Happy Mother’s Day

My Mom is awesome. She loves unconditionally, she’s involved without being overbearing, and she listens with compassion but without judgment. She is one of the strongest women I know. Her life has been challenging – and while I’m sure she’d agree she has been incredibly blessed, she has had experiences throughout her life that many of us couldn’t bear. She amazes me.

Me and my Mom

My Mom recently announced she was going on a mission with her husband Val. Of course we were thrilled, this is something she’s always wanted to do, but another thought I expressed was: “I guess that means were not having anymore kids”. My Mom has come up to help after each of my four children was born and I seriously couldn’t have managed without her. Those visits with her will always be some of the most cherished I will have with my Mom.

My Mom with Abigail and baby Carly. Abigail was born in the pre-digital ages and unfortunately all our old scrapbooks are still in storage so I couldn’t scan a picture of my Mom with Abigail as a newborn, but she was most definitely there.

Jason snuggling with Grandma just days old

Katie and Grandma

This summer my Mom and Val head off to Hong Kong to serve an 18-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We will miss her. Lots. Unless we can convince her to make a trip to the NW before she leaves it will be over two years without a visit. We are used to only seeing her a few times each year, but this will be different.

Since retiring my Mom spends much of her time traveling the world. Carly made a cute card for my Mom for Mother’s Day – since I couldn’t send it in the mail (I believe she’s in San Francisco today) we decide to post it on the blog instead since we know she’ll check in on us on the road.

“Dear Grandma Kesler, You are a great grandma and you are loving and kind. You are always giving us things when we are at Utah at your house. You are always helping when you can when you give us a art project. Love Carly”

We LOVE you!

Disastrous FHE

FHE (Family Home Evening) Monday night was disappointing. In many ways. It was late and the kids were overly hyper, Justin got through about 25 seconds of his thought then we all got distracted by Katie. She was being silly on the couch then silly on the floor – then she got brave and I felt a small piece of my heart crumble.

Baby Bath

I don’t enjoy giving my kids a bath.

I’m not sure why.

They love it. There isn’t any crying or tantrums. There’s just something about the process that causes me to postpone bathtime as long as I can. Jason is old enough that he enjoys showering too, but he would take a bath twice a day if I let him. Needless to say I don’t bathe Katie as often as I probably should.

I think I’ve found a solution

My laundry room sink

It’s big and deep, I don’t have to kneel on the ground, and best of all it has a faucet that pulls out for easy rinsing.

Exploring the Neighborhood

Now that the days are getting longer and Justin gets home from work earlier we have more time during the evenings to do things together. Friday night we all went exploring the undeveloped land around us. Being my first time roaming the hills beyond, Justin and the three oldest kids were excited to show me around.

Our hill peaks just a few minutes walk past our house and the views from here are really incredible (pictures just don’t do it justice).

Overlooking the Snoqualmie Valley

And the beautiful mountains that surround us

We found a perfect woodpile for a bonfire this summer

This is the road that will lead us to the first LDS church in Snoqualmie due to be built next year - only minutes away from our house – we are so excited.

All this construction requires some serious equipment

Commute

Justin sure enjoys his new and greatly shortened commute. If it’s a nice day the girls like to meet him down the street when he’s walking home. On this afternoon they brought him a scooter to ride the rest of the way home.

Okay, so we’re not close enough to Justin’s work for him to walk the whole way home. He’s found a great vanpool in the area that picks him up and drops him off at the entrance to our neighborhood. We love having him on a schedule and best of all the company pays for it.

Easter Egg Hunt

I was torn this year about what Easter Egg Hunt we should attend. We LOVE the hunt in our old neighborhood and since we still own a home there we have claim to attend – besides it would be fun to be among friends. But with gas prices so high (and much to do at home) we just couldn’t justify the drive down. Instead we opted to attend the Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the city of Snoqualmie. With Mount Si in the background the setting was gorgeous, the fields were green and spacious, and the eggs were aplenty.

This is the huge field for the 0-3 year olds

What is it with this boy and hats?

Never before have my kids scored as many eggs as they did this year. I was pumped when I saw all the full baskets.

Since Abigail and Jason both have food allergies this would usually mean more chocolate goodness for me. But my excitement was short lived. Instead of the mini chocolate bars we have found in our Easter eggs in years past these eggs were filled with the cheapest, least-desirable candies I could imagine. Below even the tootsie rolls and sweettarts level.

I’m still smiling here cause we hadn’t opened any eggs yet

As it turns out, I’m the only one who felt slightly jipped - the kids had a blast and I’m sure we’ll make our way back next year.

Tulip Festival

We finally had a small break from the rain this past Friday and Saturday. Since the girls get out of school early on Fridays we took advantage of the beautiful day and drove north to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

After experiencing the Tulip Festival our first spring in Washington we said we’d try to visit every year thereafter. Well, life gets busy and it is quite a drive so we haven’t made it every year (I think 2007 was our last visit), but we are always glad when we have taken the time to go. It is absolutely beautiful.

We first stopped in Tulip Town – a large touristy field with several different varieties of tulips. We took lots of pictures.

Definitely beautiful, but I wanted to find some fields totally saturated in one color. We drove around a bit and found red fields and yellow fields as far as you can see. These were easily my favorite and best of all they were free.

We had a great afternoon and hope that it doesn’t take another 4 years to get us back. Even though it was chilly and breezy the sun made it a gorgeous day. I almost believed spring had arrived, but alas the clouds and rain have already returned.

