My kids are the best!

Casey had two home meets the last two weeks. We went to the second one. The kids hung out with Brook and Meadow watching their older sister jump and doing cartwheels. Peter went between them and Casey who was timing on the finish line. When I let Alice down she was everywhere doing her own thing. Districts are tomorrow then Casey's done for the season!

The 18th was early release for Kendal and no school for Peter. Peter got to have his friend Sam over in the morning. They spent almost the whole time playing Legos. (Something his sister isn't as obsessed with so it was great having someone over who loves them as much as he does.) That afternoon Brook and Meadow Virnig came home with Kendal. They played mostly outside enjoying the sunshine. Alice joined them for a bit eating dirt and finding rocks.

Saturday (the 21st) was Brook and Meadow's birthday. They wanted a day with Kendal so their mom surprised them by having Kendal join them for the whole day. They met up at a Rock climbing gym that morning. Casey and Peter joined the fun and they all got to climb. Both kids did great! Kendal reached the top countless times and did really well. Peter kept getting higher and outdid his best a few times. He liked the smaller wall that lead to a slide and did that the most. Casey got in a few climbs and enjoyed himself too!
At noon Casey took Peter for lunch and more Daddy time. Peter wanted McDonald's (aka happy meal and play place). After lunch Peter chose to go to the First Federal Park to play for awhile. Peter played on the zip line swing the most. They made a pit stop for snacks at WinCo and saw Grandma and Grandpa D at Home Depot before coming home.
Kendal got to climb a bit longer than they went out to lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe. She got to go back to Brook and Meadow's farm. (She's been wishing and waiting for a visit to their farm, and was elated to go!) She fed a baby goat, shot a bb gun with the girls and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with her best buddies! She loves these girls and thinks the world of them. They are so kind, friendly, and all around good girls. (They even spent their own birthday money buying her a fingerling (little electronic / interactive monkey.) She's adored it and even more she adores her wonderful friends!

  

  

Since the climbing passes were good for the whole day we had an early dinner and went back for a fun family night. The kids and Casey climbed some more and showed me their sweet skills. Alice toddled all around and was happy to explore. 

Peter had his kindergarten program this past week. He did a wonderful job in all of his songs! Grandma and Grandpa D, Vanessa and her little ones came to watch also. I was proud of Peter for being courageous and performing. We got doughnuts and enjoyed them after school to celebrate! The other picture is  of flowers he took for secretaries day at school. He had a good week of not begging to stay home! Distractions, positivity, and some mindful exercises are helping. Not everyday is perfect, but we're trying. 

 




Kendal was awarded Student of the month for Responsibility this past Friday!  I had to hold in the secret all week; she spotted me quickly at her assembly so I thought I'd ruined the surprise, but she'd been told that morning so she was hoping I'd be there. I was honestly tearful for a minute. Kendal gets the least at home lately. Little brother is requiring more help / effort, and baby sister is always vying for mom's attention. Kendal is our easy child and often overlooked. So I was so happy to see her recognized. Kendal received a certificate for ice cream with her award so we took the kids to get cones after dinner. Peter dubbed himself the burger king at the restaurant and on the way home they became knights!

 

Alice had her 15 month Check up  last week. She is 31 in. tall (about 60th%) and 21 lbs (about 50th %). She's only gained a few ounces since January. I  personally think she gained then lost a few pounds. I blame teething, getting picky with foods, and turning into a full on busy body. I have a running text to my parents with Alice's accessory for the day and mission for the day. Examples below (Accessory of the day: my purse, mission: to climb everything- - Accessory of the day: brothers backpack, mission of the day: to be a busy body - - Accessory of the day, a bruise from climbing, mission: to eat all her noodles) If you look back on previous posts you'll see her accessory of the day in most photos. We are loving her silly, girly, energetic personality. She spent the last hour of church  toddling around the chapel in our fifth Sunday meeting greeting, taking marshmallows, crawling under benches, and eating someone's pen.
  
 
Some pretty proud moments these past few weeks. Even on the longer days of parenthood it doesn't take much reflection (or reminders from Casey ; ) that we're blessed with some amazing kids! Love these three so much! You too Casey. 💙

The swing of life.

After spring break we got back into the swing of life.

Small update on everyone:

Casey's had a couple of away track meets. His team won both overall. (He says it's not hard because there are so many of them.) Casey has a rough group of kids to teach this year. Their antics and behavior are just disheartening, upsetting, and overwhelming. I hope these kids can wake up and do better. Seven more weeks of school hon ; ).

I'm momin, raising, nurturing, trying, failing, trying again, cook, clean, repeat. I try to serve, care, and be a good example. I'm not great at this, but I'm trying. I'm trying to learn how to better help my kids and just keep doing my thing. 

Kendal is doing well. She's looking forward to her twin friends (Brook and Meadow) coming to play this week and their birthday party on Saturday. She still is crushing her reading goals, got great marks on her report card, and is doing great at school. Kendal enjoys achievement days and is working on a "secret" mothers day project she's excited about. She's looking forward to swim lessons next month, a piano recital next month, and track in June!

Peter has had some anxieties surface this past month. He tries to get out of going to school almost every day and has been down quite a bit. We're trying to peg the problem, but it seems like anxiety is just something he's dealing with right now. We're doing our best to learn about, and help him. He needs positivity and love. Easier to give some days than others (especially when his stubborn, angry side is happening). He's amazingly creative, funny, and smart. I hope we can help him work through his worries and come out stronger. 

Alice  is becoming quite the busy body. Wants to be where you are and get into everything, chit chatting her way through the day. She's getting a cute cheesy personality. She can ham it up and make us laugh daily! She still loves to accessorize. I often send my parents pictures oh her accessory and "mission" for the day. It's always different, amusing, occasionally naughty, but mainly funny. Alice is working on two more top teeth right now and working through a cold her cousin gave her. 

