Wildlife World Zoo Field Trip

We have a good friend in the ward that teaches preschool. Each spring she takes the kids on a field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo. It is such a great deal to get in that she invites pretty much anyone and we usually take her up on it.

This year, Nathan left work early (how sad is it that leaving at 8am is leaving early!?) and came with Matt, Ray and me to the zoo. We had a great time. The animals were pretty active when we got there--especially the monkeys. There were three gibbons that were making quite a ruckus. They were loud! The kids loved it.

Matthew liked to run ahead of us. One time he started running and a couple of peacocks flew from the roof down to the ground right in front of him. He stopped dead in his tracks and came running back to us. I wish that would have cured him of his need to run ahead, but it didn't.

Rachel had a good time, but she did not want to walk. We didn't take the stroller and tried to make her walk. She would just sit down in the dirt and cry, "I can't! I can't!" Luckily, we ran into Kelli and Joss and Joss didn't want to ride in her stroller so Rachel got to ride.

We had a great time and the weather was perfect. We can't wait for next year!

Grandma Hansom

On March 14, 2011, my Grandma Hansom died from complications of a hip fracture. She will be missed, but we all are so grateful that she won't be in pain anymore. We also know that she is in a much better place and has been reunited with her husband who died 16 years ago. She was 98.5 years old when she died--for anyone who knew her that half year is very important. She once told someone she was older than she actually was because "it sounded more impressive".

She and my Grandpa left quite a legacy--6 children, 31 grandchildren, 95 great-grandchildren (and counting), and 24 great-great-grandchildren (and counting). I am honored to be one of the 31 grandchildren.


I don't have many specific memories of my grandma. Mostly they are just general memories--the carpeted garden; her candy dish with those brachs royals candies; her cookies that she kept fresh with a slice of bread or orange peel; sweet peas and snap dragons; watching Capitol with her while she crocheted; and my favorite: she swore she was taking viagra for her allergies (we couldn't convince her it was called Allegra).

I do remember one time, though, when I was young. I'm not sure how old I was, but I was old enough that my parents left me home to babysit. I fell asleep while they were out and woke up at some point in the night. I got scared by some of the noises our house made. I didn't know what to do so I called Grandma. While I was on the phone with Grandma my mom came down the hall and asked who I was talking to. I didn't realize that my parents were home. It must have been very late but I knew my grandma would help me.   

Her funeral was March 19th. It was such a beautiful day. It was wonderful to spend it with family remembering Grandma. Her grandchildren and their spouses sang her favorite song "Where Can I Turn For Peace". We filled the choir loft at the church building. Then the great-grandchildren sang "Families Can Be Together Forever." It was a sweet tribute to her.

I am very thankful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation and what happens after we die. I am also grateful that my kids knew their Great-Grandma Hansom.

Grandpa Jumps With the Kids

Some time around the end of January (beginning of February?) we got new kitchen appliances. We had a lot of help from my sister and brother-in-law and Nathan's parents and brother. It involved taking our sliding glass doors out of the frame because the fridge wouldn't fit through our front door, the garage door or one side of the sliding glass door. It was a big job, but the appliances are great. We love them. Included in our package was a built in microwave. It didn't come with the mounting hardware so we had to buy that and then Nathan had to find time when he could get it up. Finally, today was the day. Nathan's dad came out to help him.

After they got the microwave up the kids asked Grandpa if he would go on the trampoline with them. He said yes and they were thrilled. Grandpa was sitting on the trampoline and Matt and Ray were jumping over his knees (that made me nervous) and then they convinced him to stand and jump with them. It was great and the kids will always remember the time Grandpa jumped on the trampoline with them.

I'm putting this picture on because I love Rachel's amazing trampoline form. She's going to be a cheerleader when she is older, I just know it.

Pump It Up!

Rachel getting ready to go in one of the bouncers.

 Last night I took the kids to Pump It Up for a friend's birthday party. I figured I could handle all four of them on my own while Nathan went to Shooters World to test out his new rifle scope. Once we were let into the first bounce room Hailey and Kade ran off with their friends (I hardly saw them the rest of the night) and Rachel went inside the basketball court bouncer that is like a big trampoline.

