Kylie is 9

I can't handle that I had her nine years ago!  This girl.. she never stops.  She loves to be busy and active non stop.  She loves gymnastics, snow cones, playing sports with the boys at recess, winning, playing with friends, descendants, suckers, playgrounds, roller coasters, and her siblings.  She dreams of being in the Olympics and someday having a phone, a car, and a boyfriend.  She is the best oldest child and such a good example to her siblings.  She works hard and wants to be the best at everything.  If she doesn't know how to do something, she works at it until she does.  There is never a lack of fun when she is around.  At the end of the night, she said "I always have the best birthdays.  Thanks mom for always making my birthdays so special" Happy Birthday Ky!

For her birthday, she got a new dress, new shoes (that she picked), new pajamas, and a stuffed animal from her sibilings.  She had short day so instead of taking her to lunch, dad got off work early and we went to Nicklcade and Mcdonalds before taking her to gymnastics and all watching her.  

She had a Descendants movie party with about 14 girls and it was crazy!  We had mac and cheese, opened presents, played outside, watched the movie (well half of them) and then had a glow in the dark dance party.  

Kate is 7

Kate is my choker loving, sweet, sassy, smart, fashionista girl.  She is so thoughtful, loves cheerleading, pasta, rolls, pedicures, new dlothes, reading, riding her bike, tumbling, waking up early, wearing dresses, and lipstick and helping me survive life.  She giggles non stop, is a fast runner, loves learning and helping, Junie B Jones books, and strawberries.

For her birthday, she took ring pops to her class, had pancakes for breakfast, went to Panda Express for lunch with dad, spaghetti for dinner, and then went to Claire's to get her ears pierced.  We got there just in time to see a baby get it done and she changed her mind.  So, she picked out a choker.  We came home and decorated cupcakes, sung happy birthday, and called it a night.  We decided instead of toys for their birthdays, we would go to Lagoon so she only opened a new dress, pair of sweats, and a stuffed animal from her siblings.  

She had a Descendants birthday party and invited about 12 girls that came.  We played lots of games including bingo, pin the badge on Evie, poisoned apple, making bracelets, steal the wand, and ate snow cones.  It was SO fun!

18 months

Cole is 1 and a half!!!! Old enough for nursery!! And Kayson is more thrilled than anyone.  He loves going to nursery with Courtney and playing.  He struggles a little with having to put away the toys and sit at the table for snack and lesson but he is getting there.  He walks and thinks he runs when you tell him to go fast.  He has found a love for books and wants to be read to ALL day!  He is still a good sleeper and finally transitioning to one long nap.  He is getting to be a picky eater and if it's not what he wants he just won't eat.  He loves fruit snacks and juice and most sugar.  He has learned the art of pushing his sister out of his face constantly.  He likes to look at books in the car, just started watching tv like this week, he still is the best snuggler ever.  He has mastered stairs finally, loves playing outside, hates getting his diaper changed, and is still pretty shy.  He is the best and we obviously adore him.

Newport

We drove on Friday all the way to the hotel by Disneyland which was amazing.  The kids loved being so close to Disney.  The next morning, we got some donuts and such and walked to California Adventure.  We went on Cars first and tried to go again right after but it broke down.  Then we went over to Toy Story and Incredicoaster and carousel and did those a couple times each.  We did the Inside Out ride, the swings, Soarin over California, Courtney went to the Disney Jr show, we ate lunch at Tortilla Joe's then half went on the Grizzly Peaks while half went to the Frozen show (which Courtney loved)  We saw the Lion King show, went on Ariel and Monsters and a few others, while the big kids did Incredicoaster and Guardians a couple times.  We stayed til it closed and walked back to our car at the hotel.  It was a long tiring day and SO fun!  We drove through Carls Jr on the way home and took Em and Masen with us and drove to the condo's at Newport. Sunday, we went to Church and then went to Judy's to visit them and Danny.  We came back and had dinner and hung out.  Monday, the boys went golfing and we went to Newport beach.  The kids loved it and played all day so we repeated it on Tuesday.  Wednesday we went to Disneyland and got there when it opened.  We went on Space twice and Star Tours while Courtney went with the others on Star Wars.  Then Court and I did toon town while the others did Thunder and Splash and Indiana Jones and Pirates and some others.  We did Matterhorn and Alice and Wonderland and went to lunch at Tortilla Joe's again.  I saved seats for the two minute parade while they did the canoes and missed the two minute parade.  We did fantasy land, the Belle show, Courtney saw the princesses, the girls rode the big rides again, etc.  We stayed until about 10 and they all fell asleep on the bus to our car.  Carls Jr again on the way home and so tired again.

