The fruits of his labor...

Brian has brought everything back to life. These lifeless vines are yielding ridiculous amounts of grapes...
This garden, originally started in oil, sulfur, chemical filled soil has thrived....
Where there was once weeds and bricks there is now grass (level at that... remember the big hill at the end of the yard last year?)
And there are growing girls along with the vegetation.
The grapes are quite tart, but Brian is drying them and making raisins.
We have eaten squash and zucchini almost every meal for weeks.
Plus we are back to getting buried in cucumbers that will make delicious pickles come fall.
And more tomatoes than we will be able to harvest... if they ever turn red.
Plus, the jalapenos are begging to be stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon and dipped in strawberry jam.
Behold... zucchini bread!! I have made a dozen loafs, zucchini quiche and frozen some for future batches.
It is a wonderful, beautiful thing to reap the rewards of Brian's labor and dedication. I'm so glad a garden is important to him because there is nothing better than fresh vegetables and homemade sauces!

Splash Splash Splash

Yay for splash parks where toddlers can't drown while mommies are nursing babies. They are a great way to beat the heat and... this one is directly across the street. Thank heavens. Plus, the kids are gated in and can't disappear. It is a new mommy in the summer time dream come true.
I had to park Kolton under the bench for shade. Then I sat in front of him to prevent wild kids from running him over. It worked rather well. This day there were three other babies within a week of his age. It has been such fun to have so many friends with new babies... strength in numbers.
Xiana loves to get out and play!

Froggies and friends

Kate and I took the kids on a nature walk. We planned on walking about 2 miles and ended up walking more like 4. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get some of this boundless energy out of the kiddos.
My sister-in-law gave us this sit and stand and it works wonders for baby and bigger baby. Xiana isn't much of a walker so it is oh so helpful.
Isn't he cute?
We went to a little creek where the kids had caught tadpoles. There were a ton of them in there and they were humongous but... it was difficult to get to the water. The edge drops off rather suddenly. There was a dead tadpole on the shore that they managed to catch but other than that, had to admire them from afar.
There was a red ant hill at the top of the bank... the kids were not impressed.
There was a beehive later on our walk and Nikki was afraid. She was screaming and Xiana said, "you're not supposed to be scared because you're already a big girl." It was pretty cute. I'm glad Nikki has a healthy respect for bees :)
That night was Tyler's birthday so we met them up at the park for a BBQ. This tent has been the best thing ever. We have taken it with us everywhere we go. Kolton loves to just kick around in there, ride his bicycle and look around.
His little friends are not so impressed.

My boy

It's a Sunday afternoon. The house is eerily quiet after a loud and fun filled family reunion (will post later about that). My girl is watching the Prodigal Son and my boy is sleeping soundly in his swing after an exhausting couple of days. Brian is returning Ekco to Fernly and I am on my 5th load of towels. There are cookies in the oven to take visiting teaching tomorrow and all seems right in the world. I am so far behind on my blog, but I continue to make great efforts to get caught up. Xiana's baby book screams at me from the boxes and I know I don't want to find myself in a place where I am too overwhelmed to continue journaling for my family. So, I sit and I write. I want to sing from the rooftops praise for my boy. He is the best baby. He sleeps well, he is good natured and now... he giggles. In all fairness he hasn't granted for me the whole hearted chuckle he has bestowed upon his daddy. But I don't care. I'm grateful to hear his laugh no matter who he gives it to. He is no longer selfish with his smiles. He generously offers them to whomever will give him the least bit of attention. He has discovered his hands. He loves to suck on them and I often catch him looking at them in bewilderment. He has also managed to learn how to navigate the use of them enough to be able to both bat at and grab toys. He is more interactive daily and LOVES his sissies and papa. He doesn't like to get far from his mama... I've heard from more than one person how alert and responsive he is and my brother-in-law said he is one of the best natured babies he has met. I agree. He rarely cries. He is a sweet boy. When I was nursing him today I was yelling at Xiana for something and he was distracted from eating smiling and laughing up at me. I told him it was not funny, but he still diffused the situation. By the end all three of us were giggling, whatever infraction made me angry to begin with forgotten. He is already bringing more peace to this home.

