In a Blink of an Eye

Time sure flies when you're having fun! (Or just when you are extremely busy). We are pleased to announce after 10 long months and an average of 2-3 showings a week, we finally sold our house! I thought I would never see the day. 

Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we can move into something in a better neighborhood the beginning of March. Yikes! (I might be a bit stressed). 

Besides all that drama, we have been trying to stay busy in these winter months. I refuse to take the kids to any type of indoor play place because let's face it, we are pretty much sick every other week around here. So we come up with our own activities at the house. We have been having a ton of fun playing in what snow we do get. Kamryn's face pretty much sums up the joy they feel when they get to go outside.

It's not a snowman unless it's Olaf these days. 

For another month I get to enjoy having access to church keys. The babes love playing in the gym. The first time we went Kay Kay screamed the entire time until I realized she was afraid of a bouncie ball. We got smart and starting hiding that and now all is well with the world.

Creativity is Nate's middle name and he is always coming up with activities to do inside with the kids (I usually don't aprrove but I've decided to go with the flow). Their favorite by far was the indoor pool. 

 Most of the time the kiddies just like to be home with Nate doing nerdy stuff. It's a big treat to be home all together as a family in the evenings. 

We may get a good laugh out of making the kids do crazy things for our own amusement...

A true highlight this past January was a birthday gift from Nate. He arranged for us to fly with a friend in a four-seater airplane around the Tetons. It was amazing to say the least!!

 Our favorite part by far was going weightless. I've never been so frightened and amused all at the same time!

I'm really hoping this "time" thing slows down for a bit so I can relax, but I have a feeling it's just starting...

13 Days of Halloween/Fall Fun

It was my favorite time of year again...Fall. Why did it have to go by so fast? We enjoyed it though and got the kids involved in some fun activities and completed our annual 13 days of Halloween/Fall fun. (Some are lame I know but at least we tried). So here we go....

13- Went on a Fall walk and ended up walking around the Temple and playing in the leaves.

12- Worked on Halloween costumes and bought a yummy smelling fall candle and had it burning all day.

11- Tried the new Creme Brulee Shake at Arby's. Oh my goodness it was good. Emmett loved it and pretty much ate most of mine and wouldn't give it back.

10- We visited the "U-Pick Barn" here in town and let Emmett and Kamryn pick their own little miniature pumpkins. Then Nate took the kids on the little train. He looked so comfortable riding in the small seat. 

9- I made yummy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies and may have had one too many. So worth it though.

8- The kids played in the leaves at Grandma and Grandpa's. 

7- We went on an adventure up into the Mountains for a picnic with the Esplin clan. We were able to get all 4 grandkids to hold hands. It only took 4 adults to do this. 

6- The plan was to watch a Halloween movie together but that never happened. So we watched Studio C and they had a couple of Halloween skits in there. 

5- Colored some leaves for FHE.

4- Had some yummy Hot Chocolate. One of many now during this frigid Winter.

3- Enjoyed the final game of the World Series (Go Giants! Sorry Nate) and ate some caramel apples.

2- Showed off our Halloween costumes to Grandma and took this cute video of Kamryn dancing to "Trick or Treat."

1- Enjoyed our Halloween costumes on Halloween with family. 

Until next year!!!

Two Friends

These two kids of ours are so funny. When one is doing something the other one is right by their side. It's usually Kamryn following Emmett around but they both ask for the other whenever one of them is sleeping. They were meant to be so close in age. 

 This picture cracks me up because she wanted to sit by Buddy but didn't want her picture taken. 

 Just giving some loves. But don't let this moment fool you because I'm pretty sure right after they got in a fight. 

 Emmett's favorite spot and he's taught Kay Kay how to climb up on that same shelf too. 

 Just a normal day at the Esplin household. 

 Enjoying a few books with Daddy. This happens multiple times a day and it makes my heart happy. 

Love these "twins" of ours. 

Catch Up September

Our September was full of lots of laughs. We started it off with a fun filled weekend trip to Utah to visit some friends and to visit the Hogle Zoo. It was quite the adventure sleeping in a hotel room with 2 babies but we had fun and hope to get more adventurous doing more road trips with them. 

We tried to make it a point to visit the Zoo since Emmett loves animals and it was technically his birthday weekend. He didn't disappoint us and we had a ton of fun.

 Then on Labor Day this stud turned 2. What a wonderful two years it has been. They sure aren't kidding when they say time flies. We feel continually blessed to have him in our lives and in our family and we are eternally grateful for the beautiful and wonderful angel who was so selfless to allow us to be his parents. What an amazing blessing he his. And I have to say there is nothing better than to hear the words, "Love you mamma." Best sentence ever. 

 I love his sweet little voice and it will be a sad day when that voice is all grown up. 

