ummm...catch up?!?

HOLY WOW!!! Can we say that maybe this whole 3 kids thing is kickin me in the butt? I know I was starting to not be so great there right before I had Kaydence, but.... I did better than I have in the past 5 months. So SORRY! mostly sorry to my kids who will eventually look back at this time and say what were we like and yadda yadda yadda and there wasn't much posted. So... I'm gonna do my best to catch up. What has been going on in our lives the past 5 months has been important and quite big for us.

I'm always baffled when I look around and see what is in my life right now and I don't feel like I should have 3 kids. I don't feel responsible enough or old enough. I always had this image in my brain of what a woman looked like and what she was supposed to act like once she had 3 kids. AND pretty sure I don't feel like "that woman" I feel so unequipped and not able to handle it all! I think the hardest part has been #1: all 3 kids under the age of 5 = all I hear is whinning ALL day long. #2: A baby who is very attached to her Mom and needs my attention a vast majority of the time! I don't mean to sound like I'm venting and being pessimistic. I'm just telling you what it looks like behind our walls at this point and time in our lives FROM my perspective. Life hasn't been easy, but I haven't made it any easier on myself.

Patrick on the other hand has been VERY happy! He has kept busy with is WONDERFUL new job! He loves it! They have put a lot of trust in him and given him lots of responsibility. He says it is overwhelming at times, but feels great over all! It's great to feel like an asset and something important! It has also helped that the income change has helped his stress very much and we've been super blessed! I know the Lord is watching over us and blessing our lives! Patrick is not only busy at work, but also with bishopric duties. He has been the 2nd counselor in our bishopric for the past year. It has been 1 year and he has very much so enjoyed it! He loves the fulfillment he gets from being involved and being able to serve others! He recognizes that with being gone at the church 3 days out of the week and surrounded with the men in the bishopric has become a 2nd home and family to him! He loves it! Then one more thing that has been on his plate lately is remodeling our kitchen. He has LOVED putting his hands to work and making our home better for us! And being able to do it all on his own!

Porter: He is a smart boy who is growing up too quickly. We aren't quite to the stage of consistent "Why this and why that" questions, but I can feel it coming closely around the corner. He has been starting to ask lots of questions about things when he doesn't understand completely. I his mother am trying to get prepared for his stage of life coming up soon. He is getting bigger and smarter and is becoming more of a person than a little kid. If you know what I mean. He wants to play big kid games, he wants to show more independence, he is in is fathers shadow anytime his dad is home. He wants to be just like his dad!  He has a competitive nature about him. Always wants to be the first to take his vitamin, to get in the bath, to finish his food, to get in and out of the car, but his sister Kinley has learned that great saying "Ladies first" and Porter has learned that it is important to be a gentleman happily and he will do it(sometimes). :) He still loves trains and has really gotten into cars lately. He loves to play on the tablet and is becoming a typical boy who enjoys gaming.   He is in his second year of preschool and so far seems to be really enjoying it. So far in the past 4 months of school I've noticed a tremendous difference in his skills of being able to write his name on all of his projects! I'm very proud of him!  He is a big helper to me around the house and with his sisters. Mostly a help with Kaydence and an amazing friend to Kinley these days. The two are quite literally inseperable. And he Lost his first tooth The last week of November 2012. Then about 2 weeks before Christmas he lost another!

Kinley: My 3 year old! We absolutely LOVE this little girl! She is so fun to have around! Her smile and laugh are super contagious. She loves to giggle and laugh and will fake laugh if she has to just so she can laugh! It's cute! She loves princesses right now. Her favorite have been Aurora, Snow White and just recently she is starting to like Rapunzel. she loves to go around twirling and singing the songs that all the princesses do. What 3 year old girl doesn't? It's fun to say what does Ariel say and she will start to sing "Ahhh" and what does Snow White say " Some day HER prince will come!" So adorable. She gets mad at you if you say someday MY prince will come!  Since we have had Kaydence she has learned to be ok with Mom and Dad leaving her with a babysitter. She likes to sing the song from Daniel Tigers Neighborhood "Grown ups come back!" She loves treats and is constantly wagering whatever she can to get some treats. I find I bribe her lots, but it's what works.  We've been working with her on not being afraid of shinny floors. Anytime we would go to a store or into the gym at the church she would see the reflection of the lights on the floor and completely freak out. She was so worried she was going to slip and fall on the shiny parts of the floor. AND we would end up holding her anytime we were at one of these places with shiny floors. Not anymore though. She is now brave and confidently tells us every time.. "Look I'm walking! I safe!"

