What to Give A Guy?

growing up with all girls in my family was so much fun. we had many of the same interests and loved doing things with each other. life was peachy. okay, maybe that's too brady bunch. there was chaos everyday with so much going on, but it was fun. i have to brag that my dad was great with us, better than most dads would be. especially considering he had six daughters, a female dog, and a wife who was a brown - and anyone who knows the browns, or breinholts for that matter know that you need to have a little bit of saint in you to deal with them sometimes. or just go insane slowly. but that's another topic. back to my dad. christmas and birthdays were hard every year for me. like i said earlier, i knew my sisters well and knew that kind of gifts they would love. but every year, i struggled when it came to getting a gift for my dad. he was a boy. what do boys like? what should i get him? what does he need or want? i remembering this bothering me even as young as second grade. in elementary, the teachers try to fix this problem by giving their students crafts to make like a paper tie, picture frame made out of Popsicles sticks, or a miniature christmas wreath with colored macaroni noodles and a pic of yours truly in the center. while these were fun to make, i knew these weren't true "gifts" that could help my dad. the gifts i wanted to give didn't need to cost very much or anything at all, i just wanted to feel like i did my best. i needed ideas. does this ring a bell with anyone? this was and still is a very real struggle for me, so when kyle and i started dating, i freaked. i have boyfriend - awesome. his birthday is coming up. crap. crap, crap, crap.

i told kyle my dilemma and he shrugged it off saying he didn't want anything. ha, yeah right.

all you women out there would know if you heard this it wasn't true. well i knew i had to get him something. now as i type, i just can't remember what i got him. for christmas that year, i got him a digital camera - i do remember that. mostly it was given so that we could start taking pics to go in our wedding video. so i guess in a way i bought the camera for me too. but i don't feel too bad about that now. remember valentines day last year with the laptop kyle gave to me?

point of this whole post is that father's day is in two days. that means i have been saying "crap" a whole bunch of times these past two weeks every time i think about what to get for my husband and father of my baby.

then, earilier this week i had an "ah ha" moment. i know what i want to get for kyle, turns out it might not be available. argh! finally i pick something i know he'll love (and needs) and someone else might get it.

i'm crossing my fingers that it will be mine and hopefully i'll know soon.

Fruits of Our Labor and Our Bug Man

our garden is AWESOME! tomatoe plants are huge. we have sixteen of them around four wire racks which are completely hidden now. buds and green tomatoes are everywhere and these ripe ones are our first harvest from the tomatoes. there were at least six more that i had to throw out because bugs and birds got to the first which is very frustrating. the corn is so tall and my cilantro has really shot up. i love cilantro, but the thing i anticipate most is the basil. ever since i went to oregano's and had their bruschetta, i have been obsessed with basil. so yum! the squash (we have four kinds) has taken over. thank goodness we made their boxes bigger. this zucchini was the first we have picked - isn't it huge?! making zucchini bread! we do have a problem with our green bell pepper which has brown rotted spots and we can't figure our why. it looks like a jungle. brookie says it's on steroids. i'm loving it. it's getting pretty hot though when we water it. argh!

now about the bees!

on sunday, kyle wasn't feeling well and came home early with addison. as i started to walk down the back porch toward our door when i got home, kyle was on the stairs and told me to go around the house. on our way to church, we had noticed about six bees flying around the grill. now it was around twenty. when i got in the house, i saw kyle was wearing my hoodie and he told me underneath was a windbreaker and his church clothes. he was wearing this to protect himself from the bees in the middle of JUNE! and he was dying. yuck. kyle also told me that he was pretty sure they were coming from the grill so he had turned it on earlier to kill them. he wanted to get a closer look at it, so he had me tape a net to his face and gloves on so he could go outside. so that's what the second picture is.

armed with bug spray, he started stepping on and misting the growing population of now 70 bees. once he began to get that under control, he went looking around the grill, tables, chairs, and other odd ends that are on the porch. not much. then BINGO! sure enough, when he opened the grill there was the hive like he thought. hundreds of bees were piled about seven inches high on top of the rack and even more below, dead from the flames and smoke. i was watching through the window and couldn't believe it! kyle finished killing as many as he could and the next day he cleaned it up. what a handy bug man!

Havasupai Adventure

Havasupai... Arizona's paradise! When my Dad said he was going down and offered to take Brittney and I, I was so excited. As the days were approaching we started making a list of supplies and food we would need down there. It was decided that I would carry the big backpack (weighing it at 45 lbs.) and Brittney would just carry her camelbak (10lbs if that) with water and snacks. We left Memorial day in the afternoon and got up to the rim later that evening. This was my third time going and memories started coming back and I told stories of my previous trips. We camped up on the rim and early Tuesday morning we began the decent into the canyon.

When we got to the Indian village, one of the girls was struggling with her pack so I had Brittney carry our pack while I carried hers. It was another 2 miles from the village. Brittney wasn't sore yet from the 10 mile hike we had just completed from the rim to village, but after those two miles, she became pretty sore, but she was a tough girl.

** note from brittney: i would like to clarify some things here. my camelbak was about 20 lbs with all my water, food, and other necessities - not 10 lbs like kyle says. plus our shared backpack was atleast 50 - 60 lbs not 45. so i was carrying 70 -80 lbs down a 3.2 mile hike (yeah the havasupai website will back me up on the mileage) again not like the two miles kyles stated. no big deal you think? well, when you got up at four am and started hiking ten miles for several hours, your already tired when 55 lbs gets added on your back. not to mention, kyle and i did nothing to prepare for hiking the grand canyon ( i assumed i would be fine since i was only carrying 20 lbs - or so i thought.) so the only reason that i pulled my groin, rotated my ankle, and basically did the havasupai shuffle every time i stopped moving for ten minutes was because of that dang backpack i had to carry 3.2 miles. thank you.**

We got to camp about mid morning and we rested, ate, and then got ready to go to Havasu falls. After the flood in 2008, the fall now only flows to the one side, but it still is as beautiful as ever. After hanging out there we went back to camp, rested, ate dinner, played cards, and got cleaned up in the river flowing next to us.

The next morning our muscles had stiffen up, so getting up was a real "pain." We ate breakfast and then got ready to go down to Mooney Falls (my absolute favorite). Mooney stands around 200 feet high (higher than Niagara). To get down you literally have to climb down a the cliff face with chains, latters, and stakes driven into the rock for hand grips. Being terrified of heights didn't work out in Brittney's favor, but she did a good job going down.

"DESCEND AT OWN RISK"

Exercise Extreme Caution!

Brittney descending down the cliff to Mooney FallsMooney Falls

About five miles down from Mooney Falls, is another fall called Beaver. We hiked through the river, jumping and sliding down from little water falls.

Mooney Falls in the Background

Fall hopping our way down to Beaver Falls

I think I'll name this "Garden of Eden" or
"Heard it through the Grape Vine"

Just Chillin'

Hanging Out

One of the best parts of the trip is that we didn't have to hike the whole way out. Dad paid for all of us to fly the helicopter out from the Indian village. It was a flipping awesome experience! The best part was when the we flew out and above the canyon. The pilot was heading right toward a canyon wall then the helicopter went straight up and over. It was intense. It was good to be in a car on the drive home, but I was already starting to miss our great adventure. Needless to say, we were both missing our baby very much and it was so much fun to see her.

My, How They Grow Up

this just shows how she is so much like her mommy who was videotaped trying to breastfeed her baby doll around three and couldn't wait to wear bras.