Pregnancy Photos

Do you remember this picture of Kate with my Sawyer belly? It is one of my favorite pictures ever. When we were going to Tucson my goal was to go to picture people and try and recreate this picture. Unfortunately the photographer we got wasn't my favorite and I was a little less than impressed with the outcome. But my kids still look cute no matter what so I guess it is okay!


I had a coupon for buy one, get one free so I got this one too. I wouldn't have posed myself this way...but when I saw it I thought my kids looked adorable so I'm glad I have it!

Now, after that cuteness, is it okay if I vent something that has been bugging me recently? I basically moved to Vermont and got pregnant right off. The gym I now go to I didn't join until April after that so I was already semi-showing...definitely not myself, but it wasn't noticeable to strangers. Friends, I think would have noticed, but not strangers. Recently, after coming home from my vacation and heading back to the gym I have gotten some funny comments. I have a lot of ladies tell me I look great and tell me how great it is that I'm still working out, which is really sweet of them. I have others say things like, "you are just all belly!" or "I can't even tell you are pregnant from behind!" I know their intentions are good....but I don't take these as compliments. I have known people where those statements are true and I can tell you, I am not one of those people. It would almost make me feel better if someone said, "WOW Kristen, your butt has really gotten big!" and I would sweetly say, "Why thank you for noticing, it is getting quite large. I can't wait to get back to work post-pregnancy and get it back to normal size." Ryan doesn't believe me that I would like that comment better, but I would. The worst was I had a girl, who actually works at the gym and signed me up when I joined, tell me after my vacation, "WOW, I didn't even know you were pregnant until just now!" REALLY? Last time you saw me may have been 3 1/2 weeks ago...but I was still 25 weeks pregnant. What did you think that belly was? I guess the disheartening thing is that all these people don't know what I am supposed to look like. And what I'm going to have to really work hard at to look like again. And that makes me frustrated...or self conscience...or something. Does that make sense to anyone but me? Maybe it is just me.

Tucson

After the Bear Lake reunion we dropped Daddy off at the airport to head back to work and the rest of us drove down to Tucson with my parents to spend a few weeks there. It was so much fun to just hang out together down there! We went to my favorite restaurants (my kids even got to go to Chick fil a...twice! Oh how we love and miss Chick fil a!) and swam in the pool almost every day. The kid's favorite swimming days were when we waited for Papa to get home from work and we were swimming past dark and had to turn the pool light on. There is nothing more magical than swimming in a lit up pool! We went and saw movies (Cars 2, Mr Popper's Penguins and Smurfs) and got our pictures taken at the mall. And ate frozen yogurt at the self serve place right down the street from my mom's....yum!

Here are some pics from the pool

My kids saw this picture up on the computer and they said, "aww, I miss Jacob."

One night we met Papa after work at Peter Piper Pizza to play games and ride the rides. The carousel is always a hit!

As soon as Papa walked in the door we dragged him on the little "roller coaster" they had. My kids weren't tall enough to go alone so each needed an adult and I wasn't able to do it. I'm not sure Papa knew what he was in for...the ride went really fast forwards and then went backwards! I was sick just watching them! But the kids loved it!

It was "Kid's Night" so they had different games and special things for the kids. Both kids participated in the Skee-ball tournament. It was on a machine that was a little different, it had a monster at the top and then all the different amounts were right at the bottom. Kate is excellent at getting the ball just over the top of the thing and ended up getting a really high score, high enough for first place! They announced her name over the loud speaker after they tallied the scores and we went and claimed her prize. She got 100 tickets and a medal. A few days later we were headed out somewhere and she said, "I"m going to wear my medal so everyone knows I'm a winner." It was adorable.
Sawyer also scored a win! As we were counting up all our tickets and getting ready to pick out our prizes I asked Sawyer if he wanted to go play on the little jungle gym and he excitedly took his shoes off and headed over all on his own. I continued to count up the tickets and the next thing I know he is right there beside me and he says, "I went down the slide and got all wet." I took a sniff and sure enough...it was pee. Seeing as that it was on his shirt only I knew it was not only pee but it was someone else's pee. Yuck. I tried not to freak out because I knew there was nothing I could do until we got home so and I didn't want him stressing about it. Kate was, of course, asking me questions and I quietly explained what had happened and asked her not to talk to Sawyer about it because he would be sad. She said, "Its a good thing I didn't go down the slide or else I would have pee on me." Yes, it is a good thing. Papa went and told the people about the mess and the shut the thing down and then he had the smart idea to ask if they had a shirt for him, which they were kind enough to supply. Sawyer loved his new shirt.

