Kyah goes to preschool

Once you turn 3, you are no longer qualified to get help from DDI Vantage, the group that has been helping Kyah with her speech/other areas she was behind in. They refer you to the Granite school district for continued help. The program is pretty similar, only for ages 3+. They have to qualify to be considered for the program. So I had her tested in December after DDI "kicked her out." Fortunately, she did NOT qualify, which means she is too smart for the program. She tested right on where she should be in most areas and was even a few months ahead in some. Her speech was still about two months behind average (which is a VAST improvement to go from not talking at all when she turned 2, to being barely behind, and progressing very rapidly!) Because she didn't qualify, they referred me to a Young 3's preschool through the school district. She could start school as soon as she turned 3, rather than waiting for the following school year, as most preschools do. She started February 2, and she LOVES it! She would wear her backpack all day if I'd let her. One night I was fighting her on going to bed and I told her that if she'd go to sleep, when she woke up in the morning, she'd get to go to school. She marched herself right up the stairs and got herself into bed. Her teachers are fantastic and they have a speech therapist in every class. She seems to get a lot of one on one attention from her. It is so great and I am really enjoying my one on one time with Spencer two mornings out of the week!

The most AMAZING ski cabin!

One of Kyle's employee's (Greg) family owns a cabin right on the slope of Brighton. It is incredible! You put on your skis and ski right out the front door to the lifts and when you're done, you ski right back into the cabin. Greg invited all the company and their families to come up to visit the cabin. It was a lot of fun! Everybody brought something to share, so we all hung out and ate and of course skied. His family has owned it for years and years and it's been passed down through the generations, which is the ONLY way you could ever own a cabin in that location. They will rent it out just to pay the annual expenses, but that's not very frequently. Because he is a friend, he said he would rent it to us as a discounted rate and it's nearly always available because they don't need the money. Kyle and I really really want to get a group together to go spend a few days up on the mountain!

The view from the front window....incredible!

Kyah loves her cousin! She would not take off her jacket, hat and gloves the whole time we were there!

Love my little guy!

Sister-in-law Bambi and nieces Kaitlyn and Missy

She is SUCH a ham when she sees a camera!

Kyah is 3!

I'm a little late on this post, because my laptop died, and I didn't have any other way to upload pictures off my SD card. My laptop is like a cat....it's on it's 3rd life! Suddenly came back after weeks of not working!
Anyway...the last two years, I've made a pretty big deal about Kyah's birthday parties. Obviously, the party is more for the adults, than it is for the kids. I decided this year, I was going to just do something small with our families and it ended up being more work than had I just thrown her a well planned party! The weekend before her actual birthday, I was just going to have all of my family over for dinner and make a cake. Kyah really enjoyed helping me! Then two days later, on her birthday, we did another dinner with all of Kyle's family. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoy our families, so it was all worth it!

Helping make the cake!

Helping eat the beater!

Looking at the cake while singing happy birthday.

The favorite toy of all the girls. It caused quite a fight!

This is Kyah's cake from her second party. She LOVES Aurora and she still carries these cake toppers around the house with her and is quite protective of them!

Today's rant and rave...well, everyday's rant and rave, but I'm doing it publically today.

A couple weeks ago, my visiting teaching companion used the expression "catch the dust before it falls." Every time I think about it, I find myself SO irritated (not with her, with the expression.) I try to be an organized person and, of course, I prefer my house to be clean all the time. But I feel like I'm trying to clean up the "dust" of a volcano eruption while it's still spewing ash! How do you catch the new stuff when it falls faster than you can keep up with it? It's not that I mind doing the work (once)....it's that I mind doing it, then doing it again 20 minutes later, and again 20 minutes later, and so on. I spend about 20-30 minutes a day vacuuming, depending on whether or not I vacuum the upstairs. Add to that 30 more minutes to mop just the main floor and that's nearly an hour! (Not daily, just when I have the time.) Do you know how much damage my ADD daughter can do in just 20 minutes without constant supervision? I am feeling particularly frustrated today because I am running around at 100 mph, trying to get my house in order before we leave for St. George in the next couple of days. By the time I finished vacuuming, the living room was a complete disaster. So I cleaned it again. I mopped and she went upstairs and pulled every article of clothing she could reach out of her closest, off their hangers, filled up a duffel bag and emptied it downstairs to "try on." Between her and a needy 1 year old who follows me around holding onto my legs, it is next to impossible to get anything done. I know I'm not the first to have kids while trying to keep a clean house. The part that really gets to me, is that people are able to accomplish it. I seriously spend almost my whole day picking up after my kids/doing chores. No wonder I feel like I'm no fun anymore. I don't have energy to do anything else after a day where I am going non-stop! What am I doing wrong? Is my daughter really that much more out of control than other kids? Is it that wives have husbands who are willing to actually help and/or pick up after themselves? What's the trick?

A MUCH needed break!

