Passports

Bruce and I got our first ever Passports in the mail today. Hooray, we will actually be able to go on our cruise to Alaska next month. Yes, we are going away for a week, and leaving the kids at home. It's been a long time coming, and I can't wait to have 7 days of no whining kids. I will miss them, yes, but I'm sure Bruce will whine a little, just to keep them all fresh in my mind. Alaska here we come!

BFF's

A few weeks ago we were priveleged to have Bruce's best friend, his wife Audrey, and their sweet baby Mariana, come to stay with us for ten days. Bruce and Jay have been friends since Bruce was 5 years old, and if there is any one person in this world that I have to be jealous of, it's Jay. Bruce and Jay talk every day, sometimes multiple times a day. They are as gay as two heterosexual males could possibly be, and so alike, it's scary!


Jay & Audrey have 6 boys, and then were blessed with this sweet little girl. Bear is not a fan of babies, and usually wants nothing to do with them, but she loved Mariana. Just couldn't get enough of her.




Hope we see you guys again soon. Love you!!!!

Mother's Day 2009

I think that this has been my best Mother's Day ever! Beyond the nice family dinner here at our house with all my family, the cute presents, and "I love you's" from the kids, and all that Bruce always does for me, there was just the quiet underlying PEACE, of knowing that my children are all here, and our family is complete. If I could of picked the perfect family for me, I would of picked exactly what I have now, 4 kids, 2 boys, 2 girls. And to now have that, leaves me very content, and feeling very blessed.

My loves, eating their Meatball subs on Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year I decided that I wanted to set some goals for myself, in hopes of becoming an even better mother for my kids. So here they are:

1) Hold and love each child every day, for as long as they will let me. The younger kids this happens automatically with, but as they get older I'm noticing that they climb on me a little less, so I'm going to encourage it a little more.

2) Be better at dating each child. I realized that this past year I made more time to date friends than I did my kids one on one. We had lots of dates, but need even more. I love to spend time with each child without the others. That's when you really get to know your kids, and their individual personalities blossom, when they are the only ones around.

This a picture of me that Hannah drew for Mother's Day. She always draws me with an afro, and I think that is just BEAUTIFUL! I love it!

3) Stop yelling!! We printed out signs for family home evening, had the kids color them, and taped one on the wall in each room. They have only been up since Monday, and have already made a huge difference.


4) Try to bring the Gospel into our home even more, by making it a happy, clean, and loving place to be. We do a pretty good job of this already (as is evidenced by the million kids hanging out here everyday), but there is always room for improvement.


Bruce, Alex, Hannah, Joshua, & Bear.........I love you to Infinity and Beyond! Thanks for teaching me how to be a mom, and for loving me through all my crazy moments!

Happy Birthday Bear!

I can't believe that my baby is 2, and that I really have no babies anymore. However I have to say that if you're going to end on any kid, Bear is the one to do it on. She is AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, FUNNY, LOVEABLE, and a complete JOY! She is a very bright light in our family, and her smile is the best ever!

Beautiful Bear


Birthday ice cream, Mmmmmmm!

Bear loves dogs, and Ruger is her favorite. One of her very first words was puppy, and she sleeps with a stuffed puppy every night.

My loves, my life.........

Bear is most definately a DADDY's GIRL!

A smile to die for, and just look at those eyes!

Bear,

I just love you! I had to start with that, because it's true, you are just soooo loveable! Everyone loves you! From the minute you were placed in my arms I knew that we would be good friends. You have been the easiest baby, and even though you are getting your girly drama going on at 2, you're still so easy going, and I love that about you. I think that of all the kids, you are the most like your father. You are laid back, funny, always hungry, a bit chubby, calm, very likeable, peaceful, and just perfect!

Your siblings are all crazy about you, and to them you can do no wrong. It is so funny to watch as they all fight amongst themselves, and don't like each other to touch them or their stuff. But all three of them think you are just so cute, even when you are in trouble, and ruining something of theirs. They let you get away with murder. We are all very smitten with you.

We spent your birthday at Grandma Babycakes house eating Hoo-Hash for breakfast, and then took you and your siblings for ice cream and to the park, so you could run around and roll down the big hills.

Your favorite things at 2:

Foods: Yogurt, oranges, cheese, smoothies, fries, mac & cheese, pears, cereal, and bread
Toys: Barbies, balls, Little People, coloring books
Animal: Dogs, dogs, and more dogs. (but you love all animals, more so than any of your siblings)
Places: Nursery, playgroup, zoo, children's museum, Walmart, Grandma's
Phrases: "A drink a water", "Where daddy go", "mama go bye bye", "Yeesh", "La you too", "my puppy, my puppy", "my paper, my paper", "tank you mommy".
Songs: "Honey Honey" (from Mama Mia), I am a child of God, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC song

Bear, You are my SUNSHINE! I love to see your sweet smile in the morning as you climb in my blanket. I am so happy that you are my baby, and that I get to be your mother. I love your spunky personality, and your sense of humor. You are so sweet, and I am loving watching as you learn and grow into such a fun little person. I love you tons! Happy birthday my Baby Bear!

