Memorial Day

Last Friday we were driving by the cemetery and Hunt noticed all of the flags on display, the people starting to gather, and of course the flowers and wanted to know what was going on.  I told her it was Memorial Day weekend which was a holiday to celebrate and remember all of the people who had died.  She responded by saying "aww, how sad.  Who killed em all?"  So we then had a lovely conversation about death and going to live with Heavenly Father.  Somewhere along the way she got a little confused during the conversation.  I found this out Monday on our morning walk when she noticed all the flags on display.  After looking back and forth up the street she exclaimed "mom, there's dead people everywhere!"  

Feed the Birds

Yesterday I had to work for a little while and the rest of the fam tagged along.  Hunt used to love going to my work and was pretty disappointed when she discovered someone else in my old office and all of the fun stuff she used to play with was missing.  Good thing the ducks at the pond still are as hungry as ever.

Hunt's Graduation

A whole school year has passed and we now have our very own little preschool graduate!  Huntley has grown so much this year.  At graduation we were able to watch a video of all the kids throughout the school year.  We started out the year with the first field trip and in the pictures Hunt was hiding behind everyone looking like a scared little kitten.  Fast forward to the end of the year and she is front and center with a big smile on her face.  I'm so proud of Huntley for being willing to try new things and make new friends.  She is growing up so fast and I love being her mom and watching her learn and grow.  Congrats Hunt!!!

Today Pais and I celebrated our last day of alone time together.  Big sis finishes up preschool for the year and we won't get to experience our two hours of bonding every Tuesday and Thursday anymore.  I'm really excited to have Hunt home all the time but it has been nice to spend time with Pais and enjoy her sweet little self.  In honor of it being our last day together we did her favorite thing and ran around in circles on the trampoline over and over again.  This little miss makes me laugh.

Preparedness

Last night we had to drop the truck off at Chris's work.  (Yay, our first tour is over!!! ) I love that frontrunner is around so that I can do this biweekly task without having to bother my mom and Mer for rides all of the time.  

When we picked the truck up I seriously underestimated how long the walk was from the train station to his work.  Luckily Kristi lives in between the two so we were able to have a pit stop at her house.  This time I prepared better, snacks, drinks, and books.  

What I didn't prepare for was the fact Pais would insist on walking a mile of the trail and we'd miss the train I was trying to catch.  So during our 40 minute wait at the station we drank squeeze-it's and ate an entire bag of Chicken-in-a-biscuit. I sound prepared right?  Um, no.  By the time the next train arrived it was dark and a little cooler than our attire permitted.  Luckily our house is only 10 minutes from the train station so we got home really fast but I still ended the outing feeling like a horrible mom.  I guess hopeful the third times the charm!

Push Me

We have a new phrase heard constantly at our house.  Well not exactly at our house since we don't have swings but whenever we visit Ma, Pais walks in the front and runs straight through to the back door saying "push me" the entire time.  She doesn't leave the swings the entire time we are there unless we sidetrack her with food.  She's a silly little thing but oh so cute!

Happy Happy Birthday Christopher Dear!!!

Today is our daddy's birthday.  We miss him lots.  But if he was home we would do lots of fun things, like:

 play at the park

 go for a hike,

 spend time with our dogs,

 or catch a fish.

 Instead our daddy is out fighting fires and that's okay.  Because even though we miss him too much, when we do see our daddy he spends every minute making sure we know he loves us.  So while he is away we hope he knows that we love him and appreciate how hard he works for us.  Happy Birthday Daddy!

Planting time

My two little buddies helped me out tonight.  Love that they love doing the same things I do!

One Spoiled Girl

 

Chris is a great guy but guy is the key word there.  When it comes to holidays I usually have my version of how I would like things to play out which is similar to fireworks and him having his love proclaimed to me in clouds coming out of a plane.  Then there is the actual version which in reality is great but I usually feel kind of let down since it's not a huge thoughtful love proclaiming gesture.  We both think differently.  One time I spent hours writing all of the reasons I loved him on sticky notes and then arranging the sticky notes to spell "I love you" on the wall.  He liked it but probably would have felt as much love if not more if I had bought him a $5 hot and ready.  It's too bad we couldn't switch brains occasionally and be able to actually see and give what the other person wanted. 

 

Lucky for me this mothers day Chris was gone.  Lucky, you say, that's lame you don't have anyone to show you love, but after this weekend I think him being gone is the way to go on Mother's day.  My only expectation going into the day was a candy bar at church and if I was lucky Hunt would actually get up and sing with the primary kids during sacrament meeting.  I was surprised with so much more!

 

We start off the weekend with Paisley waking up Saturday morning and being extra super duper lovey dovey and wanting to snuggle.  Not normal.  The kid loves to eat and usually the first thing out of her mouth when I pull her out of the crib is "FEED ME!!!!"  Not really but pretty darn close so the hugs and kisses had to be documented.

 

 The rest of the day was spent at Grandma Phillips's house where we had fun with all of our girl cousins scrubbing until her house sparkled.  Cleaning probably shouldn't be considered an enjoyable way to spend the day but it was actually really nice.  My girls were entertained by cousins and I spent a few consecutive hours speaking with adults.  That's not a normal occurrence during this time of the year!

 Afterwards my awesome Aunt Susie took all of us girls and Grandpa to lunch.  Paisley stole my salad and cookie but how could you stop a baby who gets excited about lettuce from eating it.  I hope she keeps up her awesome eating habits.

 That night we got to go party at the Nelson's for Kristi's birthday.  The girls had a blast playing on the trampoline and driving the little truck all over the yard.  Kristi has perfected her bundt cake skills and so I had a blast eating the best cake ever. 

 We came home and it was way past bedtime but since we have 9'o'clock church bath's were a must.  During the bath Huntley told me she wanted rollers in her hair which is weird since she typically hates them so we ended up having a late night hair do party. 

 That ended up being a good thing because at 10:30 we had a knock on the door.  One of my awesome friends felt bad I didn't have a husband so she made me breakfast which Hunt and I ate as a midnight snack. 

 The next morning as we were walking out the door we found another surprise of flowers.  Then later on we were surprised with cake.  I seriously have the best friends ever.  As a funny side note Hunt was extremely disappointed when she woke up today and there wasn't any surprises left on our doorstep.   

 To end the day we were able to facetime with Nini, eat dinner with Ma, and play with Grandma Phillips.

And yes I did get my candy bar and Hunt even sang with the primary choir. 

Random pictures for the Mr.

This week has gotten away from me. I've been working very part time again so my night time hours have been devoted to that instead of documenting daily life. I also struggle taking pictures when I feel like we don't do anything but since the main point of this is for Chris I'm sure all he cares about is seeing girls.

So this week we have been able to go outside lots! We spent some time exploring the wonders of Christine's backyard. We love how random she is and how she shows up and gives us better options than doing chores. Sunday we created our own fourth hour of church by picking up blossoms around the building. The girlies love their flowers. We've enjoyed watching the afternoon thunder showers roll through. Well one of the girls does while the other one isn't so sure about them. You can guess who is who by looking at the picture. Last but not least a hello picture from the other ladies in Chris's life. They'll be excited to see him next week and get some real exercise.

Friday Nights

I hate having to experience my first Friday night of the season. I don't know why because we don't ever do anything special on Friday nights but something about being at home with my kids and no plans on a Friday makes me revert back to high school and I feel like a loser. So tonight when we were sitting outside with nothing to do and saw a neighbor on the way to Wal Mart we invited ourselves along and insisted on walking to make the outing last longer. Nothing exciting but it did make me feel like less of a loser. Paisley on the other hand went from being sweet and smiley to grumpy and surrounded by groceries. Maybe I should just face the facts and start learning to enjoy my loser status concerning weekends.

Today was a day for dressing up.  We started the day off as beautiful brides.

But quickly decided that wasn't adventurous enough for us and transformed into super heroes!

 If Pais's hat doesn't scream I'm full of all sorts of magical powers I don't know what does.

 

 Since super heroes are constantly on the quest for action we took our show on the road at lightning fast speeds by riding front runner.

 

 Afterwards we were able to rid the Jordan River Parkway trail of all evil.

 Actually we really hid from several advancing hungry ducks but hey, we are in training here.

  

 Last but not least a special super hero thank you to Aunt Kristi for conveniently living between the train station and daddy's work so we could recharge.  We wouldn't have made it without your potty!

Stay tuned for the next episode of super hero Huntley and her sidekick funny little red hat girl.  (Super hero name suggestions would be much appreciated)



It's here

I haven't blogged for a month.  I figured once fire season started I would have plenty of alone time at night and I could get caught up then.   Currently Chris is headed to So Cal and I'm surrounded by sleeping beauties so hello blog, it's good to see you.  The past month has been updated and now for our firefighting man here is what we have been doing to pass the hours until we can see your hairy face again.

 We visited the bunny and chickens at IFA.  The girlies could stay their for hours and I love that it's within walking distance and free. 

 We helped do yardwork at Ma and Pa's.  The girl's were number one dandelion pickers and I'm sure Pa will really appreciate the seeds they blew all over his lawn.  At least Paisley's blowing skills struggle a little and she probably inhaled more seeds than she blew.

 

 We pose for self portraits every five minutes.  We can't have daddy missing anything and you never know when you'll get a sudden growth spurt.

To end the day we take a bath and get squeaky clean for bed.  We love you and miss you daddy and can't wait for November 1st!

While daddy was home

The last few weeks Chris was home were pretty crazy.  Between a really random training schedule and crazy cold weather we tried to create a few last minute family memories.

We spent time swinging as high as houses.

 Ate our favorite breakfast at Kneaders.

 Caught a few little fishies at Tibble before we decided it was freezing cold and went home.

Warmed up on the ride home by wearing dad's beanie.  She's totally looking the hotshot part.

Last but not least joined Chris's crew on a quick overnight trip to Cedar for a softball tournament.  I think that was Pais's favorite.