Betsy's birthday and the 1st day of school

The boys Wrestling

Betsy wearing the dress her Grandma Hardy made for her (it also has a matching purse) 

Betsy's birthday cake that her Uncle Josh and his girlfriend Megan made for her

Samuel wishing he were going to school too

Joseph on the 1st day of School (he is growing up so fast)

Austin and Betsy wearing their capes, and loving Samuel

Betsy and Austin in new school clothes, Betsy wearing her oriental dress we brought her from Florida.

My sweet little Betsy Anne Kirkman turned 6 years old on Monday, and Travis and I had just flown back to Oregon from our 10-year anniversary vacation to Florida and the Bahamas.  We were flying back to Salt Lake City that afternoon, so we had Betsy's party at Grandma and Grandpa Hardy's house.  Betsy wanted to pick Blueberries for her birthday, sWo we went to a Blueberry farm and picked enough blueberries that we brought home a suitcase full of them.  When we got back from picking Blueberries, Betsy opened her presents, and we had cake and ice cream, with her cousins, and they played until it was time to fly home.  I think Betsy enjoyed her family party, and was very happy.  The next morning was the kids first day of school.  The kids were a little grumpy to wake up, because they got to sleep late the night before, but were fine by the time we walked them to school.  They all had a great first day at school, and seem pretty happy with school this whole week. 

Changes in the Kirkman household

Joseph climbing at Hueco Tanks, in El Paso, before we moved

Austin in the beautiful dress her Grandma Hardy made for her

Samuel and the bowl of strawberries we picked from our garden (in texas..I miss our garden)

Austin, Betsy, and I going to the Mother/Daughter dance, at the school before we moved

We didn't have a pool, so Samuel figured out his own way to beat the heat!

Travis and his welcome home cake I made for him

Joseph, Austin, and Sam posing at Heuco Tanks on our outing before we moved

All the kids at Hueco Tanks, they loved climbing..

Just before we moved we took all the beds out to the moving truck, and Samuel decided instead of sleeping on a mattress, that he wanted to sleep on the shelf, he was such a silly boy, but he pulled it off.

Joseph's 9th birthday just before we moved!

Austin building a fort at the children's museum in Albuquerque, on our trip to utah

Betsy making some shade to rest in, while Austin builds her fort

Daddy and Austin having fun, building with blocks and marbles, they made a neat contraption

Samuel doing a sommersault in our new house!

Austin lost one of her front teeth! Isn't she cute!

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted, the most important things, are that we worked like crazy ever since Travis got home, and got ready to move. We finally got everything done, and moved June 11th, we drove to Albuquerque, NM and stayed the night there. The next day was my birthday, so we stayed in Albuquerque, and played with the kids, we went to a fun children's museum called Explora, and after lunch, Travis took the kids back there, and let me go to a spa to get a body wrap, it was a very relaxing experience. After that we drove to Cortez, CO and had fun at a water park/recreation center, then we drove the rest of the way to Provo, UT. We stayed in a hotel that night, and the next day we moved into our new house that we're renting for the 2 years we will be here for. That weekend my parents were in town, so we did lots of fun things with them, and had a wonderful time except for the fact that when we went to a trampoline place Travis Sprained his ankle pretty bad. The poor guy was in a lot of pain for a long time, but finally now 6 weeks later it is close to normal again. Travis started the summer term at BYU in the chaplain program on June 21st and has been insanly busy with homework ever since, he only has time to eat, sleep, and shower. Travis is just finishing up the summer term, and we are both very excited for the break in homework. We found out shortly after arriving in Provo that I'm pregnant again. We we're not trying to get pregnant, in fact just before we moved we gave away all of our baby things, including maternity stuff. Despite all that, we are happy to be adding another life to our family. I had my first ulstrasound today since they thought my due date was off, they determined I'm due Febuary 19th. I would like to have a girl this time, but of course the boys want another boy. We've been working on settling into our new area, and getting to know people. It's been difficult since I'm exhausted and don't feel good a lot of the time, but now that I'm entering the 2nd trimester I'm feeling a little bit better, except for some digestion issues. The kids have loved playing in our backyard, full of soft green grass, a playhouse, trees, and several different swings. Last month we went to an outdoor movie at BYU, it was "planet 51" we walked since it's not to far from our house, and brought our blow up queen mattress. About 30 minutes before the movie ended it started pouring down rain, by the time we got home, we were drenched, it was quite the adventure. The thing I'm most excited about, is that my mother-in-law bought Travis and a cruise to the Bahamas, and for our 10 year anniversary we're flying to Portland, dropping off the kids at my parents house, and taking a 10-day trip to florida and the Bahamas, I can't wait!!!

