Our New Paved Driveway

After 3 years of laying tiny rocks across our driveway, dealing with potholes, mud, rocks tracked into the house, muddy cars, and people's cars getting stuck in the piles of snow, we have finally paved our driveway!  It is an amazing transformation!!  It took the workers 1 day to prep it, and 1 full day of work to lay it.  There were 5 or 6 cement trucks and 15 or so laborers--a huge job. But it was all done in a day.  There were huge piles of dirt that the kids had a blast digging in and climbing up before the project was done.  Now, There are actually spaces to park and plenty of room to turn around rather than chancing driving backwards to get out. There's even tons of space to ride bikes and play basketball.  We absolutely love having a paved driveway with parking.  Now we can have fun planning what trees we want to plant along it and our landscaping.  It's a lot of work to develop some land into your own, but so fun and satisfying as it slowly comes together. 

Easter 2014

Happy Easter!! This was a wonderful Easter.  We spent time talking about the Savior with the kiddos periodically throughout the week so they understood what Easter is really about. I am so grateful for my amazing husband, who truly is amazing at everything he does.  I am also so blessed for our four little angels who make our lives worth every minute. I love them to pieces and have been excited all week to share Easter memories with them.  

We spent time decorating eggs at preschool and also painting eggs with Q-tips.  Saturday we spent all day in Kendallville with cousins and family.  They prepared a massive egg hunt outside in the beautiful weather for the kids.  Each kid searched for 10 eggs of a particular color.  After all 10 were found, they could search for the special big black egg that held a prized $5 bill.  Cooper searched for orange eggs, jaxton searched for yellow, kaylee for hot pink, and Dawson looked for the metallic eggs with Dad's help.  Jaxton was the lucky finder of the prized money egg!!

Easter morning we gathered for breakfast in the kitchen.  We watched the sun rise as we ate breakfast and taught about the symbolism of the sun rising, and the Savior rising, and what that means for us.  Then the kids discovered Easter baskets on the front porch filled with new Easter dress clothes and journals.  All their clothes matched with a baby blue theme.  They really enjoyed the journals.  The boys were going through the writing prompts and were writing the sweetest sentences.  Kaylee spent much of church drawing in her picture journal.  It was a wonderful day spent together as a family:) 

Cooper's First Lost Tooth

Cooper lost his first tooth!! Hooray!! He was worried that the tooth fairy would take his tooth and he'd never see it again.  He was afraid to part with his tooth at first, so he told Dad to keep it in the ziploc bag and NOT to put it under his pillow.  He kept it safe in a ziploc until he was ready to part with it.  Then under his pillow it went.  Indeed, the tooth fairy took the tooth, but left a dollar!

Las Vegas ISC West

Nate I got to take a little vacation over spring break to Las Vegas!  We doubled it as a Simplx work trip and an anniversary vacation :-).  Every year in Las Vegas is a conference called ISC West for the entire security industry.  It really was an amazing show with an expo 10 times larger than the Fort Wayne Home Show was this year.  Every security company was there and we got the opportunity to meet with and converse with those we usually speak with over the phone, from all the major companies and affiliates that we have.  It was a lot of fun being alongside Nate as a member of the Simplx team and his partner in business.  It was also very fun spending time together without the kids.  It was strange only having to take care of ourselves and carry nothing but what we needed for the day, rather than a whole diaper bag full of spare clothes, diapers, and snacks.  It felt very odd.  But it was very refreshing. 

Nate ran into his old boss from BYU, Wayne Beck, that had made a difference in his life.  He had met Wayne in Spain on his mission, and he told him to contact him when he got out to BYU.  Nate did, and got a job with him working Library Security.  He became a lifelong mentor and friend of Nate's and it was super fun  to run into him randomly amidst millions of people at this show! 

