Baby Eric!

Eric Russell Trapnell was born September 4, 2010 at 1:19 a.m.  He weighed 7 lbs 4 oz, and was 20" long.  He has been a very accommodating baby so far... he was kind enough to not only wait for Russ to get back in town, but also to wait until he had seen his last patient in Albuquerque on Friday afternoon, and then he decided it was time to come.  Just in time for Labor Day weekend and for Russ to have extra time off.  What perfect timing!

Sadie LOVES her new baby brother!  He's going to need a little extra protection from her I'm afraid.

The boys are excited too - especially Mason who is convinced Eric is going to be his new little buddy.

All 5 kids!  Sadie is not happy that she's not the one holding the baby at the moment.

Welcome Baby Eric!  We love you already!  (and your little chin dimple:)

A Visit from Uncle James

Uncle James came to Visit in August in between semesters at BYU.  We had so much fun spending time with him!  We had a bonfire one night...

Jen, Doug, Russ, and James took all the kids to Bandelier National Monument one day.  Looks like fun!  Next time I won't be 8 1/2 months pregnant and I'll be able to go too:)

Camping in the Jemez Mountains

Our latest adventure was our campout last weekend. We had a great time! Jen & Doug came along with their kids, and our friends Nate and Eryn were brave enough to join us with their family - including their less than 3 month old baby!

We celebrated Russ' Birthday with lemon-frosted angel food cake (apparently his favorite - how did I not know that all these years?!), and in the morning all the kids gathered around to watch him open presents. I guess Dallin likes angel food cake too because after eating his, he said I am definitely invited to his Birthday party.



The boys always have a great time camping... although they didn't always make it very far from camp to take care of business...
In the morning, most of the group took a beautiful hike down to the river. With the exception of all the rain through the night that made it into Jen and Doug's tent keeping them all wet, cold, and awake... we all had a great time and can't wait to do it again! Although it may be a while after the baby comes (I'm not as brave as Eryn:).

Building a Practice

Russ has been spending lots of his time lately getting things done for his practice he purchased here in Albuquerque a few months ago. Being the thrifty guy he is, he decided to save money by building all of his own work stations for the office (having recently done it for our home computer, it didn't take him nearly as long as I expected). Here he is with the boys working with him on the assembly line.

Notice Mason in his favorite thing to wear all summer long... his red and yellow "pizza man shirt" from Dion's with his lime green and navy basketball shorts:)

El Paso Trip

Shortly after our trip to Utah, we drove down to El Paso with Russ for the week to keep him company while he worked. He has been staying at a crazy house way up on top of the hill with fabulous views into Juarez, Mexico... and a pool where we planned to spend most of our time. Unfortunately, the pool was out of commission while we were there, so the kids and I had a lot of time on our hands during the day while Russ was gone... but we still managed to have a good time. In place of the pool, the kids spent hours playing in the jacuzi tub...


We spent one day at the zoo, and followed all the signs to Juarez to get there...

And we visited some of Russ' family friends, Joe and Sue Gonzalez. I wish we had taken pictures at their house. They were so kind, and we all had such a great time with them! Maybe we'll see them on some of their trips to Albuquerque!

Utah Vacation

We had such a fun trip to Utah in June, and I somehow managed to not take any pictures the entire time! We went for Laurie and Ryan's wedding, which was wonderful! We had a great time with all of Russ' family, and then while Russ was working in Texas I spent some time with my parents in Bountiful. We had such a good time swimming, and going to movies, and just relaxing for the week! You'll just have to imagine it I guess...

Hot summer days!

It's been SO hot this past week, but it's been fun having all the kids around and friends to play that usually are in school. Time for popsicles - every day!

Leaving the kids...

I was so nervous to leave the kids for the weekend. The only thing that made me feel better was knowing they were in very capable hands - thanks Zach and Caitlin!

Do they look like they miss us at all?
Having fun watching movies in amazing forts...
playing at the zoo...
Nope, they didn't miss us too much. I think they were happy to have us home, but they were so sad to see Zach and Caitlin leave!

Cataract Canyon Raft Trip

We took our first vacation without the kids over Memorial Day weekend. It was a much needed break after lots going on with Russ buying a new practice, and school ending... I was really worried about white water rafting and camping being 6 months pregnant - not to mention leaving the kids for a place we couldn't reach them by phone... but it was a really fun trip, and I'm so glad I didn't chicken out:) It was beautiful, and I actually slept pretty well most of the time. It was fun spending time with Russ and his parents, siblings, and some great family friends!

Here we are at the end of our trip, floating back...

Here are all the girls... can you find me? We're really styling, huh. It was worth all the rain gear though because we were soaked a couple of minutes later.
We had some awesome sunsets...
Hmmm... the dinner crew - or most of it.
The boys did most of the cooking, and the food was fantastic! We girls got to relax, talk, read, every night while we waited for our dinner. What a treat!

Campfire

We drove out west into the middle of nowhere with our friends Zach & Caitlin to take the kids off-roading and build a fire for hotdogs and smores. It was tons of fun, and we felt like we were far away from home even though it was pretty close:)

IT'S A BOY!

Well, I've tried making these words in a neat font really big... but I'm on a new computer and it's late and I can't seem to make anything cool work. But, you've got the message anyway!

