Nutty Kids and Half-Birthdays

We had a lot of fun in June.  The pictures can do most of the talking.  

Dillan gave his first talk in Primary.  We totally forgot about it until Sacrament meeting, an hour before he was to give the talk.  Kyle wrote one for him real fast and I helped him give it.  It was awesome!  I wish we had video of it.

We also went berry picking, Hazel is a pro!  She kept sneaking into the rows she wasn't supposed to be in and stealing raspberries.

We spent one Saturday taking down a playhouse, building one, and the kids playing on an enormous slip n slide.

Dillan at his and Hazel's birthday party.  We went to a beach at a nearby river and invited friends for the first time.  Dillan enjoyed the scavenger hunt and playing in the water with his dad.

 Hazel mostly enjoyed playing in the sand, but this was fun too!

What nutters!

 That's my man!  Taking down the old play structure.

 More nutters!  This was while the play structure was being worked on.

The completed project! 

 Kyle and I took our first couples vacation since having kids.  It was a 3 day kayaking tour through the San Juan Islands.  The only disappointment was not seeing any Orcas.  It was such a beautiful and relaxing vacation (especially with someone else in charge of all the food and travel and supplies).

 Those bumps are all seals.

Dillan is getting ready for the Father Son Campout.  He had such a great time hanging with the boys!

The chicken slaughter!  This is at a local farm we get milk and meat from.  Kyle's job was slitting their throats and putting them in a short hot bath to get them ready to go through the plucker machine.  That shirt is speckled in chicken blood and he now wears it with pride while working out.

I think that "nutty kids" pretty much sums up the first 3 videos.

Happy Half Birthday Dillan and Hazel!

Farms and Kids

Looking back over the month of May, it appears to be uneventful.  We went to the local farmer's market and were kind of disappointed, so we joined a CSA (community supported agriculture).  We own a share of a local organic vegetable farm and pick up whatever is ready each week.  It's been fun to get a variety of in season produce.

Kyle went out of town for a training to Philadelphia and got to see some of our nation's history.  Thank you Grandma Hardy for feeding us dinner almost every night while he was gone because I was too tired and icky  (and needing adult companionship) from being pregnant.

I think I spent a lot of time being tired and still feeling sick due to the pregnancy.  That would explain why nothing happened all month.  I looking forward to that part being over!

We also took the kids roller skating for the first time.  They need a lot more practice but did pretty good for first-timers.  Hazel likes to dance while she "skates," it's pretty cute.

 Daddy's soccer jersey and soccer socks.

 This must have been a sick day, but I don't remember it.

 So tired!  Just laid down to rest while Kyle played with the kids outside before dinner, next thing I knew I was asleep!

 I think she's "reading" her coloring book.

A new version Dillan put together while I was napping.  I love it when he plays quietly (and constructively) so I can rest!

Why is it so much cuter when Hazel does it?

Sick and Lazy

April started with a bang.  Dillan threw up in the car on the way to a midwife appointment, all over his clothes and the carseat.  I stripped him down to his underwear and that's how he went to the appointment!  Then Kyle brought cleaning supplies and clothes for Dillan.  At the end of the appointment Dillan threw up all over his new change of clothes and Kyle.  He was sick the rest of the night, tired the next day, then fine.  Hazel got the same bug a few days later, I got it a few days after her.  That sickness was the first time I've ever spent the whole day sleeping in bed.  Then I got morning sickness for the rest of the first trimester, so feeling good was short-lived.

I also found out that I was 4 weeks less along in the pregnancy than I thought I was.  Frustrating!

 Hazel chose the family home evening activity.  We took turns building this tower, and it ended up pretty creative!  There is a car in the back left and a grey fish next to it!

 Cute!

 She colors on herself regularly, just not usually on her tummy.  We don't let her color with markers anymore.

 Hmm...what are they doing?  Hazel is holding butter, drawing on the sliding glass door.  That's when I knew we needed a fridge lock.

