Family Is Most Important

Buckle up people,
this post is par for the
course on having
a ridiculous amount
of pictures.
I don't even know why
I warn you anymore.

Let's go way way back to
over a month ago....
Here are Kale and Ellory
being adorable:

And here's Ellory being adorable all on her own:

And this sums up Kale and Ellory's
relationship perfectly:



We've recently started a thing
where we make a deal with
Kale that if he's good
all week and doesn't get grounded,
then on Friday night he gets to
pick something fun to do.
The first Friday we did this
he chose to have a campout in the
living room.
He also got to pick a special treat,
he picked Uh-Oh Oreos:

And he eats them by

taking them apart,

eating the cream,

and then maybe eating the

cookie parts.

I swear, no one taught him to do

that, he just has instincts.

Sleeping on the floor
isn't as fun as it used to be
for some reason..

Not far from our house
is an outlet mall.
We went one day in search
of some items,
but only found one.
Kale and Tyler had a little
fun, though:

Another day, Tyler took
Kale to a playground
to give mommy a much needed
break:

On the morning of August 10th,
Tyler's dad passed away.
We found out 4 months
prior that he had stage 4 lung cancer,
so it wasn't sudden,
but that doesn't mean it wasn't sad.
Thankfully, Tyler had just gotten
back the night before from
visiting his dad,
and he was able to say good-bye
to him.
The 10th was a Monday,
so the following Wednesday
we hopped on a plane and
headed for Utah.

Kale is the easiest kid ever
to travel with!
While in Utah,
we stayed at Doug's house.
Ellory enjoyed climbing the stairs:

And Kale enjoyed playing
the ipad in his underwear:

The funeral was on Saturday, August 15th.
There was a really great
turn out.
I took a few pictures,
but I almost felt odd
doing that.
I don't really know why.
But here are Mark and Josh and Kale
at the viewing:

Kale commandeered Mark's phone
for the rest of the viewing.

And here's Ellory with
Realyn:

Tyler took pictures
of the items of Doug's that were
on display at the viewing:

And here are the flowers
that were set by his grave:

What an experience that was.
The funeral was really
wonderful.
I enjoyed hearing about Doug's
younger years
from his sister Kathy and
his friend Lee Wayne.
Janie, Shane and Laura
all spoke as well
and they all did a really really
great job.
The grandkids all got up and sang
"I Am A Child of God", "I Love to See the Temple", and
"Families Are Forever" and I
conducted them.
We had practiced it a few times and
they had done it perfectly every time.
But this time, the tears started
to flow.
Poor Gracie was just bawling
and it broke my heart.
I had told them before
that it was ok if they cried,
and that they could just keep their
eyes on me and I would
help them through.
But then, to see Gracie sobbing,
I just couldn't hold it together
and then I started crying.
Well, that sent most of
the rest of them over the edge, too.
Sadie and Kolby and Kale
didn't cry, and Addy only
cried a little bit.
I felt bad.
I was also happy though that Kale
wasn't jumping up and down
playing peek-a-boo like
he had when we'd practiced.

I am thankful to know that
families are forever
and that we will see Doug again.

On Sunday we went
to a random ward's sacrament meeting.
Kale was being silly
with Grandpa's cane:

Sunday afternoon we all
went to Shane and Realyn's house
to have dinner together.
Then, we gathered
in the theater room and watched
the Wizard of Oz!

Everyone got mad at me for
taking that picture with
the flash.
Sorry I'm not sorry.

On Monday Tyler and
his siblings had a bunch of
stuff they needed to do
at Doug's house,
so me and the kids went back
out to to Eagle Mountain
to hang with Realyn and Sadie and Allie.

We headed to a
playground/splashpad
that was near their house
for a bit:

These girls are so cute
and so much fun!

Cousin love.

Ellory had fun,
though this picture makes her
look terrified:

Tuesday the kids
woke up sick so
 we chilled for a bit
and then headed up
to Salt Lake to meet up
with my family.
The kids and I were always
planning to come to Utah
to go to Bear Lake with my
family, so things
kind of worked out this way.
Everyone was in the same
place at once for one day,
so my mom decided she wanted
us to take a family picture.
Great idea!