Kaydence: She has been such a joy to us all! She has been a very different baby for us(or should I say for ME) It seems the things that worked for Porter and Kinley just don't work for her and I feel like I'm learning ALL over again how to be a Mom. Except this time it's with 2 older siblings attached. If she would learn to soothe herself and calm herself down when she is ready to go to sleep...She would by far be my easiest/ happiest baby! Since she was 2 weeks old she has been such a smiley baby! And at 2 weeks old it wasn't just coincidence she was smiling. She truly has been smiling for real since 2 weeks old! She just got her first two teeth this week(Jan 14th-Jan 21st)! They are the front bottom 2. We like to joke that she stole them from Porter because Porter lost those very 2 teeth recently! We will miss that gummy baby smile! But I'm excited for those cute baby teeth! always so fun!  She for sure is going to be one of my most curious babies! She is very quick to learn new things! Patrick has said she is going to be the one who knows and understands in her brain how to do something before she can physically do it herself! SOO TRUE! She wants to get things and figure them out. She gets so frustrated with any type of rattle toy that has little things inside that she cannot touch! She wants to get them so bad and she will just start to fuss and get so mad at the toy. We've learned to give her those toys not very often. I know when she can move around I'm in trouble. She is already such a roller! She can get around our front room like a pro! from the fireplace to the tile!

Kaydence had gotten a cough when she was about 1 1/2 months old and it progressively got worse over the time of 6 weeks. The weekend after Thanksgiving it got so bad that we finally took her into the E.R. They checked her for pneumonia, for RSV, for croup, etc.. They gave her breathing treatments and so on and we ended up getting sent up to pediactrics and staying 3 days. We went into the ER on Saturday morning and admitted her to PEDS that afternoon. They said they wanted to run a test for cystic fibrosis, but wouldn't be able to do that until monday. So we had to stay til monday to do the test. I was a nervous wreck in that tiny hospital room those 72 hours we were there! She had to be put on Oxygen, because her SAT levels were too low and she wasn't getting enough oxygen. And anytime that monitor would beep telling us those levels were getting lower... my heart would flutter. The worst part of the whole thing was #1 being away from Porter and Kinley! ( when I got home from the hospital I could tell they were having a hard time from me being away and not having any consistency and even just not being able to understand what was going on) #2 The unknown of it all. Sitting in that room watching my baby get put through so much to try and get her better and WAITING for test results WONDERING what could be wrong with her. I really had to put a lot of trust in the Lord and have faith that it was all going to be alright! Monday came around and my baby was happy as long as they weren't suctioning her nose out! And they ran tests, and we got the results back that the only thing wrong was that she had the influenza type 3 virus. So just the flu. ALL of that for the flu! They sent us home with oxygen. They wanted her to stay on the oxygen for a while. She was on it only at night for 2 days. I had to wake up every hour the first night to check on her and make sure her breathing was fine and that the oxygen was working. But after that we took care of her and about a week later she was better!

A special part of all this was that we were in the hospital over the weekend and so that meant no church for us. BUT Patrick and I were able to go to a 20 minute sacrament meeting held at the hospital. Our testimonies were so strengthened by being able to go and partake of the sacrament that day. Not to mention how nice and quiet it was without the kids! haha that was nice!

Before

We started our November off by tearing apart our kitchen! We worked on the kitchen ANY spare moment we had and sadly I have to say the project has not been finished and won't be til probably May 2013. We are all done now except for the counters, back splash and the lighting changes we are adding. But since we are doing ALL the work ourselves and due to the wonderful job that Patrick has and the busy tax season on it's way we won't be able to start our finishing renovations til April 15th. Plus we are wanting to do concrete countertops so we have to wait til warmer weather to make those! We are loving the new look ALREADY and can't wait til MAY when it will all be finished! What we were thinking starting such a project when we had a 3 month old baby and during the holiday season...I don't know... all I can say is we must be crazy! We've made it through though and it's been fun challenge and use our talents!

