Happy Birthday Kendal

Kendal turns three today. For weeks she has been reminding us that her birthday was soon approaching. The past few days she's been randomly blurting out how she is so excited for her birthday. Being the little sneak she is she's already seen her stack of wrapped presants and can't wait to open them. She has also insisted for a while now that her cake needs to be a butterfly.
There are many words to describe Kendal at age 3 she is . . .
- Energetic; Sometimes we have no idea where her energy comes from because she can keep going and going.
- Mischevious; Kendal loves to be sneaky. A few examples are, sneaking into the other room to find things i like to keep hidden like stickers, sissors, etc. - going into the bathroom and playing with the soap, q-tips, or cabinet items - changing her clothes after we put her to bed finding her later with diffrent clothes, her minnie ears on, gloves on, or her brothers booties crammed onto her toes.
- Imaganitive; Kendal is gettin so colorful with her play. She can take the most random objects (measuring spoon, pvc pipe, wisk, etc.) and make endless stories and play with them.
- Intellegent; Kendal is quick to pick up on things and is always asking questions. Kendal loves to be read to. She brings us books throughout the day wanting to be read to. She also loves "reading" stories to her animals at night. She takes the book we just read to her and paraphrases it. She knows her letters, their sounds, and is interested in reading (she can sound out simple words like cat, ball, etc.) Kendal can write some of her letters also. She knows numbers and counting to ten (some days twenty). Casey and i are amazed at the things she remembers and knows. I love that she is smart like her Daddy.
- Musical; Kendal loves songs. Her favorite is I am a child of God. We sing to her every night and Kendal has a handfull of songs she has memorized. Lately she likes to make up songs. The other day she sang to my parents about how she went to church  and nursery that day.
- Loving; Kendal has endless love. A hug from her can melt my heart. She loves her brother Peter(sometimes too much ; ) ). She has started calling Casey "My Daddy" every sentance addressed to him goes something like "Thank you for dinner My Daddy!"
- Inquisitive; Kendal likes to ask leading questions. For example we tell her she can't play a computer game, so she'll say "I need to clean then i can play a game?" "no Kendal" "after lunch i can play a game?" No Kendal. or "We go outside to play?" "not now Kendal" "Pete goes to sleep and we can go outside?" No, Kendal i can't leave Pete alone" etc. etc.
- Gamer; Kendal loves to play games. If we'd let her she would be on the Mickey Mouse clubhouse website, or the PBS kids website any time of the day. She also loves games. Her favorite right now is Uno; she also knows how to play trouble, and loves to get our dominoes out.
- Likes to say "i got an idea", "i'm thinking, i'm thinking"

I interviewed Kendal and here are some of her favorites at age three:

Favorite color: Yellow (she said yellow, but most days she'll say purple or pink)
Favorite Toy: Ducky
Favorite Food: Peanut Butter (any time we ask what we should eat peanut butter is her most common reply)
Favorite animal : Buzzy (her bumble bee Papa Webb gave her)
Favorite TV show: cartoons (she loves cat in the hat, dinosaur train, and would love it if we had disney channel with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show)
Favorite Song: I am a child of God
Favorite Holiday: November 15th
Favorite Snack: Gummies
What Kendal wants to be when she grows up: A Butterfly


I will post birthday pictures later : D

Happy Halloween

Kendal decided long ago that she wanted to be a butterfly for Halloween. I tried my best to nudge her towards an easier costume, but she was persistent so i gave in and sewed her up some wings so she could be a butterfly. She has been happily wearing them around for a couple of weeks and loves pretending to be a butterfly. She is also insisting her birthday cake in a couple of weeks needs to be a butterfly. Pete was easier (no opinion). I had a cute pumpkin hat from my sis-in-law but nothing around challis to complete the outfit. So i resorted to his sweater with bear ears - so Pete is a bear for Halloween. We are attending a ward dinner tonight, followed by a trunk or treat. It ought to be a fun night, we'll see how things go since Kendal decided she didn't want a nap today (guess that's the trick on me for the day).

Thought we'd update about the pumpkin. It didn't take very long for our carved pumpkin to become the local hot spot for hungry deer. I'm guessing it will be gone in the next couple of days.

Kendal doing the cake walk at our ward dinner



Happy Halloween!

Visiters and pumpkins

 It's always fun when Grandpa (& Grandma) comes; when Grandpa (& Grandma) comes to play! This past weekend my parents came up for a visit. Having their Grandchildren move away has been hard, and they want to see their Grandkids as often as they can so they planned a visit before the winter weather could put an end to visits for a while. My parents came up on Friday (thankfully they missed the snow storm that hit Friday evening). They brought Kendal up some Halloween sweets and treats. They even spoiled me by bringing up some cache valley cider (so so good; nothing says fall like cider and beautiful trees that change color!) Kendal loves having family around to visit. She was delighted all weekend that Grandma and Grandpa got to visit and stay over with us.  Pete wasn't too sure about Grandpa and Grandma at the beginning of the visit, but once he warmed up the smiles and babbling went on all weekend. We got caught up on happenings, made cookies, played, and my Dad and Casey even got adventurous enough to carve the massive, snowy, and frozen pumpkin.

