Kelsey's Birthday Party

 Sunday May 18th, the Wing family had a little going away/birthday party for us before we left for Chicago. It was just a fun chance to say bye to everyone for the summer before we headed out. It was super low key but still very fun. I think my favorite part was the way Kelsey, Harper, and Holden played together. They are all finally old enough that they enjoy one anothers company.

It is Kelsey's golden birthday this year (2 on the 2nd) so the extent of the theme/decorations party aspect were gold plates and cups. Pretty clever for me

Kelsey was shown a lot of love and got lots of fun toys especially for the car. People were very generous. It was fun how much she loved to open her presents. She would say "birfday?" "presents?" "Harper?' I don't know why Harper gets thrown into that trio but she still says those three things in a row.

 

 Frozen was a big hit even for the spectators. (Mom was annoyed with Frozen before we bought it, but I guess I'm a sucker because now we own the cd AND movie. It has made the road trip nice.)

 We gave her these little play shoes and she LOVED them.

 And of course we had cupcakes. She was a little confused about the candles, but as soon as we got those out of the way, she went to town...

 and was VERY pleased with what she found

To jog memories, this is what we dealt with last year on her birthday. I'd say we have come to appreciate cupcakes.

 

 

I'm really glad we did the party even though it was a few weeks early. It was just a fun way to spend time with the Wing family before we had to leave for the summer. 

The morning after....still wearing her shoes
(and yes... she fell asleep in them)

Random May Happenings

 May stayed chilly but we were still able to do lots of fun things. One of the highlights of our Bountiful stay would probably include Holden's tee-ball game. I love watching little kids play baseball. No one wants to play defense because its boring and so the outfield is really entertaining to watch.

There was some coaching going on,

 

 but mostly a whole lot of this from all the players.

 There was also a whole lot of this from the spectators.

 Before we left for our road trip, we had a few hot days and decided to take advantage by washing our car. Naturally it turned into spraying Kelsey with the hose so all in all a great Saturday activity.

 

The Friday before we left, we went to the Bountiful main street chalk festival. It was AWESOME!!! There are some talented people in this world. I just don't understand how they can make these pictures with chalk. Definitely a skill I do not posses. While we were there we ran into Michelle (quite literally actually) so that made it even more fun. Always great to see family. 

Kelsey has jumped onto the Frozen train whit both feet. I'm fine with it, its just getting really really REALLY annoying! She loved this picture obviously so we took a picture here.

 And this is what happens when you fall asleep mid Coconut Bliss

Hapy Birthday Ralphie

Tuesday May 13th, we got a text from Elisa asking if we wanted to meet at Kangaroo Zoo for an impromptu birthday party for Ralphie. Obviously we got over there as fast as we could. We love the Johnson's so much and find every excuse possible to be with them.
Ralphie and Kelsey were in heaven. Kelsey said Ralphies name at least 100 times before we got there because she was so excited to see him. When she finally got to see him, she ran over and gave him a big hug. It melted my heart how much she loves her friends.
Anyway, we had a great visit and the kids had a blast.
I didn't know about Kangaroo Zoo but it was a perfect place for someone like Kelsey. It is a giant warehouse full of bounce houses and slides of all different sizes. She could climb, run, jump, and slide without really hurting herself or anyone else. Perfect! (that being said she ran into Ralphie and hurt her check and to this day May 25, every time some talks about checks or asks her about Ralphie, she goes "Ralphie face?" Shes a little obsessed)

 Kangaroo Zoo has toys for all ages so naturally we lead Ralphie and Kelsey over to the "2 year old" sections and they were satisfied for like 3 minutes and then they took off.

 We kinda were following them, but mostly talking to Ralph and Elisa, and when we finally paid attention we found them in the "5 year old" section and they were loving it.

 We got to talking, looked up, and again they were gone to the bigger sections. Point of the story, they were never satisfied and would just encourage each other to do bigger and better. It was super cute. They always had to be together.

 I was a huge fan of Kelsey climbing the ladders and going down the slides all by her self, but there was one slide that I really didn't want her to go on. It was like 50 feet tall and super fast. I know it was onto air foam but still. Well I was talking to Elisa and watching Ralphie jump down this slide thing and decided to check to see where Ethan and Kelsey were and this is what I saw...

Right?! I was a little spooked, but Ethan told me not too worry. It was her third time already. Nice move dad. It was a little fast, but she really did like it.

After a few more slides and obstacle course, Ralphie and Kelsey ended the day with a wrestling match. There was lots of laughter and no tears, so over all a major success.

 

It just feels right when your best friends are around. 

I hope we can play this at their wedding someday. Too far? 

 

Naturally we ended the celebrations with lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe. EVERYONE was pleased with that decision.

Its day's like this that make us miss the Johnson's so much. We can not WAIT wait for them to move to Provo. Move faster already!

Mother's Day

Mother's day happened and it was fabulous. Nothing too out of the ordinary but it was great all the same. Ethan, Hannah, and Robert made Diana and me breakfast, I got a chocolate bar at church, and  the evening ended with a family dinner at the Manning's. It was like Christmas dinner in May complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, and rolls. The best part was having Annie and Andy up for a quick visit in route to their new location.

Sorry Annie and Andy! In my defense I told you to scoot in more :)

Love these two!

This year Ethan gave me a subscription to an awesome video making website complete with a video of me and Kelsey. Basically Ethan gave me an addiction for Mother's day because ever since Sunday, I have done nothing else. It has become my new form of journaling.

I am so grateful to be Kelsey's mom. I love being a mom and although it gets stressful at times and I am still learning how to be a better mom, she makes life so much fun. Love you Kels. 

Lately Kelsey has really been into shoes and it is adorable. She also discovered how awesome pockets can be. She loves to show off her watermelon pockets especially. I found cheese stashed in there once, so yeah, I'd say they're a hit.

Don't be fooled. She's saying cheese, not crying

Blurry but cute

Kelsey has also started singing like crazy lately. Thanks to nursery and cousin Harper, Kelsey is now singing all sorts of new songs. Its fun to listen to the words that she actually gets right and equally as fun to listen to the words she makes up. I love this new found hobby.

 

And we still love to dance

Not pictured but definitely worth mentioning was our weed pulling activity. I am truly sad that I do not have a before and after picture of this because the result is/was amazing!! The labor was extensive and took about two and half full weeks but we did it. Diana and Robert have a slight hill in their new backyard that has beautiful ground cover on it. Because of the winter, the ground cover was taken over by weeds. We wouldn't work all day every day, but we would go out at least once a day (if it wasn't too muddy) to pull weeds. We pulled weeds so much that we literally started dreaming about weeds!! We pulled weeds so much that now every time we drive past a field or anything we talk about whether or the not the easy would be easy or difficult to pull up. To say it became an obsession is an understatement. Regardless, two and half weeks later, a couple blisters, several sore backs, and 18 black bags later we finished!! Completely done!!