Bells and Whistles: Second part of May 2021

Our neighbor came over and did Hazel's makeup for a dance.

Couldn't leave Navy out, OBViously.

She looked pretty awesome! Different than her normal look of course (she kept wiping off makeup because she did not love how thick it was).

I had done her hair. The top braid was too high, and I wanted to redo it lower down but for some reason Hazel didn't want me to. So now it always bothers me in the pictures. But the braid itself was pretty cool with random twists and stuff, very Viking-esque.

This is Hazel and Kirby on their day date.

And the dance photos.

I believe this was about the time that Hazel first started liking Kirby. And then for a long time they didn't get together, and then they finally did, and then they were boyfriend/girlfriend for a LONG time, until very recently. Like, VERY recently. The time of this writing is March 22, 2024, and she only very recently broke it off with him (Dear John'ed him), about a month ago. So, now you know the whole story right from the beginning, to the tragic end. I actually never met him, which is weird.

Okay, May is just the most gorgeous month and the most beautiful feeling in all the world!! It's green and light and happy and look how peaceful!! I love Cache Valley!!!

Orrin with his new baseball duds, and I just think he's so adorable!!!

I ended up buying this hat. I like it.

Wyatt playing catch (most likely with Orrin).

Orrin pitching.

And batting.

And waiting to steal. (He likes stealing!)

Cutting some of my tubers up that I had stored. They stored pretty well- I was pleased.

Yes. Pure heaven in a photo. I could live in this photo forever and always (why are cows so beautiful in a gorgeous green field?).

Also, camels in the field too. Random. Brett and I actually met the owners of these camels a few years later when they became the new stake YSA reps, and we were our ward reps, and they said, "yes we're so and so, we live x-place. Have you seen the camels? That's us." I always look for the camels, but they're not always in this field.

Navy's preschool graduation!!!! She was sooooo adorable! (I know these pictures are quite blurry from far away, but I still just loved her every expression, she was so cute!)

Her teacher read a little thing about each of the students, and what she loved about Navy. She said she was a good listener, and loved to play outside.

Adorable sweet Navy!!

My flower-planting template, so as to maximize garden space. I was cutting out the holes by hand, and then Brett came and saw me, and was like, "you need the right tool for the job" and got me a circular saw thingee on a drill thingee and it made it go so fast!! Yay Brett!

Hazel doing creepy pictures.

Brett keeping a ping pong ball up in the air with his breath.

Talmage trying.

Free kittens we got for Kami because there are always free kittens around our town.

Soccer boys. Soooooo cute!!!!

And an actual good smile from Talmage! Awwww, what a cutie!!

We went to Kami's!! So, of course we dressed up!!

Kami made this wedding dress into a Halloween costume for Olivia. She and Eric and Kidd were the movie Labyrinth characters.

At their Spanish branch. The headsets (and being able to get about ZERO from church) reminded me strongly of all my years in Switzerland.

Delectable food.

Fancy schmancy Italian cream sodas.

And she was the most awesome ever and helped me with my project of making these awesome Hawaiian-style flower crowns.

Plus she looked amazingly foxy in it!!!

Cousins jumping. I miss Kami's family! :(

Seems like a good place to put this in about Kami (I can't really remember when I originally wrote it:

I wrote this all down a couple years ago I think, but never posted it. Not sure why. Anyway, now Kami lives in Colombia and I miss her, so I'm posting it now.

