I'm not quite sure...

This is just a couple of randoms that I thought needed to be shared.
A couple of weeks ago, Timothy's grandparents came for a visit. It was nice to see them and have them in our home. The girls especially love to play with them. Well, at least their canes. Emma asked Grandma if she could play with her 'candy cane'. It was pretty cute.

Then there was the 'backyard carnival'. Our neighbor had some serious digging to do. The girls thought it was great fun to ride around with 'Grandpa Ken' on the fun 'truck'.

My Four-Year-Old

Well, it's more than a month late, so, I figured I'd post about Emma's birthday. Sorry I have been so bad lately. Grandma Allred came up for the weekend so here are some pictures of our 'birthday weekend'.

Emma is quite friendly, very outgoing, and wants to include everyone. Which is great, except that she had to invite everyone she knows and half our block to her party. Which was supposed to be cake and ice cream with the family. Oh well. She had tons of fun and it was amazing to me how many people came or gave her a card. She was spoiled rotten and I think it was a good birthday for her.

So, that was that. Emma loves being the center of attention, she loves her family and adopted family and she loves her bike.

A Whole Lotta' Nothin'

I realize that I am not very good at updating on a regular basis. I'm not even going to apologize for that. I do actually have some stuff to post, however, it's probably only interesting to me. And maybe Grandmas and Grandpas. Oh well. So, here's some stuff that's happened for the rest of July.

This is one morning, Kaylee slept in and Emma just wanted to sit on the front step. Well, she had to have her guitar. I asked her what she was doing and her response was, "I'm singing to the birds." So cute, I had to take a picture for posterity.

One Saturday morning, I got to go out for some Mommy time. Emma has been talking about a lemonade stand for a while so she and KK and Daddy set one up. They just hung out in front of our house (we're not on a busy street) with signs that said "Free". Timothy didn't want to put a price on it because he thought it would look too much like he was trying to sell it instead of the kids! A couple of our neighbors came and were customers. Although, when I got home, all I saw was my new cooler with two "free" signs on it! I was wondering why we were giving it away.

A couple more shots of the girls playing outside. We love it when it's warm!

Let me tell you a funny little story. So, a few weeks ago, some friends invited us over for dinner. It was a Sunday and we were just having fun talking, kids playing, good food. It started to rain. Then it started to rain harder. I remembered that all of our windows were open so Timothy and our friend ran home to close them (we could have all gone but we weren't done with our party). So, after they were gone for a couple of minutes, we lost power. We're sitting there with 5 kids and no power. So then we get a phone call (thank goodness for cell phones!) and it's her husband. They've already been gone for like, 20min. He explained that we had some water in our basement. Awesome. So, we sat at their house, trying to entertain kids in the dark, for another hour. Finally the men-folk come home and here's what happened. One of our gutters wasn't really doing what it was made for. So, water was pouring right into the basement window well below it. That water had nowhere to go, so decided to go into our tenant's bedroom. Lovely. Temporary fix in the middle of a crazy thunderstorm (seriously, closest lightening I've seen in a long time...), grab the plastic kiddy pool and wedge it over the window well. My husband is a genius. Honestly, what else would you do at that point? Our neighbors had worse water than we did and their son (who's like, 25, don't go calling social services) was trying to dig trenches while Timothy's trying to fix our problem. Timothy said that every time the lightening would strike, he'd drop the shovel... apparently he was getting little jolts every time! Kinda funny. So anyway, our friend went prepared for a flood and decided to wade into our alley. This picture doesn't really do it justice. It was like, a foot deep. In the alley. One of the houses across the alley from us had a foot of water in their yard. I wonder what their basement looks like.

Anyway, that's all for now. I've got some more that I need to post soon. I'll work on that.

Dreading this

And I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's so long overdue and I have nothing really exciting to say. Or maybe it's just because it's so hot, the only thing I want to do is sit in a tub of ice cream. Take your pick. But lets fill you in on July.
Didn't get to go 'home' for the 1st, as is tradition, and that was sad. We did get up to Timothy's Aunt's for the 4th and we had lots of fun. We camped there Friday night and she had a guy come who does this whole mountain man show. It was cute and the kids loved him. Well, Emma did. Kaylee wasn't sure what to think of the dead bear around his neck. Neither did I. But he told some funny stories and jokes and it was entertaining.

