Kaiya's 1st dance performance

There was a talent show held at the High School on Monday night. Kaiya's little dance class performed the Chicken Dance during it. When she first heard they were going to perform in it she said she would NOT do that. I said ok, but continued to tell her she could change her mind and that it would be really good to give it a try. She said, no - no - no. I had her practice with them on the stage and finally after more talking she decided to give it a try. We decided to make it fun and put her hair in curlers and paint nails. She was really excited. We put Katelin's in curlers too just for fun - she had fun with it for about an hour and then they came out. She looked so cute roaming around the house with curlers in her hair.


Here's Kaiya with her little dance class waiting before the show started.
Kaiya's teacher, Ms. Whitney leading them onto the stage. They were SO cute. Everyone loved it of course, cause they're just little and trying to dance. Kaiya had that Chicken Dance down! So cute.
And then my camera ran out of batteries! I was not very prepared. I'm glad I got a few shots though. I'm so proud of her for giving it a try. When she was done she was all smiles and said she had so much fun. She saw one of the girls in our ward singing a while later and said that next year she wants to get up by herself and sing! We'll see about that. We also got her a little prize for afterward since she gave something scary a try. :)

Weekend in Cedar City

Burke's cousin Forrest returned home from his mission in Africa last month. His homecoming talk was this Sunday and so we decided to make the trip over to visit for the weekend. We had a really fun time. I'm so glad we went.

Burke has a lot of fun with his cousins and uncle. They all put on their gear and went paint balling. Burke was a bit worried about it, but he had a fun time. I think if he went a few more times he'd really get into it. We finally got a serious pose out of them after a few tries, except for Kaleb. He didn't go, just wanted to be in the picture with the boys.

Darrell and Paula have a chicken coop out back with about 4 or 5 chickens. The kids loved going out back to visit with them. Kaleb got attacked by one of them at one point. Burke was cracking up telling the story over and over to everyone. He wished he had the camera. They went out again later and showed that chicken who was boss and picked it up and held it. Kaleb laughed after the fact too.



On Saturday we went to Zion's National Park. I had never been there. It was really pretty. We didn't get to go to a lot of it because of the time, but we got a year pass for all of the National Parks, so we will be visiting it again this summer to check it out.

The weeping wall. You get dripped on a lot while your up there, Kaleb loved it and got soaked.

This is Aticus, he just turned one. Such a cutie. Katelin loved to pet him and call him baby even though she's not much bigger than him.
Kaleb loved hanging out with Sky through out the whole time we were there. Sky showed him this game on the computer and so Kaleb made him his instant best friend. They were so funny to watch. I had to take a video of them playing the game cause it was so cute. At the end of the video is Forrest who just got home from his mission. He gave a wonderful talk on Sunday. It was really fun to hear his experiences there in Africa and see how much he has grown in the gospel.

Talk about CUTE!!!

At Kaleb's Elementary School they do a cute musical program each year that includes all grades in the school. Each grade does a song and then they do one together. This year it was called Hope of America. The songs are so sweet and teach the kids good things. Each year I get a lump in my throat while watching and just want to bawl because they're just so sweet. It's neat also because I know a lot of the kids since it's such a small town and it's so much fun to see them all doing something together that's uplifting.

This is Kaleb's class singing their song. I accidentally sat in the right spot to get Kaleb right between the kids in front of me and he's facing me - so great!


This video is the 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders singing a song together. It's just part of it, but I love it when it gets to the chorus they get so loud. And I caught a couple of yawners. Adorable!

Kaleb has loved learning these songs and has been SO excited for us to come to the program and hear it all. He had an asthma attack or something this morning. He had a cold and then yesterday it was making it hard for him to breath, but he did not want to go to the doctor's. This morning he was in tears because it had gotten worse and he was having a hard time breathing in to cough. I finally figured out how to get help in a small town when the clinic doesn't open until 10:00 on Wednesday's!!! The doctor is Kaleb's Primary teacher and he just had us come on over then we headed up to the clinic for breathing treatments, a dose of steroids and to draw his blood to check some other things out. WHEW!!! It was a bit scary, but he's doing well now and we have the breathing treatments and steroids to give him for the next few days to help him out. It was a long morning and Kaleb's only concern was that he was going to miss his program! So I made sure that his follow up appointment that afternoon was before his program so he wouldn't miss a thing. He was feeling a lot better and he did a great job in the program. It was so much fun to see him so excited about it.

Ernest Quentin Ottley

My sweet Grandpa Ottley passed away last Friday. We were able to attend his funeral yesterday. I'm so grateful we were able to be there. There was a really neat spirit there. We explained it all to the kids and they really understood it well. This was the first time they had gone to a funeral. It was good to be able to answer their questions.