I didn't get an Easter picture. So this is my week after Easter picture of the kids. 

A couple of Saturday's ago we took the kids swimming. They didn't get to swim on spring break and they've got lessons coming up so we thought we'd go for fun / refresher. Kendal and Peter warmed up and were doing well. Alice was enjoying herself and loved pool time. A sweet lady commented on how cute and active Alice is. Yep!

 

 Just a couple of Alice's accessory pictures. She also "cheeses" now for me and I love it!

 

 Kendal chose to sew a couple of pencil bags for her friends birthday. She also sewed one for Alice and herself. Peter even had a go at sewing and made his own bag with me. Both did great!

 

We spent the day in Raft River yesterday helping clean up around the house and get a few projects done to help Casey's parents. All the older cousins were there and the kids had a great afternoon paying around.
Both Casey's and my Dad have had health issues these past couple of weeks. We hope they can get the help they need, and get  feeling better. We hope and pray you both get better Dad and Kenny!
As I added a title before I was ready to load this on my blog I couldn't help think about a swing. Life is like a swing. If you're not moving you're not getting anywhere. If you're moving you're either going forwards or back. So while some things are on a back swing in life right now I sure appreciate the moments I'm going forward and life is on the upswing. Positivity, gratitude, hope, I need it everyday.

Easter Weekend

We pulled into Casey's parents around 11:30. We were grateful for beds, and warmth. Saturday we got to listen to conference and just relax. The rest of the clan rolled in later in the afternoon. The kids happily played with cousins, we had some dinner and then the kids got to go on an Easter hunt. Grandma went all out and the kids were spoiled. Casey has fond memories of his Grandma Webb's Easter parties, and his mom is continuing the tradition. We stayed over into Easter Sunday. We had another day of wonderful conference upliftment and had a yummy dinner with Casey's parents. 

The kids opened Easter from my parents as well. Kendal and Peter got Legos, Alice and I got awesome board books! We went home that evening to find a new kitchen floor (yay for a flat, no holes, clean floor!!!) Everything in the kitchen was covered in work dust (boo) and we had to unload our weeks worth of stuff (hiss), at last though we retired to our own beloved beds : ).

Alice's first pig tails ^ : ) and her new bunny from Grandma!

Spring break part 2 (Grand Canyon)

We made our way to the Grand Canyon Wednesday afternoon. We set up camp, ate dinner, and since it was cold turned in for the night. (Our nights were below freezing and I ended up with Alice on me. Not much sleep.) Thursday we got to head out and enjoy the Grand canyon. It was warm and sunny so we enjoyed our time out. The kids got to do some Junior Ranger booklets and earned a badge! Alice was in heaven collecting rocks our whole trip (especially here) she'd walk along collecting, tasting, and loving the rocks. Thomas would stop every so often and refuse to move or just whine on the path. By the end of the afternoon the kids were pestering each other, but overall on the trip they got along. We had dinner and short drive that night to warm up and waste time before bed. We headed out Friday for our 11hr drive to Idaho. It was a long trip (over 1,900 miles on the speedometer), and not enough sleep, but we had some good times and memories with family! 

On our way home we stopped by a Lego store for a reward for the kids! They were troopers the whole week and deserved a reward for behavior and helping out.

Spring break part one (Arizona)

We headed out late Sunday after the baby blessing / lunch. Unfortunately we had 7 plus hours ahead of us and snow in our path. As we made our way south we kept hoping for a break in the weather, however it just kept getting worse. For over an hour Casey was driving around 45 mph and white knuckling it between Fillmore and Cedar City. It finally broke just before St. George and the temperature kept rising as we headed to Vegas. The kids were troopers all along the way (just a bit cranky around dinner time). We pulled into our hotel around 12:30. It took a bit for the kids (especially Alice) to go down so sleep was minimal, but we made it!

Vegas was our meeting point with Brett and Vanessa. We all left that morning on our spring break adventure! Our first stop was the Hoover Dam. We walked along the bridge and got some energy out with the kids.

We hit up an old mining town (Chloride) around lunch time. More wiggle time opportunities for the kids. While the wind was bitter and the sites a bit wah wah, the kids didn't mind. We found a playground and a falling down jail to keep kids entertained.

 

Next we made our way towards Phoenix, spotted countless cacti and lots of desert. We had dinner at Cody and Mia's home.  After dinner we went on a walk around their complex the kids dipped their feet ( some more than that) into the pool and we chatted together. We stayed over at their apartment while Brett and Vanessa stayed at a friend's in Phoenix.
Tuesday we went out to Saguaro Lake. We had lunch and hiked around the Lake. Vanessa,  James, and Thomas made it part way. Mia, Max, Kendal, Becca, and I made it a bit further then turned back. Peter and David headed up the adventure with their dad's and Alice tracking them, they made it the furthest but not quite the end. Poor David met up with a cactus on his way back.

  After our hike we went to a Train park. The kids loved the play ground. There were some full size train cars to see and there was a neat building full of model trains and lands. (Papa would've been in heaven!) Peter was captivated and even got to go into a side room with one of the "engineers / model builders". After the museum the kids got to ride a little train around the park and a carousel. Alice enjoyed the train ride, but didn't like going up and down on the horse.

Mia, Cody, and Max joined us all at Organ Stop Pizza for dinner. It was so cool!! We walked into a packed room, got the kids sat down and the organist played Star Wars; the kids went nuts. The experience was great and exceeded all expectations!! He even played Bohemian Rapsidy that Casey requested. We went back to Cody and Mia's for ice cream. We spent Wednesday morning there as well before we headed out. There wasn't enough time with them, but I'm so glad we got to see them!