Its a whirlwind around here!

I am not going to have much of a blog book for 2013 if I don't kick it into gear around here and start documenting!  I wish I had some great excuse for why I can't seem to sit down and post but I don't.

Life is moving at such a rapid pace it feels.  Thank goodness I have my planner to help keep me straight.  Between 4-H, cub scouts, relief society visits on Tuesday nights, gym twice a week, homework, and all the other stuff that crops up too...we seem to be on the go a lot.  I like it when I am able to keep up, otherwise, it can leave me feeling frazzled!

The kids are great..they keep growing and growing and growing.  I keep growing and growing with them.  I love the challenge and fun of the whole family thing.  It is so interesting that now I get to have an adult perspective on the elementary stage of life.  I hope that as I listen to the stories and problems of my children I can pause and remember how I felt at that stage.  Instead of brushing off their worries and concerns as childish, I hope I can relate on there level and really hear them.

I am caught up in the whirlwind of raising kids, making a home, and trying to find that magical balance in life.
Happy I am sometimes and crazed I am at others....life is good!  I will find time here soon to document all that has been happening.

Thoughts on summer and kids

I have really enjoyed this summer!  Sleeping in and not having to chase has been so wonderful!  And the kids have been pretty good too.  They have had there moments but over all I am very pleased with them.

I had big dreams of making a monthly schedule and sticking to it at least 80% of the time.  Reality has been, I didn't even finish the schedule and what I had made of it, we stuck to it 5% of the time.  Usually, operating at "fly by the seat of your pants" mode doesn't sit well with me but it has served us very well this summer.

Have I been as productive as I have wanted? Not even close, but I am glad to be here with my kids all day. They are really great little people....

Cole is wanting us to change his name to Maroon and signs everything that he does with that name.  He is also seriously begging us to have a claw (I think this comes from Inspector Gadget) He wants a doctor to surgically put it on for a hand... and gets mad at me when I say no!   When he found that he could use the really long metal tongs for a claw that helped with that for a little while.  He stays up at night drawing or reading his books.  He is a character that one!  I am very thankful for him because he is already teaching me a lot about myself and makes me smile a lot.

Carson is going to be 8 in five months!! That is crazy to me.  He is such a handsome little guy.  So athletic and coordinated. He can do all sorts of tricks on the tramp he taught himself.  He and I are kind of going through a rough patch together...he is really getting vocal about not wanting to do certain things and I find I am in a power struggle with him a lot more than I have ever been.  But even with that going on he is still wanting hugs and kisses and still tells the most fascinating little stories.  He is so honest and I love looking into his little sparkly eyes!   He is usually the first one asleep at night and the one with the least amount of night time drama.  Love him, love him, love him! And that kid can do push ups and sit ups like no other.

Morgan is so sweet.  She loves getting lip gloss put on and she loves her friend Brinley. (When they move that will be a sad day!) She is turning into a great little helper.  Her chores right now are getting dressed, pick up her room, take dirty clothes to laundry and pick up the living room.  She does a great job.   A lot of the time she can be found talking to herself, lost in her play land and it is really fun to listen too.  Morgan is very compassionate and warm!  Loves to play with her brothers.  When she wants to take a sip of your drink she will say, "Can I take a zip of your drink" Its really cute....so thankful I got such a special little girl!

And our little Tater...is a DOLL.  I just want to kiss him and squeeze him a lot!  His mannerisms are so adorable.  He has a little shoulder shrug he does when you talk to him sometimes, and he is still doing that little crunched up look he does with his nose and eyes...wow....love him!  He is the kissest little guy ever.   He doesn't just give one or two kisses when he is in the mood he wants lots of kisses and none of us in the family can resist when he demands kiss after kiss after kiss.  He is 17 months already!!  What happened?  I need time to slow down a little so I can really soak in theses amazing moments with this baby boy.

Kids are special, summer is good, and I am content!

4th of July

 This year for the 4th we had some friends over.  It was pretty fun and all the kids were so great!  With 27 people there and 14 of them being kids I think it went really well.

 We kicked off the night with a BBQ.  To keep the kids busy we had bubbles, water guns, glow sticks, and chalk.  It was a great group. I put Cole in charge of the kids stuff and he did such a great job of helping out and keeping the kids busy.

