Easter Time in Sunny St. George

For Easter, Mark and I decided that we would make a quick trip down to St. George over the Easter break. We thought it would be nice to get out of Cold Northern Utah and thaw out a little in St. George for a couple of days. Also, my little sister Kamberee had her baby and I wanted to go down to see her and hold my little nephew.

We left Early Friday morning and headed down to Santa Clara, where Mark's parents live and spent some time with them for a few hours in the afternoon and evening. Bob and Laurie had some fun things planned for the kids- an Easter Egg Hunt, Coloring Eggs and a nice dinner.

Kaleb and Karmindy with Grandpa and Grandma Frisbey.

The kids looking for Eggs with Grandpa!

Kaleb and all the Eggs that he dyed.

Karmindy and her Tinkerbelle Egg!

After spending time with Mark's Parents, we headed  to our hotel room to unwind and watch movies as a family. We brought the kids tent and set it up in our room. Kaleb and Karmindy enjoyed "camping out."

 On Saturday Morning, we got up and got ready and headed to Hurricane. Several weeks before Easter, my brothers and sisters decided to get plan a get together and have an Easter Picnic at my parents home. It had been over a year since all of us could get together, so it was so fun to spend time with my brothers and sisters. While we were at my parents home, we had a yummy Easter Lunch, rode four wheelers, and had an Easter Egg hunt for all the Grandkids. It was really fun to see all my nieces and nephews. They are all getting so big. We were able to get take this photo of all my parents Grandbabies minus Karev. He was in the NICU and was being treated for jaundice and an infection. It was so nice to spend time with my family. I miss them so much!

 Kaleb looking for Eggs in Nanna's and Grandpa's Orchard.

Where could those eggs be?

 Daddy helping Karmindy find the eggs!

 Kaleb with Grandpa DeMille. I love this picture of Kaleb with my Daddy!

Kaleb and Karmindy with their cousins.

LTR: Traeson, Karmindy Kaleb, Kennadee, Kenley and Ryker.

I sewed all the ties and dresses so all the cousins could all match for the day!

On Easter Sunday we got up and headed for home. We stopped in Beaver and the kids wanted to get their picture taken on the BIG ROCKING CHAIR.

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

 Hoppin' Down the Bunny trail! Since we planned a trip down to Southern Utah over Easter Weekend, we made sure that the Easter Bunny knew we were going out of town for a few days. The kids asked me to call him and let him know. Sure enough, Mr. Cottontail followed through on his promise and came early Friday morning. The kids woke up bright and early and were really excited to see all their loot displayed on the couch in the living room.  Kaleb and Karmindy were really spoiled and they each got a new spring outfit, sandbox toys, movies, bubbles, new flip flops and lots of Easter Candy. Mark and I splurged and also bought them a trampoline. I found a great deal on one around Christmas time that I just couldn't pass up! Kaleb and Karmindy have enjoyed the tramp and spend quite a bit of time in the afternoons out back jumping.

Kaleb with his Easter Basket.

Karmindy with her treasures.

Kaleb and Karmindy were so excited!

Easter Clothes

Even though today isn't Easter, I let the kids wear their Easter Outfits to church because they won't get the chance to wear them next week because we will be driving back from Southern Utah. We are excited for the chance to go down and spend the Easter weekend with our families. The kids were excited with their new Sunday clothes and I thought they looked adorable in their new duds.

Happy Easter!!

Spring Soccer

This year we decided that we would sign Kaleb up for Spring Soccer instead of Baseball. We thought it would be good to give Kaleb the opportunity to try both sports and decide which one was his favorite to play. On Friday he had his first practice. He did very good and we are proud of him. He is really lucky because he also is on the same team with two of his friends, Caleb Bradford and Cadence Hattaway.

Yesterday was his first game of the season, and he had a lot of fun. Kaleb isn't the most aggressive player,(He gets his non-aggressiveness from his parents) but had a lot of fun! We are looking forward to working with him on his knowledge of the game and helping him improve over the next few weeks. After the game, his coach handed out patches to put on their jersey's. All the kids get a blue soccer patch if they participate and if they score a goal they get a green soccer patch. Kaleb was thrilled with his blue patch and his after the game treats.

