garden tools and soccer balls

I need a nice, light blog. The last two were heavy for me... So, the kids. Let's talk about the kids. They have a way of brightening up everything.

Kaeleb is quite the funny guy. As you can see, he was bursting with excitement as we toured the Brigham Young Winter home downtown St. George. (You might also notice how happy Bren looks, too.) We had a family outing with Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Tam's family. We rather enjoyed ourselves, contrary to the picture. Mark Eubank (channel 5 weatherman) and his wife are serving a mission here and Sister Eubank did our tour. It was so fun. We have missed watching him do the forecast, but we like his son too, and I think he looks like Sister Eubank.

Kaeleb is getting excited for his birthday in 2 weeks. We're going to have a knight party. He is going to be one someday, you know. He always tells me what he will do when he is a knight. It is synonymous with being a grown up.

Kaeleb is such a unique person. He is happy and loves to have fun, in fact he has a new laugh which sounds very sinister and he uses it at random times and never fails to make us chuckle. On the other hand he is a very serious thinker and takes things very literally. On Saturday Kwint's Dad came over to borrow some garden tools. They were doing yard work at the vacation house. Kaeleb said "Grandpa, which ones are you going to take?" Grandpa said "Oh, this shovel, a rake, and the Pulaski." Kaeleb thought for a moment and said "Well, I suggest that you use the rake to bring all the weeds into a pile." Grandpa said, "Thank you, I'll take your suggestion." I love it when he talks like a grown up. Except when he uses it against me during discipline times... "Mom, you may not speak to me that way!"

Brennan now prefers walking to crawling. He hasn't crawled for at least a week. I can't believe my little baby is walking. He is also saying a few new words like "go", "kick", and "car". (In Brennanese they sound like "doh", "hick", and cah, cah, cah", respectively.) He has been throwing tantrums already, which is nice. He's only 10 months old, we aren't ready for the terrible twos! Yesterday he climbed into the dishwasher and when I pulled him out he screamed ever-so-loud, shook his hands about wildly, then grabbed my hand and bit me. I was none too happy about that. I hope it's just because he's teething because I really don't want him to be a biter.

He is so funny. He is a super tease and loves to make us laugh. If we laugh at him once he will repeat the funny action over and over and over. He loves to walk into a room, throw his arms up in the air and squeal, grinning with delight. Last week I carried him into the bedroom and he looked at Kwint, then looked at me, then pointed at Kwint and belly laughed. We still aren't sure what he meant by that.

As you will soon see, he will not be satisfied with simple baby steps... he is his daddy's son through and through.



Not only does he play soccer, he dives in the bathtub.

Papa

Today would have been my Dad's 54th birthday. I have been told that the first year is the hardest- the first birthday, anniversary, holidays, etc. I struggled all day to know what I could do to commemorate this day. I thought first of blogging all the things I love about my Dad and why I am grateful to have been his daughter. Second, because my Dad got really into Family History while he was sick, as a birthday present to him, Kwint and I are taking a pile of names to the temple tomorrow to perform sealings for several family members he started the work on and was never able to finish. I think that is what he would ask me for.

So, here is why I am glad Lee McDaniel was (still is, actually, forever) my Dad.
*He always made me laugh
*I always thought I was the favorite child
*He was friendly to anyone and everyone
*He would drop anything to render service to anyone
*He had absolute faith in the Priesthood
*He had a talent for building and made things beautiful
*He loved flowers and gardening
*When he was too sick to work anymore he started making blackberry jam and planted a garden big enough to share with all his neighbors and the local food bank.
*He used to give me "five" every time I walked past him, even if it was 20 times a day
*I always knew and I still know that he loves me
*He always put 100% of himself into any project
*He never called me my real name, always a nickname. As a child it was Princess, as a teenager it was "Tahina"which means "sweetheart" in Hawaiin, or Giner.
*He could rock my babies to sleep better than I could. He used his finger to stroke their foreheads until they were lulled to sleep and he called it his "rubber hammer".
*He loved missionaries
*He loved Family History
*He loved my Mom (still does)

There is more, of course, much more. The great things about my Dad could fill a book, and the love I have for him could fill the whole world. I hope that I can give my boys some of the goodness I gleaned from him. I wish they could have known him longer. Brennan will not remember him, but I hope Kaeleb will. He called Kaeleb "Little Buddy" and loved him so much.

