Residents of Salt Lake City

We are moved. No pictures yet. Unpacking is still a work in process. We have been going non-stop for this move with packing, loading, unloading, unpacking for what seems like forever. We get up at 7 am with the kids and get working and don't usually stop until around 11 at night, and the kids have been going to bed at 7. I don't remember moving to be this complicated, only the last couple of moves I didn't have 2 children occupying most of my time.

Kael and Eden's rooms are turning out so cute. I can't wait for the finished project. It is going to take some time. I still have many projects to do, but I am loving that Eden finally is in a room by herself, and Kael has all of his toys in his room. He is turning in to quite the little boy and his room proves it. The princess finally has a crib, and pink to match.

Derek has been working so hard to put everything together. We have had to get lots of extra shelves to make extra space and it is turning out wonderful!

Just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped us move. Whether you helped us pack, clean, unload, decorate or whatever it has helped SO SO MUCH. THANK YOU!

A few names in particular: Becca, Brooke, Jonathan, Chris, Josh, Jerris, Ryan, Kirk, Kelly, and lots more, but i'm tired and can't think... THANK YOU EVERYONE.

And thanks Derek for putting up with me being a cranky pants with everything going on. I get grumpy in clutter, and I'm working on being nicer. :) LOVE YOU!

June Kids

Eden at 3 months exactly.

"The Serious Face" She is so stinking opinionated. She has only just barely started smiling and giggling for us. The other night I got her giggling so hard you couldn't help but laugh with her. We went to grab the camera and she decided she was done. She usually has a VERY serious face, but when you can get her to smile, it makes all the hard work worth it! Love my precious baby girl. Kael has been smiling so much for the camera lately. He usually tries to grab it and look at the picture, which he still does, however he wants his picture taken first before he grabs the camera. He is so funny posing for the camera all the time.

I think it is hilarious that the flower is bigger than her head practically.

I caught a grin on camera! I was so lucky to get this, and it is blurry. It is the huge open mouth grin like Kael would do when he was little. I couldn't get her real smile though, but I'll take what I can get.

In other news, packing has been going well. The count down is on... Two more days of packing and then we will leave first thing on Saturday morning. Poor Kael doesn't understand what is going on. He will cry whenever we take down something off the wall, or start putting stuff in boxes. I know he will have fun with another big trip and a new house and the playground right outside our door, but it is sad having to get to that point.

I am getting nervous/excited. I am trying to think of this as a big adventure, which of course it is. I mainly am trying to not think about how much Derek will have to study and be gone. Or, how I don't have a dryer anymore, or how I won't have a dishwasher, or closet space, or a garage... When I forget about that stuff, which really isn't that important it seems really exciting. I am sad to be leaving St. George. Southern Utah is where both Derek and I call home in a sense. We now will be calling home where our family is, and that is most important to us. We will be moving a lot throughout our lives, and it will be a great adventure. I'm grateful to be reminded about what is most important to me, my family.

We are thinking about switching to cloth diapers in August. I'm trying to get some research done to see how to best go about it. Any advice would be helpful. Poor Derek has such a strong sense of smell, that is my biggest concern.

And, last on updates we have officially decided for Derek to go for the AIRFORCE SCHOLARSHIP. He will have TONS of paperwork to fill out, letters of recommendations, interviews, physical stuff, etc. Basically it will be like applying for medical school again. He will be working on the application the whole month of July probably. It is very competetive right now with the way the economy is. We feel like this is the route we are suppose to go. We have prayed a lot about this and have got as much information as we can from people who have been in the military. This was a tough decision for us, but yet again, another exciting adventure in our future.

So, this will probably be the last post before we are official residents of Salt Lake City, Utah. To any who live St. George, a sad fairwell. To those up north, see you soon!

Quarter of a Century

I'm 25 now.
My birthday this year was so much fun. I didn't really plan on anything since we are getting ready to move and I have a little baby now. Derek decided that just wasn't good enough and I got spoiled once again.