 

I was happy to see Jake!!

Kale wasn't feeling well,
so he didn't really want
to cooperate...

But look at that good-looking family!

Heather brought her awesome
camera and tri-pod
and took a bunch of pictures.
I don't know if this is the one
my mom liked most,
this is just the one Dain posted
on facebook.

After we were done with that,
we headed to my Aunt Vauna's
house for some yummy dinner.
It's always good to
see her and my Uncle Jeff!

 

 

Then, it was time to go.
Tyler headed back down
to Provo,
and the kids and I went
with my family
up to my grandma's house in
Ogden.
By this time, Kale's fever
was solid,
but he refused to take medicine.
I tried for the majority
of the car ride to
Grandma's to persuade him to take it,
but he is stubborn.
I even offered to buy him legos!
He fell asleep,
but in the middle of the
night he woke up freaking out
and I knew I just had to get him
some tylenol.
So, I went to wake up my
mom but went to the wrong
room and woke up Dain instead.
Ooops.
Then I found the right room and
asked my mom to come
help me because I knew
I was going to have to
force feed this to Kale and I couldn't do
it alone.
We took him upstairs,
I pinned him down and my mom
squirted it in his screaming mouth.....
and he spit it out.
So, we tried again.
And he spit it out again.
Mom wasn't shoving it far enough
back.
I can't blame her.
Grandma's aren't supposed to have
to do the hard stuff!
By this point grandpa had come
upstairs and he
grabbed Kale and had a little chat
with him.
Somehow, he managed to convince
Kale to take his medicine.
As soon as he took it,
he looked at me and said,
"So, can I have some legos now?"
What. A. Stinker.

In the morning we headed up
to Bear Lake!
My dad's best friend
Mark Wayment,
has a cabin up there and he
was nice enough to let
our family use it for a whole week!
PLUS, he brought
his ATV's up for us
to drive around.
What a great guy!

The kids did great on the drive
up.
Ellory eventually got
a turn with the ipad:

Here's a moose that walked
RIGHT by the cabin.

So, I mentioned earlier
that the kids were sick.
Well, Kale got to feeling
better,
but Ellory just wouldn't.
She cried more than she
did anything else.
Especially if someone besides
me tried to take her,
or if I went to the bathroom,
or if I even thought about
sitting down while
I was holding her.
It was terrible.
And don't even get me started
on how much she didn't sleep.
Who needs sleep anyway?
I'm not exaggerating
even a little bit.
I felt so bad for
everyone that they had
to listen to my screaming
baby.
Doesn't that sound like
exactly what you want to listen to
on your vacation?
And it made me just the
funnest person ever to
hang out with.
PSYCH.
Sorry family.
It was still a good time, though!

Here is a time when
Ellory wasn't crying or making
me hold her:

And here's a time when
both of them were happy
at the same time:

Sometimes the mornings
were hard on Kale.
But he made it through.

Oh, and Grandpa got
him some Legos...

Here's Grandpa reading
to the kids at bed time:

And here's Grandpa taking
Kale out on an ATV

 

 

Uncle Jake's turn to take
Kale out!

Mom and Dad
rented us some waverunners.
Boy oh boy were those fun!
I had a blast on them.

Look how cool my
parents are!

Kale and Ellory wanted
to play in the warmer
water:

And the sand,
of course.

Uncle Kyle and Aunt Heather
playing with Kale:

So once I got on a waverunner,
Ellory wasn't too happy
that I'd left.
I know, I'm a terrible mom.
Grandpa walked around with
her and sang her some songs
and then.....

She fell asleep!

I didn't know this,
and when I tried to come in
to check on the kids I see
my mom running out
to me waving her arms
and then I hear her yell,
"She's asleep! Go away!"
Sweet music to my ears.

Nana brought Kale
some fun things to do,
because she's awesome like that.
One of them being Go Fish.
Kale managed to rope
Kyle and Heather into
playing.