Daddy coming home

We've been very busy since Travis got home from Iraq, but we are very happy to have him home. Sorry, not too many pictures, but I did get a few. Travis' flight was getting in May 4th at 1am in the morning. So I put the kids to bed, and told them I was going to wake them up in time to go pick up Daddy from off his airplane. I tried to get a little sleep, but I was too excited, finally at midnight I woke up the kids and we drove to the airstrip on ft. bliss where his plane was coming in. When we got there, his plane was early and had just landed, so we quickly found a parking spot, and the kids and I rushed in the building, and then out the other side, to watch all the soilders walk from the plane to their part of the building. We couldn't really tell which one was Travis, because they were too far away, but we waved and showed off our sign anyway. Once all the soilders were inside, we had to go back inside and wait for them to be released. They had all sorts of activities for the kids, and lots of free snacks, so they had fun running around in the pajamas, playing and eating. Finally it was time for the soilders to come out, and they had dramatic music, and dry ice going, and all the soilders walked in, in formation and then were quickly released to their families. There were a lot of people to squeeze through to get to Travis, but we managed to get to him, and give him lots of hugs. We managed to get home by 2am, and put everybody back to bed. We let the kids sleep in, and took them late to school the next day. We love having Daddy home!

My little missionary

I knew Betsy's teacher liked her a lot, by the way her face lit up as she talked about her in Parent/Teacher conferences, but I didn't realize how much Betsy had affected her until today. I didn't even realize Betsy had invited her teacher to church, until Betsy came home with this card in her backpack from her teacher. This is what the letter said: "Betsy, Thankyou for inviting me to your church. I'm sorry I won't be able to go. It was so very sweet of you to think of me. I might have made a small difference in your young life, but you have made a big impact on mine. Your quiet ways, and how you stand up for yourself have taught me! Thankyou, Mrs. Rivera" I am so proud of my little girl, and tonight for FHE we had the lesson about setting an example, and I used Betsy as the example, and she was beaming throughout the entire lesson. I love those good moments in life.

The Garage Sale

I've been really busy the last few weeks getting ready for the garage sale yesterday. It is the post-wide yard sale, and there is tons of people that come to them, so Travis wanted me to sell most of our furniture, so he wouldn't have to move it to Utah. Then when we get to Utah, we'll go D.I. shopping so we fit the "starving students" persona. The process was stressful, and I only did it because I love my husband so much, but if he asks me to do it myself again, I will say "no". For a bake sale I made homemade carmels Wednesday night, and dipped them in chocolate Thursday, and made Oreo cookies, and Friday I made 6 loaves of my artisan bread. Saturday morning I made cinnamon struesel muffins. Friday night Joseph helped me move the game table, couches, and table and chairs, bean bag, stools, dresser, nightstands, bed, exc... out to the garage, and it was packed. It was a lot of work, but Joseph was a big help, but I was sure sore afterward. So I wake up at 3am Saturday morning, and start getting stuff ready to go, as soon as the sunlight started coming about 6am, I opened my garage, and right away all these Hispanics start coming in, and going through the stuff in the garage, and the hordes of people didn't stop until noon, I had one little break about 11:15am, and started pulling stuff in, then got swamped with people again, until noon. It was very stressful trying to make deals with 3-4 people at the same time, and have the kids causing trouble at the same time. The did watch cartoons some of the time, but being outside was much more interesting. I had a lot of things stolen when I wasn't looking, and a lot of dishonest people come through, that took advantage of the fact that I couldn't watch everyone like a hawk at the same time. Samuel's bike that we gave him for his birthday was stolen, and a lot of electronics, and toys, and clothes, and even a weight bench. Most people were very nice, but there had to be a few rotten ones in the mix to ruin the experience. One thing I should mention is that the wind was blowing like crazy, and it was cold.... so I only pulled the big furniture out to the driveway, and most of the stuff was inside the garage, so people would rummage through things not for sale and take those too. I was supposed to teach a gardening lesson at a relief society meeting at noon, and I really tried to make it, but things were crazy and I couldn't get away in time and missed it, I felt really bad about it. But I finally got the couches, game table, rocking chair, and dresser back inside, and closed up the garage, and went in the house, and since there was nothing to sit on, I went into my room and laid down on my bed. Man....was I ever exhausted and sore, we didn't do anything the rest of the day, but be lazy, I was too tired. But, we did make a lot of money on the stuff we did sale. Joseph and I dragged in the love seat so we could sit in the living room, and were sitting at a folding table and chairs to eat. The kids love having tons of space to run around and play in the living room.

