Hallmark and Sprint

Summer is just getting started,

but because we have had such stunning weather, 

I feel like we have been enjoying it since as soon as we felt baby Grey

 was ready to enter the germ-filled world.

This Summer I am determined to fill our weekends with memorable family adventures.

When we moved to Kansas City, 

we were pleasantly surprised to discover that it is an extremely family oriented place.

There are countless free or cheap activities for families.

We kicked off our summer adventures a few weeks ago with a trip 

downtown to Crowne Center.  

Here they have the Hallmark Visitors Center which has a really fun art adventure for kids.

After this I bought Beck some paint for himself.  

He loves it but only because he likes changing the color of the water in the rinse cup.

I don't think becoming an artist is for him.

future chemist maybe?

 Me and my man

 All those snot-nosed kids in such close quarters made me nervous about having my 7 week old there

so Greyson and I hung out outside in the sunshine to wait for Beck and Chase to finish.

Grey didn't mind a bit, and neither did I. 

He is pretty cute company.

One weekend we went to "Sprint Family Fun Days"

This is downtown KC also,

but its in a really cool area called the Power and Light District.

Sprint's world headquarters are in Kansas City so they put on a family fair

 once a month and everything is free.

We went with our good friend's the Steffensons and we timed it perfectly to beat the crowds.

They had TONS of fun activities for the kids from art tables, to coloring, sandtables, facepainting, 

clowns, really tall guys, and kids interactive shows and bands all day.

The kids had a blast!

I think the biggest hit with Beck was the bouncy house.  

He loved coming over to the wall and saying:

"Stuck in net! Stuck in net!"

At one point there was a huge gust of wind and it started to blow over and cave in.

We had a hard time getting him to get out even then.

Beck was thrilled to have a rocket painted on his face

Beck, Gavin, and Reilly

Making drums to use with the drum band

After a few hours of fun, we heard there was a free Rodney Atkins concert at 4:30.

It was only 1:00pm and all the kids were already exhausted but we really want to go.

Someone had given us free coupons to a brand new bowling alley close by.

So we decided to stick it out for another 3.5 hours for the concert and kill the time with some bowling.

The first 15 minutes was spent teaching Beck about taking turns and the dangers of heavy bowling balls.

After that the kids did really well.

And toddler sized bowling shoes?! so cute!

We were all pretty tired as you can see.

After bowling we still had almost two hours to kill.

Somehow we managed to spend the time with the kids (reasonably) happy and nestled ourselves in a great little spot for the concert and waited for the crowds to arrive.

4:30 FINALLY arrived and they announced that there would be two opening bands before Rodney Atkins.

At this point the crowd had changed from young families to singles mingling and we realized hanging out for another 1-2 hours would have been a disaster.  

After all that waiting around we had to fight the crowds and head home before the concert.

We joked about how different our lives are now that we have kids.

It was still a wonderful day and are excited for Sprint Days in June!

down on the farm

One of the benefits of moving to Kansas City

 is that we are only a 5 hour drive to Oklahoma to see Chase's family!

(for two more years anyway)

It didn't take long for us to hop in the car and drive down for a quick weekend visit.

We had a great time!

It really felt like old times,

football watching, good food eating, seeing Preston perform in A Secret Garden,

 and some adventures in between.

We went to this great little family farm where they had lots to do. 

Beck LOVED it, despite his face in many of these pictures.

Beck's first pony ride!  

They had these giant pillows that were awesome to jump on! 

(or so said the boys)

Beck laughed and laughed the entire time.



Preston and Quinn doing cool tricks



It definitely is not fall in Oklahoma yet.

We were so hot and tired from the sun by the end of the day.

We sure had fun though!!



Posed pictures of this child are getting harder and harder to come by. 

Good thing he's still cute when he's not looking at the camera!

Thanks guys, we had SO much fun visiting! 

We'll be back as soon as we can!

xoxoox

settling into life

Well, it looks like we really do live in Kansas. 

Its not some vacation like it felt like for a little while ;) 

Honestly, besides the fact that our family and friends are nowhere in sight,

Kansas isn't that different from Idaho or Utah. 

 who knew?!

We are slowly but surely making friends and feeling more at home here.

During the week our evenings together are pretty short,

but we try to make sure we all get enough bonding time with Daddy.

This video is actually a good representation of what goes on around here:

On weekends we do our best to explore our new hometown.

Labor Day weekend was spent downtown at a REALLY cool parade:

I'm pretty sure all they did was put a detour sign off the freeway to downtown KC,

because this parade consisted of a bunch of semi trucks.

funny huh?

We did get some cheers when the horse-mounted policemen rode in though.

After the parade we found the coolest place for lunch.

The outside of the restaurant looked like a train station

You ordered your food at a little phone at your table,

 and then your food is delivered by train on a railway above your head. 

SO COOL!

It was a lot of fun for the experience. 

The food on the other hand, tasted like Mickey D's dollar menu.

I take that back... it wasn't even that good.

Afterwards we spent the afternoon window shopping at the Plaza downtown.

It really was a super fun place to visit. 

The rest of our weekends since moving here were spent at farmers markets, the petting zoo, and

Civil War battle reanactments, and a general exploring of our surroundings.

