Sunbathing Babe

Isn't she a beauty queen! Kaylee Joy, all dressed up in her new flapper swimsuit and white sun hat, ready to go sunbathing for Memorial Day. I couldn't help but snap these photos of her in her adorable ensemble. Polka dots along with her bright blue eyes and perfect skin. I had to take the seam of her swimsuit in so that it fit her better and I sewed on the white ribbons on her sun hat so it wouldn't fall off. She couldn't have been any more sweet than this. This is one part about having a little girl that I just can't get enough of....the outfits!

Look at that doll, she is an angel.

And her big brothers just can't get enough of her cuteness either!! They adore her just as much as I do. And she does them, too! How blessed we are to have such beautiful, happy, healthy children!

Pizza Pizza!

The Preschool Group took a field trip to Pizza Hut again this year to learn how pizza is made. We had a great guide, Jeff, who showed us the ins and outs of Pizza Hut. The kids really enjoyed it. I don't think they remembered doing it last year. Jeff showed the kids all around the kitchen and let them help him wash some dishes in the massive fast dishwasher. We washed a butter container in the dishwasher and counted to 40. After 40 seconds the dish was cleaned and sanitized. Who wouldn't want a dishwasher like that in their house!!!

Then he showed the kids the giant mixer. Jaxton announced that his mom has one just like it! However, mine is about 100 times smaller. It was cute that he recognized it. After about 5 minutes of Jeff explaining to the kids what this giant mixer does, it mixes pizza dough, Cooper spoke up and asked Jeff what this "big machine" does. He was enjoying himself but was caught up in all the different things to see around him that he forgot to listen to our tour guide. Cute boy!

Then, Jeff gave each kid a ball of real pizza dough to hold, feel, and mold. It was like play dough! He helped each kid put his ball of pizza dough through a machine that flattened it like a tortilla. The flattened dough then gets pressed down into a pizza pan and becomes the pizza crust! Never need a rolling pin here! Here is Jaxton's pizza crust...

...and here is Cooper's pizza crust. Look at those cute dark chocolate brown eyes! Don't you just want to eat them right up!

Next, the funnest part, each kid got to make his own personal size pizza. Don't worry, they didn't use the dough they were playing with. They got to help press down the pizza crust and put cheese and all the toppings they wanted on their own personal pizza. Here is Jaxton putting cheese and sausage all over his pizza.

And here is Cooper putting the same, cheese and sausage all over his pizza. Next to him is his good friend Cameron Stump.

In order to remember whose pizza was whose, the Pizza Hut employees gave each child a number that corresponded to his or her pizza. Cooper's was number 5. For some reason, he was really proud to have that little number given to him. He saved it, protected it from trash-picker-uppers and held on to it all the way home. It was too cute how attached he was to his number. I think he was proud to have made his own little pizza!

Here is the whole preschool gang along with siblings and a couple friends. Around the table to the right there is: Jaron, Coby, Cooper, Kye, Gabe, Jaxton, Cameron, Danielle, and Kerra. Our field trip happened to be at 9:15 in the morning. So the kids actually got to eat pizza for breakfast! That doesn't happen very often! It was a fun day!

SpiderGirl

Yes, in case you could not tell, this is Kaylee, AKA SpiderGirl. Kaylee is going to grow up being tough. She has no choice. She is surrounded by testosterone all day long every day. The boys are wrestling with each other, running around chasing bad guys, and building spaceships out of blocks. And she absolutely loves the show! She is a great audience. She's always dressed in the cutest pink with the most adorable bow on her little bald head, and she smiles and laughs and watches the boys' every move. Its adorable. She didn't even fuss when the boys wanted to dress her up as Spiderman. She sure does make a darn cute superhero!

Spencer & Kaylee

Kaylee got to meet her closest cousin in age, Spencer Giraldi in San Jose. They were quite a pair! Spencer is such a solid chunky little boy with the cutest big cheeks. Kaylee is so dainty and feminine. They were adorable together. Spencer was afraid of me right off the bat. He took a good look at me and broke down in tears. Melissa had to take my place in the back seat with the babies because he couldn't stand to look at me! But that's ok, he warmed up to me over the weekend. He is such a happy-go-lucky little kid, just happy most of the time. And Kaylee gets peoples' attention when she starts in on her talking spells. She will start talking so much its almost too much to handle, especially when she does it at church during Sacrament Meeting.

These two little munchkins did great on our trip. They even slept pretty well too. Kaylee slept in a crib in the hotel and her wakings were just about identical to her sleeping patterns at home. I was glad for that. And Spencer too, he slept pretty well. Becky said she tuned out the babies and never heard them once, which, if she is telling the truth, is great! It will be fun to see Spencer again in 1 month when we take our trip to Utah.

