Baptism Weekend

Last weekend was a busy one!  It started out with a quick trip to get Kaylee's blood drawn Friday afternoon.  Her hair has been falling out in clumps and I was worried it was connected to her thyroid levels.  She has her 7 yr checkup coming up this next week but I didn't want to wait that long.  So after a call to the Dr's office we were able to get an order for her bloodwork.  She was not happy one bit about getting it done.  In the past she has been so brave and it is no big deal, but for some reason she freaked out and it was not a pretty sight seeing her have a come apart while they took her blood.  I hope we can figure out a better way to do this next time, which will be at least once a year, the rest of her life.  I took a quick picture of her before they started.  You can see it on her face that she is not happy one bit.  After school and after Nick got home from work we headed to Holden.  Our niece, Savanah got baptized on Saturday.  We actually went to Delta first and did some roller skating before heading to Holden for the night.  

 We got up early on Saturday and got everyone ready.  I love when the kids are all dressed up and looking their best.  They are so cute!!!  It was a great baptism.  Nick said the opening prayer and I played the piano.  Ted baptized her and Ryan confirmed her.  It was a good day.  We had a yummy lunch and then did some playing before heading home that evening.

Sunday, we got up early to make it to church at 9.  Nick was asked by Jan (My 1st Counselor) to help with her sharing time.  She was talking about how Jesus is the Son of God.  It was fun to see them together.  I had ward council and then Priesthood Preview so it was almost 5:30 when I finally got home.  I had invited the Garaycocheas and a guy named Gabriel Rodriguez from our ward to dinner.  Bro. Rodriguez is a primary teacher and his wife and daughter are currently living in AZ while she gets treatment for Graves Disease.  He is working and going to school full time, so he is staying here while they are away with family.  Since he is alone, we thought it would be fun for him to have dinner with us.  It was a great dinner and then we played games afterwards.  It was a blast!  

 We even had Uncle Ryan show up and stay the night so he could catch an early flight back to CA.  He had come in for the baptism.  It was quite a full house that night!

Thank You Card

The rest of our week was our normal busy life.  I had a PTA meeting Wed afternoon and it reminded me why I normally find a friend to watch my two youngest.  They are a little crazy to take to meetings like that.  Carson had a basketball game Wednesday after piano lessons and we all enjoyed watching him play.  They won by 2 points.  It was quite the game!  I can already see improvement with him.  Thursday Alivia had choir, Kaylee had tumbling, and Carson had pack meeting.  Carson went with a friend since Nick and I had our first class of a six week Love and Logic Parenting course we have signed up for through the school district.  We are always trying to find ways to be a better parent and we had heard really good things about this class.  It will be fun to have a mid week "date night" every week.  Leah, one of my piano students, is set to watch our kids every week while we go.  Here are pictures of our week.  I took my van through the car wash after I dropped Livy off at preschool one morning.  He likes the carwash!  He was pulling the funniest faces!

 We had also received a very nice letter in the mail from the people who bought our Marsh Circle house.  It said "We just wanted to say thank you!  We are loving our first/new home!  Even though we never met, you guys made this process so easy and were great to work with!  We appreciate everything you guys did!  We are truly blessed!  Thanks again!".  I was so surprised to get this and so humbled by it.  We worked so hard to make that house nice and it is good to know the people living there now are so happy with it.  I also know they are active in the church and I think the neighbors are going to love having them live there too!  It really made my day!

 Preston was a little stink on Thursday.  He can be such a pain and just whine and be bossy and even get mean and hit.  So I told him to go to his room and when I checked on him, this is how I found him.  He will put himself down for a nap every once in awhile like this.  It is cute!  But I hate how he has to be so feisty before hand.

Kaylee has really enjoyed tumbling, but after this next week, she is going to take some time off and we are just going to enjoy piano and being able to play with friends after school!

So another busy week down, and we haven't even gotten into our weekend!  That is next!

