Alyssa's Choir Performance

Alyssa finished up her choir semester last week with a performance night. This choir is run by a lady in our neighborhood and mostly consists of kids from our neighborhood. Usuallyh there are a couple of boys, but no boys signed up this time so it was only girls ranging in age from about 5 to 12. The theme was strong female roles and included songs from Snow White, Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz, Frozen, and Annie. Alyssa's Solo was in the Annie song, so she got to dress up as Annie for the show. We didn't bother with the red wig. I did attempt to curl her hair, but it was driving her crazy, so we brushed them out before the show. She obviously takes after me because she really doesnt like to get dolled up. Here are a few shots of the group.

I really wanted to upload the video of her solo, but it was too long. This one is "Do Re Me."

She really did a great job with her solo. Really loud and right on pitch. Very confident. I was glad to have grandma in town to stay with the baby so I could go.

Introducing Camden Sean Wheeler

Camden Sean Wheeler joined our family on the morning of May 1st. We went in early that morning for a scheduled C-section, which was a good thing since Camden weighed 10 lbs 9 oz and was 22 inches long. Here are some of the first pictures of our not-so-little guy.

I took this picture when he was 1 day old. It was the first time I saw him with open eyes.

Tyler has taken to his baby brother well. One of his favorite things to do is hold him and kiss him.

Grandma flew into town on the 3rd to help us out for a couple of weeks while Laura recovered from her c-section. Her main job has been to keep the house running(cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc) and keep Tyler off of Mommy. He was not happy with the fact that Mommy could not pick him up or put him to bed.

Camden has been the perfect baby, so far. Definitely our easiest. He sleeps well, eats well, and hardly cries. 

The girls just love holding their new baby brother. Whenever they came to visit us in the hospital, it was always a fight about who got to hold him first and who had him longer.

Almost every day, Tyler asks to hold Camden and wants me to take a picture of them. I have 6 or 7 pictures similar to this one with the boys in different clothes and different poses.

I have healed remarkably well this time and I'm pretty much back to normal activity. I'm getting enough rest at night because Camden sleeps really well. The girls finish up school on Friday and then the lazy summer days begin.

Spring Break

I felt like we were the only family in the neighborhood staying home for spring break this year. I have a pretty good reason for not being able to leave, but I still felt bad that the kids didn't have any friends around to play with. As a result, I loaded the week up with tons of fun activities. Monday was our appointment day. I had a Doctors appointment, Alyssa had a hair appointment, and Ashley had a dentist appointment. We grabbed lunch at Arctic Circle afterwards so they could play.
On Tuesday, I took them to a Family Fun Center (Boondocks). I intended to only stay until about 1, but with their unlimited passes and the price we paid for them convinced me that they should get to do everything at least once. As a result, we left closer to 3 and were all very tired and hungry.
Wednesday was gloomy and rainy and Ashley wasn't feeling well, so we stayed home. Alyssa did manage to find one friend at home that afternoon and headed off to her house to play in the afternoon.
On Thursday I took them to Kangaroo Zoo(one of those warehouses full of inflatables). They were worn out after a couple of hours there.
On Friday, we said goodbye to Daddy and sent him off on a plane to California to enjoy a couple of days with his brothers. After dropping him off at the airport, we went to the zoo. I actually took pictures at the zoo(unlike all of the other places we went during the week). The weather was perfect that day so most of Salt Lake and Utah County had the same idea as us. It made for long lines at the train and the carousel. It also made it hard sometimes to get close up to a great view of the animals. The kids all had fun though.

 

We left the zoo around 4 and went over to the "This is the Place Monument." It is across the street from the zoo and I have never been there. They had a big sign out advertising that it was their baby animal season so Alyssa really wanted to go and see the baby animals. I had no idea that the monument had a whole little pioneer village behind it with tons of things to look at and do. I was a little bugged that we had to pay admission and almost passed on it, until the lady told me she would give it to us for half price since it was so late in the day. This was probably the favorite thing that the girls did all week, so it made it worth it. They got to hold a bunch of these baby chicks/ducklings.

 

Ashley also loved the two puppies she found in the same barn as the chicks. Alyssa loved the baby goat and lamb that were in the barn. They also got to ride on these horses.

They also did a craft in one of the pioneer homes and played on a little children's playground. I wish I had gotten a picture of it because it had little miniature houses and a little wooden train that they could climb on. After the Monument, we stopped at Aunt Shannon's house for dinner and some play time with cousins.
On Saturday, I took them to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. This was more for me than for them, so I purposely didn't tell them too much about it. It was another beautiful day, so the festival was packed. I was pretty tempted to rent a golf cart instead of walk it, but was nervous to attempt that without Danny. I got some nice pictures of the kids.

  

Fortunately, since it was a Saturday, they had this kids area set up with crafts, inflatables, face painting, and games. Ashley and Tyler also got to feed some really big, orange fish. That kids area made it a little more fun for them. Ashley also loved rolling down one of the big grassy hills. It was quite the task getting a very worn out Ashley out of the the gardens, but we finally made it to the car, went home and crashed for the rest of the day. Tyler came down with a fever after his nap that day and I spent the evening holding a sick boy.

He recovered long enough on Sunday for me to get through church and then had the fever come back again that afternoon. We picked Danny up shortly after church got out and we were all so happy to have him home with us again. However, we were glad that he was able to get away and spend some quality time with his brothers. 

Spring Break was a week packed with fun stuff and I'm not sure how I had the energy to do it all. But I felt like it was my last chance to do some of these fun things with the kids before I am tied down with a newborn again. Baby's Birth Date is set for May 1st which is less than 2 weeks away now. We are so excited to meet our new little guy.

