It's a boy!!

I had a little cupcake party to reveal the gender of the baby.  You can't tell in the photos, but the icing is pink and blue.  They all had to choose the color of cupcake they thought the baby's gender would be.  Then on the inside I had blue colored filling.  The kids loved this so much I wish I had done something like this earlier.   I had no idea I had it in me!  My sister-in-law Lizzie would be proud. 

Homeward Bound

On our way home from Idaho we decided to take a different route so that we could go through Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore.  This time our return trip took 3 days because we didn't feel like rushing home.  We were glad to be home, but sad to leave family behind.

Yellowstone:

 Strangest traffic jam I've ever been in - waiting for a buffalo to get out off of the road.  

 On the way to Old Faithful.

 Old Faithful - Dayne wasn't too impressed.

 We traveled through northern Wyoming on the way to Rushmore.  I had no idea that there were parts of Wyoming that didn't look like southern Wyoming . . . you know, actually quite beautiful.

Mt. Rushmore:

 Oddly enough, Mt. Rushmore was not as big as I had thought it would be, but still pretty cool.

Crazy Horse:

 So they still have a while to go, but this was way cooler than I thought it would be.  I wished that we'd had more time to spend here.

This is what it's supposed to look like when it's done.

Idaho

The second part of our summer vacation was heading up to Idaho after being in Utah.  We went to visit Ben's brother and his family.  It was great because a lot of Ben's family were able to come and visit at the same time so we got to see a lot of family.  Thank goodness Steve and Liz had a great house!  It was so beautiful while we were there and another plus to going Idaho was that I realized Wisconsin is not the coldest place in the continental United States!

 Stina and her cousin, Lina, were best friends while we were there.  It was so cute to see them cuddle up to watch a movie and then take a nap.  So precious!

 Aunt Liz puts me to shame (on more than one level).  She made this barbie cake for Adi's first birthday.  I'm sure she enjoyed this more than the cake that usually make for the 1st birthday (gluten-free, sugar-free carrot cake with tofu icing - not as bad as it might sound).  We celebrated Miki, Aunt Liz, and Adi's birthday on the same day!

 Aunt Liz also does hair.  I don't have any idea how she got Stina to sit still and how she got Stina's hair to do this.  I can't even do a simple french braid on her because her hair is so fine.  She loved it!

On the campus of BYU-Idaho - another place we suggested Lexi look at for college. 

 Xilone and Lexi are alike in so many ways.  When they got their bathing suits on to play in the water they found out they had both picked out the same swim suit.

 Lexi, Xilone and I went on a walk and passed by the Rexburg Temple.  It's so beautiful and set up on a hill so you can see the entire valley from there.

Ben and his facial hair experiments.  He can't help but try different hideous facial hair ideas to show to his brother Steve.  I made him shave this off as soon as I took this picture.

Petting Zoo at Reed's Dairy (amazing ice cream there). 

I felt so sad making them part when we had to go home.

Utah

This past June we made a trek across the U.S. to visit family in Utah and Idaho.  It was CRAZY!  We loved being with family, but I think we'll think twice before we drive that again.  On the way there we drove straight through.  We left at 6pm right after Ben got home from work.  What should have taken us approximately 25 hours to drive ended up taking 29 hours because we had to stop so often.  Next time, with better planning, I believe that we could shave off a few hours from the trip.  

Road Trip:

 Ready to take off from our house.

 Somewhere near the border of Wisconsin and Iowa.  There's a hill behind the girls that all of the kids kept running down to get their energy out.

Finally in Utah!:

 My dad took all of the kids and spouses (that could be there) out to a Mexican restaurant and it was so good!

 Lexi and I tried to go on morning walks while we were there.  I think she really wanted to go because we always passed these beautiful horses.  

 Ben and I took Lexi to see the campus of BYU.  We always make fun of BYU and "Happy Valley", but always tell Alexis there's no where else we'd rather she go for school. 

Fishing with Uncle Dayne:

Alexis was the first to catch a fish.

Thanksgiving Point Gardens (Family Reunion):

 The Secret Garden

 Up above the waterfalls.

Family Reunion Pool Party:

Apparently at least one of my children has a trait of mine - Einstein baby hair!