May Newsletter & Slideshow

https://picasaweb.google.com/103753336633055957263/2015_05_Slideshow

Hamilton Newsletter

May 2015

FAMILY: Most of May was spent surviving moving (including cleaning our old home & getting our new home painted & new carpet) and the last month of school, but we still managed to squeeze in a few fun things, too :) May 8th was the Share of Southern Utah annual Walk of Remembrance & Hope. Once again, we ordered shirts and put Link's picture on the back. We are so thankful for the Devenishs & the Potts who braved the snow & rain to be there to support us & remember our Link. The Potts were also so helpful in moving! We couldn't have done it without them! May 9th was Mother's Day and Heidi felt very loved & taken care of - the girls even made a HUGE HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY sign in the basement. It was SO cute!  Early in the month, the girls & Heidi went to the dentist. McKinley was the only one without a cavity (great job McKinley!).  May 12th was Jason & Heidi's 15th wedding anniversary. In the morning, we watched the wedding video and that evening the buyers of their home, the Marxxs, were so sweet to get us a $50 gift certificate to The Depot! It was so sweet! & we had a wonderful time enjoying our dinner. On the 16th, a carnival came into town and we stopped by to ride a few rides and have some cotton candy. Afterwards, we went to McDonald's :) The 20th was the "unofficial" last day of school for the girls. We let them out of school a couple days early so we could go to the Payson Temple Open House and Mapleton for Memorial Day weekend. The Payson Temple was beautiful and the girls couldn't stop oohing & ahhing over all the sparkly chandeliers. It made us almost GIDDY to have our Cedar Temple finished (groundbreaking scheduled for August!). Afterwards, we headed up Mapleton Canyon & for possibly the first year ever, were the first ones to arrive! We spent the time setting up our tent and getting things arranged. It's the first time we've "tented it" in probably 5 years, so we were a bit wary, especially with the forecast showing 80% chance of rain. Jason was smart, though, and rigged up a tarp over our tent, and wouldn't you know it? We were the only ones who stayed dry! The Edwards, Simons & Tew's trailers all leaked. Still - it was cold and wet & muddy & we missed our trailer. However, we all still had a great time. The girls had fun running around with their cousins, finding cool rocks & fossils, hunting for firewood, making friends with worms and snails, and enjoying the campfire. They were sad when we had to leave on Sunday, but we all enjoyed a nice hot shower when we got home :) On Memorial Day, we came to the cemetery with so many others & laid a blanket down by Link's bench. We stayed for quite a while & talked about why we have Memorial Day & those in our family who had served in the military.  On the 29th, we all slept over at the Hamilton's & the next day Heidi competed in the Sand Hollow Triathlon (sprint distance).  In the afternoon, we headed to Richfield to surprise Grandma Devenish for her 70th birthday. We all gathered at El Mexicano & shouted "surprise!" when she came in :) It was fun to surprise her. Happy 70th Grandma! Now that summer is here, Heidi & the girls put together our 2015 Summer Bucket list, Pinterest style. We printed off pictures of things we wanted to do & put it in our overall theme: Make-it Monday (make a new recipe), Try-it Tuesday (try a new craft), Water Wednesday (play in the water), Thinking Thursday (do something learning-oriented), & Forest Friday (go explore our local forests). It has been a lot of fun to do these things and we've all had a great time.  Overall, we are really loving our new home. The yard is so much more accessible, it feels so much cozier and safe knowing where our children are, the street we live on now is much, much less busy, we love our new neighbors, and the girls are loving have their own rooms. Also - we have officially started Anne of Green Gables this month & the girls are really loving it!

JASON: Jason continues to have a lot of meetings at work & has worked hard on moving this past month, too!

HEIDI: Whew! What a crazy May! Even though there is still SO much to still do (boxes piled in the garage & unfinished room downstairs), Heidi is just so thankful that everything is moved over. It's always such a big job trying to piece a home together & find out where everything should go. Still lots to do, but it is getting done in little bits here & there & she has faith that they'll eventually have everything in its place. Another fun thing for Heidi was getting her NEW washer/dryer machine. It does both! It took a little getting used-to, but now she really LOVES it! Loves not having to remember to change over clothes :) To add to the busyness of moving, she finished her 8 week healthy challenge (3rd place!!) and completing her triathlon on May 30th. She was worried it would be too hot, but it turned out just fine. Heidi finished in 1:30 & got 4th in her age group (beat out 3rd by only one minute!). It was a lot of fun & she was happy to be getting back into it after probably 3 years of not doing a tri. Heidi is also enjoying her new calling with Activity Days. The girls are sweet & it's fun to be there with McKinley & soon Ireland will officially be in there :)

