Saturday, July 30, 2016

Preston Idaho 2016








Another year another Preston Rodeo in the books. I don't know how our parents actually took us all to the Preston Rodeo. That blows my mind. We're not that daring so we always go to connie's first and just play play play. The kids love being outside, riding the four-wheelers, and shooting guns. Then we went to the sidewalk sale, got a navajo taco, and hung out at the park. Then back to Connies and on to the parade. The kids sure loves getting all of their candy…and i sure love sneaking it and throwing it all away a day or two later. They get WAY TOO MUCH!! After the parade we went to the carnival and hit up a few rides and played a few games. You can clearly see by that last picture how much fun Tate had riding the mini roller coaster. Bwah hahaha. It's not his thing. Yet. Then we stopped and got a hamburger and headed on home.  It wouldn't be summer without heading to Preston at least once.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Soaking Up the Last Days of Summer














So many fun things to try to fit in before School starts!! The kids always love to make a poster with our bucket list on it. Then we check things off as we go and it shows us all the fun things we do and still have to do to soak up summer! Some of the things that were on it we did here: Daybreak lake, swimming at Kathys, splash parks, Top Golf, play dates with friends, watching the stars etc. We also had on there a hike, lagoon, seven peaks, homemade ice-cream on the porch, wash Chicago, Blackridge Reservoir, Sleep out in the tent, lemonade stand, drive-in movie, St. George, Preston Idaho and I'm sure there's more we're missing. We better get busy! Still lots to do!!

Monday, July 25, 2016

Brave Kemp





I swear Kemps been sicker this summer than he was last winter. He has had cold after cold and almost every one I have either had to take him to insta care or straight to his dr. This time they wanted to admit him but I asked if we could try some different things to keep him out so that's what we did. We just ended up having to take him in every 3 hours and do treatments at home. I feel so bad for him but he is so brave and so happy and so easy to care for because we love him so much. He knows the mask makes him feel better so he hardly puts up a fight at all. I sure hope he grows out of this. I'm sure it's just beyond exhausting for him.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

KEMP




This little boy is ALWAYS smiling. He's just so happy. He LOVES his big brothers and sisters and trades off being a mommy's boy and a daddys boy. He's SO good at taking Naps and going to bed at night. He loves bubble guppies just like Tate did. And he LOVES chocolate. He has the cutest little voice and says the most darling little words like "need Help" or "nola bar" or ''I happy" or "thanks mom" which is really more like just two syllables than actual words. Love our little Kempers to the moon and back.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

