Ozminski Family Reunion

My mom's side of the family does a reunion every other year. This year we decided to have all of our out-of-town relatives come to Utah and show them what we've got! It actually worked out perfectly to have it here because my grandpa has been having lots of health issues and I'm not sure he would have been able to travel anywhere for it. My cousin, Stephanie, volunteered to be in charge this year and she did a FANTASTIC job. We started the festivities on Friday with a trip to the zoo. We (Shane and I) found out very quickly that we could pay $75 (!!!) dollars for our whole family for one visit, or pay $109 for a year family pass. We knew we'd go back at least one more time in the next year, so we got the family pass. And we had my niece, Taliyah, with us, so the workers put that we have four kids, which means the kids can take turns bringing a friend when we go. :)

This was our first time there since they opened the African Savannah part, so I was curious to see it.

New giraffe statues.

The zebras, giraffes, and ostriches are all in a big area together.

 I'll be excited to see the Savannah area as it grows and they get some more animals there.

This guy was irritated with some idiot teenagers taunting him and charged the glass, slamming it with his fists. Scared my kids half to death and I was ready to pummel those teenagers.

Ari was with us, but not in any pictures because it was her nap time and she was being ornery in the stroller.

Lunch time!

This guy looked more than a little ragged.

Working on their tans.

We were right next to the glass when this guy swam up and planted himself right in front of us. The kids loved it.

Best part of the whole zoo? The mist-spraying fan.

 It was...someone else's (my mom's!) idea to go in the heat of the day (and during nap time), but I'll never do that again. The big animals (lions, polar bear, brown bears, etc.) were all exhausted from the heat and just sleeping. Boring. Next time we'll be there right when they open in the morning! 

After the zoo, we headed to Draper for dinner and games. 

My cousin-in-law, Mindy, was put in charge of games for the whole weekend and she did SUCH a good job. Friday night we played Family Feud and it was a lot more fun than I had anticipated. Everyone there kept saying that they wished it was longer (she had 7 boards of questions, I think).

Saturday was spent at my grandparent's church building bowery area. We met at 11:00 and went until everyone plead exhaustion. ;) My cousin, Steph, had rented a bounce house/water slide for the kids (and select adults) as well as a photographer (my friend, Kenzie). I didn't understand her reasoning for the photographer (even though I love Kenzie!) until I was just sitting relaxing while the kids played and didn't have to worry about taking thousands of pictures so I didn't miss anything. It was awesome! When we get those pictures back I'll post them.

Taliyah on the slide

If you can, zoom in to see Serenity's face (on the left). She was HILARIOUS on the slide.

Our adopted family, Ben and Pam (from England), were there and Shane made a deal with Pam that he would go down the water slide if she would. Because Pam's awesome, she readily agreed and more hilarity ensued. 

Trying to get up.

Pam got SOAKED. hahaha

Debbie (my mom's twin) and her husband, Sean.

 I have a large number of relatives who loooove guns. My Uncle Aaron rented out a shooting range nearby for those who wanted to go during the day. Shane and I so wanted to go, but there weren't enough adults left to watch the kids, so we stayed behind. :( Next time, though, we'll get first dibs.

Besides the bounce house, there was plenty of food (of course), a cotton candy machine, snow cone machine, two pinatas (one for the little kids and one for the older), a candy cannon, a rocket shooter, and lots of lawn-type games for the kids. Everyone had a blast.

Ari was playing with  my phone and a few minutes later I looked over and saw this. She was out.

Sleepy girl

We ended the day with our required talent show, and I NEED to make sure and get pictures from that because my older sister and I did a hilarious little skit and you'll laugh. We exhausted all of the kids (and adults) and everyone slept great that night.

I don't have any pictures of Sunday morning (although I'll get some from my Aunt Kathy), because I was in charge of breakfast that day. We had a large spread with about 5,000 pieces of bacon (and almost all of it was gone by the end! haha). Around noon everyone said their goodbyes since the out-of-town relatives needed to get headed home. It was a great weekend and we've all already started planning our 2016 reunion in Yellowstone. I know you can't choose your family, but I'd still choose the same one if I could.

Parks, parks, and more parks

I haven't felt the need to blog for a while because I haven't felt like we've done anything out of the ordinary to post about. We've just been going to lots and lots of parks, but I haven't really been taking pictures because I've been playing with the kids instead. Anyway, last week we went to a park my friend, Kenzie, told us about. It was so cool! It had a skate park area that was built for younger kids (to bring bikes, scooters, etc), but it would bore older kids, so that keeps them away. ;) There's also a playground area nearby as well as a basketball court and a little nature walk that doesn't go too far, but lets the kids explore. So fun!!

I've tried to teach Kaden to ride a bike without training wheels, but he always gets sooo scared and ignores my coaching. Logan brought his two-wheeled bike to the park, though, and of course Kaden immediately wanted to learn. *sigh*

Kenzie showing Kaden how to stop without falling over.

Ari was being a cuddle-bug.

Logan showing Kaden how to keep his balance.

Kaden's turn!

 He still needs practice (of course), but he feels more confident about it now. We'll get there by the end of the summer!

Super cute Brooks!