My girl

• I didn't bring suits to my friend Morre's house so... we improvised.
  

weeeee!

• My girl says a lot of funny things like: "I'll throw all this nonsense away!"



• and... "That would be really funny if you named-ed me meatball French."



• and.."I can't understand them because their voices are all jacked up."
  


• and..."Is this movie approp-piate for me daddy? Because I'm in the room."



• and... "That looks like a marmadoodle." (armadillo)



• and... "This is totally the same one."
  

• She also learns valuable lessons about feeling the spirit like:



• I threw my back out and Brian gave me a blessing. Afterwards Xiana asked if she could have one too. Seeing this as a great teaching experience Brian agreed. A few minutes after her blessing she was suddenly crying. I asked her what was wrong and it took a few tries before I could understand what she was saying. Finally she choked out the words, "I feel the holy Ghost." I talked to her about how it was kind of overwhelming but didn't it feel good? She agreed that it did. What an important lesson for her to be able to recognize at such a young age what the spirit feels like.



• My girl lied to me. It was so disappointing. I mean truly, I felt crushed. I understand she's still very young, but my feelings were completely hurt. She went to the bathroom and when she came out she told me that she had washed her hands and dried them on her shorts causing them to get wet. I didn't really pay attention until she turned around and I saw that the back of her shorts were really wet. I asked again what happened and she repeated that she dried her hands on them. I told her to come here and smelled her shorts to discover that actually, she hadn't pulled them down far enough and had peed on them. My initial instinct was to freak. I yelled at her about how she wasn't in trouble for peeing on her shorts, but for lying and sent her to her room. After I had calmed down a bit I went in to her room and explained to her that honesty was the most important thing. I told her that if people didn't trust her or believe her then she would never find happiness in this life. I explained to her that it made me sad, her sad, and her Heavenly Father sad to hear her lie. I told her that she wouldn't be in trouble for that, but that even if she did get in trouble it is still better to be honest than to avoid consequences. I told her that she needed to pray to her Heavenly Father and ask for His forgiveness and tell Him sorry and that she wouldn't do it again and then to come out of her room and do the same for me. I stood outside her door and my heart broke as I saw her knelt in prayer sobbing. A few minutes later she came out, still crying and told me she was sorry and asked for my forgiveness. I wrapped my arms around her and told her she was forgiven and that her Father in Heaven forgives her too. Then I explained what an amazing thing that was to be able to make mistakes, but still be forgiven for them. She hugged me for a few minutes and then later was dancing around the room singing, "I'm forgiven!" That night in her prayers she thanked God for forgiving others. I beamed with pride as I realized that she connected the relationship between being forgiven and forgiving others. This was such a beautiful learning experience... even if there were a lot of tears.
  

• As ever she continues to be a funny little girl. She has gone from drawing scribbles to actual figures, to full on episodes... influenced greatly by her big sister. She thrives on praise and loves to be the center of attention. She loves to tell story and takes giant gasps of breath at the beginning of each sentence, perhaps due to knee jerk reaction or maybe to enhance the drama. One night I told her not to do something because if she did then her friends would too. She asked, "Do they listen to my heart?" Another day I kissed Kolton and said, "eww, he french kissed me." She asked what that meant and I told her an open mouthed kiss. Later I heard her explaining to her 4 friends what a french kiss was and deemed it appropriate to from then forward call it a baby kiss.

Timber!!!

Brian got a new chainsaw and he couldn't wait to use it. So, we went with him...I stayed in the truck with the rug rats while he did all the heavy lifting. We went more or less on a scouting trip, but he managed to get a really big load. The kids were pretty cute chillin with me.
Kolton napped on the seat for a bit and I helped with a few minor things. It's crazy because I did VERY minimal lifting, but I could feel my insides stretching where I had my c-section. Bodies are pretty incredible.
My man with his new toy. He has been watching videos of chainsawing for a while now and made his own: Old chainsaw verses new chainsaw. New chainsaw cut through the log in 27 seconds... old chainsaw took minutes.... and I think he finished it off with new chainsaw.
Xiana's favorite part was, as usual, yelling, "tiiiiimberrrrrrrr!!!!"

