3 Years of Accomplishments

January 10th, 2009, Kelsie Allphin and Rick Wirsch were married to each other. Today, three years later, our family has grown and accomplished many things. We welcomed Owen Richard into the world July 18th, 2009,and 4 months later found out we were pregnant with our second bundle of joy. Our little family was sealed for time and all eternity in the Manti, UT temple on Feb. 27th 2010. Sadie Marie was born July 23rd, 2010. I was very surprised and thankful for the love Owen had for his new little sister. They got along so well for the first year. Lately has been more of a jealousy struggle at times but they are still so cute when they're getting along and playing together. People ask us all the time if they're twins.

For the past three years, Rick has worked full time at the State Developmental Center and gone to school full time, year round. At work, he moved to the morning shift (6:30-2:30) right before Owen was born, which was a great change. In the Fall of 2009 he went to the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy and was told he would be able to get a job right after graduating but when that time came in Dec of '09 and he started applying and testing at dozens of departments, we found that we were misinformed about the job hunt and Rick decided to alter his degree slightly to give him a better chance at a job. He changed from Emergency Services to Emergency Management. He still wants a job as a firefighter but this degree was faster to achieve; not easier, but faster. In the summer of 2010, he took a break from UVU and took an EMT Intermediate class at MATC. He started back at UVU that Fall and moved to the night shift at work (9:45pm-6:15am) in order to get all his school work done and graduated in December of 2011 with his Bachelors Degree. I am so grateful for his hard work and determination and ability to come home and manage to be a great dad to our kids after his hard nights at work.
About a month ago, Rick applied for a job at Gold Cross Ambulance as a part-time Specialty Driver and also as a full time EMT I. He interviewed up in Salt Lake and they really liked him and the schedule he had to work with. They told him there was an opening as a driver here in provo but they weren't hiring EMT's yet but he was put on the list for when they were again. He left thinking that he had the part-time drivers job in provo. A week or two passed with no call and then one morning, his phone rang and he was offered a Full-Time EMT-Intermediate job up in Salt Lake. I was so excited for him! I didn't understand why he wasn't as excited as I was but who wouldn't be a little nervous about working on an ambulance. I know I could never do it. Even though this isn't the job he was looking for, it is a big step in the right direction and hopefully this job will be enough experience to get him a job at a fire department (and hopefully having his degree will help too).

Last December, after nearly 6 months of searching for the perfect house, we found and closed on our house here in Provo. I was working at the time from 1:30pm-10pm and Rick was working midnights, so it was nearly impossible to find time to get the work on the house done and moved in. We were determined to get moved in by Christmas though. Our first night in the house was Christmas Eve, we barely made it. Shortly after moving in, we adopted my family's dog, Chico. He's a small pompoo (Pomeranian/poodle mix) and Owen and Sadie love playing with him!

I am so grateful for Rick's decision on the morning of October 19, 2008, in asking me to marry him. We have had many hard times but many more amazing times together and I look forward to spending the rest of forever with him. I love Rick so much and each day our love for each other and for our children grows more and more. I am so proud of my little family and I love them so much! I don't know where I'd be without them.

Beethoven

On September 26th, we celebrated the life of one of Rick's well loved family dogs, Beethoven. Beethoven joined the Wirsch family in 1997 and was a very loyal dog. He knew tricks and enjoyed playing the dog when singing "old mcdonalds farm". When Rick was younger, Beethoven strengthened his families faith in prayer when he ran away when the family was visiting crystal hot springs and they couldn't find him anywhere and ended up having to leave without him but posted "lost dog" signs everywhere. The family prayed and prayed and Beethoven found his way home. A miracle!
Although Owen, Sadie and I weren't able to spend most of his life with him, we were there for his last few and most difficult years of his life. I think it was about 5 or so years ago they found out he had a tumor that was too big to remove and it made life hard for him. He eventually lost his hearing and couldn't control his bowel movements anymore and it was decided by the family that it would be best for him to put him down. It was a very hard decision to make but we all know it was the best and now he's in a better place.

After the doctor put him down, we brought him back to the house and buried him and planted a rose bush above him in his memory. Beethoven was a great dog and will be remembered forever in our hearts.

Gardening

The big yard was one of the selling points for us to buy this house. Rick was really excited to have a garden this year. The kids, especially Owen, loved to help dad out in the yard. Above is a picture with the very first carrot, we picked. Owen was excited about it. Below is one of the two pumpkins we grew without even knowing we had planted them!

The whole garden consisted of beets, chard, onions, carrots, lettuce, peas, beans, butternut squash, hubbard squash, another orange colored squash, pumpkins, green beans, purple beans, yellow peppers, green peppers, hot peppers, popcorn, Indian corn, and tons of tomatoes! Our neighbors have a pear tree that hangs over our yard so we got pears too, which we all love so it works out great!
I am so thankful for Rick and the effort he put into this garden for our family. We were able to enjoy fresh produce all summer and are now enjoying very flavorful popcorn, the best I've ever tasted, have great fall decorations and I was able to use the peppers, onions and tomatoes to make and can a ton of delicious spaghetti sauce. I can't wait to see what he plants next year!