Before

Before

This year we enjoyed doing our own thing for Christmas! It was our first ever doing it on our own in our own home. We were a little worried how it would feel and if we'd get totally bored by noon on Christmas day, but it actually turned out to be SOO nice! We still felt the wonderful magic and spirit of Christmas and enjoyed relaxing in our own home and being together just us! Christmas Eve we took around our neighbor gifts and caroled to a few families! We really saw what Christmas was about when we went to an elderly couple that lives by us and found out that they weren't having any of their kids come to see them and so we could tell that our visit meant a lot to them! Also this year we started a new tradition. We made sure that the kids picked out and bought a special gift for each person in the family. The first gift opened on Christmas morning was Porters gift TO Mom! He was so excited to give his gift to me that he had completely ignored his very own presents and thought of Mom first! That is the true meaning of Christmas!   Both kids were extremely excited to give gifts to one another! Though I think my favorite gift was Kinley's gift to her Dad, a blinged out pink heart key chain. She went to the store saying I want to buy dad a pink ring...well we couldn't find any his size, but we did find the pink key ring. She was so excited to give that to him, plus she got him an extension cord that she thought was a jump rope. We are still letting her believe it's a jump rope! She KNEW Dad would love both of those gifts! And my very favorite part...Dad has the pink key chain hooked to his keys! What an amazing Dad! We will for sure be keeping this tradition going. Anyways... The kids were put in bed at 830 that night and they were up til at least 1030 squealing with joy at any sound they heard outside! They were soooo excited that Santa was coming! We got a new camera this year for christmas so hopefully blogging will be better from here on out! but no promises are being made!

Past Month in Pictures

Brigham City Temple Dedication- August 24th 2012- Porter loved the bus ride more than the temple and Kinley enjoyed the flowers outside the temple and getting a visual of what it looks like in the sealing room.(A.K.A where mom and dad got married) 

Date Night to Acapellastock! Soooo awesome seeing Delillah and Eclipse perform!

Dad built the bird houses and the kids painted away!!

Porters first day of his 2nd year of pre-school! He really wanted to show off his backpack and Kinley just HAD to be in the pictures with him and make silly faces!

We've dealt with a lot of this

and enjoyed a lot of this!!!

We've cheered on our team!

Had a fun movie and pizza night! 

AWWW! Instant connection with her namesake! LOVE it!

OOOHH what else has happened to us the past month or so...?? Porter got strep and an ear infection. We bottled our salsa and finished one gate in our fence! Went to the Christensen family reunion and enjoyed a few hours with the family! AND We have also been dealing with not only adjusting to another member in our family but also Patrick's job change! WHAT A MONTH!!

It's about time to introduce...

Kaydence Rae Munson

Born August 2, 2012- 7lb. 12oz.-19in.-11:45AM

Our 5th member to join our little family. Although when you say 5th it doesn't seem to be "little" anymore. We find it is easy to forget that there is a third to care for, like when you go out to eat at an ice cream place and you start to walk off without your baby in the carseat....AHHH! It has been so nice to have life where your kids just follow you and do what you do and you don't have to carry them around. We've had kids in the toddler stage for a year now and are just getting back into the baby stage. 

Anyways back to Kaydence- (this is the journal entry...lots of details and exactly what went on the last few weeks all the way up to well today...and she is 3 weeks old. So WARNING-this will be LONG!) At my 36 week appointment my doctor checked my progress and I was dilated to 3.5cm. and 80% effaced. I knew I was dilated that much. I just had a feeling, call it mothers instincts if you will. Yet, I was shocked! But from that moment I thought well...she will be coming early for sure! That weekend was stressful for us, because Patrick being in the bishopric had responsibilities that had him going to High Adventure with the Young Men that following week. We were a little nervous of me being that far progressed and with him being 2 hours away and possibly without cell phone service. We contemplated every scenario and exactly how we would handle situations, but we both felt he should go. Turned out that he had cell service and we talked more that week than I think we normally do in a regular week. That week, week 37, Patrick left for High Adventure for 4 days and I went to my doctors appointment the first day he was gone and found out I had not progressed any further than the week before. I was a little bummed, yet thankful all at the same time. He stripped my membranes a little bit and then off I went to be with my mom in Lehi for the remainder of the time that Patrick was gone. Well that first night I was contracting. Nothing regular or real painful for about an hour and a half. Then everything stopped. I was able to ride out the rest of the time til we got back  with Patrick that weekend.  We were relieved to be together and know that that week was all behind us, yet  a little disappointed nothing had happened yet. 

