Utah Trip

A few weeks ago we hit a big milestone.  Matthew finished his second year of medical school.  Woo Hoo!!  We are halfway done and I couldn't be more proud of my husband.  He has worked so hard and long and has sacrificed lots of sleep and family time into studying and cramming for tests and finals.  We had a two week break before summer term began and had nothing planned.  Yes, nothing.  I was feeling kind of bad that this was his one break this summer and we were doing zip.  So on a whim we decided we wanted to drive to Utah. So we literally packed up and drove out the next day. I'm so glad we did, it was just what we needed.

We drove out on Sunday, May 20th (our 6 year anniversary!) and stayed the night in St. George.  We actually did that on purpose so we were in the perfect spot to see the way cool solar eclipse that night.  I'm so glad we planned that right because it was really neat to see in person.  You had to have special glasses to look at the sun which we didn't but some other nice spectators let us borrow theirs. We saw the moon pass right over the sun until all you see was the "ring of fire" as they call it where it's just the outline of the sun.  Cool experience!

The first half of the trip we stayed with my grandparents in Orem.  They were so nice and willing to let us stay with them on such short notice.  Austin has only met them a couple of times but he took right to them and loved playing with them.  We had a cousins party with all my cousins who are still in the area and had fun catching up with everyone.  We also spent a lot of time with Matthew's sister Aubrey who live in the area. Her son Aaron and Austin are less than a year apart and love playing with each other. And since we last saw each other, Aubrey and I both had babies so it was fun for us to meet each other's babies.

Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

My sister Ciera got to meet Kensley for the first time

Austin trying to figure out how to do a cartwheel

Thanks Allens!

The second half of our trip we stayed with Matthew's parents in Salt Lake.  Austin loved it over there because there are so many toys.  I don't think he was ever bored!  

Kensley and Aubrey's new baby Declan

 Love that face!

 Playing play dough with Nonna. 

Me and my two fabulous sister-in-laws

The weather in Utah was so pretty! We did as much as we could outside.  Austin loved this little bike and rode it as much as he could despite his facial expression. 

 Kensley meets Granny for the first time

All of Matthew's siblings plus spouses with grandparents in the middle.

 Austin couldn't get enough of the trampoline.  I think just about everyone took a turn going outside to jump with him.

 So happy to meet each other's babies. Declan is 1 month, Kensley is 4 months

 Walking around Temple Square. Austin was pretty excited to visit a temple so close up.  We also walked around the new mall across the street from the temple and wow!   It's very amazing and I want to go back.

Austin and Aaron played so well together!

 Getting ice-cream from the ice-cream truck They both loved that and thought that was the coolest thing ever!

We only planned on staying in Utah for a week but we ended up staying for the whole two weeks since we were having such a good time.  I'm so glad we did.  Both kids did really great on the road trip there and back and I'm so glad that so much family got to meet Kensley.  

Bathing Beauty

Check out this little girl's first time in her bathing suit.  So cute!  She wasn't really a fan of the water so we hung out in the shade while Austin played.

Father and Son

Last weekend Matthew and Austin got to go on their first father and sons camp out.  It was the perfect weekend since Matthew didn't have a test the following Monday like he usually does. This is the first time Austin has been camping and he was so excited.  Almost too much so in the fact that he wouldn't take a nap that day. Matthew said Austin was great and really fun the whole time.

 I guess his favorite parts were going to go look for sticks and hanging out inside the tent.  He thought the tent was the coolest thing ever and thought the sleeping bags were such a novelty. I guess he would always come inside the tent and lay down on the sleeping bag just because he thought it was so cool.  He also loves flashlights and loved being able to use his in the dark.

  When it was time for bed Matthew took Austin inside the tent, read him the books I packed and then they both laid down and Austin went to sleep.  I was a little worried that it wouldn't go as smoothly.  However,  Austin did wake up a 4:30am ready to get up and play! Poor Matthew. So they got up and looked for more sticks until everyone else got up.

I'm so glad Matthew took these pictures for me to see!  I love seeing them have so much fun together.  Kensley and I had some great girl time while they were gone which included root beer floats, sewing, sleeping in, and cuddling. 

3 Months

Our little Kensley is 3 months now.  I can't believe she is that old already!  She has developed so much already and just gets cuter every day.  Her biggest milestone so far is that she has started to roll over. She doesn't do it all the time, but I did get it on video and she has done it several times since.  She is really starting to get interested in toys and is getting good at focusing and watching things.  She also loves to stare at Austin whatever he is doing.

She loves to give us lots of smile but I have yet to capture it on camera! She also has started to coo and use her voice.  I love it when she looks right at me and then seems to tell me a whole story in coos and noises.  Austin still loves her sister but he loves to get a reaction out of her whenever he hugs or kisses her which usually results in him being too hard and her crying.  He seems to just love that she reacts to him. But too bad he enjoys the negative reactions.

