My friend, Erin, knitted that awesome hammock above for me.  She also scored an awesome photo shoot for us from one of her photographer friends.  I really shouldn’t include professional pictures in the same post as my own pictures, but oh well.  Here are some of my favorites:

Audrey and Kate go to a charter school, so they get to wear these cute uniforms.

Simon didn’t want to be left out of the photo ops and really how could I refuse him when he looked so awesome in his high water Lightning McQueen jammies.

This is Audrey and Kate’s first year of going to the same school and it has been so fun listening to them make plans of meeting each other “on the bridge” at recess.

We had so much fun with our own little Amazing Race and Minute to Win it games.

The women-folk got some much needed R&R with some delicious breakfast, pedicures, and shopping.

A few weeks later, we headed to Stanley, Idaho for the Baldwin family reunion.  Each family stayed in our own little cabins.  We spent most of our time outdoors which was kind of tricky with temps in the 30′s at night and 80′s during the day.

This picture was taken right behind our cabin.  We had the most beautiful view.

We spent one day at Red Fish lake and had so much fun playing in the water and canoeing around.

Somehow we talked Audrey into doing a dive off the dock and swimming back to shore.  We told her we would canoe right along beside her in case she was tired. She got her goggles on and got all ready to go.  She dove in and then came up screaming because of the freezing water and jumped right back into the canoe.

She inspire Mason and Uncle Stephen to dive in too.

Jeana’s parents came to town to help take care of kids while we were in the hospital. From what we hear, Simon was respectful of their napping.

One of our family traditions is that the older children bring gifts to the baby, and the older kids receive a gift from the new baby. Jane gave Audrey and Kate some sticker books and she gave Simon a Cars 2 sticker book (well played Jane, Simon loved it). Audrey and Kate made some burp cloths and I think Simon piggy-backed on the gift.

Audrey was really cute when both Kate and Simon were born. Kate was excited to be a big sister when Simon was born. I had no doubts Audrey and Kate would do well with their new sister. Simon, on the other hand, is at that “loose cannon” age where you can’t predict much. Add to that the fact that he’s a boy, and you can start to imagine the trepidation of placing a newborn in his arms.

To my surprise, Simon was so gentle and soft with baby Jane. I think he sensed the sacred nature of his newborn, baby sister. One evidence of his concern for her is found at prayer-times. When he says our family prayer and forgets to ask Heavenly Father to bless baby Jane, he puts on a really sad face and says, “Pray baby Jane!” He insists on saying a follow-up prayer just for baby Jane.

It has been a few days now since Jane was born. A couple people have told us how the transition from 3 children to 4 was difficult. I’m starting to realize some truth to that statement. I wish I could have another week off of work to make it easier!

Welcome to the family sweet baby Jane!

Mid-June, I decided to run a half marathon. The race was scheduled for the end of June. I allowed myself two weeks of training. Brutal may be a bit exaggerated to describe the training, but it wasn’t easy.

The race started 7 miles or so up American Fork canyon. I was on a bus at 4:30am to get up to the starting line, where I sat for an hour. It was dark, and chilly – cold air floating from the reservoir and over the starting line.

I ran well downhill for those 7 miles. My pace was rocking (compared to my normal pace). Jeana and the kids were cheering for me at the mouth of the canyon. The feeling of support in a race is so motivating. Then, they’re gone, and the downhill is now flat. And your leg muscles are used to compensating on the downhill, and fatigue sets in.

Sure, all you marathoners are thinking, “Quit your whining!” Go ahead think that. For all you who don’t run half-marathons, I’ll accept your admiration of my perseverance. I finished the race in an acceptable time. I don’t remember what it was now, something like 1 hour 47 minutes.

My parents spent some time in Utah this summer, baby-sitting our oldest niece (who is now 22 years old). While they were in town, Jeana and the kids joined them at the zoo. They got a good laugh when a fountain sprayed Kate in the face.

We spent the 4th of July at Sundance resort. Our original plan to walk around the grounds and shops turned into a ride up the ski lifts, and then turned into an impromptu hike. How can you resist when it’s so beautiful up there?

While riding up the lift, we could see a fantastic waterfall off in the distance. Later we learned that this is Stewart Falls (and Jeana would hike it 37 weeks pregnant). Of course, we were not prepared with water, food, or even proper hiking footwear, but we decided to hike until we could get a good prospect of the falls.

