June Events

Another month has come and gone in the Bell household.  Here is what we did...

Our newest Bell cousin was born back in May so in June we got to go meet her and attend her blessing.  McKinley is such a cute little girl and my kids absolutely loved being able to love and snuggle on her...even Rex!!  He loved her so much and definitely got his baby fix in.  Surprisingly this time around Kayley was the one that wanted to hold McKinley more than Cora.  Typically it is Cora who can't take her hands or eyes off of a new baby.  Kayley really just loved holding McKinley and got upset when her turn was over. 

  Cousin fun....anytime we have a family get together on either side...I just love that my kids love and get so excited to play with their cousins!  I love that they are all such good friends with one another.  My girls always refer to any of their cousins as their "friends", not their cousins.

 Part of the cousin fun involved swimming at Kyle's parent's neighborhood pool.  The cousins loved being able to swim with each other and show each other their tricks.  And of course we had to take advantage of the cousins having matching suits so Ashlyn, Cora, Alexa, and Kayley all wore their matching suits and of course they had to take a picture and include cute little Addison!

 Who can't love on this beautiful new little cousin of ours!?!?  Isn't she just so cute!?  She seems to be a very well-natured baby and of course was just a doll in her blessing outfit!  Isn't this a good looking family?!?

 And we also bought Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun season passes this year.  Our family has a tradition of buying season passes every other year to Silver Dollar City.  Every off year, us and the Walkers always debate buying WOF/OOF passes because it is so close.  This year we finally broke down and bought them.  And luckily we did this year because next year Kayley will be tall enough to be considered full price!  Yikes!!  So here are some pictures of our first time at Worlds of Fun.  The train was of course the highlight for Rex and Garrett...these boys both absolutely love everything there is about trains!  It was cute watching their faces.

 Rex and Garrett were also old enough to ride a lot of the rides with the bigger kids.  It was really cute watching them stand in line with their older siblings and to see their excitement as they rode the rides.  The older kids were such big helpers too.

 More fun on rides!

  Rex and Garrett were so cute on these boats.  It was almost time for the park to close so they were the only ones who were riding at the time and they kept taking turns trying to ring the bell.

 We joined the Walkers for one of Liberty's Nursery's fun day activity.  Each of the kids got to plant a plant and we all got yummy slushies.  Preston and Cora with their plants.  Sadly the plants didn't survive long, especially because of all the heat we've been having.

 Ashlyn and Kayley with their plants.  Notice that all four of them have their matching name shirts that they made a long time ago together.  After this event we went to dinner and to the drive inn movie so we had our kids ready in their PJ's for the late night and they had to all match!

 And the drive-inn....it's not summer unless you go to the drive-inn!  Michelle and Kendall put their giant bean bag in the back of their van and the kids had a blast watching the movie and snacking on popcorn and pop together.  Garrett had a little too much fun with the glow sticks...one popped open in his mouth so we had to get a picture before we cleaned him off!

 This year for Father's Day we surprised Nick with breakfast in bed which consisted of a bacon bouquet of flowers!  He thought it was the cutest idea.  When we were picking out the fake flowers at the store, both Kayley and Cora said, why are you getting those for Daddy, he didn't get any for you?  I then told them what I was going to do with the bacon in making them be the flowers and Kayley said, "Mom that is a really good idea, you are good!"  The kids did a video about questions about Dad and had fun making it and showing it to him.  Then that night we went to Michelle and Kendall's house to do father's day with Randy.  We did a game on how well do you know your Dad/child.  The kids and adults had a blast testing their knowledge of each other.

 Then the next day after Father's day we found out some really saddening news.  Our nephew Judson had an accident.  He was experimenting with what is called "the choking game".  He was by himself and got caught up, literally, became unconscious and was put into ICU for a week.  Long story short, he passed away on the 24th of June because his brain was showing no brain activity.  So the rest of the month of June was spent with family surrounding us whether here at home or in Sikeston.  We will miss Judson but we know he is in a better place and we know that families are forever and that we will be with Judson again someday when we all pass away.  What a special blessing it is to know this.  It doesn't take the hurt away but it helps to understand it.  Judson was loved dearly by all.  He was my buddy when he was younger.  He proposed to me when he was about 2 and Nick had to ask his permission to marry me.  My girls absolutely adored Judson when they lived close to us in Blue Springs.  He definitely had a gift of making everyone around him feel special and we witnessed this often when he played with my girls.  The girls now have many printed pictures of him in their family photo books and Kayley even has a locket with his picture in it that she wears almost everyday now.  He will be deeply missed.  Words cannot express our loss.  We love you Judson and can't wait to see you again!

