Kirra turns 4

We are two months late but I didn't want to miss out on writing about my beautiful 4 year old!  It is hard to believe Kirra has been part of our family for four years.  She is such as amazing girl and I can't begin to list all the things about her that we love but I will try.  For one she is so so talented.  Since Kirra was even a baby she has had a very determined mind.  When she wants to learn to do something (like walk at 7 months old) she does it.  This year she wanted to learn to ride a bike with no training wheels.  Every day for a week she would wake up, put her helmet on, and get to work.  She was at the bike park with her dad in less than a week.  Now she is trying to master riding over curbs and refuses to simply ride on the sidewalk.  She has also really improved her swimming.  She wanted to learn to swim to the bottom of the pool and every time we would go she would ask me to throw things on the bottom so she could try and swim down to get them.  I love that once she puts her mind to something she does it.  I don't see anything holding this girl back ever.  She is also so very artistic.  She will spend hours coloring pictures and I love that she doesn't have to follow any guidelines.  She can color people purple and green and any color she chooses and I am always amazed at how beautiful they turn out.  She also is my favorite hair stylist.  At night she will go get a brush and clips and play with my hair which I LOVE.  She is determine to learn how to braid and I love watching her make progress.  Kirra continues to be a friend to everyone she meets.  She is the best part of me and Trevor and even though we drive each other crazy sometimes she is my best friend and I am so lucky to be her mom.

Forgot to mention what an AMAZING big sister she is.  She has this kids back.

We had a pool party for Kirra and it was a great turn out.  She got to eat pizza and cake and pay pin the tail on the pony.

Birthday morning did not disappoint

Fitzgerald Family Reunion 2015

This year was the first time I have been together with my whole family since before Matt's mission.  I actually can't even remember the last time before this that we were all together.  My sister planned a reunion for us up in Park City and she did an awesome job making sure it was full of fun.

Day-1  Relax from traveling/pool day.   In the morning Whitney and I took the kids on a little walk and it was so fun to see the cousins playing together.  Lucy, I think, was the most excited and kept hugging me and yelling, "Family Reunion!!"  Later that day we went to the pool in the neighborhood we were staying at and had friends that lived in the area come to visit.  My friend Sutton came up with her now 1 year old Mae and I also got to see my friend Nicolette who we haven't seen in YEARS!  It was a perfect first day of reunion fun.

I didn't take many pictures this day but I did get this cute one of the girls looking at pictures of themselves on Grammas iPad.

Day-2 We went to City Creek Mall and took advantage of Free Chick-Fil-A day.  Again my sis organized everything and put together all the cow costumes.  We spent the rest of the day shopping while my parents watched our kids in the play area.  Have to say it was the most enjoyable shopping experience I have had in so so long.  We came home and hung out and then the girls snuck off for another short shopping trip.  Can't take free babysitting for granted.

All the girls before shopping.  By the time we got home they were all soaked from paying in the fountain.  Lucy lost a shoe and by the time we were done was stripped to her underwear.  She also fell asleep in auntie's car and "spilled water"  Aka peed herself.  Needless to say that got the most out of their trip.

Gramma and papa bathing babies in the sink

Day 3-  Another relaxing day.  We didn't do too much but we did have a nice lunch at the Park City Outlets and just let the kids hang out and have fun together.  I also spent the evening driving to Provo with my brother Josh to pick up Trevor at the airport.  Since I haven't seen Josh in FOREVER and he will probably be leaving soon on his mission, it was nice to have alone time with him.

Day 4- Probably my favorite day of the week.  We went to the Park City resort where they have all kinds of fun activities.  Whitney and I bought all day passes for us and our older kids and my brother Keaton got one as well and we had a blast riding the Alpine slides and Coaster and doing all the other fun activities.  Trevor joined us for a while and then left on a bike ride.  The big girls loved all the rides and we literally stayed until the park closed.

My mom made reunion shirts for everyone

My mom has been making us do the stair step picture since Keaton was a baby.  I used to be the first step

It was fun watching the kids and then big kids get to jump super high

3 kids and she still got it

This girl was ready to ride.  My sister and her stood in line for an hour for the Alpine coaster and it was Lucy's second time riding but somehow in a very short time they changed the rules and Lucy was not big enough to ride.  She was devastated and it took 8 Merry go round rides to cheer her up.

Kirra was in her happy place all day

When Grace is tired she lays down where ever she is to take a rest

Love Darcy but can't say I am happy about her height.  I need a short person in this family

Coaster.  At the end of the day Trevor came back with us and I rode with him and since he had control of the breaks it was probably the scariest ride of my life

Papa and Gramma found a place to eat and realax and give kids stroller naps while we played

Kirra and Lucy fought over this toy for at least an hour.

This guy took the kids for most of the trip and we love him for it.

Day 5-  Hike day.  My family is not big on hiking.  We originally planned a small family hike but about 10 min into the hike my dad decided he wanted to take the kids on a train ride that goes through Heber so he and my mom took the kids and of course this prompted Trevor to choose a more vigorous hike.  We hiked some trails right behind the house where we were staying and it was beautiful.  Of course by the end of it I could barely lift one foot in front of the other and I realized how out of shape I am.  It was great spending the quality time with all my siblings (minus Matt who chose the train ride).  At the end of the day we hung out and watched movies.

I got zero pics from our beautiful hike but my parents took some on the Heber train

Day 6- We went to Salt Lake.  We of course did temple square and then my parents had the most genius idea to rent a hotel room close by and my brothers Keaton and Josh watched all of our kids while the older bunch went to Rodizios for lunch and ate all the Brazilian meat we could handle.  Can't say that was a bad day at all.

The originals

Day 7-We all got packed up and ready to head out.  We also had a mini birthday party for my niece Lucy.  Funny story-my mom went out the night before and bought cupcakes and cake.  When she got home Lucy was still awake and wanted a cupcake so my mom gave her one.  Lucy is obsessed with backpacks and if we were ever missing something on our trip (keys, wallet, brush, a credit card) you could be certain that it was in Lucy's backpack.  So my mom soon after giving Lucy a cupcake realized that the rest of the cupcakes had disappeared.  Sure enough Lucy had dumped the whole case of cupcakes into her backpack without the packaging.  She definitely entertained us more than anyone on this trip.
After we all went our separate ways my parents joined Trevor and I on a walk around provo canyon.  I have to say that I was so so disappointed.  In the past I have loved provo canyon because of how beautiful it was but there was a certain group of people, and I mean hundreds of them, and they had completely littered the area with trash and it really took away from the beauty that I have loved in the past.  It was sad but it was good to spend a little alone time with my parents and say our goodbyes.  Overall it was a really  great trip.

She choose to water down the cake first.  Not many of us wanted a piece after

All of us.  I forced everyone to take this picture minutes before we left.  

About a second after we left

We also got to meet my brother Matt's girlfriend Darcy who joined us for our reunion and she got a real taste of what it's like in our family.  We all loved her and hope she sticks around.