Oh Baby!

Today Mr. Stannix and I got to see baby on the ultrasound screen! Everything is going well, and we had them put baby's gender in an envelop, just in case we decide we'd like to know!

Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch at Cucina's together before he went back to work for the afternoon.

Lily and I had a nice little snuggle on the porch swing shortly before the bus arrived to drop off the big kids!

 

The Rescue Crab

Today we headed up to the orchard to pick the rescue crab! We didn't get any apples from this tree last year, so the littles were excited to get some this year as they love the taste of them! They are an apple crab, and quite yummy. As we were picking Sawyer said, "Do we grow these apples now? What...the ....crab-apple?!" We all laughed. He's such a funny kid!

 

As always, a lot of eating and a little bit of picking! It's so fun to have the littles help us out though! I also had to check out my new Mac tree and size up the apples. I can't wait to taste these!

Another successful day of apple picking in the books!

 

Home Sweet Home

We arrived home at nearly 1am last night, exhausted! Mr. Stannix drove basically the entire way from Salt Lake City to home (which is 16 hours, not including stops). I think I drove a bit through Idaho. We had a few more littles feeling a bit under the weather (no barf, thankfully) and a lot of sleeping took place in the back seat. We stopped in Lethbridge and grabbed pizza for dinner, then ate on the road.

We are in the thick of raspberry season right now, and Mom brought us over a big ice cream bucket filled with fresh picked raspberries this morning. The littles all had a bowl with cream and sugar and then I turned some into our favorite Raspberry Streusel Muffins! We are so glad to be home!

 

Exploring Arches: Part II

Since today is mostly a driving day and I have nothing else to document except for another sick kiddo in the back seat, here are some more photos from our quick stop at Arches National Park yesterday morning! Our plan is to push through and arrive home very late tonight. Everyone is tired of being in the car, and another night in a hotel doesn't sound very fun either.

The last stop before we had to get on the road was "The Sand Dune Arch". 

 

The kids didn't hesitate to kick off their shoes once we made it through the rocky crevices and into the smooth red sand. 

They ran, and jumped, and played to their hearts content!

We only met four other people total while we were there, and one of them was kind enough to snap a few family photos of us! 

We had some older kids snap a few of us as well.

We probably spent a good hour playing beneath and around this arch, hidden away from the heat of the day in between the tall rock that surrounded us.

 

Jumping and climbing all morning long. The boys made me nervous climbing this rock because they were barefoot, and one of them had a busted hand. It looks much taller than pictured!

This guy tried really hard not to get sand in his splint. 

It took a lot of convincing to peel everyone away from there. They had so much fun together digging in the sand and running around. We had a four hour drive ahead of us to get to Salt Lake and drop Camilla off with the Ekins Fam! 

As we loaded up in the van, I got a few hugs from the older kids who said they had so much fun and were going to bring their families here someday too. Everyone was more unified and happy which filled my heart. Nature truly is amazing! We passed multiple tour buses on our way out of the park, and were grateful to have beat the crowds and had those moments together!

Our first stop in Salt Lake was to Daddy's favorite restaurant for lunch! It was a bit chaotic after a four hour drive, but we made it out alive and with full bellies. We then swam for a bit at the hotel before heading to the Ekins for dinner, where we enjoyed home cooked food and a nice visit. We gave our big girl a few big squeezes before leaving her behind for a five day stay in Salt Lake.

Exploring Arches: Part I

This morning we woke the children at the crack of dawn and headed to Arches National Park to catch the sunrise and spend a few hours exploring before the heat of the day. We were all in awe of the beauty that surrounded us as we drove through the park and checked out a few of the different sites along the way! 

Our first stop in the park was "The Windows" at sunrise and it didn't disappoint! They have timed entry to the park during the day and the spots fill up fast and well in advance, so in order to attend, we had to arrive before 7am with our park pass. These kiddos weren't too sad about that though! We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves and the kids loved exploring and climbing through the arches. 

After grabbing some water and a quick snack, we took a short walk to the windows to check them out!

These two walking hand in hand melted my heart!

A place this big can sure make a person feel small in the world! We stood in awe at the beauty surrounding us.

It was all so breathtaking!

As the sun rose higher and higher, illuminating everything around us, the children explored further and further.

When we had seen all that we could see, we headed back to Big Red and loaded up to head to the "Sand Dune Arch".