We are looking forward to spending the next month watching Kaleb play soccer on Friday and Saturdays!

The picture above is Kaleb with his friend Cadence.

Purses, Shoes, Princesses & Friends

This past month, Karmindy has taken a huge interest in purses, shoes, princesses and playing with neighborhood friends. She is a total girly girl in the making! I LOVE IT!

Purses and Shoes

Karmindy recently found one of my old purses that I have kept from middle school. She carries it around everywhere. She also begs to bring it every time we are our running errands. She looks like quite the little lady carrying it around everywhere. Karmindy can also be found raiding my closet and wearing my shoes through the house. Her Favorites are my tennis shoes and a Black pair of 4 inch heels that I love! I guess a girl has got to have options!

Princesses

A year ago, Karmindy was given a very elaborate Snow White Costume from her Grandma Laurie for her Birthday. Karmindy has refused to wear it despite Mark and I trying our best to coax her to wear it. We both think it was because of the scratchy material and Karmindy just being stubborn. Karmindy had a play date with a friend recently and her friend showed up wearing a darling Cinderella Princess Dress up Dress. Karmindy immediately ran to her room and asked to put her Snow white dress on. I was in shock because she has had nothing to do with wearing it. I put her dress on and she wore it the entire time her friend was over for the play date. She has always had a love for princess stuff but now that love has become an obsession.

Friends

 We have been blessed to live in a neighborhood that is swarming with kids. It is really nice because they play very well together and look out for each other. Kaleb and Karmindy both have kids their ages and that makes it so fun to have built in playmates in the neighborhood. Karmindy has the most kids her age. She has 10 kids that are around her age! She loves playing with her friends Claire, Avery, and Emilia. The past few weeks, we have had her friend Avery over to play while her mom was preparing to have a baby and while she was in labor. Avery and Karmindy have fun playing together and their favorite thing to do is have their fingernails and toe nails painted. Total girly girls in the making! They also enjoy dressing up and can be found giving each other hugs. It is very cute! I am really glad that Karmindy has some cute and fun little girl friends to play with.

A Brother's Best Friend...

In the past week or so since Kaleb's Surgery, Kaleb has told me how much he loves and appreciates his little sister. He even told me after a not so fun play date with a friend, that he is glad that his little sister is his best friend and that he has her to play with when his friend didn't want to play with him. 

I really enjoy watching Kaleb and Karmindy interact because they truly are each other's best friends. They play very well together. All siblings fight and bicker and these two do their fair share but for the most part they are best friends. One evening this past week the kids were sitting by each other on the coach and Kaleb got into Karmindy's face. He was teasing her and it was bugging her. She finally was fed up with it and shoved him and said, "Stop buggin' me!" Mark and I died laughing because we had no idea that Karmindy knew that phrase.

It is also very common to see these two wrestle on the living room floor together. Karmindy can hold her own and is only 10 lbs. lighter than Kaleb right now. Before Kaleb's adenoid/tonsil surgery he had a tough time gaining weight because he would burn all it all during the night while sleeping to wake himself up (sleep apnea). Kaleb is tall for his age but is very very skinny. Bone protruding skinny. So glad that we got his tonsils and adenoids out. Karmindy keeps her big brother in line but they both know how to hold their own.

 During Kaleb's recovery time from the surgery, Kaleb spent most of the time on the coach recuperating by watching TV, movies, and playing his leapster. Karmindy was a great sister and never left her brothers side. She was camped out with him through the whole experience. She would occaisonally say, "Brother feel better." and "Brother is sick!"

One afternoon, I found Karmindy fast asleep while watching TV with Kaleb. It was like she was his little watch dog.  She would scoot her pink princess chair into the Living Room to watch TV with her Brother and would set her chair as close to him as possible. All that watching TV and staying by her brother's side wore her out!

