The Month of August

     We had so much fun enjoying our last few days of Summer. Joel was still as busy as ever working on our new house. The plumbing took forever. Joel said he had to tear out enough pieces to have done all of the plumbing three times. It took four different inspections and Joel had to redo all kinds of things, but as of the 31st of August the plumbing has officially passed. We also have the house wrapped in plastic and we put an extra layer of foam around the outside for some extra insulation. There was an inspection on the house wrap and it passed with flying colors. We put in the windows and I helped Joel wrap the outside of the windows with plastic to make them extra waterproofed. This house is going to be well built and well insulated. The house has doors and bathtubs and we finally picked the outside colors for our house and got them approved. We are going to do gray. Joel finished up most of the little framing stuff and now he is going to focus on finishing the electrical. We will have a few people come in and do some of the work for us now so hopefully it will go a little faster.

The girls and I spent lots of time visiting Joel while he worked. Sometimes we take dinner there and eat around our future fireplace. Sometimes we just drop the food off and leave. The girls like to climb in and out of the windows and run around outside and they like to build sawdust castles. Joel made them a little swing that is hanging from the trusses and they love swinging on that thing.

     We got to do a few fun things with Joel but for most of the time it was just me and the kids and my family. Joel came to our ward party with us. There were snow cones, games, and lots of great food. I took the girls to the ward party for our new ward and we had fun there as well. They had a dunk tank and a water slide for the kids to slide down. Our ward had a water slide too but it was a lot bigger and scarier. Brynlee went down it once but she kind of got hurt so we didn't do that anymore. The got their face painted at both of the parties. Annalyn loved that butterfly and refused to let me scrub it off of her. It didn't come off in the bath so it was there for a few days.

My family went with me to Kuna Days this year to watch the parade. Right before the parade started someone sat right in front of my grandma and their boys kept taking all of Anna's candy. My mom was fighting them for it. I had Anna move to a new spot so my kids got plenty of candy but the other kids still kept running over and trying to take Anna's candy. We went and let the kids jump on some of the bouncy houses and then left. Brynlee wanted to go see the fireworks so bad and my brother and his wife agreed to take her. They came around 9:30 pm to pick up my girls and they were both sleeping. I woke up Anna and she got her shoes on but Brynlee just stood there all dazed. She finally went to her closet, we all thought she was getting her shoes but then she climbed back into bed and got under the covers and went to sleep. We could not wake her. Annalyn had fun watching the firework and a few hours later Brynlee woke up wondering when she would get to see the fireworks. She was devastated that she missed them. Brian and Heather took her to see the movie Home a few days later to make up for it.

     Brynlee got to have her cousin Madison over to spend the night one night and they had a blast. They painted nails, watched movies and ate popcorn in the tent, we read stories, and the girls spent hours playing together. They were going to sleep in the tent but in the end everyone ended up sleeping in Brynlee's room. Brynlee got the bed, Kyla was in her porta crib in there, and Madison and Anna slept on the floor. The next day I watched Madison's twin brothers Nick and Jason. We packed up a picnic lunch and went to Settler's park so we could play in the splash park. The twins didn't have swim suits but that didn't stop them from getting wet. It was a really hot day so they dried off fast. We played at the park for several hours. Then we went to visit Joel and bring him a lunch and we came home and the kids watched a movie before their mom came and got them. Brynlee keeps asking when we are going to do that again.

     I took Kyla to the eye doctor this month just to have her eyes checked on. She winks a lot and her eyes seems to blink at different times so I wanted to make sure there weren't any problems. It turns out that her eyes are fine, she just has this cool habit of winking a lot. She did really well for the appointment. I wasn't sure which building I needed to go to for the appointment when I got there so I ended up walking all around this building before I found out I was in the wrong place. Then when I went to buckle Kyla in her carseat I realized that one of her shoes were missing. We spent the whole half hour while we waited for Kyla's eyes to dilate looking for that shoe but I never did find it. At least now I don't have to worry about her eyes.

     Bynlee got her hair cut and we made another trip to look for shoes before she started school. We never did find any school shoes but my mom found some tennis shoes at a garage sale. I did get a shirt for me and Kyla and Anna and I only spent three dollars. during the Summer Joanna's daughter Telissa did a little school for the kids at her house and my girls had a blast going over there. Brynlee couldn't wait for real school to start. So far she has been to school three times and she loves it. She is learning the names of the other kids and she likes to teach Anna what she learned when she gets home. She is having lots of fun, she likes riding the bus (although she complains about how long of a ride it is. Yesterday she didn't get home until 3:55 and she was the very last one on the bus.), and she loves recess. She got to have some play dates on her days off of school and we all went to visit Aunt Janeen one day. While Brynlee is at school Kyla and Anna and I have played lots of games, we made banana bread (Annalyn started to make it while I took a shower) and we spent lots of quality time together.

