Family Reunion Day 2!

The Chopped Competitors

Grandma & Michael

Kaity and Thomas holding hands

playing in the fountains

Kaity and Weston

Grandpa bought snow cones

Waiting for dinner

Michael at the park

He wasn't afraid of the fountains

Drenched

Michael on slides

Michael at dinner

Potato Merangue with strawberries and candied jalopeno from Megan & John

Carisa & Weston - he was a bit shy of the fountains

Vanilla Potato Pudding with a jalopeno/strawberry salsa from Tyler & Carisa

Jalopeno spice cake napoleon with cinnamon potato fries and a strawberry jalopeno sauce from Jared and Sam

waiting for pizza

waiting for dinner

"JOOOS" at the park

Running around

Playing grandma's piano

Day two was a lot funner for us than day one.  Kaity was feeling better and therefore we had less crying.  We started the day by meeting at the park by Tyler & Carisa's house.  They have so many slides and playgrounds to run on - Kaity was in heaven.  At 11 they turned on the fountains and the kids had a blast.  Grandpa bought snowcones for us to share - my very favorite!  Kaity especially enjoyed playing with Thomas at the fountains, she liked splashing him and even tried to push him in once.  After lunch and naps we got back together to go to a flatbread pizza place.  They had gourmet pizzas and salads and it was so yummy!  Even though we had to wait for a little bit, they had a big grassy area outside of the restaurant for the kids to run around in, so they didn't get too bored.  We went back home after dinner and the little ones played outside while we all participated in a home version of Chopped.  Basically there is a mystery set of ingredients and you have a certain amount of time to complete a meal using all three ingredients.  John picked out jalopenos, strawberries, and potatoes.  It was lots of fun and we all made yummy deserts.  Poor Carisa hadn't ever seen the show so she was at a bit of a disadvantage, but she did a pretty good job overlooking the mess and tried to have fun.  All three desserts were much yummier than expected.

Family Reunion Day 1!

Here are some pictures from our first day.  We went to the Boise Zoo.  Kaity was grouchy about getting up early, but the zoo was a nice, cool temperature all day.  Kaity called every animal "Elroy."  Afterwards, we went to the Boise Fry Company, which is this great little restaurant that serves different types and cuts of fries and has lots of different sauces and salts.  It was very yummy.  After our naps we played in the pool outside, but Kaity thought it was too cold and wanted to slide instead.  After dinner brought playing in Grandma's car - I'm not sure what they were doing, but at least there were two adults supervising.  It was a fun, full day!

Thomas voting with the zoo coins

Kaity loves snuggling to Grandma, and eating goldfish

Snuggling delays bedtime

playing in the car

Michael, Kaity, and Thomas

Having fun with Michael

Thomas in charge

Swing

Slide into the pool

Weston is walking!

Happy Michael, he likes the penguins

Kaity isn't happy about the bonk on her head

Pith helmet and giraffe slide - what more do you need?

a picture that looks exactly like Momma did

Yes, that's a real giraffe

Feeding the goats - Thomas used to be scared of them!

Swimming Lessons!

Getting ready to play "If You're Happy and You Know It"

Pointing to Daddy

As close to a smile as we got

Playing with the teacher, Jaime

Good floating!

Piggy backs and splash balls

Last summer our little monkey was such a fish!  She would get in the pool and splash and play until she was shivering, but get mad at us for making her get out.  So, this spring we went swimming with Grandma & Grandpa B and Kaity hated it!  The pool was cold, but that didn't seem to bother her before.  Finally, we decided to put monkey into some swimming lessons.  Every morning for 8 days we woke up and went to the Provo Rec center to go to our parent/tot swimming class!  By the end Kaity was a regular fish.  She kicks her legs, moves her arms, will put her head under the water without crying, splash, and she'll even jump in from the edge of the pool if Mom is there to catch her.  Here are the photos from the second to the last day.  Kaity wasn't very happy that Jared wasn't in the pool with us - she is definitely a Daddy's girl!

Overwhelmed

Have you ever been so overwhelmed with life that brushing your teeth seems like too much work?
That's how I've felt these past few months, which explains my lack of blogging.  Kaitlyn has been giving us problems, which I think we've solved now.  We would wash her off with a warm washcloth but since we didn't put her in the tub (more things to scrub), she would get a little chilly - she didn't like it.  Anyway, one day she pooped in her diaper and came to get me, and we threw such a big party over it, eating gummy bears and praising her so crazy good that she hasn't done it since.  However, she does take her diaper off when she's napping if it's wet, even a little bit, so we continue to put her down for naps with a onesie OVER her pants.  Sean says she looks like Superman, but we think she just looks like a dork.  Either way, it prevents access to her diaper so it works for us.
Jared has been having trouble sleeping and when we were in Boise a few months ago, his dad heard him sleeping one morning.  Jared's dad has long had sleep apnea and has used a mask at nights - so he know what he was hearing that morning.  We came back and Jared passed the simple apnea test with flying colors - so now he sleeps with a mask.  It took some time to get the right mask and fit and get used to sleeping with it.  In the beginning he'd take a sleeping pill to help him sleep, but now he's got it down pretty well.
Also at this time, Kaity broke Jared's glasses, so he had a major headache/migraine for a week until we could get the new ones.  Needless to say, it was tough with a husband who had a headache and lack of sleep so he kept dosing off.
The biggest thing, though, that's been getting to me is that we're still not pregnant.  I wanted so much to have my kids close.  I loved being so close in age to my sister and going to school with her.  We did so many things together and she is still one of my very best friends.  We've passed the year mark and we're taking clomid (that oh, so lovely drug that made me cry until I was literally dehydrated and couldn't cry anymore.  FYI - that was why I was hiding in Grandma W's basement during the rehearsal dinner for Tyler & Carisa's wedding).  Anyway, it hasn't had the same effect this time around, I've just been nauseous from time to time.  This is our off month, so hopefully we'll get pregnant so I don't have to take the Clomid again.
My boss has been crazy jerkish lately.  He's freaking out that we have 5 vacancies (which is, like, 90% full) but he's never here to fix things or take any initiative himself - he's only really around to stress me out and make me feel like a slacker.  It's not like I haven't hooked a google number to my cell phone so that I'm accessible to our tenants and prospectives even when it's not office hours - oh wait, I have...
Anyway, that is my rant, if you've made it this far, I'm sorry you had to hear so much whining.  I just had to get it out.
Hopefully soon I can post pictures of Kaity's swimming class - so this depressing post won't be forefront.