Getting Sealed As A Forever Family

This week we got the amazing opportunity to be sealed as a family in the St. George temple.  Brandon and I have been working really hard for this moment, and it finally came!

Grandma and Grandpa Knudsen arrived late Tuesday night, and Kylie and Hayden were super excited to see them first thing Wednesday morning.  Grandma Shari even brought them a little Halloween package with some pillow cases she sewed for them!

When Kylie had school Hayden got some one-on-one time with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Shari.

After school Grandma and Grandpa Hansen had arrived, along with Great Aunt Tammy.  Yay!  More people to play with!  Plus Grandma Tess had brought the kids their clothes for the temple and they were so pretty!

Wednesday evening Brandon and I went and did our endowments, so Kylie and Hayden went to be babysat at Paris' house.  They love it there!

Thursday morning was the big day!  We all got dressed in our best and had the sealing ceremony with some close family and friends.  It was a wonderful moment and I had to try hard not to laugh because Hayden had his tongue out the whole time.  Afterwards we did a few pictures (thanks to Grandpa Pete and Grandma Shari) and then went to eat at Chuck-a-rama as a family.

After lunch I had to rush Kylie to Preschool.  It was her Halloween party that day and I didn't want her to miss it.  Also at that time many family members had to make the long drive back home.  I am so glad that everyone who came was so willing to come celebrate this moment with us!  Even if it was such a short trip!  We love you all!!!

Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary were the only ones able to stay - they will be with us throughout the weekend!

The Spooky Fair

We got a lot of rain last weekend, so on Monday morning we had a ton of fun puddle jumping and throwing rocks into the small lake next to our house.

After a week full of Preschool, visiting the library, going on walks, and playing hard, we finally made it to the park.  We went in the evening for once, and it was very busy!  There were plenty of kids for Kylie and Hayden to play with!  Not to mention dogs!

Saturday we went to the Spooky Fair in the middle of St. George.  It was a kid oriented carnival with booths to trick or treat at!  The kids really had fun, and especially loved the bounce house.

Overall it was a nice way to end our week!

Fall Break!

The beginning of the week was same old, same old.  School, parks, play, swimming, coloring.  Busy, busy, busy!  Thursday and Friday was no school, and while we normally have Friday off, having four days off in a row is a lot!!  Kylie is so active and busy right now that I am just going crazy trying to find enough things for her to do so she doesn't get too bored or sucked into tv watching.

This week we did pumpkin painting!

We are still dressing up all the time.  Kylie and Hayden are super excited for Halloween.

This weekend has been a fun family-filled time.  The kids played with Brandon and his new remote control quad-copter thing, and we went to Fiesta Fun where Kylie won 2,800 tickets in one turn!  That was pretty cool.  Everyone had a lot of fun!

Halloween Prep

Well this week was definitely better than last week!!  We started off the week by going to feed the ducks Monday morning.

Then we went on a little walk down by Virgin River where we went went under an overpass.  There we found a piece of chalk and Kylie did some graffiti on the already-graffitied wall.

On Tuesday we got out the Halloween decorations and the kids had a blast playing with everything.  Both Kylie and Hayden love wearing the witch's hat and Kylie will fly on the broom all around the house!

On Thursday we did some errands and bought Hayden's Halloween costume.  He chose a Dragon! (Because a dog was not available.)  Since he got his costume he is constantly wanting to wear it.  The first time he put it on he got down on all fours and charged the cat saying 'ROAR!'  It was hilarious.  Kylie is being a cat this year, and she also likes to wear her costume all the time.  There was this one time, though, that Hayden was wearing his full dragon costume, Kylie's cat ears and cat tail, and Kylie's princess dress up shoes.  It was the funniest thing ever to hear him walk around saying 'ROAR! Meow. ROAR! Meow.'  I wish I had gotten a video!!

On Fridays, since Kylie doesn't have school, I have to think of activities to do while Hayden is sleeping.  Kylie just loves to be crafty right now, so I made up some pumpkins, and various face parts and she got to create her own Jack-O-Lanterns.  She absolutely loved it!

As requested I got a video of the kids... though it's probably not exactly what they were looking for!  Sometimes the way Kylie and Hayden play together is very weird...

On Saturday Kylie really wanted a picnic, but sadly it wasn't going to work out, so she created her own picnic all on her own!

All day Saturday Brandon's business worked an event, so since the kids and I have hardly seen him this week we decided to go visit him.  He managed to break away and show us all the other vendors, where the kids got a balloon animal.

Then we all rode the carousel!

Afterwards Brandon went back to his booth while the kids went and played in the water and got soaked.  Overall it was a fun little excursion!!

So I have been working with Kylie on her abysmal listening skills, and came up with a little thing to help her focus more.  Every time I say "Listen!" we both stop what we are doing, look at each other and point to our ears to help remind her to use her ears and listen!  We are still struggling, but making some progress.  There was one night when she said something that sounded weird, so I said "What did you say? Birthday cake??" and Kylie exclaimed, "No Mom!! Listen!!" And here she pointed to her ear, "Brush my teeth!"  Haha so I guess it is sinking in!

Some Rough Times

I don't know what it was about this week, but everyone was a little ornerier than normal.  The kids fought more with each other, Kylie and Hayden didn't listen to me at all, and my patience was near zero practically all week.

It was slightly cooler this week (90's!  80's!), so we took lots of walks in the mornings, and played outside and rode bikes in the evenings.

There was also a smattering of swimming, park playing, story time participation, rock climbing, and errand running with the family.  So, despite our grumpy demeanors, we still tried to have fun!  (Or, really, I tried to not be a massive downer and made it my priority to get the kids out of the house...)

There was a point where I got mad at Hayden because he broke Kylie's favorite necklace, and when I wouldn't hold him he went and got a towel (the closest blanket-like thing), and curled up on the little tramp.  It was super cute and melted my heart!  It also concerned the cat...

Now with the start of a new week hopefully we can all change our attitudes, become a little more helpful toward each other, and a little more obedient.  :)