Finishing Up May: Baptism, Pump it Up, Yard Work

I can't believe today is the last day of May! Here is last week's update!

 We were driving down the freeway last week and happened upon the Wienermobile! Imagine Gage's excitement. Now imagine Gage screaming "dot dog, dot dog, dot dog" over and over again. There, it was like you were in the car with us!

 We had Maisey's end-of-the-year preschool picnic party. Maisey LOVED it and is really going to miss going to preschool this summer.Teacher Angela made these cute pillow cases for the kids and each of the kids in the class put their hand prints on all of the pillow cases. Maisey also got the book "Clifford's Graduation" and she got to take home her seat spot and her name! It was a great night!

 In preparation for our vacation, we tried putting Gage in his big boy bed for nap time and bed time last week.We really don't want to have to take our pack n' play with us, but it looks like we will have to. The bed time lasted about 3 minutes! Oh well!

On Friday, my mom babysat for us so Shaun and I could go to dinner and then to the temple to help with our ward's youth baptisms. It was a nice night out!

 Saturday was a very special day for us! Remember when I posted about this family almost 2 years ago? Well, Shaun had the opportunity of baptizing Victoria. She is such a smart and determined young woman. We are so proud of the choices she has made and for the chance that we had to be a part of her conversion process.

 

 Maisey loved being at the baptism. She can't wait to turn 8!

Also on Saturday, we got to meet up with my Aunt Judy and Uncle Alan from Idaho and my cousin and her husband too. It was fun visiting with them over lunch! I love my family!

 Our van hit the 100,000 mile mark! I know I'm lame that I took a picture of it, but I always love when I notice cool number patterns on my odometer. Shaun makes fun of me! We are praying that our van will hold up for the rest of this year and then we will be in the market for a new one early next year!

On Sunday night, we told the kids we had a fun surprise for them the next morning. Maisey was guessing all night what it was. She guessed it right several times but we never told her that she got it right. When we pulled up to the parking lot, she almost jumped out of her car seat. She LOVES Pump it Up and always, seriously at least once a day, asks if we can go!

 Getting ready to box it out!

 Daddy putting Maisey in her place!

 Maisey haulin' down the slide! I love her face!

 Gage caught some major speed!

 Maisey rockin' the obstacle course!

 

 And Daddy showin' everyone how it's done!

After Pump it Up, we came home, put the kids down for nap and got to work! Every time I look at our yard, I cringe. We have so much to do! We mowed, weeded 3 of our 9 raised garden beds, and spread 3 1/2 cubic yards of bark dust! We worked until 7:30 pm. It was a looong afternoon but we made significant progress. Our yard debris bin is overflowing so I will have to wait until next week to do anymore out there.

The kids loved flinging the bark dust all over the driveway with their shovels. We put an end to that pretty quickly when we paid Maisey $2 to push Gage in the swing!

Gage thought it was pretty funny to ride his four wheeler up the mound until he fell over backwards and hit his head on the driveway and got bark all up his back and down his shorts.

He was quite the helper spraying off the driveway.

*Note to Self: DO NOT make husband pressure wash driveway earlier in Spring if you are planning on spreading bark later on. It WILL NOT make him happy!

We promised the kids a bike ride earlier on in the day, so after all of the yard work was complete and we were completely exhausted, we loaded them and their dinner up in the trailer and went for a ride. They loved testing out the new trailer!

We had a great week last week and we are looking forward to a slightly less busy week this week. Janel, and possibly Ryan, come into town on Thursday and we are looking forward to hanging with them!

Last Day of Preschool

Today was Maisey's last day of preschool. She has learned so much in the last nine months. She can tell you everything there is to know about the five senses, bears, healthy foods, the four seasons, music, transportation, nursery rhymes, construction, ocean animals, dinosaurs, plants and seeds, the solar system, farm animals, and bugs! She has also learned how to write all of her letters and all of their sounds. I can tell her any word and she can tell me what the word starts with! She had so much fun with the kids in her class this year, and her teacher was awesome too!

