Picture Time!

It was time for Gracie's six month and everyone else's annual pictures anyway, but with Kenny leaving for Idaho in the morning and us wanting to get pictures taken before we move, it was pretty much now or never. OK, I know I'm biased, but I think the kids are pretty cute. So here they are:

Gracie - 6 month (OK, 7 months)

Hannah Beth - age 2

Benjamin James - age 4

Sarah Kate - age 6

(Sarah gets a bonus shot because she's just looked so beautiful with this shot cropped down)

And the whole group of them

Funny story. We had planned on going to Mount Vernon to take the pictures. So we loaded up the kids, the camera, the hair stuff, some drinks, and some snacks and headed out. We drove all the way to Mount Vernon, even stopping at a couple stores on the way while Kenny looked for some last minute things, pulled into the parking lot and started getting kids out of the car before I realized that I wasn't wearing any shoes. I had been so preoccupied trying to make sure that everyone else had what they needed that I had walked out the door barefoot like I often do and forgot to grab my own sandals. So we ended up not going to Mount Vernon since I couldn't get in barefoot. Instead we stopped at the Mount Vernon Grist Mill just down the road where we ultimately ended up taking the pictures. I think it turned out OK personally.

Idaho Here We Come

Where do I start. I feel like my life has been flipped upside down in less than a weeks time. Kenny accepted a job in Idaho today and will be leaving on Tuesday. When jobs come our way they seem to come very quickly. This one was no exception. We got called on it first on Friday and today, Tuesday, he had the job. Idaho Falls of all places. I never thought I'd live in Idaho Falls, and quite honestly I never wanted to live in Idaho Falls, but its close to home and there's no way around that.

I'm so excited to finally be headed west. To see mountains again, to see family again and not miss out on important family events, to live so close to Yellowstone and the Tetons (now that is one really cool thing about Idaho Falls). I'm looking forward to a summer with dry air, real snow in the winter time (I may change my mind on this come February), being able to see something other than trees, and so many other things. I'm excited for the adventure.

At the same time, if you strip out the anxiety of being a single parent for a month and having to box up my house by myself, I'm actually sad. I drive down the street and almost cry sometimes. As much as dislike this place sometimes, it has become our home. I will miss all the wonderful friends we've made here and our ward that we've been blessed to be a part of. I'll miss the proximity to DC and all that includes; Mount Vernon, the cherry blossoms, seeing the monuments, the metro and having the airports so closes (the kids love both those things), Teddy Roosevelt Island, the aquarium in Baltimore, and a number of other things. I'll miss Tae Kwon Do. (This is going to be really hard. The kids love karate, especially Sarah, and it'll be hard to leave their school.) I could go on and on, but I think I've blabbed on too long already.

What it comes down to is this; we're moving to Idaho Falls, Kenny leaving on Tuesday and me following after school gets out on June 13th and then my cousin gets married in Maryland on the 20th. We're excited, we're sad, we're overwhelmed, we're stressed, there are times we're too shocked to be anything, but we can't wait to get there and see all our family and friends.

A-B-C Tag

A- ATTACHED OR SINGLE: Attached
B- BEST FRIEND: Kenny and the kids
C- CAKE OR PIE: Definitely pie, I'm not a huge cake fan.
D- DAY OF CHOICE: Saturday. That's when everyone's home from school and work. It's family fun time!
E- ESSENTIAL ITEM: Diapers/wipes! Bad things happen when I leave home without these.
F- FAVORITE COLOR: I'd still have to say green and purple. Not to boyish and not to girly.
G- GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: My kids
H- HOMETOWN: North Logan, Utah
I- INDULGENCES: Staying up too late. Is this an indulgence! It's something I LOVE doing, but really shouldn't.
J- JANUARY OR JULY: July
K- KIDS: Yes! 4 Sarah Kate, Ben, Hannah, Gracie! Hopefully more some day
L- LIFE IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT: My kids
M- MARRIAGE DATE: July 9, 1999 Wow! That was a long time ago
N- NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: 1 Brother, Ryan
O- ORANGES OR APPLES: Apples, oranges take too long to peal.
P- PHOBIAS OR FEARS: Phobia: The normal, Spiders, things that go bump in the night, falling. Fears: Something happening to my family.
Q- QUOTES: Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
R- REASON TO SMILE: Again, My kids!
S- SEASON: Fall, I love the smell, the feel, the holidays, even the temperature
T- TAG FIVE FRIENDS: I'll do April and Mindy, there new to blogging so I bet they've never done this before. Then, Cami, Jolene, and Natalie If you've done it feel free to ignore me.
U- UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I still have one of my baby teeth. Boring, I know, but I couldn't think of anything.
V- VERY FAVORITE STORE: REI or Super Walmart. I could spend hours in either one.
W- WORST HABIT: I'd have to agree with Sam on this one. Procrastination!
X- X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND: Ultrasound definitely
Y- YOUR FAVORITE FOOD: Fruit, really good fruit
Z-YOUR ZODIAC SIGN: Aries

