A Quiet Moment

I'm sitting in front of the fireplace, the house is cleaned and Morgan and Tatum are playing some kind of chase game around the house.  I have 20 minutes before the boys have to be picked up.   I am relishing the down time I have had the last hour to read the headlines of the day and some of my favorite blogs.  I find myself in a pondering mode...

How did I get so lucky to stay home with my kids and raise them?  How is it that Mike and I have such healthy, beautiful, rambunctious children?  How is it that I have this beautiful life?  The answer that always comes is this..... I found Jesus Christ!  He is Real and He did save me!  I know to those who have not experienced a relationship with Him find a declaration like that uncomfortable or even dumb.... I don't care.  I know what I know and I love that I have this knowledge!  Through my relationship with Christ I have all that I have.

So on days when I have a moment to watch the wood burn in the fireplace, and hear my kids running and laughing, knowing they are warm and safe, and knowing that all I have is by His grace...I can't help but smile and feel overwhelming gratitude.

Family Pre Halloween Party

 This is the second year we have gotten together with all the cousins and played for a few days.  We do this to strengthen family relationships and to have FUN!  I can't tell you how much I enjoy being together.

 This year we all meet on a Friday at Thanksgiving Point.  We went to Corn belly's and I think it would have been more fun if there weren't so many people!  Everyone came in on a Friday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon.

 I love this little woman here.  She is a good lady and I am proud to call her my mom.  I love how we can get together and just laugh and laugh.  She is probably one of the funniest people to be silly with.

We were able to sneak away on the second day and go get a pedicure...she had never done one before. By the big smile on her face I think she liked it!  Thanks mom.

 One of the nights us adults went out to dinner.  It was fun to get away from the kids for a minute and just catch up without interruption.

 Uncle Jake had bought Morgan and Bella princess dresses for their birthdays so they were wearing them around.

 This was Saturday and we kicked off the day with a Halloween card game.  You had to act out whatever you drew from the cards.  It was pretty funny and the kids really got a laugh watching the adults act out.

 We got very lucky that the weather was cooperating so we could do all our goofy stuff outside!

 We did have lots of munchies...

 The next activity Jake called "face off".  It is where adults drew kids names and then the adults painted the kids face.  We were trying to see who did the best job.

 The kids got really into this and the adults did some amazing paint jobs!  Such a great activity idea by Jake.

 These kids all play so good together.  I have so much fun when they come.  I know my kids love them and have a blast.

I am so sad this is the only picture  I have of that night!  We did a huge scavenger hunt in the dark again this year.  Jake and I really stepped it up this year compared to last.  Mike pulled the kids and grandparents around on a trailer with the 4-wheeler.  They sat on bales of hay in the trailer (it was small but cute).  We had tikki torches at each station and tried to make it a little scary for them.  I was really concerned about Jake making it too scary.  (He LOVES Halloween and all things scary) But seeing that the kids weren't that scared we may up the game next year.  Everyone, including the adults played a part.  Grandparents stayed with the kids and read the clues, Mike was the driver, Jared was the talking head at one of the stations, and Jake and I were like the grim reapers at each station.

It was such a great time.  I feel that when you try to make family traditions special it strengthens family!  That is the point with all of this. I want our family to know that we all care about each other...... and what better way to do that then by playing, laughing, and spending time together.

This year was a success and I feel our family ties were strengthened.

Left out summer events...

 This was us at a foam fest 5k finish line!  It was awesome.  We got filthy.....and it was lots of fun.  I never thought I would enjoy this kind of thing but it was really great.

 Love this shot.  It would have been much easier to just run the 5k without all the other obstacles to go through. But all that other stuff is what made me want to do it.

Mike and I have been going to a personal trainer gym for 3 months now and I really enjoy it.  I hope we will do lots more of this stuff next summer.

 Here is sweet Elaine.  We were lucky enough to get to have her stay with us for 2 weeks.  She is a good woman.  The kids really enjoyed having Grandma around.

 Here are the sweet, beautiful, little, creatures that Mike and I have brought into this world.  I couldn't be any more proud of my little dirty animals.

 I usually only want to post the cute pictures of my kids, but after reading a dads thoughts on the passing of his son.... said that he is so glad he never erased any pictures.  He said that pictures you thought at the time were not great, over time, become priceless...I don't know why that impacted me, but it did.  I want to remember my kids even when they were being crazy.

Those summer days are gone...now its time to gear up for the cold.

Cole's 1st 4-H Pig

I don't know if I have written about the wonderful 4-H group we are in but they are AMAZING!  I knew when we came here I wanted to get the kids active in this program but getting an invitation to join Pigmania was such a blessing.   There are currently 5 families in this group and we do all sorts of activities but the last two years we have done pigs together as kind of the big project.

If Cole did not want to do it we would not continue but he LOVED it this last year.  This boy doesn't like karate, not soccer, not baseball ....but walking pigs he likes.

 We need to get him better trained on the proper way to show and walk it, but for his first year with very little training, he did amazing.  Especially, since he was afraid of Maroon (that's his pig)  when we got it as a baby.

 

 There were so many huge pigs I was really afraid for him.  But he got out there with all the kids, pigs and people watching and did good.

These picture are from our county fair.  His pig didn't make weight so we took him to state too.

Here is proud daddy!

Here is proud mommy!

Garden 2013

This past summer garden was interesting.  I think I got overwhelmed by how much we did and then kind of checked out.  Next year I will scale it back...  and stay more on top of it!!

We did finally have success with corn!  It was really good. I tried the 3 sisters planting.  Its where you plant corn, squash and beans all together.  The beans grow up the corn, the squash covers the ground and keeps in moisture..plus, the beans replace nitrogen, or something like that back in the ground, where as the corn pulls it out.  I don't get all the science behind it but it worked out really great.  (This was after a pretty good wind storm. )

I learned a very good lesson about bringing corn in the house.  I will share for those who are novice like myself, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT let the corn sit for long because worms get brought in with them. In fact, I would suggest never bringing in the corn. If I can somehow do it outside from now on I will!

This year was really good with fruit on our new trees.  The apples tasted really good!

Here we are with our bounty of pumpkins.  We had tons of them this year.  I planted 4 different kinds...we did good.  (Love those little kids there in the shot....I am one lucky momma!)

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!