Swimming Lessons

This week we had swim lessons for the kids. Whytli and Adelie were each in their own separate classes and it was Mallory's first year of lessons so we did a Mom & Me class. They all did really well and enjoyed going everyday. Their swim teacher is amazing and does a really good job at teaching them. They only go for 1 week and I am always amazed at what they learn in that week. They all really love the water and love to swim. Debbie their swim teacher takes their pictures of them under the water and gives them to us on the last day. They always are my favorite pictures so as soon as I scan them in I will post them.

Mallory was in her class with her cousin Gwyn and her mom Melissa. We had a good time with the kids!

Brett & his brother Colten did the class for us one day with the girls. They really loved having their dads do the class with them too.

Adelie didn't want to jump off the diving board for some reason but I made her anyway because she was doing it tons last year when we went swimming so it wasn't like it was something foreign to her. But I guess she just needed to get the hang of it again. She was happy she did it and wasn't afraid to do it again the rest of the days at lessons.

Adelie is a great swimmer. She has been doing lessons since she was 3 with Debbie (her teacher) and she can swim about 6-8 feet in the deep without anyone holding on. She loves the pool and practicing to swim.

Adelie took her class with her 2 cousins Kynli and Adriana. They have all been taking together since they were 3.

Whytli isn't afraid to jump off the diving board. She loves every minute of it.

She is a great swimmer too and has also been taking since she was 3. She can swim in the deep without a life jacket all by herself. She really likes to show off too when we go swimming.

Poor Baby!

Today we had to go to Primary Children's Hospital for Nash. He was referred up there by his pediatrician for possible Laryngomalacia or Tracheomalacia. I know, you are thinking what is that? Well, it is basically problems with the way they breath. Laryngomalacia isn't as serious (it is extra flappy skin at the back of their throat) and they will grow out of it but the Tracheomalacia is more serious (it's a smaller voice box) and they need surgery for it. Nash breaths very loudly and has since birth. He always sounds like he has a horrible cold. He also doesn't cry very loud. He has a really wussy cry in fact.

Anyway, they had to do a scope to see what was going on with him. Which is a little tube that has a camera at the end that they stuck down his nose to see into his throat better. It turned out to hopefully not be anything too serious which we are so grateful for! He had a very inflamed throat and the doctor seems to think it is caused by acid reflux which causes his throat to be inflamed and red like that. It also causes him to breath the way he does and to be so quite. I thought it was weird because he hardly ever spits up so I found it hard to believe that he had acid reflux but he said it was probably just always sitting at the back of his throat. Anyway, acid reflux is related to the Laryngomalacia and therefore he should grow out of it. He gave us some medicine for him to take for 6 weeks and that should help fix the problem. Yeah!! I always worry that when I take him to church or other places that people probably hear him breathing and think I am so horrible for taking a sick child out to church or etc.

On another note...we also took him to another doctor at Primary Children's who looked at his umbilical hernia. Which is HUUUUGE by the way and luckily he gets surgery to fix it. Mallory had the same problem and got hers fixed this last December but hers was not near as huge as his and I swear his just keeps getting larger and larger everyday. It's kind of a little scary to look at (those that have seen it will agree I'm sure)! And his pediatrician referred us to them as well because he said it was the second largest hernia he had seen. Anyway, usually they wait until they are 2 to operate but they are going to go ahead and do it now because his is so large and he doesn't think he will grow out of it. I had one when I was a baby as well and had to have it fixed. My mom was always so embarrassed of it as I am of his. (He is still so cute though even with it!) But....I am very thankful that he gets to have it fixed. It will probably be hard for me to have him go under with anaesthesia because he is so tiny but I know he will be okay.

He did not like the scope as you can see.

I had to have Brett hold him because I cannot handle these kinds of thinks when they do it to my children (or anyone I guess for that matter). But I took pictures anyway. The doctor just made me promise not to put them on You Tube of him being mean to my baby. It was sad too because he was in such a good mood and just smiling and talking with us just before they did this. Poor Baby!!!

"Mom, I like your Nash"

Mallory loves Nash very much. She giggles anytime she is around him. She tells me everyday, "Mom, your Nash is cute," or "Mom, I like your Nash." She is constantly asking to hold him too. He is getting so big, he is almost her size. She tips over every time she tries to hold him but she still wants to do it all the time. He is just starting to get really excited anytime his sisters come around and just smiles really big at them. They think that is really great.

