KayDee is 3!

KayDee is three and we are so excited. Time is flying and I am glad to say we are having fun. She had a fun little birthday. I curled her hair and took her picture next to the flowers and in the ladybug shirt (as requested) after breakfast (I was still in pjs). Then she had a friend come over for cake and to play. She requested spaghetti for dinner and Justin, Rachel and Grandma Laub enjoyed that and cake and ice cream with us. She adored all of her gifts. Thanks everyone! She is such a fun 3 year old.

Laub Family Picture

Kevin's family typically gets family pictures when babies are blessed. Baby Jaxon made this possible this time and it is a good thing because there are quite a few new members since the last one 3 years ago. I love how the 2 year olds each wrapped their arms around their mom's necks! Kevin's family is growing!

Ice Cream Beards

Samantha received coupons for free ice cream to Iceberg from her school and she shared with her brother and sister. They each received a very tall, wide cone and started licking but they melted quick. I'm glad I didn't get one because I ended up with my fair share just controlling the drips. I can't imagine how bad it would have been if it had been 100 degrees like our normal June's are.

Party In Vegas

My niece had her birthday at the end of may and they happened to be visiting in Vegas so we went to her party. Maryn turned 2 and had a pink elephant party. The kids played at the park, did a pink elephant pinata, and had cake. I took a picture of the kids pretty quick and then saw all the adults lined up taking pictures so I just couldn't resist getting their picture as well. The kids loved the massive frosting balloons, and there were just enough for each of them from the cake.

Escargo Anyone?

This is one of the disgusting things we have to do when we garden. Kevin noticed there were several snails on one side of the garden, so we grabbed a drink bottle and started collecting. The kids had already been collecting snails during the spring but it was nothing like this. They must have just finished hybernating! We just didn't stop finding them, and they completely filled the bottle as you can see. DISGUSTING! Love the lable "Focus". There had to be over a hundred snails in there! The picture merely proves that we filled a 1 quart bottle completely with snails.
We use the bottles because we were told that snails eggs can still hatch after the snail is killed, so we put them in bottles with a lid and throw them away.

Eagle Rock

We found an amazing new campsite! We have been down most of the dirt roads around our house and we were surprised to find an amazing campsite. There was plenty of soft sand for kids to play in, the camp was surrounded by gorgeous red rock and had many places to explore or hike! The dog loved it too! We cleaned the site up so the next time we go there will be a lot less garbage. I just don't understand people trashing perfectly GREAT campgrounds! As we hiked around we found the rock that looked like an eagle's head and as a family we decided to call the place Eagle Rock.Derrick enjoyed catching things in his net and hauling it around. We had to convince him to discard the trash.Samantha loved hiking all around by herself and with the dog and we could see her from our campground. We had to keep reminding her to not worry about the dog and make sure she kept herself safe when hiking. She did really well.KayDee was okay as long as no bugs were around, otherwise we'd hear about it and have to hold her until she recovered. It is hard to help her recognize that she is bigger than they are and she can just squish them! She loved the soft sand.

Couple Get Away

Kevin and I were able to have a little get away and we were really grateful since it just doesn't happen often. We stayed in a really old hotel and merely had an experience there (next time we'll upgrade). We went to the temple and walked in the Virgin River. We're real party animals! The river was so fun and deep. The current was difficult to walk against and the bottom was always unexpected! I love that we can have so much fun together and do such simple things! It was also nice to go to the temple and not have to rush home to the kids.
As always, we were grateful to get home to the kids at the end of our stay. Kevin's mom and sister did such a great job with babysitting them. We are so happy they could do that for us! Thank you!

Aesop's Fables

The first grade put on the program Aesop's Fables and Samantha had two parts. She did really well and we could understand her. She was a lion in Androcles and the Lion and also part of AEIOU.