 Our Rex turned 2 this month.  Since we were going to be out of town for his actual birthday, we had a birthday party for him before we left a week before his actual birthday.  He got lots of Thomas the Train items...told you he likes trains!  He loved his Thomas cake, only because it had a Thomas on it that he eagerly pulled off the second we let him.

 The party was lots of fun and he of course had lots of helpers to help him open his presents and blow out his candles!

Kansas City Zoo Fun

We went to the zoo with Michelle and her kids and the kids had a blast!  I loved watching the Sea Lion show.  The Sea Lion got in trouble because he kept eating the fish out of his lunch box.  Rex really loved the sea lions...he couldn't take his eyes off of them.

Then we didn't actually get any pictures of the kangaroos, but these are pictures in front of the kangaroos.  I just couldn't believe they weren't caged up.  The kangaroos just wandered the park, but surprisingly stayed right by each other and didn't come close to people at all.

 Then we pet the goats.  Rex didn't really know what to think and barely would touch them.  Garrett liked touching them though.

 Then Nikita the polar bear.  She was so cute and SO BIG!  It was amazing to see her up close.  She swam the same route the whole time and the kids loved being able to try and match their hands with her huge paws on the glass.

 The birds were hilarious!  The kids shared the nectar cups and did a great job being brave and letting the birds eat out of their hands.  Rex even let them come and land on him!

 Rex and Garrett were so cute watching them.  When Rex was feeding them, Garrett was so intrigued.  However when it came time for Garrett to feed the birds, he didn't want anything to do with them!

 Then Michelle and her kids decided to head home.  I knew and had heard that the Africa section was something you did in a day and you couldn't see the whole zoo in a day.  However Kayley was dying to see the giraffes so being a good mom I decided to brave Africa at least to the giraffes!  Little did I know that the giraffes were in the dead center of Africa, which makes a loop.  So I ended up having to walk all of Africa anyway.  To say we were exhausted at the end of it was an understatement!  Rex was even falling asleep in his stroller but I had to keep waking him up so he'd sleep when we got home because I knew I needed a nap!  It was fun though and the kids had a blast!  Kayley was very appreciative that we got to see the giraffes!

Then later in the week we went to the Celebration at the Station for the Memorial Day Celebration.  This was our third year going I think and the kids had a blast like always!  They got to play with their cousins and friends and eat lots of snacks, including pop!  It was cute to watch them all play together.  They didn't freak out too much when the fireworks started but Rex was cute because he was sitting with Nick who was holding his hands over Rex's ears and Rex had his hands on Nick's hands to make sure he wouldn't take his hands off.  I didn't want to blind them with my flash because it was dark so I didn't get a picture but it was really cute!

Penguin Park and Bell Family Reunion

Last weekend we had the 1st Annual Bell Family Reunion!  We called it a reunion because we had people come from Utah, Colorado, and Ohio to celebrate Nathan May's high school graduation, so we made a party of it! 

It started out with that Friday meeting Michelle and her kids and Jared and Ann and their kids at Penguin Park for play and lunch.  It had been a while since we had been at Penguin Park...maybe even since before Rex was born!  So the girls had a blast and the old school type toys were the biggest hits...the merry-go round and the monkey arch bars, or whatever you call those! 

Rex is very much into posing for me when he sees my camera. So he is posing underneath the huge giraffe and in the school bus and fire truck!

Then the next day was the big get-together day!  We all met at Famous Dave's Bbq place...hadn't had this in a while, so I was super excited!  I love their corn muffins!!  I tried to get a picture of everyone in the room.  Not sure on the exact count, but it was crazy!  We had two very awesome waitresses who actually got everyone's orders correct!!  I didn't want to attempt to make everyone look at the camera since I knew everyone would be taking pictures later.