Saturday morning was the annual run/walk. Timothy, of course, ran (he also had knee surgery two months ago...). I think he did better this year than last though so, I guess that means he's fully recovered? That's him coming in. Sorry my pictures are so blurry.

After the run, it's off to the parade. We just finished the bag of candy that we hauled away. Emma loves the parade, Kaylee may have been too tired to enjoy it. But her sister dutifully brought her a piece of candy every now and then as she sat huddled in my lap. The most interesting entry was this man. Riding a cow. Yes, that's right. Never seen anything like it. And the cow was huge. Barely shorter than the horses. Odd.

And those are all the pictures that I have from the 4th. Pathetic, I know. For those of you who are wondering, I did not see Davey (that's what those of us who are close to him call David Letterman. Although I'm sure he was there. I decided not to be a stalker this year.)
And one more cute shot. We started doing a babysitting hand off with some friends for date night. Lucky for us, their little girl is the sweetest thing in the world. And she looks like she fits right in here.

Too cute. Well, that, in a nutshell, is our July. My sister and her kids were here this week and I don't think that I even picked up a camera so, no pictures of that. But it was way more than a blast!

Happy Father's Day!

I know that I'm a few days late with this. There's no good reason for it. Pure laziness. But I have to say Happy Father's Day to the wonderful men in my life! Mostly my Dad and my husband. Both amazing men who inspire me to do and be better. Both kind, gentle and funny. I love those guys!

Anyway, here is Timothy on Father's Day. The girls made him an apron, we got him a BBQ cookbook and some new BBQ tools.

He loves his girls and they love him!

I thought I'd show you some of the amazing work that Timothy has been doing all spring. Some of you know that our house was not very well kept when we moved in. That included the yard. Well, Timothy has been slaving over our yard. We've had two HUGE pine trees cut down, major improvement there, and been growing grass like crazy! It is really starting to look good and we're excited to be able to play on real grass. Not just dirt clumps. We've been building fence, planting trees (not pines. those should not exist in the city.), flowers and some veggies. Here's a peek, but the pictures don't do it justice!

From the street. (My next goal is to have the satellite removed. We have cable. And it's ugly.)

From front to back on the side. (We'd like to do 'French drains', underground drainage, eventually.)

Back to front on side.

And the backyard. I love that you can't even tell where the pine was in this picture! The grass is coming in so good. Good work baby! I love you! (p.s. If you look carefully, you can see, where the drain comes out on the left side, a ring slightly darker. That's where the tree was.)

Oh yeah, one more thing seems fitting for my Father's Day post.

Happy Father's Day!

The Mountain

**Warning: This is really, really long. I kinda ramble. Sorry. Don't feel like you have to read it. I won't know the difference.**
So, we have some friends whose family own some land not too far from here. They are always going to 'the mountain' the hang out, fish, hunt, etc. Well, we finally had a day that we could go with them. It took about an hour to get there but before I get into it too much, I want to tell you about getting there. First of all, for those of you who don't know, we live in a military town. Half of our population is made up of the Air Force Base here. So, it's common to see military vehicles, feel Blackhawks shake my windows, and watch some really fast planes flying in pretty shapes. (Can you tell, I don't really 'get' the military thing yet... must be the Canadian in me. Anyway...) We were meeting up out of town to follow our friends and, we were running a little bit late. So, she called to see where we were. We were almost there and she was like, well, look out for the missile transport. We were like, awesome. So, after a few minutes driving, we see a helicopter circling overhead. Then, a couple of Humvee's taking both lanes (I don't know if I spelled that right but I know that's what they're called, they're just hummers. I don't know why they don't call them hummers.) Following the 'Humvee' a rather large semi truck, white, unmarked sides with panels all over it... with a helicopter circling it. Seriously, this guy was flying so low, we thought at one point he might hit a car on the freeway. Unfortunately, he circled a little bit wider just as we got close, my friend said you could see a guy hanging out with his weaponry at the ready. After that whole procession, a couple more 'Humvee's. I know that this was a long and pointless story, but the question is, would you have passed? I mean, it's not like they were going very fast. I would have wanted to pass. Would the guy in the helicopter open fire if you did? These questions and more haunt me to this day. Well, not really. On with our mountain trip.