Week 38 then rolled along and I went to my dr. appointment and found out still nothing had changed. He stripped my membranes again and off I went. Dr. Bierer said "Well I will be REALLY shocked if I don't see you soon to have this baby. But let's set for the next time I see you to be not a check up appointment but to induce you. I'll have my nurses call you with that all set up for you." And off I went and I did all my errands and cleaning that day thinking all of the working would send me into labor and also I'd be totally prepared for going to the hospital and knowing everything was in order here at home. I absolutely expected to be going to the hospital that Wednesday night. well sure enough at about 3:45pm that day I started contracting. I did so for 4 hours, just they weren't consistent enough for me to have reason to go into the hospital. Patrick had called Bishop and said "Skye is contracting and we very well expect to go in tonight to have the baby." Well, 7pm rolls around and everything came to a halting stop!! It was so frustrating. And that was when real frustration hit me. I had just cancelled my plans for that evening and so did Patrick. I felt awful that I had held him back from his priesthood duties and calling and had nothing to show for it. The next 4 days were incredibly hard on us, me especially. They were filled with tons of emotions and feelings each ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other. Frustration all the way to hope and expectation for it to be TIME. I quickly learned to be ok with it and that I needed to enjoy my time with my 2 older kids while I had it. I needed to enjoy some of my freedoms that I was taking for granted. So...I did knowing I had an induction date set, it was all good and I knew i just needed to wait and enjoy my time, and that she would come when she would come. 

Week 39 rolls around and I have my induction date set up for Thursday August 2, 2012 at 5:30am that week. Like I said I took my time that week and enjoyed all of my lasts before baby number 3.  We actually got a little worried about her movements. Not that they had decreased or anything, but that they were seizure like. So we went in for an appointment on Tuesday (July 31st) and had ourselves reassured that everything was fine! That babies can't seize in utero and that she is and has been super healthy through the whole pregnancy. I came home that night and had an hour of really hard contractions that were 5 minutes apart. I really thought that was it. I was going to have her that night!! But as soon as that 1 hour mark hit ONCE AGAIN the contractions stopped. BLAH! and UGH! Luckily I hadn't gotten my hopes up and filled myself with complete joy that it might be happening. 

Wednesday (August 1st) rolls around and I cleaned and got everything ready to go around the house. Grandma Lori Munson and Kelsey came up and we ordered pizza and enjoyed the evening together. I asked Patrick to give me a blessing that night, because it's not very often that you get to plan when your baby will be born. Patrick said that while he was giving the blessing he realized that halfway through that she was connected to me and that he could bless her through me. It was a neat little blessing and filled my heart with peace and comfort and joy.  

Just sittin & waitin! 

