Free Saturday

Yesterday was a great day. By the end, I was super tuckered out, but it was good. Last night I even took the opportunity to reflect over the day, and I couldn't even find something I would change about it, so that should tell you it was a good day.

The morning started off with a bit of sleeping in. One of the best parts about waking up during the week at 6:00 is that when you get to go back to sleep until 7:00-7:15 it feels amazing. I did get up at about 6:00 and read my scriptures, but I also crawled back into my cozy bed and enjoyed just laying there and sleeping a little too. It was so great. We finally got up and at it, and got breakfast going. We made banana pancakes, yummy! Just as we sat down we heard someone come into our driveway. It was our contractor there with another guy to strengthen out the siding on our porch/house. I am amazed he got it, so close, because there is a good chance that our porch was never level, or at least not level for very long. Anyway, I chatted with him for a bit and then came back in and had breakfast. Then we went to FREE fishing day! I have been wanting to go to this event for a little while, but our kids really are just big enough to go and really enjoy it and get the point of it. So, what free fishing day is, is you register your kids and they go to 5 different classes and learn about fishing. They have classes on casting, equipment (different types of poles, though it probably should be on bait, but they didn't ask me), knot tying, types of fish, and then how to hold different common fish when trying to get hooks and the like out. The girls dutifully went to each class and listened and participated and then after they completed all five classes they got their very own fishing pole. So, we then took that fishing pole and got some bait from the boy scouts and went fishing. The classes took about an hour and then we fished for about an hour. I think that is pretty good for a 4 and 6 year-old. However, my favorite part was watching Gaupo participate with us. I sometimes feel like I head up the vast majority of outdoor activities and it is true that I instigated this activity, but he got us registered and then helped us find 'the perfect fishing spot.' He also loved helping load the bait, casting, and sitting with the pole and his girls. I know there isn't a whole lot to pond fishing, but Gaupo didn't mind one bit being out there and sitting with us and fishing. Tia got a little bored, but hey that is to be expected and she did fine really. Kylee I am pretty sure could fish for a long time. She just has the patience to wait and hope she gets something. She is pretty disappointed when she doesn't get anything, but it doesn't ruin it for her. Our family really enjoyed doing it together. I thought it was successful enough that Gaupo and/or I might need to get a license, so we can go multiple times this year, but we will see. I just so loved spending two hours outside with my family with no real complaints and everyone left having had a good time. Plus, it didn't cost me a thing--even better.

Kylee and Gaupo at the casting class.

Daddy helping Tia with casting.

Daddy and Kylee fishing.

Tia playing wit her snakes aka worms.

Tia casting out and Gaupo ducking for cover. hahaha

Tia the fisherwoman.

Kylee and Daddy fishing away.

Me with everyone to prove I was there.

Daddy and his girls fishing.

After we got done fishing, we were on the right side of town to visit Target. They are having buy 1 get one 50% off right now on shoes, and I want to get my girls some sandals, but I needed to know what size Kylee was (I already knew Tia). So, we went to Target. Well, while we were there they were having an 'egg hunt.' By the time we got there it was a very simple affair and all we had to do was go get our picture taken, get a snack and get the password. Then we went and found the Hatchimal display, gave them the password and we got a Hatchimal egg. We quickly did that and then spent awhile in shoes trying to find which sandals would work for Kylee and what size. She has small thin feet, so this is not an easy thing. Anyway, we found out what we needed and left with two Hatchimals without spending a penny.

Tia and Kylee getting their picture taken.

Also, on that same side of town as Sprouts. I went there and did spend money on groceries, but I also grabbed everyone a free sample of their sour gummy bears (they don't even compare to their normal 12 flavor ones that are super good, so just buy the normal). So, I get out to the car and the girls got their Hatchimals open and were so please with that and then I just got add to it with a free sample of gummy bears for them. So, a total win on the west side of town yesterday.

Once we got home we had lunch and went down for naps. While the girls were sleeping I went grocery shopping. Sadly that was not free either, but I did get some good deals, and some needed food, so it was all good. Once I got home, I started preparing dinner. We were having a hurry up and wait meal--grilled chicken, tortellini pasta salad, grilled potatoes, grilled corn, and grapes. So, I got the chicken marinating and the pasta salad made. Then the kids were awake and Tia did not forget that we had said we could go on a bike ride when she woke up. So, I took the kids on a bike ride while Gaupo worked on his homework. We took a good little ride down and through and around and through the park to the school where we played at a couple of the schools parks. I think Tia's favorite part was showing the other kids how she could do everything that they couldn't or needed help doing. Don't worry I didn't let her do it long. We went home and the girls played outside while we prepped the potatoes and corn. Then we enjoyed watching them play as we cooked all the food. It took awhile to get it all done, but it was good. We enjoyed our food all together. The kids didn't even complain too much. Then we got the kids showered and bathed and in bed. They actually went to sleep almost right away, Wahoo!! Tia has had a terrible problem with going to sleep this week, so this was awesome! Then Gaupo and I stayed up for a bit and then got showered and went to bed as well. It was pretty early when we went to bed, but apparently I was tired because I slept well all night. I seriously probably slept from 9:30 to 6:00 without waking up and then rested/slept again from about 6:30 to 6:50. Once again it felt so good to sleep in.

