Fairy Dance

Our library had a fairy dance the Saturday before I left for Phoenix. It wasn't quite as sumptuous an affair as the Fairy Tea at the Provo library, but it was still fun. :)

I learned my lesson last time, that half the fun is taking time to get all dressed up. They let me curl their hair and everything!!

Some gals from ISU came and did a short ballet, then led them through some fairy stretches and such that sounded similar to a beginning ballet class. The girls had a good time!

Reiman Butterfly Garden

We visited the Reiman Gardens- part of ISU campus- a few weeks ago. 14 acres of beautiful grassy hills, stone walkways, lake and rose gardens. The lake is in the background here.

There is a children's garden that has a current theme of trains, as well as an exhibit garden with the Moby Dick theme. My kids love the fish ponds, the little stream and running up and down these hills.

Here's the white whale himself. Isn't this amazing?!! It's all out of twigs. When I visited the gardens a few years ago the exhibit was out of actual cars that had been "planted" the ground. Really cool.

Cute little house at the end of a maze of walkways separated by really cool prairie grass. I didn't get any pictures of the best part- the butterfly house. There is a U-shaped walk inside with a butterfly habitat. There are so many butterflies in there that they land on the ground, the walls, and on you. It's nice and warm and has lots of flowers and trees and bowls of sugar water. The colors and sizes of all the butterflies are amazing! I don't stay too long in there as I constantly worry that someone is going to step or grab one. :) There is also a case of all the cocoons so you can usually see several butterflies emerging and drying their wings. So cool! (Compared with BYU's Bean Museum- the good ol' Y is sadly lacking :)

Going gothic

So, I paid $80 for this color job!! I swear I told her dark brown, and pointed out a color to match- but as you can see, it's black.

I thought the girls would say something, but they didn't. Until a few days later, on Sunday, when Brighton was pointing out her friend "that has black hair, like you!" :)

I need to have it fixed, but haven't been able to get in, and now I'm leaving for a week. Maybe I'll wait and get it done after Halloween. :)

My mother

Well, a lot has been going on. My mom had a go-kart accident (I know, crazy) a few months back which revealed that she had a brain anuerism. It was determined that because of the size and location of it (kind of sitting on her brain stem) she needed to see one of the leading neuroligists in Pheonix, Arizona. She flew there for surgery last Friday. The surgery went well, but after a few days she still hadn't woken up. After lots of tests and waiting, it was discovered that she had had a stroke, and her brain was swelling a bit. She's still expected to gain everything back, except maybe her right peripheral vision. The news of how she's doing seems to change hourly, and it's been hard to get the information to so many people. (8 kids, remember?)

It looks like she's starting to recover, but it's going to be slow going. I'm flying out this Sunday to stay with her at the hospital for a week. She has her good friend Christy there, which has been a big help. I've been through so many different plans this week- driving to Kansas to be with my younger siblings, flying to AZ, my older sister flying here, finding friends to watch the kids, etc. I'm so tired of thinking! I'm glad to have a solid plan locked in. My younger sister McKenna is flying here to help watch the kids while James is at work and class.

This has been so scary for me. I feel like she's going to be okay. It has been really stressful to find things out a piece a time, especially for the few days when she just wasn't waking up. We didn't know whether to be worried or not. I'm really glad to be in a position to go and be with my mom. And I'm glad for the priesthood- she's had several blessings. We've also fasted for her recovery. It's brought our family closer together as we all try to help out.

Michael Buble!

So, this picture might be on the large size, but I'm a little excited. :)  My sweet sweet wonderful husband, who likes to surprise me from time to time, just unveiled his latest- I'm going to a Michael Buble concert!!  Next Wednesday!!  Woohoo!!!!

The only concert I've been to was to Neil Diamond back when we were engaged.  And, he's getting kind of old. :)  Look at this cutie!

I woke up on Sunday, relaxed in bed, had my breakfast.  Then I followed trails of popcorn (which Logan gleefully picked up) to clues and treats throughout the house.  

I'm so grateful for such a wonderful husband- I don't know what I find to complain about, but of course I do. :)  Thanks honey!!

Faces of Brooklyn

Here are some pics of the cutie. She had two dry days and then four accidents in one day! One on my bed and another at the mall. Sigh! But since then, no problems. She is one easy kid.

Brooklyn-

An update of our snugglebug. Brooklyn's biggest achievement has been staying dry(in potty-training language)! I think she would have been fine to start training months ago, but I didn't want to complicate the move. So we waited, and she practically did it all herself!! I remind her, but she pretty much goes herself. I'm really grateful that was so easy, as I know it is not always the case. And I'm sure there are accidents coming, when I'm at the store and have a cartful of food. I'm not that naive. :)



She loves to say HEY! She says it all the time. Brooklyn is probably my child that needs me the least, which is good and bad. I love that she can entertain herself, but I don't want to ignore her just because she doesn't require a lot.

She loves to play and pretend, especially with Brighton. She usually goes along with whatever Brighton has cooked up. She's at that tricky age when she still needs a nap, but won't take one. Brighton had "quiet time" until she was at least 3 1/2; alone in her room listening to tapes and reading books. I'm trying that with Brooklyn, but she will only cooperate for about 30 min. Oh, well. That's enough time for me to do school with Brighton. My next task will be taking away Brooklyn's blanky and thumb. Always so hard!

Brooklyn loves her daddy best of all. She loves to dance and be a princess. She loves to snuggle. We sure love her!