Golden Birthday! Masie's 4 on the 4th!

Our little cheeser turned 4 this year.  Her little personality is sure starting to shine through that cute little smile.  Having her birthday on a major holiday has always brought for interesting celebrations but they have always been fun.  She really wanted to have a balloon fight so I bought that amazing quick filling balloons and had at it in the back yard.  She was in heaven.  Of course we had pancakes, opened presents and then got ready for the day.

 Some friends invited us over for a Bbque and a little celebration.

 We hung out and played games and chatted and then headed down to a nearby baseball field to watch the fireworks.  It was a perfect view without the mess of the crowds.

 Happy birthday to this spunky firecracker of a 4 year old.  Our family wouldn't be the same without you!

Goodbye Indy!!! Oh and My Birthday

The moment has come to say goodbye...Again!!! This seems to be the norm for us right now.  To think this won't happen again is silly, but for now we'll hope for the best.  We had to say goodbye to so many great people and I didn't get very many shots of these awesome people but we will never forget them.  This is Cameron Bell.  Randy met him shortly after starting at Eli Lilly.  Randy trained him to help him learn how to manage more effectively.  These two quickly became more than coworkers, brothers is more like it.  They are so much alike and we loved having Cameron around.  Him and his wife, Sara, were married shortly after we moved to Indy and Cameron asked Randy to be in his wedding.  They had their little girl Charlie the next spring and we've really felt a connection with these guys.  We hope to keep in touch with them in the future.

The packers came on the 1st and had us packed by late afternoon.  We slept in our house that night and sent the kids to school on the 2nd to keep them busy while the movers were loading the truck.  I shipped the littles off to friends homes to keep them occupied and not underfoot. The movers left about 7 and Randy and I spent the rest of the evening cleaning.  Luckily all we had to do were the  downstairs floors since we had been cleaning while they were loading.  Our Durtschi friends offered their parents home to crash at for the night before we headed out the next morning.  Alesha said they are use to company and would love to have us stay there instead of getting a hotel.  We were very grateful for that, especially since it meant that we could hang out with them for just a little longer.  When Randy and arrived to their house, the kids were running around like crazy people and having a grand ol time.  It was hard to make everyone go to bed knowing we wouldn't see them again.

Malia driving Logan crazy, lol.

 Luke being...Luke!

 Masie saying bye to Yukie, I mean Luke.

 So we all went to bed very late with the intention of getting up early and heading out. The only problem was getting us out of the house early is really hard and the Durtschi's decided to come one more time before seminary to say bye...again.  Kenz is really going to miss this guy!

 They brought Bry and Skye to say their goodbyes.  Luke is a big dork sometimes, haha!

 Can ya tell.

 Great bunch of kids

 Masie's bud Skye

 The kids slowly woke up and joined in on the goodbyes.

 And then the kids took showers, cuz I wasn't about to sit in the car for 12+ hours with this stinky bunch.  That gave us enough time for the younger Durtschi crew to get ready for school and come say their goodbyes.

 And of course my goodbye's with this girl!  Man I'm going to miss our walk/talks.  I can talk to this girl for hours and it feel like only moments. 

 Since our goodbyes took so long, we stayed long enough to see Grandma Pat (she's a nurse that works the night shift).  She is an amazing woman who will help anyone, anytime.  Her selfless service is inspiring.  She loved these kids and I'm glad she got to see them one more time.

 Then we stuffed ourselves one more time into the van...

 and took more pictures, haha!  Love her!

 Love them!!!  Thanks for all you did for our family in the short time we were there Durtschi's/Bland's.  Thanks for making us feel like part of your family and teaching us so much.  Till we see each other again...Love You!

 Then it was off to Martin's Cove to see lots of family and for an epic baptism.  The car ride went well, and when it didn't, this is what would happen.

Oh and btw, we left on my birthday.  This is how we celebrated.  At least I got my Culver's

Caution! Lots of Random IPhone Pics

Like so many already had, I finally joined the new age and started using a smart phone right after moving to Indy.  To tell you the truth I wasn't that excited.  I loved my dumb phone...it was small, it wasn't distracting, it got the job done.  But moving to a new place, not knowing anyone or where anything was, it was sure nice to have to make sure I didn't get lost and to find anything with a swipe of a finger.  Picture taking could happen all of the time, anywhere with ease.  With that picture taking ability, my phone filled up fast, sometime with nonsense pictures.  With that I give you...Random Pics

 These girls loved to steal my phone and take as many selfies as they could before I noticed.  I mean sometimes I would find 500+ pics on my Ipad or phone of craziness.

 This little stinker crawled himself into this seat and passed out.

 The children's museum has some moving exhibits and some of these pics are of those exhibits.  This was the TV land exhibit and we got to sit in the Simpson's living room.  Uncle Billy would be green with envy.

 Someone decided tights on dad's head would be funny and tying them into a bow too look like  mouse ears was hilarious. 

  Masie got a hold of someone's lipstick.

 enjoying outside.

 Teenage mutant ninja turtle exhibit.

 Of course they would have an Indy race car exhibit.

 Kenz wanted to make shorts for girls camp as a value project.  These are the finished project.  She made them with Bry and Morgan even got a couple of pairs.

 Morgan tackling Kenzie's friend Steph.

 We always liked getting together with the Matney's.

Micah caught a fish at the outdoor adventure.

 And Masie got to ride a pony

 And we all got to shoot a bow and arrow.

 Kenzie made some great friends in Indy.  Steph and Mal made Kenz their third twin.

 Masi decided to turn Kaders into a sticker book.

 

 One of the stake dances Kenzie went to had a superhero theme.  So She went as superman.

 Masie wanted to be a bunny fairy princess for Halloween.

 Kenz stealing my phone.

Bry and Kenz Carving pumpkins.

 Or maybe they are birthing them.

 Ward Halloween party/trunk or treat at a members house.

 our yearly Thankful Turkey

 Morgan at New Beginnings.  One of the leaders painted this as a value project.

 Micah acting like Dumb Donald from Fat Albert.

 Our Turkey got really big with all of the missionaries we fed this year.

 My dad retired in January 2015 and they quickly left to come and visit kids before Andy was deployed again.  So we got to see them for a couple of days on their journey.

 We visited the Saints and Soldiers Museum downtown.

 And climbed to the top of the tower to get this view.

 They have an elevator that goes up to the top, but we opted for the exercise.  I hiked up those stairs with Kaders in the front pack.

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 Kenz and Morgan Heart attacked us for Valentines day.  It was cute.

 We didn't get much snow this year, lots of frigid temperatures but not much snow. When it finally did snow in March the kids took advantage of it.

 We had a heck of a month in February.  5 out of the 6 kids had ear infections.  So the only way I was going to be able to stay on top of all of the medication was to make a spreadsheet.  Randy was so proud of me, lol.

 A sweet lady in our ward, Sister Banks, loves kids and she would always give treats or sometimes little toys to the kids in the ward on Sundays.  We went over to her house a couple of time to visit with her, one of the times she was raising chicks in her house to take out to her farm.  The kids really wanted to see them before they left.

 More Indy cars

 We spent Easter and Conference with the Matney's.

 We had a fun egg hunt with them.

 Kaders getting to play in the grass finally.

 We also got to Andy's over Memorial day.  

 Andy was deployed at the time, it was sure nice to spend some time at their home.

 On the way home we stopped at the Matney's one last time because they were moving back west to be closer to family in Wyoming.  It was nice while it lasted.

 One last random pic of swinging in the park.

I'm sure I will have more posts like these in the future.