We were able to see some exciting Las Vegas shows while we were there.  We saw Circe de Soleil Mystere, which was full of amazing acrobats and athletes.  They were so very talented.  Pure talent all around, it was amazing!  We also went to see David Copperfield, a magician, who did all sorts of crazy magic tricks that really were impossible!  He had a live duck, but he constantly was making the live duck disappear.  It was an impossible trick that I simply could not even guess how it was done.  He also made a bunch of people from the audience disappear.  Keith, our employee, got to participate in this one and somehow he was on stage, and then a moment later, he was in the back of the theater! Incredible stuff!  We enjoyed walking the Las Vegas strip and watching the Bellagio water & lights show.  That also was more incredible than I ever remember.  Everything in Vegas is just overdone!  The architecture of the buildings and every where you look is over done.  Such intricate detail everywhere in paint, filigree on the buildings, and design on every wall and ceiling.  There is so much to see; we were in awe.  

David Copperfield Magic Show

As part of the trip we got to participate in events sponsored by the ISC West conference.  There was an event at one restaurant with a country flair.  They had a mechanical bull riding contest that Nate and his 2 employees Keith and Tim participated in.  It was really fun to watch, but they were sore for days afterward!  We also were able to participate in a 5K Race.  Being 6 months pregnant, this was a challenge, but we all finished the race in good time!  Other events that we were invited to allowed us to see other parts of Las Vegas and buildings and rooms and beautiful patios that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to see.  So that was awesome!  We also made it to the Las Vegas Temple which was a great and overdue experience!  Overall, it was a great trip!!

Baby Boy on the Way

Thats right! Surprise!  Another baby on the way.  It was a surprise to us as well.  We knew there would be a fifth one in our family, but had no idea he was ready to come this soon.  Yet he's on his way here.  Due on July 25.  

We toyed with the idea of not finding out the gender, but decided to have it put into an envelope.  The kids have mom and dad a reveal party one Sunday afternoon.  We made chocolate cupcakes and mixed up some blue and pink frosting.  We have them the envelope with that valuable information and set the camera on RECORD.  Then Nate and I went to our bedroom to wait.  The kids opened the envelope which revealed the gender of their baby sibling and they chose the coordinating frosting color.  The video is so funny and sweet. Jaxton looks at the ultrasound photo and that states the gender and announces "it's a boy!!"  Cooper takes charge of the sugar and instructs Kaylee to use the blue frosting, which she resists because she wants to use pink frosting.  So Cooper takes the pink and moves it far out of reach while coughing on the cupcakes in front of him.  Kaylee consents and starts to use blue frosting all the while sneezing over the cupcakes on the counter.  They finish frosting 2 of them and proudly bring them to our bedroom to announce to us that we will be welcoming a baby boy in July of this year. Can't hardly wait!!  Welcome to our family, little man!  We love you already!

Shoveling Snow

Jaxton's new job is to shovel snow.  Nate took him out this first time to teach him how its done.  He was cold, but was a hard worker out there.  Way to go Jaxton!

Cinderella

Kaylee got invited to a friend's birthday party, a princess part where there was a very special guest that arrived.  It was her friend Jaslene's birthday.  All the little girls wore princess dresses over their clothes. Kaylee wore a Repunzel dress.  All of a sudden there was a knock at the door and Cinderella appeared, complete with her gown, gloves, tiara and glass slippers.  The little girls all were in awe at this beautiful princess.  They were asking her funny questions about her mean sisters and step mom and about the pumpkin carriage.  She had a diamond nose ring in her nose and of course all the little girls were so curious about that:).  It was pretty funny.  Cinderella pampered the little princesses with nail polish and eye shadow. It was a fun birthday party Kaylee will not forget!!

Upwards Basketball

Jaxton and Cooper both played on an Upward Basketball league this winter.  It was a significant year for both because they really learned a lot!  This was Coopers second year playing. He's always been too small to make any baskets and went the entire season last year without scoring any points. He was ok with that last year. This year hectored so hard.  Then on one particular game he scored 3 baskets in a row!!!  He was on Cloud 9 and was so proud of himself!! Afterward the coach asked him what he had eaten for breakfast, and since the games are so early in the morning, he had had only time enough to shove down a piece of toast and a package of fruit snacks.  So the coach told his team to make sure they all atev1 piece of toast and fruit snacks for the next game.  Cooper truly believed it was what he had eaten and made sure to save a package of fruit snacks each Saturday. :)

This was Jaxtons first experience with Basketball as he'd never had any interest before.  His body is bigger and stronger and capable now to make baskets. So he really excelled in learning how to shoot and how to block.  More than anything, he really enjoyed being on the 1st grade team and spending time with his friends. 

