May '19- Week 1- Bethany Field Trip, Jonathan's Graduation, 13th Anniversary, Utes Baseball, Gma Gpa Setting Apart, Ben Baseball

Wednesday my parents came to babysit while I went to Anna's 7 Continents culminating activity.  I taught about South America since I have been to two countries there (Chile and Brasil, and my dad brought some stuff for me to show form his mission in Peru).  Dan and I went that afternoon to a cabinet showroom and picked out the style, color, and handles we wanted.  

Thursday my parents babysat again while I went on a preschool field trip with Bethany to the Gateway Children's museum.  (My mom curled Anna's hair and it turned out cute enough for a picture.)

McKady Kump babysat that night while Dan and I went with my family to the University of Utah Graduation ceremony for Jonathan then dinner afterwards at Noodles and Co.  So proud of him and his hard work to get his degree!  

Friday was mine and Dan's 13th Anniversary!  I'm so thankful we were together almost the whole day!  I'm so proud this man is mine and that he tries every day to be better and do better! We let the kids skip school and we went to Jonathan's College of Psychology graduation.  We tried real hard to get a jumping picture, but failed.  

We went out to lunch at Taco Bell and my mom got Jonathan and tres leches cake (his fave!).  

My parents were so nice to babysit AGAIN, while Dan and I went on an Anniversary date.  I bought a couple new things at Nordstrom Rack, then we went to the movies and saw Avengers End Game.  We had dinner at Zupas and then went home to watch our wedding video with the kids.  

Saturday morning I ran two miles then Dan had a quick work event to attend in Ogden.  Ben had a make-up baseball game and the field happened to be right next to cousin Eli's soccer game.  We went to chick fil a for lunch with some cousins and Gma and Gpa.  

I picked up groceries then we went to a Utes baseball game at the Bee's stadium as part of Ben's Meuller Park Baseball League.  We got a quick tour of the stadium, walked through the dugout (met the players), and got to be on the field during the nation anthem.  

They also had free face painting! 

We stayed until dinner time and then went to Gma and Gpa's for some KFC with more family!  You could tell we were trying to cram as much together time as we could before Dan's parents leave on their mission.  We gave the kids baths and got them to bed and Dan and I were able to spend some much needed time together.  

Sunday we were on time for church again.  We taught Mother's Day songs in Primary.  That afternoon, we went to Dan's parents' for their missionary setting apart with Grandfather and Pres. Farnes.  

We had a Cinco De Mayo dinner with everyone that night and Dan helped pack his parents' car for their drive to Nauvoo!

Monday was a good day! I ran 1.5 miles and felt pretty productive! After school, I worked on Ben's bug report with him.  That night, McKenna stayed home with the girls and Dan and I went to Ben's baseball game.  

That night I also started putting all the pictures in Alice's 1st Year calendar.    

Tuesday I spent a lot of time looking through old pictures to see which ones we wanted to frame in a collage in a new set of frames we inherited.  Alice has been really into books lately!  I love the book stage! Anna went to dance and McKenna to voice.  After dinner, McKenna went to Charley Alexander's play and we worked more on Ben's bug report.  

April '19- Week 4- Baseball, Bethany Beach Day, Anna LPM Recital, High Fitness, Gma and Gpa's Farewell, Bethany's school picture

Here's a cute video of Alice "unlocking" her jaw to get a bite of whatever Dan was eating.  Then she's playing with the Hip Hop Goose Grandma Kelly gave us for Christmas.  

Monday evening Ben had a baseball game and got two hits and a run! 

Tuesday I ran 1.5 miles and went on a ministering visit to Janel Barnes.  Bethany had a "Beach Day" at preschool.  

Tuesday night Dan and I had a long talk that caused us to do a lot of reflecting and reevaluating our priorities and where we spend our time.  We're grateful for opportunities to grow and progress together.

Wednesday was a day where I kind of felt a little down, but studying good materials and talking with Dan helped immensely.  Anna had an in-class recital for Let's Play Music. She played "This Old Man" and did great being brave! 