I doubt this post really does how wonderful yesterday was justice, but I really did enjoy it. I love spending time with my family and I really do enjoy when it doesn't cost us a lot of money either. I am very grateful for all the different activities that the City of Longmont sponsors. It allows my kids to see and experience a lot of different things. I feel so blessed to live in a city that promotes being outdoors. They have created lots of wonderful outdoor spaces, so that even though we are in the city it isn't all concrete, pavement, and buildings. I love spending time with my family and being able to do it so close. I really did love watching Guapo fish with the girls. He carefully walked us to the other side of the pond away from everyone to a little spot. He talked briefly about how he loved going fishing especially when he use to do it with his dad because he would here him tell stories which he loved. It was fun to sit in somewhat peace and just enjoy being together. It was so great to watch our girls get excited over their simple free gift at Target. It was fun to ride bikes with my girls. They are such good riders and I can't help but feel proud of what they can do. I am so grateful that my family can have fun doing simple things. I love that we love being together and that being together is what often makes our adventure so rich and fun. I have the best family and I love being with them. I am so glad they put up with all my crazy because I really do love them like crazy. 

Happenings In Our LIfe

This week felt like it was forever long, but it was technically shorter (daylight savings, bleh). The days were full and super fun, but it just felt like every day lasted forever and that the weekend was taking forever to come. However, now the weekend is here and almost over and it flew by. It went way to fast. Time is so weird that way. Sometimes it seems to crawl by, other times it races past, and then other times it is just normal. Either way, I can't believe tomorrow is Monday of a new week. Although, I am pretty excited for this week because I only watch Trent and Tori one day, so that means the rest of the days I get to just be with my kiddos, and do stuff with them. YEAH!

Most of this week and a couple days last week we have been to a park. So far my crew and I have been to the train park, Stephen Day park, the park by my house, Left-hand Creek park, and Sandstone ranch. We have meet up with friends a couple of times, but a few times we have just gone on our own. Last Friday, we were hoping to have friends join us, but no one came. That was a bit of a bummer mainly for me, because the kids of course still had a great time. It was a windy day, so we took their kites with us and they had a grand time flying them and it was so easy to fly them. It was awesome! Plus, the park we went to has a really cool toys, so the kids really enjoyed playing there, so it was definitely well worth the visit.

Tia running with her kite.

Kylee and Tori with Kylee's kite.

Tori, Kylee, Tia.

Another one.

 On Wednesday, we met up with Jensen, and Jacob and their mom's--my friends--Bethany and Carolyn. We met them at Sandstone Ranch. We were out there for almost two hours and the kids weren't even ready to come home. It was so great. The kids just rode their bikes, played on toys, made up games, and just played it was so awesome.  Thursday we met up with a couple of the mom's and girls in Tia's class at the park. It was kind of fun to hangout with different people. Kind of weird to be the new one who didn't know anyone's history, but refreshing at the same time. Tia played well with the girls that were there and when Tori showed up she played with her and Kylee, but eventually did go back to playing with the other girls too. Actually they all kind of joined together and play. I thought it worked out really well, and I had a good time visiting with the moms that were there. We have had amazing weather this last a couple of weeks, so I am glad we have gotten out and enjoyed the parks and playing with friends.

In other good weather adventures, we have started riding bikes to school again. My kids seem so much happier when they start out the day getting their bodies moving. I love it. We have a great time riding. They are ready for school when we get there and most times we are actually early/on-time for school, so that is awesome too. Kylee and Tia are awesome bike riders. Tia can ride her bike all the way home with out crying which is great because it is a huge hill all the way back almost. The two of us have enjoyed taking different routes home, and Tia has loved choosing all the different turns and stuff we should take. Sometimes it takes awhile for us to get back, but hey when it is good weather, I can't think of a better thing to be doing or a better person to be doing it with. Kylee is doing great on her bike too. On Friday, she said, "Okay, I can make it all the way up the hill without stopping." I said that would be great. You know what she did it! That girl, when she says she will do something and it genuinely comes from her as a personal goal, watch out! She will do it, even if things get in the way. For example, Tia stopped on her way up, and Kylee just steered around her and kept going. It was amazing. She was so proud of herself and I was proud of her two. These two girls of mine are quite the riders and I honestly don't think I could be more pleased. I love sharing the joy of riding bikes with them.

