Ever since we went camping last weekend we have been fighting Dutch to sleep in his own bed. He got to sleep with David and I while we were camping and now he still wants to. So the first night we get back from camping we put Dutch to bed and an hour and a half later we were still fighting him to stay in his room. Finally David and I were both to tired to take him back to his own bed so we just threw a blanket on the floor and let him sleep at the foot of our bed. The next night we got him to fall asleep in his own bed but then both kids woke up at about 3am. Maylee just needed a drink of water and then fell right back to sleep. But Dutch was just crying hysterically. After about 5 minutes David and I were so frustrated because we were so tired. So I finally just told David, put him on the floor and tell him when he stops crying he can get back in bed with us. Then the next thing I know it's morning, so I roll over expecting Dutch to be in the middle but he wasn't. He fell asleep on the floor again and this is how we found him... Sound asleep half way under David's night stand. Silly kid!

Another Camping Trip

For Memorial Day weekend we went camping again. This time we decided to try a different spot and headed up to Payson. Or I should say David and Eric headed up to Payson with all four kids Friday night and Jenny and I met them up there on Saturday evening. It was a very last minute decision, I kept thinking that the boys would back out and not take the kids but nope they were determined and I was proud of them. Jenny and I had to take the youth to the temple for Baptisms on Saturday, so we got to stay behind and play all Friday night.

David called me Saturday morning to let me know that it rained all night long and unfortunately we borrowed a very old tent from my Dad and it rained inside the tent all night. David woke up to rain in the tent and enough water in there that Dutch's flip flops were floating around the air mattress. Too bad David isn't very good at taking pictures because I would have loved to see that. I even asked if him and Eric were just going to head home after all that. They both got a little offended by that, they were having fun, just in desperate need for a laundry mat to dry all of our belongings. Jenny and I made it up to Payson Saturday evening. It poured the last 30 minutes of our drive and we were both amazed that the guys had survived that weather with the four kids. Fortunately it only rained in the evenings and they had a nice dry day. Once us girls arrived we set up the extra tent I had brought and we all hung out in there (which happened to be the smallest tent) for the reminder of the evening to get out of the rain and enjoy each others company. Sunday morning we woke up to no rain, just sunshine, which was a relief and we just spent an enjoyable day hanging out around our camp site. Dutch and Savannah had a ton of fun exploring, making up their own rules to bocce ball and riding on mini quads. The high light of the kids trip was playing in the truck that David and I got to borrow from his Dad, which we were exteremly grateful for. Over all it was a great trip and we loved being able to have once last mini vacation with Eric and Jenny before we all move away.

We are however excited to move up to Henderson, where we will only be a two and half hour car ride from Zions National Park. I am already planning our first camping trip there.

15 Months

Maylee just turned 15 months on Sunday. She is getting older really quickly. So on Monday she had her well check. So the nurse takes her back and gets all of her measurements and then leaves the room to get the percentiles for them. A few minutes later a different nurse and the doctor come in. The new nurse says I just need to remeasure her head. All I could do was laugh. So she measures her head and gives Dr. Kennedy her new stats, 46 1/2. Dr. Kennedys reply is, "Well that's a little better." The first nurse got 47 centimeters, but appearently 1/2 centimeter smaller is better. Her head got a bit bigger since her year well check. She was sticking to the 50th percentile, now she has gone up to the 68th percentile. At least it took her 15 months for her head to grow bigger rather than four months like Dutch. All I could do was laugh and say you know she comes from a big headed family. I guess all my kids will probably get their Dad's big head. At least her head is still on the charts and not huge, just a little above average. As for everything else she's a little thing.

Weight 19 pounds 1 ounce.... 4th percentile

Height 30 inches tall... 45th percentile

So it looks like she is a tall, skinny girl with a little bit bigger head. Oh well she is still beautiful!

Time out Daddy!

Lately Dutch has gotten to be a bit protective of his Mommy. On Friday, David, the kids and I were driving to his parents house. David and I were laughing and joking in the front seat. David was teasing me about something and it made Dutch really upset. He told David, "Stop it Daddy, time out." He put David in time out and then he asks me, "You Ok Mommy." It's very sweet. This morning as we were getting ready for church David was teasing me again and it really made Dutch mad, so he again said. "Stop it Daddy" and then he grabbed David's hand and walked him into his room and shut the door. He put Daddy in time out. And after he is done dealing with his Daddy he always walks over to me and pats me and asks me if I am ok. It is super cute. I love how much Dutch is trying to take care of his Mommy. However we are realizing that it is really making Dutch upset. He isn't just trying to be cute, he really gets angry if David teases me or tickles me. So watch out Daddy, Dutch is here to protect his Mommy.

