Kelsey Family

Sunday, January 1, 2023

First Day of School

Blakely and KK went the day before school started to meet their teacher and drop off school supplies.

Checking out the school library

Aug. 17th:

Kindergarten

I can't believe that KK is already in Kindergarten. How crazy is that?!?

She LOVES school! Which is nice because she is not a morning person so it could be so much worse getting her off to school if she hated it.

She is friends with all the girls and she "like-likes" a couple boys in her class! It is funny how quickly she got on board "crushing" on boys because it wasn't even a couple weeks before school started that we were over at one of Nathan's co-workers house for a swim party. While there we found out that their little boy was going into kindergarten too! I told KK that she should look out for him and say hi when she see him. KK gave me the dirtiest look ever and told me she can't be friends with boys! Well, it turns out that same little boy is in KK's kindergarten class and he is one of the boys she "like-likes". However, right before Christmas break she informed me that her teacher says they are too young to have crushes so she only likes certain boys as friends!

3rd grade

Blakely really likes her teacher. She got student of the month for 3rd grade in October. I think her best friend is Jethro. He is also in our ward. The older three tease her about him but that is always the way Blakely has been. She seems to always have a best friend who is a boy. In Florida it was Beckham. In California it was Sterling and now here in Idaho it is Jethro. She did have two really good friends that were girls in California and I know she sometimes hangs out with girls here as well.

Dyer's in 6th grade and is in middle school this year.

He seems to really only hang out with Austin but Dyer's not much of a talker/sharer so I don't get a whole lot out of him. He did really well on his math placement test so he was moved up to advanced math.

Blair's in 8th grade this year and went back to public school so this is her first and last year in middle school. She has a couple of really close friends (Abbi, Oliva, and Bella) which is really nice! She is doing fantastic at school! I was a little nervous how it was all going to play out but she is excelling. She got straight A's for this first semester of school! In fact, the three oldest came away with straight A's! She is enjoying choir and art this year. She claims she doesn't like anyone...but I'm not sure she would tell anyone if she did. She has 2 "really annoying" brothers and I don't think she wants to be teased by them. Apparently boys are scared of her though because she has been known to give them the "death stare".

Easton is in 11th grade. I think he is enjoying release time seminary-I know I am! I think his goal is to earn his associates degree when he graduates high school. He is taking a lot of Dual Credit, AP, and Honor classes this year. He's also in the Robotics club. He just took the PSAT and got a 1360! Such a smart kid! He has some kids he hangs out with but I don't really feel like he has close friends. Now that he is a Priest at church (it became official today) I'm hoping that will help. Now he'll actually be with kids that are in his same grade! Last year as a teacher he was with a bunch of boys that are in Blair's grade (8th-middle school). That's a big difference! Especially when you're at a different school-highs school and 3 grades ahead of them.

Roaring Springs Water Park

We had this trip planned for a while but then my AC coolant went out again (not a fan of Ford dealerships...long story at the end of this post if you care to hear about it) so I was just going to have Nathan take the oldest 4 in his car and I would stay home with the youngest 2. That way my car could stay at the shop and get worked on. Nathan was adamant that we all needed to go so we picked up my car from the shop and had a very long and hot car ride to and from Boise. By the time we got there we were all ready to jump in the cold water! The reason Nathan was adamant that we all go was because he invited my sister and her family to join us - surprise!

This was Easton's first long drive!

KK's first time on a waterslide

Eden's first time going down a waterslide.

Underwater pic!

Cousin pics- youngest to oldest (with the exception of Eden)

KK-5, Karsyn-8, Blakely-8, Adisyn-10, Dyer-11, Eden-2, Blair-13, Ashlyn-14, Easton-15, Kadyn-15

We need to get together more often because the kids didn't really seem know each other so they kind of didn't hang out a whole lot. I didn't really get to hang out with my sister much because of the two youngest. They were too small to go on the big slides where most everyone else was.

Long Car Story:

My AC coolant went out in California so we took it to the dealership. They said that they couldn't find a leak so they filled it back up with coolant (spendy for what it is) that had dye in it so if there was a leak they could find it the next time my coolant went out. Of course this happened mid fall so I didn't need to use my AC for that much longer.

