Dad and Rebecca Visit - Palmyra

I'm one lucky lady because my dad and sister came to visit back in May. 

We had a huge list of stuff to do, and we did it all. It was a fun filled 9 days.

(My dad could only stay for like 5 days. Something about work???? I don't know. Lame excuse if you ask me.)

Of course we had to go to Palmyra. It's a must-do. Especially since Rebecca had never been before! My dad watched the girls so we could do some righteous temple work and we saw all the sights. Book of Mormon publications site, Hill Cumorah, the Peter Whitmer Farm and of course, the Sacred Grove.

Some funny/awesome things to remember about our excursion: 

When we came out of the BOM publication site, I was taking a picture of Rebecca in front of it, when along comes a guy. A crossing guard? A street cleaner, maybe? Not sure. He was wearing a shiny vest. But we were pretty sure he wasn't 'all there.' Not so sound rude. Even though it kind of is. He decides to photobomb. No, not even that because that would require sneakiness. He just thought perhaps Rebecca wanted to take a picture with him. So, he joined right in. And I took that picture, yes I did. We were giggling about that for a while.

While Rebecca and I got roped into the entire visitors center at Hill Cumorah (love those missionaries), Grandpa Stevie took the girls for a hike. They climbed up the entire Hill Cumorah. I was quite impressed. 

At the Peter Whitmer Farm, there must be some miscommunication with opening/closing times. The missionaries at Hill Cumorah told us it would be closed, by the time we got there. We went anyway, just to see it. So, there we were pressing our faces up against the glass on the windows when out comes the missionaries there! We were a little embarrassed! Did they see us from inside? Yikes. We got a laugh out of that too. We also got the whole tour! :)

Darcy got bored by the time we got to the Book of Mormon site. And she still sucks her arm.

There's our friend! How friendly.

 

1st Day of Kindergarten... 3 weeks late

Okay, so I'm not going to win blogger of the year. 

So what, who cares?

Better late than never. 

At least that's what crappy bloggers say. 

Regardless, my kid did in fact start school!! Just like everyone else's kid! 

She was pretty darn excited too. AND, she still loves it. Thank goodness! 

She has exciting things to tell me all the time.

Monday is music day.

Tuesday is gym.

Wednesday is art.

Thursdays they go to the Library.

Friday is gym again. 

Ah, see. By writing about this SO LATE it comes with a this-is-how-school-is-going-update.

I'm a genius.

A lazy genius.

Anyway, back to kindergarten.

She's mostly excited when she gets to see her friend Shelby at recess. 

She also has a friend on the bus, Brenda, who is always giving her stuff. Pencils, rings, capri suns, and asian candies. The weirdest thing so far was a biscuit with mango inside... what??? I'm pretty sure the school has an absolutely no sharing food policy. And those two are breaking the rules. Good thing Brinkley isn't allergic to anything. 

You know, like biscuits and mango. 

Again... What????

And most days Brinks gets off the bus with bright pink lipstick. Or other bright colored makeup.

One day she even put Brinkley's hair into a ponytail for her. And apparently taught her how to tie shoes (how long are they on that bus?)

Ah, the perks of being friends with Brenda.

It's almost become a game with me. "I wonder what Brenda gave her today?" 

"How poor are Brenda's parents going to be after giving Brinkley all this crap?" 

"I wonder if Brinkley will notice I threw that blue pencil box in the garbage?"

"I wonder if Brenda will ever realize that this is a one-sided friendship because Brinkley never gives her anything back?"

See? Fun, huh?

You know what surprises me most about school? How FAST it goes. The first day I was like "Seven whole hours? How will I ever survive without her! The school has her longer in a day than I do!!! Waaaaahhhh!"

Now, I'm like, "What the? It's already 3:30? I just showered. Where did my day go?"

I thought it would be the longest day ever. Turns out, it flies right by. 

As do my weeks. And months.

Life is zooming by me faster than I can keep up.  

I keep wondering if I will ever get the hang of this mom thing.

Oh well.