 We also tried to hit up a bunch of the local Chuckars baseball games during September and it became a little difficult to last more than 5 or 6 innings with the littles but it was still fun. We ended up going with some friends one night and they put our names in to participate in one of the activities and our names were drawn to "Build a Hamburger" on the baseball field in between one of the innings. Let's just say we felt old as we looked at our 20 something competition. But we held our own. And if you were wondering, yes I was the bottom bun and I threatened Nate if he belly flopped on top of me. 

 This girl has turned into quite the Diva in more ways than one. She is hilarious and also knows how to belt it out when she wants something. She is becoming trouble.

 And Emmett is always making us laugh. He is quite the climber and jumper these days and I took this picture as he was saying, "Hey Mamma!"

Lovely Saturdays

Every once in awhile on a Saturday we are all together at home as a family and take full advantage. It's been so nice to enjoy the summer days and do something fun.  So what have we been up to on these blissful Saturdays you ask? We've hit up the Zoo and Bear World. Gotta love local activities.

This dude loved seeing the animals at the Zoo. He couldn't get enough.

 Sis was sassy because we made her stay in the stroller. Sometimes it's just easier. 

 Emmett was so excited to see the Monkeys. Although one of them scared the poor guy because it came up to us right behind the glass and it was a little too close for Emmett's comfort. 

 And since we didn't get to feed the real animals, Kamryn made sure to feed Emmett. 

Just this last Saturday we decided to hit up Bear World. I've only been once many moons ago and Nate has never been. It was the perfect day to go and the kids actually really liked it, especially the petting zoo. Kamryn followed all the animals around. 

 And Emmett was excited to see "Sven". 

 After some coaxing both of them got pretty brave and loved petting the goats and deer. 

 And then there was this...Emmett put his head a little to far into the bear head cut out. 

 Sis wasn't too sure. 

 And I don't know who this crazy guy is.

 To end our adventures we of course had to ride the choo choo train. Emmett's favorite. 

Then there was this one Saturday we went to the rodeo and Nate decided to put on a small hat and smile like a goofy cowboy. I don't know what to say...

Bring on more fun Saturdays!

July Happenings

Our fun continues into July. We started out the month with a very fun cabin stay in Island Park with the Robinson clan. It was great to be with everyone since this basically only happens once a year.Nate was only able to spend half the time with us but we enjoyed every minute.

We spend a lot of time four-wheeling (Emmett loved it despite this picture)...

 ...and we spent a lot of time floating and playing in the Buffalo River. 

There was also a lot of silliness and...

 ...some time chill-axing in bed with me on my phone since Sis may have kept us up a few nights in a row and Emmett tried to escape (and succeeded) out of his Pack N Play a few times.

Emmett loved playing with his cousins.

 Sis enjoyed her time too except for nights when she struggled to sleep (The next week 2 top teeth popped in. Coincidence? I think not). 

 All of the cousins minus little Sis. She napped a lot. It was a beautiful place to stay and we sure enjoyed ourselves. 

The festivities continued on into the 4th of July. We ventured up to Rexburg to enjoy the parade and spend more time with the family. 

 Emmett loved everything about the parade...except for the loud firetruck. It was extremely hot!! Even after slathering the babies with sunscreen Kamryn still got sunburned on her arm. 

We spent the rest of the day at Grandma and Grandpa's playing with toys and in the water and perfecting the water balloon launchers. There may have been a few casualties. 

Then we enjoyed some curb side fireworks. Emmett didn't so much enjoy it but Sis thought it was fantastic. 

Nate's 33rd!!! birthday fell on a Saturday and he picked camping as his activity. He wanted to try somewhere new we have never been and I readily agreed. Next time we might research a bit beforehand. We decided to go to the Blackfoot Reservoir thinking there would be lots of trees and lots of fun water to play in.  And we thought it was weird we never heard of anyone going there...ever. There is a reason...it is complete desolation. But we decided to make the most of it even after we got a flat on the way. 

 It was pretty but we couldn't find one place to camp until we figured out after an hour and a half drive around the reservoir there was a camp ground which we had to pay $20 for. The water ended up being really mossy and gross. You only wanted to be in it if you fished on a boat. 

 Our night was crazy and Emmett ended up throwing up on Nate pretty badly. Happy birthday to you Nate!! But we did have some of the family come up to celebrate and we ended up venturing over to Hooper Springs for some fresh Soda water after we fixed the flat. We were ready to venture home when all was said and done. 

One day in July we had a fun little time at Rigby Lake with cousins before they headed back home. They were so good with Emmett and he loved every minute with them. 

 The babies got nice and dirty and both loved the water.

We have spent the rest of July playing in more water at Lava Hot Springs and over at Grandma's when she has flooded the lawn and hanging out with family as much as we can.