Mostly we have just been doing the normal day to day things these past two months. Ian has been going to school. Jaiden has had a couple classes through leisure services. Kathryn has been getting into everything and started saying a few words. Rex and I went out the weekend after Valentines. We went to an open rehearsal for an orchestra. It was nice to watch (and free). We went out to eat as well. Kathryn’s birthday was at the beginning of March, which I already posted about. We have had several play dates with some friends from our ward (well, actually both wards). I was able to go to a stake Relief Society activity one Saturday. Ian got his teeth worked on. Because of how much work he needed done and the fact that he probably wouldn’t sit still, it was done at the hospital where they put him under anesthesia. He did great. He had a little bit of a hard time when he woke up because he was hungry and they wanted to watch him for 1/2 an hour before he sending him home where he could eat. They pulled one tooth out, so he has a missing front tooth until his adult tooth comes in. Rex got two wisdom teeth taken out a couple days after Ian got his work done. At the dentist office, they put him under anesthesia, it was really hard to wake him up. They were able to wake him up enough to get him to the car and I was somehow able to get him inside. He then slept until later that night. We had parent teacher conferences at the beginning of March. Ian’s teacher said he is doing great. She is working hard to try and extend the skills of Ian and the other two kids in the class that read well (they knew how to read before starting kindergarten).
The week of conferences, Ian had Thursday and Friday off, so Rex took Friday off as well. We packed up and left Thursday night. We went up to Minneapolis. We got up there late and spent the night in a hotel. We then spent Friday at the Mall of America. Ian and Jaiden were excited about the theme park in the middle. Ian really wanted to go on the roller coasters, but he isn’t quite tall enough for most of them. He did go on the log chute with Rex, which is a smaller roller coaster that you get wet on. Jaiden was going to go with me, but since we had to wait for Ian, he changed his mind. We were able to go on some of the other rides. There were a couple that Kathryn got to go on with us and she was very excited about. There is a cool Lego store in the mall. There were some really cool, huge things built out of Legos. We went up to a friends’ house that night. They were in our ward at Wymount, Brett and Heather. They have two boys about Jaiden and Kathryn’s age. The boys loved playing together. We found out that Kathryn is NOT a fan of cats. When their cat came and sniffed her hand, she screamed (very high pitched) and started out cry. So Rex tried holding Kathryn and having the cat smell her, but the cat licked her and Kathryn did not like that and started to cry. It was great to see Brett and Heather again (she was my visiting teacher for almost all 3 years we lived there). They did get a picture, so once Heather posts it, I will try to add it. Saturday we went to the Children’s Museum in St Paul. It is a pretty good museum. The kids loved playing there and did not want to leave. We liked the covered walkways between buildings in at least part of downtown. We drove home that night. It was a nice trip to get away and see some friends. We had the camera with us, but never took it out to take any pictures.
A couple weekends ago, we went down to Nauvoo. We traded off with another family in the ward so we could do a session together. There is a nice arrival center by the temple that has toys, movies, and changing rooms (so you can change into a dress instead of wearing a dress for the whole drive down). It was our ward temple day, they had two session reserved so couples could trade off watching kids. It was nice to go down and go to the Temple. This just makes me appreciate how my parents made going to the temple a priority when we were growing up (the temple was about 3 hours away as well). Easter was the next day. It was good. We had been doing the Easter picture puzzle from the friend all week to try to remember what Easter is about, which Ian and Jaiden would tell us about every day. We had an Easter egg hunt after church. Ian got a new church outfit for Easter (he needed a new badly), I forgot to take a picture of it so I will have to do that this Sunday. All the kids also got new “morning clothes” outfits from my mom.
Rex’s youngest brother got his mission call a couple weeks ago. He is going to the Philippines. He is entering the MTC on July 3, before we go out there. His next youngest brother just got home from his mission to Denmark last night. We are trying to convince these two to come on a road trip out here to see us. Several of Rex’s cousins have received mission calls lately as well.
Now for some pictures from the past couple months.