This little boy was just making me melt...he was just playing with his cars, but of course posed for me when he saw the camera...silly kid!  I just love him to pieces!

 Then we all headed to a nearby park for the rest of the celebration.  Once again the old school toys were the favorite.  These see-saws were a hit!  Grandpa was a hit with fun under-dogs!  He was super worn out as all the grandkids wanted a turn!

 Then came picture time...I didn't get pictures of everyone but still got quite a few.  All the cousins' kids...we are multiplying like crazy!  However compared to my side of the family...this is nothing!  There are now 16 Bell extended cousins....compared to the 26 Felker cousins (not including my cousins' kids even!)  However, it was still crazy trying to get them all to hold still and look at the camera...crying was expected!  Michelle brought reinforcement with gummy bears...but of course all the big kid cousins thought they needed some too!

 The Bell cousins and their spouses.  What a crazy group!

 The high school graduate Nathan!  He graduated as a valedictorian!  What an accomplishment!

 And this sweet boy once again stole my heart!  I just loved watching him play with his bubbles from Aunt Wilma!  SO CUTE!!

Kindergarten Graduation

This is my attempt at keeping my blog up to date!  This little boy's hero is Daddy!  Anytime he sees a picture of him on the computer or my phone he gets so excited..."Dada!!"  He requests to call him on the phone at work and Rex is so quiet when he talks he usually just sits and listens to Daddy on the other line.  When he comes home he waits very excitedly at the top of the stairs for him.  And the last couple of days he has requested Daddy to put him to bed instead of Mommy...didn't use to be that way!  So the other day when Daddy got home from work Rex joined him on the couch and shared a snack with him and it was the cutest thing.  Nick always has a pop and usually something salty right after work so Rex brought his water bottle and just munched away on the cashews with Nick.  Made us both melt!  I had to get a picture of this sweet moment and of course they both gave me their super cheesy grins! 

 Earlier today Kayley graduated from kindergarten!!  I can't believe we have a 1st grader now!  This year has really flown by!  I still remember the first day and she was so scared that she wanted me to stay a little longer in the classroom with her before I left and she was holding back tears.  I of course shed mine when I left her room that day!  I'm shocked I didn't shed any today during their ceremony but maybe that's because I was juggling the camera and the other two kids between Nick and I!  Her teacher cried a little bit though and it was really sweet.  She really has been a great teacher to all of these kids and Kayley's class really has a great group of kids!  They all got along so well!

 Our little graduate!!  I still can't get over it!

 Some of her friends that were still at school.  A lot of them had already left with their parents.  Kayley wanted to stay as long as she could to school!  I just love this little girl!

 Pictures with Mrs. Kirn!  We went over and originally wanted a picture of Kayley and Mrs. Kirn by themselves but all the kids kept coming that we had to do their picture last.  It was really cute.  It really shows how much Mrs. Kirn cares about these kids and vice versa.  In fact, a sweet moment from today...one little boy decided to stay the rest of the day but then once his mom left he got really sad and missed his mom.  He requested Mrs. Kirn to help console him...so cute and sweet!  I sure hope my next two kids get Mrs. Kirn for kindergarten!!

Mother's Day 2012

This year for Mother's Day was as always very good.  I woke up to "toast" (Nick put in my card, "let's make a toast to you, Mom") in bed and gifts.  Nick got me cotton candy perfume....the store was out of my perfume that I usually use so we have to get it later!  Cora made me some pictures.  And my favorite gift was Kayley's DVD her teacher helped her make.  She put together a slideshow of pictures of her throughout the year put to music and the music was of Kayley singing "You are my sunshine."  Made me tear up a little bit!  Then we went to church (got chocolate from the ward...yum!!), came home and Nick made lunch, got to sort of take a nap (too many kids got up off and on plus my cough!), and then we went on a walk because it was so nice outside!  I got to use my new camera (part of my mother's day gift as well).  Then my Mother's day meal was actually the day after Mother's day...parmesan crusted tilapia, salad, and texas toast!  Yumm!!  Here are some pictures of my very cute subjects during our walk! 