CHICAGO




This is a pretty hard post to write. Actually I put off writing it for a couple of months because I just didn't one to so I just uploaded the pictures and left it blank. Guess it's time. But now that I'm thinking about it I probably won't write too many details because it's just so hard. - Toby had to leave to Colorado pretty early enough one morning that I wasn't even awake when he left. The night before we had wanted a smoothie so Toby had gone out to the garage to get the milk in the garage fridge since our regular fridge had none. He noticed that the garage door was up. Since Kristee was living with us he just assumed that she had forgot to shut it so he shut it figuring that Chicago was still in her pen where he had put her to bed just hours before. Elle had even come in our room and asked if Chicago was taken care of and Toby assured her she was. So he shut the garage, came to bed, we had our smoothie watched a show and fell asleep…then he left the next morning. I was awoken by Kristee coming into my room in tears. She said that when Toby left he had text her to say he went to take care of Chicago early in the morning and she wasn't there. He explained to her that the garage was left open so he knew she was just roaming around and may even be with animal control by now. He asked her to help me find her because he didn't want to miss his flight. Then through Kristee told me how she had been driving around looking for her and ran into an officer that said they had just found a black dog who had been hit. The dog hadn't made it. - I can't even begin to tell you how sick I was. I felt like throwing up. I didn't even know what to do. At that point Elle sensed what was going on and kept asking what was going on and looked so scared. I basically jumped in the car and started driving aimlessly praying that it wasn't Chicago and waiting for Animal Control to open so I could ask them. I called my parents bawling and saying what do I do what do i do? - well I finally got ahold of them and through tears begged them to tell me that the dog they picked up wasn't Chicago. It was. I haven't been that sick in a while. I'll spare the details of coming home. Telling Elle. Telling Cash. And then finally when Toby had text me over and over had we found her yet? Calling him and telling him the news. It was awful. He was a mess. He was so worried about Elle and I. He had just gotten off of the plain and was meeting up with his colleagues so they obviously could tell something was up. When he told them what had happened his boss immediately told him to get back on the plane and come help his family. I was so grateful. I didn't know what to do. Animal Control had told me to come get her or they could bury her themselves and I didn't want them to do that but I didn't know if I had it in me to go get her myself. The whole thing was just so awful. He ended up coming home and getting her and we drove her to Alpine where TJ had been amazing and had already dug a hole next to their creek in the backyard for us to bury her. Elle created a headstone for her with Grandpa Kathy's help and we had a nice little service for her. I was so grateful to TJ and Kathy for making horrible day more bearable for us. Oh it was just all so awful. We figured out in the end that Kristee had shut the garage but that Chicago had just run under it so it bounced back up. It was so hard and still is to think what was going through her mind that night. I try to avoid thinking about it. That next week or two was very difficult for us. We had so many friends reach out with thoughtful cards and flowers. We love Chicago. She never got the backyard she deserved. That thought hurt a lot too. It had been hard to drive up our driveway and not see her there. We had her 8 years. She was part of our family and will be dearly missed. Elle took it the hardest. She still gets teary talking about her. Kemp misses looking out the window at her and saying "cago". We are grateful for the knowledge we have that she will be in heaven with us. I really believe that. We love you sweet Chicago! We miss your smiling face. Thank you for the years of joy and happiness and for all the lessons of forgiveness and joy that you taught us.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Tates in Timeout




I couldn't stop taking pictures of him. I mean look at his face. Is he hilarious or what. I couldn't make that upset of a face if I tried. This kid is something else.

Monday, July 11, 2016

My Birthday / Elle and I Match!








For my birthday this year we did the same thing we did the last few years….which is one of my favorite things to do and that is swim at Tiani's!! I think all of my family enjoys it as much as I do. It's such a fun pool and everyone seems so happy when we are there. I also went out for a night with Tara, Jami and Lindsay to city creek which was so fun, and my neighborhood friends all got together for my birthday at Jamie Rothes one night too. My mom and I and Jamie were all going to go shopping one day and get a babysitter for my littles but they were sick so I ended up taking them with me…to Station Park and that ended up being kind of rough. Then…by the time I got back and was supposed to go out with Toby I was so exhausted and cancelled that…which didn't make him very happy so the actual day was kind of a rough one. But in the end we decided to go to a drive in and watch Finding Dory and the kids were SO good there and it kind of made up for it all:) - Also some random pictures of Elle and I matching because I love her and we can.

Monday, July 4, 2016

Fourth of JULY










One of my favorite Days of the YEAR! I LOVE the fourth of July. It was a little hard figuring out what we were going to do this year. Kathy had a hard month with Teren having surgery so we weren't sure going there was a good idea. But with our backyard not done and my parents just moving we didn't know where to go. It ended up all working out. We went to my parent new home even though they hadn't moved in for a breakfast in their backyard that their ward puts on. Then we all drove out to Kathy's and swam there but decided to have the bar b que back at our home. Honestly it was perfect. It was so fun hosting everyone at our house! We have the BEST view and I can't wait to do it again next year. Especially because we'll have our backyard more done and a place for the kids to run around and play. We had the Ashbys, Stevens, McGinnis's, Joni's family, Christensens, and all of our family over. The kids smiled from ear to ear the whole night. Such a great way to celebrate our freedom and this beautiful country!!!