The Water Slide

It was a beautiful day on Thursday. It wasn't too hot or too cold, there was no rain, and we had friends in the back yard out playing. I was just finishing cooking dinner when I asked Kenny to clean up the plastic under the sand and water table (due to all the rain we've gotten lately the plastic that catches the sand was really dirty.) Kenny took it to the small hill behind our house to hose it off. I should have recognized the equation that we were about to encounter.

Kenny + large sheet of plastic + hill + water = one dirty mess of fun.

Kenny told our kids to slide down the plastic. None of them were too sure about it that is until he tried it, then it was a constant stream of kids sliding. Luke and Taylor, two friends who live behind us asked their parents and then eagerly joined in the water sliding. It was a huge hit. How could it not be? We slid for about 45 minutes before the grass was too soggy and we needed to stop. (Thanks back yard neighbor Katie for letting us soak your lawn!) It was a lot of fun, even when Kenny tackled me onto the slide. :) Sometimes it's just fun to be a kid.

Sarah Kate after her first slide. She may have thought she was wet then. Good thing she didn't know just how wet she was going to get!

Ben surfing it! The water was a little chilly for him and he prefered to stay off his belly.

The water may have been cold, but the belly was the best and fastest way to go.

Ben even took to the belly a few times. Obviously it was worth it, look at his face!

Hannah on the other hand, just couldn't see the fun in getting in cold water to slide down a hill that you couldn't control yourself on. . .

Riding on Daddy's back, now that was a different story. This way she stayed dry and didn't have to worry about turning backwards.

Frying Pan Farm

The 3 youngest kids and I went to Frying Pan Farm on Tuesday with some friends. I must say I think Frying Pan Farm may be the strangest name I've ever heard for a farm, especially considering I didn't even see a single frying pan. Oh well! I was excited to see a farm out here, and the fact that it had baby animals made it even better. It ended up being one of those living historical farms and though it was cool I'd still have to say Jensen Historical Farm in Logan is cooler, especially during Baby Animal Days.

We started out by trying the farm equipment. It was kid sized which was way cool for the kids. Ben liked the tractors and Hannah just wanted to sit in the stroller (she was having one of those days.) She did, however, like looking at the big tractors. I think that was her favorite part of the entire farm.

After riding the tractors we headed over to see the animals. This is were I felt the farm lacked. They didn't have many animals, but the kids like it anyway and they thought it was cool to see what few animals they saw (except the pigs, they stunk!)

Next we went to the farm house. It was only opened from 10:00 until 12:00 so we had to take a break in the middle of seeing the animals to make it to the house. Oddly enough when we got inside the house we discovered 2 sister missionaries. Apparently the farm house is only open 2 hours a day because the sister missionaries volunteer time there. We were pleasantly surprised and were very happy they volunteered time there so we could see it.

Fighting with Lincoln Logs in the farmhouse.

Playing dress-up, with friend Audrey Hobbs, in the farmhouse.

Next we went to see more animals. We got to see ducks, bunnies, more goats, and chickens. For some reason Hannah was scared to death of everything except the chickens.

She loved the chickens and even got out of the stroller to stand next to them. This was the beginning of a happier Hannah.

Next we went to see the big pig. He was huge and so was his smell. Ben found some rye plants nearby that he thought were so cool and he just had to go tromping through them. Of course if one kid goes through the weeds they all have to. Soon we had 10 little kids tromping through rye plants. It was much better than smelling that stinky pig.