Too tired to get my hair done

Today we didn't get ready until about 2 pm because we were too lazy (that is...I was too lazy). Anyway, by the time I got around to doing Mallory's hair she was soooo tired she couldn't even stay awake while I was doing her hair. She put her hands on her chin and rested them on my lap and next thing I knew her head was bobbing all around the place and then she slowing lowered her head into my lap. After I got done I decided to just put her in bed for a nap. She rarely takes naps anymore during the day but she took one today for a good 2 hours. It was nice!

Dance Recital

Whytli and Adelie had their dance recital today. They both did a great job. They had a great time at dance this year and loved it very much. It just amazes me how much they grow up, they are getting so big. They had a lot of supporters who came to their recital.

2007-2008 Dance pictures.

Adelie had her 2 cousins Adriana and Kynli in her class and her friend Isabel Hallows. She enjoyed going to dance every week with her best friends.

Whytli had her friend Abbi Swenson in her dance class.

She loved dance as well and never complained to go.

"I didn't pway!"

Mallory really loves to be involved in saying the prayers in our house, meaning she has to have her arms folded and her eyes closed. If the blessing on the food or the family prayer has been said and she didn't do this she will freak out. She gets really upset and says, "I didn't pway." And she will not stop saying it until we all fold our arms and close our eyes again so she can be involved and we have to say it again. I cannot tell you how many times we have had to say double prayers because she was like every little toddler and not paying attention and wasn't prepared but as soon as she hears, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" she knows she has missed the prayer. Finally, we learned that when it is time to say a prayer we have to make sure that Mallory is ready before the prayer is said. Well, today was Fast Sunday at church and so people were bearing their testimonies. Every time someone was up there bearing their testimony and would end saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" she would say, "I didn't pway!" I would try to explain to her that they weren't saying a prayer but she didn't understand. I guess for the first time I was a little grateful that she wasn't always paying attention to every testimony or we would have probably had a big problem and would have her freaking out wanting them to do it again so she could be happy. I have to admit, sometimes I have to peak and watch her folding her arms and closing her eyes during the prayer. She really keeps her eyes closed and arms folded during the whole thing too, no matter how long. She is just so dang cute doing it too and she seems like she is really concentrating and taking it all in.

Adelie's Birthday

Today was Adelie's birthday and she turned 5. She has been waiting for this day for awhile. She had quite an eventful day. When I asked her tonight if she had a good birthday she said, "Yes, it was the best day ever!" I asked her what her favorite part about the day was and she said, "All of it was, mom!" She got to spend the whole day with her sisters and family and had a great time. She did ask me the other day when was she going to have her friend birthday party and I told her that she already had it a week ago with Adriana and she said, "But mom, that was when I was 4. When am I going to have my 5 year old birthday?" I told her that she had the party for her 5 year old birthday but she wasn't 5 yet.

Whytli, Mallory and Nash got her dress ups.

Brett and I got her a picnic table w/umbrella for 8 kids and monkey dome climber for the backyard.

Brett making her pancakes. They are her favorite and she loves her dad to make them.

Adelie trying out some of her new "rock star" dress ups.

Lunch at Wendy's with her sisters.

She went to the Primrose Retreat Spa with her sisters and 2 cousins (& best friends) to get pedicures, fingernails done, makeup, hairdos, and play dress ups. They gave them pink hot chocolate with pink cupcakes on little tea sets. We spent about 3 hours there playing and having a blast! I have never seen little girls have so much fun!! Anyone who has really girly girls should really consider taking their kids here because they will love every minute of it. It is the cutest place ever!

Adelie getting her pedicure.

Adelie and Whytli with their pedicures done.

Adelie getting her hair done.

Makeup time! They loved that!

This was one of her favorite dress ups!

The girls pretending to have a tea party.

After we got home from the spa Brett was home and we decided to take the kids to Jumpin Jacks in Springville. It was the first time for our kids and they had a blast!

Aunt Lacey joined us at Jumpin Jacks.

After Jumpin Jacks we asked Adelie what she wanted to eat. She wanted what every little kid wants.....PIZZA. So we headed over to Two Jacks Pizza in town and grabbed some dinner.

