February Snapshots

Walking around the St. George Children's Museum on a nice February day!

  

^Screen shot of my aunt Katie's collage wall. She printed Lila's drawing! So cute!^

  

   

  

^Best Valentines Day Treat EVER!

^And of course our traditional Chinese food for Valentines Day!^

Lila is a happy girl on Valentines Day!

Life update:

Drew- He is very happy working at the Children's Museum. They are so good to him and he loves the people he works with. 

Katelin- I am enjoying being in the YW presidency in my ward as the YW Secretary. I have become really good friends with the ladies I work with. Lila and I have actually started walking with the president (Megan) and her son Winston at the church a couple times a week. It's a lot of fun! We take our strollers and try to walk around the gym a couple times but the kids have short attention spans and want to get out and play. So we typically park the strollers in the middle of the gym and set out snacks, drinks, and lots of toys and watch them play as we continue to walk around the gym. I love it!

I also opened up my etsy shop this month. YAY! I keep busy doing lots of projects for people, but it makes me happy and I love doing it. I've also started tending Winston a couple times a week too! It works out great because he and Lila play so well together. Megan brought over his pack'n'play so it is set up in the extra bedroom upstairs for him to nap in. We have dance parties, play with all the toys, read books, color, watch movies, have naps, eat snacks, and have so much fun! I love it!

Lila- She is so close to walking on her own! She'll walk along any type of furniture and with any helping hand, but not quite by her self yet. She continues to practice standing up on her own and she is so proud of herself! So are we! It's awesome. She's the cutest thing ever. She is a master at asking for "more" in sign language, as well as telling us she is "all done." She has switched over to whole milk now and takes it like a champ! She is on a huge popcorn kick and eats it like her dad does-- handfuls at a time! It's hilarious! She's smart and happy and perfect. She is seriously a dream!

It's been an awesome year already marking off new years resolutions (opening up my etsy shop), and doing a spontaneous Disneyland trip! Plus throwing Lila's big birthday party and the awesome cabin trip too. What a life we live!! We are so blessed!

Love,

Kate

Snowboarding with Shay & Drew

My cousin Shay drove me and Lila down to Cedar on Friday after being in Richfield for a week. We met up with Drew at his parents' house. We dropped Lila off and headed up to Brianhead to spend the day snowboarding! It was Shay's first time and Drew and I hadn't been snowboarding for 2 or 3 years so we were all pretty excited!

It was a beautiful sunny day but the temperature was below freezing! Especially the higher we got up the mountain... it was so cold!!! Luckily we warmed up as we snowboarded down the mountain, but after falling a couple times my gloves weren't very "water proof" and I was FREEZING! 

We enjoyed some yummy cheeseburgers for lunch and by the time we were done boarding, all of us were exhausted! We got back to Cedar with good time to spare. Shay drove back to Richfield and Drew and I were happy to be with Lila again.

It was a fun day! Drew is so good at snowboarding. I may need to look into snowboard gear for him for next year so he can go more often! And I was impressed with Shay too. He is a natural and picked it up so quickly!

Love,

Kate

A week in Richfield (in February)

We came back from the cabin trip on Sunday afternoon. My mom made dinner for all of us! We had hawaiian haystacks and they were delicious. Eventually Lyss and Barry left and Drew did too. Lila and I stayed in Richfield! I was asked to do a few projects for people so I figured it would be a perfect time to stay a few days, plus my cousin Shay could easily take us down to Cedar on Friday to meet up with Drew. (We would go snowboarding that day as well, because the party never stops ya know?!)

Monday through Thursday went by in a blink of an eye I swear! I loved being home but my time there always goes too quickly. I love being able to see and visit all of my extended family and I miss them when we are back in St. George. But we made the best of the few days we had!

We got to visit with Grandpa Perry, Grandma Micki and Grandpa Doug, Grandma Carol and Grandpa June, the Morrison's, and Lisa, Shayla, and Ryklin! 