Anyone who knows me, knows I have the world's naughtiest daughter! Lately she is pushing me to the brink of insanity. I am being totally literal when I say that my day consists of following after her and picking up the disaster she just made. While I clean one up, she makes the next, and so on. I'm sure she's doing it for attention, but how do I give her attention when she's the one creating the issues that take up so much of my time? (I did try something new that worked today....hopefully it'll continue to work!)
Last Friday was my birthday and it was one of her worst days yet. (I swear she is getting worse and worse every day!) Kyle had told me earlier in the week that he'd planned something for Friday night/Saturday morning and to pack my ski gear and swim suit. Those were my only clues. I was in such a bad mood by Friday afternoon. I didn't know what to pack (I love that Kyle went out of his way to plan something special for me, but I don't think I'm so big on surprises....I like to be prepared) and the kids were making me crazy. The plan was for Kyle's sister to come pick up the kids in the early afternoon, so I thought I'd save myself the headache of what Kyah would get into while I showered, by showering after she picked them up. I waited and waited and she never came. I finally called to find out where she was and she and Kyle had decided that Kyle would leave work to come get us and take them to her. Thanks for telling me this. Then Kyle got there and I was even close to being ready. I even went so far as to say I didn't even want to go.
We dropped them off with Bambi and headed North (still with no clue where we were going.) We ended up going to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho for a quick overnight getaway. I did not realize just how bad I needed a break like that! Kyle got us a room at the Alpaca Inn. It is the nicest hotel in LHS, because they recently remodeled it. The little town is so cute. It pretty much just consists of main street with a few hotels and restaurants and of course, the pools. The buildings are all so old. It's really a neat place. The owner of the hotel was super super nice (as are all the people we came across there!) Once we got there and checked it, I was able to settle down and relax a bit. We went to one of the 4 restaurants. It was only fancy one there, inside the Riverside Hotel. They had this soupy artichoke/spinach dip I just wanted to drink, it was so good!

We went to the pools at 9:00 at night when the temperature was somewhere in the 20s. They have a good set-up.....they have heated locker rooms and heated floors, because it is SO cold! Your first instinct is to run from the dressing room, into one of five-3 foot deep pools. But you step into the pool and your next instinct is to step right back out! You definitely have to work your way into them because they are so hot! It was so nice and relaxing. It was totally dark and you are pretty much surrounded by steam coming off the water.
This is a daytime picture, but you get the point! It was so great to sit around and do virtually nothing! There is a ski resort just 25 miles away and we did plan on going skiing, but we both decided that we were so relaxed (and needed it) that we bagged the idea. We both love to ski, but let's be honest....it's a lot of work! Better saved for a time when that is the only plan! Instead, we slept in (if you call 8:30 sleeping in) went out for breakfast, went back to the Riverside Hotel where they have private rooms with small lava pools and soaked for a while longer, then got tandum couple massages. It was relaxing, but definitely not the best....and I've had the best! I told him I was sore and wanted an all over deep tissue massage and basically got an oil rub down. Can't complain too much though! We decided this is something we need to do more often. It's only about 2 1/2 hours away and is perfect for a quick relaxing vacation!

Cabin in Scofield

Kyle drew a once-in-a-lifetime archery tag in Manti this year, so he has been spending a lot of time getting ready for it. (It starts August 15th.) He's been worried about how much time he has been spending away from the family. So with intentions of scouting the Scofield area, he decided to rent a cabin for the weekend and take the family. I'd never even heard of Scofield before then and now I seriously love it there! I love how small, quiet and quaint it is. I didn't terribly love the fact that cell phone service is SO limited, but other than that, I really like the place! It's about a 45 minute drive past Provo. Heading through Spanish Fork Canyon, it's only 17 miles out from a turn off. We went with one of Kyle's good friends from college and his family--Rhett, Melissa and Kylie Ferguson. Kylie is 5 and Kyah just ADORES her. She was her little shadow all weekend long. As you can see from the picture, she'd even stare at her to see what she would do next.
Anyway, Scofield is a small recreational city built right on a gorgeous lake. The lake is small, so it is not overly crowded. Each of the homes built on the shore has its own personal dock. The weather is beautiful. In the winter time, it is a great place for snow mobiling. I love that its only about 2 hours away...it's still a get away, but it's not so far from Salt Lake that it takes all day to get there. So Kyle and I started dreaming. There is quite a bit of real estate for sale there, but we were drawn to one piece in particular. It is a run down (probably condemned) cabin on a prime piece of property. It's a really good size lot right on the lake. It has it's own little sandy section of beach and its own dock. Kyle and I started talking about how ideal the place would be as a vacation cabin. We could tear out the old cabin and build his dream cabin. We'd build something big and open so there would be lots of room to host friends and family. We would build a big garage on the property to house a boat we could leave there year round. We'd have to invest in more snow mobiles and four wheelers too, of course. The agent for the cabin we were renting happened to stop by and we asked him about the property. He told us not to bother because they were moving the shore line (really good real estate agent....talk people out of being interested in property and don't give them any information...I'll bet he makes a killing!) We e-mailed the actual listing agent to see if we could get more information on it, seeing as how we were going to tear down the other cabin anyway.
As of right now, we're just waiting to hear back from them. We've also started looking at some property on the other side of the lake they are trying to build up. It would be closer to the marina, but it's just not the same!
The nice thing about the idea is that this would just be a vacation home, so we would not be in any HUGE hurry to get it done. Kyle always said he'd love to build his own house. (That's obviously NEVER going to happen now that we've gone through the building process.....we are never moving again!) If we built a cabin, he could do it when he had the time, and do it just the way he wants it. If we do all this slowly, we can just save some extra money and pay for things when we had the cash to do it, so we don't have to go into any debt for it. I am really really excited about the prospect of doing this! It might be a couple years down the road before we are done, but get ready to party the cabin with the Jorgensons! All will be invited!