Here are some of the grandsons as the pallbearers. It is always a neat site to see these young men all working together, serving their grandpa one last time here on earth.
My dad dedicated the burial place. He also gave a talk at the funeral at it was really beautiful. It was neat to hear experiences from him and his sister through their talks. They were so heartfelt and loving. There are eight kids in his family. They are all such sweet people. It was neat to see and hear of the love they have for their dad.
Here's Kaleb, Sophie and Kaiya watching at the cemetery. The kids were so sweet and did so well at the funeral. They were really interested in all that was going on.
The American Legion came in honor of my Grandpa. That was really neat. A song was played on the trumpet. And they also shot three shots into the air. The kids were a bit worried about that, but then thought it was cool afterward.
They gave my Grandma a flag also. She was so sweet to watch as they honored him and held the flag so lovingly.
Here's the kids in the car. I said I'd post a picture of them in their Easter clothes - this is the only one I got! Silly me, I forgot again.

After the funeral we went and hung out at my grandma and grandpa's house there in Aurora. The kids played outside a lot. I don't know why they wanted to it was SO windy! They all got a little flag and were sticking the poles in the ground.

All in all it was a wonderful day to remember Grandpa Ottley. We will never forget his loving and fun personality. He was always teasing us grandkids. I remember we loved the feel of all of the loose skin under his chin and we'd play with it for some reason and he just let us and every once in a while he'd pretend to be an animal and bite our fingers off. We thought he was so funny. He could also sleep anywhere! Whenever we went camping he'd be in a camping chair with all of us around just sleeping away. He will definately be missed.

Easter Weekend

We headed to Salt Lake on Thursday night. We stayed at Burkes parents home. They have lots and lots of dress up clothes that Kaiya just loves to play with everytime we go. So here she is in one of her many fun outfits.
Kaleb and Katelin being cute.
They just got grass put in on the side of their house last year and Kaiya found this cool litte spot to climb down to and play forever.
Burke got his old sprinkler truck running. It had been parked in the back of Burke's parents house for way too long. So he got it going and purchased sprinkler stuff to get our yard all hooked up! Kaleb and Kaiya were so excited to have it back. I don't know why, but they just love it.

My siblings and I met at my mom and Dave's for an Easter party on Saturday. Here are some pics of the day:

Here is Sophie with her dinner plate ready to go: a roll and candy...sweet!
My mom got these cute wooden things on a stick for the kids to color. There are holes for the eyes so they can put it on their face like a mask after they decorate it. Here's Katelin and Kennedy sharing a bench coloring away.
Reagan's coloring her cute princess.
Kaleb and Jordan were figuring out the cool tricks these markers could do. They could change into different colors if they used the white on the other side. So fun!
Here's the table of kids...and Tiffany coloring. She's still a kid at heart. :)
Quentin's cool fish face.
Erin and Jared playing so cute together.
My sister Juli and her husband Arik got a cute dog a while ago and they brought it along. We hadn't met her before so it was really fun. Katelin just loves her until she gets too close. My mom had fun playing with her.
My sis-in-law Erin strapped the kids in the back of their van and went around two circles down the street while honking her horn lightly. The kids felt like they were in a parade all by themselves - they were saying "hi, hi, hi" the whole time. They LOVED that!!!
This morning I hid those little boxes of cereal all around the front room and told them to go and hunt for their breakfast. They thought that was pretty fun. Then we got ready for church and I didn't even take a picture of them in their Easter clothes! I'll have to get one later. After church we had them find eggs in the back yard. That's always a good time, they loved it.
Hope you had a GREAT weekend too!!!!!!!!! :)

Big girl bed!

On our trip to Colorado we brought along the good ol' pack-'n-play for Katelin to sleep in. She realized that she was taller now and could climb out of it easily. It took us putting her back in several times before she would fall asleep which was really fun. So then we got back home and I guess the wheels in her head where a spinnin' and she thought "heck, I could probably climb out of this thing too!" And she did again and again. So Sunday night after many break-outs of her crib, Burke took it apart, went to the shed and pulled out the toddler bed. She thought we were crazy when we told her to get in and sleep in that thing. It was a funny moment. She finally believed us that we weren't kidding, this was really her new bed.
Everyone wanted to help out with the project.
I was a bit worried about naps, but she does great! I'm so glad. I decided to take a couple pictures of her when she woke up from her nap today. She's always so happy. After I took her picture she asked to see it and then she said "Aaaaaawwwwwww", just like we do when something it so cute. She is so funny. We just love our little Katelin!
So our crib is gone now to another family who will use it for their sweet babies. So long crib, you've been good to us. :)

One picture, two stories

I was attacked by the sewing bug yesterday and just HAD to make something. I decided to make a dress out of some scraps we had left over from the quilt we made. I remembered my friend Jan had made some adorable little dresses on the other day that I had seen on her blog. I decided to make my first piece of clothing ever! I have only sewn simple curtains and a then the quilt. So there are MANY mistakes since I didn't use a pattern, just my brain, but she still likes it. I'm going to borrow an actual pattern from my friend so hopefully the next will be more accurate. But it was fun to create something anyway.

OK, the second part of this post is about Kaiya's shiner under her eye and the scratch on her nose! Yesterday, while Burke was at Priesthood session and I was sewing away, the kids decided to have a pillow fight in the computer room and Kaiya fell on the arm of the futon. Poor thing!!! It looked horrible and huge last night. So I had her put ice on it and this morning it's a bit better, but it's turning lots of fun colors. She is turning into my child who gets hurt a lot. It is not fun!