The deer have taking bites from the pumpkin before we carved it. The hair / top was the part Casey had to cut from the deer bites. Since carving the pumpkin it's hairline is receding and part of an eye is missing thanks to those stupid deer. (I'll have to post a follow up picture with Halloween to see how much these buggers eat)

going on four months

 Pete will be four months this weekend. He went in for his checkup and is currently 12 lb 12 oz, and 25 in. long. He's growing and doing very well. Pete is doing what typical four month old does. He can roll from his tummy to his back. He likes to bring things to his mouth and suck on them. He lifts his head well, and he loves to stand. We have been giving Pete little tastes of things for a couple of weeks (mushed rice / pasta) and thought we would test out rice cereal. We were surprised at how well Pete ate and how much he ate his first time. Pete loves to go on babbling rants lately and gives the sweetest giggles when he wants. Pete isn't always smiles and cooes; he's not the best nap taker (he's got a noisy sister, and loves to be held rather than put down for naps), and Pete sometimes gets fussy when he is nursing. (It takes me back to Kendal's days of sever acid reflux and i'm just hoping he's not getting that himself). Kendal loves him a ton, but has some issues; we're still working with her on things like Pete cannot eat our food, we need to be softer with Pete, or reminding her Pete cannot do some of the things we do.

We've had some great blue sky days lately, unfortunately the cold weather is coming. So we're trying to fit in some outdoor time on the sunny / warmer days. We played at the park this week with a couple of ward boys that are near Kendal's age. She had fun, and thinks any time we go to the park her friends should be there too. I would like to play in our yard more but it's littered with deer scat every few feet. We had 14 deer in our yard at one time this week (guess that really means hunting season is in full swing, and these buggers know they're safe in city limits : / )
Halloween is coming up and Kendal is so excited because she gets to be a butterfly (I sewed her up some wings and she loves wearing them around). Pete was going to be a pumpkin, but with limited stores to help complete the costume he'll be a bear because he has a jacket with bear ears on it. (I'll make sure to post pictures at Halloween : )
Casey is enjoying work, and it's keeping him quite busy. His once easy tech hour keeps getting projects added to it, he's now helping with senior projects, he still has to build his curriculum / lessons weekly, and basketball season starts in two weeks.
The leaves are changing around here it's quite nice. I'm enjoying our fall weather (getting used to using a wood stove every day), and looking forward to the next few months of family visits around the holidays!

Pictures below:
-Kendal giving a sweet smile
-Pete getting used to the high chair (we put him in it at meals, he loves looking at us and getting tastes of food from Dad)
-Pete sporing his USU shirt (Kendal didn't fit into that shirt till she was closer to six months). Casey is very Pro USU here; not just because he went there and likes the school but because every one around here is very big on U of I
-Kendal sleeping with her beloved duck, and Minnie Mouse ears on (when i tried to take the ears off of her she woke up and said "no Mom this is my night cap", pulled the ears back on and went back to sleep).

Thoughts

I guess i don't write much about myself in the blog. This being my family journal, i better include some of my thoughts as of late. I miss the ease of living in a bigger town, but i've adjusted to living here in Challis. I still laugh at the smallness of things, how wicked slow people drive here, how wildlife hangs out in my yard, or how ridiculous i find the grocery store. The ward is friendly, however i haven't really gotten to know too many people yet. Because of the smoke our outings have been limited. Thankfully we are not as bogged down with smoke currently, but the fires are still going so we're not out of smoke season yet. It's been an interesting transition moving here and being at home all day every day with my children. This summer marked the first time in many many years i haven't had a job. I never realized how different it would be to go from being a mom and working part time to being at home full time with my kids. I love being with my children, and they are wonderful; however i'm starting to value the occasional times i am able to get some free time. I have to say that one of my major shortcomings is that my patience can run short sometimes.  I have a loving and supportive husband, family, and Heavenly Father. I'm starting to realize how i need to appreciate the little things and not sweat the small stuff as a mom.
I'm loving conference thus far this weekend. I always look forward to the uplifting and inspired messages. Casey and i were surprised to hear about the age change for missionaries. We went into the discussion of how it would've impacted us years ago, and how it will impact our kids futures. My whole family - Dad, Mom, Brother's, and Sister have been on missions. They have all been a great example to me and i look up to them and their gospel examples. I'm looking forward to watching my children serve missions and hope to serve one with Casey someday.
These past few weeks as the temperature has dropped has brought on our newest adventure of living in Challis. The main heating for our home is a wood burning stove. Up until this week we've only lit it in the mornings, however i can tell fall has finally hit because we have to use it a lot more. (I feel like i'm living in a different era when i haul in wood and try and get the stove going.) Casey has been kind enough to do the fire building; however this week he had to go to Boise for a teacher training for a few days, and those days happened to be our coldest yet. So, i've had to haul, chop, and light the fire each night and get up every few hours to put on new logs (i thought getting up for a newborn was a chore). The stove only keeps part of the house warm; luckily it's the part we spend most of the day in. We have a propane heater, but we can't use it until someone checks it out. (- that along with a few other issues with the house that still need to be delt with by the owner / rental people {sigh} ) For now i've put some plastic on the kids windows and kept us a bit more bundled (especially at night). Hopefully i can get the hang of this fire thing and we can get propane before winter.
Casey is enjoying school. He liked his conference in Boise, but felt some of it didn't apply to what he teaches. The children are doing well, and growing every day. Peter loves finding his hands and sucking / chewing on them. He will only roll when he wants to; and he's starting to sit up more. Kendal is flourishing. As you can tell from the side bar posts about her she has quite the imagination. Her stories are always amusing. She still loves to be read to (she'd sit by me for endless amounts of time with a book if she could), and she starting to become interested in sounding out words with us, and copying letters. I'm so grateful to be their mom.