Childhood Memories

While Melissa, Becky, and I were on our trip, we decided to take a little ride down memory lane. We visited our old house in San Jose where we grew up. We moved to our house on 1625 Ixias Court when I was about 2 years old. So that house is all I know from my childhood. I moved out of that house at 18 when I left for Utah to go to BYU. Shortly after I left, my parents left too and moved to Lehi, Utah. Our little old house holds so many memories for me. It was part of me for about 2/3 of my life. We drove by to see it and it looks good. The people that own it now have kept it looking nice. Our old tree that we used to climb on and hang from was chopped down. And our "popcorn tree," or plum tree by the road was gone too. Our fat little palm tree by the driveway used to be short and fat, but now it towers way high in the sky tall and thin. There were toys all over the front lawn, so they must have children, but the house looked like it had a fresh coat of recent paint. It was a lot of fun to see!

For fun, we also visited our elementary school, Guadalupe Elementary School where we went to Kindergarten through 5th Grade. We reminisced about all the different teachers we had and all the silly things about grade school. It looks quite a bit the same, maybe painted a different color. It looks so much smaller than I remember. As a small child things usually look bigger than they really are. And looking at it as an adult makes me realize how small it was. We remembered the "office" and the ramps to the classrooms. I recall "Olympic Day," art classes, plays, and my first flute lessons there. Fun times!

We then drove by our high school, Leigh High School. It looks pretty much the same, but they have built on to the campus quite a bit. Here I remember fun things like running "The Mile," Wind Ensemble, Yearbook class, Spanish class, cheerleading and dance team, powder puff, Band trip to Hawaii, and many more fun memories of my teenage years.

Grown Up Sisters

My sisters, Melissa and Becky, and I took our trip out to San Jose to visit our Grandparents. While there, we were able to spend some quality time together and to come together as sisters. It was a wonderful experience. I flew to San Jose from Indiana, and they flew together from Utah. Melissa brought her 7 month old baby boy, Spencer. And I brought 4 month old Kaylee. It was also a lot of fun to get the newest cousins together, even though they won't remember each other, they at least got to meet! And it was a whole lot of fun getting to know Baby Spencer for the first time.

Fisherman's Wharf & the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk were pretty exciting places that we three sisters remember from growing up in California. We had a great time spending time together, just the 3 of us (with the babes) and reminisce the days of our past. Fisherman's Wharf is a long wharf where they used to fish way back in the day. Now, it is covered with restaurants and cafes where they sell fresh fish and seafood. The smell of the beach and the fish was so nice, just fresh and salty! It brought back lots of fun memories. It was a beautiful evening, probably 65 degrees and with a beautiful sunset.

We ate at a fresh seafood restaurant out on the wharf. Our table was set next to the window, where you look out and down below us is just water! You could jump out the window into the ocean. It was a gorgeous view. We took a picture too late once the sun went down, but it was breathtaking views. We all had a bit of jet lag at this point. I got up at about 3am this morning in order to catch my 6:00 flight. Well, now, 3 hours behind Eastern Time, we were in Pacific Time and we were eating dinner at about 8:00pm. We didn't get to bed that first night till about 10:00pm Pacific Time, which happens to be about 1:00 am Eastern Time which was in my head. So I was awake for about 22 or so hours! So after that late night, I was switched over to Pacific Time easily because we got to sleep in!

The Beach Boardwalk is a small amusement park right on the beach. We remember going there as kids and riding all the roller coasters. We would go lay out on the beach after taking some rides and eating cotton candy! Today, we just walked around in the sand, enjoying the serenity of the beach and memories there. Fun times!

I love my 2 sister so very very much. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet up with them in San Jose, our hometown, and be together for a weekend. We have never ever done anything like this before. It will be a memorable trip. And we even discussed doing another trip together in the future. I was reminded how much I appreciate each of my sisters and the things that they teach me. Becky, my younger sister seems so motivated for life. She has a wonderful job where she is making a difference in peoples' lives and she is pursuing a career in which she can further make a difference in peoples' lives. It's like her resolve and purpose, to help others find peace. I admire that about her. And Melissa, my older sister, is such an example to me of motherhood and the joy in her children. Without meaning to, I have kind of followed in her footsteps just a year or so behind her in my marriage and the birth of my 3 kids. She is always one step ahead of me, and that allows me to watch her and learn from her in many ways. In that, I appreciate her so very much. Our relationship as sisters has been strengthened and I hope to stay better in touch with my sisters regardless of distance.

Grandma & Grandpa Hutchinson

My sisters and I took a trip to Scottsvalley to visit our grandparents on the Hutchinson side of the family. They have not been doing very well healthwise, so we decided that it was time we saw them and visited with them while they are still able to do so. Grandma has diabetes pretty badly, and now bells palsy. Grandpa had a stroke a few months back and is just now learning how to walk again. We surprised them by coming. They had no idea we were coming, and we just decided to show up at their door. They thought we were a bunch of kids when we knocked and at first they didn't recognize us. But then they did, and oh they were so surprised! They couldn't believe we all 3 had come together. And they were also excited about the great grandkids!

