Mother's Day, Ultrasound, and Camping

A couple of weeks ago, my mom was here to visit us for a while.  It was such a perfect time for her to be here, too: weather was great, had our first ultrasound, strawberry picking started, and Mother's Day was here!  She even got to go to a few swimming lessons with us.  Jaden loved having her there to watch him.  We sure did a LOT! It was seriously the best time in the world, and I really didn't want her to leave!! The day after my mom was gone, Jaden woke up the next morning, as he did when she was here, and asked "Is Grandma awake now?", wanting to go into her room and cuddle with her or just to chat.  I reminded him that we took her to the airport yesterday and I could see him remember that as his face went to disappointment.  We miss you!!!!

We took Max to PetSmart to get him groomed and handsome before we picked up Mom at the airport...it was his first time.  Apparently he did really well!  So we are going to make that a regular thing, probably every 6-8 weeks or so.  Cory does pretty well washing him at home in our little kiddie pool, but it's nice to get pampered every once in a while, too! He is such a big boy!  He is now 6 months and well over 60 pounds.  But we couldn't have asked for a better dog for this family and lifestyle.  He fits into this family perfectly, thank goodness!! 'Cause you never know when you get a dog as a puppy!

Jaden got a swim cap from his coach, and he just thinks he's somethin' else when he wears it!  He wears this thing with pride and owns it when he's in the water.  As many different sports and activities as he's been in, I've never seen him take to something so well and so dedicated.  He is a fish, and absolutely LOVES being in the water. He keeps asking about "swimmer's special underwear" (speedos) and when he gets to wear those!  I just love him.  So, I'm guessing we will need to get him those at some point!!

We have been growing vegetables in our backyard in planter boxes.  Some have been thriving and some...not so much.  BUT! We had a head of broccoli come up and was ready to eat when my mom was here, so that was so fun to share with her!  We had absolutely no idea how broccoli even grows, but it did, and it was a success! It tasted so fresh and crispy and sooo green after we steamed it.  It was delicious!

We went strawberry picking one day and that was just the best time!  We got over 10 pounds of fresh, beautifully sweet strawberries for $15.  We got home and made strawberry freezer jam and canned some strawberry jelly as well.  This stuff tastes amazing!!  We love it, and I felt so accomplished filling up our food storage closet with stuff my mom and I canned!  We also canned a lot of salsa, which was so good.  We could eat this stuff with a spoon.  Oh and we also canned some cinnamon apple butter.  Jaden eats it straight out of the can.  He's definitely a Grandma's boy!

And then there was Mother's Day. This was so special to be able to share it with my mom.  I loved every minute of this trip and of this day.

While my mom was here, Cory had a late start to a day at work, so we scheduled to have an ultrasound done at an imaging clinic here in town.  We did it this way so that my mom, Jaden, and Cory could all be in the room with me while we peeked at the baby and found out what the gender was.  This was just way too much fun!!  The baby was moving around like crazy, extremely active!  Jaden would move around a little bit during ultrasounds, but not like this one.  So, I know I'm going to have my hands full and I can't wait!!

Introducing our sweet, baby GIRL, Jenna Mae!! :D

Changing gears a little bit, this past weekend we went camping for a few days with some of our friends from Cory's company.  They have two little redheaded girls who are just so fun and full of it!  Brenna, the mom, is also pregnant, but is farther along than I am (8 months!).  She is brave with going camping at that stage.  I'm only 19 weeks, so it wasn't as uncomfortable for me as it was, I'm sure, for her!  Regardless of all that, we had a LOT of fun.  The kids, when they would smile at us, made all of the hard work and effort worth it.  We did a lot of activities and had a great time.  I kind of like camping out now, and never really thought that I would!

This is our tent at our campsite.  Brenna and her family were at another campsite right next to us and it was pretty connected and close, so it was great once the kids went down, because we got to make a camp fire in the middle and could still hear and get to our tents in a couple of steps.

Their oldest girl, Alta (3), with Max while we were setting up camp and unpacking the cars.

After we all ate lunch and everything was situated, we decided to take a hike and go rock climbing!  That was a lot of hard work and fun!  I think that's one of Jaden's new favorite activities!

Watching Jaron repel down.

Jaden's turn rock climbing!

My turn.  I was really kind of scared to go up.  It took some convincing, and I knew that Jenna couldn't get hurt by the harness, but I recently found out that heights freak me out a little!  I had to breathe through some spots up there to not panic, but all in all, when I was down on the ground again, I really enjoyed myself! :)

So glad to be back on the ground.

Then came Cory's turn!  He was a little spider climbing up the wall.  The width and height that he can reach makes me jealous and definitely was an advantage for him.

As we climbed and as the kids were waiting, they climbed on the surrounding rocks.  Man did they get filthy and all scratched up! But none of them complained!

The next day, we went on a little walk to a surrounding mountain and tried our luck at fishing!  It wasn't very successful, but they kids had a lot of fun and so did we!

Jaden and Mila (2).

Cory rigging up the fishing line.

Throwing cheetos to the goose.

The line got stuck on the branch....

On shore fishing wasn't going very well, as we lost two lines due to them getting stuck in surrounding trees, and Jaron lost one because it got stuck in a tree.  So we decided to each rent a fishing row boat and float along in the river for an hour.  It was really relaxing and Jaden had lots of fun.

The Brooks'!

Jaden trying to row the boat...he was working REALLY hard too!  He felt like a big boy, because it was all him working the ores.

We had a great weekend!  The drive was absolutely beautiful and pretty relaxing, except for the occasional stretches of windy roads that made me sick a few times, but it was still fun! Everything is so green over there.

And this is a view of Pilot Mountain where we camped..again, sooo green!

We are headed for another adventure this upcoming weekend, so I will be sure to update on that as well!  Until next time :)