Humble Happiness, Subtle Sadness

I'm a little slow about posting these pictures, but I really want to so Chase and Missy can see them and so anyone else who loved/loves our Quinn can be a part of a beautiful day.
Quinners passed away a year ago on April 23rd. So the weekend before we got together in honor of Quinn. Its unbelievable its been a whole year that sunlight of a man has been gone. Still daily i think of him. Miss him, and wish i could call him and hear him tell me a funny story and hear his infectious laugh. I miss him, and i know everyone who knew him does as well. People like him dont come around too often. We were blessed to have him while we did. Now he is up with his dad conquering the heavens with powerful missionary work. I have no doubt about that. Im so grateful for the gospel in my life. Grateful to know that we are a forever family. Grateful to know where Quinn and my dad are and know they are together. I'm looking forward to June when we are able to do Quinn's Temple work. What a special day that will be.
Here are some pictures of our day. . . .
We all gathered at the cemetery(we missed you Chase and Missy, lots and lots)
We talked about memories of Quinn, and wrote notes on balloons and sent them up to him. It was a beautiful day making it fun to be outside reminiscing and being together with family. Nothing better than that. We had a picnic there too, no hurry to leave such a peaceful place.

After the cemetery we just ran a few errands, and then went to a park in Day Break (thanks to all who live in there and pay fees to have awesome parks that we all can enjoy! :) ) The kids loved playing in the awesome playground and mostly we walked down to the water and that is where the pure happiness from my mini-me and my littlest man came from. They had a blast. They loved being with cousins and still are talking about it (ok just Ky, but i am sure Brooklyn would if she could talk.)

They found this "quick sand mud" and coudnt get enough of it.

Ky and Craigy

She threw a toddler sized fit when i took her out of the water. No a preschooler sized fit! aka she was MAD!

This girl loves LOVES loves to play in sand. Especially loves to put it in her thick hair making bath time a miserable fight to get it all out.

We love you Quinn. We miss you.


On a completely different note, that night we got to go to a Jazz game. Brandon's work gets season tickets and no one took these, so we snatched them to go while we were up North for the weekend. We took Jake and Kimmy with us. What a AWESOME game it was and what great company we were with.

House For Sale

Ok its a little odd to post this just after i post that i adore our neighbors...but we are trying to sell our home. We have a house we have our eyes on in our same ward which is the only way we are moving. We need a house that will better serve daycare and our family.  So if you know anyone who wants to live in Centerfield (Gunnison) send them over to see our house!!

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=475&ad=20124976&cat=279

Neighbors

Growing up we didn't really have neighbors. Not like most people would consider a 'neighbor'. My uncle lived the closest and he was still a little more than a field away. Its was wonderful. I loved having space. I have always wanted that kind of space for my little family. Living in apartments was great fun, but at the same time killed me...i hated having people so close and no peace, no privacy, and no quiet.
I realized once we were married that this kind of farm life, while it isn't impossible is unlikely. When we found this house i was soooo nervous. The neighbors are RIGHT next to us. Ok, they are no closer than most houses in a subdivision, but remember i grew up with no neighbors, so a neighbor that close is tooo close.
We bought the house, moved in, saw Scott our neighbor here and there, honestly i don't really remember him tons at the very beginning. Sorry Scott. Then he married Amy and she has 2 little girls. That summer we got to know each other and ever since it is a wonderful neighbor situation. They don't have a 'backyard'...just a little grass and a tramp, so they come over all the time to play in the sandbox, swing on the swings, or play on the playground. They are such cute girls. I love Amy, and Scott is a great guy too. Amy has saved me so many times i cant count on ingredients i needed and cannot run to the store cause i have 8 kids in my house. She goes to the post office for me to pick up packages and my mail cause i can never get there before they close (here in the boondocks we dont have mailboxes like you city folk). They let us use all sorts of tools, we are even stealing space in their shop to store a piano that needs refinishing. 
Anyway all the way around it they are amazing neighbors to have. If I am going to have neighbors so close that i can just hand her the baby monitor and run to the store when the baby is sleeping, these are the people to have!!!!
We love them. Kyler loves the girls, and i think they tolerate him quiet well. :) Kyler loves going over there to play and just loves Amy. Maybe its that she gives him a Popsicle every time he goes over, or maybe her girls have much cooler toys than he does, or maybe its just getting away from mom, or maybe Amy is just more fun...all are probably true. Any way you see it i am grateful for them. They are a blessing in our lives.
Thanks neighbors!!

