ELMO DAYS!

This past weekend we headed down to Carbon County for the annual Elmo Days in the city of Elmo, where Trever’s mother and step father live. We started out at the wave pool in Price. Very fun place, the waves get pretty high. I got my butt kicked a few times by the large waves. Maddy’s tube got flipped several times, she would do back flips. Most little girls would cry and not want to be in the pool, not Maddy. She loved it. She would get out and rest in between the waves, as soon as they were back on she was running back into the pool. Kennedy enjoyed chilling in the water until the waves started, she was just too little and the waves would go right over her, so she had to get out of the pool during the waves. Saturday kicked off with the town breakfast at the park. It’s not the best, but it’s free and edible. It is followed by the parade, which anybody can be in. My nephew walked the parade dressed up as Darth Vader, turned out to be a bad idea. Even though the parade is at 10 am, he ended up with heat stroke from wearing all that black. This is the strangest parade, and never ceases to amaze me. Several years ago somebody was throwing pocket knives, we have been thrown free oil changes, backpacks and this year somebody threw licorice right on to the road. Strange. Maddy got thrown a cheer leader doll, and when the stomach is pressed its sings “We’re number one, cant be number 2 because we are going to beat the whoopee out of you, whoopee out of you”. We have all been singing this annoying song for days now. After the parade, we had a family duel. Our family won free dinner. Then there are games in the park for the kids, it was my in law’s turn to run the games this year so I ran the game where kids race to pick up as many marbles with their feet in a pool of ice as they can in one minute. This is a very strange town, but Elmo days always ends up being very fun. The kids really enjoy it. Most all of Trever’s family including step family come down, and everybody puts up tents in the yard. This year his mother had 9 tents in her yard. Minus the bug bites, heat exhaustion and driving 250 miles it was a fun weekend.

Camping!

Last summer our trucks engine blew up, and the trailer we had was not really what we wanted. So we sold the truck and trailer. With the baby being born this year, and having no truck or trailer we really didn’t think we would make it camping this year. We did purchase a new truck a couple weeks ago, but still not trailer. However with the generosity of my sister(Deana) and brother(Jay) in law (they just purchased a 40 foot trailer, that has a “garage” in the back of it, that worked out just perfect for my family) we were able to make it out this year. We went to Morgan and camped along the golf course and river, since we were in a golf tournament on Saturday. Im horrible at golf, luckily it’s a scramble and best ball! The girls and I went up Thursday night, and Trever joined us Friday morning with Jeff and Renee Miller some friends of ours. Maddy got to have sleepovers with her cousin Kaycee on the top bunk which she thought was pretty cool. This was Kennedy’s first camping trip, other then only sleeping about 8 hours a night she did great! Saturday night Trever and I and some other friends went tubing down the Weber River. I think I am going to take this on as a new hobby, it so much fun and what a rush when you make it through some rapids, or falls. Last year at this same camping location, I got some really odd bug bites. After two doctor trips and one pharmacist I am still unsure what kind of bugs I was bitten by. I have to believe it was chiggers, but they are not too common in Utah and well the thought alone makes me itchy. This year I only got a few of the weird bites, but Maddy ended up with more then her fair share. Poor girl looks like she has the chicken poxes. She is doing a great job at not itching them, and doesn’t even flinch when I clean them out with peroxide. Hoping to make it camping again this season, but not so sure that will happen. So Im very grateful we made it out this weekend.

My mother was in Alaska over the weekend, and I could have gone with her. But I didn’t want to leave Kennedy for over a week twice in the first 4 months of her life, so I opted to not go. So it was nice to get to do something fun with the girls.

4th of July!

This year was no expectation, another successful firework party! Jeff and the other guys did a wonderful firework show. It was cut back to about 45 minutes this year, with only a few illegal fireworks, it worked out great. The kids all enjoyed themselves. We had a swimming pool for the kids, lots of water toys, they all had a blast. I bought 100 hamburgers and 36 hot dogs, with only about 10 hamburgers left over we had just the right about of food. No cops this year, which was a goal of mine! Spending the day with all my family, and friends it was a great day! Happy birthday America!

