Family Time!

My sister, Alyson, and niece, Alysha, came for a visit June 19-27. I can't believe I didn't take one picture of it! But we had a lot of fun. They came over one day with my mom and we went and picked strawberries then made five batches of jam. It was soooo much easier having all that help since bending over at seven months pregnant to pick strawberries isn't the easiest thing in the world. I spent a couple days up at my mom's just all of us spending time together while Jana and Alyson scrapbooked. We also spent an afternoon at Pump It Up--which my kids loved--and swam all together at my parent's pool. All the girl cousin's had a sleepover at my mom's house, complete with doing nails, making hair flowers, and scrapbooking pages after a "photo shoot" by my dad. (I guess lots of pictures were taken that week, just none with my camera.)

Friday, the 24th, my nieces, Alohi and Bridgette, came and had a sleepover at our house. Kylene loved it, of course. (We had some very tired kids, to say the least!) They spent Saturday with us, which was a beautiful day. Here we are at Wallace Marine park for our picnic and playing along the river.

That evening my parent's hosted their Annual Singles' Ward Luau, for which Kyle was asked to put on the entertainment. He emceed and we asked Maile and her family to help, which they thankfully did! In addition to some of the guys in the ward dancing the Haka, Alohi and Bridgette danced a hula, Maile danced a hula, then Maile and I danced and taught everyone the "Hukilau." That is another popular hula that came about in early Hawaiian LDS Church history. (And it's easy, which is why I know how to dance it, although I wasn't too excited being the fat prego woman dancing the hula!) It was fun to be a part of the Luau and reminisce about when Kyle & I were in the same Singles' Ward eight years ago! In fact, the Luau nine summers ago is where I saw Kyle for the first time (he emceed that one, too). Woohoo!

Before the Luau started Kyle told me not to flirt too much with all the single guys that were there. I told him I was sure he was pretty safe since I stuck out like a sore thumb being the only pregnant woman there! I definitely was clearly marked, "Taken!" Ha!

Alva & Wendy's new baby, Kyler, was blessed on July 3rd. We also wanted to spend July 4th with them...since we've been hearing for several years what a great firework show they have in their cul-de-sac every year, so we spent two nights with them and had a great time just relaxing and being together. My parents and the Clark's also came up for the Fourth BBQ and fireworks and it was a great show. Kyle had a blast (literally) setting off fireworks to his heart's content.

On July 5th we brought my niece, Rebekah, home with us for four days. It was so wonderful to have her here. The kids loved it and I loved all the extra help a very responsible 11-year-old provides! She played games with the kids and babysat for me so I could run errands, go to appts., etc. Kyle & I even went on a date in the middle of the week! It was so nice. Oh, and she helped me pick raspberries and make my freezer jam for the year. Is it cheating that I had help with both strawberries and raspberries this year? Sooo appreciated.

Here the kids are with Bekah at the Carousel.

Lots of fun family time in June!

Happy Father's Day

Yes, I know Father's Day was June 19th:). Here is proof that I didn't forget it that day.

Kyle getting ready to open presents with the kids...

Showing off the picture of the kids we had taken the week before Father's Day. I loved that it was a surprise gift:).

We love our daddy so much and don't know where we would be without him!

End of Soccer...and My Two Lil' Buddies

Kylene finished out her soccer season in June and had a great time. One of her last games she invited her best friend, Rachel, to come watch her.

Rachel, Kylene and another buddy, Zach (with another boy who jumped in the picture).

I am enjoying watching Spencer and Skyler become good buddies. I have worried aloud what Spencer will do when Kylene goes off to school in the fall, but Kyle reminded me that Spencer and Skyler will just become better buddies. I think that is definitely the truth.

I love how much they look like brothers!

Family Trip to the Oregon Coast

June 6-9th was our family vacation to the Oregon Coast. I had purchased a Groupon for the Oregon Coast Aquarium and we wanted to camp at Honeyman State Park (a fabulous state park near Florence, Oregon), so we decided to combine them into one trip. We also decided to take advantage of homeschooling once again and go the week before school got out so it was less crowded.

Monday morning we drove to Newport and spent the day at the Aquarium. The kids loved seeing the sea life. We stayed in a hotel that night near the Aquarium, so the kids loved being able to eat out and swim in the hotel pool.

Here are pictures from the Aquarium. I love the picture of Kylene with the Giant Japanese Crabs...it's actually her reflection but it makes it look like she's right there with them!