I am so grateful for the sweetness of our last visit together. My parents came for Brennan's blessing, 6 weeks before he died. It felt so good and so peaceful that I actually thought "Maybe he is going to get better- this just feels so right." He was so kind to my mom and talked about how he had learned that the secret to having a good marriage is unconditional love and putting each other first. We had just started the private practice and he was so supportive of Kwint and expressed his confidence that Kwint that would be successful. He told me that I am beautiful. He played cars with Kaeleb and when one set of wheels fell off his little dump truck he super-glued it back together and said "The truck is in the shop." He rocked Brennan to sleep and held him until his strength ran out. He asked my mom to take him and said he wished he could have held him longer.

They stayed an extra day to play. We made Hawaiian Haystacks and had Family Home Evening together. The Spirit was so strong and sweet and we didn't want to say goodnight.

Although we knew his time was short, it was shorter than we thought. We were planning a trip in February, but at Christmas they told us it would be a matter of days and I didn't have time to get there. It was so hard to know that I had already seen him for the last time in mortality and even harder when I talked to him on the phone for the last time. What do you say when you know it will be the last time, except "I love you"?

The last 7 months have been hard and I still miss him so much. I keep waiting for it to get easier, and I guess in some ways it is, but the pain still feels just as deep when I let myself feel it. But, I hope that as the years pass, I can remember him on each birthday with more smiles and less tears.

Walking and Wellness

What a fabulous summer we are having.

First though, we have a walker!!! Brennan is officially ten months old today and is walking. He still prefers to crawl when he is in a hurry (most of the time) but he can walk all the way across the room. He gets so excited while he is walking that he tries to jump and sometimes falls because of it.

Kaeleb is so cute and funny. Tonight he was trying to come out of the bathroom and accidentally turned off the light. He got SO scared and screamed SO loud. He cried for awhile. Later while Kwint was giving him a bath they talked about the experience. He said, "I screamed because it was just so dark, Dad. Like this, see?" He put a washcloth over his eyes and said, "Oh no! I can't see! I can't see!" and rammed himself into the side of the tub. He is always doing little cute antics that make us chuckle.

Kwint went up North for LARP on Thursday and had a great event. The boys and I stayed home because Grandma and Grandpa came down Thursday. Although we missed Kwint, we were not lonesome. They brought Maddi and Romalyn with them so we've had fun with lots of cousins. Jaiden and Maddi spent the night with us on Thursday night, we spent the night with G&G on Friday and Kaeleb spent ALL day shopping with Grandma on Saturday. He was so good he got a toy bow and arrow as a prize.

We have had so much fun. We have played several games of "Kaeleb-style" Monopoly, watched "Happy Feet" 3 times, and eaten at the Pizza/Pasta Factory twice.

Sunday was a big day for us. Kwint received a new calling to be the 2nd Counselor in the Elder's Quorum. He is very grateful for the chance to serve there. He says in a lot of ways he feels like a missionary again and he loves it. The presidency and their wives are really amazing and humble people. There has been a feeling of peace in our family and even though we are crazy busy already we know the Lord will bless us with the increased capacity we need for Kwint to fulfill his calling and for me to support him while also fulfilling my two callings.

We also did a family musical number in both the Junior and Senior primary, so we were all over the place at church.

I have started doing some Life Skills coaching at TurningLeaf and I love it. We have to get a bit crazy to coordinate our schedules so that we don't have to get a babysitter but it is working so far. My official title is "Body Image Improvement Coach."

I haven't blogged about the real story behind the Community Wellness Program Kwint runs at TurningLeaf because it is quite personal, but I am actually the one who developed the program. (Kwint calls me the program developer, sounds so official.) At the time I wasn't trying to develop a program, I was trying to heal from years of eating disordered behaviors and weight management issues, so I made up the program for me, with no idea what would become of it. It took me 9 years to fully develop it through a lot of prayer, scripture study, self-help books, therapy (no, not from Kwint-I had two different women therapists- he was the supportive husband and was actually still in school) and introspection.

