About June

Sometimes it's hard to imagine June being a big sister because she is so good at being a little sister. When she goes to my aunt's house with her 7 (currently 5) kids she just plays and follows around my cousins and acts like one of them, thinking she is a big kid too. When she was at my friend Tanya's house with her four kids, she said that she sat around the dinner table with them, laughing and babbling into their conversations like she was a family member. And she loves to get attention for her ouchies and be cuddled with a blanket and some milk.

But then again.

The way she is with babies and younger toddlers than her makes me see that she is made to be a big sister. Whenever anyone visits with their younger one she brings toys to him or her and plays so nicely. Just last night we had an almost one year old here, only she's a pretty petite little girl who is still crawling, and June was SO gentle with her. She brought her toys to her and played along side her, giving her a soft little pat on the leg every now and then as if to reassure her.

When another friend was over with her three month old, June came over to where he was on the couch and softly rubbed his belly and then held his hand. She's the softest toddler around!

(Now, I know writing things like this often make people say, "Oh well that's just how all toddlers are," or, my favorite, "Just you wait. That will never last, she'll be worse soon!" And so today I declare that I don't care. June is her own unique self like every human being and in this post I want to highlight those things that I think are telling of the person she is and will be. And I'm choosing to focus on the good things. And I'm allowed to think my kid is the best, right?)

*Ahem. So anyway, she is so soft with babies. But she's also amazing with animals (except abe... she plays a little rougher with him.) My cat gets all alert and threatening and I'm like, "Calm DOWN Miso, she's the nicest toddler you'll ever meet," as she nicely pets him. She does give him hugs though, I guess no cat would like that...

She is not much of a climber or risk taker that way or very daring in the water. She seems to have a cautious soul. But when she's strapped in to something like her tree swing or rides at an amusement park she's crazy! She loves going higher than I want and to be twisted around a billion times on her swing. And she really had no fear or reservations about the rides at Lagoon and even wanted to go on some bigger ones that she was not allowed on. Also, she is pretty fearless when being tossed around by Buck.

She's a goof ball who picks up on subtle silly facial expressions and loves to laugh at silly little things. She likes to grab your cheeks together and and make strange noises. She loves to scare and attack people. Sometimes she will warn you by getting still, looking you in the eyes and whispering "oh no! Oh no!" Next thing you know she is throwing a stuffed dinosaur at you. She also likes to imitate me when I make silly voices, and she does a pretty good job at it!

So far she's not much of a hitter (although she obviously has her moments. and once, a two week streak) When she does hit me out of rage she instantly melts from angry to distraught toddler in two seconds and cries- I can tell that she feels out of control and is scared. It's been hard to know if I should punish her or comfort her in those moments! haa.

Which brings me to her sensitive soul. She doesn't fight back much, just cries. Kid takes her toy? Cries. Kid hits her? Cries. Kid screams really loud? Cries. Another adult disciplines her and she gets so sad, like, "oh no, now they don't like me anymore!" and usually cries.

(When I was a kid, I remember being this way and crying all the time and in kindergarten the other kids always called me a cry baby... so now I'm kind of worried she'll get pushed around. BUT I'm jumping ahead of myself here. Don't have to cross that worry bridge until I get to it, right?)

That having been said, June is SUPER SOCIAL. Any kid who comes in the door is immediately a friend and ushered into her room to play. She is always trying to play with other kids when we are out somewhere. They don't always share the same sentiment (especially the older kids) but when a stranger wants to play, she is elated. She is turning into a girl who likes to play together and interact.

She's really into imagining and scenarios. She has a little doll house and loves to make the mommy feed the baby, the daddy sit on the toilet (haha), the mommy and daddy to kiss and hug, and for them to have conversations and help each other up when they fall.

She has been holding pens and crayons right for a long time now and is so deliberate in what she draws or writes. She gets pretty focused too and even makes songs up that go with the rhythm of what she is drawing. She draws "real" pictures of different animals and mommies and daddies and babies, but at this point, those photos are impossible to decipher apart from her telling us so.