A weekend to remember!!

The beginning of this month started out with a huge bang!  To begin we went to Kayley's art show at her school.  She was so excited to show us not only her art but also for all of us to see everyone else's art.  

 Rex's hair has grown out to be long enough for his second haircut!  We decided to try to do it on our own this time and see how it went.  I had to coach Nick a little but between the both of us we got it cut and he sat SO well!  I was very impressed!

 Garrett turned 2!!  I can't believe he and Rex (soon to be 2) are getting to be this old already!  Time really flies!  I had to first take the Young Women in our ward downtown to their devotional with Kenneth Cope the night before their big cultural celebration program they had all been working on like crazy for the last couple of months!  But then we all went to the Walker's to celebrate Garrett's birthday.  Mike and Nomi were there because their kids were also involved in the celebration.

 Michelle did such a great job on the cake...we were all very impressed as always!!

 What's a party without presents!?!  The big cousins had a blast helping Garrett open his presents!

 The big present was the trampoline..the kids all had a blast jumping!

 Then Michelle's neighborhood garage sale was the next day so we decided to let Ashlyn come and spend the night with us for the night since we would be going back to the Walker's house the next morning.  We pulled out the trundle under the girls bed and they all three slept across two beds.  Kayley kept trying to go to sleep while Cora and Ashlyn stayed awake talking for a long time.  Nick and I went to bed around 11:30 and they were still awake!  Silly girls making some fun memories!!

 Then Saturday night was a night to remember!  First of all to preface this...a week ago I woke up Sunday morning with this strong impression that I needed to get tickets to this event (they were reserved for youth families only and then those that weren't going to go could turn in their tickets for extra people to take them.)  I woke up desiring for my children to have the experience of being in the same room as the Prophet.  So between mine and Nick's ward and Arlaine's ward we were able to get tickets for all of my family, all of Michelle's family, Arlaine, and Andrew's family.  Then a tender mercy that happened...Andrew was supposed to meet us in front of the building to get his tickets.  He had forgotten his phone so we didn't have a way to contact him.  He told the people at the door that his tickets were inside with us so they first let him in...then he had to figure out how to find us in this massive building!  He said he stopped and said a little prayer that he would find us and he ran into Kendall and Preston just barely coming out of the bathroom.  And then we all got to experience this together...our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson come into the room.  What an overwhelming spiritual feeling came over me.  Everyone stood up and sang "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" and I couldn't make it past for the first couple of words and then kept having to hold back the tears.  I talked with my girls after the event and they talked about the feeling they felt when he walked in.  I couldn't have been prouder as a parent when I heard those words from them.

 Then we also got to see our youth and all the other youth perform their dances they had worked tirelessly on for the last couple of months!  Our youth did amazing!  They I think had the most difficult dance and the most elaborate costumes compared to the other groups!  I think they did awesome and it really showed in their faces how proud they were of all the work they had done to get to this point.  And Emily McCulloch made it to the jumbo-tron...that was cool!  And Kenneth Cope even sang for the event...so cool!

The next morning was the temple dedication.  We swapped babysitting with Andrew and Sarah.  They did the 9am session and we did the 12 session.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came with President Monson so we got to listen to him speak as well.  There was a lot said about those who were in attendance for the dedication that maybe we couldn't see.  Of course I immediately thought of my Dad, which I always do in situations like that, but then I turned my thoughts to the early saints that lived in Missouri and went through so much to try and build a temple here that was never finished and then be driven from the state and for all the ridicule they faced before being driven out.  What a special feeling was felt and I know this temple is meant to be at this time.  And of course Kayley still didn't want the temple to be dedicated only because she knew that meant she couldn't walk through the temple open house anymore.  She can't wait until she turns 12 and can go on temple trips with the youth group to do baptisms for the dead.  I on the other hand can wait a while until she turns 12!  Although I know that will be a very special time for her.  And then to end all the temple celebration we got to do a session on the very first day the temple was open on that Tuesday.  Our Stake is in charge of cleaning the temple for the month of May so our ward's day was on the first Tuesday.  We did a session and what a special experience it was to do a session with all the great people from our ward and then to be privileged to clean the temple afterwards.  We are truly a blessed people in this area and it is still surreal to me that the Lord has blessed us with a temple so close!

