Gratitudings 2013

It's been a very nice November. One of my favorite traditions is to have each member of the family write one thing a day that they are grateful for.  I call them graditudings; thanks to my friend Heather. So, here are the Ravsten Graditudings from 2013. They are fabulous.  

Gus the horse            Lola             Candy             Kedzie             Flowers            Triston

Heavenly Father       Triston          Target             Pizza               Vegetables        Home

Bread dough             Olivia           Gospel            Balloons           Mom                Friends

Daddy                       Christmas      Sleep              Christmas         Zoo                  Alex

Thanksgiving            Van               Ethan             Cookie dough   Football   Grandma Kathy

Birds                          Babies           Music            Kenzie             Sunshine          Pirates

Bert & Whitie            Freedom        Minecraft animals                  Chelsie            Horses

Pizza                          Alex              My mom, Grandma Mary      Sleep               Flowers

Dada                          Milk              Broncos         Triston             Disneyland      Minecraft

Sleep                          Triston          Mom              Riding bikes    Showers           Kedzie

Candy                        Rolls             Luv                Bert                 Alex                 Ramen

Cake                          Family          Ornaments      Star wars people                      Jackson

Licorice                     Testimony    Books             Mom                Date night  Swimming

Donuts                       Cookies        Mom              Earth                Emily               Names

Alex                           Kedzie         Turkey           Alex                 Family     Monster trucks

Video games              Bed              Job                 Candy              School              Family

Jesus Christ                Ethan           Church           Food                Cats                  Family

Bay blades                 Travis           Heat              Spirit                Chicks               Dad

Juice                          World           Gramas          Kedzie             Teachers    Babysitters

Kedzie                       Family          Santa             My faith           Shopping   Dinosaurs

Orange sticks             TV               Cupcakes       Pilgrims           Minions             Snow

Mr. T

Happy birthday to a very happy, most of the time, kid!  You've been in our lives for ten months and this is your first birthday celebration with us!  It is an honor to celebrate your birthday "Ravsten style!"  I can't post pictures due to confidentiality, but you've had a great birthday.  Your party on Friday was awesome.  Your friends Blane (from school), Matthew, Colten, Cooper and Brody came.  Along with our family.  The nine kids played and played and played at Monkey Bizness for almost three hours.  It was a joy to see everyone so happy.

Today you had balloons all over and presents from everyone in the family.  To my chagrin, you got a Minion fart gun! It's really loud and obnoxious! You also got a minion, a razor scooter and a rocket.  You were so happy when we sang happy birthday to you!  I wonder if you've ever celebrated like this before? My guess is no.

This last ten months has been a growing experience for all of us.  You've learned to ride a bike without training wheels, swing, swim like a fish and be fast as lightening on your razor.  You started preschool where you've learned your numbers and you are well on your way to knowing your letters.  You are smart and keep up with everyone around you.

You're learning to control your anger and frustrations.  We are proud of the progress you've made and realize that you've experienced a great deal in your five short years.  Wish we could take the pain away, but we can only help you get through it in the hopes of becoming an amazing individual as you grow.

You and Alex are best of friends and you are learning to be your own person, it's hard but happening.

As a side note, you were born on my Grandmother Margrette Romer's birthday.  I think that's kinda special and ties you to our family even more.

We love you.  We hope you can become a permanent fixture in our family.  "Come what may, and love it" is my new quote regarding your situation.  We must have faith in our Heavenly Father that He loves you and knows what is best for you.  We are here to help you every step of the way.

Happy 5th birthday Mr. T! We love you. You laugh and smile are contagious. Your inner strength is commendable.  You are an amazing kid.  We are grateful to share in this day with you.


