Adalyn's Dance Recital 2017

This year we had a lot of "firsts" in our family.  Poor Adalyn gets to be the guinea pig for everything.  One of the firsts that we had this year was the first time one of our kids has done an organized activity outside of the home.  Originally we had decided that when our kids turned 5 they could then choose to do a activity outside of the house such as soccer, dance, gymnastics, etc.  I say originally because we have now decided to have the age mark for their first activity will just be the year before they go to kindergarten instead of them having to be exactly 5 years old.  So Jensen will be starting his first activity (we think it is going to be gymnastics) this fall instead of making him wait until he is 5 in December.

Anyways back to Adalyn, for her first activity she decided to try dance.  I did dance for 10 years as a child so I was really excited for her to go to her first dance class.  Plus I really thought she would love it since she loves dancing all over the house to music.  

We put her in with the sweetest dance teacher who teaches dance out of her home.  Miss Shana.  She really was the perfect teacher and made Adalyn feel so loved a special.  They did two dance performances this year.  One at Christmas time and then a big spring performance.  

Adalyn just had her big spring performance on May 10th.  She got to perform two dances a tap dance and a ballet one.  They performed to Walking on Sunshine (from the movie Ella Enchanted) and a cute version of You are My Sunshine.  Adalyn did awesome in both dances and really remembered the moves well.  She had her sassy walk out and loved being on stage.  One of the things that I loved about this performance was that before the dances start they let each dancer come out and introduce themselves and say their name and how old they are.  All the dancers loved talking in the microphone and I thought it was a cute addition to the show.

 While Adalyn did awesome in her dances our other kids didn't do so great at her show.  boo! Magnolia was sad because she had just had shots that day and was sore.  The boys were whiny and Declin was super tired.  So lesson learned there (don't bring toddlers to performances).

After a fun year of dance we talked to Adalyn about what she wanted to do next year and she decided that she wants to try doing a little swim team next year instead of dance.  She really does love to swim so I think it will be fun for her to try that out next year.  But I will miss having a little dancer.  Maybe Magnolia will want to be a dancer.  We will see!  But for now, congratulations Adalyn.  You were beautiful on stage and we love watching you learn new things!  

  

  

A Vacation to Las Vegas

A couple weeks ago McKay and I were able to sneak away on a little vacation without the kids!  It was awesome!  The last time we went on a get-away was when Jensen was 6 months old and Adalyn was almost two.  We were excited to have some time to ourselves again.  

This time McKay had a work conference in Las Vegas so Magnolia and I decided to go with him (she had to come since she is still nursing full-time).  Here is a little recap that I wrote about our trip in our family email last week.

 Hello all! 

I have enjoyed reading your emails and excited to finally be able to add our update.  I am currently writing this one handed with Magnolia in my other arm so we will see how long this takes. 

The big news for us is we had a wonderfully relaxing vacation last week to Las Vegas (as you all already know).  We left Monday from Idaho Falls, dropped the kids off in Logan with cousins and then headed to St. George for a quick shopping break.  That evening we arrived in Las Vegas at our cute hotel.  Our hotel was downtown Las Vegas, but it was a spa not a Casino so that was refreshing and a bit more enjoyable for us. McKay's work conference was being held in the same hotel so that was super convenient.  Our room was a suite with a kitchen, separate bedroom and large bathroom so it was very nice to relax in all week. 

We stayed in Las Vegas Monday evening until Friday morning.  Since we brought Magnolia with us we didn't get to do any shows (kids 5 and under are not welcome) but we did get to do a few small things like go hiking on the red rocks, dinner at the Hard Rock Café, and a quick trip to M&M world.  We also did some mothers day shopping (I got a new workout outfit) and Birthday shopping for McKay (we got him a baby carrier for hiking).  Of course we ate a lot of food and made it to our regular favorites like Krispy Kreme and In-n-out burger.  We also watched a lot of Netflix and just enjoyed doing nothing (it was SO nice).  In all honesty I don't think McKay and I would ever choose to go to Las Vegas on our own again and we were SO grateful to not have the kids with us (it would have been so crazy!  People already looked at us weird with even just one baby), but it was a great place for us to relax and enjoy not having kids climbing all over us.  While McKay was at his conference each day Magnolia and I caught up on sleep and did a little bit of picture organization.  I loved, loved, loved the mini break from normal life.  We slept in until 10:40 one day.  CRAZY!!  I truly had a few days of feeling completely rested.  Amazing feeling!  All week I kept having flashbacks of when we had just had Adalyn and we were living in our little apartment.  Since I was staying in the hotel all day by myself with just Magnolia.  Plus I was going through old baby pictures of Adalyn since I was making her a chat book so all sorts of memories were coming back to me.  :) 

After the conference on Friday we headed to Cedar City to visit Melanie, John, and Britta.  It was a blast visiting with them and chatting with Britta.  We went on a couple walks on the paths near their house and the weather could not have been better.  Perfect.spring.weather.  So glad they live a little closer so we can see them.