Thursday we did Coronado and the waves were SO big.  The kids couldn't really play in the water.  Kate got stung by a bee, Court fell asleep lying on the sand, and Kylie got knocked out by a wave.  Em and I and Kayson and Masen went out and had fun with the big waves.  The husbands could have played out there forever.  Then we went to the Angels game at night 

Friday was Newport Beach again and we enjoyed every minute.  We stayed six hours at Newport most days.  We went back to start packing, had pizza at the condo's and played and packed cars.  We missed Cole Man so much and were so excited to get home to him but we got to have a little more fun since we didn't have to worry about his naps.  It was a trip to remember for sure!

Great Wolf Lodge

Day 1 - Drove to Fort Collins and stopped to go to church in Wyoming.  There were orange chairs and a missionary farewell.  We stopped for lunch at Mcdonalds and then at the hotel.  We went to Fazoli's for dinner by the hotel.  Then we went to a park/lake and it poured on us but it was fun.  We saw a turtle walking on the path and got pretty muddy.  We realized we packed no shirts for Kate so... that was awesome.  Cole had a hard time going to bed because he had a late nap and we were all in the same room so we finally went to bed around 11 with him still standing up in his pack n play chatting away.  We made it through the night though.

Day 2 - We had breakfast at the hotel and packed up.  We drove to Colorado Springs and Kylie has to go to the bathroom SO much that we kind of got mad at her for having to go so much because it wakes Cole up when we stop.  We got to the hotel and everyone was there.  We went straight to the water park  for a few hours and then KFC for dinner at like 8.  Cole HATED the water park and held on to whoever was holding him around their neck and cried if he ever got splashed.  He and Grandma even got the bucket dumped on them and he was not happy.

Day 3 - We went to storytime and then  the kids did Magiquest and a few other hotel activities.  We had pizza for lunch and went to the waterpark again.  Then we went to Costa Vida for dinner all together and then back to Grandma's room for a dance party.

Day 4 - We went to the Northpole today and the kids all found rides they loved.  It was so cute and fun.  We went back to the hotel and the kids did their Build a Bears and Kayson and I went out for our anniversary while the kids went with everyone else to Chick Fil A for dinner.  Then we did the waterpark again

Day 5 - We did the waterpark in the morning, took a break for lunch and mining and the arcade, went back to the waterpark, got face paint again, went to dinner and then back to the hotel for ice cream and more magiquest to defeat the dragon.

We drove all the way home on Friday and had Kate throw up within the first hour and stopped like three times within the first two hours and got caught in a police procession.  It was a rough start but only got better after that.