School Happenings

The girls have had a couple of things going on at the school that I have failed to post until now. The first thing was Alyssa's 3rd Grade Devotional. She got to be Helen Keller, which she was very excited about. She had a pretty long speaking part and also got to thank everyone for coming at the end. She especially loved her bright costume and front-and-center seat that made her stand out on stage. The children all did a really great job and it was fun to go and support her. I also helped out with their "We did a Great Job" Party after the devotional was over.

Ashley's class finished reading a book about Abigail Adams and they had a tea party to celebrate. She got to wear a fancy church dress(which is always a treat since they usually wear uniforms) and dance with a BOY. She wasn't so excited about the dancing part and wanted to stay home because of it. However, I promised her that Tyler and I would come and that somehow made it okay. She said afterwards that the dancing part was actually kind of fun. But she switched partners after about a minute and had a chance to dance with her teacher and with her favorite friend in the class(a girl named Kaci).

Ashley's class also had a field trip to the aquarium that I was able to chaperone. We had 3 of Ashley's favorite friends in our group, but the only boy spent most of the day with his Mom who had met the class there. The three girls were easy to keep together and they had a lot of fun. I was glad that I was able to go.

The boy did join up with us again for the last hour of the day and he was also pretty easy.

 

I just wish I could figure out how to get to know these kids' parents so that I could arrange a play date for Ashely. She has been asking for one all year.

Easter Festivities

We had a nice Easter. The kids got new Sunday clothes, including shoes. We let them wear them the week before Easter, since we didn't go to church on Easter this year because of General Conference.

The girls got to dye Easter Eggs, while Tyler took a nap. We didn't think he was old enough to attempt doing his own eggs yet. Although, he loved the pretty, colorful eggs when they were all done(probably because he thought they were full of candy).

The kids got to hunt for eggs three times this year. The first time was with Lehi City. It was kind of a flop though and we almost missed it altogether. They basically had a rectangle roped off for each of the age groups (0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12) and inside of the rectangle, the eggs were just all over the ground. The girls made it to their section just as the whistle was blown for the kids to start grabbing eggs. We didn't manage to get Tyler to his section on time so he didn't get any.  The girls were nice enough to share a few of their eggs with him.
They got to also hunt for the eggs that the Easter Bunny left on Easter morning all around the house. Tyler was able to collect eggs this time.
The final hunt was at Gawbie and Grandpa's later that day. It took a little bit of coaching from Danny, but Tyler eventually grabbed his share of eggs. The girls had no problem finding their share of eggs.

After hunting for eggs, Gawbie read these little activity/story books with the kids about Jesus Christ and the reason we celebrate Easter.

We also enjoyed a delicious dinner, celebrated Gawbie's birthday, and enjoyed watching Conference together. I love this time of year.

Just Because He is So Cute

I had to do a quick post about Tyler just because I had so many fun pictures of him this past month. The first picture was Alyssa's doing. She loves to make him a little bed and turn on a TV show for him. She decided to take a bunch of pictures of him after doing it this time.

 Alyssa also took a bunch of pictures of him in this pose. This was one of my favorites of the group.

 I found this little penguin mask when I was cleaning out the dress up box and tried it on Tyler. Unfortunately, I couldn't get him to look at me for the picture.

 Tyler loves to try on our shoes and walk around the house. I laughed this time because one of the shoes is backwards. It made no difference to him.

He has really grown up over the last few months, especially after starting to go to nursery. He can say quite a few words including all of our names, "doggie," "basketball"(anytime he sees a basketball or a basketball hoop), "bird," "balloon," "shoe," "sock," "done," "outside," and "candy." There are many more than that. He is pretty good at communicating what he wants. He loves to read books, play outside, and throw balls. He especially loves being around people(his family and other kids). He does the cutest things sometimes and we often wonder how this next little boy is going to be as cute as him. We love our little Ty-Ty.

The Big Outdoors Show

 A couple of weekends ago, Danny had a big outdoors event at the convention center. It is the first time that they have had this event, so we went to check it out. They had some live animals there including birds, crocodiles, turtles, and snakes. Occasionally they would take one out of its cage and let people pet them. Ashley was brave enough to hold this snake and then put it around her neck.

 Ashley also loved meeting Queen Elsa(especially since we weren't willing to wait in the 2 hour line at Disneyland to meet her). She was part of the face painting booth.

 Both girls tried out these motorized skateboards. I guess they are more like segways without handles because your body moves forward rather than sideways like you would on a skateboard.

They both were able to control it and stay balanced. Unfortunately, Alyssa had someone go in front of her and she fell off and landed really hard on her tailbone. She had to sit on a pillow for a few days after that. 

Tyler just liked trying on this cool helmet.

 Danny wanted a picture with Ty Detmer since he was a BYU football player and because we have our own little Ty. 

I think the kids enjoyed this show more than some of the others they have been to at the Convention Center. I was just happy to sneak in some Daddy time during a Saturday that he had to spend at work.

A Little Taste of Spring

We have had an abnormally mild winter, which we have all been loving aside from the fact that it will probably mean water restrictions this summer. On some of the nicer days, we have gotten out to enjoy the park. This is the kids favorite park in the area. It is one of those parks that doesn't have a lot of slide structures, mostly just climbing things and spinning things. Here are Alyssa and Tyler on top of a rock wall type climbing thing.

 The girls just love this gigantic pyramid. Every time they climb to the top, they want me to take a picture of them. It is like 2 stories high.

 Another park day. We happened to run into friends the day we were at this park. 

 Tyler and I get out for walks whenever we can. He doesn't always sit very well in the stroller, but he loves to get out at this spot along the walking path so he can throw rocks in the water. The first time we stopped here, I think he sat in that exact spot for 30-45 minutes before he was ready to move on. He also loves to stop at the park and play for a little bit when we have time for it.

We are looking forward to Spring and Summer and being able to spend more time outdoors.