Some of April

Kendal has had Volleyball the last two Saturday's. She played three games in Murtagh on the 10th (Win, Loss, Win!) and she played another three in Burley on the 17th (Loss, Win, Loss). Her skills are definitely growing in this short month of playing, and she's getting the hang of an overhand serve! 

Kendal's gotten to go to a couple of friends birthday parties the past couple of weeks, she had an after school party for Tayven and a late night out smore's party with Adi. These two have been her friends for many years. Sadly we're loosing Adi this summer when her family moves to Idaho Falls. 

Peter met his reading goal at school and got a kiwi loco coupon as a prize. Casey took him out for ice cream this past weekend to enjoy his reward. 

Alice got sick a couple of weekends ago and it turned into a cold that made its way through the family in varying degrees. Alice and I have it the worst with most of the rough symptoms with the others only getting stuffy / runny noses. 

Alice's interest in preschool varies, but we're working on letter sounds and more with numbers and other concepts. She loves having a playmate twice a week with Jemma. They play all the things, Lego, dress up, barbies, babies, pretend play, princesses, etc. 

Casey has had a couple of track meets. Both not great weather, but such is spring in Idaho. After a little over 2 1/2 years I got released from Young Women's. Kendal was upset I was "ditching her", and I feel sad going, but mostly ready. Not going to lie it's a calling with a large responsibility. I've honestly put my heart into it and am grateful for all that I did and the amazing youth I got to serve with.  

Nana had a horrible fall just over a week ago. She broke her back, cut open her arm, and fractured her feet. I cannot imagine her pain and suffering and my heart aches for her. I hope and pray for answers, help, and blessings to be poured down on her. My thoughts have been swirling on my grandparents. Memories and such. I wanted to write some simple things I feel they taught me. 

Grandma McAllister: She made things personable. From the cards / letters we'd write to each other, to the slippers she made us as kids. She knew how to make us feel special. Sewing - while my skills stem from my Mom; my machine belonged to my Grandma and I know she sparked part of my gift of sewing.

Grandpa McAllister: He had a love of learning. We were always being taught something from his depth of knowledge in many areas. I appreciate gardening because of Grandpa (not because i'm good at it, but the wonder of growing your own joy and the beauty of the earth). 

Grandpa Loosle (Papa): Grandpa was a creator. He would build, tinker, and make wonderful things; to a kid they were magnificent. He liked to gather - to be together as a family, celebrating, eating, laughing, playing, etc.

Grandma Loosle (Nana): I've always been in awe of Nana and the life she created and all that she did. She loves unconditionally and her heart is so wonderful. Hugs - can't beat a hug from Nana. 

I was told in my patriarchal blessing what wonderful examples and influence my parents and grandparents have in my life. I know the base of my faith comes from them. I know my love for family comes from them. I know my different attributes good / bad (thoughtful, stubborn, gratitude, loving, etc.) come from them ; ) It doesn't take a lot to appreciate them and it's easy to love them always. 

Spring break / Easter

The week of March 15th Casey started Track. He's got a good group of students participating this year and hopefully has more sunshine than gloom for his practices / meets this spring. Kendal also started spring volleyball that week. She practices 3 x a week. She's enjoying it, and growing her skills. While she missed the first tournament she's got three more this month to look forward to!

Since we missed out on Arches last spring we decided to go this year for spring break! Sunday afternoon we went out to Raft River. We got to take dinner to and spend time with Casey's parents. Cheryl recently had a knee replacement and we haven't seen them lately so we wanted a visit. We left Monday morning on our way to Moab. It was a long drive; poor Alice threw up from car sickness along the way, but other than that it was fine. The kids watched a show and just did their own things. We stopped off at McDonald's (The other golden arch) along our way. We arrived in the late afternoon, checked into our hotel, and decided to go into Arches for a bit. We spent a couple of hours doing a few of the walks and wandering around the park a bit. We made it to Balanced rock, the Windows, and Double arch. The kids enjoyed climbing the rocks and exploring the area. We had a late dinner that night and called it a night. 

