My Grandpa Smith passed away a few weeks ago.  He was getting old, had several infections that just wouldn't go away and finally left this life.  He also had dementia which made it very difficult to remember where he was or any one's names.  However, I am still sad that he is gone.  Grandpa was a great example to me.  He always taught us to be kind and show appreciation to others.  Every time I hung up the phone with him he would remind me to say Hi to Kirk for him, that he loves us and that he really appreciates my calls.  He would always say "call again soon, it is great to hear from you."  He made me feel special and important, although I have somewhere around 37 cousins.  I will miss my grandpa but I am sure he is loving  his next mission and being able to see my Grandma again who passed away almost 20 years ago. 

Because of his death and funeral, I got a chance to spend several days in Utah and see my immediate and extended family.  Lindsey and I stayed with my parents for 5 days with our kids.  Alan, Kristi and Tyrell were already living at my parents house.  We had a lot of fun with lots of food, crying and laughing. 

Luke and Tyrell are only 3 weeks apart!

Lindsey and I got to American Fork on Tuesday.  Wednesday both of my parents had to go to work.  We picked up some pizza and took it to share with my dad in his classroom.  We left the kids (many of them sleeping) with my mom for the afternoon and went out shopping.  We needed a little break.  I ended up buying Cade a new church shirt for $1.74 with my Kohls cash and we also got smoothies at Costco.  Pretty exciting!

trying to catch Alan's remote control helicopter

Thursday and Friday my parents took off work.  Thursday we spent most of the day at home.  At my house in Washington, Thursday is Mower day, so my dad decided to mow the lawn.  Cade (and Lindsey's kids) loved it!  They got to help Grandpa push the mower and everything. 


We also got to dye Easter eggs.  When you're dying eggs with 3 little boys you say things like "no, don't drink the dye."  The boys jumped on the neighbor's trampoline with my mom and played in the sand box too.  We had a small egg hunt in the back yard.  We threw pink eggs on the grass for Cami to pick up.  When she found the first one had raisins in it, she just sat down and started eating them.  Then she found another one and ate those too!  Josh helped her out and brought a few more eggs to her.  She thought it was great!  Cade, Daniel and Josh got to fill up an egg carton and then had a great time eating their candy too.  Thanks to my mom and dad and Kristi for helping everyone.  Later in the afternoon, we took the boys to trafalga while Cami and Luke slept.  Cade's favorite was the go-carts, Josh liked the airplane ride and Daniel liked the Hopper, especially when Cade and Josh went with him.  We also did a little mini-golf.  We had yummy chicken taco salad for dinner too. 




Friday we headed up to Hogle Zoo.  We had so much fun at the Memphis zoo, I was looking forward to this one.  It was quite a bit smaller with fewer animals.  We saw pretty much everything in 2 1/2 hours, but it was still a lot of fun.  Cami loved watching the orangutans while we ate our lunch.  Cade said his favorite was the giraffes. 




We relaxed a bit in the evening and then I took Cade and Cami to see Grandma and Grandpa Morris for dinner.  They let Cade hold their leaf blower and he was in heaven!  Cami just chased Skeeter around.  We also went to the viewing for my grandpa that night.  It was nice to see so many of my aunts, uncles and cousins and say hi for a minutes.  I wish I could spend more time seeing each individual family but it seems like just a whirlwind.  Cade was past done by the time we left at 7 p.m.  He had a busy day and didn't take his usual nap.  He fell asleep on the way home.  I was able to carry him inside and get his pajamas halfway on before he woke up at all.  He went right back to sleep though. 

Saturday was the funeral.  Lindsey and I took Cade, Cami, Josh and Daniel to the Morris' house.  Lisa had all the toys out and they all had a great time.  They were not ready to leave when we came back 3 hours later!  The funeral was really nice.  My dad, Danelle, Glenn and Greg all spoke.  They talked about lessons that Grandpa taught them about staying true to the gospel and their covenants.  They remembered how important family was to Grandpa and how he always taught them to do their best.  We went to the cemetery where they did a 21 gun salute because Grandpa was in the air force.  Taylor (my cousin) played his bagpipes and Bart dedicated the grave.  It was all a sweet send off for a great man with a great posterity. 


We picked up the kids after the cemetery and went back to the church for lunch and an egg hunt.  Cade found one of the lucky eggs with a dollar inside.  He just tossed it away and kept searching for candy!  Cami was very distracted by the chickens in a pen across the street.  We went back to my parents house and just hung out the rest of the evening.  My dad and mom worked out in the garden and then we played a few games. 


