We are still alive

After my last entry (a really long time ago) our family made our way up to Cherry Hills for the weekend. My grandma has been going up there for many years and it has become a tradition. When my grandpa was alive we were always reminded of how he helped build the swimming pool at the campground. My grandparents were good friends with the owners and my grandpa was always willing to help. Brian and I packed up the tent and we stayed over one night. We took Braden swimming for the first time. He wore his little hat and rash guard (not a sun guard, that is not manly enough) to protect his delicate skin. I cannot say whether he liked it or hated it. There was not real change in his facial expressions or mannerisms so we will say he liked swimming. The girls had a blast. Macy was never around because she would grab whoever to go down all the waterslides. The only people she really didn't want to hang out with were her parents.

Braden didn't last long swimming because he became tired. Imagine that. So we found a good place to rest once he was all cleaned up.

The next weekend was Pioneer Day. We celebrated at my sister's condo's pool. It was a girls day out. Brian had to work and so did all the other boys/men. My brother was around but he stayed home to sleep and because he didn't want to be the only boy. I even traded Braden for my niece Jensen. She was spending the weekend at the house and Grandma Carol and Grandpa Alan were very willing to keep the baby.

The 3 girls floating on their mattresses. After the pool it was back home for a family BBQ and some fireworks in the front yard.

The next week Braden found another good spot to take a snooze. I think grandpas may be his favorite spot.

After his nap we finally found a time to take the girls to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple open house. The girls were so excited to finally see the "Kingel Moroni" up close. Kelsey even made me take a picture of him. We figured out that they were combining King Benjamin and angel Moroni. We tried to correct them but it is still Kingel.

The next day was Brian's birthday. The theme this time was shoes. He received a new pair of casual shoes and also a pair of cowboy boots. He was so excited about the boots. Ever since we moved back home he has been talking and dreaming about getting a horse. This dream has even nudged the boat down the list of dreams. So when we end up on a ranch you will know what happened.

To keep Brian humble during his birthday we learned an interesting fact. Brian and my new calling is teaching the youth in Sunday School. We are currently teaching about the presidents of the church and are on David O. McKay. During his birthday week we read that at age 32 President McKay was called as an apostle. Brian's jaw dropped when he heard this because that is how old he turned. Good thing we don't have to worry about that calling.

To help celebrate his birthday we packed for Bear Lake because the next day we left for another weekend adventure. This time some real camping with a campfire.

My princess who hated the sand at the beach last year loved the sand at Bear Lake. She would lay at the edge of the water and let the waves lap over her and she played in the mud. She had so much sand on her after this trip. I changed their sheets today and found more sand.

This was Braden's first camping trip and of course I forgot to take pictures. The only one I have is him in his swimsuit. He slept in the tent with us and every morning he would wake up with freezing hands. I felt so bad but he would wiggle out of his beanie and get his arms free of the blanket. He slept in his port-a-crib because I was afraid Brian might smash him in the night (we took up our queen aerobed to sleep on at night). He didn't seem to mind because each morning he woke up content and happy just like always. People keep asking me if he ever cries. He really doesn't. He is the best baby. He has learned how to scream to talk over his sisters and will scream short bursts when he is hungry or wants to be held but that is about it.

Sunday night when we were back home we put the girls to bed early because all weekend it was late nights. I also wanted to practice before school started. Well the girls played for an hour instead of falling right to sleep. When Brian and I checked on them this is what we found. I guess she was too tired to finish playing.

Coming up next, Macy's first day of school. But it will have to wait because my normally good baby is screaming.

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.

photo udate

(April) Kelsey loves swimming and wearing her swimsuits. This night she put her swimsuit over her clothes and on backwards. I think she looks like she is wearing a wrestling outfit.
(May) Here was my waitress on the last day of pre-school

(May) The last time in our pool. Kelsey looks thrilled, but I know she had a great time that day.

(May, about a 6 weeks old) Even Braden was able to get out and enjoy the pool. He loved to come sit outside in the bouncer in the shade. We would swim and he would fall asleep. In fact this was the only way to get his afternoon nap some days. He didn't get in a lot of swimming, but we made sure he stuck in his feet a few times. Macy had to be in every picture.