Thursday (August 2nd) morning 5am comes and we were off to the hospital. We arrived there and got ourselves admitted and got to know our nurse well. She checked my cervix and I was dilated to a 3.5 maybe a possible 4 is what she said. All was said and done by 6:45am and they started the Pitocin drip at it's lowest level, a 4. Around 7:30 they upped the pitocin to the second level, an 8.(Which the nurse later informed us that most women don't start feeling or having contractions til level 5, a 20.) At 8am I was starting to really feel the pain. The contractions were hitting me so quickly I had maybe 1-2 minutes to breath before the next one would hit. I was really trying to be strong and push through. I kept thinking to myself that I was being a HUGE wimp. I was thinking how could I be feeling pain like this so quickly, yet how come the contractions were coming so frequently too?!
 I had many blessings before this delivery and was told that I would know my body and I was advised to listen to what my body was telling me and speak up about it. Well, I told Patrick my very thoughts and we got the nurse in there to check on me. It was 8:25am and she checked me and I was dilated to 7cm. WOW! Our nurse was impressed and quite shocked. We had her call for the epidural and found out the anesthesiologist that was in the labor and delivery secition of the hospital was in a C-section at the time and wouldn't be able to come soon. When I heard that I was in the middle of a contraction and I just looked up at Patrick and shook my head and widened my eyes as if to be saying "NO! that is not ok! I need the epidural NOW!" So Patrick said to the nurse is there anything we can do about that? The nurse stayed in the room while I had a couple more contractions and she realized the pain I was in. So she called almost every nurse that was available to come get the room set up and ready to go AND she called another anesthesiologist from another part of the hospital to come give me my epidural. While waiting for him to get there they got EVERYTHING ready so that when he walked in our door all he had to do was give me that epidural and all would be well. We even turned off the Pitocin drip to maybe help slow me down a little bit. The anesthesiologist finally arrived and he gave me the strongest first dose he could give me to play catch up to the pain I had been having and BOY was I numb! It felt great! My bum felt like the weight of a gigantic boulder. After I got the epidural and was feeling better it was about 9am They checked me and I was at an 8. My doctor was already there at the hospital. In fact he was the one doing the c-section. When he finished there he came over to see how things were going and since I was progressing so quickly he decided to stick around, thinking that baby would be here any minute. Well 20 minutes passed and I was still at an 8. So he went back to work and waited for us to call him. Then we waited.... and waited... While we waited, we watched the Olympics and I felt dandy because I was totally numb! They restarted the Pitocin drip at the first level. And Grandma Munson, Kelsey, Porter and Kinley came cuz we had told them it was gonna happen soon. But once they got there things had really slowed down so we hung out for a while and then they decided to go to the library across the street and then go get some lunch.
They left and the nurse came in to check my cervix yet again, because she had been checking me frequently and nothing had been happening. As she checked me she was really confused because every time she checked my cervix was totally gone on the left side but not on the right. And she thought that had something to do with why I was going so slow, so she kinda stripped my membranes WHILE I pushed. Within 2 minutes, I mean the nurse hadn't even finished washing her hands and getting out of the room and I looked at her and I said, "Uhhh.... I need to push" So she checked me and sure enough I was at a 10. This time it was about 11:00am.  So she called Dr. Bierer and he showed up at 11:30. I pushed 3 times and Kaydence Rae was born at 11:45am!!
Here is the Hindsight side to this story: Once her head was out, we realized why my labor had slowed down both that morning and all the other times weeks before when I would contract. Also why my cervix had only thinned completely on the one side....well... She was Posterior-meaning she came out with her nose facing the ceiling instead of the floor. Hindsight: I'm grateful she was posterior because week 37  when I contracted for 2 hours and then all of a sudden it stopped, Patrick was gone on High Adventure, and with the speed that  my labor went through in the beginning hours there would have been no way Patrick would have gotten back in time for the delivery. I don't even know If I would have made it to the hospital in time on my own. So that makes me grateful for not going into labor during week 38 too.
About Kaydence: Lots of hindsight and details within this whole experience, but we are so thankful for the lessons learned and that we have a healthy little girl! She has thrown us a little bit with the amount of hair she has and how dark it is. Porter and Kinley were not dark nor did they have the amount of hair she does. I'm sad when I think of it and how she will probably lose it, at least in the back with the whole bald spot thing going on.
She was a little jaundice so we had to take her in 3 consecutive days after she was born to keep being tested. And each time we went in she got better and her weight was going up! So that was really good. She is amazing at nursing! She had no problem learning how to latch on! Even with her being tongue tied and all! She was great! And even better after they clipped her tongue! She wouldn't take the binki-absolutely hated it for a while there. Now she is 3 weeks old and she'll take it ONLY if she is full and knows how tired she is and wants to go to sleep. It was frustrating for a while, but I can't force it and i've learned other ways to soothe her. Which has been quite the process. Because she isn't a fan of the binki she used to and is getting better at this but she thought she had to be nursing ALL the time! It was tiring for me and confused me. It made me think I had no milk and that she was starving to death.
As for me and my Recovery. This go around has been AMAZING! Really truely amazing! I was up and walking around the day I delivered and seriously it took me maybe 5 to 7 days til I was feeling almost back to normal me! Now it's bragging time: I even weighed myself at 2 weeks postpartum and I only have 5lbs to go til I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight! I FEEL GREAT! I have to give credit to the MANY people who have helped us out over the past 3 weeks! Lori, Jenae, My Mom, and a full weeks + worth of meals from friends! It's been marvelous!

Our BIG HAPPY Family!

