Travel buddies

Lyla and I are constant companions. We have been back and forth from Seattle many times over the last few weeks working on things at the houses. The conversation is almost always the same and goes a little something like this:

Lyla: Mom is this Taylor

Me: No it is ________________

Lyla: Oh. Can we listen to Taylor?

Me: No we can only listen to the radio in this car.

Lyla: There's a bus. A money bus (this is to clarify it is not a school bus, but public transit)

Me: That's right. (because if I don't respond she will continue to talk about it until I do)

Lyla: A motorcycle (she loves to keep track of three things school buses, money buses and motorcycles)

Me: I wouldn't want to be on a motorcycle in the rain. (because again I must respond or I will be hearing about the motorcycle until I do)

Lyla: The water slides. (you can guess that we are now at Wild Waves)

Me: I wouldn't want to be on the water slides today in the cold. (because I am very boring and needing to borrow the same response for the motorcycle)

Lyla: Where is the spider? (she continues to ask this even though I have explained many times about the spider only decorating the roller coaster at Halloween)

Me: Remember they only have that out at Halloween.

Lyla: Yeah, they take it down and take the air out.

Lyla: Is this Taylor?

(much of the conversation is on repeat because there are often school buses, money buses and motorcycles on the road)

We are able to have some really deep relationship building conversations in the car. She does love that normally in the car I bring snacks and sometimes if we are up working during lunch she gets chicken nuggets or a cheeseburger from McDonald's. I really do enjoy having her with me on these little trips and know that the time with her at home is going by all too quickly.

Signs

Miya and Cannon made a lemonade stand and one of the signs they made was this:

We might have had one too many FHEs about budget and finances?

Tillicum celebrates Michael Jackson

So Miya had her choir concert last week and it was fantastic. Nothing like an elementary school paying tribute to Michael Jackson. Plus her teacher basically bore her testimony about Michael Jackson. I thought there were going to be tears. I love passionate people because they make things so much more entertaining. Miya did a fantastic job holding up her letter C and was super excited to be involved in something so amazing!!!

I wish I would have taken some video of the 5th graders singing Beat It. They had two kids with Rock Band guitars dancing and playing and the boy who did it played like his life depended on it. It was fantastic. Plus all the parents were a little rowdy yelling and cheering their kids on. You have to love Tillicum Elementary.

Miya got all dressed up for the concert and picked these flowers from the yard to put in her hair.

Here is a little video of Miya's song. Sorry my camera is so awesome you can't see anyone clearly, but she is the letter C in the front. Enjoy.

Randomness

So this last weekend the plumbing got torn out in the cabin and then magically replaced by Aaron and Phil. It took two days instead of one, but he left Monday evening with it completed. Okay so really we still would need to put in the tile around the bath, finish the floor to put the toilet in to it's new position in the bathroom, a vanity to connect to the beautiful new pipes, a washer and all of it's attachments to find a place that it didn't have before in the cabin, tile for the new (we are super excited about this one) outdoor shower, a new full size water heater, a kitchen sink (which means we have some flooring in and cabinets and counter tops for the sink to sit in)...BUT still we have new plumbing in the house. It is so exciting to have something new in there instead of just tearing things out.
We also moved the door, put up the beams to finish off the upstairs (once we put a floor in and can build the stairs). We tore out ALL of the electrical too. That will be replaced on Saturday because we can't work on it at night when it is dark. I did take a few more trips to the dump which Lyla loves because she gets to sit in the front of the truck. She was smiling and playing while I was clearing out everything from the bed of the truck and a guy had to comment that she was the happiest person he had ever seen at the landfill. She has told a lot of people about Miya and Cannon not being able to fit in the truck and that ONLY she gets to go to the dump with me while the other kids are at school. It has made for some productive entertainment for a 3-year-old.
Well weather wise we have has some great sunny days for working on the house followed by rainy days, but I guess you can't ask for more in April here in the Pacific Northwest. We just try to enjoy the sunshine as much as we can while it is out.
Miya and Cannon started piano lessons today. They were excited and nervous. When I picked them up and asked them how the lessons went they both said, "fine, but a little boring." I think Cannon had something a little more like Rock Band in mind when he thought of piano lessons. I am so excited for them though and I am sure we have many discussions about practicing ahead of us. Good times!

This last week has been crazy. So December my Grandma O'Brien died and then in February I had a niece, Chloe, pass away and this last week my mom's younger brother, Uncle Charles died. I guess I have thought for so long that we really haven't had to deal with very many deaths in the family for the total number of family members I have (which is an amazingly large number) and then 3 in such a short period of time. I loved listening to General Conference and of course it stuck out to me how much they talked about individuals dying. They talked about loosing infants, children and all other family members. I didn't remember them every talking about death so much, but of course I have never thought about it so much. I guess that is one of the amazing things about GC that with all those millions of people listening each one feels and hears just what they need to hear.
I have heard that things happen in three's so I am hoping we wont be having any more funerals in the near future. I am however very grateful for the spirit of comfort I have been able to feel and the opportunities for growth through very hard experiences. I am happy to have a family that loves one another and the Gospel that ties us together for eternity.

Journal

Things have been busy around here. Last Monday night around 8:30 Miya came down to tell me she had thrown up and then around 10:00 Cannon started and Phil joined in at 10:30. Everyone would do it at the same times throughout the night. I felt like I was living in my own personal nightmare. Seriously I HATE it when people throw up. I hate the sounds, the smells and the chunks. We had eaten a tofu stir-fry for dinner and somewhere around 2:00am Cannon let me know that he would not be eating tofu for a really long time (and he really likes tofu). I let him know that I would not be able to eat tofu for a really long time after cleaning every one's puke up.
I thought Lyla had missed the bug, but when I went in to get her in the morning I opened the door to a horrible smell and her saying, "mom I frew up all over". She was covering in dry nasty stuff. Poor girl.
Stephanie came in to town on Wednesday for a wedding and stayed in a hotel so she wouldn't catch the stuff. It was great to see her even if it was only for a trip to Target and lunch and then for a few hours on Saturday. Plus little miss Sylvia is so cute and such a good baby.
Now I am watching my sister-in-laws 5 children. They are good kids, but man am I glad to not have 8 kids under the age of 10. Nana comes to pick them up this afternoon for the rest of the week and I hope to get this mess of a house cleaned up. My SIL just called to check on the kids from an international phone someone had on the boat. She mentioned that she was burnt and I said how sorry I felt for her on her cruise in the sunshine. Really it was fun for my kids to get to have people spend the night last night and they love their cousins. It is great to live this close to family.
Ashlee is moving here in August and I can't wait to have one of my sisters that close. Andra comes back in June and I am hoping (secretly) that they wont be able to live on the Island so I can have her closer. Lots of fun things to look forward to. Plus I get to go to Driggs the last week in June and the first week of July.