2018 Week 17

This week I really need to post some photos that I recently took of the girls.  Since it takes me a really long time to post the photos, I don't have much time to write.  I did, however, want to record a few things about Kaiton.  He is at such a fun age.  He is impressionable and so, so smart.  A couple of days ago, he randomly told me that he had figured out how to spell "octopus."  It's "O-D-P," he said.  Wow!  I was super impressed by his thought process on that and that he would even think to try to figure that out ("OCT-DO-PUS").

Kait is also super thoughtful about the things he learns at church.  He asks a ton of questions about the resurrection, about Jesus, and about Holy Ghost.  Today at church, he saw the picture of Christ where he is surrounded by angels.  He asked,"who is that?"  I told him it was Jesus and he was very confused.  "Why is he old," he asked.  I tried to explain that Jesus was an adult when he died, but it was very confusing to him.  He will probably be asking about it for the next week.

On another note, Hurley had her gymnastics state meet on Friday.  She was super nervous and grumpy about it before.  But, in the eleventh hour, at her very last practice, she finally got her kips with straight arms, and she was rock solid her entire meet.  She medaled in beam, floor, and took 8th in the all-around.  Even more exciting, she got pr's on bars and vault for the year and an all-time pr in the all-around.  I was most proud of her for being brave.  Seriously, it makes my heart swell to see her out there conquering her fears!

And a few of Zaya:

And a couple more of Hurley:

2018 Week 14

This past week was Spring Break.  We decided to take a break from the freezing Michigan weather and let my parents fly us out to Arizona.  Of course it did snow in Midland the entire time we were gone, so that made the 90 degree Arizona extra great.

We flew in on Saturday night.  We headed to In N Out on the way home and then colored Easter eggs back at my parents house.

On Sunday it was a triple holiday: April Fools, Easter, and General Conference Sunday.  The kids had an awesome time with their cousins.  They did an Easter Egg hunt (they all made a ton of money from it and it had a twist . . . 5 of the eggs had horse poop in them . . . April Fools!), made Perler bead crafts, and constructed some cool rockets.  After conference, we had an April Fools snack (rice crispy chicken nuggets and pound cake fries) and a nice Easter dinner.  It was a really good day with family.

On Monday, I can't remember what we did, but I know it was fun!!For FHE, we took the horses to a big park and grilled hamburgers and hotdogs while we rode horses. My dad even talked me into riding one!  My dad is planning to sell all of his horses this next year, and so it was pretty bittersweet for all of us having all of the kids ride them one last time.

On Tuesday night, Kenzie, Jami and I went to Last Chance.  My mom watched the little kids and the big boys all went to a Diamondbacks game.  Brooklen, Rob, and my Dad had gotten to the ballpark really early to watch warmups and Brooklen got chosen to go out on the field during the game and do a timed race to second base and back.  It was so exciting! He won a 25 dollar Frys gift card (he sold it to Ethan) and got such a great opportunity.  The only qualification was that they told him that he had to take his Tigers hat off (haha).

On Wednesday, we hiked the wind caves.  Kenzie had her three older kids and we brought all of our kids.  It was super hot outside, but all of the kids did great.  Kaiton and Cooley hiked the entire time by themselves.  In the afternoon, the kids swam in the pool and then we went to Backyard Taco and Bahama Bucks for dinner.

On Thursday morning, Rob and I took Brooklen, Kaiton, Jayden, and Parker to TopGolf.  It was so much fun!  Brooklen even beat Rob on the second game!  My mom took the girls to get manicures and pedicures . . . they felt so grown up!  In the afternoon, we went to KTR, and action sport center.  The kids loved tumbling, jumping, climbing, and slack-lining.  At night, we dinner outside and the kids all played.

On Friday, we went with Kenzie's family to see the Greatest Showman at the dollar theater.  At night, we all met up at Mod Pizza to eat and then went out for frozen yogurt after.  We flew out Saturday morning.  What a fun trip!  It's hard for the kids to come back to real life after having so much fun with family all week.  I'm so grateful that my parents were willing to fly us out for Spring Break.