So, we drive for a while longer, then, there is no more road (I mean, we're already off the gravel). We're driving on dirt paths through farmer's fields. We have to stop every so often to open and close gates. At one of these, my friend says to us, when it gets too rough for you, let us know and we can all pile in our car (because, for some reason, she thought their 4x4 could handle more than our mini van?). We keep driving and let me tell you, I was really nervous we were going to go over. We were driving on nothing on the edges of steep hills. Let me help some of you understand, think of the road from the farm to the river, but for several miles. I was practically hyperventilating. I know that I tend to exaggerate some things, but ask Timothy, it may not have been quite as bad as I'm describing, but I was still panicked. Anyway, eventually, there was no road at all, just a mountain path. And I thought of Twilight and longed to have that Jeep. But it was absolutely beautiful! We got to a 'bridge' over a river with a water fall on the side (it was really just some planks, watch where you put your tires!). There we stopped for some fishing! This was my second time ever fishing, my first being days after Emma was born in a stocked pond.

So, this is what we saw when we got out of the car. So peaceful and beautiful. Ahhh.

Timothy was so excited to be fishing, he threw his line in first (I know it's not called throwing, but I don't remember what it is called. Casting?) right off the 'bridge'. And almost immediately,

Here are some more fishing shots.

Timothy trying to catch them as they jump up the waterfall. (I have never seen that in real life. Those fish are crazy!)

Our friend, trying her luck.

And me, not quite fishing. But on my way.

The girls (and boy) playing.

Nice family picture. We can never get everyone looking at the same time. Silly Wicket, wouldn't even pose.

After about an hour of fishing and playing in the water, no one else had caught anything, so, we decided to head up to 'camp' and roast some hot dogs.

We drove for a little bit, over some more 'bridges' before stopping next to some machinery. They're like, this is as far as you go, get whatever you want to bring and get in. So, we all pile in to their jeep-like-thing. Four adults, three kids, a dog, and all our picnic stuff. It was cozy. We start driving a little more and I discover the need for the 4x4. They haven't built the last bridge yet. Luckily, the water was not high at this point and things went smoothly. At camp they've got a little cook house and permanent tents. It was really neat. They also run an outfitting thing (guided hunting) so they have the outfitters camp there too. It was neat. Anyway, we had fun around the fire and, we ate Timothy's fish. I don't like fish. But, eating it fresh out of the water, cooked over a campfire, it was pretty tasty.

Here's KK, dirty face=good time!

Timothy likes these next two pictures because I look so angry. I'm really not. I was trying to roast the dogs perfectly in the first, and just relaxin' in the second. Maybe smoke was blowing in my eyes, I don't' know. I promise, I really was having fun. Next time tell me you're taking pictures!

Anyway, I think I've jabbered on for long enough. We had a great time! So much fun and just beautiful! We loved it!

Happy Birthday Kaylee!!

Kaylee turned 2 on the 17th of May. She is such a big girl! Literally. She is over 3feet tall, that puts her in the 98.81% for her age. We love her so much. She is so sweet and cuddly, observant and loves to laugh. We are grateful that we have her in our lives. She's my baby! Here are some pictures from her birthday party. We didn't do anything huge, Grandma Allred came up for the weekend and we just kinda played. Grandma did show up with a surprise though, a car FULL of balloons. There is nothing more magical to a two year old.

I feel the need to explain my outfit. We raced Grandma home from the temple. She won. So, I was still in my Church attire. Plus, my slippers. So, it makes for a really hot look. Please don't judge me.

This is KK at the park down the street. She climbed this big ladder all by herself.

Kaylee loves cows. So, we did a cow cake for her. I don't think she cared.