Another significant event of the times is we finally redid our porch. Our porch has been settled probably since we bought the house, but we didn't know. Anyway, it was pretty bad. It has some really big cracks in the cement and the particle board was showing, and the roof was bent. It just wasn't a good thing. However, it is a big expensive project, so we have put it off because we just couldn't do it. But, we have the money and it somehow made it to the forefront of our thoughts and so we are doing it. It is almost done, but not quite. Monday was demo day. I knew it was starting this past week, but wasn't sure the exact date, but Monday it was. Because I didn't know, I didn't hurry home from dropping of Kylee. So, Tia and I were taking our sweet time getting home and I get a text from my neighbor saying, "looks like today is demo day." I texted back, "What?! Just kidding. I know exciting, huh." Well it was pretty exciting. We have had a great time watching 'the boys' as Tia calls them work on our porch. Monday they took out all the cement underneath. Oh boy, did the contractor that built this house cut some corners. We have a pipe to plumbing or something like that on the porch. Anyway, when they started taking of the cement from around it we found they had extended it--meaning the pipe was too short and they needed to make it longer, so it wouldn't buried by cement--well instead of extending it with you know more PVC pipe, they did it with a coffee can. Yes, that is right. There was Foldgers coffee can rusting away under there extending the difference from the pipe to the cap. I couldn't believe it. It is just so cheap. We also found as they were removing cement that there was no rebar in our entire porch, which could defiantly have aided in the huge cracks. However, my favorite part of demo was watching the boys jump when they found the snakes under the cement. I really shouldn't laugh because I don't like snakes either, but it is way more funny when it is someone else. The snakes were pretty slow because it is still pretty cold her at night, but they found 3 pretty darn big ones for sure. It was pretty comical. Anyway, we watched the guys demo, and prep the ground for cement on Monday.

Demolition.

A closer view of the removing of cement.

During the prep, they were trying to reshape my steps, because they didn't like how there was a huge step up on part of it. So, I was watching this and I wasn't sure that what I was seeing was correct because I thought surely these guys have done stuff like this before they know. However, about that time our contractor came up and asked me and I said do you think that is going to be a step there? He walked over and asked the guy what his plan was. Well that was the plan, to make a really long step and then a short one. Well, I didn't really like that and the contractor didn't either, so they were talking about it for a bit and couldn't come up with anything. So, Greg (the contractor) turns to me and asks, "Katey, do you have any ideas?" I suggested that we possibly round the steps. It look me a little bit to explain what I was thinking, but I finally got someone to understand. So, they framed it out that way and we made a few adjustments, but we got it and it looks GOOD! 

The frame before cement.

Then Tuesday the cement truck came. We let the girls stay home from school, so they could see it. They LOVED it! They were totally fascinated by all of it, so it was totally worth keeping them home for a bit. Tuesday, the porch was poured and I don't know how you say it but all the cement stuff got done, and it looks good.

The girls watching the truck get on the lawn.

Being as close as possible.

Still watching.

The filled steps.

Wednesday they straightened out the roof and got new posts put in. Then today they have widened the posts a bit and then we will see what they do next. It is coming along really well and I am really excited about it. I think it really opens up the front of my house and makes it look good.

The middle post is wider than the rest here.

In other events, I have been to a baby shower the last two weekends and it has been fun. Baby clothes are so cute! They have a played some fun games and it was fun to just hangout with some ladies. Gaupo also got some man time this last Saturday at an Elders quorum breakfast where he was introduced to scrambled pancakes. He made them for our family that night for dinner and they really are good. Gaupo has pretty good breakfast tastes. Gaupo also managed to get our garden planted in strawberris on Saturday, so that was awesome. Additionally, Gaupo has also been working hard at his internship project for room reservations at the library and is also developing a webpage about biking here in Longmont for another one of his classes.

One other big thing for Gaupo and the rest of us is since the 1st of March we have tried to incorporate more fruits and veggies into our meals. Gaupo has a challenge at work to eat 5 servings a day of fruits or veggies. Well he is doing it and the rest of us are benefiting from it greatly. Both Gaupo and I crave sugar so much less and when I do want sugar, I am satisfied with just one thing. I think we both Guapo and I have more energy and we are learning a lot about cooking veggies and our children think they are being so mistreated because they are getting exposed to so many new veggies and things they have to try. They have found some they like and it has been a good challenge for us to not only think about what we are going to eat, but how to round out the dinner with veggies and fruit too. It has been a really good change for out family.