Tuesday we wanted a full day in the park so we made sure we were at the park entrance when it opened. It was overcast and windy so we bundled up. Alice wasn't having it early on so Casey took the older two on a mile walk to see the courthouse towers. Next we went to do the hike at Delicate Arch. It was almost four miles and quite the workout, however it was so worth it for the view! We had to bribe Alice along the way with gummy worms. Casey carried her pretty often and I took a couple of turns carrying her along on the long hike. We got near the end and poor Peter froze on the trail because it had a steep drop off. I tried in vain to get him to move along and quite a few hikers encouraged him as well. Casey ended up coming back and pulled / encouraged him along. He made the last 2 minutes of the hike, but stood rooted to the spot he stopped at next to me while Casey took the girls up close to Delicate Arch. Peter was all about climbing around on all of the rocks and exploring, but he drew the line at cliff edges. Kendal had no fears and literally skipped along the path Peter didn't like. She enjoyed climbing and taking pictures with her camera as well. Alice loved all of the "holes" (aka Arches), and she really loved to play in the red sand all around. We ate lunch and continued walks to Sand dune Arch, Skyline Arch, Landscape Arch, as well as some other viewpoints and short walks. All in all we walked over 9 miles that day. We headed out of the park and had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Then we headed back to the hotel for promised pool time. The pool was outside, and while it was warmer, the wind made it so swimming wasn't that great. Peter didn't mind one bit and spent the whole time in the big pool, Casey, Alice and I kept to the hot tub and chatted up some friendly people from Rupert, and Colorado. Kendal was back and forth between the chilly and heat of the hot tub. The kids went to bed quickly (even though our nights sleep was interrupted at 2 in the morning by arguing people and a fire alarm pulled). 

Since we felt we covered Arches well we decided to head over to Canyonlands on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day with just a bit of wind still around. We did a short hike to Mesa Arch, and then stuck to simple trails and overlooks for a while. Alice was a bit done with the long walks but we played eye spy and shadow tag to help her along. Canyonlands had some beautiful views! We only stayed a couple of hours because we knew we had a lot of driving ahead of us. After that we drove a couple of hours to Price. We had time to do a museum or a park. The kids chose a local park, where we ate and played around to get wiggles out before our last drive to Logan. 

We got to spend the last part of Spring Break in Logan. Grandpa had a cool project for the kids. It may not have turned out like he wanted, but I say it's still great memories creating with Grandpa. We visited Nana on Thursday and just played around at my parents house. Friday Campbell came up with Andy and the kids played around for the day! Saturday morning we took the kids to an Easter Egg hunt at Elkridge park with Anica, David and the boys. Kendal was to old for the egg hunt so she got to help Emmet out. The kids got to ride four wheelers for a bit at the shop. I got to hold and love on Baby Emmet all weekend and it was wonderful! 

We went home Saturday so Casey could be over the broadcast for our sacrament meeting and I could be there for Young Women's. After church I took advantage of the windy day and took the kids over to the school to fly kites. We started off great and all three kids got to fly kites for a bit. . . Then Alice let go of her kite; I had to chase it down and luckily it got caught on the fence so I could get it. Not long after, Kendal and Peter crossed kites and one string broke sending a kite off into a field by the school. Peter ran off to retrieve it while Kendal got distracted and got her kite horribly tangled in a tree. That's when Casey showed up. So he helped me deal with the mess while the kids played on the playground. 

We dyed Easter Eggs last Monday. Alice had been asking for weeks and I finally made her colorful egg dreams come true. 

  

We had a typical week with everyone back to our to do's. Kendal I went to a Stake Youth activity on Wednesday. I'm not going to lie going in and seeing so many gathered in one place was crazy to behold after a year + of Covid restrictions. Kendal got to hear some uplifting messages and had a good night ending in hot chocolate and doughnuts. 

We got to go back to Logan Friday evening to spend the weekend with family. Saturday was full of conference and play time. Aunt Katherine decorated cookies with the kids. In between sessions we went to the shop to ride four wheelers and Granpa's "toys". We got to spend the evening having a hot dog roast at David's house. Sunday was my Mom's birthday and Easter! The Easter bunny did a good job because it took a good bit for the kids to find their treasures. They had some extra help and hints along the way and made out like bandits. The kids each got a paint by sticker book, a book, and an extra (Kendal - sandals, Peter - binoculars, Alice - princess shirts) The kids dyed eggs with Grandma and Aunt Katherine before conference. We had a wonderful lunch outside with the whole family! Katherine put together a hunt for the kids and my Mom gave the kids a cute Eater gift! The kids played the afternoon away together while we listened to conference. We found out Smithfield is getting a Temple!! As well as Burley!! We had birthday cake after the session and then took dinner out to Nana before we headed home. It was a nice beautiful weekend! (Can't believe I didn't get pics of the kids Easter morning, o well.)

 

We're back to our regular grind. Casey has his first Track meet today. Kendal and Peter start end of the year testing this week. Kendal has a volleyball tournament on Saturday and just wishing for sunny days to enjoy.