As I healed and shared what I learned with Kwint he wanted to use it. He added a lot of therapeutic info and activities and solidified it in a way that it could be used for our program. He has been presenting it in lecture form at a local health spa, in groups at TurningLeaf, and we are working on making it into a seminar. Now I am using it in an individual coaching format.

The reason I'm opening up now is that we wrote a workbook. We are picking up the first copies tomorrow. It was made to be used in conjunction with the lectures and groups, but we are also going to sell them at health clubs, spas, online, and at TurningLeaf. So, if I am opening myself up to the entire community and beyond, I figured I might as well confide in my friends and family who read this blog. Now you all know and I'm glad I got that over with.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!! We hope you all had a day of of celebration.... here is how we celebrated:Red, white, and blue pancakes....appetizing? (Kwint ate the white ones.)
Next, a trip to the Town Square to play in the lazy river and splash pad, and we watched the raising of the flag, said the Pledge of Allegiance and heard a little girl sing the National Anthem.

Mom chillin'...
Dad chillin'...
Bren chillin'...
Kaeleb chillin'....

We were happy to have the Chavez Family come to visit this weekend, although we forgot to take any pictures of them, we promise they were here. We made calzones for dinner and vanilla ice cream with blueberries and strawberries for dessert. (Red, white, and blue.)

We drove up to the airport bluff and had a little tailgate party to watch the fireworks. Here is a random sampler:



Last, here is one of Bren standing for your entertainment. He can do much more than he would for the camera, but it's funny anyway. Also, I did blog about the family reunion from last weekend in the blog below.

Family Reunion

Ah.... Green. We went to Heber for a family reunion last weekend and stayed at the Trendwest Condos in Midway. My mom, our niece Brittney, and Gerritt & Melissa with their Abby came too and it was so fabulous to be together. Midway is so beautiful. The first thing we do when we are financially free will be a summer home in Midway.
We swam in the pool....
Had a picnic at Jordanelle....
Rode the Heber Creeper....

And spent lots of time with my Dad's cousins and my cousins. Contrary to the groan of agony most people pop out at the words "Family Reunion" we had a really great weekend. (Even the talent show wasn't that bad.)

Kaeleb's favorite part was the train ride. We had an extra ticket so we brought our nephew on the "other side", Talan. He lives in Heber. The boys were bursting with excitement the whole time. We stopped at a meadow and ate dutch oven cooking and went on hay rides. The whole experience lasted about 3 hours.


Brennan is standing unsupported for about as long as he wants to and can take 2 steps at a time. He is our wild child. We so love being his parents because he is so happy (as long as he can see one of us) and is so funny. He is also very exhausting to parent, because when he isn't crying to be held or being held, he is dangling tail up with his top half stuck in the toybox, sitting in the dishwasher or standing next to the dishwasher flinging things out of it, dumping out the garbage cans or dipping his fingers in the toilet.

Kaeleb is doing a lot of math these days. While we drive around he counts on his fingers. I hear him muttering "2 + 3 is... 1,2,3,4,5... 5! Mom! 2 + 3 is 5!" He has memorized, "1+1=2, 2+2=4, 4+4=.... Mom? What is 4+4?"

Kaeleb and his active little imagination have us laughing a lot. I have written before about his imaginary friends, Kegagegah and Hadaheda. Now they have a pet fish. (Kaeleb has a real fish too, a Betta named Fin Guy, but he can't tote him around and play games with him.) He took the seat out of a little plastic boat he plays with in the bathtub, put it in a tupperware filled with water and said, "Mom, this is my imaginary fish." I asked what his name is and without even hesitating Kaeleb said, "His name is Shirt Destroyer Mac." I said, "Wow, that's quite a name." He said, "Yes. It's because if I let him out of his tank he will destroy any shirt he finds. He will smash it to pieces. He also destroys Mac'n'Cheese. So, he is Shirt Destroyer Mac." I said "Holy Mackerel!" and we changed his name to Shirt Destroyer Mackerel.

Well, that is that around here. We are quite excited to see Dave, Staci, and Chloe for the 4th of July and we'll blog more later!!