April 2017

Easter was a beautiful day this year!  That’s always nice.  Kylee had volleyball so Ryan took the other kiddos to the egg hunt without us.

The rest of April was not all that warm, though.  In fact, soccer was mighty cold a lot of the time.  Playing in 40-50 degrees is not all that bad, but spectating gets miserable.  We had one game cancelled from thunderstorms and rain/snow.  There were some other rainy games too.  I resorted to pulling out my Sorel winter boots, along with my coat and gloves.  It’s a bit ridiculous but I got by.

Kylee was playing both Volleyball and Soccer this Spring, and we had to travel a bit for both of them.  Which got a little ridiculous.  One morning she had an early game in Pocatello so I brought my running stuff.  I watched one match, then they had a bye for two games so I went for a run around the temple. It was chilly! And Rexburg has nothing but hills!  But it was good.  I really don’t mind running all over for my kids as long as I can get a little bit of time for myself in there somewhere too.  So this worked out well.

 That afternoon she had a soccer game in Pocatello…  Seriously, she’s 11 and I’m jumping through hoops to get her to her stuff.  I told her I would not do this again, that she had to choose between soccer and volleyball.  She missed at least one soccer game because it overlapped volleyball.  And one volleyball tourney because she was sick.  Anyway, this particular day worked out perfectly in our favor.  The schedule of volleyball matches not only allowed me to run without missing anything, but they also had the last game off so we got to leave early.  Which gave us enough time to stop and grab some food.  I had heard about this new restaurant in Rexburg called Friskies.  It has smoothie bowls and yummy salads.  So we stopped and it was delicious.  Plus I was really hungry so that helped.  And we still made it to Pocatello in time for her soccer warmup.

 Kaden just relaxing watching his movie.  I love how he puts his ankle up on his knee all the time.

 Kaden really loves Kylee!  It's so fun to see the kids with him.

I took advantage of my mornings with these two a couple times to go swimming.  I'm starting Sadie in swim club this summer (which she is not excited about) and I wanted to make sure she was a little comfortable in the water.  She honestly should be better at swimming than she is already.  She kind of plays this "helpless" role, kind of a youngest child / princess role (I might know something about that...)  Anyway, we practiced a little. I had to bribe a lot.  But she realized she's doing well.

 Dylan's class and the other 3rd grade classes got to do an egg-drop at school.  He decided to use straws, and came home and put this box together the first day.  He had seen straws on a youtube video (I've heard of classes that require the kids to make their containers out of only straws, so maybe that's why they were online).  Anyway, he didn't ask for any help or ideas so I didn't offer any.  I love his creativity.  His egg cracked, but it was really fun to watch.

 Two sleepy boys.

 The whole fifth grade did a dance for the talent show.  It was "Can't Stop the Feeling" from Trolls and it was pretty cute.

 Grandma playing monopoly with Dylan.  That boy sure loves this game.  Too bad it's impossible to play with Kaden around, and that it's such a long game.

The first triathlon of the season is in April in Pocatello.  It's too cold for outdoor swims in April, or to bike while dripping wet.  So you do the swim in the pool the day before.  My mom was going to be in town during this tri so I asked her if she wanted to do it with me.  She was more than happy to.  She rocks.  I have been swimming all winter at least once a week.  But I ordered a swim video to try and work on technique.  The class teacher took a video or me so I could see my form.  This picture was an accident, but it's fun to have pictures of things I do a lot.

 We actually swam on Thursday night and did the bike and run on Saturday.  We got these sweatshirts in our packets, which is cool.

 We were worried we would freeze.  And we did wear gloves and jackets on the bike.  But otherwise it was actually quite nice.  What I wasn't expecting were the hills on the run!  I have been running pretty fast lately and I was hoping I could get a pretty good 5k time, but those hills!  It was quite miserable.  Especially after I had pushed really hard on the bike.  But I did okay on the hills.  I only walked up the steepest, longest part.  And I was still gasping for breath anyway.  I ended up finishing with an 8:30 pace, which I was plenty happy with on all those hills.  I think I got 12th out of 50 or so in my age group.

My mom did great, even with the elevation aspect for her.  She took first place for the 60+ age group and earned herself a medal.

 Dave's Bike Shop gifted me this shirt as advertisement for him. I thought that was pretty cool!  Since triathlon clothes are hard to come by.

 Kaden spotted this hat on the shelves in Target and really loved it.  I figured a hat would be a good idea to help keep the sun off of his scar this summer.  He was so happy.

 I received these pictures from my neighbor, the girls playing twister at their friends' house.  Kylee may have an unfair advantage with her gymnastics background.

