Day 186

Brooklynn was sad today and really missing McKenna. I can't imagine why though since all they ever do is fight. But, she did and went into her room and played all by herself until she konked out on the floor.

Day 185

Brooklynn and I on the 4-wheeler. She LOVES to ride and this time...ahem...she kept saying, "Mommy, go faster, faster, faster. Spenser drove me faster than this, you can go faster mom!" All I heard about was how fast Spenser drove her over Memorial Day. Spenser? Just how fast did you go? :0) (I think McKenna said the same thing about Levi!)

Day 184

Today is one of my favorite holidays, the 4th of July...Independence Day! There is no place I'd rather be than in Malad. It is the epitome of small town America as it should be on this holiday. It is also Chris' moms birthday. So we have been coming here for 10 years, since we moved here. It's a hard day because we all miss her so much but also fun at the same time knowing that we are right where she would want us to be. She loved Malad and loved the 4th.

Day 183

Chris' dad has a pasture behind his house in town and a barn. Some years he'll buy a cow and raise it for beef, but on the off years he lets friends and neighbors pasture their horses. He gets his grass cut and they get a free meal. He has three horses up there now and they are such nice horses. The owner asked if the kids would like to ride them today and of course they did. They were so excited all day. The older kids got to ride on their own. We even got Grandpa on a horse! They all had such a fun time.

Day 182

Today was the annual Malad Salmon Bake. It is a family tradition that after the Salmon Bake we have S'mores. The coals are PERFECT for roasting marshmallows. It's always the perfect end to a great day.

Day 181

Today we packed for McKenna's "two-weeks with Grandpa". We will be leaving her after the 4th of July. Every summer, Grandma & Grandpa would have all the grandkids who have turned 8 during the year come to stay with them and spoil them rotten. Most of the kids got to go to Hawaii and they would stay for about a month. Later, after they moved to Arizona the last few went there and they shortened the time to a few weeks. Now, my kids are going and it's just Grandpa and the time is two weeks. I don't know how the other siblings did it for a whole month. McKenna is soooo excited. She'd rather live with Grandpa and Uncle Jason than us anyway. We'll miss you McKenna!

Day 180

WE FOUND OUR FIRST EGG TODAY!!
Brooklynn kept calling us to come look at something outside and we being the awesome parents that we are, ignored her. Finally, she came marching in the house and was like "I found an egg!" We were all so excited.

Day 179

Today Lauren got a "feather" in her hair. She's been wanting one for a long time and finally we got around to getting it. They are all the rage these days. She was a bit bummed because she really wanted Orange and they didn't have it so she settled for her 2nd favorite color, Blue. It's funny how I never really noticed that many of them before but now, I see them everywhere.

Day 178

Today I am grateful for Questar. Most days, I am not. I pay them way too much money. Anyway, we have had a leak in our apartment stove for a few months. We had someone out to fix it but they couldn't find a leak and cleaned everything, tightened up everything and said it looked good. The thought maybe the pilot light was going out since it is pretty small but weren't sure. After a couple of months we figured we'd have to buy a new stove which is hard/expensive to do since we have to find a really super narrow, apartment size one. After calling another technician to ask a few questions about installing a new one, he suggested we call Questar to see if they could find a leak first. He was super helpful and I'm so glad we did. The nicest man came out from Questar and spent about 2 1/2 hours checking every possible thing. He tore the whole thing apart, checked every line, burner and pilot light, every line into our house and the surrounding neighbors to make sure there was no leak. After all of that he decided it had to be the pilot light and made a few adjustments and now it works fine!!! The best part, it was FREE! He said our stove was in amazing condition for being as old as it is and he would NOT replace it. Yay!!!

Day 177

McKenna finished up her Karate class today. She has really enjoyed it and would love to keep going. She has a pretty good kick!

Day 176

Our chickens are growing up to be big chickens and the girls still love them. They carry them around like they are little puppies or kittens. The chickens are really nice and don't seem to mind so much. They should start laying any day now. Everyone is getting so anxious for the first egg!

Day 175

Goodbye ugly ivy wallpaper. I have tolerated you for 6 years! I never intended you'd make it that long, but you have. It's over now. And peach paint, don't get too attached, your next!

Day 174

Brooklynn lost another tooth! This time she wrote the tooth fairy a cute little letter.