Here is a picture of Ky riding on their 4 wheeler---all 3 of them. They were all out riding their own, then Kylers died, then Brins died, so Kayla invited them all on hers and they rode that way for about a half hour. It was priceless. They were having a blast.

Seriuosly can that be much cuter. I didnt even ask them to smile, they were already doing it. :) Its a little blurry which makes me sad, but they were on the move, and obviously Brooklyn was trying to catch up!

11 Down One more to go

I love this face

These last 3 months have flown by. My kids seem to be growing up faster than i can catch.
My sweet and spunky girl is one month from her first year mark. I feel the tear welling up in me as i type that. They are little for such a short time.
As of right now she
*is finally saying "dada" so her grand total for words is 'mama' and 'dada' thats it folks. Thats it. :)
*Today she saw a basketball hoop at church, looked at me and said "dada!" and moved her hand up and down. I like to think she was dribbling the ball. We watch a lot of Jazz around here lately, apparently she is catching onto what daddy likes. :).
*She is irrovocably a daddys girl. She loves loves loves him. In all things she loves him. When he is around i am chopped liver. He puts her to bed every night and she is just in heaven. I love their relationship. Every girl needs to be a daddys girl, right. 

She just learned to clap her hands this past week.

*I am super slacker mom with her. With Kyler i NEVER put him down with a bottle. NEVER. Daycare has gotten the best of me, and seems how i cannot rightfully(or legally) do it with other peoples babies, i do it to Brooklyn far far too often. Shoot me now. I have serious guilt for doing this.
*But in my defense she can go down without a bottle

Isnt she so pretty? I love her.

*We started her on a little cows milk...in the mornings she gets a sippy cup with it. She drinks it...well i guess that is what you call it. Most of it dribbles back down her face.
*She is loud and loves to babble, scream, yell, screech at full volume
*She is still on the verge of walking...Grandma Nancy got her a walk behind toy for her birthday early...so possibly she will get lots of practice and be on her feet soon
*She is getting better about eating. Her fav is still those Gerber Cheetos. But she also really likes peas, beets, cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pasta, corn, cinnamon toast and peanut butter toast. She tolerates bananas, but that is really the only fruit i can get into her besides applesauce.
*She loves baths, and gets so excited for them. She come flying in the bathroom when the water turns on.
*She loves kids. She follows all the daycare kids around and around the house.
*She loves animals. Sadie(dog) and the chickens get her super excited and get the highest happiest shrills out of her.
*Anyone who sees her must automatically think she is a lot older than she is because if they dare ask and i tell them 10 months or 11 months, they give me the "ya right" look. Yes, she looks very old for her sweet young age. Yes, she fills out 24 month old clothing. Yes, she has full piggy tails and a full head of hair. BUT she is really just 11 months old, why would i lie about that? She is not super chubby, she is well filled out for her height, which is tall. She is into things at levels no 11 month old should be able to reach. :) As a fun note, we weighed her last night and as far as our scale says she is 24 pounds, that is just 8 pounds less than her brother that is 2 years older, and Kyler wasn't 24 pounds till he was 15 months old. 
We love her more than anything. She brings us so much happiness. Couldn't imagine life without her shrills, screams, and giggles.

Chicks, kids, and bubbles

For FHE tonight we were going to blow bubbles as a family. I had promised Kyler all day that when daddy got home we would....
we did. . . . but we also decided to let the 14 chicks out to peck the grass and move about freely and they took the lime light away from the bubbles.
Both kids love these chicks. We have had them now for 3 weeks and they are part of the family. Kyler has to go out to say good night every night, and out every morning with me to check on them and tell them good morning. He LOVES them. He knows their names and even though there is little to distinguish them by, he pays attention to the small details and can pick out who is who. Daddy cant even do that!! Brooklyn loves all animals. Dogs and chicks alike, so she chased after them tonight as well and even got a hold of one, which is impressive cause they can move!
I am praying they are all still alive tomorrow and that we didn't scare any to death...its a very real possibility. Between Kyler and Brooklyn thats bad enough, but I had the neighbor kids and their cousins come over to see them too...they had a blast, but those little chickys hearts were just a pounding when i was lifting them back into their coop.