The Idaho Falls temple was closed for renovation for nearly two years.  When they were done, it was open to the public before it was rededicated.  So we were able to take our kids through.  What a great experience for them!  Kaden kept saying, "we go to the temple?"  And as we were walking through it at one point he said, "this is our temple?" And one of the workers overheard and thought it was the sweetest thing.

 Kehau and I started our training for our century ride!  This is the test to see if my knee can handle the bike.  I want to sign up for the half ironman if I can survive this century!

 Kylee did the most amazing thing!  She sang a solo of my all time favorite church song in Sacrament meeting, and she really nailed it!  I love hearing her sing so so much.  And I love the sweet spirit brought with her testimony as she sang the words.  She is so talented, but just so special too.  So glad she's mine.

 When I peeked my head in Sadie's room, and saw her bed empty after they had all gone to bed, I had to snap a picture of her sitting here reading by the light of her closet.  Because this is de ja vu, in this exact closet actually, to when Kylee was 6 years old too.  Sadie caught the reading bug when I introduced her to Rainbow Magic books.  So far that's all she wants to read, which is exactly how Kylee was in Kindergarten as well.  I'm just happy she's reading, and reading WELL!  I'm so blessed to have bright children!  Seriously!  Makes life so much easier.

Kylee’s Birthday (and mine too)

Kylee’s birthday was low-key this year.  All she wanted was a puppy (not going to happen) and a hoverboard (we have to draw the line somewhere…)  So you might say she was a little disappointed, but I think she was happy anyway.

I took her and her bff Averi to get pedicures.  Kylee has asked for this before and I always said, “I was like 26 when I had my first pedicure…”  But it was something fun to pamper her on her birthday.  And I got one too :)

Aren’t our toes cute??

She also got a sleepover with Averi, which is a treat because we are not big fans of sleepovers.  Averi lives across the street so it’s not like they don’t see each other often.  But there’s something super fun about staying up late with a friend and continuing on with the fun in the morning.  These girls get along really well and we are so very happy that they moved in last summer.

Kylee’s birthday was on a Monday, so we did that stuff on Friday and Saturday before her bday.  Then we had her open presents on Monday.  She really wanted to do it before school so we hurried and fit it in.  There really weren’t that many presents to open, though.  Because she didn’t have any other requests so I gave her some money and took her to Target where she spent it on glue, shaving cream, and gum.  And maybe some other craft stuff, I can’t remember.  It was all very strange stuff that she needed for all her slime recipes.  I gave her some clothes, which she likes (unlike my other children), a mermaid sequin pillow (because Sadie really wanted to get her something with those sequins), new rollerblades that are much better than her previous ones (yay, I chose a good gift AND it was a surprise), and a kayak (which she kind of knew about because I had to ask her if it was something she actually wanted before I spent the money on it.  Too bad paddleboards are so expensive!)

Ryan picked her up from school at lunchtime and took her to Pizza Pie Café since she had volleyball practice and I had soccer with the other kids so we weren’t able to go out that night.

 But we did have time for cake!  She chose this Better than “Everything” Cake.  It’s the first time I’ve made this kind of cake, even though I’ve enjoyed it plenty of times back in my college days.  It was pretty simple and I think it was yummy!  We gave the kids extra large servings because it was only our family eating it, lol.  I didn’t want to make Kylee wait until my mom or Ryan’s parents were here because that would’ve been a couple weeks later.  And we were rushed with soccer and volleyball so we just kept it simple.

Later when my mom was visiting, the three of us went out to get sushi and hibachi at Fuji.  Yum!

For my birthday, my neighborhood friends took me out for brunch.  We went to Abracadabra because Ryan had told me about this egg dish I would like.  It was yum!  Ryan stayed home with Kaden so I could go and enjoy myself, but Sadie really wanted to come so I got a pancake as my side dish to share with her.  The options were all gluten stuff, toast, biscuit, mini waffles.  She really wanted a pancake, so I asked if that was possible.  The lady said it was $1 upcharge.  I thought that was strange, but my friends told me to do it (they were footing the bill).  Well, the pancake was the size of a whole batch of pancakes…  Sadie was in heaven!

That was the day before my birthday because my mom flew in the night before my birthday.   My mom and I went to lunch for my birthday at Arugula, this newer restaurant in town that’s supposed to be pretty healthy and fresh.  It was good!  Kaden was getting mighty tired, but he’s a good sport.

Later that day I had soccer with Dylan and Sadie.  I coach Sadie’s team and they all sang Happy Birthday to me at the end of the game.  It was sweet.  Then we watched Dylan play.

Fun birthday month!