Family Reunion

We just got back from a camping trip to Palisades Reservoir with my family. It is on the border of Idaho and Wyoming and about an hour from Jackson hole!
It was so beautiful I am hoping to get some pictures soon. For some reason our camera is not wanting to share what it has inside!
It was a long drive (about 6 1/2 hours) but well worth it. We stayed 3 nights and about 2 1/2 days. the first Day it rained. No wait it POURED! Just as we thought the rain was done it poured some more and then began to HAIL!! Fortunate for us we purchased our tent in Kentucky where rain is normal. So I think our tent was the only one completely DRY!! My poor brother duck taped, tarp ed and duck taped some more, just in time for it to be dry the rest of the trip! While it was raining we decided to run up to Jackson Hole just to escape the rain for a while! (Not much to do in the rain with 26 people.)
Saturday was gorgeous! So much so, we all came home sun burnt, I think we were just trying to dry out. The reservoir was so high from all the rain there wasn't any beach at all to play on. We played on loose boat docks, caught minnows, and rode on Grandma's boat. Followed by more boat rides, playing with cousins and just hanging out.
The nights got pretty chilly in the 40's, (either that or I got spoiled in Kentucky) I spent my night covering kids and putting them back on air mattresses, along with listening to all the nocturnal THINGS bustling through our camp! The last night we were there our air mattress popped at 4:00am! Our Tent was on a very rocky surface mixed with 2 large bodies and the cheapest air mattress you can buy! (A Lethal Combination!) Joe leaned over after I just crawled in bed again after covering up kiddo's to say he "wouldn't make a very good pioneer." It was freezing out! Just as he rolled over the whole seam broke and we found ourselves on the ground, with the rocks, within seconds. It was hard not to laugh, but extremely hard to get comfy too!!
Sunday was pack up day and heading home. We decided to drive through Yellowstone since it was on the way. We didn't see a whole lot since it was the middle of the day. Most of the animals are out early in the morning or at dusk. We did see buffalo, trumpeter swans, deer, bald eagle's and pelican's! unfortunately we had to cruise on through so we could get home. As it was we got in about 9:30 pm. Just in time to throw our kiddos in the shower and take one ourselves. You can see where my priorities are, since my car is still unpacked and I am blogging! Thanks family for a great weekend and lots of fun memories!!

Whew, time to catch up!

Well I officially have a portion of my life back! ) I am 2 days in a row making dinner!! We enrolled both Kaitlyn and Jenna into soccer not knowing fully what that meant. We had soccer every single night of the week. We have froze to death watching "Spring soccer" and had many many tears shed over canceled games and practices. Now that soccer is over the weather is BEAUTIFUL! It has been fun to see the girls progress from knowing nothing, to being able to score goals during their games.
Madelyn turned 3. There is something magic about the number 3 as soon as they turn, they become little people with opinions!! She has loved the warmer weather, but is still a bit hesitant to leave the house without her "long sleeves" !
Sadly I am so behind in blogging, I am not really even sure where to start!!

April marked our 1st anniversary of owning our own practice. I must say it is nice to have a month of learning under our belt. Things have gone pretty well so far.

May my Mom cam eto visit for time out for women. It was here in Billings MT (who would have guessed!) It was a bit surreal for me. The only times I have gone have been in Kentucky with friends from there. So I found myself constantly looking around hoping to see Kentucky friends. It was a fun 2 days, and so nice to spend it with my Mom!

We finished several projects in the last month or 2 including; redecorating the office, finishing the kids playset, having a yard sale, removing trees, power raking our 3/4 acre yard (That was FuN!) and almost have a raised bed garden ready to plant. We have several more projects on our never ending to do list, I am sure we will get around to them sooner or later.

Over Memorial day weekend we decided to take the kids fishing. You have never been fishing until you take 3 sqealy girls that don't like bugs fishing!! It turned out to be a lot of fun! I am affraid no one around us could catch anything we were so loud. We mostly caught and let go but we kept 3 small little fish that swalowed the hook. Madelyn named one Nemo and was so confused as to why we would eat it!! Madelyn caught the first fish of the day, and Kailtyn caught the biggest fish!! Joe and I spent most of the day untangling fishing poles and dodging stray fish hooks flying through the air. By the end of the day they were doing pretty well.