I'm so grateful for Derek. He takes such good care of me and the kids. We couldn't be more blessed and are so grateful he is our provider, dad, and husband.

He took care of the kids in the morning and let me get a little extra sleep. Even Eden got in on this present for me. She slept for 6 hours straight! She got up at 1 and 7 am! She must have known it was my birthday.

Then, Derek made me pancakes for breakfast. So yummy. I still needed to work since I have taken so much time off for traveling, but I was going to take Kael swimming with my sister-in-law Jill, and didn't have time to finish, so Derek even worked for me! Spoiled. Yes. I know. Thanks to my brothers who let him do this for me too.

Swimming wore Kael out so he took a good nap, which meant that I got a nap too. I love any extra sleep I can get. Derek told me that his transcripst got all messed up and he needed to go to the college to get it worked out for medical school. I was kind of bummed about that, but I figured it was better to get it taken care of now rather than later. So off Derek went.

I learned that my husband can be a really good liar. REALLY he was buying me Olive Garden for dinner and getting me an ice cream cake.

I was so surprised. It was so yummy and I didn't even have to leave the house! Really, what person out there doesn't like to be surprised. It was so much fun.

Derek was on the phone after dinner and my sister-in-law Becca came over, and we were planning on getting together sometime that week, but didn't know when so when she came over I was a little surprised, but happy that we could visit. Derek got off the phone and surprised me again. She wasn't there to visit with us at all... Derek asked her to baby-sit the kids while we went on a date!

Suprise again! Totally LOVE my husband. We were able to go see Shrek in 3D which was so fun. We ended up visiting with Becca until 1 in the morning. Good thing I got all that extra sleep the night before. :)

Overall, my birthday was amazing. I love my family so much and am so grateful they love me!
Thanks for a super fun birthday Derek.

Giggles and 3 months

My little girl giggled so hard for the first time last night. It was so so cute! It's a sound I hope I never forget. Kael had a little boy giggle, but this was a little girl giggle. Both wonderful, but so different. Love both kiddos so so much. I can't even describe the joy they give me. And what perfect timing. Giggles at exactly 3 months yesterday.

Both kids traveled so well in the car over the the last month. Every other week we had a big trip. I'm so proud of them. Only one more big trip this summer is scheduled and that is our big move to Salt Lake in one week exactly. Time has gone by so quickly. It is a lot of mixed emotions, but mostly we are excited to begin this new journey in our lives.

California

Kael and Eden with Nana and Papa Pat Pinkston.

We can't go on a trip to California without stopping at Tommy's!Kael's First Trip to the Beach.

We had such a great time in California. We were able to go down June 10 -13th. We stayed with Derek's grandparents. We were able to visit with all of Derek's cousins and Aunts and Uncles. It was so nice because it had been about 2 years since we had gone to California. We also got to show off our amazing kids. Derek's Aunt Julie watched the kids for us so we could go on a date and we were able to see Iron Man 2 and then went to Tommy's. Then, the next day we got to take the kids to the beach. Eden had a nice nap with wonderful weather and Kael got to experience the ocean for the first time. I couldn't tell who had the better time Kael in the ocean and sand, or me watching him have such a great time. He LOVED every minute even though he was frozen solid. I was so afraid a wave would pull him in that I made his fingers turn blue from holding so tight and also from the water being cold. It was very overcast and a little windy which made it chilly, but it didn't bother him at all. Derek was a trooper and had fun playing in the sand with Kael. Between the sand and the water Kael had a BLAST!

We sure loved visiting with everyone and hope it isn't 2 years before we get to see everyone again.

Have I Mentioned?

Have I mentioned Eden hates her bath? If I haven't mentioned this, let me now. Eden HATES getting bathed. I dread it. It is miserable. She screams so loud.

Ok. I'm done complaining.

Any ideas how to get her to like it?

First x-rays

No broken bones. Thank goodness.