She wanted to pick out a "special" outfit for her last day today! This is what she came out wearing! What you don't see is she is wearing Christmas socks under the cowboy boots, and a black headband (she wouldn't let me touch her hair!). Maybe next year they will have a unit on fashion! Haha!

Iris Festival

On Friday evening we headed to the Keizer Iris Festival with some friends! The kids had a great time riding the rides.

 Here, the kids are dancing and are so excited while the parents buy tickets!

 Daddy and Gagey riding the fire truck! 

This was the only ride that Gage was tall enough to go on which was a little disappointing because he was able to ride all the rides at Lagoon last year.

 Maisey piloting an airplane

 Maisey, Gage, and Peyton riding in the fire truck

After the festival we headed over to Uncle Scott's bonfire. We had a great time chatting around the fire and eating smores! Yum!!!

 Gage was in heaven! He loves being outside!

Maisey had a lot of fun too!

On Saturday morning, we headed back down to Keizer for the Iris Parade. It did not disappoint! The kids had a great time and Maisey actually did pretty well with all of the characters! Gage still hated the sirens and car horns honking but loved the rest of it! He was sure a funny guy that day.

 We love the Keizer Iris Festival and look forward to it every year!

Last Week in Review

Last Sunday we had a nice Mother's Day. I got a homemade card from Shaun and the kids (mostly Maisey). The card was very well decorated with some heartfelt words. It really meant a lot to me. Also inside the card were three coupons. One was for an hour long back massage which you better believe I redeemed that night. The other two were for a bike and a bike trailer!

So, Monday night for family home evening we went to pick out a bike. I'll have to post pics of it once I actually get to ride it. It's been rainy almost all week so I haven't taken it for a spin yet. Daddy got his Father's Day present early because he, too, got a bike! We also bought helmets, a bike pump, bike locks, and a new camping tent! It was a very expensive trip, but all stuff that we needed! Then we headed to DQ for a FHE treat!

On Tuesday, we went to the zoo for play group. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work! Gage didn't want to stay in his stroller and didn't want to stay by me. He also threw some MAJOR fits, but we all survived! It was fun to go with friends!

Wednesday was my laundry day. Enough said.

Thursday was a catch up/run errands day!

And Friday. . . we all love Fridays! Shaun took Gage on his first Father/Son camp out! Gage was so excited to go and Shaun reported that they had a great time!

Since the boys were gone Friday night, Maisey and I met some friends for some ice cream and games! It was a lot of fun! Then we had our own version of a camp out in the family room. I slept on the couch while Maisey slept in her princess tent on the floor next to me! She thought it was pretty special.

Saturday was Maisey's last T-ball game! She has improved quite a bit over the last 6 weeks. Both times up to bat, she was able to hit the ball on the first try. 

 She also fielded a ball and threw it to second base! We will be working on her throw during the off season! :)

After the game we headed to Maisey's coach's house for a team party. Well, it just so happens that Maisey's coach is one of our good friends and the only other family from the team that came happens to be our other good friends! It was so fun for the kids to play and the adults to chat! We ended up staying waaaay to long that it wasn't worth putting our kids down for naps, so we decided on a quite time, then an early bed time.

 Well, this is how our quiet time ended up!

Yesterday, our kids seemed to be more rowdy during church than usual! In the evening we headed to our friends' house for dinner. I brought this amazing fruit pizza! YUM!!!

 

What a week! This one proves to be just as busy! They all do!

Laundry Mishaps

Most people hate laundry. I am one of the few who actually doesn't mind it. I'm just grateful that I don't have to wash all my clothes by hand -- then I would hate it! I don't mind scrubbing stains, keeping up with switching the loads, folding clothes right out of the dryer, even matching socks!  But, today was a different story. Today I was frustrated for 3 reasons:

*Reason #1 - A strap on one of my tank tops ripped off in the washer. Probably the least expensive mishap of the day, but still annoying.