I just took Kensley to the doctor today because she is tongue tied just like Austin. I took her in so young because she still isn't a great eater and I am wondering if she is having to work too hard with that tongue.  The doctor said yes, she is pretty tied down and needs to get it clipped and since she is so young we could do it right in the office with some numbing medicine. Ok. He leaves to go get some paperwork and I am telling Austin that Kensley has to get her tongue fixed soon just like he did.  When he doctor gets back he is all gloved up ready to go!  I had no idea he meant lets do this right now!  So Kensley sits right on my lap and with the help of a nurse to hold her still, Austin is sitting right next to me just watching the whole thing and the doctor does it.  Of course she screams which breaks my heart but she really recovered very quickly and seems to be eating fine without any pain.  

It really is so fun having a little girl around!  I feel like we are finally figuring out her schedule.  She is taking 4 naps a day with one of them being a nice 2-3 hour nap.  I love having a schedule and knowing what to plan around. I think we are past the hardest point of adjusting.  She still gets up 2 times during the night to eat and gets up around 6am on the dot with Austin. Funny how both my kids do that.

Jenna's Visit

Over Easter weekend, my twin sister was able to come visit!  She lives in Kansas and so we really don't see each other that often.  We had been planning this visit for months and so I'm so glad we  finally made it happen!  She and her two kids stayed with us for a week and we were able to do a lot with them here.  Austin loved having some quality cousin time too.  He literally followed Cade around the whole week and did whatever he did.  He was like Cade's shadow the entire week.  Here was our week in pictures:

We do an art class with some friends and this week was at our house.  Cade is only 18 months older than Austin but he was definitely far advanced in all the fine moter skills we did. It was fun to see him actually make the intended projects whereas Austin just likes to play around with the glue stick! And I love how he likes to write his name on everything.

At the Easter festival at Matthew's school.  Once again, Austin was terrified of the Easter Bunny.

 Our good friend Melissa! We were all roommates in college and now Melissa's husband and mine happen to be going to the same medical school and live right next to each other.  So it was fun for Jenna to spend time with Melissa too.

 Jenna got in some good Kensley time!

While kids were sleeping we watched lots of Downton Abbey and made matching maxi skirts!  It was so very fun to work on a project together.

 We do a little preschool with some friends and this week was also at my house so here we were all playing doctor with all of Austin's "sick" stuffed animals.  They all loved it!

Dying Easter eggs. We actually did this Monday morning since we ran out of time on Easter Sunday.  They really got the hang of it and all did a great job.

 

We went to the Children's museum in Phoenix and the kids just loved it.  Here, Austin and Cade were running through the noodle forest!  We all had a blast there.

 Melissa and Madison came with us to the Museum. Here we all are doing a craft in the art room.

 Austin and Cade watching their favorite movie: Cars

 Playing trains together.   They really played so well together all week long.

We walked up to Matthew's campus for a music class and then stopped for a ride on this swing.  Cute Cousins.

Twins with girls!

The boys at the Easter carnival waiting for the Easter egg hunt.  

 Enjoying the spoils after the egg hunt.

Playing at the pool.  Austin literally did anything Cade did. It was pretty cute to watch.

 Kensley at the pool

 Rylee in all cuteness

Twin picture

I'm so glad they were all able to come!  We had such a good time and the week flew by so quick!  I already want to get together again.

Easter

This year for Easter my twin sister Jenna and her kids were able to come down to visit! ( A whole post will be dedicated to that!)  But I wanted to share the Easter pictures that we took.  Jenna made the dresses for our girls!  I was way impressed with them and love how they turned out.  I made the bows ( not nearly as impressive) and then we were both frantically finishing the boys' ties Sunday morning!  I love how they are all matching and it was so nice to get pictures with all the cousins together!

We never got one of Jenna and I together because we were trying too hard to get these all taken and be on time to church!

Around Here

Things have been pretty up and down around here.  We are adjusting to having two kids right in the middle of the hardest semester of school yet. ( I feel like I keep saying we are in the hardest semester but this one really tops them all!) We have good days and bad days as well as good nights and bad nights.  Some of our ups have been Kensley starting to smile, Austin still loving her to pieces, nice weather park days and Matthew scoring well on tests.  Some of our downs have been Kensley getting a bad cold,  still getting up 2-3 times every night and Matthew being gone so so much.   That's just our life these days but the good thing is all our 'down' things are very temporary and will come to an end. Yay!  We also enjoyed General Conference this weekend which was a good spiritual boost.  I feel like I have lacked in taking as many picture of Kensley at this age as I did with Austin but here are a few from recently.

We had a fun St. Patty's party at the park with some friends.  Austin was also wearing green but ran when then camera was brought out. Thanks Alexi for Kensley's green outfit!

Austin wanted both of them to lay down with blanket and stuffed animals. 

Sitting on Daddy's lap

 Enjoying the park