She certainly is Kaleb's best friend and Kaleb is her best friend. I hope that they will have a great relationship for the rest of their lives!

PTA Secretary & Kaleb's Art Walk Night

On March 31st, we headed as a family over to the Elementary School where Kaleb attends. I was asked to serve on PTA committee this next year and will be taking on the office of Secretary. On this particular night, I was being voted in by other members. I am a little nervous for this assignment but I am looking forward to serving at the school and in the community. It will be a great learning experience. Wish me luck! :)

On this night it was also the Schools Art Walk. All the classes in the school participate and it is a night for the classes to showcase the students artwork that they have been doing in their classes. Kaleb's class participated so after being voted in, our little family walked the halls and enjoyed looking at all the artwork. We really enjoyed finding Kaleb's artwork and seeing what he has been working on in his class this term. Kaleb is very artistic, so it was fun to see his talent first hand. He was able to have two of his pieces showcased: a painting of a vase of flowers and a craft project! He was very excited to show us his artwork. 

Karmindy also had fun and didn't want to be left out, so she pointed to a picture that she adopted and said was hers. She keeps us laughing all the time!

 Here are Kaleb's projects up close:

Project: Spilled Milk

What did it look like?

Kaleb wrote: A Whale!

Kale'b's Beautiful blue vase and flowers!

Kaleb's Tonsil & Adenoid Surgery

On April 4th, Kaleb went in to have his adenoids and tonsils taken out at Primary Children's Hospital. For the past few months, Mark and I noticed that Kaleb was struggling to breathe during the day (he sounded like he had a constant stuffy nose) and at night he would snore loudly and stop breathing. It scared Mark and I to death to go check on him at night before going to bed because he would stop breathing and then gasp for breath. We knew that something was wrong and so we got him took him to an ENT for a check up where he saw Dr. Fredrick Grimmer. He confirmed that he had enlarged tonsils and adenoids and that they needed to come out. Kaleb's tonsils were so large that they were almost touching each other.

The day of the surgery we arrived at PCH and they took good care of us! We have been to PCH many times for Karmindy's heart appointments, so we feel like we know the building like the back of our hands! I still get severe anxiety going anywhere near this building. Don't get me wrong, the surgeons, nurses and others that work there are the best in the world and that helps to comfort me but it never is easy when you know your child is going under the knife. 

Kaleb was treated so well and Child life Services that they provide did a wonderful job prepping him before the surgery. They spent almost two hours going over what they would do and let him do some fun activities to makes sure that it was a positive experience for him. Kaleb got to play Dr. to a doll that he got to decorate with Markers. He also got to color a wooden dinosaur, and also decorate a wooden car. Kaleb was very calm and was so brave! He also enjoyed drinking as many slushies as he wanted.

The surgery took about 45 minutes. I felt at peace, more so than with Karmindy's surgery. We even had to wait in the room where we waited for Karmindy while she had her 8 hour open heart surgery. It was a little nerve wracking being back in the place that was at one point that meant life or death for our little girl.

Dr. Fredrick Grimmer was Kaleb's Doctor and Surgeon. He did a great job and came out as soon as the surgery was complete. He said that Kaleb was a great patient and did great. He also said that he was glad that he had done the procedure because Kaleb's adenoids were bigger than his tonsils. He said Kaleb wasn't even being able to breath through his nose and it was mostly plugged.

Kaleb was an excellent patient and we as his parents are so proud of him. We continually got compliments on how polite and how sweet of a boy he was during everything. 

We are so proud to have Kaleb as our son. He is truly a sweet, patient person. He is such a great example to us!

We are almost two weeks out and the recovery has gone well! There were a couple of evenings that Kaleb scared us with acting a little funny and act a little out of it but we attribute to the anesthesia. He is thriving and gets a great night sleep every night! We are so glad to see that he is doing better and feeling better!

