June 2019

The girls heard they were going to do a talent show for Activity Days and decided they wanted to do piano duets with their friends. They had multiple playdates just so they could rehearse. I was impressed with how hard they worked and both of them sounded so good!  

The girls really love to visit Richard at work but this time he had a lot of things he needed help with around the office so he told the girls he would pay them if they would come and work hard. These girls love to help out and they didn't think it was work at all, they loved every minute of it.  Especially because they got to go out to lunch and got a few bucks out of it!

I always try to do some kind of mom school during the summer but it has looked different every year.  Usually the girls and I are really gung-ho at the start and then it tapers off at the end into almost nothing so I tried to keep it small this year so we could set attainable goals. They all have a workbook to finish and then Kaylee had typing lessons. We read some biographies of amazing women and made a poster that we title Women Rock :) We printed off pictures of 8 women we wanted to learn about and then filled in the space underneath their picture with things we have learned about them. We also tried to do some art projects. I didn't get pictures of most of the ones we made but we did a few projects that mimicked the techniques of famous artists. We also did an idea I found on Pinterest that turned out so beautiful. We used rubber cement, sharpie and watercolors to create beautiful dandelion pics.

Most of the time I read the biographies to the girls but sometimes we would have Richard read while we did art projects. One night I really needed a project to do and wanted to draw a family picture but not just a boring, normal one (also, I can't draw people very well...Ha ha). I wanted to draw us as something that would represent each one of us so I started with Richard as Don Quixote!  I thought it turned out pretty well despite the terrible paper I chose to do it on. 

The girls got a CD to learn songs for the Primary Program and their favorite is a new song called, "I Will Be What I Believe".  We have probably already listened to it 500 times but it is super cute. I recorded some of it to send to Mom and it makes me so happy to hear them singing it over and over!

One night we had a downpour.  June has been super cold so far and doesn't feel much like summer. But it was warm enough that we decided to go play in the downpour. I ran around with the kids for a while but got too cold. That didn't deter them at all and they played outside until the rain stopped and even a little longer :) It rained so much we had huge puddles everywhere and we got some amazing slow motion videos of the kids jumping in them.

I was good at thinking ahead this year and didn't want McKenna's baptism pictures to be all brown in the background like Kaylee's were. So we took her to the Park of Roses and made her take a LOT of pictures. Unfortunately her shoes were hurting her feet but she was a trooper and we got a lot of super cute photos to use.

We had a picnic and then explored the park some more. We also went over to the playground and Kaylee found a way to shimmy up a pole to the highest point of the playground. She is our little monkey and can climb just about anything!

Our usual trip to the river was a little strange this time because in addition to finding tons of seashells, we also found a bunch of small animal bones? The girls thought it was super cool and wanted to keep them but I had to draw the line at that! 

We told the girls we weren't going to buy a pool pass this year and I was really glad we didn't since most of June was too cold to swim and we would be gone most of July. But they were really disappointed, so on the last day of school we gave them this pool to play with in the backyard.  Unfortunately we weren't able to actually use it for almost a month when it finally warmed up a little! The girls thought it was really fun and they thought it was hilarious when Dad came home from work and threw them back into it after they were fully dried and dressed.  But best of all was when Dad jumped in and played with them also fully clothed!

My mom went through all of Grandma Joye's journals and found a lot of special gems that she wanted to share with the rest of us. She put it all together in a book and sent it to us with a fun package with supplies for us to throw a little birthday party for Grandma. It was fun to celebrate such a special lady and read some of the gems to our kids so they can know how amazing she is too. 

We met up with Rachel and her kids at one of the metro parks that we hadn't explored yet. It was super cool!  They had a fun nature playground, tether ball, a swing zipline and of course lots of places to explore. They never wanted to leave!

May 2019

The girls had a showcase at the end of the year so we got to go see some of the artwork they have done throughout the year.  It was fun to see how excited to girls were to show us what they have done!