April Events

April was a wonderful month for us!  We were super busy with our new temple open house going on and other things.  Here is what went on in the Bell household this month!  

Rex was just as cute as ever of course.  I found him in Einstein's kennel one day just playing and enjoying himself, not once making a face for the awful stink that accompanies Einstein's kennel.  This month we also got to visit with my side of the family.  Mary came for a whole week to spend her spring break with us.  When she was here the girls painted with her and soaked up any teaching from her they could get (she's an art major!) Rex joined along (top left) and was just as happy as can be painting with his water.  Then Grandma Jani came up to go to Kayley's grandparents day at school.  Jani got to eat breakfast with Kayley and get a tour of her school and classroom.  It was really special for Kayley.  The bottom right picture is of Rex and Ruby going for a walk with Jani, Mary, and the Felkers. 

 As mentioned earlier my side of the family came up for the Open House for the new Kansas City Temple.  They came up over Easter weekend.  Both the Sanders and the Farmington Felker kids were not aware that May May was here so she decided to surprise them when they got to our house.  This was the first time the Sanders had seen our house so I took them on a tour of the house and had Mary jump out of my closet.  The Felker kids were a bit trickier as they've been to our house a number of times.  So we had Mary hide on top of the refrigerator.  It took them a while to actually go into the kitchen, so Edward suggested the kids go into the kitchen to get something to drink since they had been traveling for a while.  They finally saw her but she had covered her face and they couldn't figure out who she was.  They finally figured it out and of course they were all excited to see her and Mary of course was the life of the party for the kids both old and young.  They were all very sad to see her go.

 Here are some pictures of our gathering fun...(top left) Ruby was constantly trying on everyone's shoes...and there were many shoes there for her to try on because there were so many people there, 27 to be exact!  (top right) there was so much fun going on that kids really didn't get much sleep.  Lauren fell asleep literally in the middle of the living room.  Take note of her legs in other pictures...the kids were being very rambunctious around her and she slept through it all!  (bottom left and right) Edward was the target of fun for Cora, Mallory, and Rex for a while and of course was a good sport about it.

 (top left and bottom right) Rex got in on the action of tackling sweet Mallory!  I guess maybe Lucy saw this and decided to try and get reactions from Rex.  This whole weekend Rex avoided Lucy at all costs!  Lucy would go up to Rex and just grab him and scream really loud which would scare the crud out of Rex and he would cry historically and come to us to be comforted...only to turn around to Lucy who would come up to him and rinse and repeat.  It got to where Rex would be running into the room and see Lucy and would immediately run the other way!  Then even at church later that weekend she would just look towards him from the aisle in front of us and he would start hiding his face in our legs.  I couldn't bring myself to videotape it but I really wish I would have as it was really cute/sad all in one.  (top right and bottom left) Mallory entertained us with her elasticity!  That girl can bend in any shape or form!

Here are pictures of my sweet children!  They absolutely LOVED the Temple Open House!  At the beginning of the tour they give out pamphlets of the temple.  As we were walking room to room Kayley would open her pamphlet to the room we were standing in as she listened to the tour guide and follow along in her pamphlet.  Rex wore his booties throughout the whole tour, which surprised me as I thought he'd kick them off immediately.  They were so big on him because of course they were one size fits all and they were absolutely adorable but of course I didn't get a picture.  As soon as we were finished with the tour the kids wanted to go back through.  I explained to them about how it would be dedicated soon by the Prophet and then they would have to be 12 to go through again to do baptisms as a youth.  Kayley immediately said, "can we go as many times as possible to the temple before it's dedicated!"  And then when the dedication came closer she would say she didn't want it to be dedicated because that meant that they couldn't walk through it again.  We did get to go two more times.  Once in hopes of going with Cora's teacher but she wasn't able to make it after all.  Then a third time with one of my friends and her husband and little girl.  That was a lot of fun to of course go through the temple again with the kids and then to be able to catch up with my friend Erica and her sweet family.  

