Jenna's Birthday and Connecticut

Jenna is officially 4! She has had a great birthday week, and yes I do mean week, not day. She is growing up so fast. We really love her. She can be very moody (stop with the female jokes), but she is also very kind and loving. She is the peacemaker in our family. She gets along well with both of her brothers. She has the greatest expressions. She is also smart, funny, and adorable. We love having her as part of our family.

This week we were able to visit with lots of family. We spent some time with Diana, Michael, and Tanner. We were also able to make a trip to visit Poppa and Muzzy. We had a great time visiting everyone. Thank you for letting us stay in your houses, and making everything so much fun!

The kids had a great time playing with their cousin, Tanner.


The morning of Jenna's birthday we were at Diana's house. She is a great aunt! She let Jenna choose what she wanted for breakfast and lunch. Jenna was awfully spoiled. :) She loved it. We drove to Poppa and Muzzy's later that afternoon. We celebrated Jenna's birthday while we were there with an ice cream cake (Jenna won't eat a regular cake) and presents. Jenna was really tired and therefore really moody. She insisted on opening presents before eating her cake. Lovely. It was a really nice birthday for her. Thank you for making her birthday so special.

While we were at Poppa and Muzzy's house, Muzzy took Kevin to the local country club to learn some golf. Kevin has been wanted to learn some golf for a while now. We have a golf course in our neighborhood, and Kevin has asked many times to golf there. He had never been golfing before she took him. He lucked out and was able to have an hour lesson with the golf pro. It was great! Kevin did really well for his first time. They taught him some basic golf techniques using a game called snag golf. The balls and the clubs are larger than normal, but they teach him how to properly hold the club and aim the ball. He really enjoyed it. Hopefully we can get him out a little more. Unfortunately neither Derek nor I play golf.

Kevin lining up his swing (they gave him that visor and he LOVES it)

Starting the swing

Following through

Poppa helping Jared "golf" - Jared didn't care to do it correctly :)

Muzzy helping Jenna with her swing. Give her a couple of years and she will be playing golf with her brother.


While Kevin and Muzzy played golf, Poppa, Derek, Jenna and Jared went to a farm. They were able to see calves that still had their umbilical cords attached. They also saw a rooster, chickens and llamas. After they got back Jared kept saying "Cock-a-do." :) I love that kid.

Poppa and Jared with the cows

Poppa, Jared, and Jenna with the cows

Poppa and Jenna with the cows


On Thursday we drove to my parent's house. Rachel and Levi, are visiting right now too. The kids have had fun entertaining Levi and spending time with their grandma and grandpa. My parent's wanted to have another birthday party for Jenna. She got another ice cream cake and more presents. She milked this birthday for all it was worth. :) She definitely enjoyed her three birthday parties (see previous post for the first of the parties). It is nice to know that she is loved by so many.

Jenna's birthday party in New Hampshire





Kevin's moment of Zen:
Background: Jenna got a new baby doll for her birthday. She named it Lydia. This is not a name that Kevin had heard before. Kevin is always the "dad" of Jenna's baby dolls.

Kevin: Dad, what is Jenna's baby's name?
Dad: Lydia
Kevin: OK, I am the dad, but sometimes I forget.

School's Out! and Jenna's birthday party

Kevin's last day of school was Friday. I cannot believe that he is now a 1st grader. I can't believe that I have a child old enough for that. Since he did all day kindergarten this year, going to first grade should not be too big of a deal. Although he is already complaining about it, saying that he does not want to go to first grade because first graders have to do too much work. :)

Derek also finished all of his stuff for school on Friday. He has finished his first year of grad school. Good job Derek. One down, too many more to go. :) He was pretty worn out by the end of the week because he took three huge exams this past week that are required for continuance in the Ph.D. program. He has until the end of his third year to pass them (yes they are that difficult), and can take them twice a year every year until that point. He passed two of the five written exams last semester (he only took three of them). Once he passes all of the written ones he has to pass an oral exam. Lucky him.

Yesterday we celebrated Jenna's 4th birthday by having some neighbor kids over for a little party. Jenna's birthday isn't actually until Wednesday. We let the kids make their own pizzas. It was really fun. They pounded out their dough, spread the sauce and added toppings of their choice. Then they played while I cooked them. After we ate the pizza we had cake and ice cream. Apparently Jenna doesn't like real cake (she like ice cream cake, though). She did not even take a bite of the cake. She ate all of her ice cream, but no cake. She has decided that her favorite flavor of ice cream is Cookies and Cream. That was my favorite as a child too (and is still up there on my list of favorite ice cream flavors).