*Reason #2 - I accidentally dried my skinny jeans. They were already on the snug side when I bought them last month, and I was always sure to hang dry them. This week they were sneaky and made their way into the dryer.

*Reason #3 - Gage peed on his BYU football pillow, so I decided to wash it. I've washed Maisey's Minnie Mouse pillow several times before without any incident, so I didn't even think twice about putting it in the wash. I took the outer cover off and washed it with Gage's sheets that he also peed on. I put the inside of the pillow in with my sheets. I went to change the laundry and this is what I found. I almost cried.

 I took each piece out of the washer and couldn't believe that this once was shaped into a football pillow.

 Here is the sad lifeless cover of the pillow. Not sure what I am going to do about it now!

We Like to Sing and Dance and Dance and Sing!!!

Chicken Dance!

Chicken Dance Again!

Popcorn!

 

Book of Mormon Stories!

We Love Sun!

We had two 60 degree or warmer days last week, so you better believe we spent every minute of those days outside. They are a rarity around here this spring!

Lots of bike riding

and Hula Hooping

And Scooter Riding

And Looking Manly (in Maisey's helmet, riding Maisey's scooter!)

And Bubble Blowing

  

And Lawn Mower Pushing!

They sure enjoyed the nice weather. Now if it would just come to stay!

The Rest of April

My trip to Utah was jam-packed full of food, family, and shopping, with a little bit of graduation in between. I mean, that IS why I went in the first place!

On our flight to SLC, there was a little boy named Gage and he pretty much screamed the whole time. I had serious flashbacks of my trip to Denver in January. Haha! It also made me miss my big guy just a little bit and I'd only been away for 2 hours!

On our way  home from the airport we HAD to stop at In N' Out! YUM!!!

 I brought a bunch of baby stuff for Kate to look through so we stayed up late doing that and just visiting with each other! It was so nice to not have to worry about giving baths or putting kids to bed!

Thursday morning I took my mom on a VERY long walk/run! We did it in preparation for TOUCANOS!!! She had never been there before, but I had and I knew we would be eating a ton!

 The waiters came over and sang to Kate and Blair because they were graduating!

(Look how cute my preggo sis looks!)

 My mom LOVED eating there!

After lunch we ran a few errands including Seagull Book and Deseret Book. My mom and I both bought a ton, but don't worry! I had a whole empty suitcase from all the baby stuff that I brought for Kate! :)

Next, we headed to the Commencement ceremony. We got caught in some freak wind storm and I was trying to walk in heals, carry my purse and my large camera bag, talk on the phone to Shaun, and hold my skirt down so the wind didn't blow it up and flash everyone. It was probably quite comical to watch.

 Elder Scott spoke at the ceremony and it was reeeaaaaaallllllly long, but had some good points.

 We took a few pics after, but it was really windy, and we were standing on a hill so they didn't turn out too great!

We went over to Kate and Blair's that night for a nice dinner and these to-die-for Oreo Cupcakes. Shaun's sister Janel met up with us and we stayed up waaaaaaay to late visiting!

Friday we got up and going pretty early because we had the convocation ceremony. The speakers were much shorter and did a really good job. Then we got to the presenting of the graduates. YAY!!!

 Blair and Kate walking across the stage!

 Blair and Kate walking back to their seats. They were easy to spot in the sea of blue gowns because Kate was wearing her hot pink heals!



More pictures!

That afternoon we met up with Janel again and ate at Cafe Rio for lunch. Then we spent the rest of the day shopping and running errands. That night we met up with Shaun's cousin, Amy and ate dinner at Rumbi. We all went back to Kate's to play games and again stayed up waaaaaay too late!