Fast forward to spring when it started getting hot again and what do you know...My AC coolant went out again. We brought it back and it was a nightmare...They of course couldn't find the leak so they suggested that we most likely needed to replace some part (over $2k-it might have been $4k but I can't remember now...super expensive though) plus we had to put more coolant back in (still ridiculously expensive for the amount of work it takes to put that in). Not to worry though because the part is under warranty! They had my car for over 10 days and never gave us any updates over the phone. Nathan called many times and they never answered or called back. It turned out that their secretary got covid and was out of the office so they just fell apart. Eventually Nathan drove over there and found out that they didn't have the part they needed and they didn't want to put my car back together (short staffed because of covid). So it just sat there. Oh, and they wouldn't give us a rental car because all their rental cars were already being used...awesome! Thanks! I think they told us that my part would come in on a Monday and a couple days later they actually called us and told us we could bring our car in to get it fixed....ummmm my car is there! Right?!?

Fast forward again to beginning of Aug. (the day before Valerie got here) and my AC coolant went out again. Don't worry they say...the part is under warranty! Nathan calls up the Ford dealership here and explains what is happening and they say, "We are booked out for over 6 weeks. We suggest you bring it back to the dealership you got the work done at." REALLY?!? Thanks! Nathan goes out and buys coolant and the tools necessary to fill it up. It worked great for that day but by the next day it was back to not working. Obviously there was a really bad leak somewhere. Nathan was able to get my car in at a different place but it seemed as though my nightmare was on repeat. They couldn't find the leak but they were going to put in coolant with dye so they could find the leak if it happened again (it was 1/2 the price to put the coolant in here than it was in California-crazy!). Well, what do you know...it happened again the next day. I didn't want to be stuck at home the whole time Valerie was here so we just suffered through it - windows down and lots of water! We brought the car back and eventually they found a leak in the back AC unit! ummmmm why the heck did California not look for a leak in the back AC unit?!? Why the heck did they replace some ridiculously expensive part that clearly didn't need to be replaced?!? I could go on and on but I'll just say that I was ticked off!

Valerie's visit

Since we were fairly new to the area and Valerie was our first visitor, Valerie by default became our guinea pig. Most things were a first for all of us.

Perrine Coulee Falls:

Nathan and I actually walked down to this falls before we moved here with one of Nathan's co workers but we didn't walk behind it though. That was a first for us.

We took the two youngest with us since the two oldest had mutual that night. Blair was actually paddle boarding in the water down below with the YW.

Behind the falls

We took Valerie to a restaurant and just outside you can go to an overlook and see the same waterfall from above.

We decided to check out the visitors center. The kids (minus Dyer-he didn't want to get in trouble...) decided to climb on the Perrine Bridge model.

The actual Perrine Bridge

Parachute jumpers jump off this bridge all the time. I haven't seen any yet but maybe next summer we'll make it down to see it sometime. I've seen jumpers either right after they jumped or getting ready to jump.

We took the kids to the Herrett Center. I might want to go back sometime without the kids (younger kids) so I can enjoy it a little more. They also have a planetarium there that I think we need to check out sometime.

We took her down to Shoshone Falls aka "The Niagara of the West"

Dierkes Lake

Only the girls got in. The boys were party poopers! They just sat and complained the whole time (one boy more so than the other).

We wore this little one out!

Nathan had the day off so we took a kayaking/paddle boarding trip to Blue Heart Springs

I took Eden with me.

KK was very upset about this but I wasn't sure how I was going to kayak with two little ones.

Valerie

In the end I'm not sure if Valerie was glad she went on this trip with us...I think we may have gone a little too long. Easton even towed her for quite a while.

Nathan

Dyer

It took Dyer a while to finally get the hang of paddling his kayak.

Easton and KK

Easton hardly ever had a break. He either had KK with him or he was towing Valerie or Blakely behind him.

Blair

As soon as she got on her board she was off!

We finally made it to Blue Heart Springs! Blakely wanted to jump in! It was freezing (about 58 degrees)! I only put my hand in and that was enough for me.