Chocolate Face Masks

I'm behind on posting about this fun girls' night we had with all the girls in my family when everyone was visiting a couple months ago. Cortney had this awesome recipe for CHOCOLATE Face Masks (what could be better?!) and we had a fun time pampering ourselves and laughing!





It was literally good enough to eat!

Combine ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal powder (grind oatmeal in blender)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/8 cup chopped walnuts (blended works best to increase the oil)
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp olive oil if skin is extra dry or walnuts are not used
milk or water as needed for consistency

Family Pictures

My brother Jason and his wife Cortney always bring their nice cameras when they visit and take our family pictures. They set it up on a timer that snapped a picture every 5 seconds. We did manage to get 1 where everyone was looking. The rest were so funny! I'll include a few. I love family pictures. I love family!

30 Weeks

No matter which way I turn there's no escaping the fact that I look big! The question on all of our minds... Can my stomach possibly keep stretching for 10 more weeks? I wonder that myself. I hope so! But in truth I'm thankful to be big because it means I'm pregnant and I'm so thankful for that.




30 weeks is a milestone for me because I had a placental abruption with Porter at 30 weeks and he was delivered by emergency C-section. I've been so grateful in subsequent pregnancies to make it past 30 weeks. We are so thankful for Porter and the little miracle that he is in our family! I am also holding my breath to make it past 32 weeks without kidney stones like I got when I was pregnant with Brenner. I don't want any surgeries before this next C-section! I have a quart jar that I try to fill up 3-4 times a day, so I'm drinking 12-16 cups of water daily to try to prevent that and hopefully it's working.

This sweet baby is such a little mover! I love to feel her moving. On Sunday afternoon after dinner I laid down on the couch and it was so fun because all 4 kids put their hand on my belly and felt her doing her acrobatics. I love how their faces light up and they giggle! We could even watch and see my stomach moving all over. She put on quite a show for us (which she does for me regularly at 3:00 am!) and the kids thought it was so neat. We're all looking forward to meeting this little one and have clothes all washed and folded and waiting in her dresser. Not so very much longer now!

Raking Leaves Under the Harvest Moon

Last night Dave had his night class for 3 hours. The kids and I get lonely without him in the evening and so to make the time go by faster we took tacos to my parent's house to eat out on their lawn. The kids went crazy after we ate and got out shovels and rakes and buckets to rake the little bit of leaves they have in their yard. I was surprised how diligently they were working! They wanted to get a BIG pile of leaves to JUMP in so badly! I was impressed how many they managed to scoop up and then they did have a GREAT time playing in them! Somersaults, flips, dives, and of course an all out LEAF WAR! They all came home itchy from stuffing leaves down each other's shirts. Silly things! They were giggling and laughing and SCREAMING so loud! I'm thankful for my parents and that they put up with us invading their yard and their peaceful evening!

family photos from July 4th

Family Pictures (for blog book)