Anna's First Birthday!

I closed my eyes for two seconds and my tiny baby turned into a one year old. I can hardly even STAND it. 

This was my very first GIRL birthday part to we just HAD to have an entirely PINK party! Here was her invite:

We had a light dinner and then we had an ice cream parlor afterwords. Anna didn't dig into her cake too badly. She just put a little on her finger and would eat it slowly. She was very dainty and proper. Girl style I guess. ;)

We also watched a little slideshow of Anna's first year. I couldn't even watch it because every time I would turn the music on I would just start to BAWL. I fell in love with Lee Marshall's song. Here are a few of the lyrics:
We started to think you’d never come along

But in God’s time and his own way he proved us wrong.
I never knew love like this
You consume my word
You’re daddy’s little angel
But you’re mommy’s little girl

Verse 2
If I ever doubted miracles
One thing is true
I see a walking talking miracle
Every time I look at you
I wouldn’t trade those big blue eyes
For the oceans rarest pearl
You’re daddy’s little angel
But you’re mommy’s little girl

You can enjoy the video here:

SOBBING....every time. 

 Our little ice cream cotton candy handouts!

Later that night we set off some fireworks. It was the perfect way to end a great day of celebration.

Grandma EE, LeeLee, Rock and Grandpa Rock came up for the party. Aunt Kelsey and Kye came as well as did some friends and neighbors. This little girl was spoiled rotten. Before the party she had ZERO baby dolls and now she has 6! I was so busy making the food ready and everything that I didn't take many pictures. I hate that. Oh well, next week she is getting her one year old professional pictures done. Happy Birthday to the little girl that I love MOST in the world. What a special day!

Cha cha changes......

This summer has been SO incredibly stressful so far. We've had some huge things going on and so it has been hard to just sit back and try to enjoy and soak in the summer like we usually do.

We have been playing when we can and now that the summer weather has finally arrived (in full force) we've been enjoying being outside. We've spent a few days up at Rigby Lake with friends.

We went up to Rexburg Rapids last week which was fun. I was a tad nervous about taking all 4 of my kids by myself but I threw a life jacket on Landon and we had a great time. Anna fell asleep in the lazy river with me holding her!

Nate had his huge bike race last night...the Allan Butler Crit. Nate was in charge of promoting this race and it has been a lot of work and worry for him. He is happy it is over now....it was very time consuming to get this up and running! We came down to cheer him on. We brought a friend with us. A man asked me if all these children were mine. I quickly told him "Oh, heavens no....." Then I realized that in a few months I really will have THIS MANY CHILDREN. O my word.

So the first main stress we've been dealing with is the new house. It is taking SO much longer than anticipated to get into the darn thing. We were supposed to close on June 1....now it looks like it will be later in July. I'm so antsy about getting in there that it makes me crazy. We've been living out of boxes for months now. I'm so ready to be settled. Patience. Patience. Patience. I'm trying to learn it but I'm just ready.

Next thing that has been stressing me out has been the big news that Nate and 2 other attorneys are breaking off and starting their own law firm! Huge scary step but one that we are really excited about. His new firm is absolutely beautiful and I am so thrilled for him and for this new challenge. It has been one long road.....undergrad, law school, internships, clerkship, jobs in Boise and in Idaho Falls. FINALLY....he gets to be his OWN BOSS. I'm ecstatic for him. He has worked so hard and this is going to be such an amazing blessing. We've been busy getting everything up and running. We've been doing lots of furniture and art shopping and getting everything ready for Monday morning! WooHoo!!!

I'm changing too. It is funny to me that when people ask me if I'm stressed about having this 5th baby my response lately has been....nope. Not really. This is the one thing in our lives that I have a bit of control over. He's coming whether we're ready for him or not. I'm getting excited. Babies are work....but babies are blessings too. Horrible picture of me yet here it is anyway.

Busy week ahead.....Nate's first day at the new firm, Anna's FIRST birthday ( I can hardly believe it), family coming into town, and the glorious 4th of July. Swim lessons start too. Here we go.........

Swan Valley

Nate and Parker headed over to Boise for the weekend. Nate competed in the State Time Trial and got a nice 2nd place finish! Parker wanted some one on one time with Dad and he was ready to be spoiled rotten by Grandma and Grandpa. 

 I was getting stir crazy on Saturday afternoon and so we jumped in the car and headed up to beautiful Swan Valley. We brought our neighbor Parker with us....our substitute Parker if you will! We got some famous square ice cream cones and threw rocks in the river and did some bird watching. 

It was a perfect little day trip. I needed to just get away (aka RUN away) for awhile from all of the stress we're dealing with right now. We're still not ready to close on our house and we've got some pretty HUGE news coming up this week. I'll share as soon as I can. 2013 is going down as one of the craziest, unexpected, stressful years to date. 

It's a......

Yesterday I had a routine 17 week Dr. appointment. As I was about to leave the Dr. asked me if I wanted to take a quick "peek" to see if this baby was a boy or a girl. I was NOT expecting this at all. I said "SURE!"
and called Nate and told him to HAUL over to the office.

It was kind of nice actually....to not have 3 more weeks to wonder. I had a sneaky suspicion that it was a boy. Nate had said the same thing, All three boys wanted another sister though.

There it was...plain to see. It was definitely a BOY. "Unless that thing right there FALLS OFF in the next three weeks it looks like this baby is a boy!" is what the ultrasound tech said.

As soon as I saw the little guy I was in love with him. As nice as it would have been for Anna to have a sister I am a little relieved that I won't have sisters 16 months apart fighting over clothes, boys, attention.....etc.
I'm so glad I have my Anna though. Grateful that I have my little team-mate because we are SO outnumbered! I'm grateful that Anna and baby brother will have each other. I know they will be the best of friends.

Here he is:
So sweet with his little fists up by his face.

I tried and tried to think of a clever way to tell the boys the news. I was SO worried they would be disappointed to find out it was a boy. Unfortunately I didn't have time to tell them myself because a friend who had already caught wind of the news told Parker at Landon's baseball game. Parker came home from the game and gave be a hug with a huge smile on his face. When I asked him why he was smiling he just said, "I heard about baby." When I asked him what he thought about it he said he was "SOOOO happy!"

We went out to Carino's for dinner to celebrate our news and tell the other boys. They were both just as excited. Obviously this little boy was meant to join the crazy Starnes crew. He had to overcome a lot of obstacles to get here. He must be pretty darn special. I'm excited to meet him. ♥

Now to think of a name. Oh brother....here we go again. ☺

40 Horse Cave Adventure

What a Saturday! We cleaned together, played together and played some more. Tomorrow is Father's Day and I love going out and DOING something together. Making a special memory together....that is how I think a Father should be celebrated. I'm always on the hunt for new things to explore over here. I found a website and lists a bunch of back country type activities and saw 40 horse cave listed as one of them. 

The plan was made. We packed a picnic dinner and went on a little journey down to the city of Firth and then up Wolverine Canyon. We thought we passed it at first and had a hard time finding it. Luckily some scary looking bikers got us pointed in the right direction! 

The hike up to the cave was STEEP, SCARY but short. Nate had to carry Anna very carefully. It was a difficult hike for sure. We made it though. The kids thought it was great. It isn't nearly as deep as Elephants Cave but the views were beautiful.

 Oh these two together......cutest in the world.

 I love this man. I love this incredible father. He is amazing to us. It's hard to believe that he will be a father this year to 5 children. AKA....his gaggle of children. Haha. He is good at it though and I thank my Heavenly Father every day that I have him. I made a great choice all of those years ago. I'd chose him again and again and again.