McKay's Four!

My baby is growing up, although I beg him to stay little. This year, we celebrated McKay's birthday with the Shurtz family, because Heidi's birthday is on the 14th (pi day).

We had a lime cheesecake and a peanut butter pie. Yum!

McKay got a few presents, including a pony, a helicopter and an airplane. Again, Carter has a hard time finding the camera with his eyes. 

He had swim lessons

And then chose a lemon cake for his actual birthday. 

McKay is a wonderful boy. He is a great mix of sweet and sensitive and rough and tumble. Spending all those hours at the soccer field have offered him the opportunity to learn how to play soccer himself. He is excited about playing on a team with Carter in the fall.

He loves ponies and superheroes (ponies a little more), lip gloss and balls, and all kinds of books. He doesn't like a lot of breakfasts that I make, including eggs, hash browns, or biscuits and gravy. He does like hot and cold cereal, and actually cheered when he found out we were having oatmeal rather than eggs. He is not typically a picky eater, but if he doesn't like something, he won't eat it. He's not flexible about it. 

He still looks to Carter for nearly every decision he has to make during the day--what show to watch, what toys to play with, what clothes to wear...he is very eager to please, and Carter is truly his best buddy. 

I absolutely love this littlest guy of mine. He is polite and caring, and always willing to share. He is observant and complimentary, and really loves pretty girls. I can't believe he is already four! 

Busy Family

Since Damon is in junior high, his basketball season ended with a tournament. After a really great season, where they won more games than they lost, they ended up taking second place in the tourney. Damon really improved so much during the season, and even hit several three point shots in crucial games. And although he is growing fast, that shirt won't fit for quite some time. Haha.

Krispy Kreme Donuts gives away free donuts for good report cards. Each of the older three kids got a half dozen glazed. They were happy to share with the rest of us. 

Soccer was still going strong in March, and sometimes we had to drive to American Fork for games. Carter and McKay used these opportunities to practice their synchronized sleeping. 

McKay started swim lessons at the Provo rec center to get ready for Spring Break. He really loved going and is really coming along with his swimming skills. 

Kyla gets really busy during soccer season, especially when she has something to do for school. One day, she had to go to tumbling....

Quickly change for her dance performance with her second grade class...

And then hustle down to the soccer field for her soccer game. 

She had a great attitude about all her activities and is always easy to please. 

March Highlights

March started off with Kyla's tumbling performance. She has really worked hard this last year and has gotten really good at tumbling. Really good. She was very excited to show off her skills. Carter was excited to see her, too, but was just a little sleepy.

Always the performer. She was thrilled that she got to wear makeup. 

One day, Kyla got a stomach bug and threw up several times throughout the night. She stayed home from school, and spent the day in the armchair. I'm not sure how that was more comfortable than the couch, but it was. Bex was so concerned about her. She stayed by her side all day long. 

After we got back from Hawaii, Bex exhibited a mean streak for the first time. She nearly attacked a mom and daughter who were walking by. Jeff had to run out and save them, as she was just about to bite them. I was shocked, because that had never happened before, and we wrote it off as just a fluke, and maybe she was acting out because we had been out of town. I put her on a leash and things seemed to go back to normal.

A couple of weeks went by, and everything was fine. Then one day I was teaching preschool with the little boys, and we were out in the front yard playing. I was holding her in my lap and a small dog appeared in our yard. She lost it, and wanted to go after that dog. I had to really hold her with all my strength to keep her from attacking. Later that same day, I heard her really going after the mailman, who was coming up the walkway with a package. I ran outside, and he was shielding himself from her with the box. It really scared me, and shook me up. 

After some thought and prayer, we decided it was time to get rid of her. The breeder had said they would be happy to take her back (Jeff talked to them after the first incident), and I was finally on board. And so we said a tearful goodbye as Jeff took her back to her mama. It was really hard on the kids, but it has been so much harder on me. I had no idea how attached to her I had become, and I have cried many days over the decision. Still now, I have a big hole in my heart whenever I think about her. We definitely need to get another dog, one that won't become super territorial and scary with strangers. 

I can't really even think about it anymore, it's still so painful.

I have been trying to find the balance with my workout program, trying to keep it up on my own without injuring my shoulder any more. I have been using our elliptical machine several times a week, because it doesn't hurt me. I have been doing my physical therapy exercises, too, and I really have had much less shoulder pain. It's kind of sad not being able to do all that I have wanted to, but I am thankful that I can still do what I can.

Damon had his regional history fair at UVU and finally presented his Michaelangelo display board. Carter and McKay really loved going to visit him, but they mostly loved getting to eat at Costa Vida in the student center.

We had a long weekend with no school Monday, so we decided to take a quick trip to Moab. It was absolutely fantastic weather and so nice to be there when it was not very crowded. We got to explore Arches on our own. 