Thursday Dan was out of town for work.  We had the cabinets re-bid.  I played with Alice out on the swing.  Both Bethany and Alice started having runny noses.  I planned some stuff to teach about South America for a Kindergarten activity coming up then went out to dinner with Mickelle and Bonnie that night.  We talked about a guy Mickelle was interested in dating.  

Friday morning McKenna and Ben had an orthodontist check-up.  Neither of them needed any treatment!  I babysat Hazel, then Swa babysat Bethany and Alice while Dan and I went to the temple and did sealings.  I heard the new wording and thought it was beautiful.  We had a good discussion afterwards about feeling peace and forgiveness.  That afternoon Dan had a meeting about the Priest's aeration fundraiser and Ellie came over to play.  I took a picture of Ben's school paper that said, "The digestive system takes food on an amazing but gross journey."  :)  We had pizza in the car before Ben's baseball game that night. He got 4 hits!  

Saturday I went to a high fitness class in Murray with some Nelson cousins to celebrate Laurie Marsh's BD.  When I got home everyone was working on cleaning the basement.  Dan mowed the lawn.  Then I went to a stake primary open house to get to know other primary leaders in the stake better.

McKenna and Brittana went to a babysitting class at the library and Ben went to Cross E Ranch with Eli Forbes.  

My parents came into town for my brother's upcoming graduation.  We went out to dinner at Habit Burger, then we came home for treats and to get everyone in bed.  Dan and I went to play games at Melissa and Jared Smith's house with them and Scott and Kylee Nelson.  

Sunday we were EARLY for church since Grandfather came to hear Dan's parents' mission farewell talks.  We went to lunch at their house after church.  It was nice my parents were able to attend as well.  

Ben loved doing some front flips on the Johnson's tramp after the farewell.  

Alice was giving Grandpa some good snuggles.  

We had dinner with my parents that night, then went on a walk around the neighborhood and Anna fell hard and got a bad knee and elbow scrape.  :( Dan and I started some new habits of morning couples prayer and couples study time.  

Monday I talked with Dan almost every hour while he was at work and we both loved the frequent check ins.  I got these cute pictures of Alice, drool and all.  

I found some adorable "duck face" pictures on my camera roll from Anna.  That night was the Nelson family party at Russ and Britt's and we stopped by a couple Deseret Books first.  We left the kids in the car with my phone and McKenna drew these awesome pictures of sleeping Bethany and Alice.  :) 

Tuesday we got Bethany's preschool pictures back.  They turned out so cute!  I ran 1.5 miles then I met with Amy Hamblin to talk about Primary music.  My parents came over that afternoon to be with Alice while I ran kids to their various activities.  McKenna successfully auditioned for the 5th and 6th grade play Frozen!  She got cast as "Young Elsa" and is so excited to start those rehearsals in August!

April '19- Week 3- Baseball, Easter Egg Hunts, Dying Eggs, Yard Work, Adult Date Night, Easter!

Monday morning after the kids got off to school, I was about to start our laundry when I heard a spraying sound coming from the back yard.  Our irrigation water filter was leaking and spraying everywhere.  It's super old!  I got our neighbor Jerry to try to help me with it, but South Davis water ended up coming out to turn it off for me.  After a day of laundry, homework, and dinner, we headed to McDonald's for some ice cream for being successful with our "No Yell" challenge.  I will admit, I gave Bethany more warnings than I should have, but for the most part, we all did well! Unfortunately, our water softener started making some bad noises that night and Dan had to ordered a replacement part for it.  Gotta love all the repairs that come with home ownership.

Tuesday Dan was able to attend Jen Reudter's dad's viewing.  I did ministering visits to Shelly and Amy.  I went shopping for Easter stuff and listened to my book club book.