Matthew? Well, that's another story. He cried and told me he didn't want to be there. He just wanted to sit down and do nothing. After a lot of convincing on my part he reluctantly went inside the basketball court bouncer with Rachel--and loved it! I think he would have stayed there the rest of the night, but after 20 minutes I was kinda bored. So, after a lot of convincing on my part he reluctantly went down the slide. He never went back in the basketball court. I couldn't have kept him off the slide if I'd wanted to.

Matthew getting ready to go up the ladder for the slide.

After some time in the first bounce room they herded our group into a second room with more bouncers. The kids were in heaven. About the time we got in the second room I went to get something out of the diaper bag and noticed I had a missed call. I checked and saw that it was Nathan. About 2 seconds later I looked up and Nathan was walking in the door. Apparently, the wait for a shooting lane was too long so he decided to come to the party. He went down the slide with the kids a few times and they all had a great time.

At one point, I wasn't sure my kids were going to do anything but play the video games.

Then we were moved to another room for pizza and cake. The kids got balloons and goody bags and loved every minute of the whole night (I'm pretty sure the adults had a great time, as well.)

Hailey's Hair

Hailey has never really let me do anything with her hair. (I blame it on the fact that she didn't even get hair until she was 3 so I never really had to do her hair.)  She just likes having it straight and down. No ponies. No bows. No headbands. No curls. And absolutely no braids.


Last night after her shower, though, I asked her if I could French braid her hair and she said yes! Actually, I did 4 French braids since it was really the after-braid effect that she wanted. This morning before school we took the braids out and she was in love. She couldn't stop smiling and was so excited to get to school to show off her "Taylor Swift" 'do."

Who knows, maybe she'll let me do it again...in another 7 years.

Out With the Old

Out with the...

In with the...

Some time at the end of January we won these appliances in one of Heidi's work auctions. They are wonderful! We figure if we had bought them at a store we would have paid 6 or 7 times what we paid through the auction (either that or we'd have only been able to buy the dishwasher).

Nathan finally has his water and ice dispenser in the fridge and I finally have a dishwasher and stove that work. The microwave is a bonus. Ours was a wedding gift and I'm not sure it was going to last much longer (the microwave, not the marriage). 


Our old oven didn't have a window on the door and the first time I made cookies Matt and Ray sat in front of the oven and watched them cook. They were fascinated. It was pretty funny.

Rachel

Matt Turned 3!

Matthew's birthday finally came. He has been so excited to have his birthday since about Hailey's birthday in August. We had to keep telling him that his birthday wasn't until after Christmas. Then, he told everyone he saw that his birthday was after Christmas. Well, Christmas came and went and finally it was time for Matt's birthday. I kept asking him what he wanted for his birthday dinner. He named just about everything. Once he told me he wanted strawberry shortcake (because it is food and it is crunchy). He decided on Hawaiian Haystacks--one of his favorites. He also decided on a funfetti cake that he wanted decorated like a race track and strawberry ice cream.

The morning of his birthday he woke up and immediately wanted to play with the car Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins gave him. That all changed, though, when he went down stairs and saw the streamers and balloons and  a present sitting on the table.

Somehow I managed to not get a picture once the present was actually opened. He got a scooter. He had been wanting one ever since he saw Rachel open hers and was thrilled when he saw it.

During naptime I frosted his cake. It did not go as planned. I made a white chocolate butter cream frosting that I had made for Rachel's cake, but my white chocolate hardened up when I put it in my mixer bowl. I ended up with chunks of white chocolate in the frosting which made it impossible to pipe. Oh well. He liked it (except for the fact that I made the grass green--apparently he wanted it yellow) and it tasted good.

When it was time for cake and ice cream Matt was so excited to blow out the candles. After we sang to him he blew them out one at a time. I guess we have yet to teach our kids the whole make-a-wish-and-blow-the-candles-out-in-one-breath thing.

We are so glad to have Matt in our family. He is such a sweet little boy. And now he is finally three (though, for the longest time he would tell people he was turning eight on his birthday).

Trampoline Fun

The kids have really enjoyed the trampoline Santa brought them--until they threw dirt all over it and I took it away for a week. But before that they were on it for hours. Especially Matt and Ray. They love it.

Sheer joy!

 

Kade copying Uncle Patrick.

Matt copying Kade copying Uncle Patrick.

Ray copying Matt copying Kade copying Uncle Patrick.

 

Resting after a long day on the trampoline.

Ray copying Matt and resting.

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