Parker

Well our new little addition is here! We named him Parker Dan Gibbs. He was born Wed morning at 1:57am, 30 minutes after we made it to the hospital. He was 2 weeks early, but he weighed 7lb 12oz and was 21 inches long. He was perfectly healthy, and everything went smoothly, with no issues for either him or me. We came home Friday morning, and since then we've been doing our best to adjust to our normal life. So far, it's going really well. Here are some pics.

Here's Carson holding Parker that first morning (the first several pics were taken Wed morning):
Natalie holding Parker:

Mike and Parker:

Me and Parker:

Me and my kids:

Proud parents (Carson did a great job taking this one):

The girls with Parker:

My boys:

Dad and Parker:

Okay, these next were taken on Friday before we took Parker home:

Me and Parker:

Mike and Parker:

My little group:

This last one I just took of Parker sleeping on the couch with Mike. Poor Mike's been so busy trying to help me with my normal "mom jobs" that he's exhausted as well!

Everybody is doing great! Parker is sleeping well at night, and since it's summer the house is easier to keep clean. Meals are being brought to us for the next few days, and then my mom will be here to help. Thanks to everybody for the help and support! Isn't he adorable?

Bikes

The kids have had a big week for bikes. Natalie has been doing so well potty training lately, that her daddy promised her she could get her own bike. She's doing well with it so far, though she needs to work on braking. As for Carson, he decided he wanted to learn to ride without training wheels, and within 20 minutes or less, he was a pro. He's doing even better now, a couple of days later, and we're so proud of him. I know his seat needs raised, but he's still working on his confidence, so I figure we'll give him a few more weeks before we raise the seat.

Craters of the Moon

Mike didn't have to work on Monday, so we drove 90 miles to visit the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Carson has been interested in volcanoes lately, and this place is basically a bunch of cooled lava rock from several eruptions over the last several thousands of years. The kids loved it, especially Carson. He got to see a miniature volcano, lots of different lava rocks (I can't remember all their names), and of course the CAVES! The caves were created when lava on the surface cooled and liquid lava still flowed underneath it, forming "tubes." They were neat, and most of them were okay for me to go in as well. One was small and not deep, one was huge, with tall ceilings and holes in the ceiling often enough that it wasn't too dark for the most part. But it was a really long tunnel. There was one that was narrow at the opening, but we didn't go into that one. Mike and Carson want to the next time we visit. The last one was saw was still pretty tall, and I think large, though you're not allowed to go too far into it. But it was very dark, so the kids had to use their flashlights, which they thought was cool. It was a great activity, and I'm sure we'll go again sometime.
This was a large rock hill we climbed. It was a lot bigger and steeper than we originally thought, and I was pretty tired when we got to the top. This is Carson, Natalie, and Mike halfway up.
Carson, me and Natalie at what we first thought was the top, but it wasn't.

Here's us at the top. It was so windy there that the kids were nearly blowing over, literally. That's why my hair looks so funny. Oddly enough, neither kid complained about the wind. I guess there were too many other cool things to look at.

Here's a picture of the wasteland around, since very little grows with all that volcanic rock.

Natalie and Carson

Carson, Mike, and Natalie heading into the huge cave.

The family sitting outside the huge cave, once we finally made it through and out the other side.

Here's Carson with the butterfly that he caught. I was surprised, because I told him he wouldn't be able to catch it, since he didn't have a net or anything. But he did, so I ran and found a jar for it. He was so excited!

Natalie holding Carson's butterfly.

On Saturday, we went to check out the festivities by the river. The kids got their faces painted. Here's Carson's face:

And here's Natalie's face:

I was instructed by my doctor to take it easy over the weekend, so we opted not to go to the river to watch the fireworks. I really wanted to, but parking is awful, so we would have had to walk a couple of miles to get there, and again after they were over. Also, a neighbor got a bunch of fireworks from WY and invited us over the previous night to watch them. He had some cool ones, and the kids got their fireworks fix. So on Saturday, instead of watching the fireworks, we went to the drive-in and saw Toy Story 3 and Prince of Persia. Best date activity ever, because for $13 we get to see 2 movies. The first one is for the kids, and then they sleep in the back while Mike and I watch our movie. We bring our own popcorn, and we don't have to pay for a sitter. We do it at least once every summer.

Even though we missed the fireworks, we bought a few small ones to light with the kids. We forgot on Sunday, and on Monday I was having contractions, and Mike was really sick, so we did our fireworks on Tuesday evening. The kids had sparklers and pops, and then we lit a few small firecrackers. It was fun, even though it would have been more impressive in the dark. The kids didn't care, and I still got them to bed at a decent hour.
Here's everyone throwing pops:

Here are the kids with the sparklers:

My Secret Addiction...

So I charged the camera battery and made sure to pack it on our Gibbs Reunion Campout in Wyoming last weekend, and I couldn't find it the whole trip! I found it yesterday, as I was unpacking the rest of our stuff. So unfortunately, no pictures from our camping trip until I get a copy of everyone else's pictures, which might take awhile. In the meantime, here are several pictures of what we've been doing lately, instead of blogging.

Here's Carson in swim lessons. I was disappointed that none of the pictures turned out, but Carson is attempting the side stroke while his teacher helps him.
He did great in lessons this year, and he loved his guy teacher! Next summer I get to put both kids in lessons, which will be nice. Poor Natalie couldn't stand to watch them and not be in the pool herself.

We went into the mountains a few weeks ago and cooked our dinner over the fire, roasted marshmallows, and went hiking. Here are the kids exploring.

Roasting marshmallows.

On our hike, Mike found an empty cave (just one room, nothing too huge) and he and the kids climbed in. I couldn't, since the opening required Mike to climb in on his belly, and that's obviously not an option for me now. Natalie didn't really like it, so we don't have a picture of her, but Carson loved it, and he and Mike had a good time in there.

Here's Carson pretending to be a lion or a bear or something.

Here's Natalie doing the same thing, but on the ground.

Boys in the cave. This shot shows how high up the cave was.

So ferocious!

The girls safe on the ground. Check out that belly!

Here's Mike carrying the kids at the end of the hike, when they got tired.

After dinner and a hike, we drove home and set up the tent in the living room. We'd planned on camping on the mountains, but it was still way to cold for that, what with our weird and freezing start to summer this year. This worked out well anyway, because Mike and I got to sleep in our own bed and let the kids sleep in the tent.

And here are some pictures of Dean and Leah's wedding.

Dean and Leah with all the nieces and the nephew.

Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids.

The newlyweds.

Me and Natalie.

Five weeks until baby #3 is due, and I'm going crazy trying to get the house clean, I mean the super deep cleaning stuff that I won't get to do for awhile. Every pregnancy is different, but with this one I have a serious addiction problem. No, really. I'm addicted to mint, especially the Lifesavers Wintogreen Mints! I had no idea the word addiction could apply to something besides alcohol and drugs. I have my favorite foods that I would eat a ton of anytime, but this is beyond that. I have to convince myself not to drive to the store again when the bag runs out, which is about a day after I buy it. So I've been chewing LOTS of mint flavored gum to try not to buy so many mints, and secretly hiding the bags I buy so I don't have to share! (As a side note, this doesn't work, because the smell of these mints is so strong that everyone in my family can always find my secret stashes!)

T-Ball

Carson started t-ball this month, as well as swim lessons. We are busy running him around all the time, but I think he's enjoying it, even if Natalie feels a bit left out. No swimming pics yet, but here are some t-ball ones that I took today. I'm still hoping to post Dean and Leah's wedding ones sometime, too.