And, here we are singing to her. We are in the living room because we've got Grandma and Grandpa Gibb on skype. We love technology. (Doesn't she look impressed by her cake?)

Here's Kaylee opening a present, with help from her big sis. She wasn't really sure what to do with the paper.

And my beautiful babes Sunday morning, her actual birthday. Aren't they cute?

Sorry that this was so long over due, I've got some more updates that really need to get written. I'll work on that, I promise!

Happy Mother's Day

Well, I thought that I should post today because I really do sometimes try to post once a week. (How's that for a confusing statement?) But I really didn't have anything exciting or new to say. So, I uploaded the pictures from our camera from the last week, hoping that there would be any pictures on it at all. And I discovered that my husband has been taking pictures. Which is wonderful. Better yet, they are of our awesome kids and so for mother's day this year, I'm going to show off -very briefly, don't worry- my babies.
The other day, I was playing the piano, which I never get to do alone, but this time, the kids, who generally fight over my book, brought their own. Timothy thought it was pretty cute -and it was- so he snapped a shot. Because it's mother's day, I'm not even going to say anything about how I don't like the way my hair looks in the back or how I look like I have back fat in this picture. What I will comment on is Kaylee's book. She is just too cute, I promise.
Last Sunday, the girls were playing outside a little bit (we've been getting out as much as possible this week because you never know when we'll get 2 more feet of snow). Anyway, ring leader Emma took a couple of rags from the kitchen and then got the water spray bottle that I used to do their hair that morning (of course, it was not put away because it was Sunday and you know how Sunday mornings go...). We found them washing the van. They even got the tires. Wanna place bets on whether or not they'll do this in ten years?


And, last but not least, with all the sun we've been getting this last week (all right, it's rained a couple of times and been really kinda windy, but still, the sun has appeared a little bit), I needed some new sunglasses because I lost my last pair. Anyway, while at the dollar store, picking some out (I always get my sunglasses at the dollar store, that way it's not really upsetting when you lose them in Walmart) Emma asked if she could get a pair. So, the girls have enjoyed wearing them around the house and every so often in the car. This morning while I was in the shower, this picture was taken of my sweet babies while they ate.
Anyway, that's that. We haven't really been too exciting this week. But I do want to wish all you mothers who read this a Happy Mother's day. I wish I could say something really sweet and sentimental about how great mothers are and stuff, but I'm just not really in the mood for that. So, keep up the good work and remember that you're amazing!
Now, for a quick update on Timothy's knee, for all interested. He had an MRI last Tuesday and saw the orthopedic 'guy' on Friday. He tore his meniscus. He has a meniscule tear. I'm not very good at spelling stuff and I don't even know, really, what he did. But, he's got surgery on the 20th and they will fix him up.
So, that's all for now. Sorry for all the rambling. Can you tell that Timothy's at work and I've only had conversation with pre-schoolers today?

26 inches

That was the final count. It snowed from Tuesday morning, about 10am, until Thursday around noon. It did not stop. We broke all kinds of records! Yeah for us!

So of course, we had to build a snowman. The snow was perfect for it too! Don't mock our snowman, Emma made him.

On another note, Timothy blew out his knee Wednesday night playing basketball at the Church. His girls (all of us) have loved having him home for these couple of days. He can't go back to work until after his MRI on Tuesday. We're not really sure what happened but I'm really hoping that he doesn't need surgery. What are the chances? Anyway, we'll enjoy having him around more while we've got him and we'll hope that its nothing too major.

I almost forgot! Thursday night was the fundraiser dinner and auction. I have to tell you that I did not stay for the auction. The girls and I had to go without Timothy, who can't walk without crutches. I asked a friend who was there what the quilt went for. Needless to say, there were no actual cat fights over it. It only went for $70. That barely covers material. Let alone time. Whoever got it probably doesn't even know what a huge steal of a deal it was! The auctioneer apparently held it up folded and didn't even mention that it was hand quilted. Oh well. At least they've got $70 more than they had before. Next year I will definitely not do a quilt!