The Last

Oh my goodness, how has the time just flown past? Anyone else wondering how it is June 11? But really, seriously? How is already summer? How is my baby brother leaving tomorrow? for 2 whole years? How is Gus already 7.5 months old? And he waves? How is any and all of this possible? Darn you time and always moving forward.
Last week ended up being a whirlwind and I should have know it was going to be that way. I should have been more prepared for it. But I wasn't. And I'm paying the price this week. The month I have been scheduling with Kevin for the last 6 months is now up on the calendar and there isn't a day on it that isn't scribbled on. And by "scheduling it" I mean I have been laying it in front of him telling him all of the things that are going on, on this day and that day and what I need to do for it here and there. All while he smiles and lets my jabbering go in one ear and out the other. Regardless of his retention of my jabbering, it makes me feel better.
We ran away to Tabiona  with some of the Brimhall's on a Wednesday. And as I laid in bed watching the quakies turn gold as the sun rose, I agreed, again, that this stay at home stuff is sometimes pretty awesome. There it was a Wednesday and I had just up and left, and it was ok. I snuck downstairs, made a batch of cinnamon rolls and watched the mountain side welcome the daylight. That Tabiona, regardless of the shenanigans of the quick retreat, is nothing but goodness for my soul.
Unfortunately the girls don't do as well as I would like with a quick trip, in the middle of the week. I go messing with their routines- ya know, lucky charms, jake and the neverland pirates, aerobics, sprinklers under the tramp, jam sandwiches for lunch, a NAP, bike rides and wrestling matches with dad and a chapter before bed. Their life is pretty hard. It's a good thing my soul gets all nice and healed up before coming home, because dealing with a combustable Ruby is exhausting in any and all circumstances.
We came home, did some more laundry, they napped for not long enough and then it was the last weekend with H. Is anyone else tired of saying goodbye? And we haven't even said the last one. He leaves tomorrow morning and I'm sad, and proud. It's the most happy of sads you can have. We spent Friday night at the temple with him. Saturday, I kicked his butt on the golf course (but really) and then we dined out with the peacocks on Saturday night. Sunday the girls snuggled next to him at Stake Conference and then I stood over a pan of frying chicken for dinner. It was loud and chaotic and peaceful at the same time. The way it needed to be.
Now to distract myself from the official looming goodbye I'm gearing up for the next part of the calendar, the part where I'm scheduled out of town until what feels like the middle of July. But really the middle of July. Again, this stay at home life is pretty fantastic. :)

 I swear I wash the "snoopy shirt"

 We take National Donut Day very seriously.

 Look at those cute faces?!

 I beat both of them, at Red Ledges none the less. And now I'm done playing golf. To end on a high note and all.

 Micall, will you come home so Brian can photobomb your pictures?

 Stella asked if Hunter would go get a snow cone so they could say goodbye. She is very sad that they can't FaceTime for two whole years.

Is this one of those posts where you just keeping thinking #firstworldproblems? I am.

love love

Church with the Brimhalls

This concludes our vacation to Denver, and then I will go back to posting about the nothingness that is our life at home. Maybe your sad? 

Before loading the three small children in the car for the 8 hour drive home, we were able to be go to the baby blessing of Claire. Oh she is sweet. And a really, really great baby. Most of the time I kind of forgot she was part of the chaos. And she has the most fantastic hair. It doesn't appear she got it from the Brimhalls...

Again, Piper is stone cold. I couldn't get that little girl to smile at me for anything. Seriously. I was bribing her with candy and she was icing me out. Next time Piper, next time.

Just two years ago, Jan and Richard didn't have any granddaughters. Now they have 4, and it's a lot of squealing chaos.

It's cute that Bryan was standing on his toes...

 Oh these boys of mine... I love.

Cami and Marc, this is such an original pose! Get that baby here so you can start juggling something in photos. (baby boy arriving in September, although i'm not sure where she's hiding him.)

Thanks so much Bryan and Niki for letting us come and visit! Let's do it again!

Right after the blessing we piled back in the car for our trek home. It would have been a great trip home I'm sure of it. But Ruby came down with the flu and I spent most of the drive home jumping to the back seat to catch her puking into a cup. Doesn't that sound like the most glorious 8 hours of your life? The poor thing. She's feeling better now, but the rest of the house has come down with it. Nothing like recovering from a vacation and the flu. I'm trying not to blame you Denver, but kinda, it's your fault that I have a baby puking in my face and a child laying on the tile floor moaning loudly. I'll still come visit though. Maybe. 

love love

Animals are weird.

Arguably the highlight of the trip was the zoo. Oh the Denver Zoo, you put our poor Hogle to shame. The weather was so fantastic, the sun was shining and everyone was so excited to be there. The kids loved it! OK and so did Kevin. Probably the most. Bryan assured us that they had never gotten through more than one section of the zoo in a day. Oh we got through it, I pretty sure at least 90% of it. 

Also, I took 700 hundred photos at the zoo and it's my blog, so I'm going to dump them all here. Ok not all of them, but a lot. Like seriously. 

Richard is into birds, they call him the bird man of Grandview hill. Or just his kids do. There were a lot of freaking birds. He was overly excited. It's weird.

Hey Cute Face!

Ruby did not like the Komodo Dragon. Not at all. Can you really blame her? They are weird.

Gus's hair is white. In case you were wondering. 

Do not mess with a goose and her eggs. Or a Tiger. 

Look it's a Lorax and kind of a Henry. 

I stand corrected Hogle Zoo, that weird looking animal you have on your carousel does exist. Meet the Okapi. It's totally weird. 

These little girls played so fantastic!

These Flamingos are weird. They were charging around in complete unison squawking. And then a bird pooped on my head. Thanks Cami for cleaning it out! Stupid Bird. 

Ruby chased this goose around for a long time. She has no fear. Seriously. She was so close to getting it. 

We fed the birds! Ruby's favorite was the bird named Ruby. Go figure. 

Ash- The zookeeper said these birds are all over Australia. So Stella kept saying they were playing with Will's birds, and that he was so nice to share. 

Micall, what is this thing? Freaking bizarre and weird. Animals are weird. 

Look Richard likes Kevin!

Oh Piper, I love you!

ROAR!

You guys really just like all the sarcastic remarks don't you?

Don't worry there are still more blog posts to come from Denver!

love love

swimming pools and movie stars

After the baseball game we decided that it was the kids turn to enjoy some fun. They were hanging out at home while we were eating peanuts and cracker jacks. And the girls were with Mimi and Bampa Kenny getting spoiled rotten. So on Friday we let them go swimming at our hotel. Because what vacation happens without the token swimming in the hotel? It goes hand in hand with licorice on a road trip. Required. The pool was the size of a large bath tub and if you ask Stella what her favorite part of the vacation was, swimming would be it. Go figure. And what is it about swimming with Dad's that makes it so much more fun than swimming with Mom's? Maybe it's that they get thrown around like balls instead of being told to be careful. Dad's for the win!

// Gus was a little indifferent about the pool...//

 // I took nearly 1500 photos this weekend and I couldn't get Miss Piper to smile at me for anything. But she would smile at Kevin. He is nicer than me, so I understand//

 // Life jackets in the pool make everything so much easier.//

 // The water was a little cold for Ruby//

 // But the hot tub was nice and warm for Henry//

 // See what I mean, Dad's at the pool are so much fun! Jan was in the corner telling them to stop the entire time...//

 // Piper kills me. I love everything she's got going on.//

 // Claire wasn't to keen on the noise waking her up, clearly.//

 // The girls could have been thrown into the pool over and over again for days. //

love love