Summer time!

We have kicked off summer for the past two weeks. Busy, Busy, Busy. . . but at least there is no homework to worry about! Hooray!!Luke has been busy the last few weeks. Here are a few of his acitivities:

• He went to Moab,UT with the teachers quorum (even though he isn't 14 until next month). They did some hiking, biking, and river rafting. Here he is with his friend, Taylor
• He was able to attend BYU Basketball camp this past week. He said "it was the best week of my life". About 10 of his friends all went to together, and stayed in the dorms on campus. He came home excited because he had made the "all-star" team for his age group. He enjoyed getting Jamba Juice every day ( he has menntioned that several times :))And of course playing basketball in the Marriott Center was pretty cool for him as well.
• He has also been busy with baseball. . . he has done a lot of pitching this year and has done fantastic!
• Next, he needs to get ready to do his Eagle Project! He has the rest of the summer to get it together

This isn't Luke, but is kinda looks like him, huh? I just pulled it off BYU's camp website. Mia and her BFF, Kate before there dance recital on June 1. They did a great job! Mia especially loves to dance and practices kart-wheels, round-offs, kicks, hand stands, etc all the time! And lucky David was SO excited to sit through another recital!

Elizabeth decided to get her hair cut! It was completely her idea. Doesn't she look cute?? Both Kennedy and Elizabeth are excited because they are going to be playing on a Club Soccer team next year. (on different teams, of course). They both had their first practice this morning, although games won't start until August.

Just a little stop at the Mall, where the girls decied to try some shoes on. . .

My friend, Shannon and I right after we finished. . . . Me, you ask?? Well, the biggest news is finishing my first Half-Marathon this morning. I had to be up at 3am to catch the bus to the starting line. .. it was an early morning! Overall, I am happy with my performance, but also a bit dissapointed. Starting at about mile 3 my stomach started hurting. . . I tried to push through it, but by mile 8 I had to stop and use the bathroom. I probably added a good 3+ minutes onto my time. And then by the last 1.5 miles, I was pretty tired. Looking back, I wish I would have mentally pushed myself a little harder to finish strong. But. .. it was my first one, and my time was 2:11:58. Really close to my goal. . .but not quite. There is room for improvement. I will learn from this experience and do better next time!!

How is the start of your summer??

This week

Someday I might go back and try to update everything that has gone on here at the Kindrick household. . . but for now I will just let you know about the last couple days.

Last night, Kennedy and Elizabeth had their dance recital. They did such a fantastic job!

David wanted me to get a picture of him with the girls so he had "proof" that he was there supporting them. Going to these recitals isn't his favorite thing! In his words, "I don't mind watching my own kids". . . good thing! But I have to admit it was a long night. And lucky us. . . Mia is dancing with a separate dance studio so her performance is next week. So we get to go to a whole entire recital again next week!!

They have to wear quite a bit of make-up up on the stage. I wish I got some better shots of them in their costumes. They both took a song and dance class, as well as a jazz dance class.

The other big event was Mia graduating from Kindergarten!! Wow. She is getting so grown up. She passed with flying colors ( you would never know that she was the little girl who wouldn't talk a year ago to know her now). She might be the youngest in her grade, but she certainly has got to be one of the smartest and cutest too!!

Mia with her teacher, Mrs. Bennett

She is off to first grade! And also off to Lagoon with David today. Lucky girl. His school was going to Lagoon for the day, and since I am working this afternoon and Mia is already done with school, he got an extra ticket and had Mia go with him. Needless to say the other girls were quite jealous.

Well, that certainly isn't all that has been going on here. .. but just a small taste. Our house project has been on hold for a couple weeks as we had to adjust the plans a bit. We are anxious to start framing. . . I will post pictures as soon as there is something to see!

A week of adventures

OK, so these pictures are all messed up. . . but can't seem to get them where I want them to be so you will get a story that is all jumbled.

This has been another crazy week. Definitely some ups and downs. I won't share the downs, but just say that they are downers for sure. But I will focus on all the good things this week.

We were lucky enough to get to have Kyle stay with us Tuesday night and take him to the MTC on Wednesday afternoon. Definitely a high of the week! We are so happy and proud of him and the journey he has taken to get where he is at. He looked so good in his missionary suit. . .so happy. We took the kids out of school Wednesday morning so we could all spend some time with Kyle before we dropped him off. Here is Luke being dropped back at school with Kyle.

Kyle's last meal was at Golden Corral. They let missionaries eat free before they go into the MTC, so we all stuffed ourselves!

This picture was in the morning before the girls left for school. Kyle wasn't in his suit yet for the day. . ..

OK. . .this picture is totally random and out of order. Our weather in the spring is a little crazy. Never know what each day will bring. So you have to enjoy every bit of sunshine you can get because the next day will be rainy and cold. We met up with a few cousins one sunny day last week to play. The kids had fun.

Now back to Kyle. . ..

The Dropping off at the MTC certainly has changed. You drive up to the curb, they tell you that you have two minutes to get your luggage out, say good bye, and leave. No time for dramatic goodbyes, that is for sure! Again, these photos are out of order. This is supposed to be the last picture. Kyle being led by his escort, to where ever they take the missionaries!

One hug from Mia! Getting out the bags. . . .Kyle was in really good spirits all morning. I think the butterflies started to come as we were actually driving up the hill approaching the MTC! He was starting to take some deep breaths. . .

Just David, Mia, and I dropped Kyle off at the MTC. We took the other kids back to school after we ate. There was an escort that met ust the curb, and he wouldn't take a picture of all of us! He said it "wasn't allowed" and looked at my phone like it held the plague or something. . . so we didn't get a photo of all of us. David just took this one of Kyle, Mia, and I. But that have the system there down to a science! So many volunteers as all these missionaries arrive.