     I have spent lots of days helping grandma to can pears and freeze corn. I learned how to make pickles for the first time this month. I did Zumba a few times but we were so busy that I didn't make it very often. The last two times I went no one showed up.

     The only time we are together at home as a whole family is on Sundays. We decided to spend one entire Sunday at home just with our family and last month we spent that day building things with Joel's Kinexs. It was a fun day. I made a ferris wheel that I was pretty proud of, even if I did have to follow the instructions to figure out how to make it. Joel made several cars and motorcycles. We went out to eat as a family one day as well. The days sure are long and hard when Joel is gone but we are finding lots to do to keep busy and I think we had a pretty great summer.

Exploring

     The girls and I love going on exploring adventures. We like to look for bugs and explore in our front yard and we like to go places and explore. We went on several exploring adventures last month. We took Alesha and Brian's wife Heather with us and took a walk along the Indian Creek River. We went and put our feet in the water to cool off and in the end Annalyn and Kyla ended up getting soaked. Good thing I had extra clothes. Anna fell while she was in the water and Kyla just splashed so much that they both got wet. Kyla really wanted to sit down in the water anyways. The river is so pretty and they have a nice walking path that we enjoyed walking along.

     The Friday before Brynlee started school we took my grandma, Ryder, Alesha, Brian, and Heather with us to go and explore the little nature trail that is in Melba. They have live peacocks which Brynlee loved. For some reason she is convinced that she really wants a peacock as a pet and she has been begging me to buy her one for weeks. I am not sure why? They have statue and lots of inspirational quotes and things to look at. They have this big rainbow on the top of the hill and A few people went up and looked at it. There were little ponds and the whole thing is free and open for the public to enjoy. It is right next to the snake rive and it is a calm and peaceful place to just sit and relax. Kyla's favorite thing were the rocking swings they had. She kept begging to get out of her stroller and she would climb up on them and rock and rock. Then she would cry when I made her get down. 

This world we live in is a beautiful place and I love exploring it with the people I love.

Summer Adventures

       We did lots of fun stuff last month to celebrate the last month of summer. It seems so strange that now I have to worry about when Brynlee has school and all that. The carefree days of having nothing to do were coming for an end so we did lots of fun things while we could. I didn't want my August post to be super long so I am going to write about our trip to Roaring Springs and our trip to the Zoo.

       My friends Rhonda has a season pass to the water park (Roaring Springs) and she can get one person in for free so she offered to take me and the girls. We planned to go earlier in the summer but bad weather prevented us from going. I wanted to find someone to watch Kyla so we wouldn't have to take her but my mom had to start working soon. My sister Alesha came home for a few weeks so I thought, why don't we bring her with us and then we could take Kyla and have one adult per child. Brian and Heather moved back from New York earlier that week so we ended up telling them about it and they decided to come so then I figured we should invited everyone and my sister Heather brought her little guy Jakobee. We had a blast. Rhonda let me use her locker to put my stuff in. We spent most of the time in the kiddy pool. Annalyn kept calling it the "Kitty cat pool." She wasn't tall enough for any of the big rides but Brynlee went on several of them. Brynlee went on a ride with Rhonda and Alesha and she went on one with Brian and his wife Heather. They had some little rides in the kiddy pool area and Brynlee and Annalyn rode on those several times.

       I went on one of those rides with Annalyn and it was pretty fun. Kyla was content to just stay at the edge of the pool where the water was really shallow. I took Rhonda with me to Wal Mart and we bought dinner for everyone. Then we went back for another hour of swimming fun. We really did have a blast. It was pretty crowded since we went when it was half price admission but it didn't seem that bad. The lines for the rides were long but the kiddy pool was not crowded. They have this lazy river that we all spent some time in but Kyla was terrified of the tubes and they wouldn't let me hold her on my lap in the tube. I just ended up walking around while I held her and pushed Brynlee and Annalyn in a tube. It was still fun. Brynlee and Annalyn have been begging to go there again.

       Towards the end of the month we decided to take a trip to the Zoo. We haven't been in a while, not since before Kyla was born so this was her first trip to the Zoo. My mom and my grandma came with Ryder and Brian's wife Heather came too. We had a blast. We got there right when the zoo opened and we almost had the Zoo to ourselves for a while. It started to get crowded right when we were ready to leave. My girls loved seeing all of the animals. Annalyn loves animals so much. She said her favorite animals were the zebra, giraffe, butterflies, and the frogs. Brynlee said her favorite things were the bats, goats, and hyenas. I didn't even see a hyena but she insisted they were there.  Kyla loved pretty much everything. She kept pointing and staring at all of the animals while she babbled excitedly. They all had a blast at the zoo. She was content to sit in her stroller most of the time but there were a few times when she whined to get out so she could get a closer look at the animals. We made sure to see all of the animals and we enjoyed looking at all of them.

