Ahhhhh, Summer

Kelsi and I took a trip to CA to see my family. It was great to see everyone and a great time was had by all.

Notice anything about this pic?? It's the water. The day we chose to hit my sisters neighborhood pool was the day the filter seemed to be on the fritz. So, the kids played in the water and Tamar and I tried to avoid it as much as possible. Kids had a great time though. This is a pic of Kelsi and her cousin Emma. Emma was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on our trip. She is such a special girl.

We took a family trip to a great park. You can't totally tell from this picture, but this toy was AMAZING! It was so much fun. You sit down in it and someone spins you around. You are on a slight angle and it was pretty crazy. As you can see from my smile and Kelsi's smile we laughed the whole time. I think everyone, including the adults took a turn on this toy.




My shabby apple little girl. She's so stinkin' cute.

We took the kids to the zoo. The petting zoo area was closed which I was bummed about, but Kelsi seemed to enjoy herself regardless.

The zoo had a carousel. Kelsi went on it just fine which gave me hope for Disneyland this fall. Last summer she was terrified of the carousel.

Sadly, we were only able to take a couple trips to my favorite place....the beach. We picked Newport both times and both days were just perfect.

Grandpa was great at playing with the kids and he built an incredible sand pyramid that I cannot find the picture of ! Sad!

All the kids were in on the action helping Grandpa build.

Kelsi napped 2 out of the 12 days we were gone. She got some sand in her eyes and all it took was one verse of her favorite song and she passed out on me. Such a sweetie.




Another one of her 15 minute cat naps that she got in (usually in the car).

But overall, she was a HAPPY girl even with little sleep. Then again, she IS eating Cafe Rio in this picture and who WOULDN'T be happy eating that?

More park pictures. Kelsi standing on a small platform almost 7 ft. in the air. She thinks she is SO big. She hates the "little kid" playgrounds.

It was great to see my sisters.

but it was great to come home. Kelsi was SOOOOO excited to see John. It made me well up. She did pretty well on the plane with a few exceptions (such as taking off and landing), but everyone was really nice on the plane and seemed to be more concerned for her than annoyed.



Such a happy reunion. I wish I had a video camera on me. I can't explain just how happy she was. She wanted NOTHING to do with me once Daddy got there and she just laughed and squealed all the way to the truck. It's nice to be together as a family again.




Once again, I didn't take too many pictures of all the fun things we did or yummy things we ate. I got to see an old friend which was great but didn't have to time to see many more that I wished I could have seen. I am so thankful for such great friends and family.

Zumba

My zumba instructor participated in the 1Goal challenge from Shakira (tape yourself dancing to her Waka Waka song and post on Youtube). I love Zumba. This song is pretty fun...not much booty shakin' in this song (only reason I am posting it). Not a bad job for all of us since it was a newer song!) Maybe I can get my fam to go to a class in a few days while we are in CA!

"All the single ladies"

I have to rely on my friends to send me pictures of my daughter (Thanks - Cathy!) Kelsi went to her first "by herself" bday party this week. Her friend Sloan turned 2 and had a really cute Dora themed party. Kelsi and her 2 yr old gal pals partied hard!

They played "house".



Chilled.

And got their dance on. As a party favor, Sloan's mommy made tutu's for all the girls and they danced around. When I saw this picture, all I could think of was the song "all the single ladies". It looks like Sloan's older brothers wanted in on the action too! She also pranced around for Daddy when he got home.

Lilies

I have WAITED and WAITED and WAITED for my lilies to open. I almost gave up hope and chalked it up to the fact that I can't keep ANYTHING alive....when....they finally opened around the 4th of July. They are my favorite flowers and they make me SO happy. We have yellow, pink, white with purple centers and white with pink centers. What beauties!

Potty Training - Take 1

I wasn't going to document this, but then I thought - hey - this is MY journal and what I write may be beneficial someday OR it just might make me laugh (probably the latter). Just skip this post...just me babbling about not being able to control things (one of my many faults).

