The Kluge Family: May 2009

So it's been a bazillion years since I've posted. This spring has been insane. It didn't help that after I bouht extra memory for our computer the mother board decided to fail. Then we didn't have a slow computer... we had no computer. Luckily our super cool, super nice friends saved us by giving us an extra tower they had lying around. Luckily the hard drive was compatible and it was a smooth transition.

My OBGYN didn't get a great look last time we tried to determine the baby's gender, but a boy made sense so that's what we were saying it probably was. Well, she got a much better look this time and it looks like we'll be adding another little girl to the Kluge family. At least that's what we're saying this month. My targeted ultrasound is June 2nd and we'll be 99.9% sure after that. I'm going with girl for now. Kyle's not convinced. It's great to have a husband that seriously has no preference. He loves his kids and it has never mattered to him whether we've had boys or girls. He's a really great dad. I like a lot of super cool old fashioned names that Kyle doesn't. Asher was going to be Gwenyth if he was a girl so that's still in the running. I really like Tabitha too, but haven't brought it up. As I recall, Kyle didn't like it last go around (that doesn't mean he will remember that he didn't like it. He has a habit of changing his mind. He's a moody name liker).

I finally downloaded pictures off my camera today mainly because the memory was full. The stretched back to Scarlett's birthday in February. I'll include a couple for fun. To get a little caught up...we had her birthday, all mother/mother-in-law birthdays, Easter, a trip to St. George, a choir concert, we refinanced, had our deck torn down (it's half done!!), two dance shows, 5 soccer games, 3 preschool field trips and 3 parties, plus Kyle is working 50 and 60 hour weeks every other week. Things should (cross my fingers) settle down in June. It's been a lot of fun and the weather has been really great lately for our latest events.

Now for some pictures. I'll try to keep it condensed (emphasis on try). The last few are boring pics of the house and purely for the sake of my mother and sister who have not been able to see some of the little changes I've made to the house.

Aren't we a pair? I received my shiner in a basketball game--which we won--the day before I had to sing in church. Pretty funny. I covered it the best I could as you can see.

Poor Scarlett took a nasty fall on the concrete in front of the house running home from the neighbor's house. These pictures are dedicated to my dad who loved snapping pics of all my battle wounds from high school sports. He was so proud of my black eyes, knees, hips, etc.... and so was I =)

Here are pics from Scarlett's birthday (finally). My big girl is 5. It's surreal when I say it aloud, "I have a 5 year old," but it feels so natural to be Scarlett's mom it's like it has been this way forever.

We had dinner at McDonald's on her big day.

Avanlee assisted in most of the unwrapping.

We had a family/friends party the Sunday following. Once again, Avanlee was right in the middle of things.

This is a classic "Daddy is teasing me again" face.

And, of course, there was cake.

After presents, cake, and too many stickers... Asher had had it with the party.

Here's a typical Sunday morning for you (I'm only including this because I think my family is so adorable and it needs to be documented). Make rolls...

Doing hair...

Sisters...

Daddy still sleepy...

Some random cuteness...

Here are the Kluge and Harper kids watching a movie in the playroom. The big girls made all the arrangements for the babies.

At Scarlett's birthday dinner, she hauled her little brother to the top of the play gym. It was funny to see them altogether up there. I can't remember how he got back down.

I love these moments.

We took a little trip to St. George and invited the in-laws for my mother-in-law's birthday. We have a kind friend who allows us to borrow her condo. when we go down. We had INN-N-OUT, El Pollo Loco, hiked and had a good time. The kids took some pictures...

Scarlett LOVES to climb. We rock climb with her, but Kyle hurt his back just before this trip so we settled for some hiking/climbing in a local park. It has a pretty sweet view.

Scarlett climbed rock formations....

...while Avanlee and Asher played in the sand, chased bugs, and played with Grandma.

There is a narrow tunnel that leads to a hole where you can climb out on top of the formations. Kyle couldn't fit all the way up, but Scarlett with the help of some teenagers climbed all the way.

A little too much dance class for Avanlee?

If you've never been to Zions Natl. Park, you ought to try and make it out there some day. We love it! The hikes are beautiful and you can customize your routes to fit the endurance of your party. With our little ones we have a favorite easy trail we like to take. As they get older there are plenty of tougher hikes available.

This one is the River Walk and it's gorgeous. I'm not going to include all the great pics we got. I'm already making this post enormous.

Dying Easter eggs is one of my favorite Easter memories as a child. I still love to do it.

We went to three egg hunts (two were family parties) as well as the annual egg roll (another family party). It's always a really fun weekend.

Scarlett is such a good big sister!

The egg roll is a held on top of a smae hill. This year there was a little trench Asher decided to tumble down. After the discovery and recovery, he bum-slid down the trench over and over again. So much for clean pants for the next party!

This is my favorite shot of the day. She actually ate the whole thing too which is rare for her.

Easter morning the girls woke Asher up so they could see what the Easter Bunny left them.

I love this one. It's amazing how exciting chapstick can be!

We tried to take some pictures before church. Asher was too excited to be outside to be cooperative.

This was the only shot we got of him holding still.

Another random cuteness shot. The kids made themselves comfortable in the little "makeout nook" as Kyle calls it. I'm often amazed at the way the girls can get Asher to play with them or sit with them. It's adorable!

The girls are in the same dance class at a great little studio. They dance to Dora music and have so much fun. It's funny to me how specific the instructor was about their hair and make-up. Dance is a whole new world to me. They had a little competition (if you can call it that for the little ones) at Lagoon. It was cold and pouring rain plus we waited in a packed pavillion for an hour and a half before they went on stage. It was pretty miserable but turned out to be a pretty good day in the end.

This past Saturday they performed at the Ogden Ampitheatre. It was so nice! The weather was warm and perfect. The girls didn't have to wait long and did a great job! It's been really fun seeing them perform. They have one more show in June. Scarlett is the tall one and Avanlee has the red hair.