Wednesday I exercised, made phone calls to see who could help repair our filter.  I looked up information, talked to Tandi Lefler, and talked a lot with McKenna to decided whether or not she should audition for the 5th and 6th grade play, Frozen, with Ms. Jules. However, McKenna was feeling lots of conflicting emotions and was quite upset about auditioning most of the night...more on that later. Anna had music.  Ben wrote some thank you notes. After Dan got home from church stuff, he fixed our water softener.

Thursday I listened more to my book, and took adorable pictures of Alice.  Once again, she loved crawling while holding things in her hands.  Today it was Ramen noodle packets.

That evening, Ben had a baseball game and did great!  He got three hits! 

Later that night, McKenna and I went to Backstage to see the teen performance of Les Mis.  Unfortunately, both of us came home with yucky tummies. Thankfully, neither developed into anything worse.  It was a great show as well!  

Friday McKenna and I woke up feeling better, but McKenna still stayed up for half the day.  Desi came to play.  I filled plastic eggs and boiled some real eggs for Easter prep.  After taking McKenna to school and after Anna left for Kindergarten, I was exercising outside and Bethany scraped her knee.  We watched Hazel and I worked on grocery order and singing time stuff, then we had our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt.  Ben found a silver egg and got a bag of mini carrot cake donuts.  

Dan did some yard work, then we dyed eggs as a family! 

After that, I went out for dessert with some ward friends to Twisted Sugar (Andrea Walker, who moved a while ago, Marilee Novak, Kelly Kump, Melissa Roth, and Holley Searle).  

Saturday, the Easter Bunny found us!  The kids all got a book or two and lots of treats!

Then we did yard work from 10-1pm!  

The girls used their outside time to come up with a routine to "The Cover is Not the Book" from Mary Poppins Returns

Ben got a haircut, then Mickelle came to babysit while we went on an adult only date night with Dan's parents for everyone's BD dinner before they leave on their mission.  We ate at Chile Tepin then walked around the Gateway.  There happened to be a Jazz game that night as well as some event with a bunch of booths set up.  SO we tried a little ax throwing and safe archery.  And lastly, we stopped for treats at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  

Sunday morning was Easter Sunday and Dan got to be home with us.  Alice sat with the Parkers for most of Sacrament meeting.  I taught both Jr. and Sr. singing times and pushed a raw egg off the edge of the chalk board.  I pushed it closer to the edge the better they sang and it landed on a cookie sheet.  After church, we took pictures outside.  

Bethany wanted to wander and explore so she wasn't too happy when I asked her to come get her picture taken.

We had my Grandma Condie over for dinner that evening.  It's always so nice to have her in our home!

April '19- Week 2- McKenna Friend Movie Night, Oliver Baptism, Webster Easter Egg Hunt.

Monday I cleaned and did laundry.  I also took some dinner to Sis. Susan Stewart in our ward who is suffering from cancer.  Dan was gone on a work trip to Cedar City and unfortunately I had a head ache all day as well.  

Tuesday I met with Amy Hamblin to plan Primary music stuff.  Emi came over early before kindergarten. I did some clothes patching in the afternoon.

Wednesday we started a "no yell challenge."  That meant NO yelling from anyone, for 4 days!  If we were successful, the prize would be to go out for ice cream.  Bethany started watching the "Pirate Fairy" movie all the time.  I did more mending/patching, went with Anna to music while McKenna babysat!  We're loving that she is getting older and is responsible enough to babysit!  Dan came home that night from his work trip and I am so thankful for his hard work at his job!

Thursday I listened to my book club book a lot and pealed a lot of carrots we got from Jerry.  McKenna had voice lessons and Ben had scouts.  The kids made this "play pen" for Alice using our play horse fence.

I got a video of Alice's babbling that sounds like she's saying "giggle, giggle."  And Alice crawling with tone bells made me giggle.

Friday we woke up to some snow that melted quickly.  Anna went to Emi's to play.  I went to ladies lunch.  After the kids got home, they played at the Alexander's.

That night, we had 4 of McKenna's school friends, Lia, Lyla, Olivia, and Aliza, over to watch Mary Poppins Returns.

