April

April

This month has seemed really long. I am not sure why. Usually when months are packed with holidays and birthdays they seem to fly by but not this April. Part of the reason maybe that I have had NOTHING good to read. Seriously. It has been a drought. I have read a total of  1 1/2 books for the entire month. I just couldn't get into anything and I really tried. It was so discouraging. The 1/2 book that I am into is Tess of the D' Urbervilles which while good isn't exactly light reading nor uplifting...poor Tess...and I hear that things only get worse for her.

Besides Spring Break, Bryn's Birthday, Nana passing away, and Easter...

Swimming started back up for Bryn. Elle is swimming too which makes our Saturday mornings at the pool a little more fun. They are doing great!

Bryn started going to Activity Days and Elle comes with her. They are LOVING it! So far they have done Zumba and learned about the different events for track. One of Bryn's activity day leaders in on a college track team. Bryn and Elle are both runners and so they loved learning about the other events in track and my friend Arianne (the other activity day leader) texted me these awesome pictures and videos.

The javelin

We sent ol' Flat Stanley to Reilly in Utah and she did a fantastic job with him. She impressed the heck out of the 2nd graders in Bryn's class when she emailed pictures of Flat Stanley at the UP House and at Sharpay's (from High School Musical) Pink Locker. He also went to Bridal Veil Falls and to the Salt Lake Temple. Bryn's teacher was THRILLED as was Bryn!!

Reilly is AWESOME!!

My brother Kirk and his wife Meki and their baby came to town for a visit. It is always fun when Kirk is in town!! They came straight to our house after they flew in. Meki was here on business and Kirk and Kirin came along for the ride. Meki had a dinner meeting so Kirk, Tyler, Kirin and I all headed out for sushi. We had a great time!! It was nice to have some extra time with Kirk (Kirin too) instead of always getting together at big family gatherings and trying to catch up amidst all of the chaos.

Plus we got to get in lots of snuggles with Kirin!

After dinner we hung out in Coeur D' Alene and waited for Meki to get done with her business dinner. It was great to see them. Tyler and I really appreciate that they provide a home-away-from-home for Reilly in Utah. They just bought a house even closer to her which is great!

The next night we met up with my mom, Stacey and John and their kids, and Kelley and Elle and went out for dinner. Poor Kameron had to work so he missed out on dinner but met up with us later for ice cream.

Cousins!

This what I got when I said "Look at me!" Ha ha!

Kirin is so cute and kissable!!

We had a fun night as a family but we were missing Jordin and Ramon and their family and Reilly too. It is getting so hard to get everyone all together at the same time. The next day we drove up to my mom's house in Sandpoint (where Kirk and Meki were staying) and spent the day. We did a bunch of shopping and went out to lunch. Then we dropped off the kids at my mom's house and me, Ty, Kirk, and Meki headed to Montana to Kootenai Falls to go hiking. It was absolutely gorgeous!!

Before you get to the swinging bridge you have to cross this bridge that goes over the railroad tracks. We were really hoping to see a train while we were on the bridge. Sure enough... while we were on the bridge we saw a train headed our way. Kirk and I immediately ran right to the middle of the bridge which was right over the middle of the tracks and held onto the chain link fence as that train barreled right at us. OH.MY.GOSH. It was the trippiest thing ever!! The wind that came off of that train was so strong and blew the heck out of us while that train was roaring right beneath us and shook the heck out of the bridge. It was awesome and terrifying!!

After that we hiked to the swinging bridge:

This swinging foot bridge is not for the faint of heart or for someone with a fear of heights. Ailey happily agreed to go to Grandma's house and babysit Kirin rather than make another trek across this bridge although she has crossed it twice. The swinging bridge is suspended 100 feet above the river and is 210 feet long. Only 5 people can be on the bridge at a time. It is awesome.

I am not afraid of bridges and had to do some jumping.  Kirk too! :)

This is the area where parts of the movie The Revenant was filmed and also the movie River Wild.

Kootenai Falls Slo-Mo

Sitting on the edge of a cliff and taking in all the beauty!

Love these guys!! We had such a great day!!

That night the four of us went to dinner in Sandpoint, Idaho and it was so nice to have a little double date!! Our two girls and Kirin had such a fun time having Grandma all to themselves also.

The next weekend Stacey represented Sisters Creed at the Vintage Faire in Omak, WA.  This is a terrible time of year for me to go and do that show even though it is a fun one and we love doing it. It was nice that Stacey at least could go and represent us. John went with her and they brought their kids to Spokane (Kelley was watching them for the weekend) and so we got to have a bunch of cousin time.

Ailey, River, Dane, Elle, Bryn

These are some of my favorite pictures:

Anyone remember Kids Incorporated from the 80's?? This is what I got when I said "pose!" Ha ha!! Yep, they are related.

In other news...Spring finally arrived:

Bryn did Bloomsday training at her school again this year. It's basically track for the elementary school kids. She loves to run and did such a great job!!

This was also a great month for meeting up with friends...especially before the craziness of May hits. I had some great long chatty afternoon lunches with three different friends...one of whom I rarely get to see...and it was so nice to be able to catch up and have some girl time. It was MUCH needed!!

Now May is in full swing!! Farm Chicks is looming and I am trying to get a bunch of projects done before family comes to town on Friday for Bryn's baptism this weekend.

Onward...