THE KENNARD KLAN

Thursday, July 1, 2010

We Love Lake Powell

I love everything about Lake Powell. I love the water, I love the beautiful scenary, I love being with family and friends, I love the yummy food, I love the relaxation, I love the non-scheduled days, I love being on the boat, I love sleeping under the stars, I love vacations. Thankfully Gordon and Taeya love Lake Powell too, and we have been so lucky to be able to go at least once a year.

This year we went from Wednesday, June 16th until Saturday, June 19th. Our original plans were for my mom and dad and my little to meet Kimberly's family in Page and just stay in a hotel each night. Thankfully Ryan and Kristy decided to join us and invited us to stay on their houseboat with them, which made for an ideal Lake Powell trip. We had such a great time, everything was so great. My only complaint was that the trip wasn't long enough!

Thankfully Kent and Kimberly brought their ski boat.

Ryan and Kristy our owners of this great houseboat: @powell.calm (very creative name I think)

Anastyn loved Kimberly - especially when she shared her cookie with her.

Gordon was El Capitan for a short drive.

Kimberly was holding "tex" while Gordon was in the water.

Handsome Kimball

My Little Family
Anastyn didn't love her jacket, but she was still her happy self.

We did a ton of wakeboarding.

Daylen popped up his first try, Gordon was so proud (you can see his excitement in the photo!)

Ryan watching the wakeboarders.

Taeya popped up her first try but only stayed up for a few seconds, she tried a second time with the same results. She didn't want to try again though. We were planning on going out the next day, but we ran out of time.

Gordon let her wakeboard on his back - she especially loved it when he "jumped."

Gord got a little more air without Taeya on his back.

Kimball was promised an i-pod if he got up and stayed up for at least 5 seconds. He quickly earned his i-pod and was hooked on wakeboarding from then on.

I even strapped the board on after a 2 year break (I was pregnant last year).

Ryan enjoying the water.

Gordon and Taeya - with Taeya standing on the board this time.

Gordon doing some more flips - he looks really good for an old man!

Me and Anastyn

Crazy Karsten - his hair looks awesome after a long boat ride.

Kristy invited her friend Marge to join us, it was her first trip to Lake Powell and it didn't disappoint. She was so helpful and fun, we were glad to have her with us.

Something about a swaying boat really relaxes the babies.

One hot man!

Sweet Kierra - she and Taeya had so much fun together. They are both Girly Girls and they love changing their clothes - maybe I should say "trading" clothes!

Silly Karsten - he is the funniest little man, it is impossible to get him to look at the camera.

Kenzly looking great in her snorkel gear. She was so great to play with the girls, we sure love her.

Kierra and Taeya - Taeya looks like she is about to perform some synchronized swimming.

It's a good thing Gordon doesn't mind cold water because Taeya always wanted to be swimming and Gordon was always willing to be with her. She would be shivering the whole time but she never complained.

Kent and Kimberly

This was the only time Anastyn really got in the water. She didn't seem to like it, it was a lot colder than the pool at swim lessons!

2 cute girls

My cute family again.

Kimball, Kent, Kimberly, Kenzly, Kimball, and Kierra

Ryan, Daylen and Kristy

What a fantastic Lake Powell trip. Kristy did an amazing job preparing all the food, and we really had a fun relaxing time. Hopefully we will get to go again real soon. (As a sidenote, I never got a great picture of my mom and dad - my mom doesn't like getting her picture taken, but they were with us and we enjoyed spending time with them).

Father's Day

I'm a little late in posting about Father's Day, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to mention how great of a dad Gordon is. The girls absolutely love him, and he loves spending time with them. We girls are very lucky!

