The Hills.

My parents and the four of us took a trip out to the Black Hills for a few days.  I remember my parents always talking about wanting to take us there growing up, but we never did it.  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for us to go considering we live only 6 hours away.  We planned the trip the end of May and booked the cabin to stay in.  It sure came up fast.  This was the cabin we called home for three nights.  It was at the base of Terry Peak and gorgeous!  It was quite spacious for the 6 of us as it slept 10 adults.  We had planned on my sister and her family joining the trip but they were unable to.  We cooked all of our meals at the cabin and had a lot of good food!  The kids had an abundance of room to run around and play and they loved it.

The lower deck included a brand new hot tub.  The kids thought it was "too hot," which it was for them.  But they had an absolute riot playing on the ledge.  Unfortunately, I was unable to partake in the lovely hot tub and beer festivities.  I should have taken more pictures of the inside of the cabin, it was absolutely gorgeous.

We stopped at Bear Country USA on our way in.  I was a little skeptical about the experience because it seemed to be a little spendy.  Once we got into the gates all skepticism was gone.  It was one of the neatest outdoor exhibits I have ever experienced!

This is my favorite bear photo.  I just think it is crazy how you drove right through the bears and they were just hanging out.  There were so many I wish I would have counted!  We did see buffalo, antelope, sheep, arctic wolves and some other animals, but the bears were the best!

After you drove through the route with the animals, there was "babyland."  There was a bunch of baby animals-so darn cute.  Those little bear cubs were my favorite!

It wouldn't be a trip to the Black Hills without visiting Mt. Rushmore.  It was such a gorgeous day and we got some great photos.  Landon loved the "big rock with the faces," it was adorable.

We walked down a ton of steps to get some different views and the kids did awesome!

Next came Needles highway and Sylvan lake located in Custer State Park.  The scenery is absolutely gorgeous!

What a great place for some picnicing!  Kadence and Grandma and Grandpa played in the water while Ryan, Landon, and I did some hiking and rock climbing.

It was so fun to see the boys having an absolute riot climbing rocks.  Landon has a ridiculous amount of coordination for his age and wanted to go up as high as he could.  I see a shared hobby in their future!  I trekked along for most of the climbing but opted out when I had flashes of my pregnant belly making me fall forward!

It made me a little nervous at times...but they were having so much fun I didn't say much.  Too cute.

So beautiful!

We drove through Spearfish Canyon and stopped at Roughlock Falls.  This was probably my favorite part of the trip.  It amazes me how beautiful nature is.  We hiked along the river and took in the scenery.

The kids had an absolute blast and ran most of the way.  It is so fun to see mine and Ryan's love for nature and the outdoors show through in our children.  They are so happy outside where they can run free.

They really are such good friends already.  They had so much fun playing and exploring together.

A view of Roughlock Falls and the beautiful clear water!

These are only some of the many gorgeous pictures we took.
We also headed into Deadwood for a night and walked around a little bit.  We had perfect weather the entire time and did everything we wanted to do.  The kids were so good-considering the amount of time spent in the car!  There was great conversation and many games of cribbage in the mix as well!  The only thing that would have made the trip a little better would have been a stop at one of the winery's for some wine tasting...next time!  What a great and much needed vacation!

Band-aids.

It is that time of year.  The band-aid season.  Both of our kids have gotten quite a few bumps and scratches this summer but it seems to have heightened the last couple weeks.  Luckily, Dora band-aids are like magic and instantly fix even the bloodiest owies.  It makes me laugh as both of the kids seem to be going through "the band-aid" stage at the same time.  We have gone through an entire box of Dora band-aids in just one week.  I am beginning to think we should buy some stock...

Dragonflies.

Landon was a very busy boy the last few days catching dragonflies with Grandma Sue.  I think he would have done it all day for three days straight if we would have let him.  Grandma caught the first ones, but then Landon was able to catch them on his own.  Kadence joined in as well.  They each have containers full of dragonflies that they have been hauling around the house.

So much fun!

Big Girl.

We switched Kadence from her toddler size bed into a twin bed a few days ago.  Grandma Sue brought her the headboard yesterday and Kadence was very excited for a place to store all of her animals.  She tucked them all in her headboard and when I checked on her before I went to bed they had all joined her in bed.  She sure likes having her "big girl" bed, "like Landon's" as she would say.  If her stuffed animal collection keeps growing, we may have to upgrade her to a full sized bed!

Love her!