Hannah was still out of the stroller and she enjoyed the rye plants up until she stepped into a puddle of mud. This happened to be at the exact time I tried to take a picture of her. It soured her mood for awhile, but she got over it.

The last thing we did before lunch was take the wagon ride. This was something Ben really, really wanted to do, but they were having trouble with the preschool groups that were there. We lucked out on our walk back to have lunch when we heard the wagon driver announced that they would be doing their only none preschool wagon ride in 5 minutes. Ben was so excited. He loved the ride and talked none stop. Poor Mr. Steve, the wagon driver, had to answer all Ben's questions and listen to all his comments.

It was a great day at the farm. The kids got to see some animals, visit an old farmhouse where they played Lincoln Logs, and played dress-up, play in rye plants, and go for a wagon ride. Life on the farm is great.

Playing in the grass at lunchtime.

My Cute Kids

We haven't been up to much since returning from the cruise. It took me almost a week to get unpacked, get everything put away, and get laundry done. It didn't help that I decided to do some spring cleaning in the middle of unpacking. The weather here has been dreary, to say the least, (we got almost 6 inches of rain over the weekend) and we've spent a lot of time inside. Despite the boring week we've had, we did take some cute pictures of the kids that I wanted to share.

Bubble Princess

Hannah has discovered a love for bubble baths. She has always been a big fan of taking baths, but she never like bubble baths (she was afraid of the bubbles.) However, recently Ben's been asking for them and she's been OK with them. Maybe it's because she's finally feeling better. Whatever the reason, she enjoys them and I thought this picture was oftely cute.

Star Wars Lego Video Game

Need I say more. I bought this game for Kenny awhile ago, and the kids just love it. Ben wakes up in the morning and the first thing he asks is if he can play Star Wars Lego Video Game. I'm not a huge fan of video games (they're too easy to get addicted to) but I don't mind if the kids play them every now and then. Besides, they have to work together, and don't they look cute sitting there together.

Happy Mother's Day

The gifts Sarah Kate made for me at school. I'm so looking forward to the many years of handmade Mother's Day gifts. I just love them.

I hope all you Mother's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was fairly uneventful, but that's not all together a bad thing. Uneventful is much better than a disaster. Some of the high points were the good morning hugs and "Happy Mother's Day" from my kids, making it to church on time (this is always a feet and no matter how hard we try, we always seem to be running late on Sunday's), calls home, and homemade gifts from the kids (I think this one was my favorite.)

The kids with the Mothers Day gifts they made in church. Flowers from the primary kids and a scribbled on picture from Hannah.

Magic on the Disney Magic

We just got back from the most wonderful family reunion ever. On April 26th Kenny's Mom's family, the Holderness', boarded the Disney Magic for a 7 night cruise through the Caribbean, 111 of us in all. It was amazing. We got to see so many family members including some we haven't seen in years and others we've never met. Despite Hannah still being sick, we got to do many fun things including meeting Mickey Mouse and a bunch of other characters, eating amazing meals, visiting with family, seeing really cool shows, a pirate party, and spending time on three different islands just to name a few. It was a very busy week that we'll never forget. Due to the fact that we have over 1,000 pictures and I could spend limitless hours writing about all that we did, I've chose to create condense it and create a slide show of some of a few of my favorites memories/pictures (Ok there's more than just a few.) I hope you enjoy. I must say I think my favorite part of the entire cruise was being able to walk around the ship and pretty much wherever you went there was another Holderness family member to run into. There's nothing better than being surrounded by family.



For anyone who is thinking of going on a cruise I feel the need to warn you that you do have to get off the ship and return to normal life. It's very hard, but they will not let you live on the ship. Now that I'm home I've realized there's no one here to make my bed, cook me dinner, and do my dishes, there's no late night pizza and ice cream runs, there's no family to bump into when you go out, it's kind of sad. At the same time I have all the memories, pictures and video's to look back on. Though I still have laundry to finish from the cruise and my house has yet to be put back together, the whole family can't stop singing 'Happy Working/Cruising Song' (that was the Newbry Talent) and 'Under the Sea' (another favorite Disney song) and I can't stop dreaming of when I get to see everyone again. Thanks again Bruce and Nancy for this amazing experience.