not right. I have a friend (also a December baby) that told me she always had half birthdays and so then the tradition started.(sorry if I have posted about this last year.)

June 22 was Baylie's half birthday. We went to the park, had a BBQ (in the wind and cold) and then had another little celebration with the family, with brownies!

I LOVE this arrangement for her, with half birthdays, it has worked out so great for us. I caught Eden looking at herself, I should say ADMIRING herself in Baylie's new little purse with a mirror!

Darrin taking one for the team from our nephew Kree.

Oh Boy I've Got Joy...

Please don't be deceived by the title there is no baby boy here yet. Instead we had our little Baylie Bug graduate from Joy School. It was a great celebration in the Crossley's backyard, with friends. I have to admit I am very glad that the year is over. The kids were a great group, but who knew it was such hard work to teach your own children?!

Triumphal Triathlon

This has been a long anticipated event, maybe even as much as the baby. The day of the triathlon finally came. I wanted to have complete attention to devote to documenting and so my mom watched the kids (thanks again mom) and I went with Darrin to race. As you can see from the picture above, there was a very good size group of our friends that had prepared for this race. It was so much fun to watch and be apart of, that I have decided I want to do it next year. I threatened this year, but you know getting a wetsuit to fit over my belly is not very likely.Here is my favorite picture, Darrin just looks tough coming out of the water, which was a 500 meter swim (little over a 1/4 mile). He was the first to finish this leg of his group of friends, way to go!

He did have two of his friends catch up and pass him on the bike ride but he still maintained a great pace. The bike ride was 16 miles.Here he is completing the whole race which finished with a 3.2 mile trail run. Darrin had underestimated this part of the race, I believe his exact words were "I could run 3 miles in my sleep, in fact I think I have." After the race, he said this was the hardest leg, I guess the trail was very hilly, and it's a hard transition to go from biking to running. He did great though. He finished the whole thing in 1:39:00.6 = 1 hour 39 minutes.

It was truly amazing to watch all these people complete this event. More pictures on Facebook if you want to check it out!

Higher Elevation

A few weeks ago we decided to take a weekend trip to visit Darrin's sister at their cabin in Wyoming. Our festivities were going to include eating (love this), hiking, relaxing and more. As we set out for our hike Saturday afternoon all was well. My sis-in-law Jo was going to show us a waterfall and I am all about having a destination with hiking. Not much was out of the norm on the way to the falls and when we found them, I have to say it was worth the hike (even being 8 months pregnant). At the falls I was under the impression that the trail we were on was a loop and if we followed it we would reach a pond before the starting point, sounds great. Jo's daughter who is practically 16 wanted to turn around and go back the same way, thinking she was just bored and done hiking I put my two cents in (which I always think is worth more then it is) and said "I say we keep going till we hit the pond."

About 30 more minutes of hiking and my 4 year old falls smack dab into a cactus. Jo and I pulled out the needles the best we could but they were super fine and very hard to grab. We got out maybe an 1/8th of them out and then gave up and just told her no more falling and don't use that arm. She was so brave and obedient she bent her arm and held it still for the rest of the hike, even while eating, and playing. At this point I am ready to find the end, I know Baylie (the cactus sitter) isn't going to last much longer and to be honest I'm not sure how much longer I am going to last either. That's when it started to happen, the trail was gone and we were just walking. Jo doesn't recognize anything and it's official we are lost. I wasn't too panicked but I do have to say when my nephew who is 11 asked his mom if he could dump the last cup in a half of our water of his head, I almost grabbed it away myself. Jo must have felt the same way and shouted no.

At this point our really only good hiker was Darrin who decided he would scale the mountain to see where we were at. When he came back with bad news that we had at least 2 miles left and it was down a canyon, and over 2 more mountains I put my foot down. We walked for a few more minutes and he went to the top of the mountain again. I have to say I never thought we would die, but the thought of telling my children we were out of food and just had to keep walking was very overwhelming. As Darrin came down this time he said he could see some tents and we all agreed that would be the best course of action. Once we reached the tents (which was a scout camp) we knew we were safe, although we did still have to walk over a mile to make it back, but at least we were on a road. Now to drill in the seriousness of this "hike" you have to know that I like I mentioned before was 8 months pregnant, We had my 6, 4, 2 year old with us, my 16 & 11 year old niece and nephew, and my sis-in-law Jo who had literally only eaten 200 calories before we left for the hike. We were a sorry bunch. Our hike lasted 3 1/2 hours, and as we hiked I gave out super star awards and practically everyone got one but, our biggest award went to Darrin, who climbed to a higher elevation and saved us all!

PS - later that night, just to add to the excitement we found 3 tics, 2 in my hair and one on my back (see pic) and two embedded in Jaya's head. (Avoid wooded areas for potty breaks!)