Due to the economy we held our annual family campout in our backyard this summer. A fun time was had by all, except for the fat pregnant woman who slept in the tent sandwiched between 2 people and being kicked in the back by the third and being woken up (what seemed like every hour) by the train whistles. Now you know why I look so scary the next morning in the photo!

Isn't that a scary looking woman!!
We had a little campfire of coals to roast marshmallows and hotdogs for dinner. Isn't Joel so creative! And the Joker having her morning hot chocolate. And of course the news report for the entire event. Sorry about the sniffles in the video. My allergies are bad in the morning.

"STOP LOOKING AT ME!"

"STOP TALKING TO ME!"

Does anyone else hear this from their two year old?

Maeve celebrated her 2nd birthday in June. Joel is the family cake decorater. Maeve is very into Winnie the Pooh these days (thanks to the ride at DLand) so we decided to make her a Pooh cake. I made this lemon cake from scratch that would have been really good except that the kitchen was literally 95 degrees while I was making the cake so the egg whites never really got peaky, thus making the cake a bit thick. It was bearable with ice cream but probably could have knocked you out had I thrown a piece at you! Joel did a great job decorating. When Maeve saw it she said, "Doggy" which was a little disappointing to Joel. He told her it was Winnie the Pooh so she decided it was a Winnie the Pooh Doggy. Before Winnie the Pooh and all his books were called  "Winnie the Pooh ride" and now they are "Winnie the Pooh ride doggy". And here is a little family photo with a pregnant me. We had the table in the living room because the air conditioning unit doesn't reach the kitchen and it was 100 degrees outside (and practically that in the kitchen)We had Maeve's favorite friends over, Fevzi and Gokcen and their new son, Daghan. Mr. Potato Head from Grandma and Grandpa was a big hit. Adelle and Maeve play for hours with them. They especially like to put the face pieces in their mouths pretending Mr. Potato Head's tongue/eyes/nose is their own. No matter how many times they do it they still fall over laughing.She also liked all the clothes, jewelry, and the cute crown that came with Aunt Michelle's card. Thanks for being so generous with the gifts!

A little late with the blog (she was married in the Salt Lake City Temple in April) but here are some of Joel's photos from my little sister Suzanne's wedding. She and Jimmy are happily married now and loving life at Wymount. Wasn't she a beautiful bride?Here are my siblings. Sue was the last one of us to get married.

My sister, Michelle, (in yellow) is due a few days before me but she bought the sweaters and bought me a small and her a medium so I would look fatter! Okay that probably wasn't the reason but that it the result. A funky photo of the bride and bridemaids

My sisters and me. And lastly my cute little family. In keeping with her style Maeve cried a good portion of the time in Utah due to all the "strangers" around. My dad actually got her to be happy with him for part of the time. Joel didn't get a photo of all the grandkids together. It was pretty funny photo with Maeve screaming and trying to run back to me. Our trip to Alaska this past June she really warmed up to Grammy, Pops, Uncle Jon, and Aunt Tara though. She is always asking where they are now. And she calls Grammy on her shoe to tell her she misses her when we are in the car. Funny girl.

Okay I know that the last time I posted was February but I have a good excuse! It involves a couple of months of that exhaustive, pukey feeling that comes with your first trimester. In fact I have not only not updated my blog but also not returned emails, cleaned the bathroom, mopped the kitchen floor, exercised, dusted, etc. You get the picture. Only the bare necessities have gotten done-feeding and clothing the kids, washing laundry and dishes on an as needed basis. I kept telling Joel one more week and I'll feel better for a lot of weeks and Finally!!  this week I do. I celebrated by cleaning the bathroom, mopping the kitchen floor, and biking 5 miles with the girls. Yeah it is so nice to feel alive again!! Baby Camilla, as Adelle calls the baby, is expected the end of October. We were shooting for Joel's birthday on October 22  to keep it easy for him but now that he will film a thesis project starting on October 21 I am hoping the baby comes before that. The due date is October 27. Now that I am feeling better I am getting excited about having another one, a little sooner than we might have hoped but surely the Lord has a plan for us.

We had two valentine's day parties this week, one with each of our homeschool groups. All together Adelle had to make 90 Valentines!!  We decided to try to be creative this year and not buy the store bought cards. Instead we made 90 hearts out of different colored pipe cleaners and attached a label on it with the girls' names on it. This is Adelle working in the assembly line. Most of Monday morning (our party was that afternoon) was spent making Valentines. But we finished and the girls had fun at the parties and later looking at their valentines. Maeve particularly liked those with dogs or cats on them. And couldn't figure out where all the candy was going. One second it was attached to the cards and the next the candy was gone! I was so fast getting that candy out of sight that she hardly cried. Adelle loved the valentine from her cousin in Virginia. Thanks KT!