Summer nights

Summer nights include bike rides on the patio...
Laying on the cement feeling the cool breeze...
Going for family walks...
Jumping on the trampoline...
Brian making his rounds, checking his garden, mowing the lawn, shooting his bow and arrow, cleaning the much played with rocks off the cement, chopping wood...
And enjoying the cool nights after hot days... together.

Cascade Falls

On our honeymoon Brian and I tried to find these falls. I vaguely remembered where they were so we went on a trek to find them.... unfortunately there was about 10 feet of snow at the base of the road so.... we had good intentions of getting back there. That is of course, until we forgot all about them. Then my parents went to them and reminded us how beautiful they are. So we drove to Tahoe and then to Fallen Leaf Lake, and then to the falls. They were beautiful. We stayed for only a few short moments. I vow next time I come here I am going to pack a lunch and stay a while.
Still, it's pretty impressive that you can drive right to the falls.
Generally spring is the best time for them, but summer delivered this year. They are truly beautiful.
I have fond childhood memories of these falls. I remember coming here and picnicking and walking along the trails. If you drive a bit farther up there are big rocks that we have pictures next to from one of our first family reunions.
I wish I could say these falls will be cemented in Xiana's mind as a place of fun and beauty. Unfortunately, we kind of failed this trip. Brian was cranky, which in turn made me cranky. Instead of letting Xiana run free I had tight reins and impatient responses. It makes me wonder how many of my childhood memories could have been dampened, or depleted by impatient, overtired parents. I kinda think they weren't. At least I hope not. I hope that despite my bad days, Xiana is still capable of forming impressionable memories that include McDonalds, beautiful water, and a pleasant drive.
I hope when she looks back on these photos she says, "wasn't that fun?" or "isn't it beautiful?" Instead of, "man you guys were grumpy that day."
So, we will return to these falls... with picnic in tow... with bad moods left behind us, and help solidify the memories of her youth as pleasant, beautiful, family outings.
I will say... we were all impressed and enjoyed our moments in the shining sun with the sounds of the water crashing beside us.
Okay... most of us enjoyed the sun in our faces :)
This is a beautiful reminder to be positive and happy...and to remember that we get to decide how we act and how we feel.
Priceless...
The end.

Concerts and movies

Sometimes we have concerts in our living room... they're pretty spectacular.
Sometimes we go to concerts at the movie theater (as in the kids are singing along to the music so loudly I feel like I'm at a concert).
And sometimes we go to concerts in the park. Xiana has mastered the African dance and loves to show off to others. It was really sweet. There was an adult with down syndrome that regularly attends these shows. He was dancing with the kids up front and I didn't think anything of it. The next day Xiana said, "that big guy was dancing just like this." and then perfectly demonstrated how he was dancing. I laughed and told her that was a great duplication. She said, "he was funny, but he was kinda creepy." I explained to her that his brain didn't work the same way as ours and that, even though he was in an adult body, his brain was more like a child. I explained that he had special needs and that he was different, but that he was not creepy. I told her that there were all kinds of special needs that made people different, but not scary or bad, just different like disabilities, blindness, deafness, etc. About an hour later she asked, "mommy how do you know that boy with special emotions?" It took me a minute to figure out who she was talking about and then I laughed. How sweet she is. I explained that I could tell he had down syndrome from how he looked and acted. I also told her that I was glad that what she took from the discussion was "special emotions." How perfect.
The kids danced in circles all night long.
Kolton did pretty well. He didn't start crying until the end of the night when he had reached his quota of wind in his face (it was extremely windy). Unlike his character he screamed the whole way home. Fortunately, this park is across the street from us:)