Picnic with Cousins

A large portion of McKay's weekends and holidays in August and September were spent helping his dad with his farm.  McKay's dad has owned a farm with goats, cows, and chickens for most of our married life.  He has been busy milking the goats and selling the eggs at farmers markets.  We haven't lived close enough to help out with the farm until recently.  

Once we got settled in our house McKay and some of our kids started spending a few of their Saturdays at the Salt Lake farmers market with his dad selling eggs.  Well recently his dad needed to sell his animals and move off the farm because it is going to be sold.  So McKay started spending his Saturdays in Evanston at the farm helping clean it up and move everything out.  It takes a lot to run a farm and there was a lot of things to move.  McKay and his brothers spent MANY hours helping their dad prep to move.  I am always so impressed...  These Pace boys sure know how to work!  Eventually after many sleepless nights, lots of stress, and lots of team work the farm has finally been cleaned up.  

While the men worked with their dad the wives were in charge of taking care of the kids and things at our homes.  We don't love Saturdays when daddy isn't home and having several Saturdays in a row where daddy was busy we had to get creative with things to do (or we were going to go crazy, haha!)  

One Saturday, Michelle (McKay's Brother's Wife) and her kids met us at a park in Layton for a picnic and to feed the ducks.  It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast spending time together.  It was busy with 7 kids and 2 babies, but it was SO nice to chat and visit between watching kids and feeding babies.  So grateful for such sweet sister-in-laws and fun cousins!   It was just what I needed that day. 

 

 

   

2 Months Old- Rockwell

Rockwell turned 2 months old on Sept 8th.

This month he started sleeping 9 hours at night aka "sleeping through the night".  He likes an earlier bedtime and is usually asleep around 8.  We really started getting on a schedule this month and we both loved having a little more predictability in our lives.

He smiled a lot this month.

He is slowly getting used to his siblings intense love, but still cried when they would smother him too much.  He wore size 1 and 2 diapers this month and 0-3 month clothes.

Loves his binky at bedtime and being swaddled.

Had a couple bottles of mom's milk, but still hates the taste of formula.  He officially started sleeping in his own room this month.

Happy two months baby boy!

Our New Temple

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints you are assigned to a temple.  That is the temple that you go to for ward temple days and youth temple trips.  Although you are allowed to visit any temple that you like the one that you are assigned to is usually the closest temple to you so you end up going there frequently.  When we lived in Idaho our temple was the Idaho Falls temple.  We loved the Idaho Falls temple and we loved visiting it often.  '

Here in Utah the closest temple to us is the Ogden temple (although I think the Layton one will be closer to us once it is built).  McKay and I have each been there a few times since we moved here, but we had not taken the kids yet.  We decided to take them to it on a Sunday evening so that they could get familiar with it.  The Ogden temple is not one that you can really see from the freeway so they had not seen before.

The Ogden temple grounds are breath taking and so beautiful!  I love walking out of the temple after a session and seeing the beautiful flowers, trees, and water features.  So grateful to still have a temple close for our family to enjoy and gain precious blessings from serving there.

   

The Dinosaur Park

There is a Dinosaur park in Ogden that we have been able to visit a few times.  My 3 middle kids are very interested in Dinosaurs these days and it has been a fun place to go.

We went inside the park once where the statues of the dinosaurs are.  We went with my mom and Solomon the week that Corinne had baby Hannah.  Normally my mom works during the day so it was a fun treat to spend the morning with her.  They also have mechanical dinosaurs inside the building.  Declin still believe that those are real dinosaurs.

A few other times we went to the trail and park that are near the dinosaur park.  It is a pretty trail near the mountains and is great for getting the kids energy out.  We went the path once as a family one Saturday night, once with Corinne and Mykelti and kids one morning, and once for FHE for a family hike.  Yes we need to branch out a bit more (lol).  It has just been nice to go to a familiar place instead of going somewhere new every time.  5 kids (one being a new baby) makes going new places a little overwhelming so familiar has been good.

The time that we went in the evening it was getting dark as we past the dinosaur statues.  The kids were imagining that they were real dinosaurs.  So fun and a little creepy to think about.  Glad there aren't real dinosaurs anymore!

Boys and Monster Trucks

Back in September my dad invited McKay and the boys to a Monster Truck rally in Morgan.  My cousin's husband, Wally, has a monster truck and was going to be in the show.  Solomon and Stu went with them as well.  I thought it sounded like a fun boys night out and I think they all had a great time.

They ate dinner in the car on the way up that my dad had packed for them.  Once they got there they were able to see all the trucks and drivers up close.  Those trucks sure are huge!  They got shirts and flags with the drivers signatures.    

After meeting the drivers and mascots they were able to watch the show.  The trucks were loud, but the boys loved it.  Wally and his truck even won which was a fun bonus to the night.  Thanks dad for the fun night! 

 

 

Happy 4th Birthday Declin

Declin turned 4 on Sept 24th.  Like all 4 year olds he has been counting down to his birthday for months.  He would often talk about his birthday party and who he was or was not inviting.  Even though we kept trying to tell him that he was having a family party and he couldn't "un-invite" anyone.

 Each year I let the kids pick a theme for their birthday that we decorate around and sometimes plan activities with.  This year Declin chose to have a Flash birthday.  We decorated with superhero decorations and I attempted a Flash cake.

For dinner we went to Mcdonalds and let the kids play on the playground.  They even got their own happy meals which is a rare treat for them.  Corinne and Solomon joined us for the party which is fun that we live close enough now for them to join us.

After Mcdonalds we came home and played a little party game called pin the lightning bolt on the flash sign.  The kids didn't love the game.. it was the thought that counts right?

Then we finished off the night with cake and ice cream and opening presents.  While we were singing Happy Birthday to Declin Jensen decided to blow out the candle before Declin could.  Of course Declin cried and we had to restart the whole process over again to keep the birthday boy happy.  Oh you gotta love brothers...

For presents Declin got several more Rescue bots to add to his collection and a bike with training wheels.  We tried for about a year to convince Declin to ride the balance bike, but he just wasn't interested.  So we decided to buy him one with training wheels.  He loves it and goes really fast on it.  We hope it was a special birthday for our Mr. Declin.  We truly enjoyed celebrating him and had a great day.

 My parents came over Sunday night and gave him their present since they had parent teacher conferences on his actual birthday.

Here are a few things about Declin at age 4.  He is still in 3T clothes and will be for a while.  He is a little guy.  He is finally potty trained.  Wow it was quite the process getting this boy potty trained, but he is finally there.  He is my type 4 child to the T.  He is very intellectual.  He wants to talk and tell stories ALL.DAY.LONG.  He loves counting, lining up his toys, and staying in his routine.  He loves superhero's, rescue bots, and watching Netflix.  He loves learning about letters and numbers these days.  He enjoys jumping on the trampoline and pretending to be a puppy.  His favorite food is still tortillas.  He also likes string cheese and anything with sugar in it.  He loves to tag along with the older kids and playing games (as long as he gets to be the puppy).  We love having him in our family and are grateful for his love and endless amounts of energy.

Happy Birthday Declin!