Family Adjustments: The kids have been great with Kaydence. The greatest thing about this delivery was the kids were there 30 minutes after we had her and were able to meet their new little sister! It was so neat to be a part of that! They both held her and were super soft and cute with her! Giving her lots of kisses and hugs! One of the first things Porter said after holding her was "Mom! Now we are one big happy family!" It was as if he knew we had been waiting for her to come and now that she was here we were officially a BIG-HAPPY family! I loved it! Now that we are back to normal life and at home Porter is constently in Kaydences face! I have to tell him to scoot back and give her space. He LOVES to give her kisses and ask her how she is doing or what's the matter when she is crying. Kinley is the one who likes to read to her and hold her and sing her songs! They both love to be the one to notify me when they hear her grunt, or cry! I've got two really good helpers! I feel bad though b/c I can tell that they don't like how having a baby has effected their lifestyle. They can't go play outside as much, or they don't have as much mommy alone time. We can only go to the store or play outside at a certain time of the day and so on. But we are all doing well.

Just so Happy he can't contain himself! :)

Meeting their new sister.

First time Porter held Kaydence

First time Kinley held Kaydence.

Shirts given to the kids from Kaydence!

Sweet Hospital room. Just down the hall from where I was born! Pretty cool to be born in the same building as your mom!

Mom dressing me to go home.

1 Day old-Going home from Hospital

4 Days old- After first bath at home.

So glad Nae and Josh could come up and help us out! The Kids had so much fun playing with Josh!

Nae-Already third grandma to Kaydence!

First time Grandma C met Kaydence

At Kaydences 2 week well child visit- she had gained 1 lb 3oz from the time we left the hospital. weighing 8lbs. 3oz (56%) and was 21.5 inches long (95%) So growing well and is healthy and happy. And as I type that it almost seems like an understatement. She really is so healthy and REALLY happy. We only hear her cry when something is seriously wrong, as in a hurting tummy from a bubble or gas, or a hungry cry. Maybe she just hasn't found her voice, but I'm pretty sure it's just that she is a happy girl! It isn't a rare thing to find her Smiling! We love it! Oh and one more thing- she is a good sleeper- now that she has a better idea of her nights and days! she will go every 4 hours for eating and sometimes at night I can get 5 and sometimes 6 hours between feedings. On average I get a good 7 hours of sleep each night! Which has been really really nice! Like I said she's a good girl and has treated us well!

Family Vacation June 2012

Ok so It wasn't really a vacation... it was a stay-cation. But I don't think the kids really knew the difference. And to them they completely understood what it was all about. They knew it was about spending time together and having fun. Doing things that will help us bond and strengthen our relationships. How do I know this? Well... a few reasons. #1: because they kept calling it our Family Home Evening E-cation! And reason #2: They made sure that we dealt with as much whining as possible, staying up late and not going to bed when they were told, lots of laughs and giggles, etc. 
Anyways we decided to just go to Salt Lake and do a lot of the things we've been wanting to do with the kids. It started out on Sunday after church we decided we'd go and stay with Patrick's Grandma and Grandpa Williams. They are being forced out of their home for a new road to go in where they live. They are pretty sad about it and Patrick has a lot of memories in that home. So we decided we'd take one night to spend some time with G&G Williams and build some lasting memories for Patrick. You know, one more big sha-bang! The kids had a blast playing with G&G! I KNOW the kids wore them out, but it was the best quality time ever! The kids were laughing and giggling so hard and so were G&G. Then in the morning Porter spent some good time outside with Grandpa. He helped him pick up some sticks and twigs out in the yard so  Grandpa could mow the lawn later that day. Then Grandpa paid porter $5 for helping him. And Kinley got money too, so she wasn't left out. Isn't that what being with Grandparents is all about? haha No!! It's a perk but not what it's all about. The kids learned to jump rope. When I say learned they tried and enjoyed encouragement from G&G! Kinley was good at it. She and I turned the rope while Patrick jumped. It was cute and successful! She's only 2 years old. I'm very impressed.

