Hallie

Hallie is my favorite little girl in this world! She knows how to push my buttons but I love her so much and wouldn't want her any other way. She constantly blows me away with how smart, coordinated and talented she it! She gave up napping this month and we have incorporated quiet time into our afternoons instead. Sometimes the evenings are difficult because she becomes very emotional and sensitive from being tired but she goes to bed without a fight every night! Sure love my Hallie girl!

Practicing the splits

 She has really loved to eat meat as of late. She likes to eat off the bone, just like her dad. This makes Russ very happy and he loves having another carnivore to share his meat with!

 Playing in the dirt at Shelli's house

 This girl and her hedgehog (Ollie). She continues to love this thing! I check on her every night before I go to bed. She it the most beautiful little girl!

 She got her first black eye this month! Brooks was chasing her and she was backing up towards the kitchen when she decided to turn her head to run and ran into the corner of the counter. Quite the doozy she got!

Australia

Russ has been in Australia all week for business. His work has an office there. He has never been to Australia before so he was semi-excited to see the country a bit. The time difference between Utah and Melbourne, Australia is 16 hours. It was so crazy to have him be on a complete opposite schedule as me and the kids. Surprisingly, adjusting to this time change was easier than adjusting to the time change in Europe, which is only a 12 hour difference. Overall, he had a good business trip there. He was able to explore the country just a tad bit and do some fun things instead of just work the whole time.

My week was good with the kids and I tried to jam pack our days with as much as we could to keep us all busy. The nights are always lonely and I hate them but we survived!

Here are the pictures Russ took while there. Comments on pics were made by him.

Lysterfield Park looking for kangaroos. I saw some from a distance but never any up close. 

 AFL game.  Richmond Vs Collingwood.

@ the MCG

Stadium holds about 100k fans

St. Kilda Beach. We went there hoping to find penguins but didn't see any, unfortunately.

It was reeeeeaaaalllly windy!

 Downtown Melbourne off in the distance

 Some good street art

 Entrance to Chinatown

 Russell Street

Cookies

Since Russ has been out of town this week, I decided to make some cookies to bring to Allie's baptism today. These cookies take quite a bit of time to make but since my nights were open this week, I knew I had the time to do it. I'm really liking to make cookies and I'm getting better at them too!

New truck

So for months Russ has been talking about wanting to get a truck. The conversation always went like this. "I want a truck," Russ says. I respond with saying, "You don't need a truck." He then would go on with how useful a truck would be..."better to drive in the snow," "can pull a trailer," "can do more projects for the home"... .He then responds with, "Well my car is getting old and if we do something now we can sell it for a couple grand. But if we wait, we won't be able to get anything for it." I imply that we should just wait for it to die and then we can buy him something else. And then the conversation ends.

Well recently he brought up to me that he doesn't feel safe in his little car with the kids. He said that if they were to get in an accident then it would not be good. That was about all I needed to hear and I quickly responded with, "Okay, go buy whatever you want."

The car shopping began. We originally looked into buying a car for me that had a 3rd row. We also wanted a car that could tow a trailer should we buy a travel trailer in the future. We looked into getting a durango but weren't sure on the tow capacity. Ultimately, we decided that a truck would be better to tow things and so Russ' dreams came true when we bought a truck. In fact, after we signed the papers, he said to me, "This is like a bucket list item for me, Ky!" Haha!

It's a really nice truck and although Russ got exactly what he wanted, I am also really happy with the purchase. After a lot of research, we bought a GMC Canyon and it is perfect for what we wanted. I am most happy that he feels like the kids are safe in it but I am also happy that it is safe for Russ too. We plan to go camping soon and rent a travel trailer and it will be nice to have this vehicle to tow it with!

 We posted Russ's mazda on KSL and within 4 hours it was sold! It was pretty easy and we got even more than what we wanted! It was perfect!

Tumor update!

Prior to meeting with the radiologist, my mom had to have another MRI. Unfortunately, the MRI showed that the neurologist did not get all the tumor, like he had thought, and that radiation is absolutely necessary or else the tumor will grow back and she will eventually need brain surgery again. I guess the remaining tumor was hidden behind a blood vessel, and so it was easy to miss during surgery. We were all very discouraged to hear this news! The neurologist felt very confident that he got all the tumor out and so the thought that the tumor was still in her head did not really occur to me. My mom now has to do radiation everyday (M-F) for 6 straight weeks. And then another MRI will be taken, which will hopefully confirm that the tumor is gone for good!

My mom has to go to Riverton hospital every morning for radiation. She wears a mask, specially fitted for her, and is bolted down to the table so she can not move her head even a little. This makes treatment as accurate and efficient as possible but it also make treatment uncomfortable and claustrophobic. Luckily, each treatment only lasts about 15 minutes. The actual procedure does not hurt but there are side effects such as nausea, headaches and fatigue. 

**6/1/19: My mom has been going to radiation for the past 5 weeks. She is almost done! She has been very tired but has had minimal side effects otherwise. Luckily, with no job, she is able to rest as much as she needs to during this time in her life. They will do a repeat MRI in about a month to see how effective radiation was. I really hope the tumor is gone. I'm not sure how much more my mom can mentally and physically endure.

Brooks- 14 Months

Brooks is growing up so fast!! He exclusively walks now and has transitioned into toddlerhood very well! He is into everything and is such a busy boy! He is also the messiest boy around. He LOVES to empty/dump everything and loves making messes! He recently has started to like throwing our shoes in our hamper. Silly boy! He is so much messier than Hallie ever was.

He is really loving balls as of late and is loving to shoot hoops. He sleeps soundly through the night. He loves to eat! I'm surprised that this kids first word wasn't "eat," like his daddy's first word was eat. Haha! Although he looks just like his daddy, he sure is a mamas boy, especially at night. He is so snuggly and I absolutely love his snuggles! I am absolutely crazy in love with my happy Brooksie boy! I'm definitely obsessed with him and I'm pretty sure I have an addiction problem to him!

 He thinks it is pretty funny to drink out of Hallie's water bottle

 Holy eyelashes dude!

 Emptying out all the books and movies!

 He loves his binky and burp cloth! I dread the day we have to get rid of his binky.

 From one mess to the other. I seriously can't keep up with this kid!

 Being outside is one of his favorite things to do! He loves to wander outside. He often will bring me his shoes or go and smack the door indicating that he wants to go outside!

 He loves falling asleep with his binky in his mouth while he strokes the tag on his burp cloth!

Another mess 

 All boy! He loves getting dirty and playing in the dirt. And no matter how many times I tell him not to eat the dirt, he still eats it. And he doesn't even act like he is disgusted to eat it. I can't imagine it tastes good at all!

Shooting hoops