We took family pictures with my side of the family.
We had Kayli’s 5th birthday a few weeks before her actual birthday because of our move. She wanted to have a bike parade party just like I had when I was younger. We did it at the park since we didn’t really have a house and the weather is usually so nice around her birthday. She invited all of her cousins and some friends and she had a great time! Everyone brought their bike or scooter and we decorated them for the parade. Then the kids paraded around the park and it was so cute! They played volleyball, soccer, and hopscotch and had cake and snacks. Kayli was in heaven! She loved all of the gifts she got. She has awesome friends and family and it was such a perfect time for her.
Her actual birthday was on Nov. 24th and we had just barely moved into our house a few days earlier-and we were all getting over being sick. We tried to still make it a special day for her. She had school which was her Thanksgiving Feast party so that was fun for her. That morning, Grandma Eliason came and got her for a special surprise. She took Kayli to Build-a-Bear where she made an Elsa bear! Kayli thought it was super cool and loves that bear. Her only request for dinner was mashed potatoes and strawberry shortcake-so we stayed home for mashed potatoes and cake that night. It was a simple day but she enjoyed playing with presents and packing for Utah since we were leaving the next day! She was pretty excited for that too!
We celebrated our 7th anniversary on Nov. 22nd. We didn’t even go on a date because we were so busy moving into our house that weekend and we had spent tons of money on the move. But a new house is a great way to celebrate! We’ve lived in 2 states, 5 houses, and had 3 kids in these past 7 years and we have been so blessed!
We moved into our new house on November 18th but we had spent the whole week before that getting the house finished. We had people lay new laminate flooring and paint the house. Russ and Kenny put in new baseboards and Tate and Kenny put in a backsplash. We love it all! Moving in and getting settled in was hard. We moved in the week of Kayli’s birthday and Thanksgiving-which we went to Utah for-and then came back to a busy Christmas season-but we did it! We got settled in pretty quickly and we have only little things to finish now. We love our new home! It’s nice to be back up by our ward, friends, Kayli’s preschool and to have Trey in his own room!
Beau loved learning about tools and how to measure like dad. I caught him multiple times working like dad. It was pretty cute.
We went to Utah this year for Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house and Kim and Austin were able to come down from Idaho and mom and dad and Rachel’s family came up too. The boys all worked on Grandpa’s ceiling the rest of the weekend. Me, Rachel, and McKenna went Black Friday shopping for a few hours but nothing too crazy. We had babies to get back to! We made a trip to Ikea to get lots of things for our house. We went a little crazy there and had to use dad’s truck to bring everything home. We also went with everyone to Temple Square to see the lights but it was FREEZING! All the little kids were so angry that we were out there in the freezing cold so we didn’t last long. But the kids loved the snow at Great Grandma’s house!
Christmas season was so much fun even if it was a little hectic with our move. Our elf showed up (a little late this year) and the kids named him Elfie. Kayli wasn’t too sure what she wanted for Christmas because she had just had a birthday. I had her convinced that Santa would know what to bring her anyway and then just a few days before Christmas she all of a sudden had a list! All Beau wanted was a Blaze Monster truck. The kids liked making Christmas crafts and baking. We did a lot of baking. We made sugar cookies that we decorated and mint chocolate chip cookies. One of my favorite things of the whole season was when we delivered cookies to the kids’ nursery and primary teachers. Kayli was so sad because her teachers, the Overman’s, (who she loved and who were so sweet to her) were moving soon. She hates goodbyes and is so funny about them. Beau was so excited to deliver cookies to Bro. Skouson. We got a picture of him waiting at the door. He wanted to do it all by himself. I am so grateful for great primary teachers who are so good to my kids! They also actually talked to Santa this year a few times. We had a great ward party, relief society Christmas dinner, and we went to a Cameron Steele fireside that were all great to help us celebrate Christmas!
We got to see Josh and Mandy for the first time since we both had babies. It’d been way too long! We did Santa pancakes with the kids.
We rode the Santa Train in Boulder City with Grandma and Grandpa, Rachel’s family, and Kelli and Alex. The kids loved seeing Santa! Beau asked for a Blaze monster truck and Kayli wanted Barbie stuff.
We went up to the Mount Charleston Lodge with friends. We drove 20 minutes up the mountain to see the snow and get hot chocolate. It’s so cool that we live so close to the snow!
We went to Gilcrease Orchard to see Santa. We ate hot dogs and chili and had hot chocolate while we went on a hay ride. Grandma and Taylor came and met up with us too!
We had early Christmas Eve at my mom’s house so that the kids could all get their Christmas pajamas. They also put on a nativity for us.
The kids went to Grandma Eliason’s to make Christmas treats and crafts with the cousins.
We went to the Downtown Summerlin Christmas parade with all of Kenny’s family.
