The Kirbys: April 2010

Grandpa John Francis Shank

April 30, 2010

"A beloved husband, father and grandfather, his greatest joy was spending time with his family. His tremendous generosity, gregarious personality, and sense of humor will be greatly missed."

Kylie and I were able to travel to Vancouver, WA at the end of April to attend the funeral for my amazing Grandpa John who passed away on April 19, 2010. He was such a great man and the best Grandpa a girl could ask for.

While we were there we were able to spend some much needed time with my "Inky Grandma" (Kylie's GG) and my dad (Papa T) and we also got to meet Grandpa John's four children whom I had never met before. He raised some amazingly loving and caring children and I was so pleased to meet them all. We feel so blessed to have such an amazing family and so lucky that we were able to make the trip out to Vancouver to celebrate the life of GG John. I love you, Grandpa. God be with you till we meet again.

Here are some pictures from our visit:

Four generations. Can you tell we are related?

Kylie looooooves her GG and GG loves her little Kylie!

Kylie and Papa T. She's his little buddy and followed him just about everywhere he went. She loves her Papa!

Cheese!

Bridges and Tunnels and Slides... Oh My!

April 20, 2010

Whenever we travel to Oklahoma City for a trip to the temple we get to stay with our good friends, the Grafes. Just down to street from their house is a great little park that we got to explore last time we were there. Kylie loved the slides and tunnels and playing peek-a-boo with Mommy and Daddy while we took some pictures from below.

The Big 2-5!

April 15, 2010

It feels like this birthday makes me an official adult! It's strange to think that I am now the same age as my own mother (who has been celebrating the anniversaries of her 25th birthday for the last 23 years...) I had a really great birthday, because I spent it with my family. Kylie and I had a typical day full of playing, but this time we had lots of phone calls from family wishing me a happy birthday. Kylie even went around yelling her own version of "Happy Birthday!" all day, with her arms reached way up over her head. When Mike got home from work he took us out to dinner for my favorite- crab! and after Kylie went to bed, we had another favorite, angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream and Mike serenaded me with a beautiful version of that popular birthday song. Birthdays are the best, and I am so glad I have such amazing people in my life to share it with!

Happy Easter!

April 11, 2010

We had such an awesome Easter! The Easter Bunny left a nice little basket for Kylie when she woke up Sunday morning. She was so excited to see all the treats and especially the new little bunny friend. Of course, once she discovered that the shiny little eggs were chocolate and the plastic eggs were filled with candy, we had to quickly distract her. After her first tastes of chocolate the day before, this girl will stop at nothing to get more. We had a nice breakfast and then the (pregnant) Easter Bunny hopped around the backyard hiding Easter eggs while Daddy and Kylie watched from the window inside (so this makes E.E. Hunt #3, for those of you that are keeping track). Each of the plastic eggs had one foil wrapped chocolate in it and after finding each egg, she opened it up to make sure the contents were acceptable, and then proceeded to open each candy and try to sneak a taste. When we were all finished hunting, we gave in and stripped Kylie down to her diaper, set her on a blanket and let her gobble up some of her precious chocolate. It was quite the sight to see. After our hunt we enjoyed another wonderful session of General Conference and finished off the day with a big 'ol Easter ham. What a wonderful day!

Coloring Our E. Eggs

April 10, 2010

What a fun new tradition we were able to start in our little family this year! I haven't dyed eggs in... I can't even remember, so to do this with Kylie was so much fun. I love watching her excitement when she does new things, it helps me remember to enjoy the little things in life, like the magic of watching an egg change colors. I had a minor heart attack when we decided to let Kylie try to dip the first egg and she grabbed the whole cup, so from then on she got to color all over the eggs with her magic crayon and Mommy did the dipping. The next day, when the Easter Bunny came and hid all of her eggs, she got extra excited about finding the eggs that we had colored ourselves. Here are some photos to enjoy!

Easter Egg Hunt (#2)

April 9, 2010

The day before Easter, Kylie and I headed up to a huge Easter egg hunt that was put on by the city. Daddy had a meeting that morning but he came to meet us when the festivities were done. This Easter egg hunt even had the Easter Bunny! Kylie has recently become infatuated with bunnies so to see a real life, huge Easter Bunny was amazing. There were sooo many eggs, but unfortunately, there were also so many kids and Kylie's age group was 5 and under so when the hunt started, she really didn't stand much of a chance. Luckily, I ran out and straddled a big clump of eggs so that Kylie could have them all to herself. Since she knew there was candy inside the eggs this time, after picking up each egg she would inspect it's contents and then place the open, empty egg in her basket and then carry the candy tightly in her little hand.

Kylie snuck her very first piece of chocolate; and by snuck I mean I watched her open and taste it while I was taking pictures of how cute she was. She has been obsessed with anything chocolate ever since.