This is the doll that Kaleb got to decorate. He colored the eyes, hair, mouth and ears. He eve drew socks on his legs, a name band on his arm and drew a belly button and heart. It turned out very cute!

He also colored the wooden dinosaur and decorated the wooden toy care with "Cars" stickers.

* I forgot to take my camera to the hospital, so I didn't get any pictures of Kaleb other than snapping a few with the camera on my cell phone. I am a little bugged with myself that I didn't do a better job with documenting this for him.

Spring is Here!!

 Spring has finally made its way to Northern Utah! Hurray! I am so very glad. It has snowed several times over the past month but it quickly melts, which I really like especially after having snow for feels like 6 long months! Mark and I are really enjoying living in Northern Utah for many reasons but the weather has been hard on us; especially, having grown up in Southern Utah where it is warm all the time.

On the good days when it warms up to around 70 degrees, I let my kids head for the back yard and play until their hearts are content!

The kids have loved the swing set we got them for Easter Last year and spend every waking moment they can swinging or sliding. They also love to ride their bikes! I have taught Kaleb how to swing high and then blast out of his seat and land on the grass. He thinks he is pretty awesome! Karmindy has been swinging herself since last fall and she is so cute to watch. She doesn't like to go very high but is getting more brave because she won't have her older brother outdoing her!! I love to watch her swing herself because she will take a few steps back and then launch herself forward. It is very cute!

A New Job and Home Improvements

Since our move up North, Mark has been working for a company called IBAHN. They have treated him very well and he has enjoyed his time working at this company. A few months ago, the company moved their office (located in S. Jordan) to another office complex up in Cotton wood heights. It takes him over an hour to commute to and from our home each day. I know this isn't bad; especially, since most people living in the SLC area have a long commute to their jobs. During the office move, Mark changed departments and is now trying his hand at programming in Linux. Since changing departments, his boss is a little more relaxed and only requires his team to come in once a week. The rest of the week Mark works from home. It has been nice but also a huge adjustment for our family. We love having Mark home but it makes it hard when the kids want to play with him since he is their best bud. It has also been hard on Mark with not having a place to go each day. This past month, Mark had a job interview with the IT department at the LDS church. They really liked Mark and he has been offered a job!! We are excited, especially since where he will be working is only a block away from our home!! Mark starts his job on May 1st! He is very excited!

Along with a New Job offer, we have slowly been working on framing our basement. We are so excited to see the progress and are looking forward to having a little more room to spread out. I am really really looking forward to the extra space! It will be nice to send the kids to the play room downstairs and have the caos in one localized area instead of in their bedrooms and in my living room! We have a few more things that need to be framed in but are almost there. We also just got the ac/heating duct work done. Next on the list is plumbing and electrical. It is a work in progress downstairs but it has been something fun to work on!

Getting Fit!

This past weekend was the Grand Opening of the JL Sorensen Rec Center which is located in Herriman. We are so lucky because it is so close and is only about a mile from our home. We decided back in November that we would take advantage of the nice facility and get a year pass. Our pass includes unlimited fitness classes, use of the courts and swimming pool. We have been looking forward to this for awhile now and have been counting down the days til its opening. It will be so nice to have someplace to take the kids and get out of the house, especially during the winter months!

Today was our maiden voyage and I got the kids dressed in their new swim wear and took them swimming in the new Pool. Kaleb and Karmindy had a lot of fun on the water slides; and thoroughly enjoyed hanging onto mom while going around and around in the lazy river. I am sure I was quite the sight having one kid on my back and one latched around my neck- Let me just say I got my work out for the day! We had a lot of fun and are looking forward to spending many afternoons at the pool as well as enjoying all of the fitness classes!!

Luck of the Irish

 Last year I started a new little tradition in our family. The night before St. Patrick's Day, my kids leave their shoes out for the Leprechauns in hopes that they will visit our home and leave little treasures inside their shoes. This year the Leprechauns did not let Karmindy and Kaleb down. In fact, those little green wearing men with orange beards were actually very kind to the kids. The brought gold coins, St. Patricks Day shirts for them to wear and a small toy for each of them. Kaleb had a tough time going to bed the night before but didn't not forget about them when he awoke the next morning. He came right in and had to tell us bright and early that the Leprechauns found us! The kids were thrilled with their treasures and are already talking about when those tricky little men will visit us next year.

