Out in the sun

We went to the Red Gate Farm today out on Lance Road, the girls enjoyed running around on the beautiful property. I saw these flowers, just thought they were so gorgeous I had to get a shot!

Ruby sat in these red chairs next to a lady she didn't know, just chatting it up with her. They both enjoyed playing around on them.

The chickens were the highlight of the day there, Elsie was fascinated by them and they both loved pulling weeds and feeding them. I especially loved the black and white speckled ones, so unique.

Beautiful sunflowers out on their property.

Later in the day, we went to see Mike's band perform for the parents and family their marching show. Really awesome this year, fun to chat with my friend Tanya and for Ruby and Elsie to play with her daughter Jaqueline.

Elsie playing peek a boo behind a tree, so cute!

Ruby and Jaqueline chatting away as we ate at the Marching Band BBQ.

After it was all over, Tanya and Jaqueline came over to visit for a bit. Tanya and I chatted over coffee as the girls ran around and played with all the toys. Elsie was so funny, she saw sister wearing some bunny ears and went in and put them on herself. She came running out with them on and we all had a good laugh. She was all smiles and excited that she got a reaction from us. She kept taking them on and off and even did some dancing for us. So cute! We love our friends!

Cousins

Ruby had fun at the park picking flowers with Ciara :)

Kylar being silly with Elsie!

Kylar and Elsie sit and watch Ciara and Ruby pick flowers together in a nearby field.

We picked up Kylar and Ciara today and spent the day with them. The girls always have a blast when they are around!

Threat of Fire

Well, there was a wildfire that started just over the hill from our house today. I was feeling okay about it until I saw my neighbors loading stuff into their van from the house and also the other neighbors doing the same thing. Smoke started to get heavier and so we had to close the windows. At this point, I decided that I would pack up all the pictures since that is really the only thing that I would want. I had about five boxes loaded in case we had to evacuate the area. As we ate dinner, it started to look more promising. The sky started to clear up and we were able to let the fresh air flow through the house again. Thank goodness for all the firefighters and their hard work, pretty scary. It was quite a bit of work to get all the pictures put away. Ruby had her little squirt bottle ready with water in case the fire came our direction, so funny!

On a more positive note, we picked up the CSA goodies today and there were all sorts of yummy vegetables and some fresh strawberries! The girls were in heaven, they gobbled them up. Elsie is quite the little berry lover. So excited to dig into all the great stuff they supplied us with this week, we even have some new types of squash to try and a few tomatoes. Loving it!

Hot Day...

I forgot my bag at a friend's house who lives on the opposite extremes of Cheney during a trip yesterday to see her new house. This morning I decided we would make the trek to their place again to get it. As we were leaving, I saw the signs to Green Bluff and decided "What the heck, we'll go!" I wanted to get the girls out berry picking and there is an organic farm up there that has just that. We headed there and they had blackberries for us to pick. Ruby got right to work picking as Elsie ran up and down each row. Once she noticed we were picking, she stopped a few times to grab at some berries. Ruby did a good job, she actually picked some that weren't fully ripe, but once I explained and showed her what to look for she did great. It was so hot, but we were able to pick about a pound of berries together. They were really yummy. Ruby's were smashed a bit from all the jumbling around, but it was really about the experience of it all and they loved it. Ruby wasn't too into eatting the berries, but Elsie gobbled them up and had juice stains all over her face from them. We brought them home and I mashed them up and cooked them into sauce to pour over vanilla icecream, everyone loved it!

Wow...it has been a long time since I posted!

First time in their bike trailer!

Kids Day at Riverfront Park with cousin Kylar.

Chugga-chugga-choo-choo with pals Macy and Uta!

Elsie going down on her own.

Crossing this rope for the first time on her own.

Saying Cheese to the camera at Music in Park at Sutton Park, love these summer events.

Jumping off the diving board on her own!

So proud with her certificate of completion!

Riding a horse at Gatto's with best bud Jaqueline!

Pictures with Kensie, Ruby was such a fishy!

Ruby loved her instructor!