I love these two little monkeys! Wouldn't trade my life with them for anything.

3 months and a Visit

Peter turned 3 months old on the 21st. We love him so very much, and still can't believe we've been blessed with two sweet kids.
Lately Pete:
- can roll over (from stomach to back; but has to be in the mood to do it)
- is very social. smiles a lot and he responds to voices and faces a lot more
- gives sweet cooes
- has a partial laugh (It's as though he holds in his whole laugh)
- has slept through the night on multiple occasions, but not every night yet.
- likes his sister until she is on top of him or giving him too much love / attention
- has cute chunky legs. He is definitly bigger than Kendal was at this age.
- loves loves loves his bath
- can raise his head and hold it up well
- loves to stand up

- can try my patience one minute , then melts my heart the next (just like his sister)

Kendal thought Pete should give her ducky a piggy back ride-

Along with Pete turning three months old this past weekend my parents and sister came up to Challis for a visit. We did a little count down with Kendal leading up to their visit. She liked it, but would get upset every so often that they couldn't come that day. My parents spoiled us bringing up some garden treats including a massive pumpkin, some treats for Kendal, and some things for our house. (THANK YOU : ) We were all very happy to see each other; it's been an adjustment not being close to family. We got caught up on happenings on friday, and spent some time Saturday doing a few things around the house, visiting, and exploring Challis, and sunday they went to church with us. I felt bad because our air quality was at its worst this past weekend because of the fires, thus limiting our outings. Kendal was over the moon having her "aunt Kafrine" and Grandma and Grandpa around all weekend; and Pete was giving smiles all around.

Loved having family around. Thanks for coming Mom, Dad, and Katherine : )

It's been a month

Today marks one month since we moved to Challis. We're pretty well settled in, and doing good.
Now that Casey is past his busy busy beginning of the school year he is enjoying teaching. He still does a lot, but he finally has some moments to relax and enjoy himself. Casey's classes are going well, i hear good reports on most accounts (minus his talkative eighth graders). He's also been put over the freshman as an academic advisor which seems more like mediator / referee / help out at events person. He's also excited because he just got a new classroom set of Kindle Fire HD's to monkey around with / figure out for his tech hour.
This past Sunday we spoke in our ward. Our topic was Tender Mercies of the Lord. (I always feel that i'm given talks that i'm personally supposed to be inspired by and learn from, and i definitely was.) We were promised a youth speaker to fill some time, but they were a no show. Luckily Casey is a teacher and a champ at stretching things and filling in time. Kendal is definitely the loudest child in our new ward. We can keep her well occupied during sacrament it's just hard to keep her voice level down. Whispering doesn't seem to register with her most days and her voice tends to carry. This week our ward had a picnic in the park. We met more of our ward members and ate some great pie. Our ward is small, but very friendly.
This week was homecoming at Challis High. Casey's week was interesting with odd dress up days every day, and a whole day devoted to decorating class floats then a parade at the end. Casey took Kendal to the parade. It had about eight floats and a couple of small emergency vehicles in it; Kendal didn't care how short it was because it had Candy! We took the kids to the homecoming football game. Kendal quickly found a "friend" to play with and they spent the whole time following each other, holding hands, and mooching food off of each other. We found out the little girl is just a month older than Kendal, and later there was another little girl just a month younger than Kendal. (I just wish these families were in our ward, or live close : / ) Casey said we better go to more events so Kendal can find her friends and play. Kendal didn't watch the game whatsoever, and wandered around the whole time; so we'll see how she does come basketball season when i have her and Pete while Casey is busy coaching.
Pete decided to roll over this week. : ) I've taken video and tired to upload it here and on facebook, but it hasn't worked. Kendal will be three two months from today. She thinks she's ready to be three, because it means she's older and can do more things. We still have the smoke around, however we've seen a couple of blue Sky's this past week. We even tried to fly a kite for FHE; the wind wasn't consistant enough, but Kendal had fun chasing Casey all over the field. We also explored the local fishing pond. Kendal was pretty loud so we had to take her farther away from the people fishing. She also thought that the pond was dirty becasue of all the weeds in it. Thanks to our generous ward we got some free wood so i can start heating the house (it's getting pretty chilly in the mornings). It'll be interesting to have to use a wood stove to heat the house. We'll see how well i manage, and how well i can keep the kids away from it this winter.

Now to the important part; pictures -

Also Happy 4th Birthday to Campbell! We love you loads!