Helmet Heads

In Maine, children under 16 are required to wear helmets when on a bike. I often take the kids out in the bike trailer and Zach rides along with us on his bike. Chloe is also learning to ride her bike, so she needed a new helmet. We decided it was probably a smart idea to have both kids wearing their helmet even in the bike trailer. So...here is Chloe and Parker's cuteness modeling their new helmets!

(that is Parker's new funny face - the "oh no" face!)

Bear Brook State Park

At the end of July, we took a quick overnight camping trip to Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire. Chris's sister, Brittany and her cute family came with us, which made it even better! We love to camp and would have loved to stay longer, but just didn't have the time on this trip. On Saturday after packing up camp, we went on a hike and ate a picnic lunch at a beautiful little spot next to a river. It was cool, calm and relaxing. All the kids did great and even slept good. We are excited for our next camping trip in a few weeks!

For the Beauty of the Earth...

We really are enjoying our new home here in Maine. Maine is the complete opposite of Arizona as far as scenery. I have to say...green trees and green grass is a little bit of Heaven to me! I love it! It is a beautiful place to be living, and we moved here right at the right time of year...summer! While we enjoyed our time in Arizona and miss many good friends, we really were glad that this move happened at the beginning of summer and not the end!! We have had some pretty hot and humid days, but having many beaches close by, as well as the neighborhood pool seem to help us forget about that...sometimes. We also live right by the marsh and the coast, so it is extra green (and lot of mosquitos...boo!).

Chloe and Zach have been taking swim lessons twice a week for the last 3 weeks and have one more week left. Zach is doing really, really well with his freestyle and has learned to dive down to the bottom of the 8 ft part! Chloe has just braved going under the water, but is still pretty nervous. She loves to kick while holding on to her noodle, though! Parker likes to play in the baby pool while they have lessons. He is quite a daring and brave little guy! He has drank lots of pool water when he sticks his face in the water! (He thinks he's a dog...all the time!!)

Zach is also doing a summer camp for wrestling 2 nights a week. He loves it! They work him pretty hard for 2 hours and he comes home sweaty and smelly! Luckily, Chris enjoys taking him to practice (former wrestler himself), which means I don't have to chase around 2 crazy little kids the whole time!

Chris's job is going really well and he is enjoying it. His company is working with Central Maine Power to rebuild all of Maine's power systems and power lines. They are getting pretty old!! It is a fun thing for him since there are many projects all in one.

I am just staying busy with the kids and getting the house all settled. We started a new schedule this week (morning chores, goals, fun play days, etc), so that has been taking a lot of time. That, and hemming curtains and other things. Chris and I are headed to Lowe's this week to buy some wood to build a bookshelf for the living room. Yeah! It is going to be our little project together after the kids are in bed. Hopefully, it won't take 5 years to complete!! I am also staying busy practicing the organ...yeah - I am now the ward organist even though I have never done it before! Let's just say, the first and second Sunday's were a little nerve-racking. Hopefully, I will get it down soon!

Here are lots of pictures from things we are enjoying here in Maine!

Lots of walks and bike rides with Chloe and Parker in the bike trailer (such a good investment back when we lived in Indiana)...

The smell of pine trees every time you walk out the front door! Especially after it rains!

The darling house that I see every time I look out my front window! Love this house!! (See all the trees!!!)
The beach!! With the exception of last week, we have been to the beach every week since moving here! It is lots of fun for everyone!

Chloe and Parker love to play in the front yard together. They chase each other down the hill and then play hide and seek behind the big pine trees.

The view from the back deck! I like to sit on the porch in the morning and eat my breakfast and watch the birds fly by. I even have seen a couple cardinals, my favorite!

We have wild blueberry plants all over out here. They are growing on the edge of the property and are yummy, yummy!!

Even good ole' Baxter seems to be enjoying Maine!

I am loving the rain! I love the smell in the air after the rain! Moving to Arizona made me appreciate the rain a lot more...because it seldom rains there in the desert!!

Flowers!!! I am loving all the new varieties of flowers out here! (love this picture I took this morning!)

This is a bush in my front yard. I have never seen these before. I still need to figure out what kind it is. Back porch flowers.

Our first Maine visitors...