Tubing at Soldier Hollow

The kids had Monday off for the holiday and they also had Tuesday off for a teacher prep day, so we decided to plan something really fun!  I got a groupon for a session of tubing at Soldier Hollow in Minday.  Nick worked a half a day and got off early so he could also come with us.  We left the two little kids with our neighbor Dave and the rest of us headed there for the 2 PM session.  We had never been and so we didn't know what to expect, but it didn't take us long to figure it all out and really enjoy it!  The weather couldn't have been better.  It was sunny, and even a little warm for January weather, and not breezy at all.  It was gorgeous.  We didn't stop once we started going up the tow rope.  We got in as many runs as we could in the two hour window we had.  We took turns going down alone, in doubles, and as a group.  We had a blast!  Here are some pictures from our afternoon!

We can't wait to go back again and take Alivia with us next time!  It was definitely a great way to spend a day off from school!

It's Happening!!!

Over 10 years ago we built our home and have loved it every day!!!  But the time has come for us to move on.  We have been wanting a little bigger house for that past couple years but haven't found anything to buy that is worth moving, until now.  We found the perfect house plan and lot in Pleasant View.  But first we had to sell our house.  So last Thursday (the 15th) we put our house on the market.  We did a for sell by owner ad on KSL and put out a sign in the front yard.  We had 1 to 2 showings every day until Tuesday when we accepted an offer.  The best part is that it was from our friends, Nick and Erin Nelson, who are living up the street in a rental.  They wanted to buy that home but the landlord said she wasn't going to sell it.  So it worked out well since now they can buy our house!  They are even going to let us rent it back from them until our house will be finished.  So it will be good to be able to finish out the school year and only move once!  So fingers crossed everything goes to plan!

Last Saturday we took the kids up to see the lot and walk through a model home that is just like the house we will be building.  They were so excited about it and loved it so much.  It makes us so exited that the kids are so happy about it.  The lot is on Alder Creek Dr in Pleasant View, which is just up from Weber High School.  We can't wait!!!

While we were there we saw a bunch of deer.  It is far enough up the mountains that I think we will see them often.  Can you tell what an amazing view we are going to have?  I am so happy about it!  That evening we took the kids to the Pizzeria in North Ogden.  It was yummy!  The kids gave it 2 thumbs up!  It was a fun day!

Some Classic Fun!

We had a fun long weekend.  It was Human Rights Day on Monday, so we had the day off from school and work.  I taught a few piano lessons in the morning, we did some cleaning and then headed to Classic Fun Center for some fun.  We really enjoy that place.  We all got to skate, ride scooters, bounce, and just have a blast.  We enjoyed some pizza for dinner and then finally headed home.  Here are a few pictures from our fun, including a picture from Sunday when Preston fell asleep while I was holding him.  That doesn't happen often!

Cheerleader, Crazy Hair and Bball!

I got the kids off to school on Monday and after I dropped them off I took the two babies with me to get my blood drawn at the Bountiful Clinic.  I have been taking Acutane for my acne.  I have always had pimples here and there, but in the past year it has gotten so bad.  We tried an antibiotic during the summer and it cleared up while I was on it, but returned when I stopped taking it.  So my dermatologist recommended Acutane.  It is a miracle drug for acne, but it is quite the process to get on it and get a refill every month.  It is highly deadly for unborn babies, so you can NOT get or be pregnant while on this drug.  I had to do the bloodwork for my doctor to have them check different things, like my cholesterol and other levels.  I had to fast so I did it first thing on Monday so I could eat as soon as possible.  The kids did so good and behaved amazingly.  The lady who helped me said they were so good and if they are always like that and I replied "No, so we better hurry because I don't know how long this will last!"  We laughed!  I got home and got some breakfast and then got in my workout.  Alivia was so cute and got the pom poms and cheered me on the last little bit of my work out, which was insanity, so I was happy to get the encouragement.  