This month is just flying by! The past two weeks have been all about swim lessons for Ruby! She loved them and looked forward to going everyday. Her swim instructor has known Ruby since she was Elsie's age, such a sweet girl and Ruby enjoyed every moment with her. Ruby brought her gifts many of the days, little crafts she put together and a rose from our yard on one day. On the last day of swim lessons, Kensie was gone and Ruby was a little bummed. She still went off the diving board all by herself twice! She was really proud and so was I! All the kiddos get a cute certificate for completing each level, Ruby was so excited to get hers. The instructor actually wrote a long note to her on the back which was really neat for her to hear. She was super excited for the candy that was attached to the certificate as well. It was great and I look forward to moving her on to the next level. We also visited Ruby's new preschool, I was surprised when she actually loved it and we stayed there for a whole hour. Ruby worked her way around the room to all the activities. So did Elsie! She was hesitant about the idea of it all, but once we went she was excited to be a part of it all. Most of her friends go to the same preschool which is really neat and makes her more comfortable.

I have spent the past two weeks riding my bike with the trailer attached, love it! The girls are a bit tight together, but they do great once you get going. We actually took off at 5 pm a few days ago for Fish Lake Trail and ended up going a total of 13 miles round trip. Both girls fell asleep on the ride there, so I took advantage of it and kept going all the way to the lake and to the playground. They got out and played for a bit, then we headed back and made it home by 7:30 pm. It was so neat to see the difference in the trail since February and March when we last walked there. So much more vegetation and way less water in the streams. Absolutely beautiful as always. Loved that bike ride and plan on going again tomorrow. Mike finally joined us on Sunday, we did a family bike ride to the bowling alley, played a game, and then took another path back home through EWU campus. So much fun, glad we could make it happen on his day off.

I have been busy planning a trip to Missoula and having a blast doing it! So many neat things to do there and I can't wait to go! We are going on the Hiawatha Trail which is really unique, about a 15 mile ride, to the 50000 silver dollar bar, staying at the KOA Kabins in Missoula, visiting Caras Park, hiking to the big M, going to Current's waterpark, visiting a ghost town called Garnet, going to the rivers there so I can see where my favorite movie "A River Runs Through It" was filmed, and just eatting at some fabulous places along the way. Yay! We really need this break, and it will be the first time we have gone anywhere for our anniversary weekend. Only 200 miles away, you can't beat that!

Elsie is keeping me hopping these days. So full of energy, climbing everything. She went for a few weeks where she wasn't eating much and it was driving me crazy. Now she is back to eatting, thank goodness! She spends most of her time following Ruby around and trying to do the things that she does. It is so neat to see them actually play together these days. Elsie will notice when something makes us laugh, start laughing herself and then keep doing it to get a reaction. So cute! She always is grabbing my finger and pulling me or someone else around to whatever she wants to do. She will bring you to the kitchen when she wants something to eat, bring you to a toy she wants to play with and so on. She also makes a certain noise when she wants more of something, very distinct. She now is saying "Ball". When we went to get the bike trailer, we also bought them both a ball. She held it the whole way home and said ball right away. Repeated it the whole way home and has said it ever since. She is totally fascinated by her belly button right now too, and will lift up her shirt to show you hers and touch it and then do the same to you. She is trying to say it too. She always tries to tickle Ruby and does the "Tickle, tickle, tickle" thing with her finger and says it too. We all get a kick out of it! She is also getting two more teeth in, she has four already and two more coming. Her front ones are pretty big, so cute and sure changes her look a lot. She also is saying "Cheese" when she sees a camera, I think she learned it from a play phone Ruby has that says that. She loves to share anything with Ruby, if Ruby has it she wants to try it. Also, she loves feeding herself with utensils. She is getting really good at chewing and eatting in general. She can now go down a slide all on her own, it is so funny to see. She used to grab our finger before she would go down. Now that she has it figured out, she will climb again and again and go down over and over. She even figured out how to climb up Ruby's swingset slide and go down all on her own. Looks funny with her little legs. She loves to be chased too, or think someone is chasing after her. She gets so excited. Oh my gosh...there is so much more. I just can't believe how much is going on with both girls right now! So neat to watch!

Grandpa Hunt

I really want to write down my memory of the visit we made to Grandpa Hunt in July, he just passed away yesterday and I am thankful I was able to spend some time with him.

