Kate-- 6 Months old

Kate-- 6 months old!

Isn't she a doll! We just love her. She is calm and sweet and just plain awesome.  Her brothers ADORE her and so do her parents.  We are so grateful to have her in our family.  She is such an easy baby.  Very content and happy just sitting on your lap watching the boys entertain her.  That's her life.  Well, and she gets about a million kisses on those chunky cheeks everyday.

She's starting to sit up on her own, is still working on rolling consistently, started eating solids (carrots, squash, and pears), eats like a champ from mama, sleeps through the night (most nights), and LOVES to snuggle with her mama! Oh, and my favorite-- she loves to eat her bows! She pulls them down and sucks on them until I catch her! She's dreamy and we LOVE her so much!

Look whose sitting up!

First swimsuit

This girl can fall asleep ANYWHERE with any kind of noise level.

This was absolutely adorable.  Benson wanted to help Kate go to sleep so he gave her his "beanie-baby-boo" to sleep with.  He sleeps with it most nights, but wanted to take care of his baby sister.  It was tender and very thoughtful.

School Happenings

We love the school our boys attend-- George Gibbs Elementary.  We have been blessed with outstanding teacher, wonderful friends, and an awesome nurse.  Here are the details of some fun things that have happened at school lately:

Benson's 1st grade Music Program.  

Benson was so darn cute and sang so well for his 1st grade music program.  I was so proud of him. He was really excited for the program! Watching him sing with his classmates made me realize how grown up he is.  I of course was in tears watching my boy grow up-- but only because I am so proud of the person he is becoming. He is a great kid with a lot of good inside him.  It also brought me back to my elementary years when we would do the same-- I always loved performing for people.

 Reece and Adam came up with an idea to have a "Gibbs Gazette" newspaper.  They took their idea to the principal during one of their lunch breaks.  She mapped out what they needed to do to get their club started and thus started their journey to producing a school newspaper! This is them holding their FIRST edition! They have spent many lunch breaks with the principal and their advisor putting this together.  They have quite a few kids that have joined and are "writers"! The school secretary told me how impressed she is with these two and how responsible and respectful they are.  Reece and Adam think they rule the school-- it's cute.  Last time I looked they had over 20 kids signed up on the newspaper club. Good work boys! You guys rock!

 3rd Grade Talent show

Reece participated in the 3rd grade talent show! He did a great job playing the piano.  He practiced hard and performed well! I was in heaven watching him. I love seeing my children perform-- especially when I know how much work and effort they have put into something.  It takes a lot of courage to perform in front of your peers-- good work Reece!

 Benson and Mrs. Elaine

We have been so blessed to have Mrs. Elaine as our school nurse.  She has helped transition Benson to Elementary school so well.  She is kind but firm and very understanding.  It is so nice to have a nurse that truly understands type 1 in a child.  It is much different then type 2 diabetes or even type 1 in an adult.  Her and I have a great relationship and communicate very well-- it has made all the difference.  I trust her and she trust me.  We sure will miss her next year.  We have been so blessed these past couple years.

 Benson LOVES math.  I find the funniest math problems on his daily math journals.  This is just one example.  To give him some extra incentive to get his work done quickly, Mrs. Bauer will put extra math problems that are pretty challenging on the back of his papers.  There have been many mornings where the first words out of his mouth will be a math problem.  I'm pretty sure he dreams about math.

My Besties…and a happy BOY shower for Ashley

We threw a shower for Ashely! She's finally having a BOY! Her kids are exactly one year younger then mine and are opposite genders.  We absolutely LOVE them!

 Here is the best group of friends.  I look at each of these ladies and think how smart, talented and truly amazing these ladies are.  They all have such a special place in my heart.  They have helped me in so many ways become a better Mother and person.  If I ever needed ANYTHING I could call these ladies up and they would help me in a flash. I love them all so much and will miss them TERRIBLY.  The past three years have been such a special time for me thanks to these awesome ladies.

 We were making fun of Cassi-- she was insistent we get a picture at 11PM at night! She was hyper and we were tired! Hilarious!

 My BESTIES: Cassi Orme, Heidi Allen, Ashely Rutledge, and ME! 

We have had way to much fun together.  We have HILARIOUS text message chats (even Spencer asks me to read them because I'll suddenly burst out laughing), brunch dates, carpooling our kids from house to house, holidays spent together, and date nights together.  I'm going to miss you girls like CRAZY--- you can't get better than these girls.  I am a better person, friends, and Mother thanks to them.  Love you tons!

Utah

We bought a house! We have been praying for months that we would find a home that would be perfect for our family.  A place where the kids would thrive and we would have a good experience. We were blessed to find a wonderful realtor, Betsy Jensen who worked her tail off to help us out.  We walked through around 30 homes and ended up putting an offer on 2019 E. Village Point Way, Sandy Ut.  They had a dog and so we gave them a lower offer because we would need to repaint and carpet.  To our surprise, they took the offer! We were super excited about it.  It was the only house that I could see my children running through it.  It felt like I was "home".  Later we found out that there are two kids in our ward that are Reece and Benson's ages that live down the street from us. We met the homeowners and they said the ward is awesome and the area is super family friendly.  I feel like our prayers were answered and we were guided to this home. I no longer have anxiety about moving to Utah,  I am excited for this new adventure and feel good about our decision.  But to be honest-- I am still in denial about leaving Rochester and all my wonderful friends-- this has been such a special time for us. 

 Kate came along with us! This is us on the airplane!

 My Mom was super nice and flew to MN to watch the boys while we house shopped! Thanks MoM!

 Our new Home-- Utah!

Chicago

Spencer I got back from Utah and a day later we took a quick trip with the kids to Chicago.  It was the last thing on my bucket list for our time here in the midwest.  We spent the first night swimming in the hotel and eating Chicago pizza (well, the kids ate McDonalds and Spencer and I enjoyed the pizza!).  Swimming is always a hit for our family.  The kids had a blast with Spencer while I held baby Kate! Tanner held on tight onto Spencer's back while he threw the ball to Reece and Benson while they jumped in the pool.  They also used Spencer as a surf board which was hilarious to watch.

The second day we went to the Shedd aquarium. It was a rainy day so we were fortunate to get there early and not have to wait in line for admittance.  The kids LOVED the different kinds of fish, animals, and reptiles.  They were soaking it all in trying to read as much information as possible.  After 3 hours we were all exhausted and went to our hotel to have some quite time.  We got a hotel off of priceline.com and ended up at a fancy hotel-- we stuck out like a soar thumb.  After some quite time we walked to Millennial Park and visited the "Bean".  Reece and Benson thought it was the coolest thing! My favorite part was walking around with my beautiful family enjoying the big city and beautiful scenery.

Our last day we visited the Science and Industry Museum which was one of the coolest museums I have ever been to.  We only covered 1/3 of the museum and would have loved to come back another day.  There was a train section which stole all of Tanner's attention.  The weather section and mirror maze had Reece and Benson entertained.  And to be honest-- Spencer was just as giddy.  He would find something cool and tell the boys all about it.  After 3 hours in that museum we decided to drive by the Chicago Temple and then head home.

It was a wonderful trip-- we were able to see a lot in a short amount of time without feeling overly exhausted and tired.  Just like any trip we had some minor health hiccups (Benson had a bad site, Tanner had an asthma attack, and Reece had a reaction to his Cold Stone ice cream).  We felt blessed and protected during the trip and that's all we could ask for.  Love this family of mine!

April 2015

April was a great month for our family.  We started the month with General Conference and Easter and ended it with some fun trips to Utah and Chicago.  Spencer had a great schedule and was around the home a lot which always makes things more fun and exciting!

 *Spencer is currently reading the Narnia series to the boys.  It's the highlight of their night.  The boys usually play a card game, legos, or lay on the big pillow pets while listening to Spencer read. 

*We also got a Vitamix for making shakes. It's been a huge hit for the boys and especially for Spencer.  It's been a dream of his for a couple of years.  He was shocked when we were walking through Costco and I told him he could buy one.  It was on sale because they were getting rid of their older models. I thought it was my chance to get a good deal on one.  The real kicker was when Tanner tasted one of the smoothies and liked it! I couldn't resist at that point-- we will do ANYTHING to get new food in that kid.  

*BIKE ramp--- the boys got some wood for Christmas so they could use their tools to make something.    The kids and Spencer came up with the brilliant idea to make a ramp for their bikes.  It was an instant success!

Here are some pictures!

This sight never gets old. 

Spencer and Reece making Tomato Soup

The happiest baby on the block! Love this girl and her chubby legs!

These boys are so much fun. They walk to and from school together everyday.  Max and Benson are the first kids up the hill and Reece and Adam are the last--- literally.  We are lucky to have such great friends.  One of my favorite sights is watching them run out the door headed to school for the day. They are happy, energetic, and excited for the day!

Kate has started taking baths with Tanner.  Tanner is a big helper and lets her lay on his lap while I wash her hair and then holds on to her while I grab a towel. Sibling love!

OH goodness--- could she be any cuter?