Fun Saturday outing

We just had to go to Rite-Aid. Ice-cream cones at this store are a hit with the kids.

I'm one of those mom's that doesn't care if their kids get a little messy. Well, I did care at first but then I saw that the fight against Cotton Candy flavored ice-cream was a losing battle, so I just let it happen. And I left him like that for most of the day because as a Mom I find this adorable. (No one else probably does:)

Nicholas is always wanting the good stuff. I think the flavor almost matched his eyes!

Miracles never cease...

Someone got a picture of us all looking at the camera. Not all of us are smiling, but it's a decent family picture. This was taken at Christmas when we were doing an extended family picture. We were going to be outside, but had to change last minute to inside Libby's sunroom. We almost never have success with getting the kids to cooperate long enough for a picture, so I'm happy to have this!

Would you like them in a box?

I don't know why my children all decided to get into this box one day a few weeks ago. Probably just because they wanted to see if they could all fit. Of course, the baby had to be a part of it all, but he was not too happy in a box.





So with it being Mother's Day today, I am grateful that I get to be a Mom. I have to say that it has been really overwhelming for me the last few months with having 4 children. I think I have been humbled once again by the always daunting task and role of motherhood. It can be so difficult at times. It can be discouraging and nerve-racking and tiresome. And Tiresome!!! And neverending in it's mundaneness. Life just keeps rolling around to the weekend when I say once again that I'm going to get some rest and get on top of my weekend so that Sunday I can start afresh. But Sundays are not always so fresh. By the time I'm getting kids off to church our house looks like a hurricane swept through. But that can be somewhat normal for our house anyway. It's just that I wish Sunday would just magically stay clean. I wish I had the answer. Once again...humbled by motherhood. But today was celebrated nicely with a little sleep-in, breakfast in bed, dinner made by husband and a live band singing I'm a Child of God. It's true. The kids got out the tinker toys, made home-made drum sets and sang me their marching band style of that lovely hymn. I also got cards, a walk with one of my kids, kisses and a Dutch oven, which I didn't even know that I wanted but I'm kind of excited to try it out. The thing that makes being a Mom so great is that no matter how hard it is, it's just insanely awesome! In fact I think that it's so awesome because it of it's trying times. I do love my job and I DO love them in a box! Mom -- I am!

Sister Time

I miss these three other girls. I need to give them a shout out! Melinda, is on the far left. She has 8 children! Does that seem weird when you look at her? Because it is! Who has 8 kids and looks like that? She does! And she LOVES every minute of it! Jessica is next to her with the dark brown hair. I always wanted her dark curls because my blonde straight hair was so boring! She has one little boy named Teddy who is so cute and she is becoming the most amazing and beautiful mother. Libby is the one next to me. She has 4 girls, about the same age as my boys and she looks 12. Really, when she was a returned missionary (age 22), she was getting on a flight and the lady at the counter asked her if she needed an escort. So every time we get together, we go back in time -- back to the good old days and memories...and we rehash the same memories over and over and laugh forever! It is awesome! We are trying to figure out a way to all live on the same street together and raise each others kids. (Think of all the breaks you could get or all the times you could run to the store without kids!)

Sometimes...or usually...we get a little weird. But it's always good for a laugh!

I bet nobody has looked at my blog in over a year! I am a very inconsistent blogger. I go sometimes a year or longer between posts. Haha! We'll see if my next post waits until 2011 or 2012. But I do have to say that I am enjoying this little boy! Isn't he the most adorable?? I LOVE him so much. And he smiles like this pretty much all day long.



And I put this picture in so you could get a shot of my wrinkles.

Captured Moments

Thanks Julie!

Look at that form

Showing some tummy while looking at the camera. Love the form. Squishable.

Utah Down South....Part 2

Our trip to Utah continued down South to the city of Hatch. Ever heard of it? It was a fun drive up the windy dirt road to get to the cabin and take in a view like this.

The family cabin, named Tucuban, is so much fun and has a tin roof. We were blessed with plenty of rain down there and enjoyed listening to the sound of the rain hitting the roof.

Camping at Tucuban was peaceful and beautiful. This picture is of the river on the property.

Just as Dave did when he was a kid, the boys enjoyed walking on the rocks and fishing.

Dave and Isaac happy to be here too.

Somehow in between all the rains, we did find time to build a fire and roast hot dogs and smores.

We also found time to find some red rock to hike around. The boys enjoyed hiking around a lot.

We finished our trip by stopping in St. George to visit my brother David and his amazing and fun yoga -teaching wife Kim, and their 3 girls. What a fun family. I'm still trying to remember my yoga postures, Kim.

Here are Jonny and James with the youngest cousin Sasha. She is so adorable and sweet to hang out with our boys. All the girls in between their comings and goings were so fun to be with (unfortunately no pictures of Stephanie and Brooke)

The day with my brother and family was spent enjoying their amazing view of his back yard (Snow Canyon National Park) and swimming in the pool. Aaaahhh! When can we come back?


All in all it was a great trip and we can't wait to go back next year! Or better yet, some of you come and visit us. It's your turn!