McKINLEY:
-At the beginning of the month, McKinley missed almost a week of school. She was tired & kept having recurring fevers and headaches. She missed important testing & even her swimming field trip :(
-McKinley did do the mini mall again this year - she paired up with 2 of her friends as sold some of her artwork, her popcorn balls, and also some peanut butter blossom cookies. She completely sold out of her treats and came home with some fun things, too. Great job McKinley!
-McKinley did a great FHE on being a peacemaker, which was perfect timing now that the girls are home together all day!
-There was a girl that moved to McKinley's class a few months ago, Kida. We didn't know it, but she was being fostered with the Beachams. She had to move, but told Sister Beacham what an awesome friend McKinley was to her. So proud of our McKinley & her kindness!
-McKinley had so much fun in Mapleton Canyon with her cousins - especially Michael :)
-Now that the summer is here, McKinley has really been such a big help with her sisters when mom needs to run around. She can watch Noelle for one of her choice-chores, so it's a win-win situation :)

IRELAND:
-Ireland gave a wonderful FHE on fasting at the beginning of the month :)
-Mom couldn't have survived the move without Ireland's big help. Many times, she would clean up the downstairs without being asked (and it was very messy!) or she has helped make meals or watch Noelle. Thank you Ireland!
-Ireland really liked the idea of her own room with her green carpet & green walls. But the reality wasn't quite what she expected. She kept having nightmares & finally decided to sleep with Kezia. She still loves having her clothes downstairs, though. And she really keeps her room tidy!

KEZIA:
-Kezia is DONE with preschool! Bittersweet for mommy :( She is now officially a Kindergartener! Kezi enjoyed her last weeks of preschool - especially their field trip to the farm!
-For FHE we were talking about Peter & Kezia said "mom! I bet you have enough faith to walk on the water, too!" :)
-Kezi loves camping & REALLY loves bugs. She gathered snails and worms and had them crawling all over her hands. She couldn't understand why mom didn't want to bring them home!
-At the end of the month, Kezi did something BIG! She learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! We went to South Elementary to practice & she caught on so fast! She's still not sure about riding on sidewalks, but she does really well on the flat surfaces! GREAT JOB KEZI!!

LINK:
We always jump at any chance to officially remember you, our baby boy, so we again loved Share's Walk of Remembrance this year. Also- we got to make your bench patriotic for Memorial Day & spent quite a bit of time there. Mom had some hard moments with moving, leaving the home where your memories were made. But she felt some reassurances that you are present in our new home, watching over us & loving us. And we love you back a hundred fold. Love you our duder-dude.

NOELLE:
-Noelle had been toying with walking for almost 2 months, but this month she just TOOK OFF! She is practically running everywhere now & it's really hard for us to keep up with her!
-Noelle is quite the explorer - her favorite things are to pull out anything in the dishwasher if it's open, and we find kids' plates all over the house because she likes to get them out of the drawer. She also loves to open the drawers by the office area & pull out mom's old cell phone & chew on it.
-Her 2 top teeth are almost all the way in!
-Noelle now says "uh-oh scettios!" (so adorable!)
-After some lessons from Grandma Potts, Noelle finally goes downstairs the right way every time! Whew! So nice not to have to put a gate up! (though, for the record, she did take one spill down the stairs after she was trying to push a white stool around) :(
-Mom got tired of Noelle's straggly hair in the back, so one day she just chopped it. It looks really cute! (if you don't look too close) ;)
-Noelle used to cry if she was hurt or tired or hungry. Now she's started to whine, cry & even growl if she can't reach something or doesn't get her way. It begins!!!
-Noelle must have gone through a major growth spurt at the end of the month. One morning, she had cereal early when she got up, then she ate more when her sisters had breakfast, and then when dad ate, she ate still more! Thirdsies! ;)
-One of Noelle's favorites words lately: NO!!! (Oh no!)
-Noelle is pretty much down to one nap a day!
-She sleeps really well at night - sometimes waking up, but finding her binki and putting it back in. We got her a new crib because her other one was missing pieces and broken.
-Noelle seems to really like this new home. She can go downstairs easily and we have unboxed some toys for her down there, so she really likes it. Also - they left their huge TV for us, so she loves watching Signing Time down there.
-Noelle (like most babies) LOVES the bathroom. We have to remember to keep the door closed or she is in there in a snap. She has put old phones, socks, and screws into the toilet already :(
-Noelle also says MILK! & usually says it soon after she wakes up.