To The Dentist!

It was Kaylee's first trip to the dentist this February.   We read "the dentist book" every night for days in preparation. She was nervous about it but excited at the same time.  In fact 6 months ago she got to watch her big brothers get their teeth cleaned and she was terrified. So preparation was key in order for her to have a good experience for her first time. We packed a pair of sunglasses to wear under the light and she looked forward to getting her own new toothbrush and a prize from the prize drawer when it was done. 

As we arrived and it was her turn, her

nerves overcame her. She was very worried. The dental assistants were so wonderful with her and patient, and let her touch and see all the tools and equipment. She stopped crying and put her glasses on and realized that it all wasn't so bad, and she did great!  She was so proud after that to have gone to the dentist and felt confident about her experience.  She was a doll in that big old chair with her sunglasses on:)

Winter Fun

This winter has been the longest winter if all time. Too cold to even play outside and a total of 13 or 14 school cancellations!  There was day after day when school got cancelled for below zero temperatures or slick icy roads that the boys got to stay home from school. We tried to keep busy and played in the snow if the temperatures were warm enough.

When we could play outside and the temperatures were decently warm enough, we did. Dawson loved the snow. He loved to eat it. So much so that he'd eat the snow that fell off the joys boots when they would come in from school!  The boys loved to play in the frozen woods and even discovered that there was a giant layer of ice in the woods.  They went "ice skating" on that ice and had a blast!  Then they'd try to melt it and break holes in it by carrying buckets of warm water back and forth from the house. They would stomp and beak holes in the ice.  There is so much to explore outside in the winter!!

One day we froze bowls of water in the front porch. It only took a couple of hours for the water to turn frozen solid.  Then we put salt over the ice and small amounts of paint and watched the paint run through little tunnels.  The salt had created tunnels as it melted the ice.  It turned out to be a fascinating ice experiment. 

 Another day, since it was too cold to play outside, we brought snow inside!  I brought buckets and buckets of snow into my shower and let the kids stomp around and build stuff in there, complete with their snow pants and boots and gloves!  They had a blast throwing snowballs at one another, and Kaylee is getting so big that she could hold her own in that snowball fight so well!

Nate and I had a fun time going ice skating on one of our date nights with some friends.  Fort Wayne has an outdoor pavilion downtown that they convert into an outdoor ice rink in the winter.  Super fun!  It was something we had not done for a very long time.  Fun times!

Tiger Scouts

Jaxton is in a Tiger Scouts group through school.  He really has enjoyed being a part of this group. His best friend from school in the troop is Joel.  The troop has so many boys, but they do so many fun things; it has been great for Jax to be a part of something so fun.  They had a rocket derby in the fall. The kids whittled rockets out of wood, then had a Pinewood Derby with the cars they cut and painted.  They've gone on field trips to the library and TV station, had a vet come teach them, and sold popcorn at a booth in front of Lose's.  It's given Jaxton lots of neat experiences and he enjoys being a part of it.  He also looks adorable in his uniform :)

Cooper's 6th Birthday

Cooper turned 6!! I can't believe it! He is growing up and just won't stop!  He was so excited for his birthday that he couldn't sleep :). He came downstairs at about 5:30 and woke me up to ask if I was going to decorate the house like I do for every birthday. I told him I was going to, yes, but that I hadn't gotten up yet as it was only 5:30.  He scuttled off to bed with a grin and gratefully he did fall back to sleep.  He woke up to streamers and balloons and was smiling from ear to ear all day.

School happened to be cancelled due to cold temperatures and icy roads, so our plans to go to lunch with him and take 26 cupcakes into his class failed.  It was a fun day spending all together, working on lego sets and inviting friends to come share some cupcakes with us.  Then, we celebrated his birthday with a party with Grandma and Grandpa Routsong with pizza, presents, and a three layer stacked Ninjago ninja cake.  He got all sorts of gifts, including lots of spy gear, science experiments, angry birds wii game, and some new clothes.  He was so happy and grateful and cheerful.  I love him to pieces!!!  Happy birthday Coop!!!!