2019 A Year of Change

Our little family has had a lot of changes in 2019.  We started out the year with Kadee having regional and state cheer competitions.  Her team took 3rd overall which is amazing considering they were the only middle school competing with Junior High Schools.  She also became a teenager, the big 1-3!!  I can't believe I have 2 teenagers in the house, if I think about it too much it makes me sad, they are growing up way to fast.

Connor made the middle school basketball team and got to start Varsity.  This year was tough for him because he didn't feel like the coach liked him very much and for some reason the coach had him sit the bench a lot.  Although it was hard to watch, it pushed him to work harder and he has excelled at basketball so much this year.  8th grade was definitely a year of growth for Connor and he did a lot of maturing through the school year.

March brought warmer weather and the Wellington Elementary Spring Music concert.  This was Matthew's first year performing and he was so cute up on stage.  Kinlee had a duet with her best friend Kaydree and loves to be on stage and the center of attention.  March was also the beginning of competition season for dance.  Kinlee's first competition was in Richfield so we made reservations and stayed in a hotel with just Kinlee.  We taught her about the birds and the bees and took her to dinner at a delicious Chinese restaurant there.  She loved the one on one time and asked if we could make it a tradition every year.  Matthew started basketball and hated every minute of it!  He is really good at sports and the age group he was in was for kids who were just learning the basics so he got really bored.  I decided that next year I'll play him up so he can be in a more competitive league.

April the weather started to warm up.  We celebrated Grandma Rhea's birthday with dinner and cake at Debbie's, Kadee wrapped up the cheer season, and Kinlee had a dance competition in St. George.  We love to go to St. George and stay with Lorla, it's one of our favorite traditions.  After the dance competition we headed to California for some Disneyland fun!!  We started out at Huntington Beach with lunch at Ruby's Diner on the pier.  The next few days we spent at Disneyland having the time of our lives.  Nana Kelli and Papa Gary came with us, but they decided Disneyland wasn't for them and spent most of their time doing other things.  They did go with us to Universal Studios but after all the fun at Disneyland it was kind of a let down.  After Universal nana and papa took Matthew and Kinlee back to the hotel to swim and Rory and I took Connor and Kadee to a Jazz game at the staples center. It was so fun to watch our home team on an away court, but LA is a little scary at night!  We spent our final day at Disneyland and I cried when we had to leave.  It was just so wonderful spending so much time with my family.  It seems like we are all running in different directions and don't always get a chance to connect like I want to.  Disneyland was so great because the kids built bonds and I got to witness the way they interact with each other as they are getting older.    After Disneyland we packed up the camp trailer and went camping out Clark's valley for Easter.  It was nice and warm and dirty, just the way the kids like to camp!

May, June, and July went by in a whirl.  We had concerts, dance recitals, baseball, camping, Wellington Pioneer days, and more that I can't think of.  It was crazy busy but I love our busy life, it actually terrifies me to think I will someday be an empty nester and not have something to do all the time. 

August was amazing!  We spent a week in Yellowstone and it was absolutely breathtaking.  I had never been before and was fascinated by all the buffalo, elk, deer, bear, eagles, and even a wolf.  We had an amazing excursion on the Yellowstone River and spending that time with Rory and the kids was priceless.

About 3 weeks ago I had surgery to remove 8 inches of my small intestine.  I had a blockage over Thanksgiving weekend and it was one of the most awful things I've ever experienced.  They did a CT Scan and it showed that my Crohn's had blocked off that portion of my intestines and they had to be removed.  I spend 4 days in the hospital after my surgery and have barely started to feel like myself again.  Surgery is hard.  Not just physically, but mentally.  I had such a hard time staying down and got anxious and depressed.  I'm finally coming out of it, but it was a long few weeks.  I'm so grateful for my family and friends that checked on my and helped me through this difficult time.