Gingerbread Houses

The Garner competition/tradition continues of gingerbread houses - this year Bryson and Kaitlyn separately chose a sports theme.

Mom helped Hailey with the graham cracker house but she did all the rest herself!

Alyssa did it all on her own with a lake for Dora the mermaid and then a house and a dog house.

Kaitlyn decided she wanted to do a bowling theme and made the tables with ketchup, mustard, and pizza and all. She had Kevin help her with the pins and lanes - they were a great team!

Bryson made a basketball arena with the score BYU 113 to Utah 111 with all the seats sold out. Grandma was a great help with assisting with the score board and crushing the jolly ranchers.

We loved having G&G Mumford here to be a part of this tradition with us!

Abraham Lincoln Museum

Memorial Day we met up with the Boyces in Springfield, Illinois and went to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. It was absolutely impressive. The 2 movies were very entertaining for kids and adults!

Bryson, Jeremy, Liam, and Seth; Bryson got to bring Jeremy home for the week and Kaitlyn got to go to Katya's for the week!

Turkey Run

Last Saturday we had a great hiking trip at Turkey Run State Park. Missionaries G&G Mumford got to meet us there since it was their P-day. Our good friends the Greenwoods came too. We had a great time! We couldn't keep the girls out of the water and Hailey still asks about finding more snakes!

Hard Working Kaitlyn

Now that the snow shoveling season is over, Kaitlyn decided she wanted to start mowing the lawn - it is impressive watching her - it is hard work for her to turn it but she is tough! She was so proud! (She also loved that dad gave her $2 - $1 for the front and $1 for a back - great deal for both)

Peeps

To continue with the Garner Peep Competition...


Alyssa made a flower with 2 birds

Kaitlyn did what I called wave running and she called riding the peeps with the bunnies watching


Bryson made a star destroyer and at-at walker



I made creative/talented kids:)

Awesome Author

Kaitlyn reading the book she wrote to her class titled "Magic Potion"!

Chicago

Brody is in Chicago for a few days for work so Kevin and I drove up just for the evening to play with him.

Sliding down the sculpture at Daley Plaza (an older lady was doing it and having her husband take photos after watching us have so much fun!)



Then of course it was all about the food - yummy cheese platter at Millenium Park and Grill!

Sweet Alyssa

This is Alyssa today!!!


This is Alyssa 2 days ago.
Alyssa got a nasty stomach bug and couldn't even keep a tablespoon of water down for over 48 hours. She also had a fever from a double ear infection. I took her to the doctor and they sent her to the hospital - she was dehydrated. She had to stay overnight in the hospital but is feeling great now. Thank goodness for zofran that made it so she could start to drink on her own and thank goodness for IVs to blast her system with fluids!

The hospital was so good to her - dvds, popsicles, slices of bread (what her request from the cafeteria was once she was doing better). They were also good to us, 2 food vouchers so we didn't have to leave Alyssa to eat, a bed for Kevin to sleep in and his own TV.

Alyssa had to wear the thing on her arm to make it so that the IV didn't get pulled out. Once she started feeling better she decorated it with stickers!

Later Friday night when she was beginning to feel better, she loved getting to raise and lower or bed and then even gave me a big smile which was a huge improvement from the previous 2 days.