Tuesday we headed down to Honeyman State Park, stopping at a couple of beaches along the way to play in the sand and have a picnic lunch. Our favorite beach ended up (once again) being the little beach at the freshwater lake in Honeyman State Park. There is basically no wind, the water is calm, and there was hardly anyone else there. They could have played there for hours (and I guess they did over the next few days). One morning we also rented a paddle boat to go out on the lake. The rest of the week we enjoyed hiking, going to the beach, riding bikes around the campground, playing at the playground, roasting marshmallows, and living all together in a yurt. I loved the yurt part of it because it meant I had a bed to sleep on--no "on the ground" camping for this pregnant lady, thankfully--and a little heat in the morning when it was cold. But we still had the camping experience with the fire, cooking our own food, etc.

We came home Thursday evening, tired and ready for our own beds and showers, but we enjoyed the time together. I loved that Kyle took Friday off work as well so we could clean up and recover and still enjoy the weekend all together. It was a great start to summer!

Here are pictures from beach and camping:

Hello? Hello?

Yes, I am still here. I fell off the blog bandwagon this last month! I have been meaning to post but haven't been a super motivated girl these days...I think it's the pregnancy or something:). We have had a full and fun summer thus far, so I have lots to blog about, but here are a few updates until I get the stamina to update with pictures and all the fun "goings on":

**I am now 31 weeks pregnant. I love when I get down to only single digit weeks left! It feels like real progress is being made:). I am feeling really good overall, I just get tired easily and don't get nearly as much accomplished in the evenings (which is when I usually have time to blog). I am excited to attempt a "natural" childbirth--aka no epidural, no pitocin--so I've spent a lot of time reading books. We'll see how effective I am at putting what I'm reading into reality when the real pain sets in, however! I am still not super confident in my courage and strength. I can be a real sucker when it comes to pain. Luckily, I have a great coach at my side. The baby moves a lot and can be quite a wiggle worm inside of me at times, so we're excited to meet this little McCune boy! The kids love talking to him and pretending they have a baby in their bellies as well. It really has been fun to have older children with whom to anticipate his arrival.

**Our home is officially off the market. Unfortunately, not because it sold. Not only am I completely tired of the stress of potentially having a showing for the last eight months, we also don't want the possibility of it selling/closing in September when we have a new baby. So we had decided to take it off the market at the end of July. But when our realtor called last week to check on things and I told him my sentiments, he said he'd go ahead and take it off then. I felt a huge weight immediately lifted off my shoulders. It feels so nice not to have to worry about keeping it tidy (although, admittedly, I wasn't doing that super well). Last Saturday Kyle brought the contents of our 5x10 storage unit back to our house, so now our garage is full of boxes spread out everywhere (another project for another day is organizing those), but that also means one less bill each month. I opened up a box of toys I had packed away and the kids have been playing with them the last few days as if they are all brand new. It makes for a messy living room, but they sure have had fun with it:).

**Our plan on our home is to rent it beginning early next year after my parents leave on their mission and we move into their home. We will live there for the 18 months they are gone, then either build or buy a home at that point. Kyle has always wanted a rental property, and while I'm not keen on the idea, it's a great market for renting these days. And a much better option than having it sit empty. So we'll see how that all works out. My parents are very excited about their mission and it's been fun talking to them about all the prep stuff. They submit their papers in a couple of weeks, so we should know in about a month where they'll be serving. My mom hopes States-side, while my dad is all for going Foreign:). It's been fun joking about it all with them...a little surreal that it's my parents, not a 19-year-old Elder preparing to leave:).

**Skyler's speech continues to improve. Even though most who listen to him still can't understand much of what he says, my family and I are understanding more and more of his language. It is definitely getting clearer. I have decided to wait on potty training until after the baby is born and until he can communicate a little more clearly. But he is still very expressive, saying sentence after sentence when he gets going; no matter that you only understand a word here and there:). I don't think (and hope) it will be much longer until he's super talker!

**I have decided to have Kylene attend public school this fall. She will start first grade at Pringle Elementary, then transfer to the elementary school next to my parent's home when we move there. (Incidentally, the same school I taught Kindergarten at before I got married.) Public school is not my first choice, but I feel like it's the best with where we're at right now. I know she'll be nervous, but do well once she adjusts. I am such a protective parent, I still worry about sending her out into the "big, bad world"! But, first grade, here we come!

**Spencer has been on a mega game kick lately. Uno, Candyland, Sorry, Junior Monopoly, and most recently, War. If he is awake he wants you to play a game with him. We had my niece, Rebekah, come stay with us for four days a few weeks ago and the kids absolutely ate up the extra attention. But poor Rebekah got so tired of playing games! She had even brought a couple of new ones to mix things up, but got tired of playing even those. I was so grateful to get a little break from the playing, though:). Thanks, Bekah! He also has become obsessed with a children's book called "Too Many Toys" about a little boy named Spencer. He loves that it is "all about me"!

I guess that's a long enough post, especially one with no pictures. I hope anyone who reads this all the way through survives! Happy July to you all!