 We let the kids run wild.  It was pretty fun to watch them and see how excited they all got when the fireworks started going around.

We had a really good firework show.  Jake and Jared came over later and brought some of their fireworks too.  It was really fun.  I hope we can do it next year too!

I couldn't help but feel so grateful that night.. what a wonderful country we live in!  Truly the best nation on the earth!

If Only.....

If only, I didn't try to do so many things at once, maybe then I could finish something completely.

If only, I didn't set myself up everyday thinking, "Okay, today the kids are going to be great and I am going to  keep them busy."

If only, I would just sit down and make the menu for the week....maybe then we would have a decent dinner around here for a change!!

If only, I could stretch my patience muscle day by day, maybe then I wouldn't be so darn weak in that department.

If only, I could always keep my eye on eternity, then maybe I wouldn't get so caught up in the "little things"  of the day.

If only, I knew how to use my comma then I wouldn't always be wondering if I am putting then in the right spot!

Today was an okay day.  Maybe tomorrow will be better!!!

Funny Pictures

 Mike did these of the kids and it gave me a good laugh!

 Carson's expression on his face matches perfect for his part.

Look at my cute little rocker baby!

Date Week

 I Love this wonderful man of mine.  He has spoiled me all week!  This night we did a little shopping, a little dinner, and then just played in the park with the camera for a bit.

 I can't believe we have four kids together, have been together for 11 years and we still know how to have fun together.  He is so good about our weekly date nights and is always such a gentleman!  Thanks babe for our night outs.... I NEED them!!

 The next night we went to dinner and the temple with the Anderson's!  Sure love this couple and holy cow did we all get a good laugh that night at my expense.  (A story that must never be told!)

 A couple days later we meet up with Jake and Jared and spent 9 hours at Lagoon!!   Mike and I have talked about doing this for awhile now and I am so glad we finally did it.  It was such a blast!   It was such a perfect day to go.  We didn't have to wait long for the rides, it wasn't terribly hot, and all we had to worry about was what did we want to eat, and what ride was next.  It was so great playing like a kid again.

Our favorite rides were Wicked,  Rattlesnake Rapids, and then the ride that takes you up super high and then drops you!  So much fun.  The next night was July 4th so I will do a post on that next....another great night.

Then last night ( yes, I am starting to  feel guilty for leaving the kids so much) we went to Freedom Works presentation and Glen Beck was a speaker there along with Senator Mike Lee, Mia Love, Ted Cruz's dad and some others.  It was pretty fun.  We were worried we were going to get rained out but just got sprinkled on.  Tonight we are going to Man in the Moon and I can't wait!

This week has been dream like.  The stars aligned so we were able to do all this.  So fun!  Mike is leaving for the next four days so I hope this great feeling will remain and get me through till he returns.

Summer 2013 So Far

 We kicked off summer 2013 with a pretty great start!  We got to have Maddy and Bella come stay a week with us.  It was so fun having them here with us.  The kids all got along so good.  They played in the water, went to parks, stayed up late and just had a really great time.

 These two girls were pretty fun to watch!  Miss them already.

 Summer cuts came this year.....the "buzz" !   I didn't want to mess around with fixing hair and Mike asked the boys at just the right time, and they said yes.  Here is Carson looking like the Airbender to me.  Love that little flared nostril, "I'm gonna kick your butt" look.  

 Here is Cole sporting his buzz with Uncle Jake.  We went to Dimitri's one afternoon for lunch there.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this little place.

 We got invited to go to the Zoo with our good friend Jeanna and her kids.  Uncle Jake came along with us and thank goodness he did.  I sure LOVE having him back in our lives again.  Its been really neat, not to mention he is really good with helping me keep my little angels in line when we go out!

 This is Cole's look for the summer.  He is pretty cool looking right?

 Morgan was very fascinated with this apes nipples...or nibbles as she calls them.  She really cracks me up!

And what would summer be without lots of chores.  When the boys act up and Mikes around, they are put on rock duty.  They are such great boys.  I love watching them grow.

Summer is going really great.  I hate that I am having a hard time keeping up with blogging.  There is so much going on and they kids have lots going on too.  But I am really enjoying this summer.  Late nights with sleeping in and no hassle of a school schedule in the way.  Its refreshing.

We have done other things as well but I am not the best at taking pictures, or even remembering so this will have to do for now.