(April 2013)

I have to admit I have felt very inadequate in this calling as the 

Young Woman's President. 

Just when I think I've got things on a steady course... something or

someone tests my determination. 

There have been a few times I've thought through the process of asking

to be released and then the Spirit reminds me of what I will be passing up. 

Last Saturday Kennedy and I went to the YW General Meeting together and I was 

reminded once again how blessed I am to be a part of such a critical stage of her life. 

The annoucement of a Temple in Cedar couldn't have come at a better time!

Kennedy's initial respose was...

"Can I be married in Our temple?"

Yes! and we can go do baptisms togther, and I can do a quick session on one of my days off , and I can take my YW there for a spiritual boost, and ... the list goes on 

and on!  

Easter 2013

Because of Carter's Muscular Dystrophy we have a nightly ritual of 

stretching his body. 

One of the horrible parts of this disease is how 

over time it will tighten some of his main tendons. 

Within the last year his Achilles tendons have tightened so much more than we 

expected and as a result he walks/runs mostly on his toes.

At night he wears braces that stretch his feet while he's sleeping, he has physical

therapy at school 3 times a week, and I personally sit down and stretch him as often

as I can.. 

Tonight as Dan and I were putting the braces on his feet he had a melt down!

"Mom, my arms are tightening too..."

"I know Carter"

With tears streaming down both of our cheeks I explained that I know Our Heavenly Father 

has big plans for him even with his physical limitations. 

We talked about the Atonement of Christ, and 

that one day he will also be resurrected to a PERFECT body!

I love the candy, bright colors, new Sunday clothes, and sunshine that Easter brings

but...words can't begin to describe the Love I have for my Savior! 

The SPIRIT I felt in Carter's room tonight as Dan gave him a blessing confirmed  

His Grace Is Sufficient! 

This boy makes me SMILE:)

My cute little SCOUT! 

His first Pinewood Derby was a memorable event for the 

whole family... 

He has been such a trooper for years supporting his sisters in everything.. 

including LONG dance performances!

  I was beaming that it was finally his turn to be the focus. 

Dan's been the Cub Scout Master for about 3 years and 

I'm secretly praying he follows Carter all the way through

the scouting program. 

It's no secret that when it comes to my kids and especially Carter
I'm I little on the over protective side... all I'm sayin' is I will 
sleep a lot better if his Dad is a part of his camp outs and hikes as the 
years go on:)
Seems like a fairly simple request to me...?

So the car looked a whole lot cooler than it raced but I was 
so proud of Carter because he was so mature about loosing!
He got some tips from the winners and has big plans for next year..

(I'm so glad I captured his anticipation in this picture) 

A FrESh Start

...Here's my excuse... are you ready? I got a facebook account to communicate with my Young Women and I became consumed! And then I got on my blog the other day to show a co-worker a picture and I started laughing at some of my old posts. Blogs are good for so many reasons.. so here I sit wondering where to pick up again.? I always thought that as my kids got older I would have more "time" for things like this... I now wonder how many experienced women laughed inside when I spoke these foolish things out loud...

I found these little gems on my phone in January and I still look at them all the time when I've had a long day and just need a little perspective..

These little beauties are SO opposite in personality and physical characteristics but somehow they still have a lot of common interests.They both LOVE to dANcE, RUn, pLaY, swIM, ShOP, and accessorize EVERYTHING..!

Rewinding a bit

When my kids were this tiny I gave a lesson in Relief Society about the "Goliath(s)" in our lives. I used this Amazing canvas drawing that a friend of mine drew that gives a visual to how large Goliath actually was. It was such a profound lesson for me because often the challenges and trials God has trusted me with have literally felt this BIG and INTIMIDATING!

I've looked at some of them with wide eyes and thought... where can I hide?

Well He's done it again:) On September 16th (yes..I'm keeping track of the date) I was asked to be the Young Woman's President in our Ward. 

GASP!

I know I had the same response. 