Then after breakfast MONDAY morning we left G&G's and headed onto the rest of our vacation. We couldn't check into our hotel until 3pm so we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. The kids started out not being very into it, but then really got excited to see all the cool things, and had fun there. Patrick and I touched the sting-rays, Kinley put her hand in the water but was too afraid to touch the sting-ray. Porter would only look.
After the Aquarium, we went over to a park and had a picnic. Ate our lunch and let the kids play on the slides, etc. Rested as much as we could in the scorching sun. It was 99 degrees that day. So it was pretty hot. And we don't have Air conditioning in our van so we were dying of heat! Patrick had invented a fan system to blow on the kids and we kept a squirt bottle in the car to keep us cool. Ok back to telling about our Monday! We then went and got checked into the hotel. Relaxed and hung around because we found out that our hotel offered not only continental breakfast but also dinner. So we ate dinner there and then went to the Salt Lake Bees baseball game! The kids were beat and the Game started at 7pm and their bed time is at 8pm. So we were worried with how the game was going to go. Turns out they had a blast being at the game. We left the game in the end of the 7th inning. That was by Patrick and I's choice. The kids could have lasted the rest of the game and been just fine, but we had plans for the next morning. Kinley LOVED looking for the Bee mascot! It entertained many of the people sitting around us, because when she would find the bee she would shout and squeal and get so excited that she found him! The kids also loved the train that rode around the field! We really enjoyed going to the game and were happy the kids did well!

The Picture of the BEE is really supposed to be Porter giving him a Hi-5, but the camera was too slow, if you look closely you can see Porters head beneath that little girl! 

TUESDAY: Since we had a late night the night before we decided not to go to the zoo that morning. So instead we took our time to get breakfast and then went swimming at the hotel for a couple hours. went back to our room and had lunch and got ready. We then went to the movie Brave. At the beginning both kids were really into it, Kinley lost interest about 30 min into it. Porter enjoyed it though. He was very into it and worried about the bears. After the movie we went to a place called Jungle Jims. It's like a Chuck-E-Cheeses, but they have like kid lagoon rides. We just bought an all day pass for the kids to ride the rides as much as they wanted. The first ride Kinley was a little worried, but after that they were running from ride to ride and super excited to do all of them. They loved the bumper cars and Kinley really liked the jungle cars and the carosel. By the end Patrick was joining in on the fun! The one that Patrick rode with the kids was FLYIN! It went sooo fast! Kinley didn't like it so much, but Porter kept begging to ride that one over and over again. We were there for 2 hours which felt like 3 to Patrick and I, but the time was totally worth it!

WEDNESDAY: We woke up early and went to the Hogle Zoo. We got there right at 9am and went straight to the Tigers. Those are my favorite and it was awesome to see them up and moving. They were fighting each other and scaling trees. Then it was almost feeding time for them so they would pace the doors where their food would come out! It was so AWESOME to see them playful and moving around. After that we went and saw the new Rocky Shores exhibit with the Polar bear! That Polar bear was so fun to watch. He would dive into the water and swim up to the window and then come up and float on his back then he'd flip over and swim back to the window and do the same thing over and over again! It was really cool! We then went and saw the Elephants and the Bird show. The kids really thought the bird show was neat. After that we took our time to see the other things we wanted to. Then went and got lunch and Porter had spotted the train. We couldn't pull him away from that train! Wherever he was he HAD to see it and be able to watch it go around on the tracks! It was very hard to pull him away from it, EVEN after we had ridden on it. It was adorable. He told everyone his favorite part about the zoo was the train, But he quickly learned to say all of the animals were his favorite! So the kids had a blast at the zoo. We were there from 9am to 3:30pm. An adventure full of fun and very worth while. That night we treated the kids to ice cream and they loved that! Obviously we don't get out and do even the simplest of things much!

Kinley also got one of the best Kool-Aid lips I've ever seen! 

THURSDAY: We woke up and had breakfast and went swimming again. Then checked out of the hotel and we went up to the Capitol. Had a nice tour of the capitol and thought it was pretty cool. Of course I quickly realized what I was doing to my children. Exactly what my parents did to me on all of those LONG trips to Washington DC that I now wish I would have enjoyed more! It was classic when I saw Kinley tilt her head back and look up at the cieling and roll her eyes and give a great big sigh then drop her head with boredom! LOVED IT! We saw the Governor walking inside from being outside giving a press conference about all the fires we are having. I guess you could say it was pretty cool.

We then drove home and got unpacked and quickly learned how dead tired we were but also how bored we were just being home. It was quite the adjustment the next week or so getting back into our routine. The kids had a really hard time not having Dad around to be with them 24/7.  They kept saying they didn't want to end our Family Home Evening E-cation. They had so much fun! Patrick and I could look at each other and say our first Family Vacation though simple and small was a SUCCESS!