Jackpot

Kellen hit the Jackpot!!

Bum Scooter

Just like Olivia, Kellen has decided that traditional crawling is not the way to go, so he has become a bum scooter! Here is a little clip for your enjoyment.

Labor Day

We loved spending Labor Day weekend in Utah and especially being with my family. It didn't hurt that BYU had an awesome victory over Oklahoma, or that the kids got tons of candy at the Onion Days parade or that we ate lots of bacon (Thanks Jilyan!) We ate alot, and stayed up way too late every night playing Rock Band. Good Times.

The girls and some of their cousins were honorary cheerleaders for the big game. Here are a few shots of them practicing their stuff.My mom is getting her house ready to sale so we spent some time helping her sort through many years of stuff that had been building over the years. Good Job mom on letting us throw away so much. This is my brother wearing an old groovy sweater of my dad's. Looking good Shane!

Totally unrelated but here are the girls on their first day of school.

And here is Kellen enduring the girls dressing him up for bed.

Hawaii

We just returned from the 7th Esplin Reunion in Hawaii. We loved every minute of it, especially being with family and friends and surrounded by such incredible beauty. We took over 300 pictures and here are some of the highlights. Kellen, the sand baby.
Zoey learning to boogie boardOur house on the beach

Temple Beach

Thanks to the Laie First Ward for the great Luau and teaching us to make coconut hats

Tide poolsOur daily trip to Haliewa for shave ice

Kellen was a really good baby even through all the hard things we made him do like getting splashed by waves.

Lanakai

Turtle Beach

Zoey loved snorkeling

Waimea Falls

Some of the great-grand kids

The Esplin Cousins (this was only half of us)

Bathtub Beach

The kids crashed at the end of a hard day at the beach

Helping with a Hukilau during Laie Days

We are look forward to 2014 (if we can stay away for that long.)

June

So I know July is halfway over but I'm finally getting to all our pics from June. Here are some of the happenings.

Two trips to Kanab to see my brother Jason and his family on their 'farm.' We especially love their backyard and sitting around the fire. North Rim of Grand Canyon

This is our family pic from my dads funeral. Thanks again to everyone for their kind words, and thoughts.

My kids with my cousin Erin's kids...Parker and Ben. They came to Vegas and stayed with us for a night. We loved having them.
Climbing at Mt. Charleston

This climb is not easy to get to. You have to hike 1/2 mile up a trail, then you turn off the trail and hike straight up the mountain for another 1/4 mile. It's tough hauling kids with us but they love it and Zoey and Liv are getting to be great hikers and can do it all by themselves. Joe was so sweet, in addition to carrying all the climbing gear (which is not light) he hauled a chair for me to sit in so I can nurse Kellen more comfortably while we were up there.

This pic might look familar. We take one of the girls in this hollow tree every year at the same time.

Dad

My dad passed away this last Sunday, June 21 - Fathers Day. It's been a bittersweet week, everything feeling very surreal and passing through periods of heartache and happiness. I feel so much gratitude for the plan of salvation, knowing the seperation from him is temporary and that we are an eternal family.

I gave the life sketch at his funeral and feel so blessed to be apart of the legacy he left behind and pay tribute to his life of service and unselfishness. I love you Dad.

Running

Before I got pregnant with Kellen I had just started running. I fell in love with it and completed my first 5 and 10k's with my eye on the big 26 miler. But all came to a stop when I got pregnant. Well I've begun running again post pregnancy and literally have had to start from scratch. I'm making some progress though, slow but sure. And the past week the running conditions in Vegas have been perfect. So since no one is reading my blog these days, I thought I'd just run amuck and describe my ideal running environment, which to my great satisfaction have been possible the last few days.

Going to bed and 11 and waking from my uninterrupted sleep ready to run by 7. I pop some peppermint gum into my mouth and step outside into the low 70's. There is a light cloud coverage, not overcast, but blocking the burning hot rays of the sun. A light almost tropcial breeze is blowing, just enough that the palm trees swaying can almost convince you that the ocean will appear over the next hill. My ipod is shuffling through my workout playlist and landing on only my very favorite songs. I'm not following any premeditated route but running as far and as long as my body will keep going. My breathing is even and my mind is clear. The sweat lightly rolls from my forehead, just enough to coat my lips with a salty cover like sea water. When I finally round the corner onto Amulet St. my running slows and I know I'll be able to handle anything the day brings.

By the way, this little device has completly changed my running. I highly recomend it.