Courtney is 3

Courtney has been counting down for a long time for her birthday and she is finally 3.  We all went in her room singing happy birthday to wake her up so she could open her presents before Kayson left.  She was not happy about it.  She frowned and whined and yelled and turned over toward the wall, etc.  She finally did come out to open her presents and got a barbie with dogs from the siblings, an american doll, and a balance bike that she said "I wanted a pink one" when she saw it.  But... she did a lot better this birthday than last at sharing and letting her sisters play with her stuff.  Grandma gave her a reader and books and some Calico Critters and Nana and Grandpa gave her another reader and books that she LOVES.  Courtney is the fun and laughs at our house.  She can make us all laugh.  She is dramatic, tells a good story, thinks she's just as old as her sisters and inserts her life in nursery in the conversation when the kids talk about friends or school.  She knows everyone in all of our lives and everything about them.  She loves to play outside and could do it all day.  She is so good at entertaining herself and can play by herself for a really long time.  She loves barbies and books, costumes, dancing, shake it off, church, and really everything.  She has such an excitement for everything and is so talkative to anyone who will listen.  She is still boss baby and wants to be in charge of everyone.  We love her and can't wait to get our hugs from her every morning.  Happy Birthday Court!

ONE

It has been a day full of emotions thinking about Cole's birth one year ago.  From the epidural wearing off, to hearing doctors say "what is that?  I have no idea?  I have never seen that before", to them then taking Cole away until dinner time, then two days later watching him be taken away in an ambulance and the 24 hours of hard that followed.  Then the jaundice and later the physical therapy, and then later the helmet.  It's been a weird year and we have learned a lot, grown a lot, and loved a lot.  So many prayers have been answered, the Lord has been with us every step of the way, and we have been blessed so many times.  I remember getting a blessing the night before Cole was born and in it, it said everything would be fine.  Everything didn't go quite smoothly, but when they took him away for tests, I didn't panic, I actually wasn't even that worried, just a little bored.  How grateful I am and so much empathy for others I gained.  We love our Cole Man so much and he brings so much joy into our home.

He loves to make people laugh and already knows how to tease.  We tell him to say mama and he immediately says dada and laughs.  He eats good except when he is sick.  He has always been a good sleeper and almost begs to get to go to bed.  We love his lean in to cuddle up when he gets shy.  He is starting to walk behind things and just stood on his own a few times today.  He still army crawls and is loving to stand up to anything.  He really gets proud of himself when he does big things.  We are starting to taper off his bottles and we swtiched him to whole milk as fast as we could.  Veggie straws are still his favorite.  He has four full teeth and a few on the way but still chokes if we give him anything too hard or chewy.  He loves to have an LOL or a princess in his mouth and adores his sisters.  Happy birthday Shark!  We love you SO much!

Cruise Part 3

Our last day at sea, we slept in a little, had breakfast, did flowrider and watched it, watched some volleyball games, laid out and read, had pizza for lunch, packed, had dinner, went to a show, etc.

On Thursday morning (Valentine's Day) we got off as early as we could and got off so fast with no problems at all.  We took the shuttle to the car rental place, got our car, and drove to a state park where we walked around it twice and watched the boats in the bay and talked about so many things.  Then we went to Einsteins, then to Top Golf, then to a haitian restaurant, then to a park and rode scooters around it for a while, and back to return the car at the airport.  We flew home and now I can't wait to go away together again.  Now I get why people do it so often.  I missed my kids and was so happy to see them, but it was so nice to focus on Kayson and spend 24/7 with him.  He's the best!

Cruise Part 2

The first full day of the cruise was a sailing day.  We had an appointment to do the Virtual Reality thing but it was closed because of heavy wind.  We did rock climbing, flow rider boogie boarding, and then Kayson did flow rider stand up, and we did water slides.  We got ice cream and pizza of course and watched a lot of flow rider.  We had formal night dinner (and I do not recommend cod with carrot curry)  Then we went to watch the play Grease but I was so sick from the boat and wind that we had to leave early and go to bed.  