I just love Rex's cheesy grin...it's in every picture of course!

More pics of these sweet kiddos!  They had so much fun!

Family pics in front of our amazing Kansas City Temple!!

Ok...so these pictures need a preface of there are 26 grandkids on my side of the family.  We took 16 of those 26 on the tour!  We were our own tour group in case you were wondering!!   So we had to try to get a picture of all of them in front of the temple....quite the task to get them all looking and smiling!  We got close!  But of course we had to do a silly picture.  Some of the pictures have a mix of silly faces and smiling faces!!  Crazy cousins!

Then Easter morning was shared with us and the Farmington Felker family, which was fun and different! When the Easter Bunny comes to our house he hides the kids Easter basket, which was new to the Felker kids.  So it was fun to watch all the kids find their baskets...the Easter Bunny had to work really hard to hide all 8 baskets and not to double the hiding spots!  The kids had a blast eating candy for breakfast!  But what are Easter morning and Christmas mornings for!?! 

 Then that afternoon we had even more people at our house...a total of 34 people!!  But I have to admit that I wouldn't have had it any other way!  The older cousins were the ones in charge of hiding the Easter eggs for the little kids and memories of when I was a kid and having Easter egg hunts at Grandma and Grandpa Sargent came flooding back to me!  Sometimes I have to sit back and realize that I'm a parent to such wonderful children and I'm hopefully assisting in making such memories for them with their cousins.    My cousins were some of my best friends as a kid and I absolutely love that we live so close to so many of my siblings and Nick's siblings so that all of our kids can grow up and have these memories!

Here are some more pictures from this month's festivities.  (top left) Cora tried on some make-up with our neighbor.  (bottom left) Rex is ready for summer and wanted to try on his goggles for swimming.  (middle) Rex playing "Dead man, dead man" on the trampoline with the girls.  A game where you close your eyes and run around the trampoline trying to tag someone to be the next one it.  Rex was so stinking cute playing this!  (top right) Sarah so graciously came over to my house after everyone left to help me clean it...isn't she amazing?  It was actually a pretty hot day so we got the sprinkler out and put it under the trampoline for Kayley, Audrey, Cora, and Lauren to play.  They had a blast!  (bottom right) Sterling caught a frog when all the cousins were here and it was quite the hit! 

This month our neighborhood had their neighborhood garage sales.  The girls were so excited to join me. In fact Cora would say to everyone that week before that she was going to go to some garage sales on Saturday.  So we left the boys at home and we did some girl shopping together that morning.  Then the left picture is of Cora's celebration of learning for school.  My camera was not acting very well so I didn't get very many pictures that turned out.  She is in the middle next to her friend Katie.  She sang so loud and did so good.  She has loved every minute of school this year and has grown leaps and bounds!

 And who doesn't like Chick-fil-a milkshakes!?!?  Rex was loving his this day and making some funny faces!  Isn't he cute!?!

Rex loves babies

So I know I'm way behind on my posts....catch-up posts to follow.  I wanted to write this down as it was so cute I didn't want to forget it.  Yesterday at church the kids were fighting as they do often, but what group of siblings don't fight over their toys during church?  Nick was trying to calm Rex down and started distracting him with a new baby in our ward that was sitting only a couple of pews in front of us.  He told him, "that baby is watching you" and he would stop fussing about whatever he was fussing about.  Then later in sacrament he would fuss again and again Nick would just have to say, "that baby is watching you" and even in mid-cry he would stop and pay attention to the baby.  Needless to say he loves babies and always had naturally just as Cora did as a baby and even now.  Then towards the end of sacrament meeting Nick had him sit on his lap so he could get a good view of the baby and Rex kept patting each of us to get our attention to make sure we knew there was a baby up front so he would point to the baby.  So after sacrament meeting was over I took him up to go see the sweet baby.  He was so excited!  So, thanks baby Brielle for helping us keep Rex calm during sacrament.  We are going to have to sit by them every Sunday now!