Kennedy turns 2 months old!

Today we had Kennedy's 2 month check up. She weighed in at 12 lbs. 4 oz and 23 inches long. Doc says she is doing great, and has remarkable neck control. I was convinced she would be way over weight since all she does is eat. It seems like I'm feeding her nonstop. But her weight is right where it should be. He was a little taken back when I mentioned she goes extremly pale when she sleeps. But said to just keep a watchful eye, so that is what I will do.
I took Maddy bowling last night, she had a blast and it got me out of the house. Trever is on 10 straight grave yard shifts, so we are not getting much time with him. What little time we did have together today we painted closet doors. But hey it was bonding time :) Cant wait until this basement is complete.

Lava Hot Springs

This past weekend we went to Lava Hot Springs, what a fun weekend getaway. This has become a annual tradition for us. We go with our friends Torrey, Amanda and their son Gavin. This year Amanda's parents and brother also joined us. We all had such a wonderful time. The Olympic pool provides hours of entertainment. They have a red and green slide, the green is pretty fast and we as adults have just as much fun on it as the kids. The red slide is a bit slower, Maddy was too short to ride it but they let her anyway. She wasn't so sure at first, but after her first plunge she didn't want to stop going down "the big red slide" Dad was so proud of his brave little girl. Later Trever, I and John Andrew went tubing down the river while Amanda watched the girls. It was so relaxing, but exciting all at the same time. Cant wait until we get back up there! Thanks for the great weekend guys!

Catching up

OK, so I haven't written on this blog as often as I had originally intended too, but I'm going to keep trying. So alot has happened in the past few months. The most exciting news was the arrival of Miss Kennedy Belle Jennings born May 5th. She was born at 3:33 am Monday morning weighing in at 7lbs 4 ounces 21 inches. I had scheduled a c-section for Wednesday May 7 (off the wall fact I was born the same day as my great grandma and if Kennedy had been born this day she would have been born the same day as her great grandma)th, however I really didn't want to have surgery so I was hoping she would come on her own. Luckily, Sunday morning my water broke about 11am. After hours of wondering "am I just peeing my pants", "I can't possibly pee my pants over and over", we decided we better head to the hospital. We checked in about 3pm, around 6pm we headed over to Arby's to grab some dinner. While eating I felt my first contraction, and holy love THEY HURT. The monitor at the hospital said I had been having contractions but I simply wasn't feeling any of them. However, trying to leave Arby's to get back to the hospital was no easy task. I suddenly has so much sympathy for all those women how have Braxton hick contractions throughout their entire pregnancy. Looking back now, I was so blessed I received my epidural as soon as I arrived back to the hospital. Then it was a very LONG night of watching movies until little Kennedy decided it was time to come. The nurse came in and said it was time to push, after about 3 sessions of pushing she said it was time to stop pushing. She left to go call the doctor, but Kennedy was ready to meet us right then. Trever and my mom delivered their first baby! The doctor was about 20 minutes too late.
After all the madness calmed down, all Trever and I wanted was to finally get to see Maddy meet her baby sister for the first time. She walked in the room, and the look in her eyes is something I will never forget. Maddy was so excited! Too this day, she tells everybody "that is my baby" she is so proud of her baby sister. Kennedy is doing so well, she is now 8 weeks old. She is sleeping about 7-8 hours a night, last night was almost 9 hours! Yeah!
Its been so fun being off work, we have been to the zoo, liberty park, swimming, concerts, lagoon, and many play dates with friends. Trever and I even got our first over night get away to Wendover. We lost, but had a ton of fun! Playing blackjack all night is just what I needed. My goal is to jot something in the blog at least twice a month, we'll see what happens!