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in St. George with our friends, Kip and Amy. We had a really fun time. Friday night we went and watched the movie "Ants" in the park, Saturday Gordon and Kip went hiking, and Amy and I (and the kids unfortunately) went and did a little shopping. Saturday night we watched the movie "Dear John" and ate pizza. Sunday we went to church and just relaxed. Kip made up a yummy dinner, and Amy made us delicious cake for dessert. Taeya loves St. George, mostly because of McKenzie. She "mothers" her and I think they both love it. She would give her baths, do her hair, and get her dressed, and of course entertain her most of the time too! She did a little photo shoot with her, painted her toes and nails, and they even put on a little play. We reluctantly left late Saturday night knowing that the girls would sleep most of the way home, and we could get a few things done at home on Monday.

On Monday morning we took the girls to swim lessons so Gordon could watch them. Afterwards Gordon ran a few errands, I did some work around the house, then we got out our new water slide to test it out. (A few of us neighbors went in on it to keep us cool this summer!)

It was a little chilly, but I think they all loved it!

What a great weekend we had!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

New Family Pictures

In the beginning of April Heather's ward had a fund raiser to help raise money for girls camp. They had 3 photographers, 3 different saturdays, and 3 different locations. It was $40 and you got to choose just 2 images to put on a disk. We just had to help out the young women by getting our pictures taken! They turned out pretty good. I wish I would have gotten more images but I wasn't willing to pay the extra money the photographer wanted. It's been a long time coming, but I finally got my disk and thought I would show them off!

Anastyn 6 1/2 months, Taeya 3 1/2 years

I look at these pictures and I am amazed at how much the girls have changed since we took these pictures 2 1/2 months ago, time is flying by! It kind of makes me sad.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Clothes Picker Girl

Yesterday Taeya informed me that she was going to be Anastyns clothes picker girl, she would choose her clothes for her everyday. I left the room and about 10 minutes later she called me name and wanted me to come look. She had laid out all sorts of outfits, including leggings and shoes for Anastyn to wear. She went through each outfit and said, "these is for the next day, these is for the next day, these is for the next day........" until she got to the end of the line! She sure does love clothes.

Yard Work Helpers

Anastyn enjoyed helping me out in the yard on a few days ago. She had a great time playing in the dirt and with Alayna.

Alyson is a saint and always helps me with the weeds which are in abundance at my house. We figured she has to help since she does own about 6 inches of the dirt in between our houses! Alayna was a good girl for me during a little weeding break Alyson took to pick up her girls from school.

Anastyn got her first taste of dirt. She didn't seem to mind it! It seems like she might follow in the footsteps of her sister, Taeya was always eating dirt.

Daddy's Girl

Taeya is definitely a "Daddy's Girl" right now. Gordon does such fun things with her and really enjoys spending time with her. A month or so ago they started having "Friday Night Sleepovers" together. Taeya gets to choose where they sleep, they usually end up sleeping in the basement, but Friday night Gordon set up the tent with hopes of sleeping outside. He probably should have checked the weather report because it was really windy and cold. They lasted about 30 minutes before coming in and sleeping on the family room floor.

I had to go to work for a few hours Saturday morning so Gordon played Mister Mom and Taeya always loves that! She is usually in a crazy outfit with her hair undone. Most of the time Anastyn is still in her pajamas playing on the floor, but the kids have fun and I guess that's all that matters! At least Anastyn looks happy.....

Taeya looked great in her outfit too. I saw her walking down the street as I was coming home from work and I had to just laugh at this cute girl! She thinks because she is out of school it's summer, but I keep telling her it's not warm enough to be summer. She doesn't listen and still wants to wear her swimsuit all the time!

Sunday afternoon Taeya and Gordon walked down to the river and played for a while during Anastyn's nap. Taeya learned that if she finds a dandelion and blows on it she gets to make a wish. Lately her wish is "to fly." On their walk to the river Taeya found a dandelion, picked it up and blew on it. The fluffy stuff didn't come off so she quickly grabbed it with her hand and pulled them off. Then she started flapping her wings, got a disappointed look on her face and snapped her fingers and said, "darnit!"
Taeya is always sad on Monday morning when she wakes up and Dad has already left to go to work. We all love the weekend, and we love having Dad home. He is such a great dad. I am so thankful.

