Happy Birthday Gavin!

Gavin turned 7 on Saturday. I still can't believe that I have a 7 year old. We are so happy to have Gavin in our family. He is such a great big brother and friend to Liam and watches out for Ashlyn so well. Apparently we only took video of Gavin opening presents so I don't have any still shots. We went and played mini-golf (indoors) and then had cake and ice cream in the evening. Gavin was glad to have Uncle Jordan and Uncle Todd here to help celebrate. Happy Birthday Gavin! We love you!

Sort of an uncreative cake for us. We have had so much going on with the basement and sickness that this was the best we could do on Saturday.

Birthday Boy!

Blowing out the candles.

The favorite gift, a snake! Yes, we are crazy for getting him this but he loves it!

The snake, "Nagini".

Carpet!!

We have carpet (and electricity)! What do you think? We are so close to being done. We are hoping to get the final inspection done on Friday so we can use Saturday to move stuff back down from the garage. Anyway, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. It will be so nice to finally have it done.

Family Room

Liam's Room

Gavin's Room

Guest Bedroom

Liam's Foot

I'm sure many of you mothers will relate to my day yesterday. I typical have some sort of schedule each day of what I need to get done or what errands need to be run. I LOVE the days I don't have anything, but that has become rare. Yesterday I went visiting teaching in the morning. I had a meeting planned with the other den mother that I work with for the afternoon and that was my scheduled day. Wrong! We got back from visiting teaching and I was chatting with my mom on the phone. Liam was playing on our elliptical so I promptly asked him to get off and left the room. A few minutes later Liam let out a horrible scream and kept on screaming. He came to me barely able to walk. Yes, he DID NOT get off the elliptical when I asked, but when he did try to get off the elliptical moved and the top of his foot near his toes was crushed. The top of his foot immediately turned black and blue and started swelling so I knew what I had to do next. We spent the next 2 hours or so at the doctors getting x-ray's and getting his foot in a splint with a walking shoe. The doctor wasn't able to determine if any bones were broken because the main impact was right where the growth plates are. We now have to wait a week to see what kind of improvement is made to see if we need to actually get him in a cast. Anyway, my day was not planned this way, but I guess that's what being a mom is all about. I have noticed lately that most days don't go the way I plan them in my head, so maybe I should just quit trying to have a plan and go with the flow! :)

Liam, the boy who wishes he would have listened to his Mom.

The foot in the splint and walking shoe.

Another view.

Believe me, he was not this happy when all the drama occurred!

Basement Progress

I will finally be all caught up (at least until tomorrow) with all the past few weeks. Here is an update on the basement. We got most of the painting done last weekend. We are just doing touch-ups (there are tons) and little projects here and there to get ready for the carpet tomorrow. We have the plumber, carpet, and electrician coming tomorrow to finish things up. We can't wait for it to be all done. I will post pictures of the completed basement when it passes inspection!

Family Room

Family Room with Ashlyn! :)

Hall

Bathroom vanity

Gavin's room

Liam's room (the picture doesn't show the color very well, it's green)

Guest Room

Cute girl!

Just had to post some pictures of Ashlyn in her new Spring dress that she wore on Sunday. What a cutie!

Wish she looked at the camera! :)

Spring Break????!

We were a little confused about last week, was it Spring Break or Winter Break?

The kids spent time on Friday playing in the snow. I had just put all there snow stuff away a week earlier, so I had to pull it all back out. I am SO ready for Spring!

Ashlyn is 2!

After all the fun and excitement of the wedding and having Nate's family here we finally got around to celebrating Ashlyn's birthday. We were only 6 days late, but she didn't know the difference. I can't believe Ashlyn is already two. We love having her in our family. She is such a spunky girl with a mostly happy countenance. We love our little Ashy girl.

Ashlyn with her presents.

Opening some bracelets and necklaces. She loves them!

Doesn't she look beautiful!

Opening another present.

and the final present a new trike! She loves it, but hasn't figured out how to pedal yet.

I'm sure by the end of the summer she'll be cruising around just fine.

Blowing out the candles. She did them both all by herself!

Ashlyn with her yummy ice cream birthday cake!

Climbing a Mountain

After all the wedding stuff and a relaxing General Conference weekend we all went to fulfill a request, from Gavin and Liam's cousin Ezra, to climb a mountain. We hiked up the switchbacks at the beginning of the trail for Adam's Canyon. It was a bit chilly for a hike, but we all had a good time. Here are some pictures!

Looking at the view. The boys were determined to catch a snake, but it was to cold for that to happen! :)

Grandpa Kohl holding sleepy Leisel with a great view behind them.

Ashlyn actually walked and ran the whole way up and down. She loved it!

The kids with the mountain view behind them!

Wedding Day

Rob and Shelley were married on April 1st. It was a beautiful day! You couldn't have asked for better weather. We had a great time at the Salt Lake Temple. Here are a few pictures from the day. I stole some of the pictures from my sister-in-law Anna because she took some of my kids with her much better camera. Enjoy!

All the boys and Ashlyn waiting for the bride and groom to come out of the Temple.

Ashlyn on the Temple steps. We couldn't keep her off of them!

Shelley wanted everyone to wear purples and I had trouble finding a dress for Ashlyn, so I made her one. It was a little challenging, but I thought it turned out cute!

A family picture. Ashlyn was not being agreeable, so this was the best one we got! Thanks Anna for taking some pics for us!

The happy couple!

Ashlyn giving the new bride a hug.

Ashlyn with her cousin Leisel having a much needed snack.

My two boys! What handsome brothers!

Wedding Dinner Pics

I finally got my new monitor so now I have a bunch of catching up to do. First are some pictures from the family dinner we had the night before the wedding. It was Ashlyn and Aunt Shelley's (the bride-to-be) birthday so they had a cake for Shelley and cute little cupcake for Ashlyn.

Cute and yummy cupcake!

Birthday girl!

She mostly at the yummy frosting off the top.

Ashlyn decided to have a piece of the birthday cake too. Way too much sugar!

Nate with his brothers. Don't they look thrilled!

A goofy picture!