Carter was not thrilled that the rest of us had to be in his photo

Our hotel had an awesome, heated pool and hot tub and we spent a lot of time there

The sand hill is always a hit

Back at the pool, with a bubble face

On our way home, we stopped in Price to see some awesome petroglyphs.

 

We had such a great time, and can't wait to go back soon!

End of Feb

Here are a few pics of the rest of February. 

Bexy with her funny ear thing that kept happening. More about her to come. :(

Valentine's cookie from my mom

Sleeping at the BYU basketball game

A little dental work

Well Dressed Wednesday

Night at the Museums at BYU. It was a scavenger hunt/drawing, and Allie and I both won prizes.  

Kauai Part Two

Blogging has not been a priority for me. Clearly. It's gotten so difficult, with all the external hard drives, computers, phones, etc. I hardly ever sit down at the computer to get online. And when my pictures end up on Jeff's computer, it compounds the problem. But I'm determined not to give up. So let's get back to the best vacation we have ever been on...

On Sunday, after the perfection that was Saturday, we got up and went to church, and then took a drive up Waimea Canyon, aka the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The pictures didn't look spectacular, so I wasn't really expecting much, but it was amazing. Such a cool place. On the way up the canyon, there was a place that felt like Mars had married Hawaii. 

It had started to cloud over by the time we got to the lookouts, so our pictures didn't turn out great, but trust me. It was great. 

Sunday night dinner

Monday we took a drive up to the north shore to check out Princeville. It is gorgeous on the north side of the island! You can't really go wrong anywhere on Kauai, but the north shore is especially beautiful. The lighthouse was closed to tours on Mondays, so we couldn't get close, but it was still a pretty picture spot. 

We also stopped at Anini Beach, along a stretch of road where the rich and famous live. The sun wasn't out for too long, but it was still spectacular. 

Jeff and I didn't snorkel, but the rest of the group said it was great 

Monday night was spent watching The Bachelor with Holly and Emily. Jeff and Jeff, who try to sit through the show at home with their wives, couldn't quite stay awake. 

Most mornings, we would get up, take a walk on the beach or do some type of workout. One morning we were treated to not one, but two Hawaiian Monk Seals snoozing on the shore. So much fun!

Tuesday we had an epic hike planned along the Kalalau trail on the Napali Coast. It was 8 miles total, and it was moderately difficult. Jeff was wearing Chacos, and they were giving him blisters, so he did about 5 miles of the hike barefoot. Crazy. It was a little cloudy and rainy, but not too bad. 

Notice Jeff's bare feet

After hiking two miles to the beach, the hike turned inland and we went another two miles to Hanapaki'ai Falls. It was hard and tiring, but the view once we got close was absolutely stunning.

Of course we had to get into the water, even though we were freezing once we got there. Porter and Jeff went all the way to the base of the 300 foot falls.

Overall, my Fitbit recorded 33,000 steps that day (more than doubling any other day I've had it). We were exhausted by the end of the day, but what an amazing memory.

Us at Puka Dog, home of the famous Hawaiian hot dogs. I can't remember what day we were there Saturday, maybe? I don't even like hot dogs, but these were delicious. 

We were planning on kayaking and hiking on Wednesday, but we were all so sore and tired, we decided to take a beach day. Our beach on Poipu was too windy to stay, so we headed to Lihue and found a spectacular spot near the Marriott there. We made our music video to Sugar there, which was a highlight for all of us.

We ended up at Brick Oven Pizza for dinner that night

Porter, Jeff and Rob making passion fruit juice for everyone with the lilikoi we found at the farmer's market. No clue what night, haha.

Thursday we had to cram our last minute activities in. We rented kayaks and did a self-guided tour of the Wailua River

We made our second music video to Waterfalls along the way. The hike to the waterfall was much less intense and we all made it and got in the water. Still ice cold. 

I wish this pic would have been more in focus. 

Vigorous Jazz Hands

The guys had to have at least one 259 pose along the way

We had to hustle home to make our whale watching tour, which was so much fun. We saw a few whales, but a bunch of dolphins, too. The sunset was unreal.

Titanic pose

We ended the night with another fantastic dinner. It was even more fantastic when 259 picked up the bill. 

It was so hard to come back home to reality, with only our chocolate coconut macadamia nuts to show for it. I didn't even have much of a tan, because it was so cloudy the whole time we were there. If I ever go back to Kauai (I hope I do), I will take pants and a jacket, because I was cold almost everywhere we went for dinner. It really is a rainy place, but so beautiful.

These friends of ours are the absolute best. Out of our group of 11, we never had a single conflict. Everyone was cooperative about eating, sleeping and activities. We spent 75% of the trip laughing, and my face hurt after the first day. The other 25% we spent trying not to sleep, playing the dice game, and eating. We had the best time.

I can't wait until our next 259 trip.