Vegas Vacation!

This past couple weeks the kids and I have been in Las Vegas visiting family. My baby brother just graduated high school (wow I feel old!) and we went down to be there. Kati had her 5th Bday while we were there. We had a fun day, and a party with cousins. The highlight for Kati was that she got to have a whole cake to herself.We had some fun times slippin and slidin with some cousins, and we went to a beautiful park in Boulder City that overlooks the lake, and is inhabited by several herds of Big Horn Sheep. (and it has a great playground too!) Casey drove down and was with us the last few days, and drove us home. I was so grateful he was there when the car broke down half way! I was also grateful to his brother, whom we woke up at 4:30am, for coming to the rescue and driving the 4 hours to tow us home. It was fun to spend time with everyone, but I am glad to be safely home!

First Smiles

Our sweet Hailey has started smiling. Hurray! What a precious baby she is.

I don't know what we would do without her.

Preschool Graduation!

Kati (seen here with Teacher Laura) is officially graduated from preschool! They put on the cutest show. They counted to 100 and said all the abc's (complete with hand signals and cute sounds) and sang some of their favorite songs from the year including frosty the snowman, Crazy Herman, and my personal favorite, The wheels on the bus with custom verses including "The Grandpa's on the bus say watch TV" and "The daddies on the bus say (insert snoring sound here)... Wake up dad!" It was so fun, and she was so proud. We went to dinner before with cousin Emma who also graduated, and then Ice Cream at Sonic afterward with Emma and her family, and Uncle Russ and Aunt Tammy. Now she is all set for Kindergarten!!!

I just love this picture!

Ouch!

Saturday night, Kati came in to me, and begged me to ride her cousins 4 wheeler. I initially said no, but she wanted to so bad, and she was asking so cute, so I told her she had to wear a helmet and shoes. About ten minutes later her aunt comes in and says "Kati just fell, I don't know how bad it is." I go out there and her uncle is holding her. Blood all over her, and him. So, we start wiping her down looking for the injury. It ended up she had a gash on her forehead. It was pretty deep, so we took her to the ER. She was freaking out about having stitches, but when it came down to it, she did great! She dozed off, while the doctor put 5 stitches down the middle of her forehead. After, she got to call her dad and tell him all about it. She said "Dad, I got 5 stitches, and 6 SUCKERS!" She was so excited about those suckers. And then she says to me, "Mom, I was so brave to go so fast, huh." and started talking about what she would do differently next time. Needless to say, there are no more 4 wheelers in her near future. I said "Let's wait until you can ride your bike without training wheels before we try again." She said "Okay Mom. Good idea."

There is beauty all around...

Kati is sitting doing her homework. Logan is pestering her as usual.
Kati: Logan stop that!
Logan: Kate do you know my name?
Kati:Yes.
Logan: I'm Logan. Logan's are tuff!
Kati: No, Dawson is tuff.
Logan: I beat up Dawson's.
Kati:Well, Dawson at my school is tuff.
Logan: Kate, go to your room.
Logan stomps off.

Antelope Island

Last weekend we went over to Antelope Island to enjoy Casey's time off and the fickle sunshine. It was a beautiful day for a bbq! The kids loved digging in the sand with a couple of their cousins and Casey got to spend some time throwing a ball around with the guys. I got some great pictures of the Antelope, and the sunset. It was a bit breezy for Hailey so she mostly hung out in her car seat enjoying her cozy blankets. Aunt Trish buried the kids in the sand which they thought was super fun! It was a really fun day, and we all came home with a bit more color to our pale Utah skin. Hopefully it doesn't fade before the sun comes out again!