Preston has needed a hair cut for a while now, and I finally gave him one Thursday along with Carson and Nick.  It was cute long but just all over the place.  I cut it a little short, but it will grow fast I am sure.  Kaylee has been talking for awhile about planning her birthday party and I found this note on the counter the other day.  Not sure when she wrote it, but I think it is trying to explain to her friends that she has changed her mind on where to do her party (still not sure where or IF we are doing one).  I like that she said it was "Akward".

 Since I did my blood work on Monday, it was followed by a doctor appt on Wed with the dermatologist.  I planned it so I could do it after I dropped the kids off at school and Livy at Preschool.  So I only had Preston.  He did ok and was such a ham when I told him to smile.

 So Preston isn't the only one that gets crazy hair in our family.  This was livy Thursday morning.  She always has the craziest bed head!  I love it!

Carson had another game Wednesday evening, but it didn't start until 7:45 so Nick stayed home with the youngest 3 while I went to the game with Carson.  I could already see improvement since the last game.  He didn't get a lot of time with the ball, but made an assist and did some great defense.  He has so much fun playing and that is what I am happy about!  (Carson is #10 in the blue shorts)

MTC Activity

Saturday we had the funnest MTC Activity for Primary.  As a presidency, we had wanted to do a fun activity for the kids that would help them learn to be missionaries.  So we came up with this activity.  We gave each child a 'Mission Call'.  They were called to 6 different countries which helped us divide the kids into 6 groups.  China, Sweden, France, Italy, South Africa, and Guatemala.  We had them report to the MTC at the church on Saturday morning at 10 AM.  Each group started in one of the classes and then we rotated all the way through each class.   There was a food class where the kids sampled food from each country.  Swedish Meatballs, Fortune Cookie, French Bread, Pizel cookie, cinnamon oranges, and rice & beans.  This was a favorite of the kids.  They loved the meatballs!  After the food, they went to a class about Testimonies.  Brother Moosman taught the kids about what a testimony is and then had a short testimony meeting where some of the kids shared their own testimony.  Kaylee shared hers.  They also did role playing on the stage with the full time missionaries and ward mission leaders.  The kids had a riot with that.  Then they came to my class where I talked about each country and all about serving a mission there.  They had a chance to write letters to missionaries serving in our ward and then there was a music class where they learned some primary songs in other languages and learned how to lead music.  We finished as a group in the Chapel with some closing remarks from Brother Moosman.  The best part was when they all stood and sang "Called to Serve" as the closing song.  It was awesome!  We had 78 kids come, which was amazing!!  We have just over 90 primary kids, so we were super pleased with how many attended and how smoothly it went.  The teachers and my presidency did so much to pull this off and I am so grateful for them and all their hardwork.  I also know so many things fell into place with some help from Heavenly Father.  I know he made so many things possible.  It was just wonderful.  I had my good friend Jana take pictures of the activity.  We have tons but here are just of few that had my kids in them.    

I was so happy having the activity over.  We headed up north to Ogden to run errands and visit Matt & Nat's new place they are renting while they build.  Then we took their girls home with us and babysat them while they went out to dinner.  Carson stayed with Luke for the day and went to Bball practice while we were gone.  Today, we got up super early to make it to church on time and we did make it, but it was a little stressful.  I like 9:00 church much better than 1:00, but getting up early and out the door is hard!  Church went great!  For sharing time, we had 6 kids from Jr. and 6 kids from Sr. 'report' their mission from the activity yesterday.  They did such a great job and it was fun hearing what their favorite part was and what they learned.  After church I had a meeting at 12:30, ward council at 1:30, scout committee meeting at 3:30 and then we did a baptism preview at 4:30.  I got home by 5:30 and walked in just in time for a hot pot roast dinner that nick had made.  It was wonderful!  It was a long day, but it was good.  The baptism preview went very well and all but 2 kids (out of 15) were there with their parents.  I just can't believe how wonderful our ward is and the amazing kids and parents we have.  We feel so blessed to be in such a great ward!