Days Gone By

Another week filled with events and it ain't over yet.

Last Thursday the kids and I went swimming and my Grandma Bonnie's condo pool. I almost had to drag Macy from the pool. I love to go swimming at grandma's because she still gets in with us and lays out in the sun with you. She has one rule, don't get grandma's hair wet. Grandma Bonnie is the greatest because my family drags her everywhere with us and she enjoys it (or pretends at least pretends to). She joins in on all the activities. It is not a vacation without grandma.

Sunday we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa K (Brian's grandparents). Kelsey had a good time feeding Bullseye, grandpa's horse. She loves animals and thought it was great. Macy is still not an animal lover and would rather view from a distant. Sometimes she would try to be brave and feed the horse from her hand but the hay would always end up on the ground. What I love about grandma is that she will always try to feed you because she loves you. The problem is most of her treats have nuts in them. Brian and I don't have allergies to nuts. We just prefer to eat nuts plain. They never belong in brownies or ice cream or anything else besides an occasional salad.

Then Monday came and I thought that this might be the week of grandparents so the kids and I made our way to Grandma Lue's (my other grandma). There we picked tons of raspberries. You should have seen the way those girls picked. They really enjoyed this. Of course they enjoyed and occasional berry or two. Macy brought home and least 2 cups worth of berries. She has had a difficult time sharing. I forced her to share because Kelsey and mine went to 2 batches of freezer jam. Yummy. While at grandma's I resuscitated Kelsey's blanket. The thing is falling apart so I think I only put it on life support with the sew up job. She just happened to pick the thinnest blanket. I don't know how it will last. Hopefully when it is finally a goner she will be ready to give it up.

This same day Braden went in for his 2 month well-child check-up (even though he is 3 months, insurance reasons). We went back to our old pediatrician and I am so glad I did. I loved this office back when Macy was little and they haven't let me down. The nurse that works with our doctor is still there and remembered our family (she is one of the best and happiest nurses). Then the doctor came into the room and remembered us. The doctor is so thorough and pleasant. I am really please with her.

Back to Braden. He is a healthy boy. His stats said he is taller than he is wide and he has a really small head; 88%, 75%, and 25% respectively. A hemangioma (the growth/horn on his head) is an abnormally large grouping of blood vessels in the area (there isn't supposed to be that many in that particular spot on a forehead). It is considered a birthmark and stork bites, angel kisses, etc. are smaller versions of this. It will eventually start to diminish in size and over time it will go away. They can't drain it because you can't drain a blood vessel and there are way too many. They try not to treat them because it turns out better cosmetically. There are instances in which they may choose to treat it. His immunizations went really well. He cried for less than a minute but you should have seen him scream at the nurse. I was holding him after and he looked directly at her and let out an angry scream just like he was yelling and then he was done.

Tuesday was another fun day. I went out to Timbuktu (just kidding Megan, I had to throw that in just for you) to have lunch with my friend Megan and Liz. Megan made us lunch and afterwards all our kids played in the water.

Wednesday we stuck around home so I could do laundry and clean. Yuck. Today I should be looking up real estate schools so I can get my real estate license in Utah. Instead I am doing a quick blog entry. The Department of Real Estate got back to me and I only have to do 12 hours of class work since I have my license in AZ. The only bad thing is I have to take the state exam and re-take the national exam. Another yuck.

Blessings and lost teeth

Another fun week has gone by. July 3 the kids and I went for a picnic up the canyon with a friend/Brian's cousin. It was a lot of fun. Her husband was off work so he was there too and took the kids climbing and into a cave. He has a bunch of head lights (don't now the technical name). He set them to flash and hid them in the cave. The kids then had to find them. They loved it. Brian had the day off too, but he went horseback riding with his grandpa and brother instead. We had a great 4th of July. We bought Macy a new bigger bike and I did some swimsuit shopping (this has been an experience that I won't ever have time to write about but if I talk to you I am sure you will hear about it). The bike thing was almost a fiasco because Kelsey was sad because she didn't get to buy anything so we were going to get her a pack of gum. Then Macy was upset and wanted to trade in her bike for a pack of gum. Monday I put Macy's bike together and put the training wheels back on the old one for Kelsey. I now have two bike riding fools and Kelsey never seemed to enjoy it before. We bought helmets from a local law firm that sells them for a discount and they are very good about wearing them.

Back to the fourth. We came home and had a BBQ with the neighbors and lite off our own fireworks. The idea was so we wouldn't out too late because the next day was another big event. We still didn't come in until late.

On Sunday we blessed Braden. Some family members had been giving us a hard time because we hadn't blessed Braden so we finally got around to it. In my church babies and young children are given a blessing through the priesthood. In this blessing the child is given the name that will be on church records. On the way to the church Macy says "finally Braden is going to have a number".

It was beautiful weather and we had a dinner afterwards on Carol and Alan's back patio. I finally had enough people over to justify getting Costco's chocolate layer cake. That made my day.

Here he is hanging out with his cousin Makalah.

Here he is with his grandparents.

Here is four generations.

And here he is being loved by his great-grandmas.

Another big event happened on Sunday morning. Macy lost her first tooth. I was getting ready for church and she came to me and said her tooth came out. It was loose and so I thought Brian pulled it our for her. I was wrong. She did it all by herself and there were no tears. Of course it had to be her idea. I am sure that if we had tried to coax her into pulling it she would never have done it. The tooth fairy came that night and left her a dollar.

This past week we went swimming at my grandma's pool. Macy is still a fish and had a great time with Grandma Bonnie. I think we will be out there a whole lot more.

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime...

Do you ride in a boat

or happily ride in a tube

and try to splash poppy?

Is that what you do? So do we!

Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

Do you swim in a pool
or don a new hat for swimmers and BBQ revelers?

Is that what you do? No I take a nap.

The weather has finally turned so we have been to the lake twice. We also went swimming at my uncle's community pool followed by a BBQ at his house for my dad's cousins and aunt who came into town from NY. We have been to several BBQs this summer and I don't think they are over (I hope not). Aren't BBQs synonymous with summer.