Dear personal tooth fairy. I don't know your name. But just in case if you don't know my name it is Brooklynn. Please sign here. Please come to Macey's kid karnival tomorrow. It was my sister McKenna "hoo" knocked out my tooth. I hope you will write back. Love Brooklynn.
PS - I got you some tattoos. I hope you like them.

Just to clarify things, McKenna did knock her tooth out, but it was already loose.

Day 173

Tyler got into a fight with a golf ball and the ball won. A wild game of mini-golf gone wrong. He is really lucky that he isn't blind! So that's what we'll be thankful for today.

Day 172

We have started laying the floor...FINALLY!!! This project has been soooo much more involved than we thought it would be. But, it feels good to finally get started!

Day 171

Glow Chalk!

McKenna really wanted glow chalk for her birthday and was so excited to use it. The only problem with this chalk is that it has to be made 30-min. before you are ready to use it. With it being summer, it doesn't get really dark until 9:30-10:00 at least. Then, the chalk only lasts four hours so you can't make it ahead of time. After weeks of begging we finally did it. It took a lot longer than 30-min. to set up and it only made 6 or 7 small pieces. It was after midnight when we were ready to try it out. Luckily, it only took about 10-min. for the girls to use it all up. After a few minutes of enjoying the cool pictures it was off to bed. It was hard to get a good picture but it was pretty cool.

Day 170

Chris' dad just got back from an awesome trip to England and Scotland where he played several rounds of golf at St. Anthony's. He asked Chris and I to make him a shadowbox with all of his souvenirs from the trip. We were able to finish it up for him just in time for Father's Day.

Day 169

Today McKenna and I got up early and hiked the Y. It was a perfect morning with nice temperatures and beautiful weather. McKenna was a trooper and finally made it to the top. Last time we hiked it she had a lot of other girls to run around with and basically ran up the trail. This time with just mom she wasn't quite so motivated to get to the top. As usual the view was great. Roxy came with us too and got a much needed workout.

Day 168

There was a spectacular sunset tonight. The picture doesn't do it justice but it was just so pretty. I'm really thankful for the beauty of nature.

Day 167

This is Chris' next backyard farm project...Rabbits! Thumper Stew anyone?

Day 166

This is the huge stack of "sub" sub floor we ripped out of our kitchen. I should have taken a picture a while ago but I forgot. It's been a slow picture day so here ya go. This has been a much MUCH bigger project than we ever anticipated.

Day 165

It's really hard to see in this picture but there is a bird nest with tiny little bird heads peeking out. It is next to impossible to climb up here and get a good picture. We have been watching and listening to these cute little baby birds for a couple of weeks now. There is something soothing about the little cheeps of baby birds.

Day 164

This pretty little flower is in full bloom right now and smells soooo good! I'm pretty sure it is some type of Gardenia or relative of it because it smells DIVINE! Every year we contemplate ripping it out because its in an odd spot in the yard. As is our Hibiscus. But, since they both remind me of Hawaii, they aren't going anywhere.

Day 163

Someday, I have big plans for you Bow Flex. But since free is a pretty good price, I won't feel too guilty that you are just collecting dust for the time being.

Day 162

I love hearing wind chimes. I haven't always, but that is because I didn't know what I was missing. Chris' mom used to collect them. She had tons of them all over her home and yard. After she passed away, each of the kids got to choose one of her nice, large ones. After having it up for a while I realized that they are so calming and peaceful. I love to hear them tinkling outside in the breeze and it reminds me of her.

Day 161

I FINALLY got the last of the "sub" sub-floor pulled off. Now we can start laying the wood!

Day 160

Chris found this old push mower at a yard sale and bought it. Brooklynn loves to volunteer to cut the grass now.

Day 159

School is out and the kids want to sleep outside all summer so we pitched some tents. We'll see how long it lasts.

Day 158

Brooklynn has her own sense of style. She loves to add random accessories to her outfits such as over-sized hair bows, wings or frilly skirts. Since the time she was really little she had her own opinion on what she liked to wear. It has only been the past couple of years that the older kids have even cared. This is a girl who knows what she wants!

Day 157

Today Tyler cooked us pancakes for breakfast. He's been working on his Cooking Merit Badge for Scouts and has to cook us three meals. He didn't want his picture taken...thus the funny face. He did a great job!

