June: Part 2 {the Randomness}

June was seriously the busiest month ever.

I felt like it was go, go, go, go, go.  Probably because it was go, go, go, go, go.

This post is the random things we did when we weren't doing big things, although they are pretty big things.

Like the fact I went to special needs mutual.

 Not really.  My girls are normal.  Just not when we have to go on 4:30 in the AM!!!!! hikes to see the sunrise that was covered by clouds.  Why did I volunteer to be the leader on that I am still wondering.  But look below I actually have a pretty cute group of girls who I loved spending the week with even if I got less sleep that I do with a newborn and our cabin smelled.

 While I was off learning survival skills I'd get random pictures like the one below and it would melt my heart.  Sometimes in the every day scheme of things I think it would be nice to take a break from being mom but I think after a day I'd probably come home.  I really love my cuties.

 Especially when we do fun things like go to the splash pad and Pais tries to be all cool like Auntie Merra and lay out.  This picture doesn't come close to capturing the awkwardness of Paisley trying to sun bathe.  It was hilarious.

 This month we also spent a lot of time with the other cutest kids in the world since it was their big birthday month.  Kristi knows how to throw the best party ever and we had soooo much fun.  Plus she takes amazing pictures that I stole off of her blog.  Thanks Kris :)

 Below is the amazing Nelson family and I had to steal this picture because whenever I have a bad day I'll just have to look at it and smile.  Scott is so stinking adorable and the funniest boy in the whole wide world.  Who else would want a polar bear reindeer cake for their birthday.  Plus his face just kills me!

So, this one time.....

It was June and we did a lot of fun stuff.  Since everyone else in my family is asleep I figured why not relive the past month via blog land.

Scratch that.  I just uploaded all of the pictures I wanted to share from June and there were 43 of them.  That's like 33 too many for one post so we'll now be doing a series on the fabulous month of June in the Harvey life.

Part 1 begins in the car.  You'll soon find out that a lot of June was spent on road trips with Ma and Pa.  We love Ma and Pa and how much fun they provided during the month of June but I'm sure they are glad June is over :)

 Our first road trip was a quick get away to St. George to stay at the "new big house."  That was Hunt's nickname for the place but it described it perfectly.  My parents, siblings, and all the grandkids spent the weekend together and the house was so big you could have gotten lost and not seen anyone else the entire time.  It's true, Ta'Merra practically pulled it off except for she got hungry occasionally.

We had lots of fun though.  Who wouldn't have fun when whale wrestling is involved.

 Or exploring the red rocks and looking for lizards with tour guide Uncle Josh.

Or spending the entire time poolside and living in your swimsuit.

Or hiding in the corner corner because your afraid of the water is still kind of fun too.

It was a great vacation except the coming home part.  Not only did we have to go home we had to listen to Pais cry for a really really really long time.  Poor Ma and Pa were probably regretting the fact they had another road trip that month with us and it was for a lot longer distance.  Find out how that turned out in another part of our series, coming soon!

Happy Father's Day (one month later)

My Daddy

By: Huntley Madison

Age: 4

My Daddy's name is: Chris

How tall is he: really high

How much does he weigh: 14 pounds

What color is his hair: black

What color are his eyes: brown

His favorite show is The Lorax.

He likes to play with me and draw pictures.

His favorite food is spinach.

His favorite drink is water.

For fun he likes to read me books.

I love it when my daddy gives me hugs and surprises.

My favorite thing about my dad is that he gave me a present for Christmas.

Happy Fathers Day a little late Chris!  We love you!

Blessed

A few weeks ago our life changed drastically when our Hotshot was no longer a hotshot.  Chris isn't fighting fire anymore and ever since then I've been trying to update my blog about the changes in our life but never have been able to find the words to describe life or how I was feeling.

Tonight I've finally found my words and they are simple.  I'm blessed.

In the eyes of the world I shouldn't be feeling this way.  I should be panicked and worried about how we are going to survive.  The job we depended on to support our family is not what our Heavenly Father wanted us to be doing and so we turned life over to him and are waiting for prayers to be answered.

Three weeks have passed by and the miracle job I've been praying for has not appeared, the bank account is only getting smaller, and a whole new months worth of bills are going to start arriving but I am so blessed.  Chris is sitting next to me as I write and while my heart and mind are devastated for so many fire fighting families.

Today an entire hotshot crew was killed in Arizona when weather caused a fire to move unpredictably.  My worst nightmare that I refused to even acknowledge for the past three years is actually happening and people are living. I'm not one of those people.  I'm not even one of those wives sitting home alone thankful it wasn't their husband but knowing that any day it could easily be there turn.  

Instead I'm sitting here with my husband overwhelmed with sadness for those families but feeling the exact same amount of gratitude that it's not my trial to bear.  I'm blessed to have my very own trials and to thankfully have Chris right by my side in them.  

My prayers are going out to the families who lost their loved ones today.  They are also going to my Heavenly Father and thanking him for how blessed I am.

http://m.ksl.com/index/story/sid/25820090

Graduation

Last week I was a brave soul and ventured to Ta'Merra's graduation with two kids.  I was scared to death since I've avoided graduations at all costs since I was bored out of my mind at my own.  For the most part the girls did awesome.  I experienced major panic when they announced there would be over 500 graduates and they started reading all of those names.  Do you know how long it takes to read that many names? For-ev-ER!!! (That should be read with a Squince from Sandlot voice). 

Anyways we did survive and I got one slightly blurry awesome picture of Mera (i think) pwalking up the stairs.  I put Hunt on picture duty to keep her entertained and out of the 243 pictures she took this was all I got but if you ever want to see a picture of the back of Grandpa Cecil and Terrell's heads, I'm your man. 

Congrats Ta'Merra! We love you!

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.