After dinner we headed over to Macey's for ice cream cones. This was requested by Adelie a couple of weeks ago for her dessert on her birthday. She loves to go to Macey's to have ice cream so that is what we did. Brett's family met us there and had ice cream with us.

After the ice cream party at Macey's we headed home were the girls put on a music concert for us with their new dress ups. Lacey got Adelie a Hannah Montana wig so they had to of course do a concert of Hannah Montana. Brett then went outside with his brothers and mom and they helped him put together her new monkey dome for the backyard. It would have taken him forever without their help. The kids played on it for a little bit but it was too dark to take any pictures but they cannot wait to test it out some more in the morning! I'm so glad Adelie had such a great day.

Nash is 2 Months Old

Nash is 2 months today. I cannot believe how fast time goes. It seems like I just had the little guy! He has been such a joy to us all, we just love having a little boy in our family! His sisters love him so much. Mallory just giggles anytime she holds or talks with him. I took him to the doctor the other day and he has pretty much doubled his birth weight of 7 lbs. 11 oz. to now weighing 14.5 lbs. He is a chubby little thing but, such a cute chubby little thing! He is starting to smile a lot and talk back when you talk with him. The little tiny baby stage is one of my favorites. That is one thing that makes me really sad about being done having kids is that I will not get to enjoy this anymore. I wish you could enjoy them a little longer at this stage but it goes by so quickly. I love when he sees me or someone else is holding him and if I come over, his eyes just light up and he gets really happy and restless and just wants me to hold him.

Yes Jennifer, it shows his herniated belly button a little in this picture. His belly button really freaks her out. But I had to have one naked picture to show how chubby he is and he was kind of smiling in this picture. I haven't gotten many pictures with him smiling yet so I chose this one.

He loves the bumbo chair. Such a great invention!

He got tired of me taking pictures of him and fell right to sleep.

He looks so serious in this picture. He reminds me of someone (Is it his father, who hardly ever smiles for pictures and looks so serious?! Huh...interesting.)

Another picture of him almost smiling. I always get it at the wrong moment.

This picture is for my family, they all will appreciate this. When Whytli was a baby, we lived in Oklahoma and I was really bored because I did not have my family around. Anyway, she was a very stiff baby (just always stiff as a board) so, one day I decided to see if she would stand in the corner all by herself and she did. I took quite a few pictures of her doing it and she could stand there forever! She was so stiff! I would nurse her and her arms, legs and whole body were just stiff as a board and it was really hard to nurse her sometimes. Well, Nash gets a little stiff sometimes (but, not as stiff as Whytli did) so I decided to try standing him in the corner and he low and behold he could stand too and he did it for awhile. The kids got a big kick out of this too, they thought it was so funny! My family thought it was always the funniest thing with Whytli and the pictures of her have always been a family favorite!

Kids say the cutest things

This morning my mom called and asked if Adelie could come down and help her clean her bathrooms and do a few other chores around the house (my mom had a knee replacement a couple of weeks ago). So Adelie went to help her. At first my mom said she was acting really shy but that it didn't take long for her to warm up. She said Adelie talked her ear off the whole time. At one point Adelie asked my mom about her mom and if she died. My mom told her that she had and then Adelie said, "Well, one day you are going to die too Grandma." My mom told her that is right she is going to die one day. She then told her that her mom and dad were going to die one day too. My mom then said to Adelie, "Does that make you sad?" Adelie told her, "No Grandma, because we will all live again together one day." Then when they got done cleaning my mom paid her $5 and Adelie told her that she still had the $2 that she paid her last time. My mom said, "Why haven't you spent it? I gave that to you a long time ago." Adelie told her, "Because Grandma, I just don't have time to go spend it." I thought that was really funny and cute. I just love the things that kids say.

Rees Eagle Award of Excellence in Learning

Whytli got the "Rees Eagle Award of Excellence in Learning" in her class. She was really excited because it was awards day for the whole school and only 2 kids in her class got an award and she was one of them. Her teacher Mrs. Searle wrote that "she was so proud of Whytli and the outstanding work that she is doing. She always does her very best on everything we do. She is a wonderful reader, author and mathematician." Whytli is a great student. She has never once complained to do her homework. She loves it and she has always loved school! She loves to learn new things and is such a quick learner. I am so proud of her and happy that we do not have to push her hard to learn new things. Good job Whytli!