Here's the cutie:

Giving her scraggly sister a hug.

We were out there pretty early the first morning waiting for the bus. This is Brinkley pretending she is an elephant. The backpack straps are her elephant ears.

On the bus! I feel lucky this isn't anything new to us. She rode the bus last year.  With Brenda! Ha ha.

Driving away from me. For 7 hours.

And not to leave Darcy out of all this fun: She misses her sister while she is at school.

Playing by herself is not nearly as much fun! She keeps asking me, "Mom, will you play to me?" 

She asks in her sweetest voice (a rarity). It's hard to say no. 

So, we play, even though I am quite the believer in kids learning to play independently. 

But sometimes I do have to say no when I have a lot going on and she says "ooohhha" and gets this horrible dejected look on her face and mopes around. It is so sad. Fortunately, she is getting used to it and now spends a lot of time looking through our library books. Hallelujah! (she hasn't really been into books in the past, I was worried there for a bit)

Ah, see? She's learning to play independently. It's good for her.

I also feel it necessary to show you that while Darcy is a scragglemuffin most days (not her fault, mine), she can, in fact, look cute. This is her on Brinkley's first day of school!

Laying in the warm sunshine. We call these kitty naps.

She's adorable, right?
Well, until she pulls this face:

She is her own little person, with a ton of personality. And she is giving me a run for my money.

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 So now... here's what I'm wondering. 

Is this a terribly inappropriate time to mention that Brinkley graduated from preschool clear back in June? 

No? 

Great. 

She graduated. Back in June.

They had a big shebang with bounce houses and games and a thousand people wandering around this sports center, wondering where to go. It was total chaos. 

Too much for a self-proclaimed introverted-homebody like me.

But my graduate was the cutest one there. 

Marching in line. To a seriously sappy country song. Loved every minute.

For a long time she couldn't see me. I literally watched her face get sadder and sadder and sadder.

Ah, but then she saw me! There's my happy girl.

Here she is with Shelby. So, my daughter gets just as easily overwhelmed in chaotic situations as me. She was ready to GO. And I was like well, let's get your picture with Shelby first. Which should have cheered her up. But it didn't. As you can clearly see by the expression on her face.

It took some enthusiastic, tickly kisses from Shelby to get a smile on that face. I love Shelby so much. What a kid. She's awesome because she has this awesome family who are just like this. Oh, you're sad. Let's kiss you to death until you smile. And it works.

Her preschool teachers, from left to right: Miss Millie, Miss Colleen, and Miss Erin

Blueberry Pie

I don't remember ever really having blueberries as a kid. 

I missed out.

The blueberries grow in abundance here and man, are they are delicious!

Certainly something I will miss when I have to move away from this beautiful place in 2 years.

Since my time with these berries already feels so short, I have tried to make the most of it!

I think all together, with the multiple trips to the u-pick farm this summer, we picked at least 14 pounds of blueberries. Maybe more. 

(Well, Brinks and I did. Darcy just ran around in the bushes. Freaking me out when I couldn't find her)

That's a lot of blueberries!

And you know what? We just ate most of them, straight out of the u-pick box.

Soooooo good.

They don't need anything special. They are too good plain.

And perhaps this is TMI, but all of us had blueberry poop for a full week as well.

That's the most unpleasant part.

Yep. TMI.

Awkward.

Anyway.....

You can't pick 14 pounds of blueberries and not make pie.

So, pie I made. Yes indeed.

2 of them. And they both went remarkably fast. Too fast.

We shared one with the missionaries. :)

Elder Cosman told me that my pie crust was the best he has ever had. And his family owns a bakery. Thank you very much. 

Actually, thank you Shelly Dinger, for teaching me how to make pie crust a few years back. 

What a great skill to have! 

 And I passed on that skill to my good friend Mari.

(We had a 'Mari and Hayley week of fun' in August. A blueberry picking, pie making, ballet recital doing, zoo going, antique week scavenging week of fun. And you know what, we didn't even get sick of each other!)

Here's our drool worthy pies: