Entering an Unknown World

So today, I made a purchase. It was impulsive. It's an entirely different lifestyle. Not only that, it's a lifestyle that I swore I would not live. I was at Costco and on my list was a box of huggies diapers. There was a display for a company called Cutey Baby. Their product: (gulp) cloth diapers. Kyle and I had never ever discussed switching to cloth. I had even told people that I had absolutely no interest in anything other than disposable. But for some reason I received an impression to buy the cloth diapers. Without batting an eye or any hesitation at all, Kyle and I both were immediately inclined to try the cloth diapers. So wish me luck as I enter an unknown world.

Our Time in Utah

While in Utah, I wasn't very good at taking pictures. I was too busy enjoying my time with our friends and family. Our first day there we spent with Kyle's brother Kory and his family. Kizzy and Kendal loved playing with their cousins and it was fun for Kyle and I to spend time with Kory and Amber as they are anticipating the arrival of their #3, a little girl.

Kizzy playing with Andrew
After a day with Kory and Amber we drove down to Provo and settled in. That night we got to see some of our dearest friends Fuzzy and Stacey. Sadly, I took no pictures of our time with them.
The next day we hung out with Jared and Mary Ann which is always a good time. And that evening we went to dinner with Newel and Rachel. Again, no pictures of any of them.

Besides friends we had a lot of fun with cousins! We went to the mall with Ivy and Katie.


Kendal, Kizzy and Ivy in their strollers.

We played at Aunt Sharyn's house with Katie, Melissa, Hannah, Malakai, and Ivy almost every day.
Kyle, Malakai, Kizzy and Kendal

We had the chance to go see one of Kyle's mission buddies, Jeff. Jeff and Brandi's little guy, Dylan, is adorable! He and Kizzy played very well together and when they told him to give Kizzy a hug, he went and gave her a great big kiss right on the lips.


Dylan and Kizzy watching "Curious George" together

And the featured event of the week, Doug's graduation from Highschool. I'm very proud of him for graduating, especially considering how tough the last year has been for our family. Way to go Baby Brother!

Typical boys, trying to get a good picture, and they can't put down their phones. Just kidding, only one of them was on their phone, the other pulled his out of his pocket and staged the pose, can you tell which is faking? I love my brothers.

And last on this post, but not least we had a two year old birthday party for the 'twin' cousins. 2 of my sisters had their kids exactly one week apart and they had the same due date so they call Ivy and Malakai 'twin' cousins. There was cupcakes and baloons and every one had a good time.

The birthday girl.
Somehow I didn't get a picture of the birthday boy.

The cupcakes were delicious, can you tell?

Our Drive to Utah

So my pictures uploaded out of order, so this isn't chronologically correct, but you'll get the idea.
In May we went out to Utah to visit my family who all came into town for my youngest brother's highschool graduation. The drive is long, especially with kids, so we took some stops along the way to break up the drive and make it a little more fun.

Our first night on the road we stopped to sleep in Custer, South Dakota. Custer is a fun town right out side of Rapid City. It's close to MT Rushmore and has many attractions. One of our favorites is Bed Rock City, aka Flintstone Land.

For dinner the first night we stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota home to the worlds only Corn Palace. The sign and pillars in the picture below is made entirely from ears of corn and cornhusks.

Kendal struggled with the hours in the car. He hasn't quite become the road tripping pro that Kizzy has become in her short years. He struggled and fought it, but thankfully he did sleep....some.

Kizzy kept herself entertained easily. She watched cartoons, read books, colored and napped.

One thing that helped Kendal was, he snacked almost constantly. And, since we were on vacation, he ate more junk and sweets than normal, including his first sucker. He was one happy boy!

On our first day on the road we stopped in Jeffers, MN.

Kendal loved our first stop. He loves being out side and he loves the wind, and it was a very very windy day.

I took a lot of pictures of the petroglyphs, but this is the only one that showed up. It was really cool to walk amoung the ancient native american carvings.

"Little House" fans like me will appreciate this picture. Jeffers, MN is about 20 miles from Walnut Grove, MN which is where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived during the years of "On the Banks of Plum Creek" The site that Jeffers Petroglyphs is on is a protected Prairieland that is one of the only protected prairies in the US and is exactly the same as it was hundreds of years ago. It struck me looking at the landscape, that this is what Laura was looking at when she was a child. The picture of course does not capture the scope of the landscape.

And last but not least, to help our Potty Trainee, we brought her potty seat with us in the car, so when she needed to go, we pulled over on the side of the road so she could go. We'd empty the potty on the side of the road (biodegradable, right?) and we would be on our way. It worked great for a girl who notoriously waits until the very last second to go.

More to come, our time in UT spent with friends and family, including Newman Family pictures.