I spent a couple days over at my cousin Chelsea's new home sketching and painting a mural for her son Bridger who is undiagnosed with a rare disease. It was a really special opportunity for me to be in their home and to do this special mural for them. Bridger is a fighter and continues to beat the odds every single day. He is a living miracle and an inspiration to all. Check out what my Chelsea posted about him and my mural:

#fact: 30 million people in the United States are living with rare diseases. This equates to 1 in 10 Americans or 10% of the U.S. population.

#fact: Approximately 50% of the people affected by rare diseases are children

#fact: 30% of children with rare disease will not live to see their 5th birthday

Today is #rarediseaseday. We are more than blessed to have this #rarechild in our home and continually pray for a diagnosis and cure. In the end, we have faith a cure will come, it just may not take place during his earthly life. So for now, we wake up each morning ready to face whatever mountain may stand in our way and continually pray to the mountain mover for strength and assistance during the climb.

For the longest time we thought we had enough faith and prayed for these giant mountains to move. We now realize that sometimes those mountains aren't supposed to be moved, instead, they were put there for a reason and we are to climb them. ⛰

In Bridger's bedroom/therapy room we just had this mural completed on his wall by the most talented @madebykate_ It stands as a constant daily reminder to be brave, have courage, and face our mountains head on!#nationalrarediseaseday2017#everymountaintopiswithinreachifyoujustkeepclimbing ⛰

My cousin also shared these other photos (seen below) with me and said this, "I can't help but share thse gems! When you were washing the paint brushes out yesterday, I was showing Bridger the wall. Little did I know- my sister Kenzie was behind me taking pics! So precious!!! Then tonight while we were at the temple, Cami (the babysitter) said she took Bridger in to show him the wall. She said he just kept staring at it in awe! You have completed this space and made his room show us a constant reminder that even though we face a mountain climb each day, it's okay. Each day is a new day to try harder to be better. What a beautiful masterpiece you have created. Thank you for sharing your talents with us. There are so many masterpieces in our home from you that we treasure."

And THAT is exactly why I love what I get to do for people. I am so grateful for the talents I have and that I get to share them and touch other people's lives. It's truly the best thing in the world!

So besides that being a big highlight of the week, we also went to one of Konner's basketball games and Lila was hilarious the entire time! She just wanted Konner so badly she kept trying to go over to him. We sat right behind the team's bench and then my dad and Shay took turns walking around with her on the floor and she kept trying to get away and go over to Konner when he wasn't on the court playing. It was so funny but SO CUTE :)

Lila had a playdate with Tycie one of the days and had a blast! Tycie is just a couple weeks younger than Lila. It has been so fun watching them grow up together! We went over to her house and she had so many fun toys. Lila was in heaven! Although she and Lila are completely different, they are so stinkin adorable together! Tycie has a slide that she can easily climb up and slide down without a problem. Lila wanted to do everything she could do so badly but she just isn't quite as strong as Tycie and can't balance as good as she can so she struggled and got really frustrated haha! It was sad but cute. I helped her though and she was happy to slide down! Tycie is walking all over the place! Lila isn't quite there yet but I'm sure she will be soon. It was such a fun little play date! I really wish we lived closer so we could have more play dates!

Lila and I also enjoyed visiting Miss Polly's preschool mulitple times almost every day. Lila loved the kids and all the kids loved her too. It was fun!


Thursday night before we left Richfield we got to spend some time up at Grandma Carol's house. She made a delicious poppyseed chicken dinner. She is AMAZING! She continually amazes me. She is beautiful and happy and so kind and loving. I love her so much and I wish we could have spent more time together! But it is always neat to see her and Lila interact. She loves Lila so much, it makes me so happy!

Family is everything to me. I really hope we can find a way to live back in Richfield someday because I miss them so!!

But I have to give a big thank you to my mom for taking care of us over the week. She is wonder woman I really don't know how she does everything, but she does!! She's incredible! I am just the luckiest to come from the best of the best. 