If you let Samuel wear underwear to bed

If you let Samuel wear underwear to bed (inspired by last nights adventure)
by Kayley Kirkman

If you let Samuel wear underwear to bed, he will wet the bed. He'll wake you up at 3 in the morning and cry that he is wet. Now that he is wet he'll want you to change his clothes. You'll pull off his wet, stinky clothes and take them to the laundry room, and come back and put clean pajamas on him. Now he'll want you to tuck him back in bed. You get a clean blanket and cover him up. The blanket is too small, he says, so you go and get another blanket. You say goodnight and shut the door, and climb back into bed. "Mom," he says, "I need a kiss." You climb out of bed and kiss that little boy, and as you walk out the door, you hear "I still need a hug." You turn around and give him a hug, and then climb back to your bed. As you begin to drift in to unconsciousness you hear "Mom," you ignore it, hoping you were hearing things, but it comes again "mom". You climb out of bed and go see what he wants. He says he needs a drink of water, so you go and bring him one. He spills his drink, and you change his clothes and blanket once again, you tuck him back in, and head back to sleep. Once again, the little one calls you out of bed, this time he is hungry. Tired of giving in, you say he can eat when the sun comes up. He asks when it will come up, and you tell him in a few hours. Next he asks for you to turn on his music, and you tuck him in once again. As you are once again falling asleep, you hear the call for "mom" once more, but decide to ignore it. The calls for "mom" become for insistent and finally you get up and go to him before he wakes up the rest of the house. This time he said he heard a beep in the kitchen and he wanted you to check it out, you leave the room, and find nothing amiss, you come back and give the boy one last kiss. You climb back in bed, with the thought that you will not get out again. The call for mom comes once more, you ignore it, and do not give in. Finally the little boy comes into your room, very distressed and sad, he says he was scared when you did not come. You give him a hug, and tell him to go back to bed, he says he can't, he is too scared, the ghosts will get him. You sigh a great sigh, and climb out of your warm covers, and once again take that little boy back to bed. The little boy says he is not tired, he wants to watch some T.V. You tell him to go to sleep, or he won't get to watch any T.V. You go back to your room and climb into bed, and silently prayer to keep that boy in bed. You finally fall asleep until 30 minutes later the sun comes up...... (the moral of the story......don't let Samuel wear underwear to bed)

Unique Saturday Morning

So this morning Austin woke up throwing up, and by the time it was time for us to go on our 2-mile walk that we signed up for and easter egg hunt at Kelly Park, she still wasn't doing to well. I was planning to fore go our plans due to Austin's sickness, but she insisted we still go, and we could just put her into the stroller, and she would stay there with her throw-up bowl. She was being so sweet, she didn't want everyone else to miss out on the easter festivities. We arrived at the Park, and signed in, and got our T-shirts, we put them all on, and got ready for the walk. Austin was in the stroller with her throw-up bowl, bag of saltine crackers, gatorade, and 7up, hand sanitizer, and anti-bacterial wipes for cleaning up throw-up and garbage bag. We got all ready, and warmed up and the walk started. I tried to keep everyone together, but Joseph wanted to be first, and Samuel and Betsy wouldn't go fast enough to catch up to Joseph and he wouldn't wait. So by the end of the 2-miles, Samuel, Betsy, Austin and I were dead last. Samuel and Betsy took turns refusing to walk, so I ended up with Samuel on my shoulders, holding Betsy, and pushing the stroller with one hand. When we reached the end, my friend, Chelsie, told me Joseph finished first, and that he was with them. So we got everybody together again, and Joseph was really excited that he finished first, he told me they took his picture and it might be in the newspaper. So we got ready for the Easter Egg Hunt next. Austin decided she was well enough to pick up a few eggs, so we parked the stroller on the side of the field, and got ready to get the eggs. All the kids ran everywhere, and since all the kids were wearing the same T-shirts (all from the walk) it was impossible to keep track of all the kids. I managed to stay with Samuel, but once all the eggs were gone, I couldn't see any of the other kids. We made our way back to the stroller and found Joseph, but still no girls. Just then, I heard an announcement "will the parent of Betsy please come to the stage", so we headed quickly over to the stage, and Austin heard the announcement too, because she was there when we got over to Betsy. Poor Betsy had been crying, she had only been able to get 2 eggs before the other kids snatched them all up, and then she couldn't find me (I was wearing the same t-shirt as all the other parents too). The ladies that found her, said she was very good at the "no talking to strangers" Betsy wouldn't say a word to anyone, and even ran away from them. The lady said she had to chase her across the park, before she would stop. I wonder how they even got her to tell them her name....So anyway I was very happy to have all the kids together again, and have decided next time I don't care if they are giving away free t-shirts, we are not going to wear them, it's too hard to keep track of everyone. So Austin told me she was feeling really sick again, and I was tired of trying to keep all the kids together, so we left. On the way home I stopped at the shopette, we really needing some 7up and saltine crackers for Austin. I pulled in front of the store, and Austin started throwing up, and Samuel peed his pants, so I gave Joseph money and instructions, and sent him inside to get the things we needed, and I cleaned up Austin, and Samuel's messes. Joseph returned with the 7up and my change, they didn't have any Saltine crackers, and we went home. I was upset when I realized my DVR had not recorded the morning session of conference, but at least I can watch it later online. So Samuel and Austin fell asleep, and I dipped strawberries in chocolate....yummy. We built our blanket tent for Conference. We watched the afternoon session of conference, although I'm not sure how much I got, because Betsy would ask me about every 30 seconds, what a word meant. Austin felt better after her nap, and we played the rest of the afternoon.