Things we have done: May

May started off right. We had Hannah come visit us and she brought the best weather! She was able to stay for a whole week and it was just the greatest. I felt bad because the whole time Hannah was here I just felt terrible. I tried to keep being a good host, but I'm sure I was not the kindest person. Luckily Hannah is super awesome and would just ignore me and carry on as though nothing was different. She was super helpful with the girls and played so much with them despite the fact that she had to bring work with her. We loved having Hannah here.

Aunt Kay also came to visit for a day on her way through to Walla Walla. Always great to catch up with Kay.

One night that was perfect, we got everyone together and had a barbecue and popsicles. It made me start to understand the draw to Seattle. Beautiful weather until about 10 pm. Does it get better?

Kelsey had her last day of dance class. She was so cute. She tried so hard and definitely had the most flare int he whole class. If she messed up, she would just laugh and try again. She is so cute about just staying positive. She is a mini Ethan for sure.

One nice day during nap time, I thought I would hang out with Kelsey and paint rocks. 5 minutes in, Trenton yelled for her and she was gone. She loves Trenton. Well, I had all the stuff out so I decided to just keep painting. I ended up sitting on my porch painting rocks by myself for like an hour. It was the best afternoon!!

We discovered Enatai beach. The water was frigid, so Madison choose to be Ariel for most of the afternoon.

I love this picture because it was taken at like 9 at night. We lost complete track of time because we were all so happy.

A mini trip to the capitol on a freezing day

 

Blurry but couldn't resist Kelsey in the background

She's trying to save a worm

At the water by the market

Memorial Day weekend with the Salmons and Morris s complete with two barbecues, XXX, swamp monster hike, shopping, and Kennsington Beach

This is why Seattle frustrates me. I know other places can't make up their mind, but its just getting really old. We have two weeks of crummy and then get a glimpse of perfect weather just to be taken away again by two weeks of crummy. I'm just getting so tired of it and haven't quite figured it out.

Happy Birthday Kelsey

 

Kelsey turned 5. I really could just go on and on about how wonderful Kelsey is, but I might have to do that later because I want to get the events of her birthday in print. 

She woke up to pancakes with sprinkles and candles (I didn't make her a cake so lets hope she never gets mad. I put candles in her pancakes though so I feel like that totally counts) 

Ethan took the day off of work and as always it was just way better having him around. We all went to the track and the girls played while Ethan and I ran. It was starting to warm up, but Kelsey was just so excited that instead of going somewhere we let her open and watch Moana. Both girls were just so happy. I don't remember why, but the night before I woke up like 9 times and just felt terrible. I took a nap during Moana while Ethan practiced his magic tricks for the birthday party. 

We had lunch at Five Guys per Kelsey's request and then she got to play at Siena's house while we did birthday prep. 

At about 5 we got things gathered and headed to Mormon Night at the Mariners game where we sat with a bunch of ward members on a perfect evening and watched a very fun game. There were home runs, strike outs and even a Grand Slam. It was so much fun.

At 10:30, Kelsey's friends came over for a ballerina birthday party. I love throwing little kid parties, because you put together maybe two activities, hand them a slice of pizza and a cupcake, open presents, and then they just go and play. Its awesome. The only difference was that Ethan wanted to do a magic show and then he taught them a "ballerina dance." He really is the greatest.
Kelsey has such a great time with her friends and loves them so much. Its great to watch her interact with them.

Caroline Dayly, Hadlee Salmon, Madi Balkman, Zoe Brown, Siena Sanelli, Bianca Rincon. Claire Crosby was invited but couldn't come.

I love that Dallin came specifically for the show

The rest of the day was spent playing with toys and going to Scarlett Simakov's birthday.

That night we got Leah to babysit and we went to Thai Coconut. I was so excited but didn't eat the right foods during the day and got so so SO sick at the restaurant. I couldn't even sit still. It wasn't painful it was just incredible hunger that I let get out of control. The waitress was so nice and actually gave us a discount because we had to leave so soon. We got our food and headed home and on the way home, it thankfully passed. Since Leah was still there, we grabbed some forks and ate our food at the look out by Harrison park. It actually turned out to be a super fun date despite the change of plans.

Gold Creek Pond

My friends are super awesome and way more adventurous than me and created a group called Fun Fridays with Friends. Basically every Friday they pick somewhere new to explore and make it happen rain or shine.
I feel like I used to be good at this, but then I got super offended by Seattle's weather and quit trying so I love that they push through because ITS AWESOME! I have only bee one time and it was so much fun.

This week we went to Gold Creek Pond at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass. Totally stroller, 1 mile around, and beautiful. It "sprinkled" for like a minute and then sun even came out for a minute. My friends are the coolest.

So as it turns out, Kelsey was walking crazy the slow the whole time and just started crying for no reason. My girls are super emotional, so I didn't really think much about it, but looking back this was especially weird. Well I got home and she had a fever and was totally sick! I felt terrible. I think the worst part was that I told her to change her attitude and instead of letting on that she was sick, she put on a brave face and walked the whole way without a single complaint. Oh how I wish I could be a softer mother. I get so worked up and angry about nothing and instead of showing compassion and letting my kids be little, I ALWAYS expect them to be 30. I don't know if I will ever change, but I do hope that I will

Madison cracks me up in this picture

She had a small melt down because as she was running to touch the water she stepped in goose poop. She truly didn't know if she should remain excited about the water or terrified about the poop.