We are having a...

Girl! Apparently we are good at girls. So just incase you were wondering, we have a girl coming December 17th, but probably later because I dont go into labor. Anyone who sends me early delivery vibes will recieve chocolate desserts made by me. Here is a picture from today, and now I can see the Ginny/Violet resemblance. We will post our trip to Utah soon.

Goat Rocks Fiasco

It started with a bargain. Bri came up with it: Ben finishes reading the Twilight series (he was bogged down in book two) and Bri goes backpacking with Ben in the Goat Rocks. Deal. In case you're wondering why the Goat Rocks, it's where the vampires go hunting in book one. It was also on my list of places to check out. In case you're wondering what the Goat Rocks are, they're a high volcanic ridge just south of White Pass in south central Washington. The next major development came a few weeks later when we found out Bri was pregnant. But the deal had been made. That brings us to last Friday, when we set out from Conrad Meadows into the heart of the wilderness. Here's Bri with the highest point of the Goat rocks in the background. That was our destination.

So Conrad Meadows is apparently the largest sub alpine meadow in Washington. Take that for what it's worth. The first section is actually range land for cattle. After a few miles you get into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. Bri was stoked.It was a hot day. It was 102 when we passed through Yakima. Luckily the altitude, time of day, and shade were on our side. The mosquitoes were not on our side. Despite applying bug spray Ben ended up with 76 bites, mostly on the back of his upper arms, where he missed with the bug spray. Bri escaped with only a handfull. After a long hike with plenty of elevation gain we came to this nice cliff where we camped the night. What a view! Did we mention this was Bri's first backpacking trip ever? Another first for Bri was drinking water straight from a glacier (ok, ok, its technically a permanent snow field). Here's Ben refilling our water supply. Around our campsite we stumbled upon an entire herd of what Ben believes were mule deer. There were about ten that we saw, including big males and babies. They checked us out for a minute then ran off. We were the only people out there. Speaking of animals, Bri proved to be like a mountain goat, only much more attractive. Here she is tackling some snow. That women is four months pregnant!
Let's be honest. This trip was hard on Bri. Her bag was only about 15 pounds, but Ben ended up carrying it about a third of the way, including almost all the uphill parts. Here's what that looked like as we arrived at Surprise Lake on Saturday morning.
Our grand total in mileage was about 15 or 16 miles. It was a great time. Next time we'll do something a little shorter when Bri is a little less pregnant, though.

Violet shows walking skill, still lacks interest

Good headline huh? Yeah, so she started walking on Sunday. I even managed to get seven steps out of her today. The only thing is that she doesn't do it on her own. I have to stand her up and say, "Violet come here," or "Walk Vi!" I know I shouldn't rush her. You just wait, she will walk on her own this weekend while Ben and I are away, and we will miss it. Yes, Ben is trying to kill his pregnant wife by taking her up a mountain overnight. Okay, Okay, no the real story is I told him I would hike the Goat Rocks with him if he finished the Twilight series. He did. So think of me on Friday and Saturday, I'll need some good vibes. I'm sure I'll be fine, unless I meet any VAMPIRES!!! We will post photos when we're back.

Meanwhile heres a Vi Video.

Independence (from hunger) Day

Happy 4th of July! Bri went all out to make this 96 cupcake American flag. Just Bri being Bri. Ginny helped by placing all the candy on the red cupcakes (except the hearts). We went to Ben's Brother's house in unincorporated King County for some barbecue and explosives. Yeah, we had mortars. Here's a sampling of some of the ten cousins present (a relatively small number for a Wilson get together).

We partook of steak; potato, pasta, and jello salad; corn on the cob; etc. followed up by some mean desserts, including Grammy's apple strudel straight from the "old country," but shaped in an American flag. America was honored.

After things got dark we busted out the fireworks. It was a little strange to hear parents encouraging their kids to play with fire ("Come on, fire is cool!"). We had sparklers, fountains, strobes, and some of the big guns. It was a lot of fun.