Brooklyn has gotten into a phase of always wanting her hair played with or doing other people's hair.  We will ask her if she wants a fancy hairdo or a silly one and we have come up with some pretty awesome hairdos!

My sweet friends from my first ward took me out to lunch for my birthday and it was so fun to catch up with them! Then Richard took me to an escape room which is one of my favorite things to do. It was a great birthday!

Brooklyn really wanted to do her own hair for crazy hair day and I think she nailed it! 

Richard and I went out to lunch for our anniversary. We had heard amazing things about Katalina's so we decided to try it out. We both got street tacos and then pancake balls to share (which were not as good as they sound...). It was fun to write on the table and leave our mark even though it probably won't stay for long. 

We found a bird nest in our backyard that had been built really low among our vines. It was fun to check on it every day and see how the babies were growing.

Brooklyn had her last day of preschool and was so sad to say goodbye to her teacher, Mrs. Shari. She was the perfect teacher for our hesitant little girl to have during her first year of school. She also got to have an end of the year picnic at the park and had a lot of fun with her preschool buddy Zella. 

The girls got to have their own crazy hair/pajama day and requested cupcake hair like I had done for McKenna a few years ago. It was a big hit!

I have never been able to curl my own hair but I bought a wand that curls on it's own and I thought it worked pretty good for my hair! I still have a lot of work to do but at least I have the possibility of curling my hair sometimes...

I went to McKenna's end of the year party and had a really good time with her class.  Her best friend leaned over to her and said, "McKenna your mom is so pretty!"  It was so sweet and definitely made my day.  Then we were playing dodgeball together as a family outside on a beautiful day and saw a gorgeous double rainbow! It was one of the days that just felt magical!

I asked Brooklyn what she wanted to do for her sister's last day of school to have one more day with just mommy and she chose the Conservatory. It was the best day and I'm glad we got to do something together all day just focused on us.  Brooklyn really is the best buddy I could ever ask for and she makes every day so much better. I don't know what I will do when she has to go to school full-time too!  

April 2019

Brooklyn is just like her sister and gave naps really early and rarely falls asleep in the day.  So that makes days like the Sunday she fell asleep on my lap extra special!

The girls had their piano recital in early April.  And I was so grateful it was before all the end of year activities that make May so crazy. They didn't play the best I have heard them but I was proud of them for working hard and getting up in front of people to play which I know is really scary.

At her last dentist appointment, the dentist told us that Kaylee didn't have room for one of her adult teeth to grow in and recommended we go see an orthodontist.  She got an expander for 4 months and will have braces for about a year. They didn't seem to bother her as much as I remember hating them!

She was most looking forward to getting ice cream after they put her braces on. And since her little sister had to be dragged along, she got to enjoy some too :)

After Holly and Julie's first book was printed, Brooklyn loved repeating Madeline's mantra from the book and so I sent this to Holly to use to promote their book. It makes me smile every time!

A year and ten days after he was born, sweet little Neil passed away. We were so sad to not be there for the funeral but my thoughtful sister and parents went and facetimed us so we could be a part of it too. It was one of the most spiritual funerals and I was so impressed with Rob and Ingrid's testimonies. 

Easter was really late this year and we didn't make it to any big hunts but we still did our fun traditions. I have never gotten sick of dyeing Easter eggs, it still seems just as fun every year!

Grandma also sent us a fun Easter package that had some really fun toys and activities. Then the night before Easter, the girls were saying that they should leave something out for the Easter bunny like we do for Santa.  They got out some carrots and spinach and wrote him a cute note.  Kaylee started arranging the carrots into a bunny shape and then all 3 girls worked together to create a cute bunny creation. 

The main library downtown had a big author even that Aiko got to be a part of. We went to support her but it was a really fun event. They had a lot of activities for the kids to do and they all got to pick out a book to take home. Then we listened to a few authors read their stories. Aiko plays the cello during hers and it made it a fun storytime.