West Tiger Summit #3

With the move to Snoqualmie, I (Justin) have really looked forward to the access to local hiking and biking trails. A couple weeks ago, the forecast looked decent for hiking so the girls and I woke up intending to make the short hike to the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls. We arrived and found it was closed for improvement until 2013. We were a bit disappointed so decided to head to the trail to Tiger Summit. We hiked about 6 miles roundtrip and climbed 2000 feet in elevation. Many times on the way up we asked other hikers how much further to the top and almost turned around a few times. Initially we figured we would hike up halfway but Abigail was persistent that we make it to the top.

Abigail and Carly in the snow

Taking a break at the top and trying to get warm

Abigail and Carly at the top

The weather turned windy and colder the closer we got to the top and we had to watch our footing in the snow. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in and the view was limited but we definitely felt a sense of accomplishment in reaching the top. There are no bathrooms at the top so Carly practically ran down the mountain and Abigail and I had to keep up.

Hopefully this is just the beginning of many more adventures to come.

More Katie

With all the events of the weekend (see below) the kids spent a lot of time with sitters. I think I was away from the kids 9 hours on Friday, over 12 hours on Saturday, and close to 4 on Sunday. Sunday evening I could tell Katie just wasn’t feeling well. Thankfully it’s just a little cold and she wasn’t sick when we had babysitters.

Usually the plus sides of having a sick baby is that I have an excuse to stay home all day and that the sick child sleeps more than usual and wants to cuddle more. I’ve never had a cuddly baby so I enjoy it when I can. Of course when my kids were teeny tiny and couldn’t move for themselves I got plenty of snuggle time, but never beyond that newborn stage. So when Katie woke up early this morning still not feeling well I tried to bring her into bed with me with the hopes we could get a bit more rest before starting the day, but I’m afraid we’re already far past that stage. Oh how I miss those days when I had a little baby snuggled beside me sound asleep.

Katie resting with me at 2 months old – pure joy!

I gotta say it… I can’t believe Katie is already a year old. Here’s a slideshow of her monthly shots; unfortunately, amist the chaos of moving I missed her 11th month.

Monday Katie had her one year check-up (sick AND four needles... poor girl!). Here are her stats:

Height: 30.5 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 21 pounds, 12.8 ounces (about 60th percentile)

A Weekend at the Temple

This past weekend was wonderfully busy. A year ago Justin was able to baptize our friend DJ a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His son was also baptized and as a family they have been working toward being able to go to the temple and be sealed together as a family for all eternity (more on that here). Friday night we joined many friends at the temple to support DJ and Susi as they attended the temple for the first time. Justin and I were asked to be their escorts and be right by their side as they experienced the joy and spirit of the temple. It was an amazing evening for us.

Saturday afternoon they returned to the temple with their son to be sealed together as an eternal family. Another wonderful day.

We wrapped up our weekend on Sunday joining friends in Auburn for a delicious dinner and sharing our thoughts about the temple experience. We feel very blessed to have been able to be a part of their special weekend.

Katie is ONE!

Thursday was Katie’s first birthday. Grandma Fletcher surprised us Wednesday night by bringing over a few gifts for Katie since she was going out of town for the weekend.

I liked these pictures of Katie – she really is quite clueless when it comes to opening gifts. Her first thought was to try and taste the beautifully wrapped box placed in front of her.

Everything still goes straight into Katie’s mouth so while Carly played with Katie’s new stuffed toy, Katie played (and munched) on her new puzzle.

Katie’s birthday was very low-key. I didn’t make her a big fancy birthday cake, buy her any gifts, or decorate the house, but I’m pretty sure she enjoyed it anyhow, even in its extreme simplicity.

She wasn’t quite so sure about having a cake set in front of her and people singing “Happy Birthday” to her.

But once she was set free and got a taste she was quite pleased.

While she munched on her cake, she entertained us with her goofy pig face and blowing bubbles.

By the time Katie had her fill she had done some pretty decent damage to her cake and wasn’t too incredibly messy herself.

With the help of her cousin, Katie opened a few more gifts.

(Katie was excited about her new nylons and tights – thanks Mom!)

A few tidbits about Miss Katie at ONE:

Hollers when she wants to get our attention, which seems to be quite often lately

Pulls herself up, but isn't cruising; however she can stand without support and is starting to take steps

Slobbers... a lot

Tries to roll around when I'm changing her diaper, she thinks she's hilarious (me not so much)

Likes to play with the our toy kitchen and Jason’s cars

Magnetizes to the dishwasher any time it's left open and goes straight for the sharp knives

Katie also likes our kitchen pantry

And before we moved she liked to park herself in front of the backdoor and play with our detested vertical blinds

Katie has six teeth and is still an awesome eater, not picky at all, but if we are trying to spoon feed her she likes to have finger food on her tray as well

Can wave and clap

We think she says "ma-ma", "da-da" and "aba", maybe even "ni-ni" at bedtime

Is very ticklish, especially under her chin

Happy Birthday Baby Girl – We love, love, LOVE you!

Sunday Snow

April 17th and it was snowing this morning as we were getting ready for church. I suppose it’s only fitting that Jason grab his “winter hat” when gathering is Sunday attire.

What a handsome stud!

We’re lucky we were able to get it off of him before sacrament started.

Happy Birthday Katie!

After 17 days without internet I am finally back online!

Much to do including baking a birthday cake for my sweet baby girl…

more to come…