Saturday, June 22, 2019

May 2019

May is over and it was a crazy stressful month! June is coming in hot too. The most exciting news was that we got to bring Beverly home! She has been such a little cutie and such a lot of work but it has been really fun to have a pet again. The kids are all really helpful especially Bryn. She takes such good care of Beverly!!



Being a puppy mommy is fun and EXHAUSTING!


One morning I got to go to school with Bryn and have breakfast for their Muffins with Moms Day. This is new at our school. We have always had Donuts with Dads and now we have Muffins with Moms too.




Bryn and Caylee



They had games, a photo booth, crafts, and we got to plant a flower to take home with us. It is so hard to believe that we only have one kid left in elementary school!

All of the Senior stuff for Kam really started kicking in this month....bittersweet. Kameron had Senior Skip Day. He and his friends went hiking, packed a lunch, and hung out on the mountain for the day.

Tyler and I had our 24th wedding anniversary and hit the road for Seattle and had a fantastic time. While we were there....Jordin and Ramon took all the younger cousins who live locally and had a huge cousins weekend at their house. Ailey and Bryn had an absolute blast!


They went shopping and to the movies...Avengers End Game!



They went out to eat a couple of times!


They did crafts and made slime!



They cooked and had a BBQ. Aunt Jordin and Uncle Ramon treated them to a weekend of a lifetime and they loved every minute of it!


Nobody wanted to come home and I don't blame them!! :)


Bryn had another track meet and came in 2nd in the 800 m! That victory was extra exciting because Bryn had a big cheering section there that day!



It was also Hunter's 24th birthday and he and Reilly were dog sitting a cute puppy.


Tyler and I had a some fun date nights! We love the Spokane River whether it is walking it, biking it, paddleboarding, or kayaking on it!





And...our favorite place to eat on date nights right now is...at the food court in the mall. Sounds super lame but it is SO GOOD! There is an awesome Japanese place in the food court and Tyler and I can both eat a super delish meal for $20!! You can't beat that!!

Then it was Mother's Day which was awesome and that I already posted about! This month both Tyler and Ailey spoke in church and did a great job! Ailey also led the music in Sacrament Meeting one Sunday.


The blossoms and flowers around here FINALLY started blooming! I'm still waiting on my peonies! I think they get later and later every year. This month the lilacs, snowballs, tulips, and lily of the valley bloomed and were gorgeous!


Ailey participated in the Lilac Torchlight Parade this year. We were bummed that Kam had to work and wasn't able to be in it for the last time. Our nephew Dane was also in it. He plays the saxophone in the band at his school.



Prince Harry and Meghan had baby Archie and, yes, the girls and I were on Royal Baby Watch!! I love the name! I hope he has red hair! (We are big Archie comic book fans at our house..AND...Prince Harry fans! LOL.)


Bryn participated in the All-City/All-League track meet and did FANTASTIC!! This was her last meet of the season and she finished strong!


Tyler and I ended the season as we began...FREEZING! Spring sports are COLD in Spokane!


We celebrated at Donut Parade!

We were all prepped and ready for Beverly's arrival:



These items were purchased for Beverly by Bryn with some of her birthday money. So cute!

Then it was pick up day:


Phoebe, the mom, and the last three puppies to be picked up: Finn, Lulu, and Beverly


We were super happy to finally get her home!





Now she is just one of the family! She really is such a good puppy. She sleeps down in Kam's room which is downstairs by the back door so I don't hear her whine in the night although Kam says she is getting much better and she is *partially* potty trained. She is learning fast but still...puppy potty training is THE WORST.

Kameron had his final jazz concert. It is going to be so crazy not attending a million band concerts next year.



All of the graduating seniors!!


Bryn enjoyed it as usual...ha ha!

Beverly had her first trip to the vet and got her first shots:



Our stake had the Primary Musical Fireside. Each primary performs a musical number and our primary did such a great job! We sang "To Be His Child" by Shauna Edwards.


Kam also casually stabbed me in the heart as we were walking out of church one Sunday and he oh so causally said..." You know this was my last Sunday at church with you guys, right?" Ahhh...WHAT?! He said, "Next Sunday is Stake Conference and the Sunday after that is graduation." Then he is off to the Young Single Adults ward... I was totally blindsided. This wasn't even on my radar. We will be down to a family of four in our ward. So weird.


I love coming upon sights like this... our kids have such a great dad!

We got a ton of rain this month. We had two crazy days of a constant downpour that caused some street flooding. We had water coming into our house from a bathroom fan that caused us some terror thinking that our roof was on its last leg. It kind of is but that wasn't the culprit. We also had our basement flood due to the heavy rain. It was annoying but not too destructive.

Kameron and Ailey had their Music Department Awards Concert...Kameron's last high school concert. Sad. They did great and I loved seeing them both perform at the same concert...Kam in band and Ailey in choir.


Kam's Wind Ensemble performing a very cool version of Bohemian Rhapsody.


Kam got his medallion.


We are so proud of this kid!


And this one too!



Kameron and his friends auditioned and made the cut for his school's Battle of the Bands. I asked him if he was playing the trumpet?? And he was like, "No, I'm singing!" We have really come a long way with this kid and singing. LOL.


Game of Thrones ended and I was left feeling so-so about the ending. I didn't hate it. I mean as a book reader I have been waiting for almost 20 years for this story to come to some sort of conclusion. I was okay in that the Starks survived but I HATED all the dropped plot points. I mean I REALLY HATED that. I hope that when/if George R.R. Martin EVER finishes this series of books that he will take care of those dropped plot points but at the rate that he is writing that may never happen.

