June

     June was a super busy month. With Kyla's 1st birthday, Brynlee's 5th Birthday, the Hirtle family reunion, and Father's day, we had a lot going on. The girls spent a lot of time playing in the water outside. We played in the slip and slide and the pool Brynlee got for her birthday. The girls caught bugs, played on the play set, and just enjoyed the warm weather.

     The girls and I started going to the summer reading program they have at the library. They have a superhero theme this summer so we had one day where local heros came and talked to the kids. The kids even got to look at the police car, ambulance, the mail truck and the fire truck. Brynlee waited a long time in line to ask the policeman a question. She wanted to know if he had a "mission" to go on. He told her he actually did because someone had just found some drugs. Brynlee thought that was so cool. The girls also got to sit in the firetruck. Another time they danced to all the superhero theme songs. My sister Heather and my mom have gone with us a few times and my girls love going.

     Joel's dad got six little pigs to raise and we paid him for one of them. We got the all pink girl one and the girls named her Peppa. It is nice because they are feeding it and taking care of it, we just have to help pay for some of the food and we get to go visit every once in a while.

     Brynlee got to go with my mom and grandma to see the Cinderella movie and she loved it. She came home and told me all about the movie and what happened. Her description included the fact that Cinderella had "cash" all over herself from sitting by the fire and she also told me that "the first part wasn't so fun because her sisters were really mean to Cinderella. But the end was really fun because Cinderella and the handsome prince fell in love and then... They Kissed!" My mom said Brynlee asked her question through the whole movie and could not be quiet. Since Brynlee got to go to a movie I took Annalyn to a movie just with me and we saw "Inside Out" or what Brynlee and Annalyn called "the brain freeze movie." I haven't done anything with just Annalyn in a long time and it was lots of fun for me to do something special just with her. We both liked the movie but I think the meaning of the story was a little over Anna's head. She got kind of shy once we were in the theater and she sat on my lap for the whole movie. She ate lots of popcorn and we had fun being together.

     About a week after Kyla turned a year old, she took off with the whole walking thing and she hasn't looked back. She is a pretty fast little walker these days and a major climber. I cannot keep her off of my kitchen chairs and the table. If any kind of food or water is left on the table, she climbs up there, spills everything all over the place, and then bends down to suck up whatever she can get. I have tried several tactics to keep her from climbing to no avail. Now I am just focusing on teaching Brynlee and Annalyn not to leave anything on the table. Kyla fell off the table a few time but usually she just whines and hollers until I come and rescue her. Kyla is the most expressive baby and she loves to go up and babble to people an pretend she is talking. She is so intent and serious and she makes the best little sounds. It cracks me up every time. She got another tooth on the top of her mouth so now she has a total of five teeth. She likes to do everything the big kids do.

     My girls are seriously so good at keeping themselves entertained. It seems like there is never a dull moment around here. The have been putting on puppet shows, making hair wigs out of toilet paper, spinning around in the chair, and playing with their toys. Annalyn has been obsessed with "Squeaky Rat" again and she has been sleeping with him and taking him places with her. Anna got out the chocolate mix one day and made her own cup of chocolate milk, after I told her she couldn't have any and then Kyla had fun playing in the chocolate mix. Most days Brynlee and Annalyn start playing together from the moment they wake up and I love it. I make them do all their chores and help out around the house before we can go anywhere and before they can watch a movie. They are only allowed to watch one movie a day and I think that has really helped them to be more creative with their play. Lots of the time they won't even ask to watch a movie at all.

     I started going to Zumba at the church again. At least, we have made it a few times. Kyla made me hold her the whole time we went at first but she is slowly warming up to the idea and she will play by me a little so I can exercise. Other than that our month consisted of working on the house, going to church, and I spent several days helping my mom to organize the downstairs room in their house. After church the girls and I often end of waiting for Joel to go to his "quick 10 minute meeting" that usually lasts for an hour so we sit under this tree and the girls love playing in the dirt under there while we wait for their dad. We have enjoyed eating popsicles, playing outside, and eating fresh food from grandma's garden. We go over when we can to help her out.

     As for our house, by the end of the month we had all of the walls up. Joel built the floor of the house and then built all of the outside and the inside walls. We have had lots of help which we are super grateful for but since Joel can only really work on it on weeknights and Saturdays, it is going up slowly. Joel did take a few days off of work before the reunion and worked on it but those days were so incredibly hot. He roasted. The inspector made him put all the black plastic in the foundation before he would pass it so Joel's spent the hottest day of the year (I think) under the floor of our house crawling on that hot plastic. I don't know how he does it. We have still been bringing Joel dinner out to the house and the girls love playing in the dirt out there. It has been fun for all of us to watch our house come to life. He just needs to finish sheeting the curved walls and then he will start putting up the trusses. Slowly but surely this house is being built.

Father's Day!