Karmindy wearing her St. Patty's Day shirt and playing with her dolly that the Leprechauns left her!

Kaleb's Stash that the Leprechauns left him!

Karmindy's Stash!

That night I made my traditional St. Patty's Day dinner- Corned Beef and Cabbage & Carrots with Horseradish sauce, Bread, Lime poke cake and Sprite with a Scoop of Lime Sherbet. It was a wonderful holiday spent celebrating with my little family!

Once There was a Snowman...

Spring weather in Northern Utah is extremely unpredictable. One day it can be sunny and warm and the next day it can be chilly and snowy. Several Saturdays ago we had such weather. When we woke up there was several inches of snow on the ground and since it was that good fluffy snow we bundled up the kids and Mark and the kids went right to work building their perfect snowman while I watched and took pictures. The kids were really proud of the snowman that they built with their dad! The next few days the remainder of the snow melted but our perfect snowman graced our front lawn for over a week!

My cute wee ones and their snowman!

My handsome men and their snowman!

Celebrating Dr.Seuss & 100 Days of School...

A couple of weeks ago, Kaleb had a very busy week at school. First, his class celebrated Dr. Seuss birthday. All the kids were encouraged to dress as their favorite Dr. Seuss character or wear a Dr. Seuss hat. I ran out of time to sew Kaleb a hat but I found a hat that fit the part at Wal-Mart. Kaleb looked so cute in his Dr. Seuss hat, even though it was the wrong colors. :D During class Kaleb said they talked about Dr. Seuss, read several of his books and also made their own Dr. Seuss hats. They even played Green Eggs and Ham tic tac toe!

Kaleb favorite part of the day was coloring and assembling his own Dr. Seuss hat- he wore it home proudly!

Kaleb wearing the Dr. Seuss Hat that he made in class.

The following day they celebrated 100 days of Kindergarten. Kaleb was very excited for this party with his class and has been talking about it since Kindergarten began. Each child brought 100 things for show and tell. Luckily it wasn't supposed to be anything big. Kaleb decided on taking 100 elbow macaroni for his portion of show and tell. He was very excited to show his 100 macaroni to his class. During his 100 day party they played games, and did activities that involved 100. Kaleb came home wearing his 100 day hat that they made that day.

Kaleb and his 100 Macaroni!! He counted them all out by himself! Hence that big cheesy smile!

Kaleb is really loving kindergarten and is excited to attend each day. He loves his teacher and enjoys the kids in his class. Some of his favorite things to do in Kindergarten are coloring, playing on the "big" playground (where the BIG kids play), reading and going to centers. He also really enjoys when I help out in his class. Lately, I have been fortunate to be able to help out weekly and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is so hard for me to believe as his mom that Kindergarten is almost over for my Big kid. A couple of weeks ago, Kaleb came home with his form to fill out for 1st Grade. I can't believe it is already time to start thinking about the next year, I feel like Kindergarten just started for my little man!

Loffy Toffy=Walkie Talkies

A few weeks ago Kaleb came home from one of his friends birthday parties and kept talking about his friend and how he received some Loffy Toffys for his birthday. I asked him if he meant Laffy Taffy (candy) he said no and tried to explain them to me. I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought he kept referring to Laffy Taffy candy because he kept saying that you talk with them with your mouth. Several days later, Kaleb was still talking about them and I still didn't know what the heck he was referring to so I finally called my friend to ask he what her son had received for his birthday. After both trying to figure out what it was we came to the conclusion that it was walkie talkies. Apparently all the boys that were at the birthday party were calling the walkie talkies, loffy toffys. Glad we got that little mix up figured out. Kaleb has been earning money from me by cleaning his room and doing little jobs for me so he can earn his own loffy toffys=walkie talkies!