Oh and by the way, we call you Bear, because from the time you were just a tiny baby you would moan like a Bear the whole time you ate. You were so noisy, and if you really liked what you were eating the moaning got really loud. It was very amusing for the rest of us.

Hannah's "Crazy Hair"

People are always asking me how long the girls hair is when it's not braided. But because of the nature of the fro, we rarely wear our hair free around here. So here's a few shots of Hannah in all her Afro glory. Hannah calls it her "crazy" hair, I call it "Stunningly beautiful."






And for all my friends who have their own curly beauty's at home, don't worry, I got it all braided up, before it took over the house.

Pinewood Derby

Tonight was Alex's first Pinewood Derby for Scouts. He and Bruce had a good time building and decorating the car together. Unfortunately, his aerodynamics were off a bit, so his car only did so-so in the races. He won about half the time, which was good enough for him. The best part for me was watching Alex, be such a great sport, as he wished every competitor "good luck", and told them he "hoped they would win", and then said "great job" afterwards. He's such a wonderful little person!

Father & Son

Alex with a goofy grin


They had expedition racing afterwards, so Bruce brought three of his cars, from when he was a Scout, for the little kids to race. Joshua was really excited that his car won 3rd place, and he got a ribbon, which he took to bed with him that night, and carried around for several days afterwards.

Josh and his ribbon


Bear getting direction from Dad.


Hannah practicing her "Car Model" pose


My kids and their cars. What a CUTE bunch!

Last minute ROADTRIP

Bruce was headed down to Laverkin (yes it's a real place) for the weekend, to play with his BFF J, and at the very last minute, the rest of us decided to tag along. We had no plans because of the last minuteness, but still managed to have alot of fun. The phrase of the weekend was "YAY VACATION", which we randomly screamed throughout the weekend of "forced family fun". It goes along with "Yay yardwork", "Yay chores", and "Yay church", which can be heard coming out of any of our mouths on a daily basis at home.

I swear no matter where we go, the kids are far more excited about sleeping in a hotel than anything else we do. Bruce and I are not as excited about sleeping in the same room with the "Others", as we like to call them,(it's a LOST thing).

Bruce, being mauled by "the Others"

This is the best and only picture of me (compliments of Hannah), from the whole weekend. Guess who takes the pictures in our family?

Friday night we had dinner with Bruce's BFF J & family, after which I left Bruce there to play video games all night in his underwear, and I took the kids back to the hotel for bed.
Saturday we decided to hit a Rec center in Washington for some swimming. If the hotel is the top of the kid's fun list, swimming is definitely #2. We had a GREAT time, and swam half the day away. I even took my fat butt down the slide a few times. It was exhilarating, but not pretty (notice there are no pictures), and somewhat painful for me and anyone having to watch me. :)




I love that Josh & Bear kept holding hands when they were floating on their backs.





After swimming we had mandatory naps for everyone, and then Bruce stayed at the hotel with J, and I took the kids to the Olive Garden in St. George, to meet up with my cousin Ed, his wife Aimee, & their son Edison. We had a fun, somewhat civilized dinner, and then decided to go miniature golfing. Josh & Bear were really funny, and hit each other more than they hit their balls. Bear wouldn't even put her ball down. She carried it through the whole course and just used her club to hit other balls and the people who belonged to them. We were golfing outside in the dark, and Josh kept yelling into the lights, "can you hear me now". Someone watches too much TV.



I love how Hannah is always posing in all her pictures. Can you say SUPERMODEL, with the looks, the body, & the attitude.

Aimee, Edison, & Ed

The next day we decided to head over to Zion's, with a few stops on the way. Our first stop was at a gas station, where Bruce entertained us all with this striking pose. Yep that's his SEXY nipple, shoved up against the window. Our poor kids, scarred for life!


We made a side trip to hit an old Ghost town called Grafton. They had a really cool old cemetary that had Indians burried in it. The graves had mounded dirt, which made them look a little too fresh, but the kids thought it was neat.



And then we drove through Zion's which was beautiful , and headed on home. The battery on my camera died shortly into Zion's, but here's a few shots.







Fun, fun, weekend, with my favorite people in the whole world. Nothing like last minute "forced family fun". Good times................