This was the goody bag my sweet friends packed for our move. A group of us went to Barro's pizza one last time to say goodbye and this is what they surprised me with. It was filled with all sorts of fun treats for the drive. I love you women and I can't thank you all enough.

(May) Here is a picture of the big guy. He was being tortured/played with by his sisters.

(May) Macy sure loves her brother. I had to snap this picture because they were wearing twinner PJs.

This was Brian and my trip to Zions. We had a great time and did some fun hikes. Of course we were rained on the morning we went to the park. We were rained on again during our last hike of the day. We came back to our hotel drenched and had to sit in the hot tub after dinner to finally warm up. Rain seems to be the theme for us this past month. It threatened to rain the day we moved and it has been raining ever since. Did we move to Seattle?

Coming into focus

I still don't have internet to my home computer, so there won't be any pictures. (I don't like to take the time to find generic pictures to post.)

Life is slowly (very slowly) coming into focus.

Macy is adjusting really well. In fact she is with friends from sun up to sun down. The circle we live in boasts 22 kids. We make 24 plus a baby. I think they go from house to house snacking and eating. I see her with so many treats throughout the day. Saturday for lunch we fed 2 extra girls. I don't mind because I am sure someone has fed Macy on some other day. This is a big change from where we lived. We had great neighbors but there were no kids. On Saturday Macy learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She picked it up in 5 minutes. Brian felt like we needed to do this as quickly as possible because all the kids her age kept telling her that her bike had to be Kelsey's because it had training wheels. We didn't know kids her age rode without training wheels because we didn't have kids around us to know. Now we know and will not let this mistake happen again. If she isn't with friends, then she is on her bike even in the rain. Her attitude and tantrums have grown a little because she never wants to do what we ask if she is doing either of these activities.

Kelsey is having a harder time. Kelsey is acting really shy. She goes out sometimes and will play occasionally, but she comes back home a lot. She spends a lot of time playing by herself because her best friend, Macy, is gone all day. It makes me sad to see this. Macy doesn't intentionally leave her out (at least I don't think so), but she also doesn't invite her along much. This is really sad because they have played with each other their whole lives and were such good friends. It kind of breaks my heart to see this separation, but I felt like it might end up this way at some point. Kelsey does love hanging out with her grandparents. For the first couple of nights she would make her way up to Grandma Carol's bed in the middle of the night. All weekend long she has been begging to go over to Grandma Wendy's (that is where we are today).

Braden is just as content as ever. In fact he cries very little. His hemanganoma is very prominent and everyone asks how he got his goose egg. He has started to smile and loves to talk and smile. He his still working on getting sounds out and sometimes it requires his whole body to shape his lips and sometimes the sound still doesn't come out. Last week he found his hands and sucks on them like candy. He still gets up once a night (anywhere between 3 am and 5 am). He doesn't like the dark so at night he falls asleep with his door open and the hall light on. He doesn't cuddle much and prefers to fall asleep on the ground or in his bed during the day. It is very difficult to get him to fall asleep in my arms. He is also not a binky man. He will suck on it if he is hungry, but shot puts it after awhile and if the bottle is coming. Other than that he hates to have it stuck in his mouth.

Brian is getting used to the job. As with anything new it has taken him a little time to get adjusted and is starting to get into the groove. His commute is definitely better and that is nice.

My only complaint is that I am still in long pants. I thought that we picked the best time to move, but this year it has been raining every day for the past 2 weeks. My parents haven't even summerized the boat because it hasn't been warm enough to go to the lake. Soon school will start and I will wonder what happened to the summer.

Bare with Me

It has been a crazy time and I am still getting settled. I am working on internet and other things so hopefully one day soon life will be back to normal. So sorry if I have not responded to facebook or email. That will come too. Here is a quick run down.

We moved.
Brian and I took a mini vacation to Zions National Park.
I am still not completely unpacked.
Laundry is never ending and slows down the settling part.