Sunday we mostly just stayed home.  It was Easter, but we didn't do any more egg hunts.  My mom did a great little family night lesson about resurrection.  We had my grandma and grandpa waters over for dinner and my aunt Jenni came to say hi as well.  Lindsey and I got all packed up and ready to leave Monday morning. 

4 generations (with an angry Cade )

Going to Denver I had a direct flight and it went really well.  There are no direct flight on southwest from Salt Lake to Spokane.  I ended up going through Las Vegas with a 45 minute layover.  I knew that this would be a really long day.  Kirk's parents were driving up to Richland to visit us the same day and I asked them to take Cade.  I think it made my day much more bearable and they had a lot of fun playing with him in the car.  Lisa said he talked for about 8 hours and slept for 2.  Cami did well with me too.  We didn't have any trouble at security this time.  She unexpectedly slept in my arms on both flights.  We also got to sit by an empty seat on both flights!  Our house is a 2 hour drive from the Spokane airport and she cried for the last hour.  Other than that though, we had a good day.

Good-bye hugs!  These kids don't get to see each other enough!

About 6 weeks ago I came across a deal on plane tickets.  Between a low price, a credit I wanted to use on Southwest and a desire to see my sister and nephews, I convinced myself I wanted to buy them.  Cade, Cami and I headed out to Fort Collins' to visit the Flamms. 

We flew out on a Wednesday.  My Grandpa Smith passed away the day before.  I knew that his funeral would be in Utah sometime the next week, but I didn't know when.  We decided that I would keep my plan to fly to Denver, then drive with Lindsey to Utah for the funeral and then I would fly home from Salt Lake.  It was a little crazy making last-minute changes, but it worked out.  I packed up and left home around 9:30.  We drove about 2 hours to the Spokane airport and I found it and parked without a problem.  Cade had a great time looking for tractors along the way and we even saw an excavator putting dirt into a dump truck.  Cami took a little nap.  I borrowed my friend's sit/stand stroller and managed to fit 2 kids and 2 carseats on it.  I pulled my other big suitcase behind and used a backpack as my carryon.  It was pretty awesome.  We checked in just fine and then I was down to just Cade's carseat and the stroller. 
      When we started through security, I set off some kind of alarm and they pulled me aside.  They un packed everything from my backpack (snacks, toys, diapers, wipes, sippy cups, markers, books, pacifiers, wallet, extra clothes, more food etc.) and sent it through again.  They also had to send the stroller and car seat back through.  Cade and Cami cried most of the time this was going on.  Finally I got my stroller back and they calmed down until I got pulled (with them) into a small room for a pat-down.  I ended up getting stuck for around 20 minutes and they never told me what set off the alarm.  The rest of the trip went by smoothly.  Both kids had fun watching planes as we waited for ours.  Cade was thrilled that our plane was blue.  He also loved the tray table and having his own juice and pretzels.  They were very happy on the flight.  Cami pooped her diaper and so I had to go change her.  Luckily Cade came with me and cooperated and used the toilet himself while we were in there so I didn't have to go back :) 
      One thing I thought was funny:  Southwest does family boarding in the middle of the process.  There were a few other families traveling with us, one with 2 parents and a 4-year old, and 2 mom's with one small child.  I let Cade and Cami run around a bit while the boarding process was starting and the other families kind of lined up.  When it was almost our turn I came over.  The other parents looked at me with my 2 little kids, car seat and stroller and told me to go first.  I gladly accepted.  Once on the plane, a flight attendant helped me carry the carseat and we got all set up.  Lindsey picked us up in Denver and drove us home and we all had a great sleep that night. 

The first couple of days we were there were very warm.  The kids had a lot of fun playing out in the back yard.  Cade loved digging in the dirt with their tractors and squirting water guns.  Cami loved climbing up and down in a chair.  They all had fun throwing rocks on the slide and watching them come down too.  We went to the park twice and just played a lot.  Cade had so much fun with his cousins.  Daniel (4) and Josh (2) loved him as well.  They played cars, jumped on the downstairs couch, took baths, played in the dirt, collected dandelions, rode bikes and laughed at each other.  Of course there were some disagreements as well, but overall they did pretty well. 





Friday my friend Jill came to visit.  She lived in Denver now and she brought her mom and baby Milo with her.  It was so fun to meet her baby and just talk and catch up.  I have known Jill and been really good friends with her since we were 11.  We met her at a park for lunch and then came back to Lindsey's house to hang out while my kids took naps. 

Saturday Lindsey and I took the 5 kids for a hike. Lindsey had 2-month old Luke in a front carrier and I had Cami on my back.  They boys did great and ran around looking at signs.  They ate granola bars and crackers on the way back to the car and had a lot of fun being outside.  That afternoon I made some ties for the boys while Lindsey went grocery shopping.  It was Lindsey and Jason's anniversary that day as well.  They went out to dinner and I held down the fort getting all the kids to bed.  (Everyone was ready for bed when they left though, so it wasn't very hard)

Sunday we woke up to snow and it continued to snow all day.  I brought my kids home after an hour of church and we relaxed a bit on our own. 


Monday was mostly packing up for Lindsey so we could leave early Tuesday and drive to Utah.  We had a dance party and the boys played in the basement a lot (unfinished with an old couch to jump on.)  We also went to Target and found some good deals on pants for Josh and Cami and some Disney movies. 

Lindsey was pretty excited that Cami liked her enough to help her make cookies!

Tuesday we loaded everyone in the car and were out the door by 7:40.  Pretty good for having 5 kids under 5.  Lindsey's van was really loaded with the 5 carseats in the back.  The drive went perfectly.  We only had to stop twice.  Everyone was pretty happy.  We watched movies, ate lollipops and whole apples and lots of other snacks, sang songs and played with toys.  We made it to Utah about 4:20. 

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• Cami is truly growing up.  She walks everywhere now and can even toddle with shoes on in the grass!  She loves to pick up things and carry them around.  Then she drops it when she finds something better, leaving a trail all over.  Some of her favorites are shoes and balls. 
• Cami loves to get her shoes and carry them over to me.  She sits down and tries to put them on.  She knows that shoes means that she gets to go outside. 
• Cami is pretty shy.  If someone says hi to her she runs back to me and smiles at them.  She does not like me to leave her.  Sometimes she is even upset when I leave her with Kirk. 
• One night Cami was up later than Cade.  Kirk and I were playing with her and she kept falling on the floor and laughing if we got close to her.  She is so cute!
• Cami likes to do the actions for Wheels on the Bus.  She also bounces up and down when Cade sings "bumping up and down in my little red wagon" and "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam." She likes to hold hands with Cade and play "Ring around the Rosy" and falls down really early. 
• Cami loves to eat oranges.  She will eat a whole orange by herself.  She gets mad if I try to give her something else.  Today I had her orange pieces all cut and in a bowl on the table.  I was rinsing her tray off and she grabbed the bowl and sat down and started eating them. 
• Cami loves oranges but will eat anything I give her.  She also likes toast, strawberries and cucumbers.  She usually picks out fruits and veggies first on her tray and then finishes with the meat or bread-type food. 

Loving a blue dum dum from the bank

• Cami is drinking whole milk now instead of formula.  She still gets her 3 bottles a day. 
• Cami has recently started climbing up to the second stair and looking out the window by our front door.  She was leaning on the window sill the other day and fell, crashing head first into the tile.  She got a good bruise on her head. 
• I bought Cami some new church shoes.  We were a the mall and she was in the stroller.  When I put a pair of shoes on her feet she would wiggle it around and look at her shoes.  She got mad whenever I took them off.  If I let her hold shoes, she tried to put them on again.  She is definitely a girl!  I ended up buying a pair another day and when she saw them at home she was so excited and wanted to wear them.  If we asked her about her new shoes she stopped and grabbed them with a big smile. 
• We were sitting by another baby in church and Cami was playing with stuff from their bag.  Another lady put a necklace on Cami and she sat up and admired her necklace and was so proud of herself. 

Talking to Grandma and Grandpa on Skype

So proud because she climbed up on the box by herself!

• Cami does the signs for milk, eat, more and waves night-night and bye bye, and blows kisses.  If you ask her "are you going nuts?" she wiggles and kicks really hard.
• She is starting to imitate noises.  She will copy the way that Cade yells.  She makes a vroom noise for vacuums and cars/trucks when she sees them in a picture or plays with them.   
• We were playing outside and Cami had her little stroller.  She was pushing it around and gathering rocks in it.  I thought this may be a trait of her Grandpa Morris coming through. 
• We moved Cami out of the pack-n-play and into a crib this month too.  She hardly noticed.  She is still taking 2 naps, but I don't think it will last much longer.  Most days she wakes up around 6:30, naps from 9:30-10:30 or 11, and again from about 1:30-3:00 then goes to bed around 7:15.  She has been having a harder time falling asleep at bedtime and for her second nap lately though, so I think she is changing. 

  Wearing pants on your head is fun to do!