Before the chicks got out..the bubbles were great!

Blowing bubbles for the chickys

Kyler holding 'big toosh' (she had a large growth on her back end that i had to remove. Disgusting, but hey she lived and now she is our best little friend.)

Yummy bugs

Sadie drooling from a distance. Poor girl she cant help that its her nature to eat little helpless birds so we have to chain her up when the chicks are out.

Funny side story...Kyler got some 'bubble juice' in his sandles so he HAD to go CHANGE...he came out with these shoes on. Good choice Ky, those are my favorite shoes too!

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN...I HAVE 4 POSTS I DID TODAY!!

Besties

 These two are best friends. They make each other giggle. They love to snuggle up to each other. They love to pester one another. They are my light. I love that they get along so well. I look forward to when they are older and still besties.

We got home from a long day and turned on baby Einstein for Brooklyn while she ate her bottle. Kyler didn't want to leave her side....so he cuddled up with her in her chair. Precious moment.

The other day he insisted on feeding Brookie her Cheetos..the Gerber ones. I am having a hard time deciding if he just wanted to be nice, or if he wanted an excuse to steal some of them...i think a little of both.  :)

Easter 2012

I have always enjoyed Easter. Its the beginning of Spring, which is always lovely. Everything is bright, wonderful and perfect.
Last year i was super duper into Easter preparations. I made tons of decorations for the house, did lots of fun things with all the kids. It was great building up to Easter. I had several activities planned for all the kids to do at my moms house for Easter. Then that Saturday morning is when we found our Quinny had left us to live with his Father in Heaven. The rest of that Easter we went through the motions. No feeling in the commercialized part of Easter, just doing it for the little kids sake. This year all those decorations hurt my heart to put up. I couldn't do too much regarding Easter. It brought too many sad memories back. So we went for a low key Easter with the munchkins and it was wonderful.
Saturday i Attempted pictures of the kids in their matchy Easter outfits...Kyler is not so good to cooperate. These are my favorites out of the 100 something i took, not many turned out.

This is how the majority of them looked. That is Kylers "cheese" face

A rare thing to just catch a 'real' smile

This is Brookies new face...it cracks me up

Then we went to a BBQ with Brandon's family. It was perfect. Kyler loved it. He ran all day. He was all smiles. Brooklyn loved all the attention, and especially loved that she got to be with daddy all the time. She is such a daddy's girl.

Blowing bubbles while we wait for the hunt to begin

Kyler loved his loot

Brooklyn loved shaking all the eggs

I love this girl...her first otterpop...she loved it

This is my brother in laws girl friend Naomi....Kyler is competing for her love. He wouldnt leave her side.

Told ya, daddys girl

Look at that happy face

Brooklyn and Great Grandma Crisp...i love love this picture

Grandma Jo and the boys

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny visited and left a trail of confetti from Kylers room upstairs down to where he hid the baskets behind the treadmill. Kyler's excitement made my heart sing. He came in our room that morning just as excited as can be, "MOMMY DADDY come look QUICK in my room, look there is something on the floor!! COME ON, get up come look!!!" We proceeded down the stairs, took a quick potty stop in the bathroom(for once it was nice that the toilet is in the 'hallway') Then off to follow the rest of the trail. His eyes were so bright and excited. Both kids got a little candy, and a ball. Brooklyn got a animal touchy book and Kyler got Hop the movie.

Part of the long bunny trail

The loot

Brookie got a toothbrush...perfect for those new little teeth

Add caption

"catch daddy"

"catch Ky!"

Brookie shakin those eggs

Kyler finally did catch after several trys...look how happy he is!

After church we drove to Grandma Nancy's and Grandpa Gaylens for dinner. It was fabulous as usual. I miss her cooking. I will never be as good as her. Love spending time with them!! No pictures. Im lame i know.

Windows

Brooklyn loves windows. These pictures are from a while back...but i just got the computer working for me so i am just posting them now.