Grandpa has lost so much weight, he is just skin and bones. One whole side of his body had no feeling in it after his stroke. Slowly, ever so slowly, the feeling has begun to come back. He goes to physical and occupational therapy to learn how to use his arms and legs again and how to do household activities again. His memory has faded, and he voiced through tears that he can't remember things that we did with him years ago. We started to think of memories, like Thousand Trails camping and such, and he started crying because he couldn't remember those things. His memory mostly consists of the current state he is in and the current things he is doing. He was so proud to show us how he could walk with a walker now from his wheelchair to his lazy boy chair. He did it at least 5 or 6 times in a row to show us. He was sooo proud. I think that it has really been hard for him to lose his ability to walk and do so many other things, that to be able to walk a few steps like that felt like a miracle to him. He broke down in tears numerous times. That is something that Grandpa would never ever do before. I never saw him cry. I can tell that he has been through a lot.

Their house looks exactly the same on the inside. It is decorated with all the exact same Indian and Native American decor that I remember from when I was a kid. Nothing has moved in that house. Every wall and shelf is exactly the same. That made me happy to see. It was like I went back 10 or 15 years in time because the house was the same. It felt nice. The outside is exactly the same too, minus Grandpa's beloved rose bushes that he could no longer care for. They were replaced with river rocks. But other than that, it felt just like Grandma & Grandpa's house from years ago.

We decided that short mini visits would be best for them, since things tire them easily anymore. So we visited them in the morning and the late afternoon on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of our weekend. They go to physical therapy on a bus and sometimes people are at their home doing therapy with them, so because they get so tired, they take a nap every day around noon. Grandpa starts getting ready for bed about 5pm, and it takes him about an hour to an hour and a half to change his clothes and get ready for bed. But, he can do it himself now, without any help. No matter how long it takes him, he is glad that he can do it himself now.

Grandpa told us that every day a little bit of feeling comes back to him. Every day he learns something new, is able to do something new that he had lost after his stroke. It gives him a renewed sense of motivation when everyday he finds that he can do one more thing. So we told him to keep working, keep practicing walking and doing all that he can, and it will come back. He told us that the next time we see him, he will be walking normally again. And of course he kept falling apart in tears as he was telling us all this. I have a renewed goal to keep in touch with them, to call them on the phone every week or so, and to make sure they know that I care about them and love them. I have so many wonderful fun memories of them in my childhood. They were very important people in my life as a kid, and my trip has reminded me how important they are to me even today. I love them very much. I am glad that Kaylee was able to meet her Great Grandma & Grandpa Hutchinson.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

The YMCA Board had a free activity for the board members and their significant others at a Fort Wayne Tin Caps Baseball game. Nate is currently a board member, so we got to take advantage of a fun date night to the ball game, along with our little sidekick, Kaylee Joy. It was a lot of fun! They served a different type of main dish meat every few innings, so we ate a ton of food all throughout the game. Nate introduced me to some of his friends at the YMCA and we got to watch the Tin Caps play from the best seats in the stadium. It was great! What a fun evening!

Mud Fight!

Since we have no grass, the boys get to play in the mud and dirt. They actually love it. They dig, find rocks, search for bugs, bury things, and anything else they can think of. Almost every time they play outside, they have to strip down their clothes on the back porch and leave all their muddy clothes outside. Then I carry them in to our shower and shower them down! Needless to say, I can't wait for grass! Well, this day, they were having fun stomping in the mud in their boots. Things got a little carried away, so I just let them go. They were loving it! How often do kids really get to play full on in the mud? And what cool memories it might make for them! So as their clothes got muddy, they took them off one at a time, till they were down to their underpants. With mud everywhere, they began putting mud on each other. They were having a blast! What a fun memory. The worst part came though, when I had to hose them down outside with the ice cold water!

Big Brother Cooper

Cooper had been asking me if he could feed Kaylee, so today I helped him learn how to hold her and gently hold the bottle to feed her. He loved it! It was so sweet to see him so excited to help his little sister and participate in helping to make her happy. It was a sweet moment! He is going to be such a wonderful big brother.

The Cement Truck

We have been trying to plug away at our landscaping around our house, especially in the back of the house so we can have a back yard. Before we can plant grass though, we have to pour a patio. Otherwise, the big truck would have to drive through the new grass to get down to our basement patio. So today, we are pouring the patio. The big truck arrived, and the boys were so excited! They prepped it and poured it so quickly! The Amish workers are amazing! Jax and Coop loved to watch them make our new patio!

Slumber Party

While I have been painting the boys' room, they decided to have a slumber party in the Toy Room so that I could paint after they go to bed. I wasn't so sure how it would go, but the slumber party went so well, that they had one every night for about a week! They loved it! Cooper in the blue sleeping bag and Jaxton in the black one, they talked and played for a while, but when I came up to check on them a half hour later, this is what I found. 2 cozy boys! I'm glad that they boys could be such good friends!

Grandma Routsong's Birthday

Grandma Routsong had a birthday, so we had a birthday party for her. Of course the boys are all about birthday parties because they know there is cake and ice cream and candles. We made Grandma a chocolate birthday cake with vanilla ice cream and had dinner too. It was a fun Sunday afternoon. Happy Birthday Grandma!