Preschool Graduation

Zuri completed her preschool class and is ready for kindergarten in the fall.  Wow, hard to believe that she is getting so big already.  Zuri's teacher wrote me a sweet card and I know that Zuri will miss her.

I tried to get a picture with Zuri and her teachers, but it was facing the sun and Zuri wouldn't look up. 

It was fun watching Zuri interact with her class on the last day.  All the kids were outside for lunch, and they had a blanket spread out for the kids to sit on, which was really nice, but it was in the sun.  Zuri didn't like being in the sun, so she grabbed her lunch and sat in the shade next to a shed.  Less than five minutes later almost a third of her class had followed her.

She is really going to miss her friends from school.  She talks about them all the time.  I am proud of this little miss!

Party Time

We were planning on just doing one birthday party for Zuri and Kai this year, but it ended up turning into three.  We had one party with my mom, aunt, cousin, two of my sisters, and my brother.  The second party we had with J's parents, siblings, Shin and Heather, and HK and her family.  The last party we had with the Lucero side of my family.  We ended up having three parties because not everyone could come on the original day, and it ended up just migrating into three different parties, but it all worked out.  Zuri got to blow out candles on the cake three different times, so she was happy about that (and she had three different cakes).

Next year, I don't care who can make it--one party.  We did have fun, though--it was just a lot of work.

Zuri's big present this year was a trampoline.  We unveiled it at the second party (it was actually a last minute idea--we were toying with the idea of a big pool, a swing set, or a trampoline, and we found a good deal on a trampoline, so we got it), and we actually wanted it to be a surprise, but she and the other kids came out while we were setting it up.  


The first cake.  She actually chose it.

The pony puzzle book her Aunt Breanna gave her.

Mom rocked Kai to sleep.  Poor little guy was tuckered out.  He fights sleep so much.

Party #2, and cake #2 (and #3).  The store manager's daughter was taking a baking class and offered to do the cakes for Zuri.  Luckily she did two, and we saved the barbie one for the last party.  They turned out so wonderful!

Excited for her presents

Enjoying her new trampoline with her cousins

Cake #3.  This was the one she was looking forward to the most.


Kai's new shades.  These will be really handy when we go out so the sun doesn't bother him so much.

Aviary

Zuri's preschool gave out free family tickets for the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake.  We had an extra family pass, so my sister and her family came along with us.  She had never been to the aviary before, so it was fun for all!  We ran into one of Zuri's classmates, and they were both so excited to see each other.  This age can be so fun. 

After the looking at all the birds, we took a ride on the carousel, then the kids played around in Liberty Park for a while. 






Kai was content as long as we were moving

The peacocks wandered all over the place.  It was pretty amazing how close they wandered to the kids, who of course wanted to touch them.

Scooter Time

 A few weeks ago my sister and I went garage sale shopping in Daybreak, and I picked up this scooter for Zuri for only $1.50.  Score!  She loves it!  I guess Daybreak only allows its residents two garage sales per year--once in the spring and once in the fall, so there were lots of families looking to get rid of their stuff.  Wow, strict, but it was fun for us to go!  We were there by seven am and I couldn't believe how many people were already there!  I am not normally much of a garage sale shopper, but it was fun to look around, and I was able to pick up a few things for the kids. 

Playing Catch

Some father-daughter time in the backyard, back when our apple tree still had pretty blossoms on it.  Now all the trees are nice and green, but the wind has stripped away all the flowers.  When you look into our backyard, all you can see is a sea of green.  We have the grass, the trees, and along the top of the fence, a green vine (unfortunately it hadn't bloomed yet in the picture), and the green from the park and gully.  It is so pretty. 

Mother's Day

Look what my grandparents sent me for Mother's Day!  I have the best grandparents in the world--I am so blessed!

Eye of Red

This was a conversation between J and Zuri one day:
Z: Daddy, what color are your eyes?  (She loves to quiz people, especially when she knows the answer)
J: My eyes are blue
Z: Right.  What color are mommy's eyes?
J: Mommy has green eyes.
Z: Right.  What color are my eyes?
J: Blue.
Z: Good job, Daddy!  What color are Kai's eyes?
J: Blue.
Z: No...Kai has one blue eye and one red eye!

Well, who can argue with that!  The truth is, Kai's eye draws a lot of attention.  I would think that all the tubes and the loud machines would be the first thing people notice or comment about, but nope, it is Kai's eye, which is actually really funny because most of the time when we are out in public with him, he has his arm over his eyes because he doesn't like the bright light.

Torture Device?

When we moved from Utah county to Salt Lake county, we switched from Kids on the Move (KOTM), to Jordan Child Development Center (JCDC), which meant that we needed to return the stander and bather that KOTM let us use.  We received a new bather pretty quickly, but they customized a stander for Kai, which took a little longer.

The new stander was ready at the end of March, just before we went to Arizona.  The OT came while we were on vacation and showed the nurses how to use it, and then when we got back, she showed me.  The first time we put Kai in the stander (with me there), he was a little less than enthusiastic.  He alternated between crying one moment, and content blowing raspberries the next.

I don't know if it is the positioning of the stander or if he was just happened to be more vocal that day, but we could hear his cries (most of the time when he cries it is silent) and it distressed Zuri greatly.  She became very upset with me (and the OT) and wouldn't leave the chair next to Kai.  She kept yelling at me to stop hurting Kai.

I tried to point out to her that he wasn't constantly upset, and showed her when he was fine, but she still didn't like it.  She wasn't okay until Kai was taken out of the stander. 




