Summer Fun 2011

Now that I have some more pictures to post, I can update my blog. We just got back from a 3.5 day family reunion to Joseph, UT. Affectionately known as "Joseph Smith", Utah by Molli.  She said that was the only way she could remember it :).

The kids were great travelers for the 7 or so hour drive one way and we only stopped once on the way down in Nephi and once on the way back in Filmore. They had a fun Christmas in July provided by Nana and Papa and we had a great time just being together.

There were 24 of us all together in an old renovated church that is now a vacation rental. There were six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a great size kitchen, and a game room that was very large. We were one house away from a park and we even got to go geo-caching and find some treasures.

The cousins waiting to go in the room for Christmas in July

Andrea and Evan

The Old Church

All 24 of us for a family picture

Molli and Jaycen - cousins

We also went to Cove Fort on our way out and enjoyed the tour around. Molli loved taking pictures of the things that reminded her of "Little House on the Prairie."

The day before we headed out on this adventure to Joseph, we all participated in the Iona Days 5k. Michael stayed ahead of the rest of us, then Robert came in with Evan and Hyrum, followed by me, Molli, and Hannah about ten minutes later. I was just glad we finished :).

Just before the 5K

Me, Molli, and Hannah finishing together

Just for fun - we got a message in our mailbox awhile back for the mail carrier who told us to get a new mailbox. Ours had been hit at least two times and was not really functional anymore, so we got a new one. Evan and Hyrum enjoyed playing "Robots" with the box :

It has been a great summer so far and life is good :)

Summer in Full Swing

I finally have a few minutes to catch up on this last day of June. Molli and Hannah have been in summer school for four days a week since school got out and today was their last day. This week the older three kids have been busy with a science camp and they have enjoyed that very much. Today is the last day of that as well. Michael has been taking gymnastics for a few weeks and I think he is having fun.  This weekend we will head down to Salt Lake for the 4th of July festivities down there. July will be less chaotic and slower as swimming lessons and family reunions will take up the majority of the month. 

We took a trip to the zoo at the end of May and it was still

cold enough to wear winter coats (or so the boys thought.)

Hannah had a great time with her dance class.

She is the line leader at their performance.

She was happy to have gotten a trophy.

We had a "girls night out" when Robert took the boys on a father/ son's outing.

The girls wanted matching pajamas. :)

I was in "The Sound of Music" orchestra pit for the past week and a half. I really do look forward to playing my violin for those. Molli and I did a musical number at church the other day. I accompanied Molli on the piano while she sang. She really did do a great job, I , on the other hand, really don't look forward to playing the piano in public.  Life is good :)

Spring Break in Utah

Not too much is going on these days. I was busy with Activity Day Girls for a while, but got released about a month ago. I have been in the Primary Presidency for 4 fabulous months, but got released from that a week later.  I went from having about four callings down to none in four months. Pretty impressive.

Lately, I have been having fun entering contests on facebook and actually won one for a free photo shoot in Salt Lake.  Good thing we went to Salt Lake about a week and a half ago to take advantage of this win, and for Spring Break. We got the pictures taken at Wheeler Farm and here are a few:

I think they turned out pretty cute and a big thanks to Kyra at KC Photography for her skill and patience with my five kids.

For Spring Break Robert got to go to Florida while the rest of us went to Salt Lake and Hyde Park, Utah. Iin Salt Lake, my mom and I went to a play with a friend - A Tale of Two Cities - at the Hale Theater. It was really good. The kids got to spend the night at Aunt Celeste's house with her dog Marty. We also got to take a tour of the Conference Center and Beehive House on Temple Square.

 The roof of the Conference Center

Inside the Conference Center

Another fun outing was to Tracy Aviary with Aunt Andrea, Nana, and "Aunt" Lindsay:

I have another cute picture from Tracy Aviary of Michael behind a peacock, but it is on my phone and I will transfer it some time.  Hyde Park was fun, too. The kids had fun with Grandma and Grandpa for a night while Robert and I headed to a hotel for the one night he was back from Florida and before he headed back to Idaho Falls.

Michael and Molli will start their soccer games next Saturday and Hannah has a dance recital in May. Life is good and Spring is finally almost here.

Happy New Year!

 I figure since I haven't updated our blog since November 30th, then I can still wish everyone a happy new year and all the newness that comes with it. :)

We celebrated Michael's birthday in December and it was his first "friend's" party...everything Harry Potter. I wish I would have taken pictures of their Quiddich game, or their wand duels, but this was the best I could do:

Michael's Harry Potter Cake (Notice Michael is in the picture, too)

Michael getting ready to blow out his candles

 

Michael and crew with their Quiddich brooms

 

We have not been up to anything new. Christmas was here at our house with my sister, Robert's mom and dad, and two brothers.  The kids had a great time and I am thankful for family. 


I gave the kids a challenge to read the Book of Mormon everyday for two weeks and we would go to a hotel here in town with a swimming pool.  They did a great job and continue even now to read their scriptures (everyday is still a bit of a challenge). We went to a close hotel (me, my sister, and the three oldest kids) and even went bowling nearby. 

Robert's grandma passed away a week before Christmas, so he took the younger boys to Orem for the funeral, and then took them to Logan while we were at the hotel.  The weather was aweful or we would have joined them in Logan later.