On Saturday Aethea, Jeff
and Grandma came up!
Card games ensued:

And around-the-world
ping pong
was played:

I had to play while
holding Ellory.
Needless to say,
I never made it to
a championship round.

But Jeff was OWNING it

Then, it was time
for Ellory to take a nap,
so I kicked everyone out.
Speaking of ping pong and Ellory
sleeping,
one time, I put Ellory down for a nap
and then I went for a run,
when I came back she was
awake and screaming because
SOMEONE
*cough cough Jake and Dad, cough cough*
had decided to go play some
ping-pong and woke her up.
It's funny now,
not so funny then.
Don't mess with the tired
mom, people!

That night we grilled for dinner.
Delicious.

Speaking of food,
first of all,
thanks to mom and dad
for getting and obscene amount
of food for us.
It was so yummy and I'm
certain I gained 10 pounds.
Second of all,
thanks to Heather who made
us some AMAZING dinners.
Even though she's pregnant and
still feeling sick and probably
just wanted to curl up in a ball
and watch Gilmore Girls
to her hearts delight.
But no, she made us all dinner,
like 5 of the 7 nights.
Kyle did good!

It was so fun to see
Dain again.
Too bad his first time
meeting Ellory was a bit of a bust.

We took the kids to a
playground hoping
it would turn things
around for Ellory a bit.

 

And it seemed to be working

And then 5 minutes went
by so.....

The boys played each other
in tether-ball:

I love the following picture.
Dad's face says it all
about how we felt
watching these grown men
COMPETE at tether-ball:

 

And then they found
horseshoes:

 

 

This is Ellory's
"mom why aren't you holding me?"
face:

P.S. Isn't Heather the cutest
pregnant girl you ever saw?

I finally just had had enough
of Ellory's screaming,
so Nana took her and they went
for a walk.
Far. Away.
And she eventually stopped crying.
So when she came back
and didn't immediatley
try to jump in my arms,
I snapped a quick picture:

And when we got back
she even let Nana
feed her a bit:

We had Family Home Evening,
and Kale was silly

 

The next day we took the kids
to the pool.
It was a bit chilly for Ellory,
but she let Aunt Heather hold
her for a bit!

Kale just loves the water,
and he loved that
floaty thingy:

And then, on our last day,
we had the most fun.
Mom and dad rented a boat
and we went tubing!!!!!

Kale got on with Jake and Kyle first.

He was so terrified.
He wouldn't look up:

 

Grandpa was going nice and slow,
but what Jake didn't realize was
that because it was so slow,
if he leaned too far forward, the
tube would go under...
and that's what happened,
and Kale went with it.
He wouldn't let go of the tube!
Jake had to tear him off it.
And then he had a death grip
on Jake:

Poor kid.
When they got back to the tube
he started yelling at Uncle Kyle
to help him up onto the tube.
When he got back in the boat
he was seriously in shock.
He sat in a chair,
curled up in the fetal position,
wouldn't talk to anyone
or look at anything but the floor....
for 20 minutes.
I felt so bad!
Eventually he came out of it and
helped Grandpa steer the boat:

Here's Nana after falling
off the tube:

Isn't that water beautiful?!
And here's Dain:

Dain and Mom on the tube:

It was hilarious watching mom.
She just got whipped around.
And then, when she fell off,
she literally bounced across the
water, like a skipping stone.

Here are the 3 boys:

Hold on Dain!

Tubing is the funnest thing ever.
I got on with Jake and Kyle,
and it was so hard to hold
on because we were laughing so hard.
Kyle kept changing his position.
One second he's to my right,
the next he's above me,
the next he's above Jake.
The kid was crazy.
One time we got on with Jake in the
middle and his elbow right below
my face.
I knew it was a problem as soon
as we started.
Then, BAM, elbow to the eye,
followed by a, BAM, another
elbow to the eye.
I had to bail out just to avoid
getting another shot to the eye!
And then, I was laughing so hard,
and my arms are already
little weak things,
that I couldn't pull myself up on to the tube.
Jake was trying to pull me up,
and I was just dying laughing
and just dead weight.
And then Kyle starts yelling,
"You've gotta give us SOMETHING."
And I just lost it.
It was hilarious.
I haven't laughed that hard
in forever.
So much fun.
Thanks mom and dad!