Because the stander is such a big device, it will not fit through a standard doorway, so it remains a big eyesore in our family room.  I have tried one other time to put Kai in it while Zuri is around, and even though he tolerates the stander better (there are days when he will go about 15-20 minutes without fussing), she still gets very anxious and upset when I bring it over to his area.  I have found it easier to put Kai in the stander when Zuri is at school.

With Zuri's school ending this week, it will be interesting to see how the summer works out!

April 2013 Conference

Conference this spring was a bit on the chilly side; there were rumors of snow, but the most we received was rain.  We had a small group this time: just Dad, my Uncle Francis, Shin, Heather, J, Zuri and I, but it was nice to have us all together.

Once again we heard some wonderful talks which helped to strengthen and lift us.





Zuri's favorite part of Conference was of course in between the sessions, running around and playing!  During the sessions, Shin and Heather helped to keep her occupied, and she made it through all four without a problem!





"Grandpa, will you play with me?"

Fun With Grandpa

My dad came in a few days before General Conference this spring, and we were able to spend a little bit of time with him.  Zuri really enjoyed the time she had--her favorite thing (other than hide and seek) was to play blocks.  We have the giant lego blocks that she and Dad will play with for hours. 

Chasing each other.

I got Grandpa!


She loves to show off this move, and asked Grandpa if he could do it....Sure enough, at 53, my dad can do it too!  Not too shabby!

Egg Hunting

After slot canyon, we went back to Steve's, and while the guys went fishing, the rest of us created an Easter egg hunt for the little kids.  Each kid had their own basket (Zuri was purple) and all the eggs had a sticker on them.  Each child looked for his/her own sticker (Zuri had Dora).  It ensured that all the kids had an even amount of eggs, and all the kids had a blast looking for their own sticker.  Toward the end, they even helped each other when it became harder for them to find the eggs.






This was the best picture with all the kids.  It is hard to get them all looking and smiling at the camera at the same time!

Meanwhile, the guys caught 28 fish in under two hours--so, guess what was for dinner that night?



Sunday morning, we all got up and went to church.  After church J, Zuri, Adilynn and I all drove home (we had to get back for Kai).  We dropped off Adilynn at home with her grandma, and continued on home.  It would have been nice if we had been able to stay for a few more hours, but it was nice to get home at a decent hour.  We had lots of fun on our family vacation and hope to return to Page sometime soon!

Slot Canyon

Saturday, March 30th, J's uncle took us through some slot canyons on the Navajo reservation.  We had to stop and get permission to go through the land.  The hike itself was a more of an advanced hike.  We did some free style rock climbing (meaning no gear), and there were parts where we had to shimmy ourselves up by having our feet on one end of the wall and our backs on the other.  We even had to army crawl under a big boulder.  It was a blast, and the view in the canyons was more than worth it!  We brought the kiddies with us, and Steve said that he has led teenagers through there that didn't do as well as the kids did!

We went through two different slot canyons during our hike, ending in a big cavern that reached over two hundred vertical feet straight up.  It was amazing.

The hardest part of this post was trimming down all the pictures.  J and I both took some amazing pictures and I would love to post them all, but that would be just too much!  I originally picked my 67 favorite, trimmed it down to 35, uploaded those, and then condensed it to what you see on this post--so enjoy!


A view of the canyons from midpoint as we were climbing down.  The day was slightly cooler than Friday, when we were hiking the toadstools, but the majority of our hike was also inside the slot canyons, so it was perfect temperature for us--and the slot canyons provided the perfect amount of shade!


This is where we hiked down.  If you look toward the top of the picture (where the loose rocks begin), you can see the ladder we climbed in order to make it past the sheer drop from one section to the other.  This was perhaps the most treacherous part of our hike, and the picture really doesn't do the steepness of the cliff justice.


These shots are along the hike before we get into the slot canyon.  Can you see the face?  Eerie, isn't it?

This one reminds me of a grumpy old man.


When we were inside the slot canyon, this was the part that we had to scale up the wall in order to continue through.

At another section, we had to shimmy our way under this boulder.  You can see that even a two year old has to bend to make it through, so imagine what it was like for the adults--but it  was fun!


I see you!  Zuri poking through another path in the slot canyon.

This was the side Zuri was on.


Our main destination.  I tried to get a good scope of the 200 foot sheer cliff, and show how J decided to climb up on a small ledge.  I had some other photos of the round cavern and the top of the cliff, which were pretty neat, but they ended up getting the cut as I was trying to reduce the amount of pictures in the post.

Maria and Nolan climbed up as well--they were all given boosts in order to make it up, because as you can see, it is a pretty sheer side and not much to hold on to as they climbed.


Whenever we stopped along the way, Zuri would find sticks and "plant trees."  She would get very upset if anyone messed with her "trees."  The kids really didn't care about the slot canyon; they were more interested in finding lizards and playing in the dirt, and of course, "planting trees."

The next series of pictures are all through our hike through the slot canyon.  There were some very narrow passages, where it barely fit one person, then there were other sections that we could walk side by side.  Smooth stone, rough stone.  Areas where the sun shone just right and we had some red hue to the canyon, and areas where things had been washed through.  We found the carcass of a fox, and the skull of a larger bird.

The very last picture was taken on our way back out of the canyon, and Emery is running toward us.  You can get an idea of the narrowness and height of the canyon.  It was all so amazing and so beautiful.  I wish that we had had more time to explore.