May and June Recap

I haven't been updating our happenings.  So from longest ago to most recent.  Here is what we have been up to:

The end of April, the kids and I moved from Logan to my parents.  This is a picture of Brig around that time, so I'm adding it.  I have no idea why it looks like he has a cone head.  It's a very round head but apparently this was a weird angle.  But isn't that the cutest belly you've ever seen?!

 A month later, Vanessa turned THREE years old. Holy cow, have I really been a mother for three years? Why am I not any better at it then?! We had a fabulous birthday for the most crazy, lovable, sweet little girl around. It happened to be on a Sunday so we went to church, then came home and opened presents. Benson got a present too so he wouldn't feel left out.  They were flip flops.  I know, super lame.  But it was something he wanted and it was the 2/$5 sale at Old Navy.  Jon told Benson "Happy Vanessa's Birthday."  Ha.  I thought everyone did that.  But it was actually really cute.  Vanessa started opening them before I had pointed out that they had "twinner" gifts.  So mid-opening, I stopped her and gave them to Benson and gave her the pair for her to open.  She didn't care, but every gift after that she asked who it was for.  I adore the innocence of a three year old. 

 Brigham chilled nicely in the shade and was actually happy.  Bonus!

  I had the brilliant idea of opening presents on the deck, but it was actually insanely hot. But here is all the loot. Obviously, the most important gift was the bike. Which she has learned to ride and really enjoys it. When she wants to go ride a lot of times she says, "mom, I want to go practice my bike."

 After gift opening, we went to Jon's parents for dinner and then cousins came over for cake and ice cream.  Another cute story.  As she would open each gift from cousins, I would tell her who it was from.  As she went to open one gift, I told her it was FROM Brooklyn but she thought I said it was FOR Brooklyn.  She quickly jumped off her chair and said "I'll go give it to her."
This is the fabulous cake made by my talented sister-in-law.  Vanessa's favorite color is purple and her name means "butterfly".  Could it be any more perfect?

 Meanwhile, Brigham is still doing much of this......

 But also much of this.....

So we forgive him and are madly in love with the little man.

On May 30, we saw the pulmonologist for Benson and got the all-clear.

On May 31, we had the funeral for Jon's aunt who was killed in a car accident a few days previous.  Aunt Marlene had been living with Matt and Shauna the past year or so and it was really hard on everyone.  She was buried in the Salt Lake Cemetery next to her parents.

June 8 & 9 we had the Brady Family Reunion.  We had a hot dog and smores night on Friday and then Saturday took this party to the zoo.  I feel like we should have some kind of superhero music for this picture

The kids had a blast and were completely wiped out.  Jon and I also had a good time trying out our new lens.  It was a splurge Father's Day/Graduation gift for Jon.
The following week on Wednesday, I packed the kids up by myself and headed out to stay at a cabin with my sister-in-law.  We stayed from Wednesday-Saturday, with other people coming and going.  Tommy was there the first day and night and then Jon came the last night and day.  Kind of random.  We had fun single-mom-ing-it together and the boys learned that polygamy is NOT that great.

People tell me quite often that I am going to break my back carrying two kids.  But I feel like I have down-graded since Vanessa always wanted me to carry her when I was pregnant.  That was carrying three babies.  But I will admit my back is pretty messed-up.  Although I would also like to point out that most people's are.

 While at the cabin (and I use this term loosely, it was more like a house in the woods) Vanessa and Brooklyn put goo in their hair.  It took everything I had to keep calm, especially as she was screaming about how I was hurting her, trying to get that stuff out.  I thought for sure we were going to have to cut it.  It came out, amazingly.

Benson loved throwing rocks in the lake or river.  He literally asked to do it any time that wasn't what we were doing and cried when we took him away.

We also had a surprise visitor literally walk right beneath the deck of the cabin.  Benson still talks about this moose.  He says it looks like a cow and says MOO too.  Actually, I may or may not have told him the moose says MOO.  I didn't know what else to say.

The following week, Carrie and Ben came into town. We were so excited to see them, finally! We haven't seen them since we went to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. We were almost a whole family except Steph and Ryan are in Seattle. Seriously, it's tough these days. While they were visiting, we went on all kind of day excursions. 

We went swimming at the Roy Aquatic Center.

Spent an afternoon hiking, throwing rocks in the river, and cooking hot dogs and smores in Mueller Park Canyon.

Riding Croslands new Pony, Rio. 

 Benson even rode!  And he must dream about this because he has woken up from several naps telling me about riding Rio.

 Cody and Macey also showed Vanessa how to search for peas and strawberries in the garden.  And, the best part was that she actually ate them!

 We also busted out the slip'n'slide and kiddie pool in the backyard.  As well as continual play in the sand box.

We ended the month by giving Brigham a name and a blessing on June 24.  Jon gave a beautiful blessing, as he has always done.  We wanted to get some awesome family pics but this is about all we could muster out of the kids.  Never mind the kiddie pool in front of us, we'll crop that out one of these days.  And also never mind that Brigham NEVER looked at the camera.  Or that I'm barefoot.

 At least he smiled in this one.

 Brady tradition is to make a cake that says "Welcome Brigham" (or whatever the baby's name is) and then stick the baby's hand in the cake.  I have no idea where this tradition came from, but it's kind of cute and so we play along.

It has been a crazy couple months and we are still going strong.  July and August are going to be just as crazy.  Then, September might bring some R&R.  Though I won't lie, the busy craziness of life is the zest of life.  It keeps things interesting and makes it fun.