Timp Cave

We have been wanting to hike the Timpanogos Cave for years, but for some reason, we let year after year go by without doing it.  We resolved to do it this year, and when my sister Rachel her family were visiting, they mentioned they hoped to hike it while out, we decided it was perfect timing!  I was 23 weeks pregnant (5 months), so between me and Emi (my 4 year old niece), we took the pace pretty slow.  Regardless, it was lots of fun!

 This is one of my favorite pictures.  I guess they weren't expecting a picture...

And so is the next one...

The "heart" of Timpanogos.

The helictites were pretty cool - those are the curly ones.  

Happy Pioneer Day

The 24th was a fun day!  We went to a parade, played, and Daddy came home after being gone for two weeks at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia.  Aunt Rachel took this awesome picture of Jayden, Nate, and Ethan watching the parade.  What great expressions!  That night we had fun playing with some sparklers Rachel brought.  

Welcome Home, Uncle Ben!

Yay!! Uncle Ben returned home from his mission to the Dominican Republic on July 22.  We were so excited to see him!  Here is a picture just before we headed to go eat dinner before going to the airport.

Ben sent this picture postcard of himself to Lauren for her birthday.  It has a letter on back to her. She has loved it and carried it all over the place.  I think this is where she learned what Uncle Ben looks like the most.  When we said we were going to go see Uncle Ben, she insisted to bring this along.

We ate dinner at Steve and Nancy's house and played until it was time to go!

Then off to the airport.  The kids were really good while we waited.  Luckily, we only had to wait less than an hour, I think.

The kids all made signs, although I did help with most of them.  Dylan did his sign entirely himself. 

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Ben's awesome missionary shoes - worn out so much the heel comes off the rest of the shoe.  Love those missionary shoes!

It's a...

So I'm a little behind on my blogging, if you can't tell. For good reason!  This was back in July:

We are so excited to announce that we are expecting a little GIRL on November 21!  I was trying to tell myself it was going to be a boy.  For a while I honestly didn't care whether it was a boy or girl, though I hoped Lauren could have a sister.  But, with so many boys, I figured it probably wouldn't be a girl.  Then about two weeks before the ultrasound, this little baby growing within in me became in my mind a girl.  I couldn't shake the thought.

As the ultrasound started I was sure I had gotten a glimpse that meant it was a boy, so I started saying in my head over and over "Yay, its a boy!"  I was trying to feel happy and not disappointed, because seriously - each child is a miracle and we are happy with anything. I seriously love the boys I have! When the doctor finally checked, it was a girl!  We are so excited to meet her!

Happy Independence Day

We celebrated in typical style - Murray parade in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, and fireworks in the evening.  Devon was supposed to fly in the Freedom Festival Balloon Festival, but it was too stormy, so we got to have him with us.  

Devon thought it seemed like they threw more candy at our kids if Lauren was waving her flag.  She definitely was cute!  Our kids ended up with quite the pile of taffys and other candies.

We looked over to see Austin doing this.  Totally self taught.  The boy is a fish!

We lit the tanks and trucks the boys picked out while it was light.  I love all the kids different expressions.
No pictures of the fireworks once it was dark- I thought I took some, but we enjoyed our fireworks neighborhood-style this year. We had bought a box of fireworks from Macey's, and as we started lighting them the Winzelers, Miners, and DeRoests joined us with their fireworks.  We had a nice little show!

Lauren would not put this down.  She thought it was pretty cool.