Matt and Kristin: March 1-13

March 1-13

Emilyn's dance pictures, this was her first year at a new studio, Dance Academy, and her first year on a competition team. It was a nice transition with this petite crew!

Emilyn's "My Dream" paper from school, "My dream is to make the world a better place."

How did Matisyn get to grown up? Heading off to ride her scooter to her friend Reese's house. She often packs a bag to take with her to friend's houses with all the necessary gear for playing!

Baby Kaylee figured out how to roll front to back. She's been rolling back to front all month and then getting stuck on her tummy. I think now that she's able to go the other way she'll be a rolling machine!

Sister loves before school! I love the way Kaylee looks at Matisyn!

There is A LOT of train track building in our house these days. We switch between the wooden track and the electric track, and sometimes both at the same time. There can never be too much track laid out in Lucas's opinion!

Kaylee is not as interested in the swing these days. She likes it for a bit, especially with the toy bar, but her newborn days with the mobile are definitely behind her!

1st pears!

Kaylee likes when the girls play right next to her so she can feel like she's in on the action.

Lucas has taken to coloring where ever he feels like it these days. It is very frustrating and getting old fast. He colored on our white cabinets with a ball point pen...and Matisyn's rocking chair from when she was a baby, his trucks, his electric train track station, the table, the printer, and so on. At least he hasn't colored with a sharpie on the walls and carpet like both girls did. I better knock on some wood now!

This baby has discovered the bottom drawer, and oh is she happy about it! She can't keep her balance yet while she tries to open it, but she is becoming more successful each day. She can't wait to empty that thing!

Getting dressed up like a princess by your big sisters is the best!

We spent a night up tubing at Soldier Hollow. We traded my friend Ashly two of her kids going tubing, for babysitting Kaylee for us. The big kids loved having buddies, Cooper and Lillie, with them, and we enjoyed being able to spend time with Lucas. He loved every minute of it. It was a nice night, and not too cold since we waited until March. The ice was FAST, which nobody seemed to mind. We were sliding all the way into the fencing at the bottom of the hill if we didn't drag our boots to slow us down. We closed the place down, and kept going until the last run of the night!

Lucas seemed so big riding up the rope tow in his own tube. He giggled and smiled ear to ear all the way up and speeding all the way down each time!

Lucas asked to take a bath with baby. He even shared his toys with her!

We spent a fun night out with friends, eating dinner at Gloria's Little Italy and then playing get out games. We split into two teams and were racing to find the clues to get out of our room first. Our group ended up winning. Then we went for ice cream. It was a fun night with great people!

Lucas loves bike rides on his "scooter" strider bike. He is getting more and more comfortable, and is learning how to glide on it. By the end of the summer I think he'll be pretty fast!

Kaylee looking cute hanging out in her stroller on our stop at Panda Express on our way to Zion.

We stayed at the Bumbleberry Inn and were pleasantly surprised by how fun it was. They had this neat little petting zoo behind the hotel, and we had breakfast included at the restaurant next door that sold lots of things with "bumbleberries" in them, and a treat shop that had delicious "bumbleberry" pie!

It rained the first day, so we just picked up some ponchos and enjoyed the lighter crowds. It was nice because it was the last weekend to drive through Zion before the shuttles started up again. We were able to drive to each stop in our own car, and the rain gave us more of the place to ourselves! We hiked first to the lower Emerald Pools. Since it was raining their was a pouring waterfall that is usually just a trickle. We got soaked just walking under it. The kids were pretty great sports and hiked well. We had to keep close to Lucas because he liked to run ahead and pay no attention to the drop offs. One of us was in charge of him the whole time!

Kaylee happily rode in the backpack, shielded from the rain with the sunshade!

Hanging out and playing on the grass at Zion Lodge. We were disappointed the ice cream cones weren't for sale yet.

Sleepy baby in the backpack. Hiking makes her tired!

The Riverside walk didn't disappoint. The kids all loved walking along the river, exploring, throwing rocks in (Lucas didn't seem to think the rangers would mind about this), and enjoying sunshine together.

As we were leaving the river walk we saw that they had put this flash flood sign up. Luckily we didn't miss this area and were all safe!

Matisyn got her own national park's pass this year as a fourth grader. She was pretty proud to get us into Zion with her special pass!

These baby food pouches saved the day while we were traveling. It was so nice to be able to feed her one of these and not have to worry about spoons and clean up...except for when she insisted on holding it herself and squeezed it all over!

Weeping Rock

Lucas let his tiny dinosaur explore a little on the top of weeping rock!

Another couple weeks of swim lessons!

Playdate with the Nelson kids!

Last picture of Matisyn with her braces before she gets them off!

Costco shopping and groceries in general are getting out of hand these days. It costs so much money to feed this family! I'm scared for the teenage years.

Lucas and Owen dressing up as super heroes during their playdate at Ashly's. These two go through withdrawals if they don't see each other every other day or so!

The rest of the cute package from Grandma Jeanette!

Kaylee has taken to scooting and sliding along the wood floor in order to get where she wants to go. It is effective enough, even if she sometimes can't control her direction! She is pretty proud of herself!

Matisyn got her braces off! We are done with phase one of braces, and on to the retainer. She'll wear that until she loses too many teeth and it doesn't fit in her mouth anymore. She has to wear it all the time for six months and then only at night after that. She was so excited. Now she gets a break for a year or two until she gets a mouth full of braces and we move into phase two.