So, I decided to finally stop being selfish and cleared my whole day and started the potty training process with Kelsi. A couple weeks ago she had helped pick out some underwear that she liked and the morning of, I wrapped them up and let her open them. She was SOO excited and wanted to put them on right away. I rolled back our area rug (SOOOO much easier to clean up on hardwood than a rug) and we went and sat on our leather entry bench and started to read books (while Kelsi chugged away on juice). Halfway through the books she started to fidget and got off the bench, I hesitated a little too long and she had an accident. I gasped a bit and quickly picked her up and said "No, Kelsi, we go peepee in the potty" and then I put her on her elmo potty and she went a TINY bit more. She got a sticker on her chart and a M&M.I told her it was OK, but that when she needed to go she should tell me and we would sit on the potty. She said "Oh, okay!" I rinsed out her panties and ran upstairs to throw them in the laundry when Kelsi yelled "MOMMY...I'M WET!!!" I ran back to see she had another accident at the foot of the stairs. Again, I picked her up and put her on the potty, but she must have got it all out, because she was DONE. We read LOTS of more books in the bathroom while she sat on the potty, but no more peepee.

She really wanted to watch her favorite show "Ni Hao Kailan" and so I told her she could watch it while she sat on the potty. She did and still no peepee.

THEN we had a snack (and more juice of course) and after we were done, we went back to the potty and had her sit on it while we sang EVERY song I could think of (still no peepee). We went back into the living room and watched the DVD "Potty Power" that someone let me borrow. She liked it and when it was over, we tried the potty again and still NOTHING. She wanted to watch Kailan again and I told her not until she went potty. At this point it had been 1.5 hours since her last accident and she had 4 glasses of juice. She started to whine and cry that she "didn't like her potty". While she was still crying, I put her on the potty again and tried to be as soothing yet excited as I could be, but she just whined and whined and cried and cried. She calmed down when I took her off the potty and just a few minutes later she ERUPTED in screams. She cried so hard she was hyperventilating and started to not make ANY sense. She first said "I have to go potty, I want to sit on my potty" Which she did for 2 seconds and stood up screaming looking REALLY confused. Then the insanity really broke loose.

"I want you to change my bum!!" (Picture each word separated by 3 seconds of trying to catch her breath from screaming). I gave up and said she could wear her pull ups. I put one on her but she continued to scream and ask me to change her bum. She said it hurt and she had an owie. When I asked her where it hurt, she told me "my bum". She sobbed that she "wanted to go home", "wanted to go to sleepy", "wanted to sleep in Daddy's bed", "wanted to sit on the counter", "wanted to lay on the floor". This insanity went on for 40 minutes.

The thought occurred to me that she might be constipated because I had only ever seen her this upset a few months ago when she was in fact constipated (and even that only lasted 15 minutes or so). I felt SO bad that she was in so much pain and I kept telling her that she was a good girl and she could go "poopoo" in her pull up and it was OK. FINALLY after I could think of NOTHING else to do to help her I asked her if she wanted me to say a prayer. She sobbed that she did and folded her arms. I just asked Heavenly Father that Kelsi would feel better and ended it quickly. No sooner had we said "amen" that Kelsi looked at me and SMILED and said "I'm happy mommy!" She stood up and said "I wont potty on the floor, or on the couch or on the piano...just on the bench" (where we were sitting when we prayed). I realized that she MUST have pooped, so I checked her bum and she had PEED. BIG time. Like she had been holding it the WHOLE time (which she was). She held it for a total of just over 2 hours and 40 minutes of it she was in a lot of pain and just wouldn't let it out because......?????????????? I DONT KNOW!! I don't know if I scared her, if she was just confused and it was normal. If she just isn't quite ready. I just don't know.

She was super happy after that, ate lunch, took a nap. When she woke up she told me when she was pooping and once when she was going "peepee", but she didn't want to go in the potty.

Since Kelsi is afraid of EVERYTHING, I was worried that I was pushing her too far and she would develop ANOTHER irrational phobia. So, we were done for the day. I took today off from training because I was so stressed out about it yesterday, but may give it another shot this weekend. I tried bribing with M&M's & she has a sticker chart - but they didn't seem to help. I may have her teach her doll to go potty or try naked potty training (her, not me of course) :) We were going to try it with a friend, but her friend ended up having to start early so she may have it down before we can get the two of them together. I know it will happen eventually. Maybe I will wait until after my trip to CA. Maybe I will make my mom or older and wiser sister do it for me. HINT HINT!

This summer...so far

I have been a horrible picture taker lately. I used to keep my camera with me at all times, but...not so much anymore. This July it FINALLY became summer in Northern Idaho. Kelsi has been able to chill at the splash pad (not pictured), beach on the lake (not pictured again), at the pool at the Kroc center (nope, so pic) and out on the boat (again....NOT PICTURED). BOO to me.