Grandma's Wedding

Kevin's grandma got married on Tuesday, April 28 at his aunt's house. I dropped the kids off with a friend and picked Kevin up on his lunch break and we drove over. Kevin changed clothes in the car and we made pretty good time. We enjoyed the wedding and the luncheon and said good bye to get Kevin back to work again, changing clothes again. It worked out perfectly. I am excited to get to know Gary because he is really an interesting guy and he is very open and easy to talk to.
Kevin's grandpa died the same month Samantha was born. We happened to be in Salt Lake and were able to go to the hospital just before he died. The 2002 Winter Olympics were in Salt Lake and Kevin was working as a security guard for it while we lived in my grandparents basement (they were in St. George for the winter). I only knew Kevin's grandpa for about a year and I am happy that his grandma has found someone to spend some time with during the last piece of her life. Congratulations Grandma and Grandpa Gary!

BYU Graduate

I completely surprised my brother by driving up to his BYU graduation. I didn't tell anyone I was coming and I left my kids, thankfully, with Rachel and Sam was with a friend. It was so peaceful to drive all by myself, without having to tell children to wait or be quiet.
When I got there I was wondering if my plan was so brilliant because I couldn't find my family to sit by them. I just sat next to a girl who I chatted with during the long procession. I ran down to take pictures in the "picture area" and waited a long time while they announced the names out of order from the program.

Then Jake finally came, and I saw him hugging people a few feet away from me and so I hurried and said hi to him when he passed me with huge surprise and darted after my sister and dad. I then surprised them when I caught up to them, and continued the surprise when we sat by my mom. I planned to go home that night but they were going to dinner to celebrate and I joined them, Ben and Chari also joined us. I left early the next morning. I am glad I went and my plan was successful!

Easter

We were able to have Easter with my family and Kevin's family this year. Again, we were up for Christine's wedding and we got to be there for Easter. My family did a fun Easter Egg hunt and dinner. My sister LeAnn was there too and we had a fun time together. Our kids were able to find some super fun things to get in trouble together with. They did draw on the Easter eggs with crayon before we dyed them, that's what they are doing in the picture.

The next Tuesday we went to Kevin's parents and had dinner and their Easter Basket hunt around their house. Milt, Roni and their kids were there too and clearly all the kids received sunglasses in their baskets. I received a pair of what I call power socks, which are just socks with a unique pattern. I use them when I need to be brave, like when I go to the doctor, and they can't match what I'm wearing. It works for me... These new socks happen to be white and blue with lady bugs on them, very cute!

New Nephew

We have a new nephew thanks to Suzy and Jason (Kevin's sister), and he is very sweet. He weighed almost exactly the same as Derrick at birth. We visited while we were there for Christine's wedding and my girls loved him. Derrick was more interested in grandpa, and Sam and KayDee adored baby Jaxon.
It was super sweet to have my 7 year old be so big and know just what to do. The 2 year old, of course, had 15 second spans of holding him on and off.
We tried to get a picture of the kids and we successfully got this one with grandma and grandpa. The kids were extra squirmy and KayDee didn't want any part of it. Memories....
Anyways, congratulations to Suzy and Jason on their new family member. It was really fun we were able to visit with them.

Christine's Wedding

Christine and JR were married on April 9 and we went up to visit for the long weekend. We drove up and back with my grandparents and the kids did pretty good. Kevin ended up staying home since he had to work.
Christine was married at a golf course in Spanish Fork and we all drove over in a procession. The kids were running everywhere and family and friends were chatting. The ceremony was only a few minutes but it was very sweet to see how happy they are together! Welcome to the family JR!
My oldest nieces looked gorgeous in the sage green bridesmaid dresses. It was a fun evening.
On Monday we had a Bridal Sisters Lunch and we went to Zupa's. The food was good and we had fun enjoying each other's company. Then we headed out for the four hour drive immediately after to go home.

Grandma Ipson's Funeral

This was such a great funeral. Grandma Ipson was turning 90 this month and the date of the funeral was the date of Grandma and Grandpa Ipson's wedding anniversary. It is very sweet.

It was a great experience for our kids. We stopped and explained to the kids how funerals work and what happens with our bodies and our spirits when we die. Samantha was in tears thinking about it. It was interesting to explain to not be afraid and it is okay to feel sad. It is an experience we have not had yet.