She is focused on whatever it is- T.V. shows or movies, games, puzzles. She seems to learn fast and is getting pretty good and figuring things out and puzzles. She's always been pretty observant.

She is a talker. Talk talk talk! She can get going pretty fast and those times can be hard to know what she is saying. Some of her pronunciations are still pretty... creative, (you should heard the strange German sound she makes for her "k's" and "g's") but obviously that comes with the age. She is saying  a lot but she is certainly not advanced in her speech. And it's funny and I'll miss her babbles when they are gone.

So there you have it. Maybe it's super boring to read about a toddler but I figure it's really just my family and good friends who read this and you care, right? :) I could obviously go on and on about her little personality- about her dancing and her singing and the way she wont let anybody else say the dinner prayer besides her.... but I'll save it for my journal.

Thanks for all your love and support of our little family!

My Sister's Wedding!

My sister got married!!!!! 

And we got to be there for all of it.
Buck was lucky to be able to work from "home" for the week so we left Monday and stayed until Sunday. I didn't take many pictures of the days leading up to the wedding, but in that week we got to spend time together, June went swimming a few times,

my mom, Erin, and I got manicures and pedicures,

I took bridal photos of Erin (see below), and we did things for the wedding. I got to see a couple friends but mostly I was home. Oh and Buck and I went to the Antique Mall for a good hour and came home with one copper mug. Success? Yes.

Before I go any further, let it be known that I was not their wedding photographer, aside from doing some bridals. But I couldn't help myself from photographing some of the day. :) (and I can show more of the cute June photos when they get their photos from the professional)

 Friday was the day of the wedding and a definite highlight of our lives. Erin looked perfect, Dan was on cloud nine,

the temple sealing was wonderful, my dad made an epic slide show of them that we all got to view at the luncheon, and the reception was enough to make me jealous and want to get married all over again (but to Buck, again.)

The reception was in a nice, clean barn. There were tables with wooden chairs and log benches. There were candles and flowers everywhere- I was especially obsessed with the flowers. They had someone come in and put drapes up to lower the ceiling. There was a barn door with photos of them on it. There was old furniture and pianos with photos on them.

And then there was the food!

There was smoked pork with three kinds of barbeque sauces, mac and cheese, stuffed mushrooms, corn bread muffins, pickled veggies, potato wedges wrapped in bacon, fruit in lavender sauce, and... I think that was it. It was the perfect food for the barn theme and it all tasted amazing.

For dessert there was dutch oven apple crisp with vanilla ice cream, pudding pie parfaits, cookies, and mint chocolate brownies. (and of course cake!) Are you hungry yet? I was so obsessed with this cake. It was an art piece.

(can you even believe this cake decorator? She piped all that lace on the pink layers! And sculpted those flowers out of gum paste. I think she should be famous.) 

June was happy to stay up late and eat candy and dance the night away with everyone else.

And I got to wear her flower wreath because she refused (two year olds these days.) But I was more than happy to be the hippy bridesmaid.

And now, here are some of Erin's Bridal photos!

I am the most attractive photographer that I know, clearly.

I hope that Erin and Dan are having the best honeymoon in Cancun right now! Yay for weddings and eternal families. And a thank you to all those who cared and showed support by coming to the wedding and helping out. Weddings have a funny way of filtering out those who care and those who don't, am I right? So thank you to all you who showed your love!

xoxo

Jade

The days were getting rough. My sister in law, Jade, was about to go home from a summer working in Maine at a girls camp. She would be home three weeks or so before school started again at BYU-Idaho. I was kind of joking when I texted her "Hey, new plan. You come here for a few weeks and be June's nanny." But she immediately responded, "Okay!!" and well, not-so-long story short is that she ended up coming and spending three weeks with us! 

And before I get into it I wanted to add here that a couple nights before she arrived it was our actual anniversary. I had given up hope of doing anything and besides, we were already spoiled earlier that month. But my friend Tanya surprised me and took June away so that we could do something! Instead of dinner or a movie we decided we wanted to go for a drive in the mountains. It was the perfect way to relax and get away and have time to talk about our three years of marriage. Thanks again Tanya! 

