Labor Day

We had a busy Labor Day. We always work on house projects on our extended weekends. Joseph spent a lot of time trimming branches from our trees, mowing the lawn and pruning bushes. I spent the weekend in the laundry room sanding, priming and painting it. I'm glad that project is finally finished. There is just something about a second coat of paint that really completes a project and gives it a finished look.

We did squeeze in some fun, too. Dr. Allison invited us over to his house to swim in his pool. Kimball loved the pool and had a blast. Rebecah loved sitting on the top step of the pool and splashing with her feet. Here are a few pictures from our pool party.

Rebecah's post pool snack



Kimball in the pool.

Kimball

Kimball is very social and doesn't want to miss a thing. He is always wanting to be on the go. Here are a few pictures of his past week.

Last week it was raining and Kimball has been asking to dance in the rain for a few weeks. I promised him a few weeks ago that the next time it rained he could go dance in the rain. He loved dancing in the rain and it has rained a few times since last Monday and everytime it rains he wants to go back out and dance. I guess if I had been a better mom I would have joined him in the rain, but I really hate to get wet. I just hung out under the awning and took the pictures.



Here is a picture of Kimball with his friend Paisley. We had Paisley over to play last week while her parents packed up their house and loaded a moving truck. Too bad our playdates with Paisley were when she was moving.

Here are the two playing with Play Doh and wearing green shirts.



This last picture is a tribute to Uncle McKay. He sent Kimball the tie he is wearing for his birthday. He was very excited about his tie! Thank you McKay!

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Fun in the Sun

The weather has been lovely this week. It has cooled off enough that we can go outside without sweating instantly. With the nice weather we have gone back to our walks in the morning and have spent a little more time outside.

Here is Kimball playing on a toy outside that a friend recently gave to us. He loved it as evident from his expressions.


Wheee!


Here we are at the park.



Rebecah getting in on the fun.

Vacation

As mentioned in Kimball's birthday post we spent last week in St. Louis while Joseph attended a medical conference. Joseph did spend a few hours in class but also spent a lot of time seeing the Columbia River Gorge and Mount St. Helen's. He also attended the Portland temple and spent two evenings at his Aunt and Uncle's house.

Hiking the Columbia River Gorge

A pretty waterfall

Portland Temple

Mount St. Helen's

Mount St. Helen's at dusk


We missed Jospeh but we were busy visiting our family and doing some of the following:

We went to a popular ice cream place in St. Louis called Ted Drewes. Kimball fell asleep on the way there and woke up just before we left so he didn't miss out on the ice cream. It was good.

My mom and me

No ice cream for Rebecah, but she was there.

Eating his ice cream


Kimball also played Wii for the first time. He wasn't too bad when his Uncle Scott or I were helping him. He played Wii Baseball and Golf with his cousins He loved playing Wii and wanted to play the following morning too.
Kimball and Scott

Playing Wii

Kimball also had outside water fun with his cousins.
By the wading pool.

Getting cousin Ethan wet.


Our week wouldn't have been as much fun without the cousins. It is great for Kimball to have opportunities to play with boys because most of the children his age at home are girls.

Green Birthday

Kimball wanted a green birthday this year. The past few weeks anytime I asked him what kind of cake he wanted he always said green...so green it was. Kimball has turned three and he celebrated in style with 3 parties. Last week we were in St. Louis visiting family while Jospeh was in Oregon for a medical conference. Since we were visiting just days before Kimball's birthday both sides of the family had little parties for him. He loved it.

Here are a few pictures from the parties:

Party #1 at my mom's house. My sister made a yummy red velvet cake and it had a little tractor on the top.

Kimball and Mom with his cake.

Opening presents

His books

Party #2 at Joseph's parent's house. This time Grandma made an awesome blue racecar.

With his presents

Opening a present

Kimball and his cake

Kimball eating his huge piece of cake. Kimball told Grandma he wanted the "3" and she happily obliged him with a huge piece...Joseph helped Kimball finish it.

Party #3 was the "green" party with just our family. We all wore green and we decorated with green balloons and crepe paper.

At dinner

Surrounded by presents

Kimball with his cake

Sampling the cake

Kimball got a few books, a puzzle, pajamas, a game and at least 18 vehicles of one style or another. He LOVES all of his new cars and is only playing with the new ones. I put an old car down his track and I heard about it.

We love Kimball and are glad he is in our family. He says the funniest things sometimes and keeps us on our toes with the questions he asks and the things he is learning. We are eager to see what the next year of his life holds.

The Passing of a Friend

For the past 3 1/2 years I have been the visiting teacher for Sister Rowena Plumb. This past Wednesday she left us to go join family in the Spirit World. Aside from my Dad, I can't say I have watched too many people die and even with my dad I wasn't around the last 5 months of his life other than a few visits since I was at BYU.
It was very sobering for me to watch a woman who I loved slowly go down hill until she was incapable of talking, eating and finally drinking.
This dear woman was always so kind to me remembering me on my birthday, at Christmas and other occasions when she just wanted to be nice. She would call me on the phone and tell me she had a pie waiting at her house for me to pick up. She couldn't drive the last 2 years for safety reasons. Sister Plumb was always so paitent with Kimball when he would ask for cookies or try to sweep and mop her floor during our visits. She gave both of my babies gifts when they were born.
She taught me about love and most importantly the last 6 weeks of her life I was able to serve her in a way I hadn't been able to before. I visited her in the hospital and then in the nursing home and finally in her home when she was under Hospice care. Her family said I was the only non-family member that Hospice wanted visiting. Sometimes I felt guilty hearing from her family that Sister Plumb didn't know her sons when they would visit because anytime I would visit she knew me. Her face would light up and she would tell me that she loved me.
It became our custom to sing together our last few weeks of her life. I knew she loved the song "Love at Home". The first time I sang it to her and she joined in it brought tears to my eyes. Even when she got to the point where she couldn't talk much anymore she would try to hum the tune as I sang.
The day after she passed away Kimball asked me if Sister Plumb was better because I had been with Sister Plumb's family while Kimball and Rebecah played at a friend's house. I thought for a second how to best answer the question of a child not quite 3and all I could say was "Yes". Sister Plumb is better and in a better place. I know that I'll see her again and for that I'm grateful.