February Crafts & Love Day Celebration

For all those that know me I LOVE the holidays and I love to make the holidays fun for my kids, so they will have something to look forward to and also have good memories. Kaleb frequently asks what holiday is coming up next. I love to see his enthusiasm for holidays!

Holidays also give me something to look forward to! I love finding new traditions and incorporating them into our family festivities. During the winter months up here in Riverton, I try to keep myself distracted from the dreary weather that we have, so I give myself craft projects to do while I wait for the winter to end. Since I have a very limited supply of Valentine Decorations to decorate my house with for February, I decided that this year I would make a few myself. I found both of these ideas on other blogs! I love the results.

My first craft project was making a Valentine Garland out of paper. I used an old book from college along with red ribbon, colored cardstock, ink pad to antique the edges, a stapler and glue. I have a very talented friend who came up with the idea. Go here to see her tutorial!

It was a little bit of work with all the folding but it was worth it and I am very proud of the results! Here is my Valentine Garland that I made for my Fireplace mantel!

The next craft project was inspired by fabric envelopes sold at Pottery Barn. I wish I had the money to shop at Pottery Barn because they have the most darling things but I don't because I find that a lot of there merchandise is highly overpriced. I am also about saving a buck or two when I can. Luckily, I came across this blog and they had a very simple tutorial. Instead of using fabric you use giant piece of very stiff felt to assemble the envelopes. Even though I love to sew, this project can either be sewn or assembled with a glue gun. I went the glue gun route. I made two envelopes and I am thrilled with how they turned out. This year since I was working on them until right up until Valentines Day I didn't get a chance to fill them with Love notes leading up to Valentines day but next year I plan to. I did however fill them the night before Valentines Day so the kids had a surprise to wake up to in the morning. I filled their Envelopes with a chocolate heart and a Leapster game for Kaleb and a Little Einsteins DVD for Karmindy. The kids were thrilled with their presents from cupid (mom and dad).

I was glad that Valentines Day fell on a Weekday this year because Kaleb got to celebrate the holiday at school and experience the fun that I had when I was a kid. I loved decorating boxes and taking them to school and waiting in anticipation if your secret crush would give you a valentine. For Kaleb's Valentines Day party they decorated bags and then the kids filled them with their goodies. Kaleb chose Toy Story 3 Valentines this year that came with blue suckers. He was so excited to deliver them to his classmates and took such care in writing his name on each valentine. When I picked him up from school that day he had a huge grin on his face and was beaming. He was wearing a cute headband with heart antenna and held up his bag of treats. When we got home he showed me his stash of valentine candy. He made a haul. It is now the last day of February and he is still eating on it!

Kaleb with some of his Valentine Stash!

To celebrate Valentines Day this year, we celebrated as a family. We invited friends over the Friday before and had a fondue party. My friend Emily and I divided up the ingredients and put together quite a spread. We did a broth, cheese and chocolate fondue. We were pretty proud of ourselves. Everything was very yummy and it was nice to celebrate with friends!

Mark and I had agreed to not get anything for each other and in return go out to dinner together to celebrate. We went to Joe's Crab shack were we enjoyed shrimp and crab. Nothing says, "I love you" then enjoying a Little Seafood dinner together! Much to my chagrin, Mark didn't listen to the not getting anything for each other agreement and came home with a beautiful arrangement of hot pink roses. I truly appreciate them and admired them for about a week before they went to plant heaven.

Also to do something nice for Kaleb and Karmindy's Grandpa and Grandma's and Aunts and Uncles, I made these cute little Valentines Day Cards to send to them. I got the kids dressed in Valentine Day colored clothing and we had a photo shoot one afternoon to get that right picture to send to our extended family. The kids were very excited and cooperated well. Here is our 2011 Valentines day Card. I think they turned out pretty dang cute:

Happy Belated Valentine's Day to all of our family and friends!

We are so lucky to have all of you in our lives!