Saturday Bethany was up too early.  We gave Dan a haircut, groceries were delivered, and we went to Oliver Winegar's baptism.  It was a combined service with a girl from our ward, Isabelle Hernandez, so Dan conducted.  We had lunch at the Winegar's and Bethany fell asleep in my arms due to her early wake up.  I took McKenna shorts and Easter Dress shopping.  She also babysat that night while Dan and I went on a date to Sweeto Burrito.

I took a picture of Alice and her blanket from Grandma and Grandpa.

Sunday I taught the song "Faith" in primary.  Alice fell asleep at lunch.  We had the Webster Easter Egg hunt at Dan's Parents' that night and celebrated April BDs.  Bethany was loving snuggling Grandpa.

April '19- Week 1- SPRING BREAK!, Midway Crater, Mantua, Play Dates, General Conference!, Alice FIRST STEPS!

Slow mo video of Ben shooting Lego Nerf Gun and Ben, Bethany, and Eli Forbes smashing their magnet creations.

Monday we started the day by going through school papers and being productive with laundry, phone calls, piano lessons, dividing chicken to be frozen, and listening to my book club book.  After lunch, Lia and Arlee came here to play. Then we went to Bountiful Park for some outside time.  After dinner, we drove to Midway to spend the night!

Tuesday we hung out and enjoyed Midway!  It was cold and drizzly, but the kids still played outside a bit.  We also played scrabble and watched Studio C.  We had lunch and then went swimming at the Homestead Crater.  It was super warm, relaxing and fun.  We cleaned up, stopped for ice cream, and left by 4pm. We drove to Mantua and everyone napped in the car.  We had soup and rolls for dinner then watched "Hook."  After kids were in bed, we watched "Avatar" and I edited a bunch of pictures on my phone.

Wednesday we had another slow morning, editing pictures, finishing "Hook," playing video games, and showering for the day.  After lunch we went to see the new "Dumbo" which I didn't really care for.  We went back to Mantua and played Apples to Apples and Headbands.  After kids were in bed, we finished "Avatar" and I finally finished editing pictures.

Thursday we did laundry, played more headbands, Dan took the snow plow off the ranger, and went through his Dad's closet to bring home clothes he didn't want anymore.  We left Mantua and went to the Ogden Treehouse Museum on the way home and played for two hours.  We had dinner at Dan's parents' house that evening with other extended family then went home to unpack and settle back to home life.

Friday Eli Forbes, Paisley, and Lizzie, all came over to play.
McKenna organized the kitchen desk area on her own and we decorated for Easter.  The kids did hide and seek, stamps, colored, and playdoh.  In the afternoon, McKenna had Whitney, Lia, and Brittana over to sell pens and pencils on our street while I weeded a little.  Then Anna and Ben went up to the Alexander's to play.  Lia stayed later with us to have pizza and play at West Bountiful Park to get our wiggles out before a weekend of sitting listening to General Conference.

Ben lost tooth #7 in Dan's car that night.  Before bed, Dan and I set up a note taking board for conference!


Saturday we had our traditional french toast and we all did pretty well listening!  We took notes on our board, snuggled, jumped on the tramp during songs, and I did a super long connect the dots!

Also, Alice took her FIRST STEPS!!

Dan did some yard work in between sessions and I went through Ben's school papers with him.  I also continued to go through boxes of mine from the basement.  We went to Grandma's house for soup, salad, and donuts while Dan was at the Priesthood session.

Sunday Mickelle came to babysit while Dan, McKenna, Ben and I attended the morning session at the conference center.  It was Ben's first time (and Oliver and Eli's) at the Conference Center!  We also took some cute pictures afterwards of those three baptism boys! After the afternoon session, we met the Nelson family down town at the Church Office Building for our recap.  Something that stood out to me was that Grandfather doesn't ask the reason, or the "why" of a revelation, he's just "following orders" from Heaven.  We had our conference quesadillas for dinner and I had my conference call with my family after kids were in bed.