Day 156

Today McKenna had her first Karate class. We gave her a month of lessons for her birthday. She has wanted to take it for a while and was really excited. However, she was pretty nervous as the day wore on and by the time we got there she was very scared. Once she got started though she had a blast. They had lots of fun and she ran around the house last night kicking and yelling karate words. She can't wait to go back on Wednesday.

Day 155

Yesterday McKenna was baptized and her cousin Vili made her a Haku lei. She wore it to church today but I forgot to get a picture until she was already changed into play clothes. It looked really nice.

Day 154

Today McKenna was baptized. She asked her Grandpa Gleed to baptize her. It was a wonderful day and we are so proud of her. It brings us such joy to see her want to be baptized and to have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a special day for our family and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing it with so many of our family and friends.

Day 153

Today was the last day of school and pre-school graduation for the Brooklynn. I can't just put one picture. I forgot to take a picture of Tyler on his last day. That's not really cool anyway when you are in Jr. High.

Day 152

I guess you're never too old to play in the mud. Today Lauren, her friend McKenzie and Brooklynn spent some time playing in the mud. All in all, they didn't come out too muddy and kept the mess contained to the spot where the pool goes.

Day 151

Today was field day for the older girls and water day for Brooklynn. The older girls didn't place in the class races so they didn't advance to the "big" race. They were both pretty disappointed. Brooklynn had a fun day, playing in the sprinklers and swimming in the little pool. They also got to have pizza and shave ice so it was a great day for her.

Day 150

Today was the kids dance festival at school. Each class does a class dance and then at the end they did a group number to "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond.

Day 149

Again, no pictures so I had to "borrow" this from facebook. My two little girls had so much fun "hanging" out with these two...literally! They would not leave their sides! We had to ground McKenna a few times from Spenser so she'd leave him alone. They thought these two were the best thing since sliced bread. One night, after the Angie had gone back to the hotel I tried to give Brooklynn her medicine which has been very difficult to do because she HATES it. Brooklynn sighed and said, "Oh, if only Angie were here to give me my medicine". She would have done anything for Angie.

Day 148

So I didn't take any pictures over Memorial Day except for our hike. Lame, I know. So I snagged this one from my nieces facebook page....I hope you don't mind. This one wasn't even taken on Sunday but it's all I've got. It was so fun to visit with these two and my kids loved spending time with them. Brooklynn kept Dara busy for hours by finding metal things to stick a magnet to and then calling her over to show her what new spot she had found. They were both good sports about it. Thanks!

Day 147

We headed up to Malad today for Memorial Day weekend. The kids have been begging to hike the "M" for years. Today we finally did it. We had a great time as a family.

Day 146

Today was our sweet little McKenna's "8th" birthday. We are so glad that she is a part of our family. It wouldn't be complete without her.

Day 145

Brooklynn loves to sit behind me on the computer chair and "fix" my hair while I work. This was the beautiful creation she created for me today. I think she's going to have a career in hair design.

Day 144

Poor Brooklynn got strep throat and another virus on top of it, and missed almost an entire week of school. Here we are at trip #2 to the Doctors office trying to amuse ourselves. Luckily at the appointment the strep was gone and she was cleared to go back to school in the next day.

Day 143

This made me laugh today. I couldn't believe the Dollar Tree is now selling steaks! Scary...who buys steak at the dollar store??

Day 142

Guest Photographer:
Today while I was working on the kitchen floor, I got out the camera to take some "during" pictures. Brooklynn then took the camera and went outside to take some pictures. This is her "self portrait". I love looking through the pictures the kids take when I'm not looking. They always give me a good laugh.

Day 141

Today, when we outside to check on the animals, Brooklynn wanted me to take her picture. That's it. No story, no fun reason, it's just a picture. Good thing, because I needed a picture for today. She is pretty cute though so that's a joyful thing.

Day 140

When I woke up this morning, ripping out our tile floor in the dining area/kitchen seemed like a good idea. Tonight, when it still isn't finished, I'm second guessing that thought. However, on the bright side, I will have a new floor at some point. That will be nice.

Day 139

This evening, we peeked outside and found Brooklynn twirling and dancing around with her shadow. It was pretty cute how she was just in her own little world pretending to be at a ball or something. I'm not sure why she pulled her shirt down off one arm though, fancier I guess.