A little sidenote story about Taeya........Gordon has been working late a lot lately and last week Taeya was having a hard time going to sleep so Gordon told her he would leave a suprise under her pillow for her if she went to sleep. The next morning she ran in and showed me the fortune cookies that he had left. She was so disappointed because she wanted her suprise to be a baby elephant!??

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Fingers and Toes

Taeya always has a hard time going to bed at night. The girl goes and goes all day long but for whatever reason has a hard time settling down to go to sleep. This is what I saw the other night when she was supposed to be sleeping, it made me laugh!

Moments to Remember...

10/31/12 Anastyn did not want to go to sleep tonight, probably a result of too much trick or treating candy. As I'm trying to get her to stay in bed she says to me "I need to tell you somethin," I say "what" and she proceeds to tell me nothing really. Than she says "I need to tell dad somethin." I said that she could tell me and I would tell him. She says "dad, is a good worker!" Than she says "I love him this much," and she spreads her arms out as wide as they can go!" Love this girl even if she won't go to sleep at night!

04/03/11 We were talking to Taeya about Noah's Ark and the flood, and she said "that was good cause the whole Earth had a big drink of water!"

03/29/11 Taeya: "Mom, dad thinks sandwiches are made out of sand, but I think their made out of whitches."

02/19/11 Taeya was giving her penguin a little checkup with her doctor kit. She took the blood pressure and then said "just what I suspected." Gordon laughed and said, "you're going to be a great doctor someday." Taeya looked at him and said "I don't want to be a doctor, I want to be a paper maker."

12/10/10 Taeya: "I know why we do karate, it shows Jesus that we love him."

12/2/10 Taeya and Brielle were playing and Taeya didn't want to share her princess castle. I was trying to help her share and she said to me "mom you're ruining a princesses dreams."

11/28/10 Taeya: "You're ruining my life!"

11/01/10 Anastyn: this is what she says pointing to what she wants, "a, a, a, a, a, a..........." she knows how to sign a few words but this is what I hear all day long from her!

10/21/10 Taeya was down stairs watching a halloween movie with Gordon. I went to get her to take her to bed and this is what she said to me: Taeya: "That girl turned itno a girafica (Dracula) but it was just pretend."

10/09/10 This has been one of Taeya's common phrases lately, she says is bratty like: Taeya: "I don't even care."

10/07/10 Taeya: "This is the worstest day of my life."

09/26/10 Taeya: "This is the best day of my whold life, cause I catched a lady bug!"

09/23/10 Random conversation Taeya and I had: Taeya: "She has a great body." Mom: "Who does?" Taeya: "Ursala" Mom: "What does it mean to have a great body?" Taeya: "Infesterating - is that right?"

08/20/10 Taeya: "Mom you're the best mom in the whole world cause you do puzzles with me."

07/26/10 Anastyn took her first steps

05/24/10 Gordon and Taeya were watching princess and the frog. She was watching the part where she kisses the frog and he is supposed to turn into a prince. Taeya looks at Gordon and says, "I'd kiss a frog if I turned into a frog!" Funny how she didn't want to become a princess, just a frog!

05/23/10 Anastyn's top tooth came popping through!

05/09/10 Anastyn officially started crawling on Mother's day.

05/03/10 Sunday was Stake Conference and the theme for the conference was Temple Attendance. For FHE we were talking about the temple and we told Taeya that one of the speakers said that Heavenly Father walks the halls of the temple. Gordon: "What would you do if you saw Heavenly Father?" Taeya: "Heavenly Father can I have a kiss? Now can I have a hug?"

04/30/10 Taeya: "When I growed-up, i'll never be mad to my kids and if they want candy i'll listen to them and give them candy." (This came totally out of the blue while we were driving, it made me wonder if I wasn't being nice to her that morning?!)