David finally graduated from ASU on Friday. It was such a great day! I am so proud of him. It has definitely been a long road for our family, which makes for an even more exciting graduation. He wasn't too sure he wanted to walk with his class. But I really wanted him too and apparently I'm very persuasive, so he walked. Graduation was long and the kids were not enjoying themselves very much but it was so exciting to see him walk across the stage and recieve his Bachelors degree. Good job David! Unfortunately we didn't get a picture with Maylee in it because she was sound asleep in my Dad's arms. After wards we had a party for David over at his parents house with our families. Thanks for everyone who came to help us celebrate. I am so excited for him to be done at ASU. Now we get to look forward to starting the next phase of our lives, Medical School. As of right now we are still planning on moving to Nevada in July. We are excited to get started and I am sure that his graduation after Medical School will be even more exciting.

I just have to post this last picture because it's just too cute. David's brother Darren had knee surgery during David's graduation. So during the party that evening he just hung out in his room at his parents house, where we had the party. He put on a disney movie and pretty soon he had every single one of his nieces and newphes hanging out with him on his bed. It was pretty cute.

A few pictures I have been wanting to post but it seems that I just never have the time to sit down and blog anymore. So it'll be quick. The first picture was taken a couple of days after we got home from camping. I realized one thing about camping, it requires a lot of laundry after wards. But I also found that Dutch can make good use out of 12 loads of laundry that needed to be folded.

Sound asleep... And I discovered that Maylee might be like Dutch when it comes to sleeping anywhere.

Again... Sound asleep

*Beware picture overload, the pictures are for my own journal so excuse the amount of them

This past week we had the opportunity to go camping with some good friends of ours up in Sedona. We left on Thursday and camped until Saturday. And we had such a great time, especially the kids. We arrived really late Thursday night, so we just got our tents set up and put the kids to bed and then us adults got to sit around the camp fire visiting and laughing until someone from the next campsite over finally told us to be quiet, what can I say we were having fun. This year I made the amazing purchase of an airbed. Wow that sure does give camping a whole different experience. We slept great on that thing and we even set up the pack and play in the tent for Maylee to sleep in, it made bedtime a whole lot more enjoyable.

Eating breakfast Friday morning... David brought a hammock for the kids to play on.

David and I took the kids for a walk down to the creek by our campsite. It was all I could do to keep Savvy and Dutch out of the water.

Hiking around by the creek...

Playing in the meadow... Racing... Friday afternoon we headed over to Slide Rock to play. We realized something early on about Sedona and that is that everything has a stinking fee that you have to pay. So we finally parked on the side of the road because we refused to pay more money and then spent the next 30 minutes or so trying to find our way down to the river and then we just hiked in to Slide Rock. The kids loved playing in the water, despite the fact that it was freezing cold. We all took our socks and shoes off, as well as the kids pants so that we could wade in the water. But within a couple of minutes Dutch wanted to take off his shirts, and then of course Savvy needed her shirt off as well. So we had two kids in just diapers playing in the freezing cold water. I am sure we got a bunch of crazy looks from everybody else that was there.

The camp ground that we stayed in had a very fine, silky sand that was blended with the soot from the campfires and Maylee kept herself entertained by playing in that dirt. She was so filthy. At one point she found an empty water bottle and she sat herself down in the dirt and filled that water bottle with all the pebbles and rocks that she could find. It kept her completely entertained for about an hour but oh my gosh she was so gross afterwards. Dutch and Savvy played so well the entire time. We hardly had to break up fights. They just ran up and down the road and played in the bushes. And the really kept themselves entertained by playing by the trucks. They figured out how to open the gas door and they thought that was pretty cool.

Good Morning...

The boys kept themselves busy chopping wood...

The babies practically lived in the camp chairs...

Over all it was such a great trip and I was very grateful for the opporunity that we had to go. It was so much fun to go camping and to watch the kids enjoy themselves. Hopefully we will start doing this more often.