Ever since Kael's 6 month doctor's appointment the doctor has questioned if Kael snores, and if he might possibly have sleep apnea. I haven't really heard him snore until we were on this Phoenix trip. I have always known he breathes VERY heavily, but I never thought he snored. Turns out, sometimes he does. Not every night.

We took him to the doctor just to get it checked not really expecting anything, but we thought while he's young let's just get it looked at. The doctor said that they have a scale from 0 to 4 with 4 being the worst for tonsil size. Kael is at a 2. So, a little bad, but not surgery bad, yet.

The doctor ordered an x-ray so we could see what his adenoid tonsils look like. These are up higher in the throat towards the nose, so the doctor can't visually see these.

Kael decided he didn't want an x-ray or to sit on a stool, so he screamed, and I couldn't believe this was my child screaming because he was told to sit on a stool and hold still. I had to pin his arms down and the technician had to hold his face in the right place. Let's just say I hope for MY sake the child never breaks a bone, ok his sake too. We ended up having to take an extra x-ray because he moved so much.

We got the results back and it turns out that Kael's adenoids are in fact enlarged. At this point the doctor recommends us going to primary children's in Salt Lake (mainly because we'll be living there so soon), to get an ENT (ear nose and throat) doctor to evaluate Kael.

The treatment for child sleep apnea is to remove the tonsils. We are not quite to this point. We are hoping that the ENT doctor will just want to watch it for now, but we figure if something is wrong, better to get it taken care of while he is young and won't remember.

Derek actually had his tonsils taken out the month before we were married and had something like a whole throat reconstruction for sleep apnea. Thus, better to take care of it sooner rather than later...

So, for now we wait. We will keep you updated.

Phoenix AZ

We were able to drive to Phoenix over Memorial Day weekend. The kids did pretty good in the car. We were able to visit with most of my family that lives down there. We haven't been to a get together this big down there since Derek and I were married, so it was so much fun for us, and it was so good to show off our amazing kids. :)
Friday morning we drove down really early. We left the house at 5 am. When we got there we dropped Kael off at my sister Shannon's house and went to lunch with my Grandma. Then, we were able to go to our hotel, and we took a nap. It was SO nice. Ya, we went on vacation and took a nap. What could be better? That night we went to my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Stan's house and they put together a pretty awesome party. We were able to see all of my cousins except one, but his wife and kids came, so it was all worth it.
Saturday we got up and headed to my sister Shannon's house and then we proceeded to the Phoenix zoo. It was so awesome. This zoo is a lot bigger than Hogle Zoo, and it had a splash pad for the kids. I was impressed. We went back to Shannon's and relaxed and made kabobs for dinner, then the kids and I went swimming. It was a fun filled day, and we were all exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, but wouldn't have changed the day at all.
Sunday we packed up the hotel and then headed to my Grandma's for one last visit, so we could visit with my Grandad too. It was so much fun. Kael was on his best behavior. (I was a little shocked, but grateful) Then, we were on the road again. The kids were a little worn out, so I spent over half the ride home in the back seat squished behind 2 car seats, but we made it home safe and sound, and only had to stop once to feed the baby.

We had such a great time, and miss everyone already. Sharice, Kael, and Grandma at the party.
Derek and Grandma at the party.

Cousin Curt holding Eden at the party.

Cousin Christine holding Eden. She held her for most of the night. Eden loved it!

Uncle Roy and Uncle Stan

Phoenix Zoo. Kael and Dad. (Kael loves getting his picture taken lately.)

Sharice, Kael, and a squished, sweaty Eden.

Rafiqui(The monkey from Lion King), Kael, and Derek.

Kael on the splash pad.

If you look close you can see his eye on the right is SUPER swollen. He rubbed sun screen in his eye and couldn't stop, and then he was over heated, so the kid was ready to head home before this picture was taken, but the water was so much fun.

Niece Cassandra at the zoo. She did GREAT.

Kael being silly at the hotel.

Kael at the hotel.

Grandma Sapp and Eden.