Janurary

January has come and gone and was pretty low key so it will be easy to catch up.

Kelsey has gotten super good at playing these days. I totally love it. She is all about her babies, singing to her princess toys, and getting things out without any prompting. I have to say she also cleans up without any prompting. All kids come like this  right?
One day, while we were at the library she asked if we could go home to play with toys. I am just loving this about her.

I really wasn't lying about the cleaning thing. She is an all star at it despite the picture.  She is also super good at wardrobe changes but I'm pretty sure that deserves a post in itself. We go through about 5 outfits a day heaven help me.

In January, Ethan took me on  two dates just the two of us! I felt so special!! One date he brought me beautiful flowers followed by Nickel City and Zubs and the other date he took me to Body World in Salt Lake which was fascinating. I know Ethan must love me because he does not love looking at cadavers nearly as much as I do but he planned the whole thing regardless.

After we went to Body World, we also got to make our own movies at another exhibit. Ethan was very proud of his movie.

Since we are "never tired", Kelsey has been falling asleep everywhere and in the most hilarious positions.

This picture was taken because she literally walked up to Ethan, handed him her blanket, got in his lap and fell asleep. It is the fastest we have ever seen her fall asleep. Honestly less than 30 seconds.

 

Creepy eyes and mouth open

 

This one I swear  looks like she got hit by a truck. It makes me laugh every time I look at it

 

Another "I quit on life" sort of picture

 

One morning I went to the gym and I came home to a deep cleaning party. The laundry was going, the dusting was done, Ethan was in the midst of vacuuming while Kelsey was cleaning the floors. (We may have had to re-wash the floors after but she did a really REALLY good job at getting the soap on the floor for us) My favorite part of this whole thing was that when Ethan helped her they started singing "Sing Sweet Nightingale" from Cinderella.

At the end of January my dear friends from MBASA threw me a "baby shower." To call it a baby shower feels funny because it really was just an excuse to get together and eat some cake. I felt a little funny inviting people because this is baby two and that seems weird to me, but they insisted and were so sweet regardless of my hesitations. Elisa planned the whole thing and did an amazing job. I am so lucky to have a friend like her. She is the best.(PS Kelsey calls Elisa Elisala)

Elisa Johnson, Heather Palmer, Kirsta Black, Katie Apker, Stacey Morris, and Virginia Barrett

Sometime, near the end of January, MBASA scheduled a group visit to the Ice Castles in Midway. We have felt like we should go to these because everyone talks about them. We got a group rate and decided to go, but my goodness. Waste of time if you don't have a discount. Its literally a giant fort where everyone stands and looks at the walls. Plus for full price its like a 40 buck date! ALSO the line of cars as we were leaving, was at least 500 long, not including the people already standing in line AND the people already in the fort. They were fine.
I don't know if I would recommend going  but overall the night was really fun. Ana and Elsa were walking around the castle and that was fun for Kelsey. She got to talk to Ana and Ana asked her all about her coat. Now Kelsey will wear her coat. Next time I see Ana, I am going to give her a kiss.

On some Saturday we were heading up north and stopped at the children's museum to take advantage of our passes. Kelsey really took to the vet shop this time and luckily its not a very popular area so she pretty much had the whole place to herself.
In the pet shop, you got to x-ray the animals, feed them, and doctor them. Kelsey loves animals so much and it was so cute to watch her playing with them.

Here is what I looked on January 21st and the most Provo thing I have ever seen!!

 

I took this thinking that I would never see gas cheaper, but now I believe it is at 1.67!!! WHAT!?!?!

 

A trip to the Dentist

On January 5th I took Kelsey to the dentist for the first time. She was a champion. She didn't love the vibrator tooth brush but who does right. She did love the mirror and the fact that she got to watch TV during the whole appointment.
She was such a good girl and after wards got a balloon and a little toy baby. It was a successful trip to the dentist and I am so pleased.

While we were waiting in the waiting room, Kelsey was playing with the toys and farted. Instead of saying excuse me, she turned to the only other women in the waiting room, and was like, "Was that you!" It was so funny. I laughed so hard but tried not to. The lady just kind of looked at Kelsey. She either didn't hear her, or know why she said that, or thought that Kelsey had disgusting and rude parents to teach their daughter something like that. Regardless, I got a good laugh.

Post Christmas aka January

After Christmas with the Wings, we spent New Years Eve with the Nellys, Nelsons, and Harrisons. Here's how we do New Years now a days. We BARELY made it to midnight. We are such party animals.

Between New Years and the start of school we still had about a week of break and it was wonderful. We tried to take full advantage of our last 2 week Christmas break. We went to the RB like every morning, slept in, stayed up late, made fun dinners, and tried to do a family activity every day.

One activity that we did right before school was a trip down to the Springville Nicklemania. It was a little too old for Kelsey but we found stuff that she could do too. It was not crowded at all ( I love when all the students are gone!) and so we really could do anything we wanted.

Kelsey literally climbed up into the gate to drop the skee ball in. I could't move fast enough to stop her.

She loved the knock em' games and obviously the candy vending machine

Not to rub it in, but I beat Ethan at the basketball game. I honestly think that its because I'm THAT bad at real basketball so I can out perform in fake basketball. Kelsey loved the merry-go-rounds. So much so that she would follow families around and when they would pay she would quickly hop on with their kids. It was fine once because you all just share a like, but then she turned into "THAT" kid and we had to distract her from the merry-go-rounds. 

