Girls' weekend

Typically we call it "Girl's Week" but it was only a Thursday through Sunday so I'm calling it "Girl's Weekend." It would have been awesome if it could have lasted a whole week. About once a year all the girls on the Muir side of my family get together for some girly fun. I haven't really been able to go to one of these in a several years. It was a super nice break and I'm so glad Josh could take off work to watch the kids while I was gone. We stayed down in St. George and there were about 13 of us girls in all, but unfortunately we never got a group picture while we were there.

Here's a picture of us Ruben girls.

We had the luxury of staying at my cousin Jeremy and Sharla's house. When I say luxury I mean it. It's basically like staying at a 5 star hotel only better because you don't have to share it with a bunch of strangers. I didn't get a good picture of the front of the house because it was hard to fit it all into the view on my camera. Here are some pictures of the backyard though. My kids would have been in heaven with this treehouse.

Here is our lovely hostess, Sharla. Thanks so much for having us Sharla! You're the best!

It was a very relaxing weekend. We had 2 showers. One for my sister, Kim who is due to have a baby boy in July.

How cute is that diaper cake? The ladies in my family know how to throw a party fit for a magazine cover.

Here is my sister Kimmy. I'm so excited we are due so close together! Except that she is moving right after having the baby. That's a bummer.

We also had a shower for my soon-to-be cousin-in-law Lauren. It was so fun getting to know her on this trip and we're all excited to have her in the family.

The rest of the time we just did whatever we wanted. We had a lot of crafts to choose from. Sharla owns the cutest little quilt shop called Quilted Works so we went there to find something crafty to do.

Andrea, Rachel and I started on the cutest bags while we were down there and I also made an infant car seat cover that I'm way excited about. I'll post about those later once I finish them and take pictures. I love Sharla's craft room. I could basically live in there.

My cousin Tracy taught us how to make these adorable baby onesies. I'm planning on making many more of these with all my fabric scraps. They make cute baby gifts. And on the left of this picture are silk flowers my mom taught us how to make. You can make them into a pin or a hair clip. My Aunt Linda also showed us how to make some really cute magnets but I didn't get a picture of mine.

We spent a fair amount of time hanging out in the hot tub which was not too hot so as to accommodate us pregnant girls. And we had fun playing games and watching movies too.

Can you see the hot tub? It's that circle in the back behind the big pool.

Here we are playing spoons. I was so pleased that even with my huge belly I got a spoon every round. I guess Sharla had a bigger disadvantage though. As you can see she's holding her 2-year-old daughter.

They also had a well-stocked snack bar next to the home theater, which was bad news for me. I definitely consumed too much candy on this trip. Too bad those extra pounds don't go to the baby.

This was a much needed break for me and I'm so glad I could squeeze it in before our baby girl comes in May. Thanks girls!

Bubbly

She may be taking this bubble "gun" thing too seriously. Look at that face! This girl has got some kind of vengeance on her mind.

I love that every once in a while it's warm enough to send the kids out these days. We're going a little stir crazy. We're all big fans of bubbles around here. It's rare that we actually have bubbles, though, because every time we get a bottle out somebody manages to spill the whole thing. Tanner and Natalie had a fun afternoon a couple weeks ago with their bubbles toys. Sydney was at school or playing at a friend's house or something so it was just the 2 of them.

I don't know what Tanner's looking at here. Probably bubbles! Isn't he a cutie?

They've been playing really well together lately. But, sometimes they have these fights that I think are pretty funny. The other day it went something like this.
Tanner (talking to me): Nanny's a eepah.
Natalie (clearly offended): A eepah? No I not a eepah!
Tanner (no emotion): Eepah.
Natalie: No eepah!
Tanner: Yes.
Natalie (outraged): NO!!
Whatever an eepah is, Natalie does not want to be one. Tanner speaks his own special language most of the time. But he has made an effort to learn the phrases that are most important to him. Most of them involve requesting food.