The next day was HAITI and it did not disappoint.  It was amazing.  It was an amazing set up and beautiful and perfect.  We got off as early as we could and went to the lockers where Kayson found his first group of Haitians to talk to .  They loved him and he loved being there and they gave us our locker for free.  We went and got a spot on the beach (chairs were provided) I relaxed there while Kayson went and found more Haitians to talk to and see what they were selling.  Then we did the zipline (the worlds longest zipline over water)  It was so cool!  Then we had lunch provided and went shopping for Haitian stuff.  Then we went to the beach on the other side and went for a swim.  Kayson watched intently as we passed Port au Paix, we had dinner, and went to a show

The next day was Jamaica.  We did just a beach excursion and were kind of stuck there for 4 hours.  People weren't allowed to go very far in the water so we didn't end up swimming.  We laid out, read, ate lunch, and walked in the water, then rode the bus back to the port, shopped, and got back on the boat.  We watched the belly flop contest and did more flowrider and water slides, dinner, and another show.

Cruise Part 1

We flew into Ft Lauderdale overnight and got in about 5 am.  We picked up the rental car and, stopped at Mcdonalds, and drove to the airbnb housewe were staying at and went to sleep.  We slept from about 6-10 and went out to breakfast at a pancake house.  Then we went to a park to do stand up paddle boarding.  It was a little hard at first but so fun!  It had little trails of water and then a huge lake area in the middle.  We ended up on a trail that was way longer than we thought and were a little later getting back than we should have been.  I was so tired by the time the last trail ended into the big lake and we had to go all the way across and down but we made it!  From there, we went to Ft Lauderdale beach and chatted and hung out in the water for a while.  Then we rented electric scooters and rode around for a bit.  We stopped at a haitian restaurant for dinner (where the guy right before Kayson ordered the last of the goat)  We ate and went back to the house to go to bed.  

The next morning, we ate breakfast at waffle house, turned in our rental car, and got an Uber to take us into the port to board the ship.  The process was quick and easy and we walked around the boat looking at everything and had some pizza.  We went to our rooms, put on our swimsuits, and went and did water slides and watched some Flow Rider boogie boarding.  We got ready for dinner and had a yummy fancy dinner, and watched a dance party in the promenade.  

11 Months

I cannot believe Cole is almost one.  He is not very close to walking and just starting to be able to stand up and play with his activity table or stand up and hold on to the couch or a chair or whatever else.  We have taken away his third nap so we don't have to wake him up at 9:30 or 10.  The evenings are getting a little better but still kind of hard to get homework done and baths and scriptures and dinner and everything else when he is a little fussy.  He is able to stay awake longer than an hour and a half now and can do 2 or 2.5 sometimes.  He was eating SO much but it's staring to slow down a little and he is even starting to get a little picky and just throws it if he doesn't want to eat it.  He has the cutest laugh and is starting to be funny.  He is crawling but still mostly army crawling.  His favorite activity is taking the nightlight out of the outlet and sucking on it and opening and playing with doors.  He is a sweet boy and when I say "give me kisses" he opens his mouth.  He leans in to give hugs and puts his cheek against mine.  We love our little boy!

10 Months

Cole Man Shark is 10 months old.  He loves to stand holding our hands, even stood for a second all by himself.  He is eating anything and everything and seriously will eat as long as we will let him.  We are trying to get rid of his third nap and get him to bed earlier but he is not making it easy on us.  He just cannot go very long without getting unruly but has been sleeping from about 8:30 to 8 in the morning.  It's just 6-8 that gets a little rough.  Bedtime being the same for everyone is a little crazy and him being unhappy from 7-8 is hard but hopefully he will get better and better with the transition.  He might get his helmet off this week, fingers crossed.  I swear he said "hi" once.  He can stand up to his activity table when we put him there standing up.  He cannot stand himself up to something yet.  He has developed a teasing/ almost fake laugh that it hilarious.  He had his second procedure and did great again.  He is a tough boy and his cyst is almost non existent.  His top two teeth are about to or barely poking through, he likes playing peek a boo, loves pulling hair, crawls around everywhere.  His favorite thing to crawl to is the night light that he then pulls out and sucks on.  He loves to give kisses and is so good in the car, still loves to stand and jump on everyone's laps.  He is not a fan of his walker or jumparoo anymore because he knows we will put him there and walk away.  He is the most handsome baby boy that we adore!