24 Weeks.

24 weeeks already!  It is hard to believe how fast the last month of our lives has gone.  This is definitely my most photographed baby of the three.  Although he/she has been photographed the most, we don't really have any great pictures!  Again, baby was in a difficult position, luckily the ultrasound tech was able to get most of the pictures she needed so that I don't have to pain through yet another ultrasound!  Arin was able to come to the ultrasound with me, so her excitement deterred a lot of my anxiety this time.  Although I debated, I decided that I just didn't want to know the sex of the baby after all.  Experiencing the surprise with both Landon and Kadence was just so amazing that I didn't want to give that up.  Besides, I never was much of a planner anyhow.

Everything on the ultrasound looked normal and baby is growing appropriately.  He/she is 1lb 6 oz and in the 62nd percentile for size with a heart rate of 170.  Baby had the hiccups almost the entire ultrasound and it was neat to see what I have been feeling inside!

My baby belly continues to grow by the day, although it feels more like by the minute.  Although I know I am bigger than I was with the first two, I continue to catch grief from a lot of people for not being very big.  It is nice to hear for sure, but I still feel large and in charge!  I have been able to keep exercising on my treadmill but with the summer weather cooling off, I am missing my stress relieving runs.  I try to stay positive and remind myself that I have the rest of my life to run, but it is hard when you can't do something you love so much.  I have also been picking up some more shifts at work which has been very nice.  I love being able to share in my patient's lives at such a happy time.  It has also been enjoyable to spend time with the little newborn babies and it excites me that soon I will have my own again.

My goofy children were feeling left out, and wanted to take pictures of their "baby" belly's, too.  It is quite funny how often they both talk about the baby in my belly.  I never experienced that when I was pregnant with Kadence because Landon was still a baby himself!  They say some pretty funny things but  definitely the most said statement from both of them is, "Mommy, my baby is hungry."  They must think that if they tell me the babies in their bellies are hungry, I will let them eat whatever they want.  Hilarious.

The end is in view.

Ryan had his first interview today.  That's right, for a job-with a paycheck!  Our someday is fast approaching and we can not wait.  I am used to my guy in jeans and a t-shirt, but it sure is nice to see him all dressed up.  He cleans up so well!  It didn't seem like that long ago when he was getting all spiffed up for his CRNA school interviews.  It is hard to believe that was over 2 1/2 years ago already!

The interview was in Fargo at the hospital we both worked at when we lived there.  It is now just a waiting game as they told Ryan it would be 2-4 weeks before he heard anything.  His completion of school is still 6 months away, so he definitely has some time for further job searching if he needs it.  I am so proud of him and all of his hard work!

Family Time.

We had a much needed weekend filled with just our little family of 4.  Ryan had worked a 16 hour overnight call shift Thursday night, so we had most of Friday, and all of Saturday and Sunday to spend together.  We were blessed with some beautiful weather and some fun things to do.  We headed to the Zoo on Friday to see the week old baby giraffe that had been born.  The kids were excited to see the black bear in the tree as we had never seen that before.

After we had fed the ducks and koi fish, this peacock thought it deserved a snack as well.  The kids were not afraid to get close to him and feed him.

Here was the cute baby giraffe.  I was a little disappointed that we weren't able to get any closer, but it was neat to see anyhow.  It is funny to think of a baby weighing 155 lbs and standing 5'7''!  We love our little zoo here in Sioux Falls.  It will definitely be missed if we move when Ryan is done with school!

Saturday morning we hit up the farmer's market and Falls Park, then headed back home for lunch and naps.  When the kids woke up, we decided to take them to the Sioux Empire fair.  The weather was perfect as it was not too hot, but warm.  The kids both wanted to go on some rides (or so they thought) so we bought them some tickets and let them ride.  This was the first ride they chose and were both very excited about it...until it started.  Landon loved it, Kadence did not.

As you can see, once it started moving, Kadence was not happy.  She cried the entire time yelling for me.  It was heartbreaking.  Landon was such a good brother talking to her and giving her hugs trying to make her feel better.  I think they stopped the ride a little early in light of her screaming.  I don't think she will be going on another ride anytime soon.

Landon loves rides.  He would have rode them all day if we let him.  So me and Kadence hung out and watched while he enjoyed the rest of their tickets.

He finally got to go on a carousel!  The one he usually rides at the zoo has been down for a few weeks, so he has been quite disappointed.  This one was bigger and went faster though, so he was happy!

Kadence just hanging out, holding her tickets that she wasn't going to use!

Landon on his motorcycle.  He thought he was pretty cool and even cooler when the cute blonde girl jumped on the back with him!

Kadence did venture into the funhouse-holding daddy's hand.

After the rides, we saw all the animals and the kids both had an absolute riot doing that.  Then we enjoyed some healthy (yeah right) fair food.  What a great way to spend the afternoon as a family.

Sunday we just relaxed and ran some errands in the morning and headed downtown for a long walk after lunch.  The weather and weekend could not have been better.  Our summer has been so jam packed with traveling long distances that it was so enjoyable to just spend some time here together.