Growing Up

Virginia started ballet today. Okay actually its called creative movement, she has to be four years old to do ballet. Yesterday we bought her her first pair of ballet slippers. I was so proud of her sitting so still but excited as they brought in pairs of slippers to try on. We also bought tights since we were there. It was the same store where I bought my dance slippers back when I danced for institute choir, which actually wasnt very long ago.

Here she is all dressed up, she is using hand me downs from Liliaan besides the slippers and tights we bought.

Here she is going to class.

Her slippers and a snack are in her back-pack.

Ben fought back a few tears last night when he held her little slippers in his hand. He had to chuck them out of his hands to keep the tears back. :) She did just fine even when I left her, this is her first class, besides nursery at church. Her buddy Riley is in her class, so lucky! Our little angel is getting so grown up.

Graduations and Milestones

This last week was a week of milestones for the Wilson Family. Everyone had a little something; let's go in order of age.

Ben

Ben graduated with his PhD in Electrical Engineering. He's not actually done yet, but you can walk if you plan on graduating summer quarter (July 29th, mark your calenders). PhD's get super cool caps and gowns, that make them look like Vasco da Gama or Henry VIII. They also get hooded by their advisers. Interesting fact: by July 29th Ben will have been in college for ten years, ten months, and one day.

Ben celebrated this fabricated milestone by jogging up Mount Pilchuck with Brandon. This was a home-by-lunch hike that packed a lot of punch.

Bri

Bri was working a little magic of her own. She's been taking one institute class a quarter since she got her bachelor's. Well, she graduated from Institute again. This was the fifth time. She would like to share a thought:

"I started attending institute in fall 2001, and basically didn't stop. I knew I wanted to take a class but then I realized I could park for free all day if I took a morning and afternoon class. This was great considering I commuted from Snoqualmie to UW. The institute program has been a guiding light for me throughout college and now into four and half years of marriage (2.3 kids later). With the many trials I have faced no matter the size, institute was the basis for my spiritual development. I have a stronger testimony of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ, have developed scripture study skills, and I have always had others to ask questions to, to help me along the way. I know that our Savior lives and loves us, I know that the Book of Mormon is true witness of Christ, I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and restored the church in the latter days. These are all testimonies strengthen by my attendance and personal study. I hope that my understanding will be pass on to my children and strengthen my family. Thanks to all who have help me along the way."

Ginny

After nine months of being potty trained Ginny final past that last lingering hurtle. She ditched the bedtime pull-up. That's right, Ginny is now sleeping away in her big girl panties. Both she and her parents are ecstatic.

Violet

Last of all is Violet. Her milestone is that she is now considering maybe trying to walk. This is a change from not wanting to walk at all. In the mean time she's living up her last remaining time as a free-loader.

BNT

Baby number three is now thirteen weeks old. He/she is now a member of the bigger-than-a-peach club!

Meet Wilson #3

So today we had a bit of a scare with Bri's pregnancy, which turned out to be no big deal.

Back up.

Did we mention Bri is pregnant? Yes, we'll be "tossin' another one on the pile" some time in December. So in addition to our relief that everything was fine with the baby, we got some nice ultrasound images of the most mysterious and enigmatic member of the Wilson Family: Baby Number Three (BNT). So it's still too early to tell the gender; Bri is 12 weeks pregnant and you usually can't tell until 16 weeks. However, this baby struck us as having an attitude and visage quite unlike that of BNT's two elder sister, Ginny and Violet. They were both angelic, docile little ladies with round features and easy temperaments. It was immediately apparent that BNT on the other hand was more austere, perhaps even sinister. Look at that pointed nose and haughty brow. And it's not just the angle, here's another picture.

When we saw this Bri and I looked at each other and said "boy". That's because BNT looks a lot like Dad, even at 12 weeks. Will BNT turn out to be a boy? Only time will tell. But now we have plenty of fodder to come up with a nickname. We were thinking Doctor Fetus, but it hasn't stuck yet.

PS Thanks to the lovely ladies from our ward who watched our kids AND the kids we were baby sitting this afternoon so we could straighten this out.