Kyah and Spencer holding hands on the drive down there! Two hours proves to be a pleasant trip. They never hit the point of "get me out of this seat!"

Kylie and Kyah waiting for the dads to come back from riding their dirt bikes so we could go swim in the lake!

This is our would-be dock. It needs a little work, but so does everything else!

Spencer LOVED the water!

Kyah with Rhett in her first time at the lake. I sure gained a new understanding in how quickly a child can get into trouble in water. Kyah was quite timid at first. Kylie is a bit more experienced with water, so her parents let her just go play while they stood on the shore (of course with a life jacket on.) Kyah is not such a big fan of the water and it took her a few tries of dipping her feet in to go a little deeper. Once she decided she was ok with the water, I was at her side the entire time. Although she was getting more used to it, she still was very very cautious. She watched Kylie jump up and down in the water diving into it head first. All of a sudden, she got this surge of bravery and in a foot and a half of water, copied her, diving down head first. Though she was clearly tall enough to just stand back up, she freaked out and started to thrash, not knowing what to do. She was face down in the water for about 2 seconds before I scooped her back up. She clutched on to me and screamed for a good couple of minutes. She was never in any danger, but I just couldn't help but shake that feeling of how potentially tragic a situation like that could be. Panic set in with her and all rationality ceased. That's something that gnawed at me for days!

California, knows how to party....and so do we!

So this post is long past overdue, but there were SO many pictures to go through after we made a compilation of everyone's pictures, the idea of going through them overwhelmed me....hence, putting this off. We had our family reunion in Southern California last month. It was fun, but let me just say....vacations are no longer vacations anymore, when you have little ones. It is SO much work! Melissa and I drove down there with our 4 kids--two 2 year olds, and two 10 month olds! That was a fun (sarcasm intended) drive. Thank goodness for DVD players! It may have taken a little longer than the drive normally takes, but we made it. We stayed in a less than stellar hotel (thanks Priceline!) where we had several run-ins with an employee. It's hard enough to get the kids to go down when you take them out of their routine, but try putting them all together and it was interesting.
The first day we were there, we debated whether or not to go to Disneyland with some of the other family (it was a free day to choose what you wanted) but we decided after getting in after midnight and really struggling with the kids sleeping (or lack of sleeping) we didn't want to get up early and try to get ready. It took Melissa and me until 1:00 to get ourselves and all 4 kids ready and out the door! Remind me not to ever be a single parent! Or have twins! We had a nice relaxing day and took the kids to a really cute splash park down the street. They really enjoyed it. This is my cousin's sweet little girl Mattison!
Thursday, we all went to the beach! That was a fun, fun day! It's interesting to me, how when you have little kids, you end up packing more stuff for them, just for a few hours, than you would for yourself on a week long vacation! We spent the whole day there. Kyah played for a little bit, then laid down on a blanket and slept a few hours. Very unusual for my non-napper. But when she finally woke up, she really seemed to enjoy herself.
My aunt let us bring her (not so) easy-up tent. We tried and tried to get it up so we'd have shelter for all the little kids. It ended up completely breaking, so Melissa made it a makeshift shelter. Thank goodness for it. Each of the kids ended up taking a nap under it at some point.
Kyle flew in this evening in time for dinner. We stayed until late night and had a BBQ in the fire pit on the sand. Good times!
Friday we went to the train museum and LA Zoo. It was SO hot and humid! This is a picture of all of us huddling in the only spot we could find shade! I have to admit....I wasn't the happiest camper there! It was pretty miserable. I was ready to go home! After we'd been a the zoo for a few hours, we had a little discussion between all our family to see who wanted to stay and who wanted to go home. I had a car load, so even though I wanted to leave, I didn't have much choice. 10 minutes after some of the family left, I got my first bee sting. There were thousands of bees swarming everywhere! Let me just say how thrilled I was about that!












Saturday was our last play day. We spent the day at the park. It was an enjoyable day, just sitting around talking and being able to find shade when it was too hot! We were able to get a whole lot of pictures!
The first one is a redo of the picture we took at our last family reunion 2 years ago (minus Elizabeth.) Youngest to oldest, only a 4 month difference--Memphis, Amy, Kyah, Kennedy. It was fun to see them all play together. I sure wish Emily and Jill were closer so these girls could grow up together!
This is the next group of babies all born within around 6 months of each other. Youngest to Oldest--Lydia, KayLee, Spencer, Mattison, Damien.
And finally, our whole group!








At the end of the day we all went back to Aunt Jeanine's house to watch a movie in her back yard with the projector. It really was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next one in 2 years!