We finally remembered to bring our stupid camera

We finally remembered to bring out camera to something.

One of the counselors I work with owns about a half dozen horses and invited us to come over so the kids can ride them. She enjoys having people come over and play with them and the kids had a blast riding them. Kalea was a little intimidated, but soon warmed up to them. She said it was the first time she had ever ridden one. However I reminded her of a time we went riding up at Payson Lakes several years ago and even had the pictures to prove it. Keanu didn't seem to be scared but the poor kid had horrible allergies while riding. Both eyes were red and puffy when he finally got off.

At work we had actually done a therapy group out there a couple of months ago with some of our younger aged kids and were surprised at how the kids responded. I had co facilitated a couple of equine therapy groups during an internship and saw it as a valuable tool to use, provided someone had access to them.

Kalea's Field Trip

Kalea took a field trip to "This is the Place" monument up by Hogle Zoo the other day. It was part of the school curriculum about Utah history. I was able to tag along and chaperone. The trip was actually a ton of fun and I learned a lot. While traveling up there some of the kids brought along some cards and asked if I wanted to play. The kids were playing a modified version of poker and some other games. I asked if they wanted to play this really cool game called "21". I was impressed, they caught on quite fast. They caught on so fast that the game grew from 2 kids to 10 kids who wanted to be dealt in. As we got playing I began to feel guilty that maybe I shouldn't be teaching a bunch of kids a game commonly associated with gambling. But I figured that since they brought the cards and asked me if I wanted to play poker, than maybe I was okay. I did get a few side way glances from the other adults, and I was unsure if it was one of disapproval or mild annoyance. Either way I thought the picture was funny when I realized how it looks. Plus the battery ran out on the camera and it was only one of a handful that we were able to take...

It's Official...

We had the baby ultrasound today and we received the official word that it's a Girl! The due date is still sometime around the middle of August.

Long time, no See

It's been a pretty long time since we posted anything in part to how busy we have been lately. I continue to keep an insanely pace at work and Cynthia has also noticed an increase in patients at the hospital as well. I suppose that when there is an increase in the amount of stress in the community, it naturally trickles down into our respective jobs.

We also have not taken as many picures as we have done in the past as well, although there have been updates. We are also awaiting the ultrasound of the baby next week to determine once and for all the sex of the baby even though we both feel confident in it being a girl.

Today we attended the funeral for Cynthia's grandpa and I guess you could say that's the motivation behind the posting. His death has been anticipated for for about the last month and we took the opportunity to spend time with him before he left. The rest of the pictures are a hodge podge of different ones we have take over the last month.

These are of a program Kalea did at school. Her school does a lot of these sort of activites and we have watch all 3 of them do at least one program.

Kalea's piano recital. I was surprised to see another student who was well into his 50's that was participating. He almost made me want to try it again with 'almost' being the key word.

Our new Addition

For Christmas we promised the kids a kitten. In fact, a neighbor had 2 of them she wanted to give away on Christmas Eve. However, for some reason it fell through so we told the kids we would get one from the animal shelter. Well a month later we finally got around to doing it. We actually got 2 of them because they were in the cage together and we didn't want to split them up. Less than a week after bringing them home the other apparently decided that he was happier on his own and took off. He was sort of skitish anyway and we didn't mind it too much when he left. The kids named the kitten after a former neighbor.

While at the animal shelter I found this bull mastif that I fell in love with. It's probably as tall as me on his hind legs and weighs almost as much. I was surprised when Cynthia expressed interest in getting it. I need to get a house and place situated for it in the back yard before we can bring it home.

Meet our new...Fetus

Cynthia is pregnant and no it's not a joke this time. I swear. Her due date is August 18th and yes we realize how close it is to the family reunion in July. Although we do not know the sex of the baby we are extremely confident that we are having a little girl. Normally we battle back and forth on names for the entire 9 months but we think we have found one in Meli and Cynthia's middle name of Daniela. Initially Cynthia liked Malia but soured on it when she heard that Obama has a daughter by that name. We are also breaking the string of K's that have dominated the family for the last 11 years. I was asked the other day what if we end up having twins, but was assured from the most recent ultrasound there is only 1 in there. Not only are we excited to be having another one, but even more excited that this is the last one. I swear.

Holiday

Today was a holiday and so I decided to take the kids sledding. This first picture is affectionately known as 'granny hill' in Nephi. It's very steep and has several little jumps with a large one at the bottom. If you get enough momentum you can make it all the way to the bottom, up the bank and across the road. It is by far and away the best hill I have ever been down that I didn't have to pay for.

There was another place to go sledding that had several shorter but steeper hills and was only accessible by four wheel drive.

This is the kind of hill that deserves nicknames like 'widow maker' or 'butt buster' or my favorite 'I-think-I just-crapped-my-pants'. I was only able to talk Taylor in in going down it (the others were a bunch of scarety cats). She did it the first time and fell off, so I told her it didn't count. She tried it a second time and made it all the way down without falling off. However as soon as she stopped I could hear her crying. She said her back hurt and her knuckles were bleeding from all of the ice she hit on the way down. If she had worn gloves, it wouldn't of happened I told her. I couldn't believe she did it! I wish I had taken some video of it because she was going so fast! I stood in front of her at the bottom but literally ran out of the way because she was going so fast. All I could think of as she was traveling down the hill was, "Oh man if she gets seriously hurt, Cynthia is going to freak out on me". I was one proud papa today!