Jenna wanted a Strawberry Shortcake cake for her birthday (I made her this same cake for her first birthday). I thought it turned out pretty well.

Derek, Kevin, Jenna, and Jared making pizzas at Jenna's party.

Jared making his pizza. He had a great time playing with that dough. Funny story about him: he was really upset that I had only made a Strawberry Shortcake cake. He wanted a fire truck cake (I made him one for his birthday). It was really funny. He just couldn't understand why there was no fire truck cake.

Jenna and her cake

Jenna blowing out her candles


My fun adventure for the week was breaking my cell phone...in half. I am very clumsy. I always have been. I dropped my old cell phone too often. It had started to crack along one edge. I was going to ask Derek to try and glue it back together. On Tuesday evening I got out of the car holding my phone because I had just made a phone call. I accidentally dropped the phone on my driveway, and it broke in half. I was a little bugged. I went in to an AT&T store the next day to see how much a new one would cost. Thankfully the guy looked up my account, and reminded me that I had insurance on the phone. I made Derek get insurance on my phone when we got it, because I knew that being clumsy, I would probably break it. We had to call and order a replacement phone. They got it here quickly, which was great. My new phone came Thursday afternoon. I apologize to anyone that attempted to call or text me Tuesday evening through Thursday evening. I didn't have a working phone, so I didn't get your message.

My broken cell phone

My new cell phone (sorry the picture is blurry)


Not much else to report around here. We are hoping to stain our deck tomorrow, but now the weather forecast is predicting rain. We cleaned the deck on Friday, but had to wait two days before staining it. Now it is going to rain. Oh well.

Happy Memorial Day tomorrow!

Kevin's moments of Zen:
*A little background: Kevin's lasted thing is to try and get the word eyeball into every conversation as many times as possible. Very annoying, but what can we do? :)
After church we were talking about what the kids learned today. Jenna said she had learned about noses. Kevin said "I learned about eyeballs and my balls." Hmm...I doubt it buddy.

Yesterday Derek and the kids were outside weeding. The following conversation took place:
Kevin: "Dad, what is 'sucksing'?"
Dad: "Do you mean 'sucking'?"
Kevin: "No, 'sucksing'."
Dad: "'Sucksing'? Where did you hear that?"
Kevin: "Someone on the bus said 'She has a sucksing butt.'"
Dad: "Do you mean 'sexy'?"
Kevin: "Yeah, 'sexy'."
Dad: "It means he thinks she has an attractive butt."
Kevin: "What does attractive mean?"
Dad: "It means he thinks it looks nice. Don't ever say that."

And finally, here are some random Jenna pictures. Derek was trying to take a picture of the chocolate all over her face, but she insisted on holding a fly swatter and making funny faces. She makes the most hilarious faces. These are a very small sampling.

Jenna's "Moving Up" Ceremony, A Great Weekend, and My Birthday

This past week Jenna's preschool had a "Moving Up/Graduation" ceremony. I have to agree with Mr. Incredible that this is a ridiculous thing to do, but I am obviously in the minority here because they have these for every tiny step in school these days. I would rather they just put on an end of the year program (which is essentially what this is, so just call it that). Anyway...I will get off of my soap box now.

Jenna did a great job. She sang and danced. I have been very impressed with the improvements she has made in preschool this year. She was painfully shy at the beginning of the year. Although still a little shy, she has come a long way with this. The fact that she would get up on stage at all, let alone sing and dance is huge. As many of you know, she has struggled with her speech the last couple of years. We had in her speech therapy in Utah before we moved. Her therapist was great, and helped Jenna improve a lot in the few weeks we were with her. After being in preschool this last year, her speech has gotten so much clearer. She is still working on a few sounds, but the improvement is impressive. I have been really happy with this preschool. She will go there again this next year.

