Maternity Pictures

My little sister was in town over 4th of July weekend so she took some maternity pictures of me. She is a photographer in Arizona. I have about 3 weeks left before my due date in these pictures.

A little catch up

For Father's day the kids and I made Rick a hugs and kisses jar for his desk at work. We personalized the kisses with little stickers saying things like "Best Papa Ever" "We love you" "Come home soon" etc. We also gave him a crate full of soda. He loves to try new flavors of soda so we bought him a rainbow of flavors. He was pretty excited about the yellow sweet corn soda because he runs the Del Monte vegetable brand and obviously corn is a big part of that. He wants to buy his team some corn soda for one of their meetings.

A few of my favorites have been Butterscotch Rootbeer by Dang that's Good, and Huckleberry by the Jackson Hole Brewing Company (?).

For Rick's birthday we usually bring a cake into the office for him and his team but this year we had so much going on and have already done cake, parties etc. so we just stopped by for some lunch out with dad. We headed over to Justin Herman Plaza for some Buckhorns and ate by the fountain. The boys love going into the city to see papa at work it is so cute.

 Papa takes the boys to walk along the top of the fountain.

 Papa chasing the boys around the plaza. These boys LOVE their papa.

4th of July

We had a fun and very busy 4th of July. We started our day out in Alameda at the Parade. It is one of our favorite places to go for 4th of July (except for our cabin in Westwood, they have a great little parade there too). We love the parade down Park Street and they pass out candy so of course we like it. We pulled right in to the free parking garage and then set up a blanket along the street just as the parade was starting. Yeah, that is right no waiting or setting up early to get a spot we just walked right up there.

The kids loved it this year. They are getting a little older now so they really got into it. They were waving their little American flags around so people would see them and throw candy. They LOVED all the candy they were getting (although of course we only let them eat a few pieces of it). They were dancing to the music and enjoyed every second of it.

Crew happy as can be that we let him eat a whole lollipop.

 Athen not as excited as Crew. He is totally satisfied with just a few licks of the lollipop. Although he did eat the hole thing this time.

The kids loved the Mexican horses dancing around and the helicopter over head. 

We then headed over to the park to celebrate our friend Jacob's birthday with a BBQ. Of course the kids love spending time at the park and running around with papa. We had a delicious meal and spent some time with friends. Unfortunetly we didn't get any pictures at the park.

We then headed over to Livermore for a family BBQ and some fireworks. It was a hot day (in the 100's) so the kids, cousins and papas filled the hot tub up with cold water and swam around. They played with the water worm (sprinkler thingy) and spent the afternoon wet. We had a delicious BBQ dinner, played with the quad, trampoline, picked fresh fruits and veggies (one of the kids favorite things to do at grandma and grandpas house) and just played around with the cousins.


Swimming with the cousins in the hot tub. 

Here is my HUGE pregnant belly. Huge, pregnant, 100 degree weather, uncomfortable, sleepless and tired = Miserable. 

Athen and cousin Blake riding the quad around. 

Alyssa, Blake, new baby Kylie, and Athen.

As it became dark we gathered the kids to the drive way and did some Chinese firecrackers with them. They love the snappers and poppers. We then headed out to the vineyard on top of the hill and waited for the firework show to begin with all the neighbors. My parents house is on top of a hill that happens to be across the way from where Livermore does their firework show so we had a perfect view of the show right at home.

The kiddos doing fireworks on the driveway.

Getting set up at the top of the vineyard, waiting for the fireworks. 

Top of the vineyards with the neighbors waiting for the fireworks.

It was a long but fun day.

Asher Deaver

My cousin Asher, just 22 recently found out he has a brain tumor and needs to have brain surgery. As you can imagine a surgery like this (even with insurance) is going to cost a lot of money. Friends and family have put together a website to help collect donations for his surgery at the end of the month. There are also some perks for donating. The Deaver family and friends are very talented and are donating some of their music and artwork to those who donate. Check it out if you want to help or if you want some good music or an amazing piece of art. (Why didn't I get any of that talent?)

Here is the website: http://igg.me/p/help-asher-deaver-get-well-soon/x/3878923


Good luck to Asher this month and remember him in your prayers!