Easter Week!

Kolay is almost 4 months old! She is the happiest girl, still smiling at anyone and everyone. She loves to talk back to you now and can find and follow voices across the room. She is starting to like standing up in your lap and likes to sit in the Bumbo so she can look around. She and kason spend lots of time together under the jungle mat. She is starting to grab toys! She can also keep her binky in a little better when she is sitting up which is exciting, although most of the time she prefers not to have it. She had started sleeping only about 4 hours a night this week. She must be growing because her car seat is starting to get really heavy!! She is still pretty fair-skinned and blue-eyed with a little bit of hair, dark in back and lighter on top. She had a very round little belly, and she is ready to be out of size 1 diapers!

Kason is 21-months old and is learning new things everyday. His new words lately are "pretties" (for any jewelry, sparkles on shirts, or Kolay's accessories), "belly" (always followed by a big slap on Kolay's stomach), "keek-a-boo" (always plays peekaboo with Kolay), Hesston, and "teef" (teeth). He can get the fridge open and finds his own "nack!" (Snack). He likes to put on Kolay’s headband and say “Pretty!”. He is also starting to say small phrases like "I want drink" or "where's Rope?" He is always asking where his cousins and Rope and Brand are. Kolt taught him to try to close himself in the fridge which he loves to do now. He is still our outside kid and isn't ever content unless he is outside, unless of course you can turn on Frozen fast enough to catch his attention or throw him in the bath. He is a sponge right now, repeating and copying everything we do. At Kolt's mission reunion Friday, he shouted "Cheese!!" in the silence and gave everyone a good laugh.

We have had an exciting week. Last Sunday, when I got in the car to drive home, it did not sound good. I waited for Kolt to come out and we decided to drive it straight to the mechanic in Iona. After describing the sound we heard, he didn't sound very optimistic. My little gold 1997 Toyota Camry had over 243K miles on it and has been with me everywhere since high school. Fortunately, we planned for this and so we were able to begin car shopping. We felt really fortunate to find a great car for us at Giles and Johnson Automart. We got a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer. We are excited that it is big enough for our family to grow and that it doesn't have very many miles. We feel like it is great for our family and we love it, although we are adjusting to the loss in gas mileage. Nevertheless, we are very happy!

Over the last month, Kolt and I have really been trying to work on eating healthy and exercising, both of which Kolt is doing much better than me at. While Kolt has been doing great at doing a T25 daily, my exercise most days consists of keeping up with Kason. Both of us have been trying to do a combination of eating a little healthier, drinking more water, and watching our portions. So far, I have officially made it back to me pre-baby weight, and Kolt has lost 10 pounds. It has been fun for us to get more motivated and have more energy.

On Wednesday, I had month end at work with my mom and Kolay and kason and Kolt helped Great Grandpa and Grandma Piquet in their yard. It was a pretty smooth close, so I couldn't complain. After work, I came home, made chicken cordon blue for dinner, made a dessert for the Relief Society activity, and realized I didn't have a favorite item for the activity. My dad ran to the store to get some peach rings for the activity. Unfortunately, I had to leave for my volleyball practice  before I could share it. We had a good practice at Bonneville and my girls did a good job of playing with the 14s team in a scrimmage at the end of practice. Kolt took his new horse, Winchester, that he picked up on Monday, to get his feet trimmed. Grandma piquet watched Kason and Kolay at the horse while they worked outside. Kolt loves working with horses and has 3 really good ones to work on this summer. He has been doing lots of ground work this week and making lots of progress already.

Thursday was another busy day. I printed checks at work with Kolay in the morning. Kolt got the oil changed in both vehicles. I hurried home for Evans piano lesson. I drove the new car home, left the keys in the car, shut the door without locking, walked around to get Kolay and released the doors had locked. It took me about 3 seconds to realize that Kolay was locked inside the car and we hadn't made a spare key yet. The next 30 minutes were extremely long! Kolt tried to break in, a neighbor came to help while we waited for our locksmith mechanic and once he got there it took about 7 minutes which felt like an hour. Phew!! Needless to say, Kolt drove straight to make several copies of the key so we don't ever have to do that again. Unfortunately I distinctly remember not locking the door, so this car might be a little smarter than us. I read in the manual that it has a cool automatic locking feature when someone "bumps" the car from the outside, so we are just taking the keys with us from now on. Kolt spent the rest of the evening studying at school.

On Friday Kolt shadowed in the morning and I got ready for our trip to utah. Kolt had a mission reunion in salt lake that evening. We had a great drive in the new vehicle. Kason watched frozen and took a big nap. We stopped at smith and Edwards and of course found a few too many things! We got to the reunion early enough to change into our church clothes and help set up. We enjoyed seeing old mission companions and Kolt's mission president who he loves dearly. Kason had a good time running through the halls of the institute building and Kolay had a great time being held by missionaries and their wives. We were excited to have one other baby there this year! The food was catered by Magelbys and it was delicious! We decided to drive straight home that night. The kids took a while to fall asleep but once they did, they stayed asleep til late Saturday morning. Kolt and I enjoyed listening to some old CDs in the car and relishing in our younger years.

Saturday morning we got up and listened to general conference. I surprised Kolt and kason with easter bunny pancakes for breakfast before the session. I also made Easter egg fruit pizzas for Aunt Karlas Easter egg hunt between sessions. Kason had a blast gathering the "footballs" (what he calls Easter eggs). He was quite busy grabbing one egg at a time and running over to karlas garden and throwing hem in there. Finally, we convinced him to put them in his bucket. Kolt and I participated in the adult egg hunt again and got enough candy for the whole year. We listened to the afternoon session of conference at home, and then Kolt went to he priesthood session with my dad while Kason and I colored Easter eggs with my mom, Natalie and her kids. It was not quite so successful for Kason as he would've rather thrown the eggs than watch them sit in the dye. However, we did color one green egg for the night. Kason always loves having Brooke and Nathan over!

Sunday morning we listened to the morning session of conference before  the Lindley Easter Egg Hunt. We had dinner first, then divided the kids into 2 groups for an egg hunt. Kason did a good job this time around. Grandpa and Grandma got the kids Easter presents. Kolay and Kason got a spring outfit, a pez dispenser and candy, bubbles and silly strings the kids had a blast chasing bubbles and spraying each other outside. Thanks grandpa and grandma! We watched the afternoon session at grandpa and grandma piquet's. Kason slept all the way through the session. Kolay smiled and smiled then slept as well. We left the kids and visited Hesston after the session. He's so cute and we were excited to hold him! We even got a couple farm boy shirts for Hesston and smith and Edwards and though paisley needed a Frozen backpack as well. Kason got to go on a 4-wheeler ride with Brand before we went home. He loves 4-wheelers.

We enjoyed general conference. The highlights for us were hearing the music of the gospel, holding on is not enduring to the end, and living in the now. It was another wonderful conference!