This entire month was a total frenzy of preparing for Farm Chicks that was to take place the first weekend in June. It was stressful and frantic around here with me up to my eyeballs in paint, projects, merchandise, design ideas...not to mention all of the other end-of-the-school year activities that the kids had going on AND planning two graduation parties. I was SUPER stressed out all month long.

Memorial Day Weekend was the worst. I was super busy with the final push for Farm Chicks and then had a ton of family drama that was completely unbelievable and so upsetting. It was the absolute last thing that I wanted to deal with...so not cool. I hate having to deal with BS with my family.


Kam wisely went out of town on a camping trip with his friends over Memorial Day weekend. This was a big cutting of the aprons strings with him. He wanted to go camping up near the Canadian Border by himself with a group of his buddies. That sounded terrifying to me. Tyler had to step in and remind me that he used to go camping with his buddies in high school all the time and that all of Kam's friends are really good kids. So... I relented and Kam went and had a great time with his friends.






I spent my holiday weekend painting and doing inventory. Ugh...Tyler took the girls and the dog to the park to hammock, picnic, and to get out of my hair for a few hours. Not the best time to have a brand new puppy but Beverly is such a cute and sweet dog. Finally I needed a break so we took a quick trip to Coeur d' Alene and took flowers out to the cemetery for my grandparents and great-grandparents.


Then it was Farm Chicks trailer drop-off day and set-up day:



In between both of those... my mom and I managed it squeeze in a pedicure before the show.


Bryn had a whole bunch of friend activities this month. I think she went to at least four birthday parties.

May is always hectic and this month seemed even more so...especially with Kam's graduation approaching...and all of the other things we had going on. I was VERY grateful that Tyler and I managed to get away for a weekend, just the two of us, in Seattle at the first of the month. It was much needed and so appreciated. Especially since June has gone by at warp speed too.

Onto June!

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Mother's Day 2019

Mother's Day

You all know how much I love Mother's Day! There is nothing wrong with a day for our children and spouses to say THANK YOU for all that we do! This one was extra spectacular as they were making sure that there wasn't a repeat of last year's Mother's Day. Remember that one? You can read about it HERE. The fiasco? The one that they didn't do anything...well they actually did later in the day...but there were words and tears. Remember that? Well they did and they all went out this year to make it...dare I say it...the very best one that I have ever had thus far!!


I awoke in the morning to my sweet family, breakfast in bed, gifts, and NO WARD COUNCIL!! Happy Mother's Day to me. Delightful!


I am not a breakfast person and I especially am not a savory breakfast person but I will eat french pastries and cake in the morning! ;) The fam got me two of my favorite petit fours...one chocolate and one raspberry almond... and a slice of my very favorite princess cake which is a marzipan and raspberry confection from the bakery I love. So good!!

I got sweet cards, a beautiful hanging basket, a new peony bush, a new hydrangea bush, and a gift card for a pedicure. Bryn gave me a painting that she made, many pictures, a cute card, and all kinds of coupons. Speaking of... I need to redeem all of the ones that Kameron has given me on previous Mother's Days before he leaves home!! Has anyone seen that episode of The Goldbergs where Beverly cashes in on all of the Mother's Day coupons that she has received over the years? So hilarious!!

But the biggest gift was having all of our family at church together!! That was really the highlight of my day. Reilly came to church with us, Kameron blessed the sacrament, Ailey spoke, and Bryn sang with the Activity Day girls. Then both Reilly and Ailey came with me to Relief Society for a special Mother's Day program. It was the BEST!

After church we came home to *attempt* to take some Mother's Day photos. You should see our MANY outtakes. Sheesh. It was A LOT harder than you would think with this crew! Trying to get everyone to smile and everyone with their darn sensitive eyes. Do other people have this problem or is it just my kids? They can barely look in the merest direction of the sun and their eyes start watering and they have to squint because it *hurts their eyes*.



I kind of love this unexpected foot shot that I found on my phone... LOL


After church we hung out with Reilly for awhile and then she had to leave and the rest of us went on a bike ride. That is my very favorite thing to do on Mother's Day AND not cook one meal. Tyler and Kam had gotten the bikes all tuned up and air in all the tires the day before so we we were ready to roll! While we were loading up the bikes my Mom stopped by with a Mother's Day card for me. She had met Stacey and Jordin and their families at the Davenport for brunch. It was nice to see my own mom on Mother's Day because I didn't think that I would. I had already given her the card and gift that I had for her.


The 80s called and they want Kam for a John Hughes movie. LOL.


We biked a new trail this time which was a lot of fun and one that we definitely want to bike again. It was so pretty along the Spokane River with all the blossoms and lilacs blooming. (We all wore helmets. This was pre-ride.) We saw turtles, marmots, and rabbits!




We stopped for dinner at one of my favorite places for teriyaki (Yay, for not cooking!) and then on our way home Kam wanted us to go check out this new trailhead that he had found and hiked with his friends. So after our delightfully LONG bike ride (it is nice not having little kids anymore) we hiked a new trail just as the sun was beginning to set. It was so pretty!!






It was such a pretty night to be out in the woods!

After that we came home for dessert...mochi! My favorite. It was a WONDERFUL Mother's Day! I am so grateful for the amazing kids who call me Mom...each one unique and fantastic in their own way...and also for their incredible father!!