Our Vacation to Utah!

While we spent a month in Utah, Grandma Packer has begged that I start writing on my blog again.  She loves a peek into our lives and all the pictures of the Grand kids!   So, I will try to keep it updated.  It is tricky to get computer time around our house, and even more tricky to get uninterrupted time to update my blog.  But I will see what I can do!

We just got back from 4 weeks in Utah.  It was a fabulous vacation.  We stayed busy and did most of the things we wanted to do while we were there!    We went to Tracy Aviary, Lagoon, Hogle Zoo, and This is the Place State Park.  Sterling and I went to Hale Center Theater and saw Ragtime ( :) ) and we went to Desert Star Playhouse and saw The Lone Stranger ( :( ).  We got to go swimming several times at Aunt Julie and Uncle Gards house, we spent lots of time playing with family and cousins.  We had a huge water day at Papa's house with water slides and obstacle races.  We did a fabulous hike to Doughnut Falls with many from the DeVroom Family.  Sterling was able to go to Idaho to see his grandparents and I was able to spend some time with my Grandpa Sheffield.  I got to have a girls day with my sisters and play games and just be together.  We got to be at Sunday Dinner at Papa's House for 3 Sundays.  It was a wonderful 4 weeks of fun!

These are all pictures from our day at Lagoon.  These are from my camera.  I have to get the pictures from my phone on the computer!  Then I can post some more pictures from our day!~ (many of which I have already put on Facebook!)

Kansas City Zoo - November 3, 2012

We decided since Sterling was out of town we should get out of the house.  The Zoo was the kids first choice.  So we made the hour drive to the zoo.  It was a great trip!

 It was the "Great Pumpkin Smash".  They were giving pumpkins to the animals all over the zoo today.  It was really cool.  We got to watch the elephants enjoy their pumpkins.

 They have 5 elephants at the Kansas City Zoo.  It was neat to watch them with their pumpkins.  The zoo keepers were there to answer all of our questions.  James and I kept her pretty busy with questions. 

 My cute kids on the fence watching the elephants with their pumpkins.

Pumpkin number 2 for this elephant. 

When the other elephants would come around they were very protective of their treat!

 Sophia made me laugh, she jumped up on this rock and said "you can take my picture on this rock".  It made me laugh.  And I took her picture!

 Nellie was such a great baby.  She stayed in her stroller the whole 6 hours we were at the zoo.  She was bundled up tight in her baby mummy coat and she was content to look around and sleep.   It was a nice day outside and she loves the outdoors!

 This was the cool savanah.  There were at least 30 kids of animals in the savanah and the kids loved watching them.  In the water close to us were ducks, geese, frogs, fish, and lots of bugs.  Across the water were all kinds of impala, zebra, ostrich, and lots of other animals I can't name. 

The hippos are always my favorite.  I love them!  They had a great inclosure and we got to watch them play for quite a while.  They had a container in their water and were playing with it.  They ate some pumpkins and were highly entertaining.  It was a great day at the zoo. 

When we left we were all pretty exhausted.  We were there for about 6 hours and walked at least 6 miles.  There is a lot of walking, but so much to see. We didn't even see the whole zoo!  We will go back soon and check out the rest!  The kids did great and it was a great day!

3 girls check up

Today(10/31/12) I took the 3 girls to the doctor for various things.  While we were there we got a height and weight on them all.  2 weeks ago we went and they weighed Helena and Nellie and said they weighed the same.  I was a little suprised but didn't fight it.  This week Helena is 25.35 lbs and Nellie is 19 lbs 10.5 oz which seems a bit more accurate since Helena is 2 and Nellie is 9 months!  Sophia is 46 lbs and 113 cm tall.  Helena is 34.06 inches (86.5 cm).   Nellie is 71 cm. 

Halloween Parade and Performance

Oct 31, 2012

 Nellie is my cute Lady Bug!

  She was nice and warm in her cute bug outfit that Aunt Julie sent for her!

 Sophia's Preschool class had a wonderful costume parade and a performance for the parents.  They did 3 or 4 different songs with actions.  They did such a great job!

 She is such a great fairy!

My cute girls!

It has been a long time!

My new goal is to get this up to date, that doesn't mean from when I left it in Hawaii, but from when we moved to Ft. Leavenworth until now and forever more.  I so wish I had kept it going while we were in Utah.  I would love to have captured all the fun and excitement the family had while there, but that is so overwhelming to think about.    For now, the last 3 months is daunting enough!

We got here July 21st and have been on the run ever since.  We did some fun things while were waiting for a house.  I will post those.  The kids have had a lot of milestones and I will post as many of those as I can as well.   Here is to picking up the pieces!

Daniel's 6 year pictures

There really isn't much to say about these pictures except that he is growing much too fast! He is such a fun kid! We love him lots!

He was being such a ham during the pictures but couldn't pull a real smile unless we tickled him or if he was showing us his muscles! He is a funny kid!

(I will not miss the portrait studio that can't get the lighting right to save their lives when we move!)

Daniel turns 6!

Daniel wanted a Pokemon Cake... this is as close as we could come on short notice.

We got a Mint Chocolate Chip/Chocolate ice cream cake. It wasn't nearly the hit I had thought it would be but it was yummy. We also went swimming as a family. We had a great time, but afterwards I was informed by Daniel that it didn't count because their were no friends. I should have known Mr Social, needed a friends party!

Daniel also got to go to Toys R Us and have his birthday celebrated there as well. The Grandmas and Grandpas had sent some money for him and he got to go and choose his own gifts (which he loved!) He got a balloon and a crown and they announced his name over the intercom. Every worker that we passed told him Happy Birthday, you would have thought he owned the store. He LOVED it!

Officially 6 and looking pretty big!

Helena got a chance in the bounce house too. Daniel is so good at 'helping' her.

A friends party he wants, a friends party he shall have. So on Saturday (April 16) we put up the bounce house and had some friends over for games and cupcakes. Daniel loved it. It was very hot but everyone seemed to have a good time. They could only stay in the bouncer for short periods because they would get so hot. We had Bocce Ball and the swing set in the backyard to keep the groups rotating. 2 hours of birthday madness! But he loved every second, which makes it all worth it!

Daniel enjoying cupcakes.

Coming back for more... he loves the frosting really but every once in a while gets brave and eats the cake part too!

Doesn't he look bigger now?

This was at his party so I can throw it in, Helena is now crawling on hands and knees! Such a big girl!