And Summer has Begun

Somehow it is the middle of June and I missed posting anything in May. May was actually a bit of a blur. Towards the beginning I told the girls we couldn't cut their hair until after their dance performance. The dance performance came and went and we still missed getting their hair cut because I got really sick with E. coli. It was awful. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.... ever. The day after the dance performance (which happened to be on Hannah's birthday) Hannah and I went to Salt Lake with my parents, but, on Hannah's birthday I went to my first prenatal doctor's appointment. Yep, we are expecting #6 in December. Anyway, we headed down to Salt Lake and I wasn't feeling too fabulous. I thought that it had to be something more than just pregnancy. As it turned out, that was the beginning effects of the E. coli.  I still don't know how I got it.

While down in Salt Lake Hannah and I went to lunch with my mom and some of her friends, and then we got our toenails painted. After that, my mom dropped me off at a rehearsal for an orchestra put together of people that have been led by Jack Ashton, my former high school orchestra teacher. It was great fun and I am so glad I did it, even if I was very sick. After the rehearsal there was some finger food and pizza. Little did I know that that pizza would be my last real food for about two and a half weeks. After the performance, which my mom loved and kept thanking me for letting her be a part of my life, Hannah and I took the shuttle back to Idaho Falls and got home about 2:00 in the morning. We had fun and I am glad I was able to be with Hannah. The next week my mother-in-law came to help with the kids while I was sick. She ended up staying for three days and then on the last day of school took the kids with her back to her house for a week. That was fun for the kids and great for me. The kids got to spend time with their cousins who had been in Korea for a year.

So after finding out I am pregnant, I decided to be the new PTO president for next year. We are getting a new principal and I hear she is wonderful and I can't wait to meet her and work with her. So that about sums up May. Now that we are in to June, Hannah has summer school four days a week, and all of the kids just finished up two weeks of swimming lessons. Hyrum has T-ball two days a week. He really loved it at first, but with four games left,  he is done and keeps letting me know. I will have him finish, but I'll let him decide for next year if he wants to do that again. 

In July, my sister, Andrea, and I will be doing another 5k on the 4th. This will be our 4th one together. She told me she probably wasn't going to run it, she'll be walking it. I told her that I was going to be walking it as well. Maybe we will actually finish together this time. That only happened on the first race we did together. I have also signed up my family for another 5k for July 21. It is the one in Iona and this will be our 4th time doing this one as well. After that 5k we will head to St. George a few days later for Robert's brother's wedding. July will be good and I am excited to be taking trips in our new 12 passenger van! We just got it last night and I am very excited. The kids were sad to see our other van go, but they are also very excited about this one. We have a friend that we traded with (plus us giving them some money), but they were ready for something smaller and we are ready for something bigger. It is a good way to tell people that I am pregnant.

I hope to post pictures later, because let's face it, blogs are more entertaining with pictures, but this will have to do for now. Life is good.

What have we been up to?

Time for another post from the Idaho Esplin Clan. We had an enjoyable spring break and Easter and the kids are really enjoying their last few months at school. Last Thursday I joined Hannah's class on a field trip to the museum. Right now the exhibit is "A T-Rex Named Sue". The whole school actually got to go. Molli's class went in the morning. She said she had fun and the dinosaur was smaller than she thought it would be. I still thought it was pretty big. Michael's class was there at the same time as Hannah's, so we saw him a bit.

Hyrum will be doing T-ball in June and I hope he enjoys it. I want him to realize there is more to do than playing on the computer. He does like to draw and he is getting good at his name. Evan is even to the point that he knows an E and A are in his name, but he doesn't know what they are called. Here is a picture of Hyrum so proud that he can spell his name with play-dough:

We had a fun time at the cabin in Island Park for Spring Break. The kids were all sick at one point or another, but we had fun all the same. We are glad Grandma and Grandpa came to join us.

The Loft - it was hard to get up to and hard to get down. Luckily, Grandpa is tall

Evan making a snow angel

Sledding down the hill

Painting their own race cars

Finished products

Our Cabin was perfect and just what I was hoping it would look like - thanks for the upgrade :)

First of three Easter Egg hunts and one basket hunt - Thanks Grandma :)

Hyrum not feeling too well

View from upstairs into the living room

Grandpa helping with Michael's Pinewood Derby car

It's getting there.....

... And it's done!

Having fun in the hot tub the last night we were there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two pictures are of the Easter Basket hunt the kids had at our house. I made bread bunnies and used leftover Halloween candy. Success :) I did a scavenger hunt for them to find their baskets. Each was in a different part of the house.

Getting ready to go on the 2nd Easter egg hunt, this time with Daniel and Erika at Grandma's house

And they are off!

And at their 3rd Easter Egg hunt at the church

 

Finally, we got some nice weather in Idaho Falls and I took advantage of it. I took Evan and Hyrum to the Zoo. I thought, "My goodness, I have a lot of these pictures of these things at the Zoo." But then I realized that it is with different kids and that makes it all worth it. So here is the Zoo.

 And here is another day near the Snake River on the green belt. Hyrum and that dragon suit are a constant thing lately.

That about sums up our April and end of March. Life is Good

As Promised...Christmas :) and a few other 'Wuz Ups'

Since it has been over a month, I have decided to try to post again. For Christmas 2011 we headed down to Hyde Park to be with Robert's family and it was enjoyable. We spent about four days there and then came back to Idaho Falls to ring in the New Year. New Year's Eve we started a new tradition with our family to watch a movie together on Friday nights. It started because New Year's Eve was on a Friday and the kids wanted to stay up to midnight. We did a marathon of Free Willy movies and the second one ended about two minutes after midnight. "Happy New Year's kids, nothing that exciting happens at mid-night. Now you know. Now go to bed." That is close to what I told them, but watching the movies has stuck, not until midnight, by any means, but to 8:30 or so.


Back to Christmas, we headed down on December 23 and I decided to take the older three kids on a bus ride. Robert wanted to go to the temple so we all drove there and then after Robert went in the rest of us walked around a bit and then took the bus back to Hyde Park.

We did the Nativity play and everyone had a part to play. The kids really look forward to that every year, whether it's just us, or extended family as well.

Then it was Christmas Morning :) ...........

Well, this might have been the tree on Christmas Eve, but you get the idea.

I think the kids were all very happy with their gifts, as was I. I got a new music stand and Robert got a cool picture of a Phoenix from Rebecca that she painted.

We hung around for two more days and headed out after Daniel's birthday celebration. We are excited for Daniel's news of his engagement and can't wait to head on down to St. George in July for his and Erika's wedding.

Life just keeps moving on and things are going well. We are heading to a cabin next week in Island Park (1.5 hours away) for Spring Break. I think we will have to bring our tubes and sleds, but we are all looking forward to it anyway.

One last thing, the other day a friend of mine asked me if Michael was trying to grow a mullet. The answer is no, he actually mentioned he wants to grow it to 8 inches long so that he can donate it to a group called "Children with Hairloss." We will see what happens, but I plan on getting  mine, Hannah's and Molli's cut about 8 inches each to donate to that cause and that is where Michael got the idea. We will probably get our hair cut sometime shortly after Hannah's birthday on May 11. Molli and Hannah have their last dance recital that day so I want it long then to be able to pull it into a bun.

Life is good.

Hyrum and Evan were having fun taking pictures with the camera, so I decided to add a few.

Here is a good picture of Molli's long hair.

Molli and Michael decorated our door for Valentine's Day (at 2:00 in the morning), but it was so sweet to wake up to.

Hyrum's new birthday toy