Mom, Heather and Dain:

Here's Jake doing some wakeboarding:

I did some too,
but no one took a picture of me.
I can't even talk about it right now.
I got on the tube, too,
but the only pictures taken
of that were really really
blurry.
Whatever, I'm fine.

Ellory did great!
She got in some really good snuggles
with Uncle Jake:

Oh, so in the above picture,
that's Kale in shock.
Poor kid.

Nana spent a lot of time
holding Ellory.
Thanks mom!!

After we were done boating
we let the kids play at
the beach for a little bit.

Love my kids,
no matter what!

Then, our time at the cabin was up.
Mom sent Jake, me and the kids to
grandma's while everyone
else stayed behind
to clean the cabin.
I felt bad, but at the same
time, it was the first time
the kids had done something
to benefit me the whole trip.
Haha just kidding,
but seriously....

At grandma's house I played
some Mario Brothers with Kale:



He loved it.
And we took the kids to the
park for a bit:

And we said a quick goodbye to
Great-Grandma:

I love her so much.
I'm glad I was able to spend
a little bit of time with her.

And then, the kids and I got
on a plane back home.
I cannot say how grateful
I am to my parents.
They did everything they could
to help me with the kids
and the did everything they
could for all of us to make
the trip enjoyable.
And it was!
I am down to do that again any time.
Also, I have to say thanks to
my brothers.
They are seriously SO nice to me.
They always were making sure
I was OK, and doing
what they could to help
with the kids.
And they LOVE my kids.
Legit.
And my kids LOVE them.
Well, I'm assuming for Ellory,
but I know for a fact that
Kale absolutely adores them.
And, honestly, I just really
love playing cards and
laughing with my brothers.
That's something that should at least
be mentioned even though
I didn't take pictures of it.
We stayed up every night and
played cards together.
On our last night,
Ellory took a lot more convincing
to go to bed,
but everyone was so determined
that we were going to play cards,
they waited until I'd gotten her to bed....
at 11.
That's how much we love to play
cards together.
I love my family,
forever and ever.

Well, we made it home,
safe and sound,
and the kids were thrilled
to see their dad.
I was pretty happy to see him, too :)

The minute we got home,
Ellory went back to her angel ways.
No more crying.
Great sleeping.
Stinker.
The Saturday after we got back,
Tyler didn't have work!!
So, we went to the Silverfalls,
and it was awesome.
We got a baby carrier for Ellory:

And headed out.
The hike was short and easy.
And the waterfalls were cool:

Here we are right behind/under
the waterfall!

Kale had his map:

Holding up the cave!

Daddy/Daughter selfie:

Kale and I counted the stairs.

There were a lot.

We got rained on while we

were hiking.

I loved it.

It was such a fun hike!

Here are the kids 

at a playground:

Here is Kale in some

clothes that Alison Yanda

gave him for Christmas when

he was 1.

They finally fit!

Kale loves board games,

especially Candy Land:

Our library sometimes shows

movies for free.

I took the kids to see

Madeline and met up

with our new friends there.

Friday night Kale chose a campout

(surprise surprise)

Tyler was traveling for work,

so we had a lazy day:

I love these two:

I put Kale to work 

cleaning the bathroom:

And then, recently, it was my 27th birthday!

I had a great day with my family.

Tyler gave me thoughtful presents that

I love. 

He gave me new headphones that 

don't fall out when I run.

A griddle, which I desperately needed.

And The Goonies!

Plus, he made me dinner and 

got Grape Soda to go with dinner.

And then he got stuff to make

pazookies for dessert.

I mean, does this guy love me or what?!

And then we all watch Hercules together:

It was a great day.

I am so blessed!

Yesterday, Kale decided to

wear his ninja costume

and practice writing his letters:

And today,

Ellory decided she was

too mature to sit

in her high chair to eat:

Wow wow wow.

That was A LOT.

My fingers are tired.

Better get back to being a mom.

I'll say it once more:

I love my family!