Jenna with her class


Jenna dancing and singing



Jenna and her best friend, Alex


We had a great weekend. On Friday night Derek, Kevin, and Jared went to a father/son camp out put on by our ward at church. It was held in a field in someone's back yard. They had a great time. Unfortunately, they didn't get very much sleep, and therefore they were all very tired and a little cranky (not Derek, just the little boys) the last two days. Getting through church with Jared today was a little difficult. :)

The look on Jared's face pretty much sums up how he has been all weekend. :)


Since the boys were gone on Friday, Jenna and I decided that we would have a girls night out. We had mac and cheese (she had been asking for it for a while) while we watched a movie. Then I painted our nails. After the movie was over we went out for ice cream. We had a lot of fun together. I really enjoyed the opportunity for some one on one time with her. She got to bed a little late (around 8p as opposed to 7:15p), but I was OK with that. The best part was that we both slept late the next morning. I woke up around 9a and she woke up around 9:20a when the boys got home from their camping trip. I haven't slept that late in years. It was awesome!

Isn't she cute?


Saturday we went for a run as a family (Derek and I pushed the kids in jogging strollers). It was fun to run with Derek. Running is something we both love, but rarely get to do together because of the kids. Then I took Jenna and Kevin on a half mile run with me. They have both been begging to run with us. They wanted to go up a big hill. Kevin made it up no problem. Jenna struggled a little, but wanted to keep going. Afterwards Kevin said he really liked it. Jenna said she didn't. She doesn't like the hills. That's a problem in our neighborhood because it is all rolling hills. I told her that we could run on a little track at a park in our neighborhood next time because it's flat. She was OK with that suggestion. Then Kevin rode his bike while Derek and I took turns running with him. He still has some trouble getting up the hills on his bike, but he is learning.

After we all got ready for the day, we went to a kite festival that was being held at Pleasant Grove (a local park with huge amounts of open space). It was fascinating to see all of the kites. The people that put it on had such amazing control over their kites. One guy rode around in a little buggy that was pulled by two kites. Another guy had a kite that could land on a tent and then pop back up and fly again. The kites would do amazing dives and tricks. We even got to see a mini kite fight (those of you that have read Kite Runner will have an idea of what I am talking about). This was a Japanese version, so slightly different than the Middle East version, but definitely neat to see).

A view of several kites at the festival


Jenna and Kevin with their Snow Cones and Cotton Candy. Jenna was not a fan of the cotton candy.


Today is my 29th birthday. One more year in my twenties and then it's downhill from there. Just kidding. I'm actually looking forward to being 30 in some ways (I'm also not looking forward to being 30 in some ways). :) We kicked off the celebration yesterday with Papa John's pizza for dinner. I love their pizza, but now that we live the glamorous college student life again we can only get it for very special occasions (like my birthday, which is a VERY special occasion - haha).

Last night my sister, brother-in-law, and their son, Levi, drove up to help celebrate. We had a great time. Thanks for driving all that way. It made the day special. We all went to church this morning. Then Levi came home with us while David and Rachel went to David's brother's graduation (he graduated from the University of Virginia). Levi slept most of the time, and is the most pleasant child I have ever met, so he was super easy to take care of. Plus, since it was my birthday, Derek did all the work. I just played with Levi. :)

We all took naps today. I take a nap every day, so I would have been sad to miss one today. :) Then Derek made us all pancakes, eggs and fruit for dinner. I love breakfast for dinner. I always have. Derek makes the best pancakes and eggs in the world. It was delicious. We followed that up with a delicious DQ Blizzard Cake. (A tradition we have kept from my family).

Thank you to everyone that called and sent gifts. You are the best! This was a great birthday. It was relaxing and fun. I found myself smiling for no specific reason a lot. Here's to a great year!!!

Jenna, Rachel, and Kevin


Levi, David, and Jared


We promised Kevin we would do a "silly face" picture


Kevin was supposed to make a "normal" face in this one...oh well


Once again, Kevin just will not make a "normal" face


Here's Derek bringing over the cake. That's A LOT of candles. :)


This is Jenna getting ready to lick some of the ice cream off of the bottom of the candles. One of the best parts of having a birthday cake. :)


Me with my cake


P.S. - I added a post about Kevin's trip to the zoo, but because I had started it last weekend, it put it in following the Mother's Day post. Blogging is all for my benefit, but I thought you should know in case you want to see it.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! We had a pretty low key day, which was nice. All of the kids made me a card. They were great! Mother's day is so much more special when the kids make little things for me.