Owen and Sadie's birthday parties (July 30, 2011)

I spent a lot (and I mean a lot) of time putting this party together. The pinata took me about a week and the cakes took me a night and all morning before the party and then Owen's Magic School Bus cake started falling apart because the heat was melting the frosting which caused the top layer to start sliding off. I guess I'm not an expert cake maker.
I wanted to get pictures with the kids and their cakes before we ate them. Sadie's (above) was just cupcakes put together to form flowers. She doesn't really show preference to things, so I had a hard time deciding what to make for her cake. This was easy and made up for Owen's difficult cake.
To explain Owen's cake, he absolutely loves the Magic School Bus show! All summer, he would watch it right before he'd go to bed and he always wanted to check out the MSB movies at the library. I printed off a picture and tried my best to make a cake that looked similar to the bus. Even though it wasn't perfect and had way to much frosting to eat, he loved it!

Owen blowing out his candles.

Sadie blowing out her candle.

Owen got Toy Story (which he also loves) sheets and later, a twin bed to fit the sheets but he still prefers to sleep on the big siesta sac in his room.

Sadie with her shovel and bucket from grandma Wirsch

Owen and the cart Sadie got him.

Kaden, Sadie and Owen admiring the doll grandma Allphin got for Sadie.

All together, the kids got a Sandbox with shovels and buckets from Grandma Wirsch and Uncle Willie, stuffed animals from Uncle Isaac, an umbrella stroller from uncle Jason, aunt Katie and cousin Callie, and Reeses Pieces from uncle Kaden.
Owen got a Cars fold out bed/couch from grandma and grandpa Allphin, a cart from Sadie, and sheets and a coloring game that hooks up to the t.v. from us.
Sadie got a doll from grandma/grandpa Allphin, a doll from Owen, and lego blocks and pajamas from us. There might be a couple things I left out but it was so long ago I can't think of anything else and I didn't get the best pictures.

Here's Owen taking a shot at the Magic School Bus Pinata I made.

Kaden taking his turn at it.

Left to right: Katie, Kaden, Callie, Owen, Sadie
I think it took Halie a couple whacks at it to finally break it open and everyone grabbed as much candy as they could.

And here's Sadie playing in the sandbox from grandma and Willie.

The party was a success and I think the kids had a lot of fun. Now to plan next years parties...

Feeding the ducks

We went to the bread store and got home to find that one of the loaves had mold so off we went to the duck pond, which the kids were so excited about!

Owen has so much fun feeding the ducks. If it were his choice we'd go every day!

When we run out of bread, it's off to the play ground!

Sadie loves to go up and down the slide. Before she gets to the bottom, where I'm waiting for her, she stops herself and runs back up to the top to do it over again. She loves to run away from us now days. She thinks it's so funny.

Lovin' the swing

Our kids love playing outside so much. I don't know what we're going to do all winter. Owen doesn't like the cold and Sadie wants to go out but won't dress warm for the bitter cold weather. It's going to be a long winter season for us...

Birthdays and Swimming

The next few days after we got back to Grandpa's, were spent swimming and playing with cousins. We also celebrated Owen and Sadie's birthday's on Saturday, which was Sadie's birthday. Owen was so attached to me this whole trip, which explains him in the picture that I set him down for two seconds, in.

The water was cold, and so was the weather outside, so neither of the kids really wanted to get in. Owen refused but Sadie would get in every once in a while. She really enjoyed playing with the pool toys OUT of the water.

Playing on the slide with Grandma.

She loved this thing.

This trip was filled with good and bad experiences but I was very glad we were able to go. It's sad to think we may not have much longer with my Grandpa in this life and I will jump at every opportunity we have to see him!

Another day at the beach

The next morning we thought we got up early enough to find shells but I guess it wasn't early enough so we just played in the sand and water.

Sadie loves the water so much.

Buried in the sand, eating the sand, again.

The water that would stay in these dips in the sand was nice and warm.

Rick and Sadie out with Shaina.

Those are Owen's cute little footprints and that is Owen way out there. This is his way of telling me he's cold and tired of the beach and wants to go back to camp. I thought the picture turned out really cool

Rick and Shaina out on the boards.

Owen's birthday was the second day we were on the coast and it was rough for Owen. He spent most the day (and the whole trip) getting hurt and crying. It was sad to see and we tried really hard to make it enjoyable for him. I guess he's more of a warm/dry climate guy; I guess it's good we live in a desert. The over all trip was ok and made Rick never want to do it again, but maybe in 3 or 4 years we'll be ready to do it again.