We also went on adventure to Apple Annie's down in Wilcox to pick some peaches on a nice cool Saturday. We rode on the tractor ride out to the peaches and then got to taste and pick until we had our fill! They were YUMMY!

The kids couldn't even stop eating long enough to get a picture taken, they were that yummy!

After the picking we ate some peach donuts, kettle corn, and peach pie! YUM!

We also went bowling which was pretty hilarious to watch. Sawyer loved picking up that big heavy ball and throwing it down himself. He looked pretty cute doing it too. He would throw it and then shyly walk away, looking back every now and then to check the progress. After a few times where the ball never reached the pins, he was also using the ramp like Kate.

Sawyer, Ethan and Kate also had fun with some glow sticks

Sword fight!


It was an amazing trip and it was, as always, really hard to say goodbye! Tucson is miserable and hot in the summer but I love it. And I love being with my mom. And watching my kids with my parents and how much they love them (even if it is a little too much...borderline spoiling!) I loved seeing my sisters and spending time with them. It was just so fun.
But we did miss our Daddy a little so we had to say goodbye and head back up to Vermont. We changed planes in Chicago and had an unexpected 4 hour delay once we got there. My kids behaved as well as could be expected during our 6 hours in Chicago but we were happy to be back on the plane and finally land in Boston and see our Daddy...at midnight. After the long drive to Vermont in a downpour we finally made it home! It took a while to recover.
So now its back to real life in Vermont! And, come September, a new adventure with Kate starting school! And come October...a new baby!! Ack! What a lot of changes!

Townsend Family Reunion - Bear Lake

After our fun with the Kissell family we headed to Bear Lake where another family reunion awaited us. The house we stayed at was so unique and pretty....and unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it! But it was an old store converted to a house that fit all 40+ of us. It was so fun seeing family! Growing up, our only family summer vacation was up to Grandma and Grandpa Townsend's house to play with our cousins for a week and it is one of my favorite childhood memories. Being all together kind of makes me feel like a kid again.
One of the main activities we did during our time together was play at the lake. The kids loved playing in the sand and, after some persuasion, they both took couple of turns on the tube and loved that too. Kate even got to help Uncle Karl drive the boat and she took it very seriously! Ryan took a few turns on the wakeboard and did well while I sat in the boat and watched. I was sad to miss out on wakeboarding but I guess cooking a baby is a good reason to be left out. We had really nice weather the whole time and it was fun hanging out with everyone on the beach.

Townsend Family Reunion - T-shirt night

One night during the reunion we all wore our matching t-shirts and headed into town for a famous milkshake. They have several places claiming to be famous and we tried one that was different than last time. Some people were disappointed and preferred the other one. But don't worry, we headed down there another night to make sure we had the best milkshake in town! After eating milkshakes we took a group picture. Don't we look great all in blue? (And hey, you can kind of see the outside of our house in that picture!)

Townsend Family Reunion - Fun and Games

The first night we were there was Monday and we had a really fun FHE. Actually we had 2. The first was for the little kids and it was adorable. They learned about Samuel the Lamanite and they got to fling m&ms at a lego Samuel atop a rice krispie city wall. Totally cute. They also did a fun art project, which is always a hit, especially with Kate. After the kids were in bed we had an adult FHE with a great lesson, a little bit of geneology, and some karaoke to some of Grandpa Townsend's favorite songs by Hank Williams.

Another night Aunt Jana and Uncle Karl set up a kid's olympics and they loved it! They had all sorts of games and races. And then we ended with a little baseball. So fun!

One night we also did a Minute to Win it game which was hilarious to watch and it was fun to cheer our teams on. Don't I just have the most fun family ever?