Christmas was so much fun! The kids are at such fun ages. We did Christmas Eve with Kenny’s Eliason side of the family. Kayli had wanted so badly to sing “Do You Hear What I Hear?” with Taylor since he had taught it to her a few weeks ago. I didn’t think she would really do it in front of everyone but she did it! Her and Taylor sang it for everyone. She loves singing and acting with him! The cousins had fun playing and were excited for Santa to come. They opened presents from Great Grandma and Grandpa Taylor. Late that night it started to snow at our house. The picture really doesn’t do it any justice! We woke up on Christmas morning to a Christmas miracle in Las Vegas! We had snow on the ground!
Christmas morning is one I’m sure we won’t forget. The kiddos came into our room around 7:00 a.m. and told us everything that Santa had brought them! We were so bummed that we had missed their reactions to everything. We went downstairs and sure enough Beau’s stocking was emptied on the floor and they had definitely been down there already. Later that day I said something to them about how they should have at least recorded it for us to see later and Kenny said-that’s it! The cameras! He had just put up a security camera downstairs. We figured out what time it would have been and sure enough-we had it all on camera! It was pretty funny. The kids got a new kitchen and lots of play food, a CD player for their books on CDs, and games. Kayli got a baby (that she thinks is Baby Alive and she’s so excited about it) and a junior weight volleyball. Beau got a big Blaze and then little Blaze characters monster trucks. Trey loved opening presents too but he just got necessities. That morning we went to Eliason’s for Christmas breakfast and presents and then that afternoon we went to my mom’s for presents and Christmas dinner. We had fun playing lots of games and the kids loved showing their cousins all their new stuff. We had a great holiday!
We had a New Year’s Eve Party at our house. We had friends over and ate and had fun playing games. The kids made it to midnight!
Josh and Mandy got to stay with us again on their way back home. We took them to FLIPnOUT Extreme and to Frijoles. It’s always so much fun to see them and have them hang out all night at our house. We stayed up late talking and eating ice-cream and having a blast like we always do.
Kenny and his friends took the kids off roading in the snow and they got out to sled. They had fun but got too cold so the kids ended up in the car while the guys did all the sledding.
Kenny hired a new guy to work from Provo so he had to go up there to train him. We decided to make a family vacation out of it. We went to the Provo City Center Temple Open House. It was beautiful and the kids were so reverent inside the temple. Beau walked thru the entire tour holding his hands together. We stayed in a hotel so the kids thought that was pretty cool and they even went swimming one night. We went to Ikea with Cindy and Lindsey and tried lots of new restaurants. We went sledding the next day with David and Kayryn and Kaci surprised me and the kids by showing up too! We had a blast sledding. We got to spend time with my Grandma and Grandpa and it was so fun to hear them tell stories. Grandma told a story I never want to forget. She said that when she was 10 she spent the summer with her aunt up in Salt Lake. Every day they would walk to the temple and the prophet, George Albert Smith, would be sitting right inside the gates of the temple with his cane in his hand and he would say hi and shake hands with everyone who came thru to see the temple. I thought that was so cool! I could have stayed forever listening to their stories. We sure love visiting Utah and Beau now says he wants to live in Utah.
Kenny is the News 3 Tech Expert now. One Saturday morning a month he is featured on the news talking about something techy. His latest interview was about smart home stuff- he loves it. He does a great job!
Kayli is doing amazing things. She can write most of her ABCs and knows the difference between the capitals and lower cases. She can sound out simple words and brings home BOB books from preschool to read. She loves it but also gets very frustrated when it’s too hard. She has the attitude of a teenager lately and we’re really trying to figure out how to stop that! At the same time though, she is a great helper around the house and especially with Trey. She likes to ride her scooter, play barbies, play house with Beau, and draw pictures. She is definitely a girl who prefers your time and attention rather than hugs and cuddles. She doesn’t like to talk about things but loves when you sit and play a game with her. She has two loose teeth and one that is hanging by a thread but that she won’t pull out or let us get close to. She has had fun having friends over to her new house to play. Her and Beau started gymnastics with some friends and she is loving it and is ready to move up a class.
Beau is a funny little kid. He keeps us entertained for sure. He is so excited to play soccer this spring. He’s also been doing gymnastics with Kayli. He started Sunbeams. He isn’t shy and he has a really loud voice. He likes to get right in Trey’s face and squeeze his hands. He likes to play at friends’ houses and he goes just fine without even wanting me to walk him to the door. He loves to come into our room late at night when the other two kids are asleep and climb in our bed to fall asleep with us. He always asks how Jesus could have made people. He still sleeps in funny places.
Trey is 6 months now and is a great baby. He sleeps about 11 hours at night and takes great naps during the day too. He eats good and has started baby food. He sits up, rolls over, and is playful and friendly. He loves sitting by the kids and playing with toys. He smiles all the time and we can really get him to laugh. The first 4 months of his life were so rough for me with all of the problems that I had but now looking back it was all so worth it and it really did go by fast-and I knew all that while I was going thru it but it was still hard. It was a good lesson for me to learn that when times are hard-I know that it won’t last forever. I know that I was blessed to be strengthened and healed and having a healthy, happy baby is the best blessing of all.
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