We're so excited to have another boy in our family! I think we were all kind of expecting another girl this time for some reason... but we are so happy about this new little guy! And don't feel too bad for Sadie - her brothers dote on her a lot more than they pick on her. In fact, they rarely if ever pick on her, so she'll be just fine. Hopefully not too spoiled:)

Hooray! We can't wait for the newest member to arrive, sometime around September 8th. Just in time for Cole and Parker to be settled back in school.

A Few Random Moments...

Not often we have extra time before church to take a couple of pictures, but a couple of weeks ago we managed one!

I LOVE that Cole is reading now! This is what I found the other day when I came out of the bathroom in the morning. Everyone quiet, happily listening to Cole read a story. It's especially nice since all Sadie wants lately is for someone to read to her.

And this is what can be done with half an Oreo.

A little more Arizona...

We had the great fortune of being in a hotel room right next to Russ' parents. We always enjoy spending time with them, and it was fun to hang out there together every now and then in the evenings.

Here are a couple of good shots we got: one of Cole with his "Grandma Peggy," and another with Grandpa Trapnell, who was kind enough to read them all stories before bed.

We were the last of the Trapnell group to head home, so we spent our last afternoon running around Mesa and visiting with one of Russ' best friends growing up. Shocking that after almost 9 years of marriage, this was my first trip ever to Arizona to see where Russ grew up. He and Mitch were next door neighbors and friends from the time they were 2 or 3. It was so fun to see Mitch and Betsy and their 3 cute kids. They were all so fun and nice, and we're glad we live a little closer now so we can see them a little more often. Our kids loved hanging out with their "big kids."

Spring Break #2

Well, we really didn't do anything for our spring break here in Albuquerque... except go to the zoo. So, we celebrated Utah's spring break with most of Russ' family instead. We all met in Scottsdale, AZ, split up into our separate hotels at night, but spent much of every day all together.

The weather was perfectly warm... just right for swimming. We spent a few of the days at Chris & Sheri's resort. It was perhaps less relaxing for Russ and I than some of the others since we forgot the kids life vests, and 3 of the 4 can't swim. Wow! We need to really get going on those lessons! But, the kids loved this little stream in front of our lawn chairs and spent at least half the time splashing around in there. So, Russ and I didn't have to be in the water the entire time:)

The second day we drove down near Tuscon to the desert museum. The kids all had a great time seeing all the desert animals and lots of cacti. One of the favorite parts was all of the birds. These are definitely Russ' kids! Especially Parker and Sadie. Those kids just LOVE watching the birds. Sadie spent some very excited moments playing with a roadrunner through the glass, and they all loved the aviary and hummingbird exhibit. I just wish I had taken more pictures of all of the huge Saguaro cacti all around. It was amazing just to drive down there - I never would have expected to enjoy seeing that so much! I don't think there's really any other place like it!

Here are a couple of shots of Sadie in the aviary and with Russ - in her excitement just after meeting the friendly roadrunner.

Easter Morning

We had a great Easter weekend this year. It was a bit hectic, but I felt like I'd had a lot of opportunities to think about Easter the entire month before... so it seemed meaningful despite the busyness. Conference always makes everything good too! I think I was partly just grateful that I was able to read part of the book of John to the kids in the morning, and they actually seemed reverent and appreciative of it.

After breakfast we continued with Russ' regular family Easter tradition... except with Conference we didn't have church, so we did the egg hunt right after breakfast. All the kids searched the yard for the basket with their name, and then went in search of eggs. They all had a great time... even Sadie although the sun in her eyes makes her look not so happy in this picture:)

After the egg hunt and Conference, we packed up the car and headed over to Arizona to meet most of the Trapnell clan for the week. Only a 6 hour drive... shorter than I had feared!

Is there room for one more?

Funny Tricks...

Aunt Jen is always teaching the kids funny tricks... and they seem to be the funniest when they pick them up as early as age 1. Jen taught Cole to whistle even before his first birthday - it was always surprising to hear the little whistle coming from the carseat when he was a baby.

Here is the most recent trick. Some friends came over and convinced her to do it for the camera (I haven't been able to capture it until now). Aunt Jen taught Sadie to raise her eyebrows. She taught Brooke how to do it a while back and Brooke's version is on Jen's blog. Those cousins are going to have so much fun together when the Chisholms get to Albuquerque!

James is Home!

This was such a great ending to a crazy January, and a great way to start off February. Russ was able to rearrange his schedule and take a little time off so I could fly up to Utah with Sadie and see my little (or not so little) brother James, who just returned home from his mission in Toronto Canada, speaking Portuguese!

Jen, Amanda, and I were all able to be there. It's the first time in a long time we've had our entire immediate family together, and it was such a blessing! We had a great time catching up and eating great food (thanks mom and dad). I'm glad I brought Sadie... James was able to meet his new niece and his newest nephew - Amanda's cute Colby!

I feel so lucky! I only have one brother... what are the chances it would be someone as great as James? He has been such a great example to all of us, and we really appreciate all of his dedication and hard work these past two years. He's bound to have great things ahead! Thanks James - we love you! We missed you a lot! And we're SO glad to have you home!