Here are a few other things we have been up to in the past two months.  I gave Michael and Hyrum a haircut:

                     

Before

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After

Before

After

Activity Girls at their sledding activity

Hyrum and Evan ran into each other and Hyrum ended up with seven stitches

Evan ended up with a nice size goose egg on his head

 

 

 

 

That about sums up the last two months for us. We hope to see Robert's sister and her family before they head out on a new job assignment in Korea.  They will be leaving sometime in May, that is also when his younger sister comes home from her mission to Indiana.  Life is good :)

Life is Good :)

What a busy two months we have had here at the Esplin house.  A couple weeks after we got back from Italy, I went to Texas for five days to go to a Time Out  for Women in Plano.  I stayed at my sister's house in Austin, then went to Dallas and spent two nights there, and ended back at my sister's house again.  It was nice to get away all by myself and know that things were well taken care of at home.  It was also nice to come back and be a better mom and wife.

My pictures are not where they should be, so when Robert comes home I will upload some pictures.  However, after Texas, I headed a family fundraiser night at Taco John's with a coloring contest and that was a success.  During that time I also was putting together orders for 72 hour kits for our ward and picking up the items and that was a big undertaking as well.

Halloween was fun.  The kids actually enjoyed it this year. Hannah was five different things, Molli was Hermione and Michael was Harry Potter.  The younger two just happened to be anything that was around.  They had a parade at their school and parties in their class rooms (another thing I was in charge of was getting parents to help out with all of the parties in each classroom). There was no school on Friday, but the kids got to go trick-or-treating at Robert's work.  We tried to go to "Trick-or-Treat Street" at Snake River Landing, but that was a mess and we never did find the end of the line. Saturday was the Trunk-or Treat at the church and the kids ended up with so much candy.  We still have some left even a month later.

After Halloween, I was put in charge of taking orders for a canning activity the young men and young women were putting together. During this time was another fundraiser at the school for Texas Roadhouse Rolls. Note to self -- this was a great fundraiser, almost too good.  Next time it won't be right before Thanksgiving.

In the mean time, I have had a few activities with my girls for my calling as Activity Day leader of the 10 and 11 year olds. Right before Thanksgiving I was released from my preparedness  calling and put in as the second councilor in the Primary Presidency, still retaining my Activity Day Leader position for the time being.

Thanksgiving was a nice break.  After finishing up with the passing out of the rolls on Monday, I headed down to Hyde Park, UT with my kids to be joined later by Robert.  We spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house then headed to Salt Lake the next day. After spending the night at Nana and Papa's house, we headed back up to Hyde Park for Thanksgiving day with Robert's family and friends.

Now we are back in Idaho Falls and I am preparing my four violin students for a recital coming up on the 19th of December. We are spending Christmas here and the kids are so excited for each new day.  Life is good and I am so thankful to live where I live, when I live, and how I live.

Italy

So, September came and went and I didn't blog at all. At least I did something fun and have pictures for it. Robert and I went to Italy two weeks ago and had a great time. He had a conference to go to and decided it would be more fun if I tagged along. He gave me a weeks notice to leave the country and our five kids at home with Grandma. I must say I was rather excited to be going to Europe for the first time. We were gone the week of September 15 - 22. We flew from Idaho Falls to SLC, to Chicago, to Rome, to Naples. Our hotel in Naples was right across the street from the Gulf of Naples and it was great. His conference was just down the road and most things were in walking distance.

On Friday he had a presentation to give and that is the main reason we went. His boss decided that he had done enough traveling for a while and sent Robert in his place for this presentation. His presentation lasted 8 1/2 minutes, we went clear over to Europe for an 8 1/2 minute presentation. There were other presenters from all over the world. Robert was at an advantage because everyone had to speak in English and that is what most people did not have as their first language. Including me, there were three Americans at this conference of over 100 people.

Robert made it to most of the conference and there was also a welcoming party the first night, a banquet the second night, and a trip to a buried city from lava the third day. The pizza is definitely different from what we have over here, and the other food is good, too, but I think I am too used to the American version of spaghetti and such. We had a good time being tourists on Sunday going to church and Monday going to Capri and souvenir shopping. We came home starting in Naples, to Rome, to New York, to SLC, then Idaho Falls. It took me about three days to get back to being not so tired and crabby to my kids. Thanks to Robert's work for sending us and to Grandma for watching the kids. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

The sunrise from the airplane going in to Rome

The View from our hotel window

Robert and me at the Herculeneum with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

The castle of Naples

Robert touching the Sea

Molli's Baptism

We had a wonderful day yesterday. Molli turned eight and was baptized by her dad the same day! It doesn't happen often that you get to be baptized on your birthday. She made such a cute baptismal candidate, but maybe I am being biased.

Robert was able to go to the temple in the morning and we still made it to the church with plenty of time to spare. I was asked to speak at the baptism and I am thankful for that opportunity. Another 8 year old from our ward was also baptized yesterday, his name is JB. With both families together we packed the baptistery with standing room only. I really enjoyed being able to watch Molli get baptized from the side of the font. When Robert started the prayer, the room was silent. When Molli came out of the water she was smiling from ear to ear, as was I. After she came up the steps and got wrapped in her new towel (her primary teachers brought it over an hour before the baptism), we stood atop the steps and watched JB get baptized. Once again, when the prayer started, the room was silent.

I am thankful for the priesthood in my life and for a husband who worthily honors it. I helped Molli get dressed real fast and we headed over to another room for hers and JB's confirmations. They both received wonderful blessings. We didn't get a family picture at the baptism, but I hope to get one soon with Molli in her dress. We did take some of Molli in her dress earlier so here is one of those:


Another exciting thing happened this past week as well. On Monday, Molli lost her first tooth. She was pretty nervous about it being loose at first, but everything turned out alright.


Molli is a wonderful oldest sister and enjoys making others happy. She is a great help and loves to learn. She has a fun time playing "school" and "house" with her younger brothers and sister and is a great example to them. I am so glad that eight years ago Molli entered our lives, howbeit two months early, her life is a miracle. She is exactly what her name Maligaya means - joy and happiness and I am proud of her.