Trips to Utah

So far, we go to Utah a couple times a month. There have been lots of events that bring us there, and we just love going to see family since it's so close now! Every time we drive there we are so grateful it takes less than 3 hours instead of 9 or 10 like it used to.

Grandma Great had a birthday and the family threw her a surprise party. The night before we went out to eat with B's brother and sisters. It was fun to get together with them and laugh.

 

The surprise party was perfect. She was surprised and felt very loved. The weather was beautiful and the cousins had a great time playing together.

 

We love this dear woman.

We had Grandma Great standing next to us for this picture, and then a friend showed up right before the picture was taken and stole her away. Oh well. At least we got a family picture.

 

I found these skeletons sharing a bed at Grandma's house.

 

My mom turned 60. We all surprised her by showing up for dinner at brick oven. She was surprised and afterwards my sister Valerie brought over a pretty cake that she had made and we all sang to her.

My Mom is the nicest person I have ever known. She has no guile. She speaks no ill of anyone. She is constantly serving others. She takes the time to play and read with all of her grandchildren, even though she has a ton of them. She genuinely enjoys children.

 

I want to be like my Mom.

 

We all love her.

 

 My Mom told me a story recently of how a woman was mad at her and yelled at her. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could anyone yell at my Mom? It's like yelling at Jesus. Or a baby.

Speaking of babies, my sister Janiel had another one. Seriously, like no big deal. The girl is a machine. She's gains like 5 pounds and then just has her baby with no epidural or anything. This is her third and he is sweet.

 

We went to Corn Bellies for the first time. It was definitely more expensive than the pumpkin patch we loved in Sacramento, but it was pretty fancy. They had bounce houses and haunted houses and a corn maze. Calli and her family met us there and we stayed late.

 

Bret and Andrea invited us to the BYU game against North Carolina. Bret is a legacy member so we had dinner in the tent, then went and watched the game on bucket seats at the 50 yard line, then went back for nachos and hotdogs in the tent, then back to the bucket seats where they gave us ice cream. It was an awesome game and it was fun to be there and feel the energy of the game and fans in person.

 

When the Cougarette's performed, I thought of two Cougarette's who are near and dear to me, my mother-in-law and my friend Megan. Way to go, ladies.

What the boys do

 The boys are in soccer. They each have one game a week and practice once a week. Edmond also has piano once a week. The kids enjoy playing at the park during soccer time.

Sometimes I have milk and cookies waiting for them after school. They love it when I do this. So do I.

Edmond has always brought his lunch from home, but in Idaho a lot more people have school lunch. When I went to school as a kid, most of the kids had school lunch too. He wanted to try it, so one day I came with all my other kids and I showed him how to have school lunch. He's been eating school lunch ever since. Fine by me! I love not having to make him lunch every day.

General Conference came and went. I enjoyed being spiritually fed, the kids enjoyed coloring.

 This is the bridge by our house. I usually go for walks somewhere in this area. There's some trails that go along the river that I like to frequent. The boys are always miles ahead of me.

This is one of my favorite views of the river, because it has the mountains in the background. The view is never the same. Sometimes there are huge cumulonimbus clouds that flank the top of the mountain and the sun shines through them and it all reflects off the river. Sometimes the water is wavy because it's windy or a boat just drove by. Sometimes it's smooth and quiet like the above picture. There is always beauty in it. I love that Heavenly Father fills the earth with variety, and there is always something new and interesting to see, if we pay attention.

 

Cute kids jumping.

Boys playing soccer

 

I might not have a pool anymore, but I'm still the popsicle lady. All the kids in the neighborhood know where to come if they want a popsicle.

My Busy Girls

Every since I started having kids, lots of people have told me how boys are more destructive than girls. My boys weren't destructive. My girls, on the other hand...

 when they put their minds together, they can create some insane messes. One night after we put them to bed in a clean room, they stayed up goofing off together. When I finally put myself to bed, I noticed that their light was on, so I went in to turn it off. This is what I found. They had thrown diapers all over the room and emptied their closet onto the floor. Scarlett had taken off her pajamas and put on her dance outfit. My boys have never made a mess like this.

 And this proud three-year-old finally started preschool. It's about time! Ever since the day she was born all she really wanted out of life was for me to put a backpack on her and drop her off at preschool with a snack.

 She's also dancing. She LOVES dance class. She stays focused the whole time and tries her best. She's so cute when she dances, I can hardly stand it.

 

 One of Scarlett's favorite things to do is put on her dance leotard like a swimsuit, and a crown, and some bracelets, and her tennis shoes, and go ride her bike with the neighborhood kids.

 This girl can keep up with anyone on her plasma car. Sometimes she'll ride with no shoes and then come to me with bloody toes. She doesn't mind. She thinks she's a big kid.

 

 On the way to pick up Charlie from school one day. I looked back to see her leaning out the open window, her hair blowing in the breeze. She is such a free spirit.

They like to pose for pictures.

One day, my stroller had a flat tire and so did my bike, so I did a workout video while these guys watched me. At some point one of them got the chips out and they were eating them on the couch, watching me work out. I never let them eat on the couch. Not sure why they thought I was going to be ok with this.

One morning they woke up at 5:30AM and came in our room. B immediately got up and went to sleep in their room, leaving me with these crazy people. I just kept laying there, in denial that my day was starting like this. Later I found these pictures on my phone. They had turned on the light in our room and had a photo session. I must have fallen back asleep, or just not noticed that they were taking pictures right next to me.

Scarlett is so funny. She's all about the accessories. She just walks around the house like this.

And Juliette is the busiest kid I've ever had. Always climbing something or running away or breaking something or trying to kill herself in the street or in the water. I've pretty much given up lately. I don't even try to get anything done anymore, because I know that I'm going to have to stop what I'm doing to save or help the baby. So I just follow my kids around and wait for them to need me. I'm looking forward to the day when I can finish what I start, but for now I'm trying to enjoy these kids of mine.