Random new pics

This was taken with our new camera - trying my hand at photography. :) It's easier when you have a darling person to photograph!

Gracie holding Parker on the day of his blessing. I haven't posted this event yet cause I'm waiting for grampa G's pictures to come in the mail :).
Big Sister and Buddy.
Two peas in a pod - most people think that Parker looks most like Sarah out of all of our kids. She loves this comment since it gives her "bragging rights" with the other girls :).
The closest thing we have to a family picture. This is at Gracie's Girl Scout bridging event - when she became a Jr. Girl Scout.

Buddy Time

Here's Daddy and "the Boy" hanging out in the backyard. The lighting was so good that I couldn't resist. Parker's now 8 weeks old and a sweet, happy baby (except in the car, where's he's very likely to turn purple because he cries so hard.)

Check out this angel face :). We love this boy!!!

First day of church!

Now that Parker is a month old, he decided that he wanted to go to church. He loved seeing the temple for the first time. He wore a polo shirt and the cutest khaki pants - all of the girls fought over who got to hold him in the row. He ended up falling asleep on Lexi - it was darling!

It was a lot of work, between all of the nursing and meeting new people, he came home and slept the day away!

Gracie's 9!

I can't believe this gorgeous big girl has been in our family for 9 whole years! I'm so thankful to be her mother, especially when I see her be an awesome sister to her baby brother and little sissies. She is such a great friend, so happy and well-adjusted at school, she makes breakfast and is very capable to babysit and take care of things at home. She has a strong testimony and loves to teach us in FHE about things she's learned in church and activity days. She's beautiful inside and out and I'm so glad that she's mine!!!

This ice cream cake roll was something grama always used to make me for my birthday growing up. When she was here, Gracie asked if she could make one for her - cookie dough ice cream with caramel and fudge on top - it was delicious!!!

I think Rebecca got more presents than Gracie - a new Hawaii girl outfit and a beautiful bed.
Gracie's big presents from us were feathers in her hair, dinner out at Fats and tickets for her and me to the Taylor Swift concert in a few weeks! I can't wait! She's so sweet that we found a thank you note on our pillow that night thanking us for all of the fun birthday stuff.

Baby, baby!

On July 18th, our baby, Parker James Galovan was born...

We hadn't found out what we were having, so imagine our amazement when the dr. held him up and said, "It's a boy!" We were both shocked but so happy that he was finally here, happy and healthy! The girls came to visit when he was just a few hours old. It was love at first sight!
Here we are going home from the hospital... a day later. We figured I could get more rest being at home in bed than in the noisy maternity ward.
Everyone loves holding sweet Parker boy...
For the first few days, all he did was sleep. He is such a sweet baby, with big blue eyes and a huge dimple in his chin. And we think his hair is getting lighter and lighter - hopefully he'll be a blondie like his daddy.

Parker's favorite person is definitely me - and not just because I feed him. When nobody else can get him to stop crying, I just have to hold him and he's happy.
Playing with his daddy - they've already watched lots of sportscenter and baseball games, gone on walks and swam together in the pool.
Annie is so good with him and wants to help so much. She forgets to be soft sometimes but for the most part is so sweet and loves being a big sister...
After 5 long days of daddy staying home from work to help me and the kids, Grampa and Grama G. were able to come visit. They entertained the girls, held the baby long into the night and took great care of all of us.
All of our babies have loved this position on Grama.
After they left, Grama Laura came to visit for 9 days. She had made this gorgeous quilt for Parker boy. It should be in a magazine - thanks, Grama!
She cooked and cleaned and swam with the girls everyday. We love our gramas and grampas!
Gracie's favorite way to hold "the boy".
One of his first baths - he wasn't sure at first but now he likes them. He really doesn't like getting his diaper changed, though and cries every time.


Two of our favorite friends, Adrienne and Charlene, hosted baby showers for me and Parker. So many people have been so sweet - serving us and helping us and being happy for our new addition.
We feel so blessed to have this sweet boy in our home!!!

Pregancy Thoughts...

As I enter my 200th total week of pregnancy, I'm starting to want to write everything down so that I remember how grateful I am to be done with 200 weeks of pregnancy. I mean, seriously... I used to think a 2 year mission seemed like FOREVER. Now I can say that I've been pregnant twice as long over the course of the last nine years and I'm pretty happy about it. But lest we forget...

Things I'll miss about pregnancy:

definitely feeling the baby move inside

having the girls talk to/hug my belly as if it is the baby

eating

baking whatever I want and not feeling guilty

using it as an excuse not to do anything/everything (my theme song of pregnancy? the Lazy song - if you don't know what this is, listen to it and think of me!)

my humongous full-body pillow that takes up the room of a large person in bed but is so comfortable!

Things I'm grateful to never have to experience again:

morning sickness for 4 months...

being HUGE

2 hour stretches in the middle of the night where I can't sleep

not knowing what we're having!!!

all of the belly-touching and comments wherever I go (especially church)

nonstop contractions

not being able to work out

maternity clothes

... Nuff said...

Disney Cruise

In April, we were fortunate to be able to join the Galovans for an awesome trip - a cruise from LA to the Mexican Riviera. We LOVED every second of our vacation and would recommend it to anyone!

The best part was being able to be with all 18 of us - 8 adults and 10 kids. We ate together, played together, the cousins went to daycare together...

We spent a lot of time in the dining room - where the 5 big kids had their own table and got to order on their own. This resulted in tons of french fries, mac and cheese and mickey ice cream bars...

They loved seeing who could make the silliest mess with their dessert. This face of Sarah's was a nightly occurrence.
There was even one night that was a pirate-themed party where everyone dressed up and we watched fireworks from the deck of the ship. Here's Gracie's best "Aaarrrrghhhhh"
Annie loved swimming in the Mickey pool on deck. She didn't have to wear floaties because it was mostly about a foot deep. There was also a pool that had a huge flat screen TV above it that played Disney movies 24/7 and a water slide. Tons of fun!!!
One of our favorite days was when we left the ship in Puerto Vallarta and went to a beach for a day of sand, ocean, jetskiing and crab hunting. Anyone that knows our family knows that we don't go long without displaying cartwheels. Here are Lexi and Sarah doing cartwheels on the beach - what could be better :)?

Seeing all of the characters, in a ton of their different outfits, was really cool. They also had the BEST shows ever, with moving stages, fireworks, animation and lots of Disney classic music.


We were suprised at how much we loved the food onboard the ship. Ice cream around the clock? check. Yummy steak and seafood options at every meal? check. Lots of fresh fruit and salads? check. LOVED every minute of our amazing dining experiences :).
We were so sad to leave our ship and drive home. It was something the girls will remember forever!