Getting the luggage out. . .. the clock in ticking!

OK. . .. on to the other highlights of the week. Mom and Dad were able to be here for Easter. They were on their way home from Kyle's farewell and stopped for a couple days to spend the weekend with us.

I woke up Saturday morning and decided at about 8:40 to run the girls down to the city easter egg hunt. We were out the door in 5 minutes ( so no hair was fixed. . .so ignore messy hair!), and barely got there in time to participate. There were ALOT of people there. But is was really well organized and we have such a nice sports park that each area was really big for each age group. The girls got a lot of eggs, and some nice prizes, like coupons for frosties and Wendy's, free drink at Sonic. . .etc. But the Grand prize goes to Elizabeth. . . . .

SHE WON A BIKE!! I still can't believe it! One of her eggs had a little paper in it to pick up a bike! This is coming from someone (me) who has never won a thing in my life! The really cool thing is that Elizabeth really needed a bike. She was actually staring to save her money to get one. Wow. .. isn't she lucky??

EASTER SUNDAY. . .

So today is Easter. We had a really nice day. Stake Conference (which was a little weird to have on Easter, but still nice), coloring eggs, egg hunts, nice dinner, Harry Potter watching, Cheese cake eating, Family Home Evening lesson, family prayer, puzzles. . . .It was a nice day.

I tried to get a few pictures of the kids after church. My attempts didn't work out too good. . .

Well, we tried, anyway. . . They looked really cute.

I was going to post another picture of our house project project. But it's dark outside now so that will have to wait till tomorrow!

I just have to say that I am so greatful for the blessings in my life. Although there were some rough times this week, those are far outweighed by such wonderful blessings. Have a great Easter, I know I am greatful for the moments I have to stop and reflect what truely matters in this life. Thanks to all of you for all your love and support. LOVE and miss so many of you!!

We've Started. . .

I guess things have to get a bit messy before they can be completed, right? Well, we have a mess all over our yard. . .but we are so excited to be started on our addition! The footing have been poured, and this morning the working are here making noise to start the foundation!

I don't know what we will do with the yard. . . we'll have some work to do.

We are also re-doing our entryway. . .so watch out for the hole in front of the house! I actually caught some teenagers the other night trying to jump the hole. . .made me a bit nervous. I think I scared them off, though.

Well, I'm off to work this morning. I will leave the workers to work in the rain today. . . doesn't look fun, but there should be more progress by the time I get home later. OH, and it's my first day in Customer Service at Nordstrom. Excited!

What a day!

Today was a good day. One of those days that I wish came around a little more often.

It started with this:

And Ended with this:

In between was pretty good too.

I didn't have to work today. That is always nice on a Saturday. So we got up and went to David's school to work out. I pulled out 6.5 miles this morning. I guess that is about half of my half marathon I am training for. I have until June to get my body ready.

Then this afternoon we took the girls to The Young Ambassadors performance up at BYU. It was so fun. I was a little nervous taking Mia, but she did great. Was clapping along and had a smile on her face. So cute.

Here is our favorite Young Ambassodor. Summerisa Bell. She is Kennedy and Elizabeth's "Song and Dance" teacher. They just love her and loved seeing her perform up on stage.

Of course we had to head to the BYU creamery for a little treat afterwards. YUMMY! Good thing I ran this morning :)

We got just in time to watch BYU in their game. Like I said. . . .a perfect way to end the day! Sweet 16!!

The only downer tonight was that is was so overcast and cloudy that we couldn't see the Super Moon. . . we really were looking forward to that. Bummer.

Where is Luke, you ask? Well, he was invited to go with a friend to a baseball tournament this weekend. So he has been gone the last couple days. He didn't get to play, but I guess watching baseball is the next best thing.

Well. ... that was our day today. How was yours??

Monday mia moment

mia, like most little kids says funny things now and then. so I thought I should document a few of them.

Mia often goes to the bank with me and likes to get a sucker from the teller. Last week she picked a strawberry flavored sucker and exclaimed, "I picked strawberry because it is good for you"

I decided not to burst her "being healthy" bubble and inform her that it is pure sugar and all suckers are just the same.....strawberry flavor and cotton candy flavor are equal in nutrition.

Worst Blogger. . .

Ok. . . I have turned into a TERRIBLE Blogger. Christmas has passed, New Years has passed, My birthday was yesterday, we've been busy with a ton of activites! I should have a really exciting catch-up post, but this is all I got. . . .

I decided that for Christmas I wanted to get each of the kids something for their rooms to help decorate the bare walls a bit. I have this old calendar from many years ago. .. like I think I was a teenager. . . .that I always really liked, so I saved it. Thinking that some day I wanted to take the pictures and frame them to decorate my room. I never got around to it, but I still saved the calendar. So I pulled it out, and decided that it would work for the girls in their room. So this is what we got. . .

These are out of order. . . of course. My blogging skills are quite lacking, as is my lack of blogging. .. but this "happiness is a habit" picture is one of the ones in Kennedy's room. Elizabeth likes to wear crazy out fits, so I thought this was the perfect little picture to put on the wall for her.

Mia picked this one out. . . reminds me of

I also got Mia and Elizabeth a few wall stickers to put on their wall. I pretty much let them put them where ever they wanted. .. I don't think David was too impressed with it, but I wanted them to feel creative and enjoy it, not necesarilly having it look perfect.

This one is also in Kennedy's room.

Yeah, not very exciting, but maybe getting one post done will inspire me to continue blogging. . .