When she was inviting me to come over for the day, and I was kind of saying that I probably wouldn't because I was in a bad mood, very blah, and so I said if I came she would just think I was lame, she said "I wouldn't ever think you were lame," just quietly, I almost didn't really hear it, but a little later when I noticed what she had said, it really struck me that she was being absolutely sincere.
When I was at her house I asked her (totally whined) for her to help me with something, and she said okay and asked me what my plans were, and I told her my one maybe half-baked thought about it, and even Hazel laughed at me and was like what, that's all you're giving her to go off of? And Kami patiently went through several ideas with me, found examples, talked me through them, even sketched out two different of her ideas!
Later I was (again) whining about how far behind I was on something, like a year behind, how will I ever catch up? Woe is me! And Kami said, "Just a little at a time. Persistence. You can do it."
When I asked everyone at dinner what they would want to be famous for if they could choose, she said "for doing all of the recording of Colombian family and historical records and indexing them all and etc. etc. more words..." and Brett said "...umm, I don't think you'd be famous for doing that" and Kami said, "I would among Colombian family historians...a very elite group of people." 😂😂
And when she was getting out all of her MANY homemade chocolates/goodies to share with me, she said how in her notebook that she keeps, every single year for 3 years she has written, "Only make 1 batch of almond joys. That makes enough!" And every year for three years, she has convinced herself that that definitely can't be enough, and so makes a double batch (or more, if I know her) and then has to write herself ANOTHER note, underlined and circled, to not make more than 1 batch of almond joys next year!!
God certainly gave one of His tenderest of mercies when he placed me in my family 22 months after Kami.

I always love when one of the little siblings falls asleep on the older one.

Almost ready to go out!

And voila! They're in the ground!

This is what I wrote on instagram:

Today I worked all day planting out seedlings in the garden (please don't die, please don't die 🌱🙏🙏) except for a quick Relief Society thing. Then more planting all afternoon, talked to Jethro while I popped a frozen pizza in the oven for us to quickly eat before running out the door for a baseball game for Wyatt and a baseball game for Orrin while Navy had a joyous time in the water and I talked to a nice lady without realizing JUST how much dirt was on my face from being in the windy garden all day. As soon as Wyatt's game was over we rushed to his piano recital and got there with a minute to spare before he played his piece at the end, obviously still wearing his uniform instead of church clothes, and Navy was sporting a sweater and nothing else because obviously her clothes were sopping wet. Luckily my friend took pictures and videos of Orrin at his game (and he missed playing his piece at the recital 😬) so I could see him pitch!! And then we came home and I kept planting seedlings until it was too dark to see them (please don't die, please don't die 🌱🙏🤞🤞).

Okay, this picture below of Navy's super sweet adorable baby face and her braid curled up is the cutest thing of my life. It makes me squeal internally with cuteness.

Our ward had a service night cleaning up the cemetery, and Brett and I were kind of out of things to do, and then I saw a branch on this tree that was dead and I thought I should cut it off. So I was like, I bet I could get up there. So I chimneyed up between the two trees, and then leaned forward and climbed up when I got high enough. Then someone had to fetch a saw for me, and then I cut off the branch.

When I was up there, Lorinda, the YW president, came over and said, "Oh, I was about to tell whatever YW was up there that they need to get down right away, but it's you." ha

Then Hazel showed that she could also chimney up.

And Navy.

So cute.

Garden looking so awesome all lined out in nice rows!

Me and Navy modeling our awesome flower crowns! They turned out so great, if I do say so myself!

Ethne made me all these bracelets because she is amazing!!

More playing in the water at a baseball game-- this time she decided to take off clothes before getting in.

Last day of preschool, I believe.

Field Day at the elementary school. I think I helped by just passing out water bottles or popsicles that year. So I watched when Orrin did the tire drag race.

Ethne practicing driving. (So long ago!! Now she's old hat at driving and Talmage is the one with the learner's permit)

I like when people ride by.

A great Girls Day Out. Slushies that were delicious- I think they were strawberry lemonade or something.

A little shopping. Navy looks so cute in those huge overalls she put on.

Then we went to the bookstore. I can't remember if Hazel and Ethne were already working there or not (and they didn't actually work at Jensen, they worked in the sister company, ATAT, packaging books. Now they've changed names and locations but Ethne still works there. I love the fact that once (or twice?) a year they have a warehouse book sale and employees get a big bag free!!) but I think they were.