From Buck

Now, back to Jade.  Basically her credentials sum things up. She is getting a minor in culinary arts and loves to bake and cook, her first degree for a while was child development and she loves being with kids, now she is majoring in sociology so we have lots to talk about, she worked a summer as a maid for Princess Cruise lines so not only does she clean well, but she can fold wash cloths into monkeys.

I remember one of the first nights I wanted pudding but it was Sunday and I just wanted to tell Buck my sad craving story. Then Jade says, "I love making pudding from scratch!" and then she did. And it was better than anything a jello box could do!

She also braids hair. She braided June's hair sometimes and often I had her braid mine since I have been having the gag reflex from hell, it helps to keep my hair off my neck, and sometimes you get sick of buns.

We also had a girls day and painted our nails. Another weird thing- in high school she worked at a place that threw parties for little girls and part of that was painting their nails. Too bad June would rather paint her own. ;)

Jade went to the grocery store for me so many times. I HATE that store right now and this was a huge blessing. This is a picture Jade took of June in her cart while she was buying her own back-to-school groceries.

She also went out on craving runs for me like soup from Zupas or .... french fries... you know, the essentials.

One of my favorite things was she did the dishes all the time! This is something I am always doing myself, but have really given up on lately. So to have a clean sink and unloaded dishes all the time was wonderful! Now I see how lucky Buck must feel with me all the time. ;) 

And on top of that she cleaned house all the time. She would ask me about my weekly schedule and keep up with it! Amazing! 

She also made dinner a lot of the times! Half the time I didn't even want whatever it was but Buck was sure grateful for this.

She also helped buck in the yard and in the garden.

And she helped him make jam with all of our peaches and raspberries.

She spent a lot of time playing with June and keeping her company while I laid around. If it wasn't for Jade, June would have done a lot of this:

She was also able to take June to the aquarium and zoo two different days while I stayed home and took hot baths. It was a great aunt and June date and I got some quiet time.

The three of us:

Went to one last day at the pool.

Went to the discovery garden.

Went raspberry picking (this was also with Buck and my friend Alicia. And her dog.) (best car ride of June's life.)

We did some shopping. Can't believe I didn't buy this amazing ... cloak...

We also went on a hike (also with Buck)
and to pizza pie cafe.

We had a girls day and we all got our hair done.

Depsite the opportunity, Buck and I didn't go on any dates aside from two different temple trips. This was a great chance to go on a date but really, she was here because I felt like death. 

If it were any other point in life I'm pretty sure I would have taken advantage of someone being there while June naps and gone out to get some things done or something but nope- I napped pretty much everyday during that time!

June was pretty excited her aunt Jade was here the first few days but then she got possessive of me,  especially with changing diapers, getting her food, and wake up times. You know, the times I really would have loved the help. ;) I think she could tell things were off with me and then Jade being here made her unsure of things and so she needed to know that she had choices she could make and that certain things would stay the same. A little preview into our future with another kid I'm sure.

Jade stayed in our little living room on an air mattress without complaints- she's an easy roommate!

So as you can see, I was incredibly spoiled. A lot of times I felt guilty and thought about how there were so many other people who deserved and needed someone like Jade more than I did. But in the end I was just grateful and I mean, isn't this how it's suppose to be? Family taking care of family? Back in the old days people say that the women in a family all rallied around and helped each other but these days we are all so far apart it can be hard. I am grateful for this glimpse I got into taht world and I plan to pay it all back!

To thank her we threw her a little surprise thank you party. We got her some presents, had Cafe Rio for dinner, and had smoothies as a dessert (because she is trying to stay away from sugar this whole time.)

Now she is back in Rexburg and I hope that she has all the wonderful things happen to her that she deserves!  Thanks so much for everyhting JADE!!!!! You're the best sister in law anyone could hope for!! We love you!

old photo when June was like, 10 months old