An Eventful April

This April has been full of fun and exciting events. this will be a long post, so don't say I didn't warn you!

COMPANY

Lets start with the (Randy) Fife family visit.

Randy and Jenny and their four kids drove all the way from Wisconsin to California, and were able to stop for a day on their way home. We had a fun time playing outside and going to the pool. I don't have any pictures of that, but I am sure I will have pool pictures eventually, we plan to return a lot because we had so much fun. We even took the boys down the slide.

Here are all the kids trying to pose for a picture:
Connor, Joshua, Alan, Skyler, Elizabeth and Rebekka

EASTER

For Easter we went down to Las Vegas and celebrated with Cassie's family. We had an Easter Egg hunt at Grandma Carma's. We let the toddlers go out first to get the eggs that were just in the grass and stuff, and then the older kids got to go out.


Skyler immediately went for his new slide (I got both those slides and a mini swing set off Craig's List while we were there for SUPER cheap, and the boys love them). Once he figured out the eggs contained special treats, he was a little more interested.

Connor LOVED the egg hunt, he found about 3 eggs, parked it, and sat there and ate all their contents. He was so fun to watch. His mouth was so full of candy the whole time. Then he had to start sharing with my nephew, Aiden.


After all the eggs were accounted for, and the sugar kicked in, the older boys all decided it would be fun to jump all over their Uncle David. What a good sport to let them abuse him like that.



On Easter we went to Erica and Heber's house for the Easter Bunny. Again, the boys didn't realy get it, but they REALLY enjoy their new sandals and sidewalk chalk.


Another egg hunt, and Kale was SO helpful


Not much of Easter dinner made it into Connor mouth! That was fun, good thing Grandma Carma was around to clean him up!

ABOUT THE BOYS

This month Connor is starting to talk a bit more, and sign a little more as well. I think he is learning quite a bit from Skyler. He became a master at climbing out of his crib. His hair is groing in thicker and longer since the "BUZZ" a few months ago. He is such a cuddler, and ever since his we have tried putting him in nursery at church, is even more so clingy than ever. Which is odd, since he goes to daycare three days a week. He also discovered corn on the cob, which is what he is eating above. He seriously eats it until it is JUST the cob left, and then he tries to eat that. He is a good eater, but at snack time if you hand him a snack, he will gum and and chew on it for as long as you let him. But once he knows there is more coming, he will shove the whole thing in his mouth and ask for more. He tought Skyler a new trick the tub where they jump in the air and land on their bumbs. Water, of course goes EVERYWHERE, and I am soaked, but that doesn't stop them. The first time he did it, Skyler was already out, and just laughing histarically at Connor doing this, I had to film it it was so funny. Every once and a while there is a collision, but that doesn't slow em down!


Skyler is seriously our little ham. He is talking more, and every time he sees the camera, "CHEESE" with a HUGE grin on his face. It has been making it hard to get candid shots of him. He is doing well with his sign language and can really communicate that way. He learns the sign, and then learns to say the work. So his vocabulary grows through the signs he learns. It is kinda interesting. He can also count to at least 3, though he skips 1. "Two, Tree, GOOOOOO" and down the slide he goes, or off on a run, whatever. But yeah, he counts a lot, and that is fun. He also loves to read books, and takes them to bed with him. I wish I was better about taking the initiative to read to him more, he is seriously a little sponge, and learns so much. He is also SUCH a tease, and loves to do things just to get a reaction, or fake like he is going to do something, to get a reaction.... the spanking....totally worth it to him. Maybe we should think of another form of disciplin. He is also a tough kid, I can't tell you how many bumps on the head or scratches, whatever he has gotten this month, and it is just a little cry, and off he goes.

NEW BEDS

Well, as was mentioned above, Connor became a MASTER at climbing out of his crib, sometimes I would find him asleep on the floor. We would have to put him back at least 5 times a night sometimes, despite our efforts in training. Skyler likes to climb out as well, but isn't nearly as skilled, to him it was more of a game, to tease us like..."looky here, I am climbing out" and then back in bed he would go. Well, he fell out once, and started crying, so we went and put him back, and didn't think he would do it again. That lasted a few days, and out he fell again, and started crying. The next day we decided that was it. If they were going to be climbing or falling out of bed, we should move them into their toddler beds (which I purchased off Craig's List in Vegas for super cheap about a month ago). I (Cassie) took apart both cribs, all by myself, and brought these in (they were already put together). The boys thought it was SO fun to watch mommy do all this, and they would jump on the mattresses, it was so fun. Once everything was ready, they LOVED it, and went back and forth running and jumping from bed to bed. Life was good until it was time to go to sleep. Lets just say it has been a hard adjustment, and one of us usually has to stay in the room until they are almost asleep, keeping them in bed. They wake up earlier because they can go play with their toys. It does get better every day. And now their room is a place they enjoy and love to play. They can stay in there unsupervised, and it makes it nice for us as well. The cribs just took up so much space the way we had to have them in there...dang blinds!!!!

Connor's Bed


Skyler's Bed

TRIATHLON

Cassie had her first triathlon. We were supposed to go to Phoenix this weekend for Dana's boy, Ty's Baptism, but weren't able to make it. Which now I feel bad about because my mom, Erica and Jen all went with their kids. Jen is in an arm sling due to a fall she had a couple weeks ago, in addition to by brother somewhat being out of commission due to his torn ACL. Anyway, my mom has been doing what she can to help the two of them out. Well, while in Phoenix, my mom fell and broke her arm in two places near her sholder. So she wasn't really able to help Jen out with the kids during the trip. Well, anyway, I felt REALLY bad I wasn't there.

Anyway, back to the point... We decided not to go to Phoenix that weekend, and I was pretty bummed about it. I saw this triathlon was going to be that same weekend, so I signed up for it to cheer myself up, and started training. It was a Sprint triathlon with a 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run. It was a LOT more competitive than I thought it would be, and I felt quite ridiculous doing in on my free mountain bike, and $20 Wal-Mart helmet and people with thousand dollar road bikes and helmets that make them look like aliens, passing me like I was standing still. Either way, I had a LOT of fun, and finished very strong, I never hit a wall like I thought I would. I felt good about my time until I saw the rankings, and then felt rather stupid. I really want to keep doing them, but don't want to put money into it by getting a road bike. So I kinda have to let my ego go, and realize I am in this for fun, and to accomplish things, and not care about how stupid I look. I really did enjoy it, and would love to do more of them. Utah Summer Games....here I come!!! (Assuming the ego thing passes)

David and the boys made it out during the run portion, here I am starting my second lap of the run (the course was the same for the beginner and the sprint, with the beginner being 1/2 half the distance, so for the sprint, you just did 2 of everything.)


Crossing the finish line


Checking my final time of about 1 hour and 40 minutes. I was pretty average on the swim and run, but the bike ride KILLED my time.

See, I told you this would be a long post, so thanks, if you made it to the end, for sticking around. If you didn't read everything, I am not offended....It really is about the pictures!