We took the elevators up to his room at the hospital. When we got closer to his room, he had the curtain drawn and a nurse was speaking with him about a medication he would need to take. He was very sweet with her and talked about liking to have a glass of red wine occasionally and whether that would be okay. It was really neat to just stand there and listen to his voice.

When the nurse came around the corner, she told him that he had a visitor and that I was his niece. I corrected her and told her that I was his granddaughter. He said, "Well for goodness sakes, Eve is that you? I haven't seen you since you were a tiny baby like Elsie's size". We walked over to see him, he was in his bed and happy to see us.

Elsie was attached to me and Mike had Ruby at the bathroom, but they were soon to follow. The nurse went and got chairs for us to sit in, but I wanted to be up next to him to talk and hold his hand. Ruby decided to sit in the chairs. We held hands for quite awhile. He looked exactly like all the pictures I had seen. I think he was surprised that we made the trip up to see him in the hospital. He told us how he wasn't feeling well and I asked what was wrong or going on to make him feel bad. He told me that he was having trouble breathing and that it stemmed back to when he was a child, he had pneumonia or something like that which took a toll on his lungs. That he has had trouble with this off and on throughout his life.

It is hard to remember the exact details, but these are the parts that I remember the most. He told us that he had heard that we stopped in to see Grandma and that it was a nice visit. He also mentioned that Mike kept busy with Elsie at the house. He told Mike that he was proud of him as a father and a person. He talked with him about his job as a band director and mentioned another band director that he knew who was really good too. He told Mike that the ring that they had given him, that he heard that it didn't fit and not to be afraid to wear it on his other fingers. I let Elsie down and and she immediately started running around, Mike took her to look at the fish in the waiting room. Ruby was sitting in the chairs, he talked to her. He told her how pretty she was and said that if he made it out of the hospital and got better that he would keep the boys away with his walking stick. Ruby went up to talk with him and held his hand, they talked about our trip to Seattle and what we had done. She told him that we were staying with Rachel and Jimmy and that we had gone to the horse races. He asked if it was Emerald Downs. He was excited to hear that. We talked about how she rode a pony, and he told us that he watched that on the TV and saw the kiddos on the ponies. He told us a story about how we had a relative that was part of racing horses and was proud to share it with us. Ruby told him that our horse won. She listened and nodded as he told us stuff. She held his hand for a long time. She told him that she loved him and he told her the same before she went with Mike to the waiting room to look at the fish. Elsie stayed with me and I held her up close to him. She did not really want to hold hands, so he just touched her legs and talked to her as she leaned her head in toward me.

I remember moving over to the other side of him and holding his hand. I was able to give him a kiss, he told me that he wasn't able to shave and that his face was all stubbly because of it. I remember talking about his eyes and how they were blue just like the girls, he said something about how they weren't as brilliant blue as they used to be. He told me that he always wanted to see me and we both teared up, I couldn't help it. I think he wanted me to know that he cared about me even though we didn't see eachother over all these years. I told him it was okay, I understood.

I was only able to stay for about 45 minutes because the room was so small and the girls were restless and needed a nap. I really wanted to stay longer and visit some more as well as see my Grandma and Uncle who were on there way there. Wish it would have been possible. We both told eachother that we loved one another. I told him that I hoped he got better and headed out the door. I really wanted some pictures of us together, but didn't feel like it was appropriate to ask when he was feeling so bad. He will forever be in my memory though, it was a nice visit and I was glad to share my family with him. God is amazing, something told me that I needed to get over there to see them. I am so thankful for those moments we had together, they meant the world to me.

I was really upset the ride home, regretting all the years we missed together. Also, wishing that I could have spent more time with him than the time I did and that I could have seen him well. Mike talked through it with me and I tried to look at it in a different way. Valueing the time we had together rather than regretting all the time we missed.

My Grandma sent me an email telling me that he mentioned that Ruby held his hand and was so glad to see us. My mom also told me that she said that he told her that we were all beautiful. When he was passing, he had pictures of the whole family up close to him so he could see us all.

Rest in peace Grandpa Hunt, I love you.