How to Eat Your First Bowl of Cheerios!!

Little Mister had his first bowl of Cheerios the other day.  I filled a big bowl with a little bit of cheerios and poured a little bit of milk in, and then when the cereal was soft I poured the milk out and gave it to him.  He was so excited to be like the big kids.  He dug right in and when I mean dug right in I don’t just mean hands….

I mean his whole head!

He was a pretty happy baby!  With milk all around his hair line and cheerios stuck to his face!! 

I Love the Cheerio stuck on his cheek.  Love this munchkin, I can’t believe how big he is!!!

Kanaraville Falls

We have been in the St. George area for just over 6 years and have driven past Kanaraville hundreds of times, little did we know about it’s secret treasure like mini narrows that my whole family could do.  We invited our friends to go along and had a great time.  I LOVE hiking in water.  Seriously it is the best way to hike.  There were a few technical spots, but with Nate and DJ basically lifting the kids up and over the hard parts the kids did awesome!

The slot canyons were amazing!  It was so breathtaking!

These were the two scary parts, but the kids liked it!

Then we found the Slide!  The funnest part of it all!  The kids had a blast going down the slide.  I even did it

 

 

There I am being all tough, climbing up the ladder on my own!

We had a blast and can’t wait to do it again.  It will totally be something we take our guest to when they come.  The first 20 mins are hard, but once you get to the water, it’s so fun!  Totally something my mom would love (river walking)!

A Day at the Lake

Today we went out to the Lake with some friends.  Asa and Lori and Lena and her husband.  It was a ton of fun.  Although I am still deathly afraid of Wave Runner It was still fun and I even drove it.  My kids were amazing.  We showed up and Maddie was on a wave runner right then going out with a couple of the girls.  Jack was scared at first, but when Nate took him on a ride he LOVED it and begged daddy to go faster.  Same with T.  They were in Lake Heaven!  Enjoying everything about summer, and water and going fast!  Nate took me on a ride and as soon as we came in past the buoys I jumped off saying I would rather be in the water than on the back with him!  He is scary!  So I had a nice relaxing swim back. 

We have had such a fun summer at the lake.  It is beautiful, refreshing and all  my kids have fun and I don’t hear any fighting.  We try to go once a week, but I could go once a day if life didn’t get in the way!

 

Maddie had a blast on the tube until Nate broke it.  I guess it was old, so oh well!!

All the Kiddos minus Maddie!

Isn’t he so so cute!  Cutest baby boy!!

 

Is there such thing as Ankle Replacement Surgery?

You guessed it, but I am hoping it was just a bad twist and not a sprain…but this time the story around it is even more exciting. For those that haven’t been reading my blog very long I sprained it 9 months ago. You can read my post here called I’m a professional ankle sprainer.

I had had a gift card to this cute little country store in town since my birthday in March.  I love their soup and breadsticks.  I text my hubby to see if he could meet me there and he said he was too busy working.  I decided I would still go, and bribe the kids to be good with candy!  While standing in line I realized something warm on my upper hip while holding my baby.  Now back up a little, my baby has had 3 yucky diapers just this morning….teething!  So I pull him away from my hip and low and behold…Ya he had pooped and it was leaking on me right as I was paying for my order.  I put him back in the same place in hopes no one would notice and asked my daughter quietly if there was poop dripping from his leg, she said no (Thankfully).  We made a change of plans to go home instead of the toy store and as I was walking out the door they have this funky slope step down and I stepped wrong while holding the baby and my soup.  I dropped the soup, but held tight to the baby.  I heard that nasty crackle I hear way to many times come from my ankle, and yes I whispered a naughty word as I fell to the ground looking ridiculous.  (seriously, I was trying so hard not to say a bad word)  I looked up and this family was staring at me like “Wow what’s wrong with you?” I got up and sat on a chair and realized I was going into shock.  I felt like throwing up.  I handed the baby to my daughter who walked him to the car.  I told the other kids to get in the car.  I stood up, with full view of poop on my shirt and hobbled to the car and that’s where I lost it.  I broke down crying and felt like passing out with tingling hands and arms and my ankle throbbing.  My daughter called my husband and we drove the 3 blocks to his work and he helped me out by letting me eat my lunch, changing the babies diaper and listed to me complain about what a dork I am and that I hate my ankles. 

I think this one will heal fairly quickly…I hope…just got to put on some CM cream and Trauma oil that my MIL gave me!.  I was supposed to go running tonight.  I’m running in a relay with some friends next month, so I guess if this was supposed to happen, I’m glad it did now and not the week of the relay.  And I am really considering ankle replacement surgery….in fact I am going to Google it now.

The Fire Fighters at the Library

The other day we went to the library and they had the fire fighters there.  I just love the picture of my kids with the helmet and the masks on!  My kids kept saying to the fire fighters that they know a guy that is a fire fighter in Vegas.  They were so proud to know someone that is a fire fighter! Thanks Christy for taking the pictures!!

#5 Is On the Way!

I just barely found out that baby #5 is coming to our family.  It's been really weird, but ever since Bennett was born I felt like there was one more baby and that it would come sooner than the others did. (I didn't know it would be 22 months later.  Bennett and Jack are 38 months apart.  My other kids have been 29+  so this is going to be so different.