     While we were in the butterfly exhibit the girls had a blast looking at all of the butterflies, Then Brynlee and Ryder looked down and found a dead butterfly. Brynlee ran and found someone who worked at the zoo and told him that there was a butterfly with a broken wing. The guy looked at it and removed the butterfly. He then thanked Brynlee and Ryder for letting him know about the butterfly. Brynlee looked at Ryder and said, "We are heroes Ryder. We are really heroes." They found another dead butterfly before we left.

       I sure do love doing all of these fun and exciting things with my family. I wish Joel could have came with us, maybe next year. The girls have been working hard by doing their chores all Summer so they could earn money and do these fun things. I am glad we got to go. I sure do enjoy watching them see and discover new things. 

Kindergarten

       Brynlee survived her first day of school. She has been so excited about school for months and couldn't wait to go. One day I tried to convince her to stay home with me but she just looked at me and said, "It's okay mom, you are going to be fine. Anna and Kyla will be home with you." She was so ready to go. She really didn't have any friends in her class at school, there is only one boy in her class that she knows but she wasn't worried at all. "That's alright, I will just make new friends" she told me. So I was a little surprised when she woke up the morning of her first day or school and she was staring to get a little nervous. She complained of a tummy ache and debated staying home.

      Brynlee insisted on making her own sign to take a picture with on the first day of school. She even taped sticks on the back so that she could hold her sign with ease. She couldn't wait to take that picture. But when it was finally time to take the picture, she did not want any part of it. She stormed off yelling, "I hate dumb school." I went and picked her up and asked her if she was nervous. She started crying and I just picked her up, hugged her tight, and told her how great she would do. Joel gave her a blessing the night before and we talked about that and I told her we would say a prayer in the car. I got a little emotional too. I can't believe my little girl is old enough for school and it seems so daunting to send her off on her own with all those big kids. She felt better once I talked to her and she got in the car and told me she would take a picture after school.

       As soon as we got to school Brynlee seemed fine. We walked to her classroom and her teacher, Mrs. Hubbard, said hi. She even remembered Brynlee's name from "meet the teacher night." Mrs. Hubbard told Brynlee that her friend Josie, who is in first grade, was looking for her the other day. Brynlee got a huge grin on her face, told her teacher she wanted to go play and to tell Josie she would be at the playground if she saw her. Then she waved to me and was off. We still walked her to the playground. She let me take her picture while we were walking to the playground. It was not a cold morning but Brynlee insisted on wearing pants and a jacket. Brynlee found Josie right away on the playground. Josie hugged Anna and Brynlee and then Brynlee and Josie held hands and skipped off to go play. I was really glad to leave her in a happy mood.

       Anna, Kyla, and I spent the day helping my grandma can pears. It was kind of sad to drive off and leave my little girl but I was confident that she would be fine. I am glad I kept busy or I would have missed her a lot more. I know Anna missed her. She missed having someone to play with her. I stopped and pushed her on the swing for a little bit and then it was finally time to go get Brynlee. Brynlee jumped in the van, and grouched at me that she was sooo hungry. I didn't pack her any good food in her lunch box. "There were no cupcakes or brownies and only one cookie" she grouched. I could tell she had a long and tiring day. We drove home and I got her a snack and she said she had a good day but that her school had too many rules. She protested again but I finally convinced her to let me take her picture. Annalyn let me take a picture with her sign that morning. Of course Annalyn needed a sing complete with sticks just like her big sister. Then I let Brynlee relax on the couch and watch a movie. During dinner she finally told me all about her day. It sounds like she really did have a great day and she couldn't wait to go again. She learned this song that says "Kiss your Brain," and she sang it all night. She couldn't remember anyones names but she sat by and talked to several different "friends," and she played with her friends that are in first grade during recess.

       Brynlee got to spend the next day home with us since she goes to school all day, every other day. This morning I sent Brynlee off to school on the school bus. The girls and I all waited for the bus with her. Brynlee was pretty excited about riding the bus. She is one of the first kids picked up, the bus comes at 6:59 am, and she will be one of the last ones dropped off so It will be a long ride. The good news is that her friend Athena is picked up and dropped off right before her so I watched her climb on the bus and sit next to her friend. My cousin Ryder also rides on her bus so she should do just fine. I can't believe how much she is growing up. This is a lot of new things for her and I am pretty proud of how well she has handled everything. She is one pretty great kid. Now Annalyn and Kyla and I will get lots more time to spend together. Before Brynlee went to school I asked Anna what we should do when Brylee was at school and Anna said, "play Candy Land." Brynlee had a better idea for us. "I know, how about if you make cookies and then when I come home from school, I can eat them." Haha. So maybe we will make cookies today. I just can't wait for Brynlee to come home again. The bus should drop her off around 3:45 this afternoon and we will all be outside waiting for her.