While we were gone all week the Adalyn , Jensen, and Declin stayed 2 nights in Logan with Jesse and Natalie's family.  They had a great time "on the farm" and having a cousin sleepover.  Thank you SO much Jesse and Natalie!  Then Corinne was sweet and drove to Logan to pick them up and then took them to Mom and Dad's house and babysat them there for a couple days, until finally mom and dad watched them for the last two days.  They went to more parks during the week then I can count and really got to fully enjoy the wonderful spring weather.  The all still talk about the pig "king noah" and all of the fun they had with family.  Thank you Thank you to all of our babysitters!   

Saturday we drove to Mom and Dad's house to see the kids.  I was really excited to see them and see how everything had gone all week.  They had a great time, but were happy to see us too which was fun.  Saturday afternoon we went with Mom and Dad to the canyon for tin foil dinners.  It was a quick trip up the canyon, just long enough to cook the food, eat it, and head out before it rained... again.  We stayed at mom and dad's house Saturday night and went home after church on Sunday.  Our trip home was eventful with the addition of a flat tire on the car just as I was passing the exit to Logan.  I was driving it and hit something on the road that popped it right away.  McKay was way ahead of me in the van with the kids and his cell phone was off/ very low battery.  Luckily through a few tender mercies and stranger was able to help me change to the spare and then McKay and I were able to meet up again where were able to slowly drive the car home on the spare tire.  Made for a long ending to our vacation week, but we are happy we made it home safe.

This past week has been a recovery week and busy with several end of the school year activities.  I feel like it has been an extra crazy one, but I think that is just because I got used to the slow life in Las Vegas.  haha! 

 Love,

Kajsa and Fam  

Here are some pictures from our fun week...  First some the cute photos that we got from all the babysitters of the kids...

And finally some pictures from mine and McKay's trip...

A Moment to Write

I write really awesome blog posts in the shower... in my head.  I don't know how many times I have sat down to write and then can't think of anything to say, or how to say the things that I want to say in the right way.  In all honesty, it is often fear of what others might think of what I write that keeps me from writing at all. 

But I decided that as a little mothers day gift to myself I was going to write a blog post, just for my enjoyment of writing it.  Because I do love writing this blog, bad grammar and all.  My time is a bit more limited now, but I want to keep this little blog up. 

Recently, I have felt very self conscious of myself, my personality, my looks, and my actions on social media for a few months now.  I know... me, me, me.  I really need to just stop thinking about myself.  I have a strong desire for people to like me.  I never want to offend anyone or hurt their feelings.  I am very sensitive to how others perceive me.  I want to be liked and loved by those around me.  But on the other hand I want to have my own opinions, styles, and beliefs.  It is balancing game that we all have to play.  We ALL want to be liked and accepted, I just feel like some of us care a little bit more then others.  I need to work on not caring so much since all that worrying doesn't get me anywhere. 

So there is a little back ground of where I am coming from the last few months.    I am scared of what people think of me, but I also love being active on social media and blogging.  It is a balance that I don't always handle very well and should do better at.  My solution for these problems is usually less time on social media (working on that) and more time in the scriptures and with my family.  Thankfully my kids love me pretty much everyday of the week.  Unless I take the milk away from Declin and then even he doesn't like me.  ;)  

But moving on with the "fun for me" blog post... here are a few of the things that I have been thinking about as I go about my days as a mom.  Having little projects or dreams tucked in my brain helps me stay sane through the very monotonous tasks like laundry and cleaning.

Dressing your Truth/ Energy profiling.  This is the system that a woman named Carrol Tuttle developed that says every person is 1 of 4 different energy types/personalities.  There is a type 1,2,3, and 4.  I am a type one.  In its most basic form-  I deal with my world socially.  I have been thinking about this a lot lately and how my personality works and relates with others.  Also I have been thinking about my kids personalities.  As far as we can tell all four of our kids are each different energy type.  Which makes parenting them interesting and I have been thinking about how it all relates to everything in life.  From school, to friends, to disciplining each of them.  I really need to read her parenting book the Child Whisperer I just haven't taken the time to get it yet.  McKay read it though a few months ago and really liked it. 