     My dad has always been one of my biggest supporters and my biggest fan. He set a great example to me of how I should expect to be treated and of how a father should be. I am so grateful for his influence in my life. It has really hit me lately how lucky I am that I have a dad who did so much for me. I know many people who did not get the chance to experience those things. My dad is a great storyteller, a good friend, he likes to make people laugh, and he is always trying to help people. When I was little I remember him telling me stories and tucking me in at night, playing hide and go seek with me, and teaching me to ride a bike. He was gone a lot for the Army and I remember crying for him to come home when he was gone. He was constantly trying to embarrass me as a teenager and helping me when I needed help. If I was sick, he would give me a blessing and if I needed advice he was there to give me guidance. I am pretty lucky that he is my dad. He is also a pretty great grandpa and he really enjoys spoiling his grandkids whenever he can.

     Not only was I blessed with an awesome dad, I was also able to find an equally wonderful guy to be the father of my children. Joel is such a great dad. He loves our girls completely. He is such a hard worker. Lately he has gotten up at 5:30 in the morning to go to work and then he heads to our house and works until 10 or 11 at night. He has somehow still managed to mow the grass and help me out whenever he can. I really couldn't have asked for a better person to be my eternal companion. He makes me a better person. I know our kids love him a lot. They really look forward to the days when he is home and to when we can visit him at work. We love you Joel!

     For Father's day this year we made Joel and my dad a sign telling them what great "pops" they were and then we filled a basket with popcorn, soda pop, lollipops, pop tarts, and some popsicles. They seemed to like that. Then we went to church and had dinner together at grandma Verna's house. They didn't do anything for the men at church which was a little weird I thought. Joel and his brother Jake took their dad golfing the next Saturday for his Father's Day present. It has become a tradition that they go golfing together once a year for Father's Day. I have to say that Joel's father is also a great father in law and an awesome grandpa. He was a great example to Joel and he taught him so many great things. My girls are really blessed to have two wonderful grandpas and a great father.  

Goin Home - Brynlee's Birthday

     The last day or our Hirtle family reunion just so happened to end on Sunday June 14th which was the same day as Brynlee's 5th birthday. Joel and Brynlee slept in that morning and Kyla and Anna feasted on Joel's donuts while he slept. (Joel finished them off when he woke up.) Brynlee got a few presents from some of her cousins including a Canadian mug, an umbrella, a pool floaty, some craft things and a squeaky chicken. She loved all of her gifts. We went to church in Joy's small branch in Washington and I think our family made up more than half of the ward. Their primary sang a song and Joy told my kids they could come up so they went up to sing even though they didn't know the song at all.

     As soon as sacrament meeting was over we said goodbye to everyone and we left to go and visit my grandpa. He lives in Washington not too far from where we were staying. We saw him a few years ago but this was his first time meeting Kyla. My dad and my brother Josh were there that weekend spending time with my grandpa. He isn't doing too well because his cancer has returned and he has dementia so we aren't sure how much longer he will be around. I don't think my grandpa really knew who we all were but he got really excited to see us all. He held Kyla and kept giving us all kisses and telling us he loved us. We all took some pictures outside of the house and then we walked down to the edge of his property so we could look at the Okanogan river. I have some fun memories of us playing in that river. My girls really wanted to go swimming in that water but we had to get home so Joel could go to work the next day. We didn't get to stay long but I sure am glad we got to stop by and see him again.

     We got back in the van, turned some movies on for the kids, and we were off. The ride home was pretty uneventful. The girls watched several movies and ate lots of snacks while Joel and I listened to our book on tape. Kyla took a long nap for us. When she woke up it was dinner time so we stopped at McDonalds. It just happened to be the same place that several of our family stopped at as well so it was fun to talk to them. We let the girls play for a little bit and then we had to get going again. After a few hours we stopped at a gas station and the kids went to the bathroom and got their pajamas on. Our kids all fell asleep before we made it home. We got home around 11 pm and stuck them all in bed. We unloaded the car a little bit and then we went to bed too. It sure was a fun weekend and a much needed break for all of us. The girls keep begging to go again, we all had a stupendous time.

          I really wanted to have a birthday party for Brynlee but with the long trip we didn't get to do much to celebrate her birthday. We did get her some ice cream at McDonalds and we sang to her but I decided I wanted to buy a cake that was just hers and I invited my family to come over on Monday night, the day after the reunion, to sing to Brynlee and eat some cake with her. I didn't have time to make a cake that day so I just bought one but Brynlee was happy with that. She was a little disappointed that I didn't make a pinata for her party and I couldn't find the toy that she really wanted. She wanted this Lalaloopsy doll that poops out these magic charms and I didn't really want to buy it for her anyways. Instead I bought her a little swimming pool and a sno cone maker and she has really liked those gifts. She got a whole bag of Littlest Petshops from my mom and some new church dresses so I don't think she even missed that present. If she still wants it for Christmas we will get it for her then. I am so glad that she took everything in stride and was grateful for what she got. I think it was a good lesson for her. I sure do love her and I think she still had a great birthday.