We're going to take Shane to this park sometime so the kids can show him around. They loooved it.

Lexi's preschool graduation

On June 4th Lexi graduated from preschool! 

My mom was out of town and my dad was at work, but Shane's parents were able to make it.

Cute, cute girl

She has been so patient going to all of Kaden and Lexi's events.

Kaden, Rod, and Karen

Doing sign language

Lexi's whole class with Mrs. Hedges

Silly songs

Lexi can rock whatever she's wearing. haha

Announcing her piano song

She played "Happy Birthday"

I have a video of it, but Blogger and I don't get along with videos. We barely get along with pictures.

Her group did a cute poem about a kitty.

Silly face

Getting her medal and portfolio.

My preschool grad!

Lexi is THRILLED to be in kindergarten, but kept saying how much she will miss the other two girls in her class. Their teacher had said all year how close those girls had gotten. What she doesn't know is that we moms knew all about how much they love each other and exchanged numbers so that we can do some splash pad get togethers this summer. ;)

Newest nephew

My youngest (and only) brother and his wife had their baby on May 30th at 1:54 pm weighing in at 6 lbs 12 oz and 20.5 inches long. They named him Dewey Nelson Currie and he's adorable. I found out through Facebook that he'd been born, which shows you how much my brother loves his sisters (not at all). They forbid anyone from coming to see them at the hospital, but I made sure to weasel my way in as soon as they were home. :D

They posted this on Facebook.

I took this pic Monday morning when I got to see him.

He is darling and I loved giving him back after getting my baby fill. ;) Dewey was sleeping when Angela (sis-in-law) handed him off to me and I made sure to keep him that way. Christopher (brother) was surprised and said that I was the first person out of everyone who had visited them who had been able to do the pass off and keep him asleep. I've got the magic touch, I tell ya. 

Kaden didn't care about the baby, Ari wanted to hold him for .3 seconds, and Lexi wanted to take him home. haha AND I kept him asleep while going from me to Ari to me to Lexi and back to me. I know, I'm awesome. ;) Anyway it's fun to have another baby in the family!

Weekend of dread

Shane had a four day weekend over Memorial weekend last month, so I had set those days aside a couple of months ago to finally potty train Ari. I knew I had to suck it up because it was time. Shane and I spent the week before preparing. The house was clean and laundry caught up, we had large amounts of clean underwear for Ari, a sticker chart, treats, and plenty of drinks for her. Shane rolled the rug up the day before (cleaning pee off of a hardwood floor is much easier than carpet!) and we were ready to go. We also had Clorox wipes, paper towels, and regular towels stacked on the couch for when we'd need them. After Kaden and Lexi, we're pros with potty training. I had to take Kaden to school that Friday, but I told Shane we'd start when I got back. 

I got home with Kaden around 10:45 and Ari was already in a t-shirt and underwear. Shane had started already and had her "throw away" her diapers (in a bin where we still have them in case we need them). He said it had been an hour and nothing had happened, but I checked and all he gave her was water. LAME. I got her some juice AND chocolate milk and she started chugging. 

Maybe 30 minutes later, Ari's eyes got really wide and she urgently said, "I NEED TO GO POTTY!" As I excitedly squealed, "RUN TO THE BATHROOM!" I looked down at the floor under her and it was still dry, much to my (and Shane's) surprise. Well, it turned out that not only did she make it to the toilet, she had time to move the step stool over and lift the lid up. What the? Shane and I were shocked at her bladder control and cheered for her and did the sticker chart thing, but we were still expecting accidents to start any minute.

As the day progressed, she did AMAZING. Not one accident (even during naptime)! Ari kept saying, "I'm so pwoud I can do dat!" It was adorable. Nighttime came, though, and I knew what I had to do. I woke her up an hour after she fell asleep and had her sit on the toilet. She kept sleepily saying, "I don't need to go potty." And she didn't. The next morning, I woke up early to wake her up early to go and, again, she kept saying that she didn't need to go. She sat on the toilet a little longer than normal, but she eventually went (she could have held it, though), then went back to bed.

Saturday we were feeling so confident about her being accident free that we went to RC Willey for hot dogs and soda for lunch.

Our big girl!

Playing with the chairs in electronics while Daddy window-shops.

 She was still doing amazing, so we decided to go to the Sprint store to get new phones. We were there for a couple of hours and she only needed to go potty once. There's not a public restroom, but the employees saw her "dancing" and quickly opened up their restroom for her use. It was hilarious because she held it the whole time and, again, still had time to spare, but when she sat down and started going she sighed and said, "Whew! That was close!" hahaha

She was bawling when we left the store because we didn't buy her a new cell phone.

Sunday went just as smoothly, even with going to church. I made sure her teachers came and got me in between their classes, though, so I could take her to the bathroom just in case. Anyway, by Sunday afternoon Shane and I had stopped waiting for the accidents to start and started realizing all of our kids were now potty trained! 

If I could do it over with the other two and wait until they were 3 1/2 to potty train them, I totally would. SOOO worth it! Not one accident and no headaches on mom's part! LOVED it! She made it so easy for us! Now it's been almost a month since I've had to change a diaper!! WOO!!!!