1. What is your favorite color? green
2. What is your favorite toy? minion fart gun
3. What is your favorite fruit? apple
4. What is your favorite tv show? AFV
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut Butter and honey sandwich
6. What is your favorite outfit? Angry bird shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Mario Brothers (Wii)
8. What is your favorite snack? cookies
9. What is your favorite animal? snakes
10. What is your favorite song? Follow the prophet
11. What is your favorite book? Dinosaur Train 
12. Who is your best friend? Blane
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Count Chocula
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play 
15. What is your favorite drink? water and milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas 
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? a book and stuffed animals
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? lucky charms
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? minion cupcakes.
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? police

Grandma was proud

Dear Grandma Mary,

You would have LOVED halloween this year!  Kedzie and Ethan were the ever amazing Hermoine Granger and Harry Potter.  Oh and at the tea party, Kedzie was a "deadly singer girl!?" Alex was superman, a pirate and a dragon! And Mr. T was a consistent blue batman! We missed you during our celebrations, but we thought of you often and named our tea party "grandma Mary's tea party!"  

We had so many friends come, I think there were fourteen kids.  Mom kept her cool and let us do practically whatever we wanted.  However, you'd be proud to know that she had some activities planned, yet purchased all the treats! She did good.  We had crape paper all over the house and then we dumped it all over the backyard and she didn't yell at us!  

We went to the ward trunk or treat as well.  That was Mr. T's first time ever trick or treating.  We taught him how to do it and he loved it.  He went up to Brother Fillerup who had an afro wig on and said "hey dude, we have the same kind of hair!" He had a great time and was really good at getting candy. 

We also had an awesome halloween night.  We wandered the neighborhood with our neighbors and got around 5lbs each of candy.  Mom paid Kedzie $2.00 per pound and gave the boys a video game for their candy.  She's smart to not let us eat whatever we want, cuz you know we'd eat it all!

Karen wasn't able to come this year because Lorenzo was sick.  Ethan cried when he heard the news.  It was strange to not have either of you here, but we understand why she couldn't come and hope he gets feeling better soon. 

We cleaned up halloween today and have started our "graditudings" chart.  I'm sure you'll make it on the list one of these days.  We are grateful for you and so grateful that you taught us to LOVE halloween.  It's the best holiday of the year for us.   Candy, friends and fun.  What more could four crazy kids want?  Well, their grandma, but we have her in our hearts.

Love, KEAT

Hope you enjoy the photos of our halloween adventures. They are pretty self explanatory.  Except, Dad...he was "random man" and mom was a witch doctor! Weird-os!

Second year

I'll be honest, I didn't think the second year of milestones in regards to my mom's passing would be as hard as it is.  It all started on Thursday with thoughts of my kids annual tea party.  I realized that she wouldn't be attending and that this was the beginning of the end for her two years ago.  It really stinks.

I thought it would be easier the second year, but it doesn't feel any easier.  Maybe even a little harder because I wasn't expecting it.  So, Travis gets another opportunity to be patient with me and my emotions and my children as well.  They are good at that.  Now, if I can obtain the gift of patience with myself.

I miss my mom.  I miss how she loved me, called me, supported me, said the perfect things to me, made memories with my children, made everything with my kids fun, did all the brain work while I did the leg work.  I miss her.

However, she taught me so many things; one being when the going gets tough, keep going.  So, I will simply keep going.  I really have no other choice.  It's going to be an emotional two months, but I guess now that I'm aware, I can avoid any real meltdowns...or not!  Anyway...here's to the holidays and the love that my mom had for them!

Thanks for listening to my rant.

The kids in 2011.  Grandma's last halloween tea party with us

I think cerca 1985 and our second summer in Hawaii!

Hawaii 2013

What a fabulous trip we had. I have lots and lots of pictures, but I'll just highlight some of my favorites! We were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa and Reggie be able to join us.  It was fun.  We stayed in the beautiful resort town of Ko'Olina on the West side of O'ahu.  We swam in the pool, swam in the ocean, snorkeled, played in some waves, went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, the La'ie Temple, the pineapple plantation, the North Shore and Honolulu briefly.  We are tan and tired after such an adventure.  It was perfection.  

snorklers

hot tubers

pineapple plantation.  

Beautiful sunsets

THE snorkeler!

USS Missouri

The view from our room 

I love this flower

The Ravsten's!

Delicious sushi!

Temple Beach.  My mom and I went here regularly when we lived in La'ie

Traditional sand picture

Reggie, the tourist!

