Funny story...

The week after the SLC birthday festivities, Dustin's sister Kim and her kids came to visiit for a few days, and we had an absolute ball. Unfortunately, Dustin had the flu that week and spent the entire time in bed. Poor guy! (Tip: at first sign of a fever, get to the DR and get some Tamiflu. Kennedy got it last week and we got her started on it right away, and I couldn't believe the difference.)

Anyway, while we were cruising the DI for treasures, Hudson ran head first into the front of a cart while pushing a toy car in each hand. He started crying and I was loving him, when Paige says, "Shelli, he's bleeding!" I pulled him away from my chest to see blood GUSHING down his face. We ran to the bathroom, akwardly, with my hand trying to keep it out of his eyes. He was kind of freaking out(because there was blood all over his hands) and a worker followed us in with a first aid kit. I got the blood mopped up and the bleeding stopped, and it turned out the wound was pretty tiny. Anyway, the employee really wanted to help, so this is what he came up with.

Seriously.

So we walk out of the bathroom with this huge gauze pad taped to his bloody hair. Nice.

I really didn't take enough pictures of this fun cousin's visit, but we did take Kennedy out to breakfast on her actual birthday, and the girls were just too cute to not capture...

Gracie, Paige, and Kennedy. Silly!

Birthday time!

I'm a little slow, but here it is! This time of year is birthday time around here, with Hudson and Kennedy celebrating their big days within about a week of each other. We made them share a weekend of fun, and they didn't seem to mind too much...

The fun started on Monday, September 28, which was Hudson's birthday. I can't believe my baby boy is three! He is such a nut, he keeps me laughing and/or fuming all day, everyday. Last night, after we asked him to pick up his toys in the living room, he hopped off the couch and said, "but Mom, you can just go around them, see? Like this! We don't have to pick them up!" And he walked in circles, stepping over and around everything. Hmmm. Is that cleverness or laziness? I'm not sure.

Anyway, Kennedy was out of school for Spud Harvest, so we took him out to breakfast at his favorite place, McDonalds, and then to KMart to pick out a little something...he picked another little Lightning McQueen, of course. He has many. He picked one exactly like one he already has. Whatever, it was his birthday.
That night, we met Grandpa Jay, Grandma Josie, and Jenna in Pocatello for dinner. Kennedy had been planning to stay a few days with them over her break, and somehow Hudson got worked into the deal. They went to Utah with Grandma and Grandpa and I went back to Rexburg till Thursday. Can I just say: Ahhhhh. What a lovely couple of days to catch up and have date nights. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, Jami and Jenna!

Thursday night we drove to Utah and celebrated my niece Katelyn's birthday in Smithfield. She turned three, too. It has been fun to have her and Hudson so close. She is such a little princess!

Friday morning we headed to Lagoon for Frightmares. It was such a blast. The lines for all of the rides were pretty short, so the kids had a great time doing the kiddo rides over and over. We even talked scaredy-cat Kennedy into a couple of the bigger rides, and she loved them.

This was still one of her favorites, though... :)
I love these classic kids rides. There are pictures of me and my brothers riding them at the same ages!

Hudson loved everything. He would've gone on every ride he saw.


There were creepy things in costumes wandering around, and I went up to this one to show Kennedy it was OK, they weren't really that scary. When I jumped and squealed after he burst out, Hudson says, "Next time I come, I'm gonna bring a gun and shot him." Should I be worried? Or flattered?

The next day, Saturday, we rode the FrontRunner train from Ogden to The Gateway in Salt Lake City. Grandma Josie, Jami, Jenna and Preslie, Cortnie, Grandma Marcia, Cristen, Trina and McKenna all came with us, and Jill and Tayler met us there. I loved it, it was so fun! It was a little crowded on the way back, but still a good time.

Cortnie, Jami and Kennedy on the train.


We took the kids to Build-A-Bear Workshop, which was a huge hit. Kennedy has wanted to go forever, and we've always said "maybe sometime for your birthday." This year she called us on it, and it was so fun!

Here they are stuffing their "friends"...


I couldn't believe the darling clothes and accessories (the shoes are something else!) for the stuffed animals. Kennedy took her decision very seriously, and spent a long time finding just the right outfit for her horse, and getting it all dressed up!

Hudson picked out the cutest Harley stuff for his bear. The bear even got matching chaps from Grandpa Jay later that night...

Hudson was pretty tired by the time we were through, but he wouldn't let any one carry his "Cub Condo."

It was so fun for the kids to be able to share this fun day with their cousins!

Tayler, Kennedy, McKenna, Preslie, and Hudson (it was nap time...we are about 10 minutes away from a major tantrum at this point).

We also got talked into doing Chuck E. Cheese that afternoon. Definitely not my favorite place, but the kids seemed to love it...

Grandma Josie was nice enough to let us all come back to her house for cupcakes that night and the kids had lots of fun playing in the bouncy house. These kids were so completely spoiled by everyone they know this year, we are so lucky to have such awesome family and friends. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Good Tri, Kennedy!

See Kennedy finish a Triathlon of her own!

So proud with her medal...

On September 26th she competed in the first annual River Rock Youth Triathlon here in the 'burg. She did amazing!
She didn't decide for sure to participate until pretty much the night before, and she was a little nervous. I was really curious to see how she'd do. As I learned this summer, you need a little competitive drive to finish these suckers, and she hasn't shown much competitiveness until just this past summer in soccer, and not too much then.

But she's got it. Oh yeah, she's got it.

Notice she still has her bike helmet on for the first of the running pictures? She was trying to pass one of our little neighbor boys who had passed her on the swim, and ran out of the transition area before I could get it off of her. Dustin caught her and she finished without it. It was pretty cute.
Words can't really express how proud I was of her. I was nervous for her swim, she's not a very strong swimmer yet, but she didn't stop. They sent the kids out in waves of 10, and there were 4 or 5 life guards in the water with them. The guards were so cute, it wasn't a timed event, so they helped the little ones out and made sure they were having fun. Kennedy grinned almost the entire time!

When I was helping her dry off and get ready for the bike, she said "Mom, I didn't know how COOL this would be!"

Exactly.