 Went to the Kids Super Resale in Gresham, everything super cheap on consignment.  I got this dress there, put it on her on Sunday and she knew she was so beautiful that twirled and she needed her toenails painted!

Grandma and Grandpa Tanner came to visit.  They bought Dillan a remote control car, you can see the love. While they were here we went hiking at the base of Mount Hood to Zigzag Falls.  The kids had a blast hiking on the snow.  Grandpa did a fireside about his new movie for our stake while he was here.  Having a guest speaker from Salt Lake is big deal out here in Oregon!

The kids and I joined Grandma and Grandpa Hardy for a few days of their vacation at Eagle Crest (Central Oregon).  This was a beautiful hike along the Deschutes River.  Hazel's favorite part was the dirt on the trail.  We couldn't get her to hike because she kept stopping, rubbing her hands through it, picking it up.  I never knew dirt was so interesting.  We also got to go swimming and went to the High Desert Museum.

Also in April: 

Hazel got hives.  Don't know why, they went away after a day or two.  

We found the perfect preschool for Dillan (starts in the fall).  It includes 30 minutes of gymnastics as part of each day!
Kyle finished fixing up the duplex.  It took forever and I'm glad to have him back on nights and weekends!  New tenants moved in immediately.  That was a blessing!

Refridgerator Extravaganza

March was most notably the month that our tenants moved out.  The duplex was in horrible condition after 20 years.  Kyle started the long road of fixing it up.  Every Saturday and many nights after the kids went to bed he was ripping up carpet, replacing bathroom floors, painting, repairing, cleaning, sheet rocking, spackling. 

In March Hazel also discovered how to open the fridge.  Usually she would do this while I was in the shower, giving her a good 20 minutes of trouble-making before I would come down and find her out.

Easter Egg Hunt!

 Notice the pile of toilet paper on Dillan's bed.  Hazel is hiding a pile of shredded up toilet paper in her lap.  This is about 2 rolls worth.  They put it all into a brown paper bag that sat by our toilet and took about a month to use up.  Hazel was also putting crayons and colored pencils in the cardboard center.

 Adorable!

 She climbed onto the bathroom counter and got into my makeup and hair goo.  The bathroom was a sticky mess.  She did a decent job of putting on mascara, didn't poke her eye and actually got some on her eyelashes!

 We tried to take a beach trip with Grandma  Hardy and some cousins.  While following them to the beach I got a flat tire, 45 minutes from home, no cell phone, and I watched them obliviously drive on.  Triple A does you no good with no cell phone!  I had to change the tire myself, on the side of the freeway.  It took some time, and a prayer, but I found all the supplies (which were hidden under the backseat, hard to remove).  I started to loosen the lug nuts, unsuccessfully, when a man snuck up behind me.  Aah!  "Sorry to startle you, but you're doing that backwards (lefty loosy, I'm dumb) can I help you?"  He did the rest of the tire change for me.  Since the tire was full size and the day couldn't get any worse, we kept going on to the beach.
We never found Grandma or our cousins, but we had fun!  

 They have a lot of personality!

 Another fridge break in.  Those are her gnaw marks along the edges.

 This is Hazel's grown-up friend Connie.  They are playing with some Easter gifts she brought over.  What a great friend!

First pigtails!

 Dillan called this a superhero mask.  Then, he wanted to know what it looked like, so he took off the whole thing and recreated it on the TV for himself to look at.

 At Lowe's Dillan and Hazel made monster trucks.  When we got home he wanted to paint it.  He doesn't usually focus on projects very well, but he did this for 30 minutes, covered the whole car!

Hazel's creation.  She placed all the pegs on the pegboard and all the tiny dinosaurs.  Not easy for a 2 year old.  I love it when they play quietly, and when you go check on them they aren't getting into trouble!

She did NOT want me to take off her favorite pajama pants.  So she found a different way of wearing them.