Luckily she thought air hockey was awesome. As a whole, I think the favorite game was the pac man game that we all got to play and eat each other. It was so much fun. 

Kelsey is a social butterfly. She hardly naps anymore because she doesn't want to miss out.  After Christmas however, we noticed that Kelsey would go off on her own a lot more to just be with her babies and toys. We worked really hard to get her gifts that were a little bit "older" and I think we nailed it. Santa brought her a baby that cries and laughs and every time it laughs, Kelsey laughs and every time it cries, Kelsey runs to get its bottle or blanket or something to make "white baby" (she has a white dress) feel better. She also will sit and read to baby for hours or make her food. Its so cute to watch her play with her toys and be a little mommy.

Kelsey also loves to dance. Nothing new. Over the break one of our favorite things to do was to watch the BYU cheerleaders practice and Kelsey would copy them. One of her toys from Grandma Nelson plays music and Kelsey dances to it at least 5 times a day and a lot of those times baby has to join her. She is such a happy little girl and I love watching her enter into this new stage of play and personality.

Kelsey also LOVES to wear dresses and skirts. Typically she wears both. For Christmas however I got her a shirt and I feel like it was a personal victory because I can get her to wear it! No skirt, no dress on top, just the shirt and pants! I love it. She also wears the other shirt I bought her but thats because she thinks its a dress. Doesn't matter... I got her to wear a t-shirt!

Here is Ethan the day before school. Such a handsome man.

I told them to both look at me and smile and they looked down and said cheese. It was so funny, but I also didn't get my picture for a few attempts.

The Saturday after school started, January 10th, we were all feeling a bit of the free time blues and went to Lowes Extreme Bounce house. Instant hit.

Kelsey was a little hesitant of the foam pits because she thought they were swimming pools (and they are the grossest things on the planet) but luckily she has a super fun dad and found out just how much fun they can be. I wanted to play with them so badly, but I'm really glad that they had a fun time.

And with that we are into the New Year officially. We are adjusting to Ethan's new schedule and are figuring out ways to be Ethan-less again. Also every now and then we remember that we have a baby coming really soon and freak out because we have much to do to get things ready for her arrival. We are very excited but not very prepared!

Happy 5 years

We have had 3 anniversaries with kids and have been able to spend one without Kelsey. Better luck next year right? I guess its our fault for getting married during Christmas break when all of the babysitters are out of town.

Although we had to have Kelsey, December 29th was one of the funnest days of the break. We started the day by exercising at the RB and then Ethan took us all to breakfast at Shirley's where we had some of the best cinnamon rolls of all time. AND the cinnamon rolls were as big as my face! It was AWESOME!

We spent the afternoon bowling at the WILK and oh my goodness. Talk about family fun.

Kelsey did pretty good, but got a little bored. She loved to push the balls down the ramp but even that only lasted a few times. She also LOVED to play with the fan where you dry your fingers. I don't like this picture at all, but you can see Kelsey in the back sticking her face in the fan. It was hilarious.

She also found other ways to entertain herself. She did her best.

While we were there we ran into the Salmons and Shellee was nice enough to take a picture for us.

We woke up to a pretty good snow storm and it lasted for hours. We were going to go bowling first thing but decided that it would be more ideal if we played in the snow and I am so glad we did. This was probably my favorite thing that we did all break. They only word I can think of to describe the whole morning would be happiness. It was just so happy to be out there as a family running around and laughing at everything. Nothing could go wrong. It was just one of those moments in life where you stop and realize how lucky you really are. Its also a moment that makes you wonder why all moments can't be like this one, but you at least have this moment. It was so much fun.

Kelsey LOVED the snow! Her coat didn't let her put her arms down and her gloves were too big so she was the cutest sight ever. Watching her try to run and keep up with Ethan was hilarious. She would trip and fall so many times and just laugh and laugh. It was equally as funny to watch her try to pick up the snow and throw it at us. Since her thumbs weren't in the gloves it was just kind of sad attempts that led to more falling but luckily we got it all on film.

Kelsey wasn't the only one that loved the snow. Although Ethan played different than her, he found ways to make his snow experience magical too.

When she would fall she would just sit there until we came and helped her up. She wasn't being lazy. She literally had no other option.

 Its long but PLEASE watch from 41 seconds on!! This is my favorite video ever.

And oh my goodness!! This girl loves her snow pants. She thought they were the coolest thing since sliced bread. She wore them for days after. When did my baby grow up?!

After playing in the snow we introduced Kelsey to Top Ramen and hot cocoa and let her watch Cinderella. I think its the best anniversary she has had yet!

Although I tease, spending 5 years with Ethan has been my greatest blessing in life. He is a wonderful man, a great husband, and such a happy father. He makes everyone around him better. I know no one that works and plays as hard as Ethan. He is optimistic, positive, and loves life. Situations don't get him down even if they try. He just chooses to be the bigger man and improve from everything that is thrown his way. I love him more every year and am so grateful that I get to learn so much from him. We have grown a lot as a couple and I look forward to these next years. I just don't fear the future because I know with Ethan by my side I can do anything. We will figure it out together and for that I am eternally grateful.

Side note: In the last five years we have had 7 moves, 2.5 cars, 1.5 kids, 2.5 degrees, and so many BYU home games that I didn't bother counting. Love you Ethan!