This past weekend we drove down to Oklahoma to see Chase's family and had tons of fun! 

Lots of pics to come!

I'm actually glad that I don't have complete control of life.

That would be a lot of pressure.

Instead, I know I have a Heavenly Father who is guiding and directing me.

He sees the map when I'm doing my best to "guess and check" my way through life,

 trying to weave my way through the maze as best I can.

Its a good thing I have a Heavenly Father to lead the way,

as long as I'm willing to follow.

and, I AM!

Remember almost 2 years ago when we had to drop everything and move to Utah?

It was so terrifying to make that choice so quickly, and completely based on faith.

My Father in law always says that tough times are to help us expand our capacity.

To somehow get us ready for bigger and better things ahead.

Looking back on our experience moving to Utah,

I can now see how that was a major preparation for later in life.

It has been a heck of a week for us. 

All good, but seriously, CRAZY.

Last week we were all packed up and ready to head out the door to go to Lagoon

(a local amusement park)

The babysitter was all prepped and was already playing with Beck.

Just as we were leaving,

 I had the impression to take a pregnancy test before riding roller coasters.

Low and behold,

WE ARE PREGNANT! 

Beck's little brother or sister will be joining our family in March.

We are thrilled!

It probably shouldn't have been,

but it was such a surprise to us!

I literally walked from the bathroom to the counter 6 times-

checking and rechecking to make sure I was reading the results correctly.

It took so much time and effort to get pregnant the first time

 that we were sure it was going to be the same this time

What a relief that it came so easily!

It was nice to be able to take Beck to Lagoon since I wasn't going to be riding rides anymore.

Our babysitter was officially the first person who knew the news!

As if finding out we are pregnant wasn't enough,

we made a huge decision this week.

WE ARE MOVING TO KANSAS CITY!

Yes, that is correct.

It hasn't quite hit us yet,

but we ABSOLUTELY know it is right for our family.

The craziest part is how fast this all happened.

On Wednesday as Chase was leaving work

 he got an email that one of the best sales areas in the company had an open position.

This is a pretty big deal. 

He called and told me about it and I said

"Where is Kansas City?  Kentucky?"

( I knew there was one in Kansas, but I didn't know where the other one was)

The next morning Chase had a skype interview, followed by a second interview.

a couple hours later, a third.

Within 24 hours of hearing about the possiblilty,

 they offered Chase the job! 
I am so proud of my man.
He knows what he wants and he MAKES IT HAPPEN!

It was a pretty weapy day as we contemplated if we should accept or not.

The thought of leaving so many people we love is heartbreaking.

We have a wonderful life in Utah.

Surrounded by family, and a half a days drive from more.

free rent, a ward full of amazing examples.

Utah is home.

We have always said that home is where our little family is though,

no matter the location.

So, ready?

Set.

GO!

Chase leaves early Monday morning for the long corn-y drive to Kansas

I get to pack up the house by myself

while chasing around a toddler

and (hopefully not) dealing with morning sickness

and then clean the house,

all by myself. 

Its ok though, because like I told Chase this morning,

I am super woman, so I will make it happen.

It is clear to us that Heavenly Father prepared us for the change.

With such a huge decision, made so quickly,

we should be terrified.

Thanks to the power of prayer,

we feel peace that it is the right decision.

Who would have ever guessed that we would have a Kansas baby!

I guess our next adventure begins!

Labor Day Zoo trip

After much needed cleaning and organizing of "The Estate" all weekend,
we spent Labor Day at the zoo, BBQing with fam, and cheering on BSU. 

Beck LOVED the zoo, although it had nothing to do with the animals. 
He just liked sitting up in his stroller like a big boy and watching all the people. 

The zoo really was a ton of fun for us though!

I won't bore you with tons of animal pics but I'll put up my favorites.

I honestly can't remember what kind of animal these were but look how much they love each other!

The giraffe's are always really cool to see.

Chase holding a little monkey ;)

The next picture represents the most adventurous part of the outing.

See this orangutan?  If you click on the picture, you can see that he is holding a camera in his hand. 

We were watching this Orangutan taking a walk when someone accidentally dropped their camera a few feet from him.  He found the camera right away and started playing with the lens.  The camera lens broke off and he had it in his mouth.  The people that dropped the camera just thought it was funny and walked off, but we were determined to save this animal's life!

So, we very carefully lowered Chase into the arena...

ok ok...I'm lying about that part.  BUT we did call the zoo to tell them what happened. 

Within a minute of hanging up the phone we heard a special buzz and the orangutan immediately dropped the camera and ran towards it. 

I thought it was so cool that he was so well trained to come when they called. 

So, the next time you see the Orangutan exhibit at Hogal Zoo, you have us to thank :)

goin' on an adventure!

A few weeks ago my brother Kyle and his family came to visit.  We got to spend most of a day hanging out with Tayler and we had a great time!

First we packed our napsack full of important adventure tools and made our way into the depths of the cave

We had a telescope and flashlight to help seek our treasures in the darkness

Luckily we had the expertise of a seasoned explorer and his bigger friend Chase

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"I see something!"

She caught an elephant!

We had to climb mountains, crawl through canyons, and over HUGE rocks. 

It was dangerous at times, but luckily we arrived back at home safe and sound.