Great New Movie

So I just found out that tomorrow (well, technically today, Wednesday, but I'm going to sleep between now and then...) there will be a free screening of The Errand of Angels at Thanksgiving Point at 7:30pm. This is a great new movie that Cory's work will be putting it in theaters this fall, and I'd highly encourage you to go if you have the time. You'll need a free ticket, which can be found here, just click on the link to the printable ticket. You can also watch the trailer at that site. Feel free to tell others about the screening, too, and take a couple friends with you. Just make sure to get there a little early so you can hopefully get a seat... sorry again about that, Becky.

The movie is about a girl who receives her mission call and serves in Austria. I never served a mission, but I hear that it pretty accurately portrays what missionaries go through, and it is beautifully put together. I really enjoyed it when I saw it at the LDS Film Festival a few months ago, and I hope you like it too. If you do go see it, please let me know what you think (just because I want to know).

Gardening

So the weekend of Mother's Day, Cory and my family helped me get our garden ready for planting, and we also reshaped and planted the front flower beds. In the flower beds, I have some old bushes that were here when we moved in, some grasses (Mom, can you give more specifics?), coneflowers and/or black-eyed susans, and daisies, as well as some basket of gold and snow in summer (mostly dead... I blame Herschel...). In the garden, we've got tomatoes (several different varieties), peppers (a variety again), cantaloupe, watermelon, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, corn, and beans. I'm so excited! Anyway, here are the results (the pics are over a week old, though... the garden is growing so much now! I'll post newer pics later, as I take them):


Notice the new shape in the front of the flower bed, and all the new plants! Only a couple have died... not bad considering they're starts from my mom's beds!


This is our garden area, right next to the house. I was worried about the shade initially, but it seems to get enough sun.


And this is a closer-up pic of the tomatoes and peppers... I've never grown peppers before, but I'm excited for them... now I'll just have to figure out how to use all this produce!

A New Product to Love

So I've had some friends recommending the Shout Advanced spray gel for a while now, and I'd been meaning to try it out. After going to a dinner party at some friends house with Breanne in white pants (not expecting the red jello...), I decided that it was time. And I am thrilled with the results! I don't have after pics (maybe I'll take some later) but let me just say that the pants went from the pictures below back to a pure white. Amazing. I highly recommend it for people with kids. It does seem to work better when I let it sit for a while, though, fyi.

Cool Pool!!

So we finally bought Breanne a pool, which I've been wanting to do for a long time. I was originally planning on just getting a cheap little plastic one, but then saw these on sale at Target for about $25.00, and couldn't resist... we'd been wanting a slide, too, so this serves both purposes.

Breanne loved the pool from the very start, which sort of surprised me--she had so much fun in the water! I thought I'd have to do some convincing, but she just slid right in, and loved it.







So we invited Spencer, Breanne's friend who lives across the street, to come swim, too. He, unlike Breanne, was not so very fond of the water from the start, and at first was sliding down and leaping out as soon as he could... but pretty soon he got to enjoying it, too.






And little Janey (who will probably swim later this summer) was totally content to watch from her car seat. She also loves to play with the little toys on the handle bar of her seat, so she was a happy girl, too.

Recent Breanne

So here are a few of Breanne lately...

I discovered her hair was long enough to braid! Cute, huh!






And this last one is a little different--Breanne's grandma Kilger gave her some letters to put on her wall that spell her name--Breanne got them down the other day (they were sitting on her shelf waiting to be put up) and attempted to spell her name--and got pretty darn close! The letters were all out of order when she picked them up, if you're wondering, so she put them in this order all by herself.

On Losing

(mumbles) The one thing you're taught not to do is fail.

(short pause, then) And if you do fail, you don't cry.

(longer pause) And if you do cry, you do it in your room. By yourself.


I love "So You Think You Can Dance."

A Conversation with Breanne

This morning's conversation:

(I open her bedroom door to find her sitting right behind it, reading her books)

Me: Good morning, Breanne
B: Hi, Ma. Hi cat (to Hazel, right behind me).

Me: It's cold in your room, huh.
B: Right. Brr.

(shuffles to get up)
Me: Would you like some cereal for breakfast?
B: Nope. Me-er Man. (her version of Peter Pan)

(Breanne walks to the tv in the front room and proceeds to turn on Peter Pan (by herself, of course), which we had begun last night, but turned off because it was too late to finish it.)

So I try to get her to eat, but she just wants to watch tv...sheesh.

Breanne is talking so much these days, and is so funny sometimes! Very opinionated, too. Like when Grandpa and Jake asked her to jump the other day, and she simply said "No." and that was the end of the story.

Other Breanne-isms:

--Wah hammend? (Meaning "What happened," usually comes after she's thrown her cup off the table, or something equally unexpected happens)

--Nay-nu (insert name here, like "Nay-nu Boppa). (Means "Thank You, Grandpa," generally only comes after a reminder of "What do you say," to which she responds "Peese!" and you say, "No...")

--elnant wide peese? (referring to her new pool, which has an elephant slide that she loves)

--Wed, dop. Neen go! (most often heard in the car, when Breanne notices the stoplights, and reminds us of which color means what action)

--Huppy duck in house (Actually means puppy stuck in his house... definitely need to work on more consonant sounds.)


There are a bunch more, but these are the only ones currently coming to mind. Another favorite of mine are her names for people--

Dad--Dad
Mom--Ma
Grandma--Mama
Grandpa--Boppa
Stu--Du
Shilo--Wiwo
Herschel--Hwerno
Jake--Djake
Chris--Kwis
Becca--Deet-da
Kimmy--Mimi
Cory --Can't remember...
Katie--Natie
Colin--I'm not remembering right this second, either
Kylie--Ky
Kelly--I think the only sister who doesn't have a name yet somehow, but Breanne really does know and love her, don't worry...
Kasey--Dee

Have I mentioned recently how much I love watching her grow and learn to put things together? It's one of the best things in the world. Kids are so amazing!

Making Cookies Is Fun To Do

So back before my computer crashed, Breanne and I made some cookies while Janey was taking a nap. It was a lot of fun, and Breanne was super cute, so I snapped a few photos, of course...