Jared's card had a lot of scribbles on it. Derek had Jared pick out a crayon, so that he (Derek, not Jared) could write "Mom" on it. Jared, of course, picked out a crayon the same color as the paper. I could see it though. :)

Jared's card:


Jenna's card had a bunch of random words on it. It was pretty funny because she doesn't always make her letters correctly, and she forgot to write some of the letters Derek told her, so it had some funny words on it.:) It's supposed to say "she pretty" at the top, but instead it says "petty she." Gee, thanks. On a star she glued to the card it says "spit." That one was on purpose. She wrote "body" on it (I don't know why, so don't ask). However, she accidentally wrote a "p" instead of a "b", and her "d" looks like an "o", and she wrote the "y" far away from the rest of the letters, so it looks like it says "poo." She tried to write "noble" but instead wrote "nople." She wrote the word "secret" (once again, I don't know why). She wrote "I love" backwards, but got distracted and never finished the thought, so we will never know what she loves. I really got a kick out of this card! She is certainly creative.

Jenna's card:


Kevin actually gave me two cards (well three, but I'll get to that one later) and a nice gift that he made at school. The first card he made at school. On the outside it has a flower and says "From your favorite blooming child" On the inside Kevin wrote "you or such cyout ornt you and prity. I love you. Whin the home is dirty I will git riyt to wirck." Translation: "You are such cute aren't you and pretty. I love you. When the home is dirty I will get right to work." Isn't that great! What a doll! Then he drew a picture of a dirty house with him dusting it clean. The other card he made me at church. It said "Mom I love you because" on the outside. On the inside it says "you take cer (care) of me." Then it has some hearts on the back. Very cute. I really do have great kids. He also made this great gift at school with the silhouette of his head. I LOVE it!

This is the card Kevin made at school:



This is the card Kevin made at church:




This is the silhouette Kevin made at school. I am going to frame it.:


I also got a card from a secret admirer who is definitely NOT Kevin (wink, wink). It says "Dear Mom, happy mother's day. Aren't you pretty. Aren't you cute. Love your secret admirer." Then he drew a picture of two playgrounds on the bottom of the card. I love having a secret admirer, and he sure knows all the right things to say. ;) Kevin told me that on the first day of next year I would find out who my secret admirer is. I can't wait!


The card from my "secret admirer":


This is a picture of the kids with their cards they made for me. Kevin was kind enough to hold the one from the "secret admirer", but he covered his face because it wasn't his card :) :


Derek also got me a card. In this house, serious cards don't go too far. We find them to be pretty cheesy and usually just make fun of them (we aren't very sentimental). Of course he waited until yesterday to get a card and all the funny ones were gone. He went to four different stores before he found anything. He decided to get a little creative. He took a card that was sentimental and doctored it a little. It's hilarious. It looks like this really sweet card, but then you read it and it isn't. :) After he doctored it, it read: "Happy Mother's Day to the woman I love. Just one look at the kids when they're with you and I know beyond a doubt that I'm not the only one who is crazy...We all are! Have a wonderful Mother's Day." I laughed really hard when I read it. It was supposed to say "...I'm not the only one who loves you like crazy...we all do." I guess there's no denying the craziness around here!

The card from Derek:


At church they gave all the mothers long stem roses. I thought that was a great gift. I hate it when they give plants. I am so not a gardener. I kill every plant I touch. Derek loves to take care of plants. Every year we get in a fight about the stupid plant they give out for mother's day. I never want to take it, and he always says I have to. Usually I get really annoyed, and he ends up taking it, and taking care of it for a while. He would always take it to work, so I wouldn't feel any obligation towards it. I like already cut flowers. They look pretty. They require no work, and I know they are supposed to die, so I don't feel bad when they do. Obviously all women are not the same. My mom's ward also handed out long stem roses and she was annoyed that she didn't get a plant. Oh well, you guys really just can't please us. :)

My rose:


The primary children (ages 3-11) sang two songs for the mothers ("I Often Go Walking" and "Mother I Love You"). Kevin has always struggled to go up and sing. He is very shy. We told him that he would need to be the brave one this time, since this would be Jenna's first time. When the time came though, he was really hesitant, and didn't want to go. Jenna grabbed him by the hand and drug him up with her. He mostly stood there looking around (even though he knew all the words, we have been practicing at home for the last two weeks). Jenna on the other hand sang loud and clear. She even sang the songs several times for Grandma and Grandpa this evening. She is quite the little performer. It was awesome!