On Saturday, we needed to finish up visiting all of our favorite places to shop! We met up with my aunt Nancy and her husband Hal for lunch at Pizza Factory then headed up to Sandy to visit with my friend Jana who had just a baby a few weeks before. I hadn't seen her for like 3 years! It was so fun to catch up with her and her family and to hold her new little boy! After that we went to visit my aunt Sue who just had her gall bladder removed a few days before. Then we headed to the airport, and ran to our gate -- home alone style!

On our flight we sat behind a cute little boy who told me he wanted to marry me in the Salt Lake temple and shared his peanuts with me through the seat crack. When we were getting off the plane he invited me to come to his house to visit. It was cute and made me really excited to see my own kids!

The trip felt really short, but by Saturday evening I was ready to see my kids! When Gage saw us he went straight for his Grammy! What a blow to my ego! haha! He is such a grammy's boy! Gage pretty much cried the whole way home from the airport and I didn't know why. As soon as we got home he went diarrhea all over the place. Shaun had told me a few times on the phone that he was really sick (this is going back to this post when they were both sick!) but I didn't realize how bad it was. More on this in a minute. I got him all cleaned up and just cuddled him in the rocking chair for a little while.

The next morning was Easter! We have 8 o'clock church, and so mommy "talked" to the Easter Bunny when I was in Utah and asked if he would come after church while the kids were taking their naps. The Easter Bunny went a little big this year--both kids got bikes! Maisey has been begging for a bike for a while now and it would have been cruel to make her wait ALL summer until her birthday. I knew if she got one, Gage would want it! So they just both got them.

They each got a few outfits for the summer, some play-doh, and Maisey got Tangled and Gage got Chicken Little.

 Maisey sporting her new bike! She was so excited! She just kept saying, "A bicycle, a bicycle, a bicycle!" It was really cute.

 Gagey needed a little help riding his, but I bet by the end of the summer he will have it down! 

Gage loved finding the eggs for the egg hunt!

 Maisey checking out her eggs!

She was so excited to find money inside! She took all of her money from the egg hunt to the store to buy a horn for her new bike! Lucky me!

We had a nice Easter dinner with some friends, our ward missionaries, and my mom and brother.

The next day, I took Gage to the doctor. His bum was bleeding because of the horrible diaper rash he got when I was in Utah. The doc gave us a prescription for burn cream. It has helped it a lot but his bum now has scars on it. That's how bad his rash was. :( It is really sad.

Tuesday was my catch up day! I seriously needed it! I wrote 22 blogs for my job, which is a ton! I usually only do about 5 a day. . . if I'm lucky!

On Wednesday Kate flew home! And the craziness started all over again! Lots of eating and visiting family and friends, oh yeah, and I threw her a baby shower on Thursday night! I just realized how much of a slacker I am for the lack of variety of pictures. No pics of family and friends in Utah and no pics of the baby shower. Oh well! It went really well. She got a lot of great stuff that she really needed.

Friday night was our Stake Temple Night which we all went to and then we enjoyed a kid-free dinner after. It was really nice. Saturday morning, Kate came to Maisey's t-ball game and then we shopped all afternoon. Surprised? Saturday night was the adult session of Stake Conference. Some of my friends and Kate and my mom and I all went to dinner first. It was a fun girls evening. We met up with the men for the session, which was AWESOME!

On Sunday, we had church at 10 because of conference! It was soooo much better than 8 am! We had a nice BBQ at my mom's then headed back up to our house for Kate and Maisey to watch Tangled and have a sleep over!

Monday we met up with my aunt's family for pizza, and Tuesday, Kate flew home!

I told you we've been busy! I just counted and we leave in 7 weeks for our big summer trip!

WOW! That was long!

You know you're exhauted when . . .

. . . you put nail polish remover on your cotton round instead of eye makeup remover.


These last few weeks have been packed full with fun, family, and friends. Lots of visitors, lots of trips, lots of activities. Things are starting to slow down, so I am working to get caught up on things. Yesterday I worked on putting Easter away, and basically putting my house back together! Today is dedicated to laundry and my blogs for work. Tomorrow is dedicated to this blog! So stay tuned!