Photo Fun on Friday!

All right, before I share pictures of how our little family shared the Fourth of July, I will share some new news =) Yesterday was my 24 week appointment and I must confess that I wore lightweight khakis instead of jeans, and flipflops instead of tennis shoes because I knew going in that this would be my heaviest weigh in. The good news is that I have only gained 8lbs during this pregnancy (which is hard to believe if you have seen my belly recently!), the not so great news is that 6 of those pounds were gained during these last four weeks... The doctor thinks I'm doing great still though, and says I hide my pregnancy well. Hide? I really don't know how she thinks this big ole belly is hiding, but maybe it's the fact that this baby is already on the huge side that she thinks the belly could be even bigger? We'll just have to see how well I "hide" it in a few months!
Yesterday I also had to have some bloodwork done. They tested for gestational diabetes, which involves drinking 10 oz of a syrupy drink that tastes like flat Sprite in 5 minutes. I downed it like a college frat boy in less than 2 (had to get it over with, it burned my throat!). Luckily the nurse called today and told me that I passed! I also had to be tested for anemia, and unfortunately the bloodwork revealed me to be slightly anemic. The doctor said this was very common in a lot of pregnant women, and just involves me eating more iron rich foods and taking an iron supplement. Good news is that I should start feeling less tired after taking the supplement for awhile!
Baby is doing well! I can tell he is going to be all boy already! Daddy is playing some war game on the XBox, and like normal when he hears guns, The Punisher is kicking away! I foresee GI Joe action figures in my future!
Okay, some pictures from the 4rth!:
How I start many of my trips these days...with a bathroom break:

Unfortunately the HoneyBuckets haven't been cleaned in a few days...
After our mini hike at Mount Rainier:

Where we saw a beautiful waterfall (after looking at this pic, I'm thinking horizontal stripes are not a very good look for pregnant women):

Gorgeous, sunny day up at the mountain:

After our yummy dinner, Marshall and Rachael introduced us to the hobby of geocaching. Basically, people hide things all over the world, create directions to their treasure on the internet, and you get to go hunt for it. There were a couple just right by our house, so we decided to check it out! Unfortunately we couldn't find the first one, but found the second one pretty easily. It was hidden under a bench a few blocks away from our house:

Geocaches can be anything from boxes filled with treasures to share, or just a tiny capsule with a scroll inside:

This one had a scroll that you were supposed to write your name and date that you found it. This paper was already filled up!

Kind of a cool new hobby! K liked it a lot because he got to search for a treasure!

Putting it back in the same place we found it:

Firework time!

Yes, we are in Washington where the cool fireworks are allowed, but I think the boys had the most fun dancing around with the sparklers.

Too bad they weren't the really cool kind and almost burned our hands!

Like I said before, The Punisher is all boy and went crazy when he heard the fireworks! Kind of exciting to think that next year we will have a 9 month old toddler in the pics with us!

Rachael and I relaxing and watching the fireworks. Boy do I look tired! It had been a long day!

We finished the night with some smores and milk! Perfect way to end the day!