Our Week

On Monday, the kids didn't have school because of Presidents day.  The kids played with the neighbor girls during the day.  Later on we rented "A Dolphin's Tale" and watched it as a family.  . 

Tuesday evening was James' turn to make dinner again. He made stuff shells, garlic bread, and steamed broccoli.  We are really enjoying this family activity.  The boys love feeling in charge of the dinner on their day and seem to get a great sense of satisfaction, I really love watching them learn to cook and having that one on one time with them. Even Nathan is loving it.  He looks forward to seeing what the boys have made when he gets home from work that evening.

Wednesday was Abram's late night, we played Family Cranium.  You need two teams and there was only 3 of us so Abram played on both teams.  It was really fun.

Thursday was our cub scout's Blue and Gold Banquet.  This was the first one our ward has put on.  It turned out well.  The best part was the skits that each den put on.  Not only did we enjoy watching them -- they were pretty funny-- but the boys had a blast doing them.  My Wolf's did a skit called "sock soup".  Jarom's, the Bears, did JC Penny (Jarom was JC Penny), and James', the Webolos', did "The Invisible Bench".  

Friday night we had an enjoyable night out as a family eating at Chilli's.  We really are lucky to have boys that do so well at restaurants.  It makes it a lot of fun to go out.

We ended our week going to the play "Joseph and the Technical Color Dream Coat" put on in a small theater here in South Ogden.  We enjoyed the show and another evening out together.  To add to the fun of it all, Jacob, Joseph's father, was played by a customer's of Nathan's.    



Jarom Buddy



Abram and Porter watching from Daddy's lap



Nathan putting Lila to sleep

Porter and James on the stage after the show

Abram, Porter, Jarom, "Joseph", James, "Narrator"

Lila's 6 month pictures

Here is a link to some beautiful pictures of our little princess.

http://mpimages.smugmug.com/Children/Danica-Kester/21499276_tVsPWc#!i=1713855306&k=HZX2NH6

Daddy Daughter Moments

Nathan loves his baby girl!

He's known as the "Baby Hog" when he walks through the door. 

I love seeing him melt like putty in her presence.

Happy Valentines Day!

This morning the kids woke up to a Valentines from Nathan and I.

Along with the valentines cards and candy the kids took to school, they also took "We Love you Cookies" in a jar to their teachers.  We also made some for the neighbors since we never did neighbor Christmas gifts this year. 

Lila with the Valentines Cookies in a jar. 
The little cutie is constantly sticking her tongue out.

Our day was so busy that Nathan and I decided to go on a date and celebrate together a night next week.  I love all of my Valentines.  I am one lucky lady!

Family Home Evening, Making Homemade Donuts at Papa's

Papa and Grandma Nancy asked a family in their ward to come teach them how to make their delicious homemade donuts.  They decided to do it on a Monday eveing and invite our family to it. Papa asked us if we could bring the lesson.  It was Abram's turn.  I helped him with a cute little lesson on having a testimony in your heart.

After the lesson we played a few fun games including Papas Candybar game. 

Abram, Jarom, Porter, James

Porter in Daddy's lap and pretty Lila playing on the floor

When we were done with the lesson and games we came upstairs for some homemade donut fun!

Porter cutting out some donuts



James was the pro glazer



Grandma taste testing

A Kangaroo Zoo Saturday

After Jarom's basketball game today, James and Jarom were invited to Colton Nelsen's birthday party at Kangaroo Zoo, a fairly new bounce house here in Ogden.  We have never been so I asked Tracey, Colton's mom, if she wouldn't mind if Porter, Abram, and I tagged along.  The boys loved it! 

James and Abram





Porter

Field Work

This semester James and Jarom are studying Utah History in depth in school.  Right now they are focused on the Indians, mainly the Shoshone tribe.  Yesterday Lila and I went on field work to the Natural History Museum of Utah in their brand new building with James' class.  There they had nice "Native Voices" exhibit.

Gabe, Danica, Lila, James, Jo, and Katelin

BYU's Vocal Point Concert

James and Jarom went to their first Vocal Point Concert last night.  Vocal Point is a BYU a cappella group.  They are amazing and so entertaining.  President Uchtdorf was in the audience and sat just 4 rows behind us.  I wish we would have had the chance to shake his hand but it was neat to just see him in person. 

The concert couldn't have been more enjoyable.  We all loved it.  James and Jarom both now hope to be BYU football players and Vocal Point singers in college.  As we were leaving, they were asking if we could buy tickets to their next concert.  What a fun night out with our two biggest boys! 

James and Jarom meeting Ross Welch

Miss Lila is 6 Months Old

It is hard to believe that it has already been half of a year since

our little princess joined our family. 

 

 She always needs her hands busy with something.  She loves her family and eats up their attention, especially Daddy's.  She isn't sure about food yet (her best feeding was that first one we gave her a week and a half ago).  She is still an easy baby who hardly ever fusses.  And even with the cold that she just got over, she has been our best sleeper yet!

The other day Abram said to me, "Mom, you are as sweet as a pumpkin!"  A few minutes later he told me, "Mom, you are as sweet as a pumpkin and Lila is as sweet as pumpkin pie!" 

FHE, Abscessed Tooth, and Rolling Over - What A Week

A few weeks ago Jarom asked Abram if he wanted him to help with planning his lesson for Family Home Evening.  In there conversation I heard Jarom say, "Abram, I'm really good at planning the lessons."  I love that he has confidence in his ability to give a good lesson.  :)

Monday was Jarom's turn to give the lesson.  He found one that used puppets to tell the story of Jonah and the whale.  He did it all by himself, except asking me to help cut the pictures out.

Last week Abram winced while I was brushing his teeth.  I knew it was in an area where he had gotten a deep cavity filled a couple of months ago.  I asked him to open his mouth up wide so I could look at it.  There was a massive bump on his gums, above his filling.  When I asked him how long it had been hurting him, his response was, "Uhmmmm.....about 90 days." 

The next day I took him to the dentist and sure enough, the tooth was infected and needed to be pulled out.  Abram had such a rough time with his cavities being filled that he had been in tears all morning about the possibility of getting another shot.  This fear is probably why he hadn't told us his tooth had been hurting him in the first place.  Let's face it, "90 days" is a long time to go with a tooth hurting! 

I decided that we were going to take him to a Pediatric Dentist where they could seduce him. 

Today was the big day.  It was Nathan's day off so he was the one there with him the whole time.  I did go for the first little bit but had to take Porter and Beau home after a while.  We didn't realize that it would take the whole morning.  Abram was so brave and did a great job.  After looking in his mouth, taking another x-ray, and weighing him, they put him in this little room with a bean bag and a TV.  They brought in the medicine that would put him to sleep.  He downed it like a champ.  After that is when I left.  It was going to be another 45 minutes while we waited for the medicine to really be in effect. 

The next time I saw Abram was when he walked in the door at home around 12.  Porter, Beau, Abram and I watched Power Rangers together while Nathan went to the store to buy him some Cup of Soup and yogurt.  He then feel asleep for a couple of hours and woke up vanished.  He ate a big bowl of soup, a few bites of apple sauce, a yogurt, and a banana.  He then asked me if I would get down the freeze dried strawberries for him to snack on. 

 

During family scripture reading tonight, Miss Lila Tayte rolled over for the first time!  It was so fun that we all got to be there for the occasion.  Look how big our girl is getting!  We are loving every minute of her!