03/22/10 While we were at the salon fixing Taeya's hair that she and Brielle cut, I noticed that Anastyn had her first tooth. A cute little bottom tooth. She hardly complained, she seemed a little more mellow than usual, but not fussy at all. The second bottom one appeared a week or so later.

03/18/10 Taeya was talking to Gordon on the phone, she had all sorts of things to talk about, but this comment made me laugh out loud. She said "Dad, Kimball's leg is all better, that's good, for heavens sake!" (Kimball broke his femer on New Years Eve and Taeya was amazed that it was all better).

02/19/10 On my birthday: Taeya: mom, how old are you? Brandalyn: I'm 31 Taeya: (In a quite voice, almost like she's thinking) wow, that's old.

02/17/09 We are driving in the car and I am trying to put Anastyn's binki in her mouth. Brandalyn to Anastyn: Where is your mouth? Taeya: Right in the middle. (She said this in a very serious tone!)

01/25/10 We were driving home - on canyon road: Gordon: Taeya, help me watch out for deer. We don't want to hit one. Taeya: But we could take it home and it could be our pet, we don't have any pets.

01/14/10 Anastyn rolled from her belly to her back for the first time.

01/12/10 Anastyn rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time.

01/06/10 Taeya: "I want to be a lady when I growed up, uh, actually I want to be a gymnastic girl."

12/23/09 Anastyn laughed for the first time. She was watching Taeya jump on the tramp and obviously thought it was quite funny!

11/15/09 Taeya: "Dad, do yous bracelets hurt?" (Does his braces hurt!) She is always so concerned about them, she says she wants some "bracelets" on her teeth.

11/1/09 Taeya: "Mom, where's my computer? I'm going to send and e-mail."

10/31/09 We were trick-or-treating and decided it would be fun to visit Brother and Sister Anderson's house (Tayea's nursery teachers) but we didn't know where they live, Taeya said to me "maybe they live at the church!"

10/17/09 Taeya: "Mom, I is freezing cold." (This is a common statement around the house, apparently she is always cold)!

10/12/09 Anastyn had her first taste of candy today when Taeya so nicely offered her a taste of her ring pop! I think Anastyn liked it!

10/11/09 After Gordon blessed Anastyn in sacrament meeting Taeya said, "I want a big girl blessing!"

10/11/09 We are frantically getting ready for church on Sunday and Taeya was playing in the room while we were putting the blessing dress on Anastyn. Gordon says to the baby "now don't poop in your pretty new dress," and Taeya responds "okay!"

10/10/09 Gordon and Taeya were driving in the car and a man came on the radio, Taeya commented that the man was the prophet. Gordon asked her what the prophets name is, and she told him, a minute later she said "we should name our baby President Monson, that's a pretty name."

10/1/09 "My names not Taeya, it's Emily."

09/30/09 I took Anastyn to her 2 week checkup and thought Taeya should come and get a flu shot while we were there. I prepped her all morning long for getting a shot, she told me "she wouldn't even say ow!" (Which is the only thing she said when she got her shot at her 3 year check-up). They didn't have enough flu shots at the doctors office to give her one and she was so upset. The nurse offered to give her a shot of saline and Taeya would have let her, but I didn't think it was a good idea. She finally settled for a sparkly star bandaid instead.

09/26/09 Gordon took Taeya swimming at the Lehi pool. She went on the big tube slide several times with Gordon. One of the times the turned a corner and Taeya bonked her head on the side of the slide. When they got done Gordon asked Taeya if she wanted to go again and she said, "Yes, but don't drive crazy!"

09/17/09 The day we brought Anastyn home from the hospital I said to Taeya, "what do you think of your new baby?" She enthusiastically answered, "I think it's great!"

09/01/09 Taeya and I went to meet her preschool teacher today. After we walked out of the classroom, she said "hey, I didn't learn my letters!" I guess she knows what she is going to learn at school this year!

