June: Dance, Scat, and Lola

At the beginning of the month, the wild poppies in Alpine were perfect. I wanted to take the kids to show them but also to get some good pictures, and I thought this would be a great time to get some maternity pictures! I showed Rusty some shots I liked and he did a great job taking these. Della was not in a very good mood, so it made things a little bit tricky haha, but we did the best we could. A nice lady asked if we wanted a family picture and I love how it turned out! We are excited about this baby girl joining our family! 

Della started dance classes this month! She has always loved to dance and I wanted to give her a chance to do a class, and I think little teeny girls in dance is so fun and so cute. There is a recital at the end of July, so we are letting Della do two months of classes and then the recital and then we’ll take a break until next year. I got her a little dance outfit from Amazon and she was so happy. She absolutely LOVES her classes and is the only little girl that pays attention and does the dance moves haha. She is also the oldest one, at almost three so the rest of them are really little. Della always runs and finds her sticker to stand on and at the end of the class they turn the lights of and play music for them to free dance to. This is Della’s favorite part! Her teacher is Miss Gigi, and she loves her. 

We ran away to Colorado for a quick trip to see the family and also spend time at the cabin. We got two days there just us, which was fantastic because we don't normally ever get a chance to have it to ourselves. We wanted to go out because we knew we wouldn't be able to go for the reunion over Labor Day because of our new baby. This was our maiden voyage for our new van, Lola, and it was SO so nice. I felt so fancy and luxurious because there was so much space for everyone and for all of our stuff. We went straight to the cabin and had our alone time there first. The first night that we were there everyone wanted to go fishing, so we got the fishing stuff out and set them loose at the pond. I love it there!

The next day we hiked around close to the cabin and looked for scat and animal tracks. I brought some books from the library about that and they were so excited to look for them, and I was really surprised by how much we found! We found deer and elk tracks, and rabbit, elk, deer, moose, and bear scat. So much! Then we played in the canoe, went shooting, took a really easy four wheeler ride up to the waterfall, and went over to Rex's pond to try fishing. Henry really wanted to catch a fish so we were trying to go to good places for him, but no luck for him. Rusty caught a really beautiful one though!

The following day we went over to a lake that was supposed to be really good for catching fish to try to get Henry a fish. We tried and tried and could see them following the lures, but we didn't catch any. We all got some nibbles though! Right as we were about to leave we tried a new spot of the lake, and Henry caught one! He was so excited! Both kids wanted to eat it haha, but we definitely wanted to let it go. The rest of the day we stayed inside the cabin because it got really cold and rainy. Phyllis and Levi and some kids came up for dinner and we ended up going back to Canon City that night instead of staying at the cabin one more night because of the weather.

Sunday we spent the day with Granddad and Grandma Joan. The kids got to see the horses and we got to chat and catch up with them. They are such great people and we always enjoy our time with them!

Monday we spent the day in Canon with Phyllis and Desi while Rusty got some work done. We explore the dinosaur tracks up Skyline Drive and then drove around Canon to find some of the dinosaurs they have around. The kids loved that! That afternoon the kids and I went to Kelsey's and just the kids play in the water on the trampoline and get some energy out. They had a great time and I felt relaxed that I didn't have to keep them on their best behavior. They got to just play and have fun with their cousins! We went home the next day and I loved the van again haha.

Another weekend we spent up in Morgan and we went up to Stringtown  in the side by side. One kid got to drive the side by side, and one kid got to ride in the tractor with Papa and drive that. We also went over to Uncle Blair's to see his bees because we are studying bees this month for home school. 

Home school went really well this month! This was our first month of being very deliberate about it and Henry got to choose the subject to learn about for Science. He didn't even hesitate and said, "Bees!" He has been very obsessed with them since we were in Bali for some reason. We do songs and rhymes and read books for the morning basket, and then do some fun activities to help them learn about the bees. By the end of the month both of them could tell you the life cycle of a bee and the body parts of the bee. For music we learned about "Flight of the Bumblebee" and Adeline was so terrified of that song haha. She would just cry and had to sit outside on the porch until it was over. I made the mistake of saying that it sounded like a hornet was coming when the music sped up, and then she would just yell, "NO ME LIKE HORNET SONG!!" Henry is so sweet and tells me over and over how much he likes school and he's so glad I'm his teacher. It makes my heart so happy.

His first shopping list!

Henry did swimming lessons again this year! We only did a two week session because going every single day is exhausting, but we’re planning on doing another session with him in the Spring. He is the youngest one in his class but he is doing such a great job! I am so proud of him! He absolutely loves going to his swimming classes.

We also hiked Willow Lake Trail with the Barruses and it was a really beautiful trail up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was shady and full of aspen trees and little creek crossings. We stopped at a spot where the river was shallow and wide and let the kids go nuts, and then my kids and I went up a little further to see the lake and everyone else turned around and started back down. I want to do this hike again in the fall! 

Rusty and I dropped the kids off with the Bartons' babysitter and did a little hike up by their house. It was really pretty but it got pretty dang steep and I was scared my pregnant body wouldn't be able to make it back down if we kept going haha. After the hike we stopped at a yard sale and then went to the most delicious Asian Buffet. It was a great day, and a real treat because we never get a babysitter!

Father's Day

Seven Peaks

Blackridge Reservoir

Sleeping Beauty

Pottery

Catherine's Trail

Henry's Highlights

• Is very into scat and tracks and animals
• Has been very into his "privacy" lately. He wants to change clothes with someone else close by because he is scared, but he will yell "Don't look at my privacy!" Finally one day I was like, "Henry! Nobody wants to look at your privacy!" and then Della says, "I do!" and squats down and stares right at his penis haha. Seriously!?
• Is very sweet to me with my pregnancy. Lets me get extra "pregnancy sleep" and brings me snacks.

                                               

Adeline's Adventures

Adds, "you know?" at the end of most sentences

Wakes us up every single morning by saying, "I'm hungry."

"peem, purple, and yeyo" are her favorite colors. And if you talk about any of them she says, "Oooo! My favorite!"

Says, "It's fime" all the time. Like, "Della don't do that you could hurt yourself." "It's fime." with a little wave of her hand.

Extra Pictures

I tried a new idea where they got a "subscription" box every month. It only lasted for three months. Haha.

Forest school!

Peas from the garden!

Rusty loves this go kart track so much!

Kids doing my hair haha