Nicole and Kylene

2010. 

 

2011.

2012.
 

A Fabulous Memorial Day!

Monday was a near-perfect day.  We were able to host our annual Brown/Bybee/McCune Get Together.  Beth, Memory and I have stayed dear friends since high school, and it is always so fun to be together.  The three of us get together a few times a year, but once a year we get the entire clan together.  It is so wonderful to see the kids and hubbies really enjoying one another as well.  The weather was beautiful and we had a yummy Teriyaki Chicken/Hot Dogs BBQ with lots of yummy food.  Then we roasted s'mores for dessert. 

The kids had a blast playing together and running around outside.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Trevor (10 months), Andon (8 months)  Trevor is just starting to walk and Andon is everywhere with crawling.  They were cute to watch together.


Kylene and Nicole playing baseball.

 

Cute girls!
 

Next year's Kindergarteners!  Gavin, Maren and Spencer.  All full of life and spunk!  Maren actually preferred to be with the girls most of the day, but we snapped this photo of her "settling" to play with the boys:)  tee hee.

Me with my dear friends.  It is so wonderful to know each other so well, our histories, etc.  When we get together, it's like we haven't been apart.  I'm so thankful for friendships like that.

 

Getting ready for the s'mores!

Isn't Ethan a cutie?  You better watch out, Beth and Randy!

Ashlee, Evan, Parker, and Maren roasting.

Spencer's perfect s'more!

15 years of marriage and still got it!

Skyler's perfect creation. 

 

I love the look of joy on Skyler's face.

Parker holding up his "I'm two" fingers.  He will be three soon! 

Skyler showing me he already is three.  So grown-up now!

 

We continued to talk and play all afternoon; no one wanted to leave (and we didn't want them to).  Finally, we realized it was dinner time and we were getting hungry, so we sent the dad's out to get pizza.  They came back with four pizzas, two brownie mixes, and four quarts of ice cream.  Typical dads!  So we ended up getting to enjoy dinner and dessert together as a bonus.  The kids went home exhausted from playing, the parents rejuvenated from relaxing together.

Flower Girl

 

Can you see her name?

Crawling, Field Trips, Family

Andon is officially crawling!  These pictures were taken back when he was still "army crawling".  He has been getting himself around pretty well for at least a month, but just in the last two weeks started getting up on his hands and knees and getting his "coordination groove" on:).  It is opening up a whole new world to him, and it means mommy has to keep a much closer eye on our little "Curious George".  He can be quite determined!

 

We purchased a bike trailer/stroller for our family bike rides.  Spencer discovered it also hooks up quite well to his own bike with a bungee cord.  The entire neighborhood has gotten into it: everyone wants to either ride or do the pulling.  We've had a few scrapes and bumps from the bungee getting tangled, etc., and I have to keep a close eye on a runaway stroller into the street, but it's been hours of entertainment.



Kylene had two field trips for school this Spring.  First, they went to OMSI; she loved it and I so wished I could have gone.  The second one was a trip to the bowling alley.  Sounds educational, huh?  The entire school goes (800+ kids) every year; this was their 12th year going (which happens to be how old the school is).  They do a unit in PE on bowling, so she got lots of practice before doing the real thing.  She was surprised when we got there how heavy the real bowling balls are.   She was so excited that I got to ride on the school bus with her and be her buddy.  Here she is with her good friend, Kate.  The threesome is Lea, Kylene, and Kate.  Her bowling pseudonym was "Black Beauty."  She bowled a 70 her first ever time bowling; not bad, huh?  (Granted, that's with the gutters up.)

 

You would never know from the length of Andon's hair that we have already cut it twice!  And it needs it yet again.  But while it's nice and long, we have fun with it in the bath tub.  Have you ever seen a cuter face?! 

 

Here are a few miscellaneous shots.  Skyler and Andon are great buddies; I love how Skyler watches out for him and tries to offer him toys or talk gently to him when he's sad.  It's fun to watch older siblings nurture their younger ones.  Oh, and beat up on them.  That part isn't always so fun.

 Sunday evening (May 20) Tutu and Grandpa and Uncle Logan (Shayla and Ansley are out of town) came over for dinner.  It was so fun having them here, as always.  We enjoyed a yummy teriyaki chicken BBQ on the back patio.  The kids loved reading with them before bed.  Grandpa had fun on Kyle's iPad.

 

I enjoyed a lovely Mother's Day.  Kyle fixed me a yummy French Toast breakfast in bed, complete with a small bowl of sherbet to "cleanse my palate."  The kids sent me on a video scavenger hunt all around the house to find my presents.  I taught Relief Society at church, so that was a little stressful, but I felt good about it once it was done.  Kyle fixed a yummy dinner for us as well, and I didn't do any clean up all day.  That is the ultimate gift for a mommy!

Hard Wood Floors Always Win

About 1 1/2 weeks ago, on Thursday, Spencer slipped while running inside at preschool and gave himself a small goose egg on the upper left side of his forehead. Three days later, on Sunday, he fell on our hard wood floor on the same spot. This time the goose egg swelled up huge; Kyle and I were a little worried. We read in our medical book that goose eggs often turn into black eyes, as the blood flows downward due to gravity. Sure enough, within two days, he had himself two beautiful black eyes. Each day it has progressed downward; it's somewhat of an art form, to watch it move from between his nose, to his eyelids, to below his eyes. People have been quite shocked to see it, but it hasn't seemed to bother Spencer at all. Except maybe for the morning his left eyelid was swollen shut for a few hours.

About Day 3.  Notice how swollen he is between his eyes.

 

 

About Day 7. 

 

About Day 9.  Looking much better!  The swelling between his nose is pretty well gone.  Just the black eyes under the eyelids remain.
 

Moral of the story: Don't mess with hardwood floors! They will always win.

Another interesting tidbit I learned from this experience: if your child hits his/her head hard, you want the swelling to come OUT, i.e., in the form of a goose egg. It is much better than the swelling going inward and putting pressure on the brain. So, in this case, uglier is better!