We took a mini family "vacay" to Clarkston to visit friends over the 4th weekend. The night of the 3rd a bunch of us got together to roast s'mores and let the kids go crazy with the fireworks. WORST NIGHT EVER FOR KELSI. She HATED the fireworks and screamed for an hour straight before we just took her home. She kept saying "I hate the noise! I want to cover my eyes!" So, on the 4th, we decided to put her to bed and lay low...it was a GREAT decision.

We had a BBQ with friends that was SO much fun (no pics of course). I will just have to keep the pictures in my memory. I was able to have my favorite mexican food and see some of my favorite people, so overall it was a great trip! I DID snap a few pics of the cute kiddos of course.

Can you all tell wha't happening in this picture? Kelsi won't come up because of the plants. Grant is showing her it's nothing to be afraid of.

We took a family walk at the river. These two little ones used to get pushed up and down this stretch when they were itty bitty's and their mama's used to walk this stretch when they were pregnant with them! Now they are running ahead. Time is FLYING.

I gotta find some places like this in CDA. They just threw rocks into the river FOREVER.

This activity also kept them entertained FOREVER.

I am going to try REALLY hard to be better about pictures. Summer is flying by. I can't believe it's half over already.

In other news, I took my first real shot at potty training Kelsi today.....all I can say is that girl has bladder CONTROL!!! (not in a good way) More about this topic another day.

Latest and greatest

Here are a few pis of the latest happenings in our neck of the woods. I threw a baby shower for this pretty lady. She has three cute girls and is welcoming a BOY this September into her family.

Congrats, Leslie!

A few friends from Clarkston came up for the shower, including one of Kelsi's favorite people. She was in heaven and wanted to be everywhere Ali was.
Cute shot from Father's Day.

Kelsi is really good at not getting out of her bed and she usually sleeps in until 8am so the transition to a twin bed from crib was pretty easy. However, sometimes she doesn't nap - but just plays on her bed. This day, she really was tired.

Clifford, the big red dog came to town a few weeks ago. All the other little kids took their pic with Clifford and were content. Kelsi took about 5 pics with him and then wanted to go back for a hug and then wanted to go back again for a kiss and then AGAIN to hold his hand. It was really cute, but I felt a little bad for Clifford.

John's sister Jalyn moved to MS. We are sad that she is gone. Kelsi will really miss her as well.

This is a whole new adventure for her and we are excited for her journey. We love and miss you Jalyn!

Memories from A-Z - Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Angel Games. I cannot count the number of Angel's games that I have been to. My Dad used to and still does get multiple tickets throughout the season (great seats!) to watch the Angels play. The only time he does not cheer for them is when they play the Red Sox. I now do the same.

Bishop. My Dad was bishop throughout most of my childhood in my ward growing up. He served for almost 8 years.

Cards. My Dad likes to play cards. We would like to have rummy matches and still like to play some type of card game when we are together. I also remember him playing cribbage with my grandpa when he was still alive.

Death by chocolate. My Dad is a self-proclaimed chocoholic. Thanks Dad for passing along the trait.

Entertaining. From his laugh (my sisters know the "real" laugh I'm talking about) to his funny faces in almost every picture with my mom. My Dad is a bit of a jokester and is always looking for the humor in things.

Freeway. My Dad has such a long commute. It is a little better since they moved a couple years ago, but he seems to always be on one freeway or another.

Gospel. He has a great understanding of the restoration of the gospel. He is a wealth of knowledge and I know if I have any question about anything in regards to religion that he will have an answer for it (3 hours later after answering 20 other questions that I didn't even know I had). :)

Handy. He is pretty good at doing things himself. However, one time when we lived in La Puente he was fixing something in the bathroom and he was looking at directions and saying that he couldn't read it and seemed frustrated. I took a look at the instructions and he was reading them upside down....in French. :)

Intelligent. My father seems to know so much about any topic. I could say, "Did you hear about xyz" and he would already be well versed on the subject.

Joy. I love seeing my Dad with his grandchildren. I have seen the face of joy in him.

Kisses. I remember when I was young my Dad would come at me with a fish face kiss. I thought it was so gross that I would run away. He thought he was hilarious. "Why won't you give your Dad a kiss?"

Linda. My Dad loves my mom. They always went out on a date each week. He holds her hand, smacks her bum gives her sweet kisses. He treats her with respect and has been an example to my sisters and I of how a husband should treat his wife.

