Happy Father's Day, Papa Kay!

I'm in a happy place right now.  I'm in Omaha, snuggled in a blanket on my parents' living room floor.  Outside, thunder rumbles and rain streams down in torrents, but I am warm and dry.  Oh, and did I mention alone?  Annika, Eli, Jason and my Dad are at a College World Series game, presumably sheltering through the rain delay.  Brooklyn and Talia are shopping with my Mom, having helped her at Central all morning.  And me?  This introverted soul is relishing a bit of quiet time.  I just finished a good book and took a short nap.  Life's heavenly.

We arrived in Omaha late Saturday night, just in time for Father's day.  Just in case you needed any evidence of how amazing my father is, may I submit the following photo as proof:  

Late one Monday evening in April, our family heard a knock as we were wrapping up Family Home Evening.  As the kids ran to answer the door, I heard ecstatic squeals of "Papa Kay!  Papa Kay!"  Believe it or not, my father was standing on the threshold, having driven all the way from Omaha, Nebraska.

Papa Kay came to watch Eli race the car they built together in the Pinewood Derby.  Aren't these gentlemen adorable?  In a family dominated by x-chromosones, I'm glad these guys have each other.

Nothing says Cub Scouts like silly/gross skits.

Eli's car may have finished in the middle of the pack, but we couldn't be prouder of his top-notch effort and attitude in scouting.

While the Pinewood Derby was happening, I slipped downstairs and crashed the 27th ward's cake decorating activity, led by my good friend Kalleen.  Didn't the cakes turn out prettily?  Plus, what a tasty way to celebrate the derby and Papa Kay's visit.

Little did Papa Kay know that he would arrive in time to hear Talia perform with her school orchestra as well.  She's doing great on the violin!  In fact, her orchestra teacher asked her to stand up front and lead half the musicians as they performed Pachelbel's Canon.

Papa Kay also got plenty of time with Annika while the big kids were in school or at choir rehearsal.  Here they are at Temple Square enjoying the flowers after preschool.

Smells like spring!

Yes, such beauty makes me want to dance too, Annie.

We dropped by Wheeler Farm to see the baby animals.

This baby calf was just two days old.

The lambs were pretty precious as well.


We joked with Annika about how she should eat this turkey for Thanksgiving.  Imagine our surprise when she readily agreed.

Real girls drive green tractors.

Go Cornhuskers!

Next on the agenda: puzzle time at the park.

Last but not least, Papa Kay took Eli to Thanksgiving Point for the ultimate day of fun.  They enjoyed the tulip festival at Ashton Gardens...

...played at the Museum of Natural Curiosity,

...admired the Museum of Ancient Life,

...and explored Farm Country.

Plus, they ate at Firehouse Subs.  It really doesn't get any better.

Happy Father's Day, Papa Kay!  You make it so delightful to "Keep Smiling!"

Bye bye.

April Montage--Part 2

I'm not quite sure how to reconcile ski photos with our current ninety degree weather, but apparently Snowbird stayed open until June 11th last year, so I guess we are okay.

Skiing.  It's awesome.  This April Talia skipped school to spend a day on the slopes at Alta with her Dad and Uncle Justin.  The attendance office might disagree, but I feel like we have our priorities in the right place.

Justin seemed pretty thrilled to hit the slopes for the first time since moving to Utah.

It may have been awfully chilly and windy, but they still had a great time.

In fact, Talia had such an awesome experience up at Alta that she and I went back on a different day.  Turns out that her Ski Utah pass lets a buddy parent ski for free too!

This time the weather was perfect.

Plus, hot chocolate.  Do days get better than this?

Encouraged by my successful ski venture with Talia, I then took all the kids up to Brighton on my own.  Brooklyn helped me coach Annika for a little while, then ventured off to join her siblings for some faster paced fun.

The one big blooper--we forgot Annika's coat.

Fortunately, tuna fish sandwiches work smiley miracles.

The hardest part about skiing with Annika is scooping her up onto the ski lift, but we manage.

All in all, it was another delightful day.  I never imagined that skiing with my five year old could be so enjoyable.

In the wake of this beautiful ski season, our family took the plunge and splurged on early bird season passes at Brighton for next year.  It's a big commitment, but it feels like the right time.  All of our kids are old enough to enjoy skiing, yet not too busy to join us.  Truth to be told, we are pretty stoked.  Even though summer isn't officially here, Jason's already told me a dozen times how much he's looking forward to next winter.  Fingers crossed for some great snow!

Other April happenings: we went to the Jordan River Temple open house.

The big girls and I also went camping overnight with Girl Scouts at Trefoil Ranch.  Since she didn't know anyone else there, Talia let me hang with her.  Brooklyn on the other hand, got adopted by the cadette troop who organized the activity and immediately disappeared into their teenage mysteries.

The camp property is absolutely beautiful.


Headed out for a night time hike.

Early in the morning I conned Talia into going for a run with me.

We also did a yoga class together.  I've missed seeing Talia upside down.

Hey, Brooklyn reappeared!  Here she is overseeing some of the clean up.


Without an Annika to hug, Brooklyn adopted a couple cute Brownie scouts.

Moving on to the male members of our family, here's Eli running around Sugarhouse park.  He ran his first 5K just a few days later and totally rocked it.

Eli's also been playing machine pitch baseball with the Avenues Baseball Tigers.  He he is practicing fielding while Annie rides her balance bike.

Come April we renewed our membership to Red Butte Gardens.

Eli and Sammy,

Hannah and Annie.

Xuân loves spring.

Springtime at the zoo.  The peacocks were sure eager for some attention from the peahens.

Jeff and Annie checking out the giant tortoises.

Splayed gecko, anyone?

Wild lions.

During our next zoo visit, a wild creature conned Brooklyn and Talia into carrying her back to the car.

Backyard playtime with our friend, Lizzie.

I guess all the Pet Shops wanted to go for a swim too.

Can't forget our last family member, Spark.  He will stretch way out to give Daddy kisses in exchange for a carrot.

At the end of April, Eli, Talia, and Brooklyn all performed at the Cathedral of the Madeline with the International Children's Choir.

Such a beautiful place to sing.  The acoustics are lovely.

I think it's great that both their choir and Susie's choir (the American Festival Chorus) performed in the same concert series.

Our beautiful performers.  Well done!  Singing in choir takes a lot of commitment, but they've worked really hard and stepped up to the challenge.

Do you like Brooklyn's new costume?  This one is from Belarus.

Brooklyn also had her final concert playing cello with the Jack Ashton Youth Chamber Orchestra.  She's been putting a lot of effort into practicing consistently this year.


Since social media has a tendency to make life picture perfect, here's a reality check of what day to day life looks like.  Annika dumped her preschool plant, after which somebody else proceeded to drop dinner as well.  Little Caesars of course.  'Cause that's how we roll.

Finally, to bring things full circle, this is what our house looked like on the last day of April.  More snow.