Love,

Kate

Winter Cabin Trip

When Christmas time came around, we enjoyed turning YouTube on and listening to Christmas music playlists. One song that would play over and over was "Last Christmas," and the music video was so fun/funny to watch! It shows a group of friends hiking through some snow to a cabin. Then inside the cabin they get cozy, decorate a Christmas tree, and enjoy a meal all together around a big table! As I watched this particular music video I couldn't help but think it would be SO fun to go to my family's cabin during the winter with some friends. So my sister Kambry and I made it happen!

We planned the cabin trip for Presidents' Day weekend in February. We invited some good friends and started planning meals, treats, games, and activities, etc.

Before we knew it we were on our way up to the cabin! We packed up all our snow gear, lots of warm clothes, and TONS of food! We arrived to the cabin shortly before sundown. Because of snow drifts we couldn't get into the front door of the cabin, but luckily there was a simple path that took us right to the back door. It was perfect! We turned on the electricity, got the heat going, and turned the water on. It took us a few tries to figure out the water heater and water pump, and our cabin neighbor Hal was a lot of help as well, but we did it!

We also got a fire started in the wood burning stove and that warmed up the cabin so quickly! Plus not to mention how cozy it made it all feel. It was so dreamy ha! I loved it!

We spent the evening cooking Papa Murphy's pizzas in the oven as we waited for the rest of our party to arrive. It was so fun just to be there! The vibes were awesome. Staying in the cabin was awesome, but not having any wifi or service too made for the perfect weekend for all of us to take a break from our busy lives and to create bonds and memories that will last a lifetime!

The first night after everyone arrived we simply spent hours just visiting and joking with each other. It was SO simple but so fun! The next morning we all slept in a little bit. It was mine and Drew's responsibility to make brunch so we started cooking! We made liege waffles (just like WAFFLUV waffles, yum!!) and bacon! We topped the waffles with nutella, whip cream, and strawberries and bananas! They turned out so pretty and so delicious! It was a fun little meal to make! I had made the dough a few days before because it is a yeast dough and has to rise, but fortunately the dough still worked just fine after being refrigerated for a bit! Win win!

  

After brunch we all got ready to play in the snow. We drove down into the lake and spent a couple hours near Twin Creeks exploring, building snowmen, snowball fights, and simply trying not to sink! (The snow was at least up to our knees, but was stiff enough to hold us up for the most part ha!) We also went out on the lake for a little bit and attempted to ice fish but had no luck. It truly was a PERFECT day. It was beautiful and sunny out, and not even cold at all! We lucked out big time!  

 

  

Later that afternoon a few of us went out to the backside of the cabin to sled while the others rested or napped. That was super fun too! But the snow wasn't as firm so to climb up the hill we literally had to crawl the entire way up! Needless to say, we only did about 3 runs because it took so long to get back up the hill each time and we were exhausted ha! But it was a blast!

That evening Kambry and her boyfriend Tyler were in charge of dinner. They made us tinfoil dinners! Well, we got to customize our own. But they were easy and yummy! I'd definitely say they were a hit! Tyler brought up a cool slicing type device and so they breezed right through the potatoes! Otherwise I feel like it might have taken a while to prep the food but Tyler saved the day haha!

 We spent the rest of the evening playing tons and tons of games. It was so much fun! Whoever won the game got to choose the next game we played. We were so close to playing every single game we had all brought but didn't quite make it. But we laughed and laughed all night long and had a great time together.

Sunday morning Alyssa and Barry made us all breakfast burritos. We took it easy during the morning time and then after we ate we cleaned up the entire cabin and headed home. It was seriously the BEST weekend! So many good friends, so many good laughs, and so much good food. It was a success! 

I hope we can maybe do it again next year! We are so lucky to have a cabin in such a beautiful place... any time of the year! Fishlake is heaven on earth and I love sharing it with people I love and adore.

Love,

Kate