Well it is time for dinner and our first night of beautiful weather and no soccer! We off to enjoy our evening!!

RODENTS....

Some of you may remember a post way back of a cute little field mouse on my back step. Well apparently that cute little field mouse called up his WHOLE family, and decided to be permanent residence of our yard this winter. (I know it could be worse, my garage or my house!)

We were playing in the yard when we found a few small piles of dirt. Upon further investigation there were tons of tunnels and grooves in the yard just under all the dead grass they were using to hide under. (At least 6ftx6ft square of our yard) We found 5 holes that led into the tunnels. At this point we were unsure what in the world had done this to our yard. But we had a brilliant idea to pull out the hose and give our neighbors something to talk about.(That would be US!) The whole family was out each watching a hole not knowing what might come out. First one little mouse. Then 8 more little furry friends made their way to the soggy surface. We caught each one in random snow/sand buckets and eventually had to pull out a tupperware container to hold them all! Each time was accompanied by several shrill screams followed by mass chaos while we tried to catch each one.WE couldn't kill them, the girls the whole time are yelling don't HURT them. So we were kind and took them into the middle of a field and let them go. I am going to be kicking myself if I find them in my yard again or in my garage! If this is the case we may be the proud new owners of a large snake, or maybe just a nice kitty that like to eat cute furry things.....

AMENDMENT TO BELOW

I swear a barely finished typing this before I completely jinxed myself!! Apparently we have taken a step or 2 backwards. Arghhh, It is hard for me not to make a big deal about it when you know they know!! 

Success!

So Madelyn and I are certainly NOT on the same time table. I have wanted for several months to be diaper free! In fact my big push was after Christmas thinking we could go to Disneyland, Potty trained. Obviously that didn't happen! 

So 4 days before we had to ride in the car for 8 hours to my youngest brothers wedding in Utah. Madelyn decides she wants to be BIG, and wear underwear! (GREAT TIMING) I thought about discouraging it, but then figured it wouldn't last, since we have been down this rode a time or two already this year. Well Guess what she is potty trained! 

I was totally shocked that she did it! In the 4 days before we left she had 1 accident. I did however convince her (not really sure how still) to wear pull ups in the car and at the wedding. 

It is so funny though she doesn't say I need to go potty she simply exclaims " I am PEEING"! Not exactly what you want to hear in the middle of the isle in TARGET! We'll be working on that.....

St. Patrick's day surprises

So I am not always on the ball when it comes to holidays. In fact I guess I kind of thought that St. Patrick's day was one we wore green and let go. Well a sneaky "last minute" Leprechaun  made it to our house. He left lucky charms, turned our milk green and left little tiny shamrocks that I will forever be cleaning up!! ( darn leprechaun) Madelyn was a bit disturbed that the milk was green and kept saying eww eww double eww!! I have no idea where she got this, but it is quite funny to hear her say it. Needless to say she was pretty glad when we finished the green milk and had white milk again!! For some reason I am not able to download my pictures. I will try adding them later.

It is great to be 8

Kaitlyn turned eight this weekend. We had such a fun weekend. She has been waiting and waiting to get her ears pierced the rule at the Yates house is when you turn 8. That was exciting for her. (I really didn't think she was going to go through with it, but she did great! Not a single tear.)

Grandma and Grandpa Turner came to visit for her baptism. She was baptised on her birthday which is funny because she has always talked about it being that way. The odds of it being able to happen though are few and far between. It just so happened that her birthday was on a Sunday this year. She asked a friend to sing a song with her "I come to the water" by Janice Kapp Perry. They did a beautiful job.

She is growing up so fast. I love her so much! It has been fun to watch her understanding, and testimony grow these past few weeks as she has prepared for her baptism.

I also had Joe's family send letters to her with there testimony's since they were unable to attend. What a special book that is turning out to be. She absolutely loves it.