When we said good-bye before they closed the casket, Samantha again was weeping and it was so sweet to see her recognition of death and to see my sweet Samantha is growing up.

I really enjoyed seeing Kevin's family together and to take pictures of his aunts and uncles with his mom. Seeing his great aunts Mary and Viola was really sweet too especially since we don't see them often and they send such great Christmas cards each year.

Listening Ears and Sunglasses

Preschool gives us many reasons to laugh. I found this activity for preschool one day and it turned out pretty fun. The kids just cut out ears and sunglasses and wore them for the day. My kids wore them for the longest period of time by far so I had to take a picture of their pleasure in wearing paper ears and glasses.

Diane's Visit

My sister Diane with her 5 boys came to clean-up and fix the pasture because we are sharing a beef cow. Those boys worked pretty hard shoveling a couple inches of dirt out of the barn rooms that was left over from the 2007 flood. They also used a pitch fork to get the moldy hay out of one of the rooms. Hard work and sweat! When Kevin was home from work we all worked on shoveling out fences and gates and fixing the barb wire on the fences.

We found out one room in the barn is set up for milking cows with a trench leading outsite for poop. It is awesome.

We took a break Friday and went on the Bowl hike. It took us about 3 hours and the kids had lots of fun.

I'll have to take pictures of the good work in the barn.

2nd Annual 29th

Happy Birthday Kevin! So it has started. The annual 29th birthday is being carried on. Kevin only remembers his dad being 29 and I guess our kids will have that same memory. Although I did tell the kids he was 30 this year and they told everyone else that but all the same, he is 29 again. The birthday hat is my favorite because it was Samantha's from school. She insisted on keeping it for her dad's birthday and Kevin willingly wore it. It is stored in a drawer now and we will see if it survives until the next birthday.
We did invite some friends over for dinner and cake. We used our whole grain noodles for the first time for lasagna and they were very filling. It was a fun evening.

Grind Your Own Grain Noodles

So when we moved into our house, the previous owners left a few things behind including a noodle maker. It was still unused in the box and very old. We decided to try it out since we are going strictly whole, grind our own grains now. My blood sugar has given me too many problems so we are starting a new lifestyle... Back to the noodle maker-We decided it would be Kevin's job to make noodles since he loves pasta and I was making everything else!

This was truly an experience. We have no idea how noodle dough is supposed to look and so we followed the directions to near disaster. I don't think there was any way that I could have pushed those spaghetti noodles out with how we made the dough. The kids sure enjoyed it but Kevin definitely got his workout and we decided that we needed to try it again to see if we could make it easier.

In the end we made a small amount of spaghetti noodles and I ended up rolling out the dough to cut lasagna noodles. We do love lasagna so at least we know we can do that easily, however we will see how often we have spaghetti!

Erickson Visit

We visited my family for Logan's (my nephew) baptism and to see LeAnn (my sister) since she flew in to visit too. It turned out to be a great weekend and it was super fun to have our kids see a baptism. Samantha will be 8 next year and it was really a good experience. LeAnn's daughter Maryn went hysterical when Logan went under the water, typical reaction for a 1 year old. After Logan was confirmed his brother asked him "Was it fun?". It was so cute to see all our family together and experience such an important thing. Too bad I forgot my camera for that event.
I also got the chance to talk more to my soon to be brother-in-law. JR is a nice guy but its been hard to talk to him when he's kissing my sister the whole time. Christine happened to come late so it was great to get to know him better without the distraction.

LeAnn made a super chocolately cake for Samantha since her birthday was just a few days before. It was really sweet of her. The kids just ran around and played so I snapped some pictures while I did have my camera.
We ended up staying at my sister's Diane's house and it was so fun to have that adventure for our kids. It opened up the opportunity for me to have my allergies treated by my brother Spencer without kids but with Kevin present. So far the allergy treatment has worked! My wrist was a bit beaten up by the adjustment he gave me but it is doing much better because of it! It is so nice to have talented, trained, compassionate family members when you need them!

Stormy Clouds

We had rain, hail and snow off and on yesterday. On our way back from the bus stop I had to take a picture of the sky. It is just so beautiful.