Audrey and Kate participated in the Provo tri on Saturday.   When I first told them about the triathlon, Kate told me that she wasn’t going to do it.  Audrey was game, but Kate was quite emphatic about her decision.  So, not wanting to force Kate into anything, I only signed Audrey up…. until Kate saw that Audrey was getting a new suit that would work better for all three events.  Then, she said, “I think Audrey’s right.  I’ll be sad if I don’t do it.  So, I guess I’ll do it.”  Luckily, there was still time to sign her up.  Being the nice Mom I am, I told her she could do it and get a new swim suit, but if she whined at all at the race, we would put her old suit on and take the new one back.

Kate did really good not to whine until we put on her swim cap – which she usually loves.  I think she was just getting nervous about things and it was coming out in the form of complaints about the swim cap.  I threatened the whole swim suit thing again and she snapped back into shape.

The temperature outside was mid 60′s.  The temperature of Utah Lake averages 60 degrees this time of year.  I’m pretty sure, it was no where close to that.

Originally, Scott and I were both planning to swim with the girls but once we got there we convinced ourselves that one parent (Scott) would be enough and that way they other one (me) could stay with Simon and take pictures.  Audrey started out great.  Look at her awesome freestyle in those pictures above.

Apparently, Kate was having a hard time getting started in the frigid water, so Scott picked her up and put her on her back.  I had just enough time to take this picture of her screaming before I saw Audrey begin to come back toward Scott and grab onto him because the cold was finally getting to her.  So, I ran back to the stroller, stripped down to my swim suit, ditched Simon, and jumped in the water.  It was a good thing I went out there.  Scott had already run eight miles that morning and was feeling like he’d be lucky to finish the swim, let alone helping two panicking girls.  They both finished with a backstroke – well, more like floating on their backs and kicking, but hey, they finished.

While I helped them dry off and transition to bikes, Scott dried off himself and ran off after them.

The girls came back looking great and full of energy.  Scott, however was spent!  Audrey got back a little before Kate, so I sent her off on the run and then followed along with Kate a few seconds later.

Audrey finished her run a couple of minutes before Kate and was able to cheer for Kate as she crossed the finish line.

I was so proud of both of them.  They worked so hard and did awesome coming in, in the last two spots.

I think Kate may have been the youngest one to do it.  They rocked!

Way to go girls!

On June 4, 2011, our Audrey girl got baptized!  I can’t believe she’s old enough for this.

Before we left for her baptism, we presented her with a few gifts.  We gave her, her own set of scriptures.  I made her a quilt with some words embroidered on it that were in a song she and Kate sang at her baptism.  And Scott gave her this sweet little corsage.

She played the song, “When I am Baptized,” on the piano and she and Kate sang it together.  Here’s a video of them singing it at home.

After the baptism, we headed to the park for a picnic with family and then finished off the day having birthday cake for Grandma Jean’s birthday.

In swim team, Audrey and her cohorts were practicing relays. They were taught that if they enter the water before their teammate touches the wall of the pool, then they are disqualified. Audrey stood in the set position waiting for her teammate. Then, at the right moment, she dove in. Straight down. No, really, straight down. It was hilarious.

Here is Simon diving/reaching for “sticks.” He wasn’t down with the other little boy playing with the boat and insisted that the boat be removed from the water prior to his diving for “sticks.”

In this next clip, Simon amazed me when he slipped off the wall diving for a “stick” (that’s what the teachers called the circular ring toys). Naturally, he “pancaked” (another teacher term which means to flip from stomach to back and vice versa) onto his back. Phew. Satisfaction that the swimming lessons taught him to save himself.

They learned tae kwon do.  In the first picture, they were meditating which Kate has told us is said, “Moy-en” in Korean.  They did such a cute dance showing off all of their martial arts and I must say, that I am quite impressed with Kate’s push ups.

At the end of this portion, their teacher brought a board for each of them to break with their foot and then they were presented with a new belt.  It took Kate a few tries, but she did it in the end.  Their teacher told us they had never done this before so it’s pretty impressive that they were all able to do it.

The costumes for the dancing and singing were so cute.

They did a few more songs once they were dressed in their gowns.  They sang, “I’m proud to be an American,” and someone may have got a little teary eyed in that one.  Scott would have too if he hadn’t been so busy making fun of me and trying to catch the teary-eyedness on camera.  When they got to the line, “And I proudly stand up next to you and defend her still today,” they jumped into this defensive pose that just cracked us up.

Each of the kids got to go up to the mic and tell what they want to be when they grow up.  Kate said she wants to be a mom.  Phew!  I haven’t completely ruined it for her.

Before the whole thing Kate was giving me a run down of how things were going to go.  She said, “After Miss Cynthie gives me a piece of rolled up paper, I’ll stop on the X and in case you don’t know why I’m standing there, that’s your opportunity to take my picture.”  She gave me ample time to get her picture.  I had to give her thumbs up a few times before she realized she could move on.

Congrats my little Grad!