Family Vacation '08 (Part 1)

We just returned from a trip to Utah and had a blast! Here are some of the highlights. Before we even got to Utah we decided to stop at Lake Tahoe and take a look since none of us have ever been there before. It was scenic and beautiful and we hope to go back sometime soon. Here is Isaac in the water. He never seems to get enough of any water activities we do.

What's in Utah? Two of my awesome sisters and their families. We had time with each and enjoyed all of it. Here's a cute picture of Melinda and Jessica (my other sister Libby missing due to her living much too far away in N. J.)

One of the highlights was seeing Jessica's brand new 6-week old baby Theodore (aka Teddy). He is most precious and beautiful and I love seeing Jessica as a new Mom. This baby is one loved boy. I can't wait for Isaac and him to grow up and play together.

And of course another highlight was seeing Melinda's family. Her kids are so cute and really great kids. Here are two of them -- J.M. (14) and Eden (7 months)

Here are Melinda's oldest daughters, Maudi (13) and Taylor (17). They came over to Jessica's for a girls night while Dave and my brother-in-law Mike took the young ones camping. I heard it was a rough night, but hey, we had a great time.

Here are three more of Melinda's kids -- Samuel (9), David (7) and Kayte(5) sandwiched between my two on the T-Rex at Thanksgiving Point's dinosaur museum.

And also Ammon (age 3), another of Melinda's kids. Did I mention my sister Melinda is busy? She is such a great Mom and I'm amazed at how she is able to give of herself to all of her children.

Our two blondies -- James and Ammon loving the display of dinosaurs and volcanoes and sea life at the museum.

Another highlight was going over to Grandma's house for a fun FHE of yard clean-up and root-beer floats. I think it's great my kids know their great-grandma because she is one of the most amazing people in this world -- always serving and building others and never a complaint.

Of course visiting Utah without swimming at the AF pool just wouldn't cut it. It's practically tradition. I love seeing all those boy cousins together.

This cracked me up seeing the men (Dave, Mark and Mike) on the front lawn of Mom and Dad's house deep in conversation about who knows what. (Mom and Dad -- we can't wait for you to come back from your mission to do more of this family bonding stuff!)

Thanks sisters and everyone for a great time!!! I already miss you. Your turn to come out here for a visit!

Stop growing up!

My James is going to be 4 in one week. I love him too much and don't want to let him grow up.

Last week Dave was out of town and I wrote these thoughts down in an email to him:

"For some reason, the solitude I've had this week has allowed me to somewhat calm down. I am always running and dealing with things...taking kids here and there, involved with park days, swim lessons, summer camps, etc. So this week we have had nothing and my phone has barely rung and it forced me to slow down. So today I reflected and just went with the flow of the kids. It was nice. I got to just be with them and I especially took notice of James who so often gets lost in the talking of Jonny and the physical demands of Isaac. I had fun discovering with him how a model train goes around a track at the museum today. I watched him get excitedly scared while watching the big crocodile-looking animal in the Land Before Time as I folded laundry. He would gasp, cover his mouth and squeal right before he'd look at me and say, "I'm not scared, Mom." And I got to play ice hockey with him and shoot dinosaurs with him at Chuckey Cheese. He beat me at ice hockey and his delight was and always is so endearing. I saw him jump around inside the car as we were trying to go somewhere and as my impatience started getting the best of me, I noticed that he wasn't just jumping around. He was doing things that he saw needed to be done first before he got in his carseat, i.e. choosing the exact cd he wanted to listen to, and then finding just the right toy for Isaac so that he would stop fussing. Then he was ready. On our outing, he brought along a small dinosaur and the dinosaur would have to eat leaves everywhere we went. Danville and San Ramon have a lot of leaves, but sometimes we would get caught up in a parking lot island waiting for that dinosaur to finish eating those leaves.

I am a bit emotional about this because I feel like the last couple of years with James have flown by and have I really been able to just "be" with him and enjoy who he is? I can't stand that he is going to be four and I don't know if I savored the time with him like I should have.... "

So my mom in her experience of raising 5 children said that with raising kids, you pay so much attention to the first one that you blink your eyes and all the younger ones grew up without you even noticing. That's what I feel like has happened with my sweet James. He is growing up and I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet. But what can I do? Life has got to happen. Love you James!

Fun Visitor

Recently we had a very fun visitor come California. Dave's sister, Julie, who is super fun and happens to also be an amazing aunt (as you can see her always giving us Mom's a break from holding our children), came here for her Spring Break! (Although this is a picture from a while ago.)

We always do fun things when Julie is in town. And the cousins see more of each other. Here is Grandpa holding Isaac and cousin Baby Dayne. (At Chuck E. Cheese)

James taking after his dad doing water sports.

Jonny and cousin Crewe killing the dinosaurs.

The trampoline was new that week too, so the boys enjoyed a lot of jumping time.

Jonny couldn't be any happier.

Everyone was over for rock band (thanks Ashley) and we tried sticking the boys in the room to watch a movie and maybe go to sleep. No such luck. They were not tired and wanted in on all the action.

James was loving the drums. I don't have a picture of Crewe but he is pretty darn good at the guitar, especially those dance moves!

The partying had to come to an end at some point.