Missionary. I loved and still love to hear stories about my Dad's mission in Ecuador. He has had so many spiritual experiences that have shaped his life. He continues to be a great missionary today.

Notes. I have several notes/letters/emails that my Dad has written to me over the years, especially when I was having a hard time that have meant a lot to me.

Open. My Dad has always been very easy to talk to. I feel that he has always been open and honest with me.

Pride. Or should I say the "P" word. My Dad does not like this word and would rather say that he is "pleased".

Quiet. Don't laugh. I know that he is one of the loudest people we know. I am talking about how quiet he is in the morning. I've always liked this about him. He always got up before anyone else to get ready and leave for work and still does. I think he is SO quiet and is very considerate of everyone else who is still sleeping.

Rowdy. Funny that this should fall after being quiet! However, I can remember many sporting events where my Dad was threatened by the ref to be quiet. He may have been thrown out...can't quite remember.

Scriptorian. He knows his stuff.

Tailgater. My Dad likes to hug every one's bumper. It's a little scary....especially if you haven't driven with him for almost 30 years. He is pretty aggressive.

Understanding. He has been a great listener over the years and non-judgemental.

Victorian. I always think of my Dad when I see a Victorian home. He has always liked them, probably because he is from Boston.

W (the letter W) - I remember playing charades with my family one night and I don't remember what my Dad was trying to act out, but I do remember a very tall man laying on his back with his legs up in the air trying to make a "W". I also remember that we couldn't finish the game for a while because we were all laughing so hard.

X. I really couldn't think of anything that started with an "X" so I will just say that my Dad is "X-tra" loved!

Young at heart. My Dad still enjoys cartoons and he is great at playing with his grandchildren.

Zealous. My Dad is zealous is everything he does. He is a devoted father, husband, ward missionary, employee, friend, brother, son, etc.

SWIM

We enrolled Kelsi in swim lessons at a private home in Hayden. I wasn't expecting much. I hoped she would at least get in the water. Kelsi surprised us because she ended up being the most vocal and excited kid there. She was also the youngest (the other kids were 3.5 and 4.5). She would shout out "I LOVE THE WATER" or "I LIKE THIS" at random times which got everyone around laughing. Here are a few pics that I snapped during her swim time.

Having a splash party

Sometimes she turned around so the water wouldn't get in her face, but she laughed the whole time.She played ring around the rosey. The other moms were really helpful, clapping and saying encouraging things to Kelsi everytime she did something brave like go under the water. She would come out of the water looking scared and then a split second later she was basking in the spotlight and the attention of all the "hoorays".

She learned how to Tigger Hop (bounce across the pool). The first week of lessons, the teacher held her and bounced across the pool until I realized that Kelsi was the same height as the 3 year old that was tigger hopping. We realized that Kelsi could touch the floor and she did really good at holding her chin up so the water wouldn't go in her mouth.

Kelsi liked to stand on the "frog" and jump in to Ms. Diane.

Her teacher let her go under the water a few times when she jumped in. She did fine, but the next day she was timid about jumping in and said "I don't wanna go under the water". Broke my heart.

This is Kelsi attempting to be a pancake. The start of learning how to float. Kelsi would just curl up and cuddle with Ms. Diane instead of laying flat....she was a little nervous, but I am so proud of her for doing it and not crying.



Swimming under the water!

Blow this picture up. It makes me laugh. This is Kelsi doing her "puffer cheeks". I don't really know if she was really holding her breath since her cheeks are so chubby to begin with.

Here is Kelsi practicing her kicking. She also used a kick board and practiced "reaching and pulling".

I am so glad that we decided to put Kelsi in swimming so young. After class today all the kids got to pick one toy that they wanted to take home (Kelsi picked a football) and they got a certificate and a coupon for a free kid scoop at TCBY. Kelsi really loved it and I will probably put her into another class this winter.

Jalyn's Reception

We celebrated the marriage of Jalyn and Bryce this weekend. Due to horrible rainy weather, Jalyn had to move the party indoors, but it looked great and you would NEVER have known it was a last minute effort. It was beautiful. Congrats to you both.

As was her dress.....LOVED it!

Kelsi hung out with the whole family.

But these two were the cutest ever! Hailey and Kelsi are best cousins. They are only 5 weeks apart and had SO much fun together.

They just danced non-stop.

Or played ring around the Rosy.

By the end of the night she was exhausted...which is just the way we like her! :)