Summer routine.  I am itching to step up our daily summer routine.  I hope to do some fun educational activities this summer.  I wont lie I kinda research homeschooling a lot.  Not that I plan to actually do homeschooling (I am probably too chicken) but I just love teaching my kids.  I am fascinated by all the different homeschooling methods out there that people use.  So I am just over here experimenting with my kids and summertime is the perfect time to try a few fun ideas out.  books with crafts, lots of sensory play, read alouds, and lots of counting.  No more kindergarten drop off/ and pick up for a few months.  It will be lovely! 

Summer clothes.  You guys know me and know that I can't go very long without talking about kids clothes.  So a few months ago I realized that Adalyn desperately needed some new summer clothes.  In the past clothes shopping with her has been a bit tricky since her style and my style haven't always matched up.  She wanted to live in leggings and comfy t-shirts all day and I wanted her in little coordinating outfits.  Even if they weren't so comfortable.  I feel like I have wasted so much money in the past buying her clothes in hopes that she will wear them and then in the end she will only wear 1/2 of the clothes in her drawer and the rest goes untouched.  So I was getting nervous about where and how we were going to find affordable, cute, play clothes.  That she would actually wear.  Thankfully I ran across this fun website Primary.com.  Their clothes are just basic bright colored shirts, dresses, shorts, sweaters, and pants.  They are so soft and fun for summer.  I found primary.com after reading this kids capsule wardrobe blog post.  So I let Adalyn pick a few color combos and now she can mix and match her little outfits all on her own.  Now the boys are getting excited for when they need new clothes so they can choose the colors that they want.
 

Summer travel plans.  This summer is ending up to be a calm summer without too many big plans.  After our summer of weddings last year a calm summer is looking pretty nice.  We just got back from a get-away to Las Vegas a week ago and then  we have some weekend trips to Utah and a family reunion in St. George.  Other then that we are going to make plans as we go and see what we end up doing this summer.  Hopefully a bit more work on the basement will be fit in too.

How to survive 4 kids.  Still challenged by having 4 kids daily.  They keep us on our toes and are busy busy!  My sanity saver is our yard.  They live outside when they can and have so much fun together.  I don't even know what to write here.  I... am... tired...  Except they get older eventually!  Haha!  Truly love the things that I have learned from being a mom.  I feel like I have developed myself in ways that have really helped me be a better person.  I also feel like I may not really remember the details from these years.  It will all just be a blur in my brain since life has happened so fast in the last 5 years.  Which makes me kind of sad because there are some really cute moments mixed up in the craziness.  Like will I ever even remember the way Declin says his polite hello and good morning when he wakes up.  Or the way he begs for milk in the evenings which really just means "please put me in bed now! I am so tired".

McKay.  he is so awesome.  He honestly needs an award or something.  He is the most wonderful blessing in my life.  He never complains about anything.  He wants to be there every step of the way in this parenting journey.  He loves to be with me and do whatever I am doing.  Most of my projects get done these days because of him.  He is silly and forgetful sometimes, but I am so grateful that he wakes up and worries about me and the kids every single day.  He is just wonderful and needs his moment on this blog.  :)

Reading the classics.  About a year ago I posted on Facebook about wanting to read more of the classic novels out there.  Several people gave me book suggestions and ever since then I have been slowly (so slowly) making my way through those books.  Currently I am reading The Count of Monte Cristo.  I could be on this one for a while.  Haha!  But I have loved reading!

Being patient.  I have a few dreams that I long for.  Things that I wish for and hope for, that just aren't happening at the time that I want them to happen.  I know the lord's timing is much better then mine and I trust in that timing.  So for now I just pray for patience and understanding.  We come from an instant gratification generation.  Pretty much we can have anything we want the moment we want it.  But there is a lot to be learned while waiting. So I will wait and try to do it happily. 

Hope all you ladies had a wonderful mothers day!  Thank you for all of your sweet examples to me!! My day wasn't perfect, I was sick all last night (darn Mastitis and spring cold) but I was happy to have a little nap and spend time with family.  McKay made me breakfast food for dinner and brownie chocolate cake.  yum!