The pineapple people

Loving the beach

Cute Grandma and Grandpa

The east side of the island

Ko'Olina beach

Our last sunset

Beauty!

Our red eye flight home.  We were tired.

So, there you have a rough draft of our fabulous trip! It was amazing.  Can't wait to go again in a few years.  We now have the perfect place to stay.  

Aloha and Mahalo Hawaii for a fabulous Ravsten family vacation!

fun times

A few fun things to report on.

Nuf Said had their annual Rockies Game night last weekend!  It was fan appreciation night, so we got to go on the field and watch fireworks.  So much fun for all of us.  We love Travis's boss and co-workers.  What a blessing his job is to all of us.  

We met Dinger and got to see one of Todd Helton's last games of his amazing career.  

This is a "safe" picture to post of Mr. T and Alex! They had such a blast that night.  Eating whatever they wanted and watching baseball.  

The boys were a little crazy by the time we got to the field for fireworks.  Silly Ethan and Alex!

Kedzie and Ethan have been participating in running club after school.  Kedzie's incentive to run is that she gets to run with two year old Kai, her teacher's son.  They are on the same speed level! 

Ethan's motivation to run is pure motivation to win! He also gets to run with Jackson.  Here are Ethan and Jackson on disguise/mustache day at school!  They are silly boys!

Things are going well for us.  Just to update you, we have court for Mr. T on the 3rd. Travis and I are going.  We are hopeful that the judge will appreciate our presence.  Things are looking good right now, without giving any details.  Last week was a different story, but this week things are good.  We have experienced a number of tender mercies from our Father in Heaven and feel that Mr. T truly will become a member of our family in the future.  What a blessing to us all.  

We leave for Hawaii for seven days with Travis's family in a few days! Can't wait to finally go on a vacation.  It's been a long time for us.  It's going to be chaotic and wonderful.  

Now, you are caught up to speed. 

Colorado floods

So, two weeks ago, it rained for five straight days.  We had no damage whatsoever.  I think that's because we are in a newer neighborhood with drainage ditches all around.  As you can see, the fields were filled with water.  The news says that if the rain would have been snow, we would have had around 15 feet of snow.  It was crazy.  We are lucky to be safe and dry.  Just twenty minutes from us, a few towns away, homes were lost, memories destroyed and rivers now running new paths.  It's utter devastation.  Members of our stake are providing a great deal of service to the people in the Longmont area.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to help others in need.  

 As you can see in the above, left picture, a gazebo is under the water.  

Here's another drainage ditch filled up pretty high.

This was the extent of our flooding!

A better picture of the gazebo with boys out "boating"

The clean up is going to take years.  Bless sweet Colorado

School 2013-2014 (What?!)

Oh we had a fabulous summer, and as we move on, we are all so excited about the school year ahead of us.  Thank goodness for breaks and for routines.  

So, Ethan's in first grade with some of his best friends, Jada, Jackson and Garrett.  His teacher is Mrs. Montoya and we couldn't be more pleased with where he is at academically and we are excited to see his growth this year.  

Kedzie is in third grade with the fabulous team teachers, Mrs. Nunnally and Mrs. Higgins.  She also has a student teacher for this semester.  She's so excited to be in third grade and to have so many 

teachers in her life.  

The little's, Mr. Alex and Mr. T are in pre-K!  They are in separate classes, so that even makes it better! Alex is ready for school at 7:30am and has to wait to go until 11:35.  It's painful for him.  He's finally big enough to go to school just like the rest of the kids.  He's in heaven.  Mr. T was nervous that I wouldn't pick him up after school, which goes along with some of his issues.  But, he is gaining trust and appears to be enjoying himself. 

As for me, I have three hours to myself! I don't even have to worry about one person because they are all happy and safe.  It's only day two so who knows what is really going to happen with me, but it's an exciting thing to think about.  I might get things done, I might sew, I might read or take a nap, I might go to lunch, I might get bored. I know I'm going to volunteer in the kids classrooms too.  Time will tell.

It's going to be a great year for all of us.  I'm so proud of my kids and the effort they put into school and learning and growing and playing.  They're awesome.  Now, back to my alone time!