09/09 When Taeya refers to herself she will say things like, "do you want I to...." (instead of do you want me to..)

08/22/09 Gordon and Taeya were singing ABBA in the car and Taeya said, "I sing so good cause I'm a big sister!"

08/19/09 Taeya asked me, "Mom, are you going to be a baby when you grown down?" I just kind of laughed, then she said, "but if you're a baby, who's going to be my mom?"

08/19/09 On the way to my doctors appointment Taeya was talking to Gordon on the phone telling him we had a lot of doctors. (She has gone to a lot of OB appointments with me and she had recently gone to her 3 year check-up). Gordon asked her if she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up and she said, "No, I want to be a lady!"

08/13/09 Taeya and I drove by a man holding a sign advertising for 99 cent tacos. He was wearing a large cowboy/somberero. Taeya said "mom, there's a cowboy!" I didn't really want to argue with her about whether is was a cowboy or not so I just agreed. I minute later she said to me, "hey, cowboy's don't hold signs, they ride horses!"

08/9/09 On the way to church I was getting mad at Gordon for driving too slow, and he said a little sarcastically, "I love church," and Taeya said "Me Too!" (Although she wasn't being sarcastic)

06/10/09 It was a cooler day and Taeya told me she was cold and wanted her witch costume on. We put the costume on but not 5 minutes later, she came to me and said, "I need to change, it's freakin' hot!" Of course she quickly found a swimsuit to put on instead.

05/29/09 Whenever Gordon or I get home from work she will say "how was yous work?" Most of the time if she was in bed before we got home she will ask us the next day! 05/29/09 After we get mad at Taeya, or if she thinks we might be sad, she will say to us, "Are you happy?" If you say "no", she will wait a minute or so and ask you again, until the answer is "yes!"

05/24/09 I told Taeya that we were going to go run errands, so we get to the first store, I think it was Cooks Nursery, and she said, "Is this errands?"

04/7/09 Gordon's sister, Angie, is in town from Washington. When Taeya was born she made her a Winnie the Pooh blanket that she loves recently. We told Taeya to tell her thankyou for the blanket. When she did Angie said, "you're welcome sweatheart." Today she said to me "I not a sweatheart, I a Taeya!"

03/15/09 Once again in the middle of the night, I put Taeya in bed with me, this time she said to me "thank yous for sharing yous bed with me!"

03/14/09 Taeya and I were in Idaho visiting my sister. Taeya woke up in the middle of the night and I put her in bed with me. I had my watch on and when I put my arm around her back I scratched her a little bit (she insisted on wearing a sleeveless dress to bed). She said to me "owe that hurt, I a special, special girl."

03/13/09 "Princesses don't wear pants, they wear tights."

02/24/09 On the way out of the Disneyland park Gordon was holding Taeya and she said "I need a nap at night time." She quickly fell asleep on his shoulder after that.

01/18/09 I asked Taeya to help me clean up the hair things after I did her hair and she said, "No, I'm too dizzy." ( I am not sure if she meant that she was too busy, or if she just needed an excuse!)

12/08 Anytime Taeya does anything she thinks you will like she look at you and says, "Whatchu Think?" (What do you think?)

11/13/08 Taeya had on a pair of leggings that got a little hole in them. She looked at the hole and said "daddy fix it?" She thinks he can fix anything!

10/5/08 We were driving in the car and Taeya was playing with a toy phone. She had it up to her ear but didn't say anything for at least 10 minutes. I finally asked her who she was talking to, and she said "Grandpa," I asked her what Grandpa was saying and she said, "trick or treat!"

08/18/08 Last night Taeya found out how to climb out of her crib! She was talking to herself (hm, I wonder where she got that?) I could hear her through the door saying, "Careful Tae-ya" over and over. Curious I opened the door and she was teadering the bar of her crib avoiding a disaster!