I woke up yesterday and took a test.  The lines were kind of weird and there were actually 3 lines (probably because I put the test right into my stream instead of going in a cup)  but this morning when I knew I was supposed to start today I took a test soon after I woke up.  and well....you guessed it #5 is a comin. As soon as I read the results I started to cry.  I knelt down and prayed and ask Heavenly Father to help me to be able to do this.  To be able to raise 5 kids.  To me 5 is not a ton, but a perfect amount.  I know so many people think 5 is way to many kids.  Oh well that's what they think. I feel so blessed right now.  I feel so grateful.  I just went out and sat with my kids as they were watching a show.  I looked at each of their sweet faces and was reminded of how much I love them. They are so so wonderful.

Now an interesting thing about finding out today was that Nate is gone until Saturday night and I only can text him.  I don't think he would believe me if I text him and said..."Hey I'm pregnant"  So I am trying to think of a creative way to tell him when he gets home.  Usually I tell him the day I find out...so I guess it's my little secret for the next few days.

(a few days later) Nate came home and I had text him random things while he was gone like "March is a busy month".  He didn't get it.  I wrote a note on the mirror in the bathroom that said "Look Down" and it pointed to the pregnancy test.  He was exctied, and I think really nervous, But we feel so blessed and happy.  We are going to try to wait to tell anyone for about 16 weeks!  We see if we really can!! :)

The Day I thought I won a trip to Disneyland...

So I entered the KSL Disneyland Giveaway this last month a few times. On Saturday morning I got an email that was a facebook message linking my name in a post saying "Congrats Kendra, I couldn't think of a better family to get this prize" Then another email came in that said, "Congrats Kendra (and then my last name)"

I was thinking what in the world are these people talking about.....so I linked over to facebook and read this...KSL 5 TV "Congratulations to last nights winner of the Disneyland getaway Kendra (and then my last name)" I could not believe my eyes. I started screaming and cheering and crying. I could not believe it. My husband and kids ran in and my husband read it out loud to my kids. We were jumping up and down saying "we're going to Disneyland"

We were headed to the lake to meet some friends so I quickly checked my emails to see if they sent me an email, and then I sent KSL a facebook message to claim the prize! On the way to the lake we asked our kids who we should leave home joking about how only 4 of us should go...and deciding that we would pay for Jack Jack to come with us :)

When I got home I stewed about it, wondering why I hadn't heard anything. I got an email from a lady that said she thought it was her daughter because her daughter has the same name, but she congratulated me...it was weird. Anyway a friend of mine sent me an email and said she saw another Kendra W say she was so excited she won on the same facebook thread. WHAT!! There is another person out there with my exact same name that entered??

Anyway I finally heard from KSL at 8 pm and they asked me my email address and said it was someone else. I was SO sad. They apologized and said they felt really bad. Probably sadder than my kids. Although they were pretty sad.

Anyway we got over it over the weekend. I think I was the one that had to get over it the most. I was so excited...like you couldn't imagine, well you probably could because an all expense paid vacation for a family would be amazing!

I went to the bank today and the lady working said, "hey are you the Kendra W that won the Disneyland Giveaway on KSL?" Yeah, that one hurt. Thanks lady for reminding me I didn't win :)

So there is the story of how I thought I won a trip to Disneyland for my family and didn't. One day I might look back and think it is funny...but today it stinks!

Little Bennett Walker

Tonight Bennett was being hyper and not ready for bed.  I was ready for bed, but said to Nate...Let's try to get him to walk.  We have tried this a lot lately, but he lifts his legs and drops to the floor.  But right away he took 3 steps.  We were like "where in the world did that come from."  Then he took 7 steps.  It was crazy!  We kept clapping, he kept screaming out in excitement and clapping.  My little baby isn't such a baby anymore.  I definetely had mixed emotions tonight.  He is 13+ months and ready to be walking, but man...he grew up really really fast.  Faster than all my other kids. 

Look at that cute face...in 2 weeks I think he will be ready to run!  I just don't think I'm ready for that!

"I'm going to play Ahmy Guys with Roni"

 

Jack informed me today that he is supposed to go play Ahmy Guys with Roni.  He got all dressed up in camo and his black socks and black shoes.  I informed him Roni was gone… he didn’t believe me, so he ran across the street and found out for himself.  He was pretty sad when he got back.  Man I love this kiddo!!

 

Happy 4th of July 2012

We started our 4th out by going to the Hurricane city parade.  It was to say the least a flop.  I  am so not used to lamo parades….but the kids had fun which is the most important thing…right?

There weren’t any floats, balloons, characters.  Just cars and trucks with peoples names on it.  Oh well!  We came home and were supposed to meet Leah and the kids at the pool…but someone had pooped in it so it was closed.

We ended up going hiking out at red cliffs.  That ended up being fun.  Leah and her kids came along!

{insert hiking pictures}

 

That night we had a party in the garage with a bunch of friends.  We had Nachos and popsicles.  The kids got to do sparklers and the girls painted nails and made chalk!

Later in the evening we went to the park and let the kids run around and watch the fireworks!  All in all it was a good day, but was very different than being with family.