My parents recently visited us. They came from Utah in the RV, which has a freezer. So they stuck some snow in the freezer for the girls to play with. The neighborhood kids wanted to know what it was and if it was "real" snow. California kids. We had a good time throwing snow balls, building a miniature snowman, and putting snow down each others backs. I did feel a bit guilty about making Adelle cry when I put snow down her back. She would never have survived growing up between two brothers. At least I didn't whitewash her! She dished it out though, getting Pops pretty good.

 Maeve was not too sure what to think of the snow! 

Joel now has a year of Disneyland too. Before he started back to working on films again earlier this month we spent the day together at Dland. Somehow I got talked into going on the Mullholland Madness roller coaster in California Adventure Park with Adelle. I don't care for this ride because of the really sharp turns that make me think the car is not going to turn. (Kind of like that scary Lagoon ride, the mouse,  that I cried on as a kid. That one really was scary because not only did it have sharp turns but it was really, really old!) But I dislike the Jellyfish ride right next to Mullholland more (Adelle's favorite ride) because it is too high, I am afraid of heights. Joel went on that one so I had to do the roller coaster. He has a weak stomach. Anyway here are some pictures of my scared face. Adelle threw a fit when I wouldn't ride the ride again right afterwards. Why is it that Dland brings out the tantrums in her?

Maeve on the carousel. She just gets cuter everyday!!

We had a really nice Christmas.  It was just our little immediate family and it was nice to spend time together after the hectic semester. But when we started making calls to family members that were together for the day we did get a bit sad to be alone. For our local friends and neighbors this year we made Christmas cookies from a recipe we found on our friend's, the Bauer's, blog. She found it on another blog, isn't the internet so useful and fun! Here is the recipe: Christmas cookies
They were really fun for Adelle and Joel because you use a paint brush to paint the cookies with an egg yolk and food coloring paint before baking and then just pipe on a little frosting when the cookies have cooled. I like these cookies because they aren't too sugary like most sugar cookies are with all the frosting on. Thanks Bess for sharing!

We decided to take two weeks off from formal schooling while Joel is on break from school to spend more time together and so I can get some much needed things done around the house. Here is a sample of what Joel likes to do on his down time, take pictures of his girls!

We took a week off formal schooling earlier this month to host my sister and her daughter and my SIL and her two daughters. It was loads of fun for all the girls, eight of us total, but Joel was a little overwhelmed when he would come home to the tornado! My sister, SIL, and I ran in a half marathon in Irvine. They made me run faster than I am use to so not only could I not sprint in the end to catch my SIL but I also could hardly walk for days afterwards! But we were super excited to all finish the race in under 2 hours and this week I started training for a marathon, we will see if it actually happens or not.  I used Hal Higdon's training program for the half marathon so I am sticking with it for the full marathon. I like it because there isn't anything but simple running and one cross training day. I am burned out on sprints, hills, intervals, whatever you want to call it after the years of conditioning for soccer. I just want to run and not have to think about anything. Here is the training program for anyone that is interested http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/novices.html
Here is my sisters and I after the race. I am the short one that looks like I am going to fall over!

Here are some other photos from the girl cousins reunion. Whitney and Adelle had so much fun playing together and seeing who could be the bossiest!

Maeve did not have as much fun with her cousins due to her still being a bit antisocial. McKinley, her older cousin by three months, had fun pushing Maeve's buttons. Hopefully next time all the girls get together Maeve is a little more fun to play with. She is so cute and fun but so few people really get to see that!

Thanks to generous family members we have another year of Disneyland! We went with my SIL before she left. Here are some photos. It is funny how different our trip to Dland was with the girls versus last winter when we went with my nephews. No princess fantasy faire that trip! But this one was all about the princesses! "They are real you know. Mickey Mouse and all his friends are just people with costumes on but the princesses are real. " -Adelle

Maeve, of course, would not go near Sleeping Beauty, but she really like Minnie Mouse's computer! (What do you think of the newborn hat I crochet? It was suppose to be for a friend's new baby but fits Maeve instead! Apparently counting stitches is important )

We attempted to get family photos this past week. Joel wanted more artistic, not traditional photos. Maeve was sick with a runny nose so it was difficult to get her to remove the plug and Adelle was having a hard time holding still (hence the above photo). This is a preview of what our family might be getting in the mail this Christmas! (Joel ordered the photos so I am not sure which ones he picked)