Our life seems busy to us, but it is full of wonderful things. I love playing with my kids. It is fun to watch my home change a bit and consequently making it a little bit more of our home. I love learning to cook new things and try new things. However, growing up can be rough and over the course of all these great things there have been times I have wanted to just give up on the project, or hole up in our house, so I would never ever have friend problems or drama, or just hoard all our money or spend all of it on frivolous things. There have been times we have broken down and eaten a whole batch and half of cookies in 4 days. There are times, but not getting stuck in those times is so important. We need to face fears, and broaden our horizons. One thing that has really been reinforced to me over the course of these events is that I am not doing any of this alone. Heavenly Father knows I want to feel my home is beautiful and gave me the thoughts I needed to make that possible. He lets good weather come so I can play with my old and new friends. He knows what I need and want and he helps me with those things as He sees fit. I know Heavenly Father is very much aware of me and as I try and do my best stays by my side, so that as growing up gets tough I don't have to do it alone. I can rely on Him. He is in the details.

Kylee is Six

Holy Cow! I can't believe this girl is six. Really I can because she seems, so very much a six year old, but to think that I have been a mom for six years that just blows my mind. However, I couldn't be happier about having had Kylee in my life for the last six years. This girls is truly amazing. Five days a week she goes to school and then comes home and tries to do a tricky balancing act between her best friend and her best sister. For being six she does pretty good. I would have to say that Kylee's current best friend is Tori Jacobson. They love to be the same and they play together really well. Thankfully that is the case because Tori is over here every day. Anyway, Kylee enjoys school. She says her favorite thing is recess and when I ask her what else besides recess she says nothing. I don't know that that is true because I think she loves when they get to do stem choice. Lately she has been doing the art center and is enjoying that. She also loves writing and coloring her own books right now. She struggles with slowing down and really listening for the sounds in the words and separating the words with proper spaces, but she still loves it. She is doing really well in swim lessons. She is in Blast one and is learning to get those arms and legs going and breathing. Kylee is a great big sister and is usually pretty willing to share with Tia. I love watching Kylee and Tia play together because they have a blast, especially when they play at the park or ride bikes. Some other things about Kylee right now are that she loves church, singing, eating chocolate, and watching movies.

This year was a little crazy with celebrating her birthday because Gaupo had to work on her birthday and then thought he had a church meeting that night too. So, we decided to just celebrate the day before. Friday, she wanted waffles, whip cream, and blueberries for breakfast. Then she went to school and then when she came home she had mac and cheese for lunch. Then we met up with some friends at the train park and played for about an hour and half. I was actually visiting teaching, but it was to Kylee's friends mom, so it totally worked. It was such a beautiful day outside, so the kids just played and played. It was so great. When we came home Kylee really wanted to open her present from Trent and Tori, so we did that and then it was quiet time.

Tia, Tori, Trent, and Kylee

Kylee with her Dinoco Cruze Remirez.

Boy did I need it. I rested for a bit, but then we had to get dinner going. Kylee wanted crock-pot cake, so I got that started. Then we were having tacos for dinner and even though Kylee just likes beans and cheese on her's if I am going to make greasy tacos I tend to go all out. So, I made some pico to go with them. Then it was time to fry hamburger and start the tortillas shortly after that. We had the missionaries coming over, so we made a bunch of tacos and boy was it good. Then we had cake and ice cream. After it was all cleaned up and the missionaries left we let Kylee open her presents. She got some dress-ups and some jewelry. She has loved all of it. By the time we did all that it was bed time.

Tia, and Kylee with the birthday candles.

Tia, Kylee, Gaupo, and Me.

Kylee opening her gifts from Tia.

Kylee opening presents.

Tia in the Elsa costume and Kylee in her Moana dress-up.

Then switched..Kylee as Elsa, and Tia as Moana.

Saturday we continued celebrating even though Gaupo had to go to work. We worked on Kylee's birthday sign, and had left over waffles with whip cream and strawberries this time. Then we were going to have pizza for lunch, so I got the dough and veggies and everything ready, so we could go to the park and stay for awhile. Kylee wanted to go to the 'kid' park (the school park across from our house), so that is were we went. The girls played for a bit by themselves and then Tori and Trent joined us. After playing for awhile we went home and made pizza and had the missionaries over for that. Then it was quiet time. I rested for a bit, but the weather was great, so I decided to go clean-up our front flower bed a little. I trimmed up everything and got it looking good. Kylee woke-up while I was doing that and played outside while I worked. Tia joined us too and after I was finished they had a snack and then we went for a bike ride. We went to another park and played there until we needed to head home for baths and to see Gaupo. That night the girls had leftovers for dinner and then we let Kylee watch whatever movie she wanted, so she picked Moana. It was fun to watch a movie together and finish up the celebrations.

Overall  I think Kylee is very pleased to be six. I think she had fun celebrating and playing. She told me on Saturday "I really do think six feels different than five." She is so funny. I love this little ball of joy and I am so glad she came to our home six years ago. We are truly, so blessed.