See these people? We love them! They are great! And we hope they come again soon!!Brittany (or I have pronounced it Bertney since she was about 11 or 12!), Chris's baby sister, and her family spent a couple days at our house for the July 4th weekend. We had a relaxing and fun time with them. Little darling Abby is about 5 or 6 weeks older than Parker, but is about half his size! She is tiny and adorable and has a tiny little mouse voice! She was in heaven with all the new girl toys to play with in the basement and my kids adore their tiny little cousin. John was kind enough to ammuse Chloe by dressing up as a prince. Bertney was helpful, as always, and fun to chat with!

We are enjoying having them living somewhat close, even if it is only until the end of the year! We hope we can get together again soon! We love you guys!!

DO NOT READ IF EASILY OFFENDED ;-)

WARNING! - TRACY DID NOT POST THIS. HER HUSBAND DID!!

So, Tracy decided to teach Parker a new word. And it doesn't come out quite right. So, I had to take a movie of it. Zach was my faithful assistant.

Mementos...and unpacking

So it seems to be the case with me that when there is a lot of stress in my life or I am having a hard time with something, that the emotions of missing Karleigh come to the for front a lot more. Maybe it is because I am already emotional about whatever it is that is on my mind and it is easier to let myself actually "feel" the missing.

It seems to always happen with a move, too. We have now moved to our third state and 4th home since Karleigh passed away. And that was only in 5 1/2 years! I think for the most part I do pretty well with our moves, considering I am usually about 8 months pregnant! Not being pregnant this time, I have stepped back while unpacking and organizing and have had a hard time fathoming how I did this so many times big, huge and pregnant....and then shortly after with a newborn and postpartum-y! It is kind of nuts to think about! I would much rather do it this way!

I have tried to not let myself focus on all the boxes and mess and just focus on one room at a time. When I let myself think of everything that needs to be done, as well as kids cared for, laundry done, meals made, house cleaned as good as I can, supporting a husband in his new job stresses, etc etc etc, I feel the anxiety and stress almost consume me. For the most part, I haven't had too much of that. The 4th day after the movers delivered our stuff, was totally rainy, dark and overcast. The kids were completely going stir-crazy, I wanted to get things done so we could at least walk around the house, and it was a depressing day outside. I think really and truly it was only depressing because it was so depressing inside my house.

I finally sat down on the couch, with Chloe and Parker climbing all over me and just stared out the window and cried. I was overwhelmed. There was too much to do and I was beat! And quite frankly - I am sick of this unpacking stuff! I let myself cry for a bit and then I decided to suck it up and get going again or nothing would get better. Sometimes you just have to cry for a minute.

I have been thinking back to my days with my Karleigh girl. I have been missing her. I have been unpacking pictures and mementos of her. I found her little heart-shaped porcelain box that holds a ringlet of her hair with a bow tied around it. It was cut from the back of her head after she passed. I held it up to Chloe's hair. They were the same color. I missed her beautiful curls.

I unpacked pictures and remembrance statues of her. They made me miss her. I put away her hand and feet molds that were made after she died. I missed those sweet, chubby little parts of her. I came across a bag that had a bunch of cards in it. I thought they were old Christmas cards and almost threw them out. I decided to double check and found all the cards that were sent or given to us after Karleigh's passing. I am pretty sure I saved all of them. I reread some of them...and cried. I know for a fact that we got through that time so much easier because of the love and prayers of so many wonderful people.

I talked with my mom about those times shortly after she passed. What was I like? Was I a complete mess? Was I really as strong as people say I was? I don't remember a lot from that time. I know I was being carried and upheld by a loving Savior that has felt this pain.

I can not look at flowers and not think about my girl. For some reason, they just go hand in hand.

Yesterday was a beautiful cool day, so I took my Chloe bud with me to the nursery to pick out a few flowers for the yard - some Karleigh flowers. Yellow day lilies remind us of the flowers we had etched into her headstone, so I picked up a couple of those, along with some other flowers to brighten up our yard.

I love you, Karleigh. 5 years down and only ?? to go till we see each other again. What a beautiful day that will be. I hope there will be lots of flowers on that day!!

Yellow roses for Karleigh to brighten our home.