I'm only 33 isn't there an age requirement for these callings?

It's taken a little time to carefully examine this Goliath but I think I'm getting excited. Once I realized I'm going to have a Young Woman of my own in April I saw all the fun opportunities I'm going to have in the upcoming years. 

So Goliath an I have decided to be friends and I might even get caught up on this whole blogging thing. 

Happy Birthday!

(I love these ladies!!!)

Nicole my Mom and I  all have birthdays the last week of September. This year my Mom surprised us with a "girls only" weekend in Vegas. 

My brother's wife Wendi was even able to fly in from San Diego. 

On two of the days we attended Time Out for Women that is put on by Deseret Book. 

It was such a spiritual feast!!!

I hinted to my Mom that this should be a birthday tradition every year:)

Family + Sunshine = Happy Mamma!

I love that we live a quick drive away from beautiful 

sunshine on weekends when we just wanna play. 

I'm pretty sure this was our first time miniature golfing as 

a family. I've always been worried we would get half  way 

through and my kids would start hitting each other with the clubs...

I was pleasantly surprised how much fun they had.

Addison was mostly just interested in the castle, she was certain 

it was a playhouse so she spent most of her time trying to find 

a way inside:)

Join me in prayers for Clara

So I said a little prayer on my way to work this morning that went a little something like this...

" please Heavenly Father let me see my trials as blessings and let me show my children through my actions how  much I LOVE THEM!" 

You see this whole crazy piano/school/homework/soccer/dance/work 

schedule has tossed our family life into serious zoo like CHAOS, and I was feeling a little picked on.

Well... he heard my prayer and I "accidentally" came across this blog post today, and it humbled me with a necessary dose of perspective. My prayers will be A LOT less selfish tonight!
  http://mommastimeout.blogspot.com

(post titled: life isn't fair)

I am so grateful for AMAZING mothers who are willing to teach me through their examples!

It's that time again!

Okay.. it's time for me to accept reality!

(maybe in more ways than one:)

School started on the 16th of August this year,

and I am just now accepting the fact that my oldest is

in middle school...

It's cRaZY, but I feel so blessed that she still 

thinks I'm cool and tells me everything!

Because Nicole and I worked opposite days Kennedy and

Jett have spent a ton of time and been pals since the beginning:)

It really does bring me a lot of peace knowing they

are going through all the teen years together!

Jett and Kennedy

First Day of 6th Grade

Carter 

First Day of 3rd Grade

He is so happy he has Mr. Shirley and is on the 

"big kid" playground.

Addison 

Preschool

8/28/12

Because Miss Addison is such a social bug this 

whole preschool thing has been a BREEZE!

She will introduce herself to anyone and 

immediately they are "best friends."

I have gone into situations with her waiting for the 

anxiety and fear that I went though with

 Kennedy and Carter... but it's just not there.

In fact on Carter's first day of preschool he was terrified

his teacher was going to feed him bombs instead of snacks! lol

(I'm still getting use to his very boy imagination :o) 

Bet you didn't know we were EXPECTING...

Well.. neither did we!

 While I was at work today our one Horny Toad "Bowser"

(boy name right..?) had a few babies -- 14 to be exact. 

I was so scared when I got the phone call because there was

so much screaming and noise in the background I thought 

for sure something horrible had happened. 

Even Nana was 

screaming with excitement:)

This is a dream come true for my kids.. all of a sudden 

their very limited pet home has become reptile land!

 Addy's already asked if maybe she could

sleep with one tonight:)

Here fishy..fishy..fishy..

After the 4th of July parade and morning festivities we headed to the 

Lake on the Hill for some family time.

From my cozy chair on the sidelines I was giving my professional advice...

"Hey Kenners! Try one of these yummy pink dots on the end of your line."

Who knew I was so smart...

30 seconds and that fish latched right on to that candy dot:)

who can blame him those things are irresistible.. especially 

the pink ones! YUM!!

First catch ever for Kennedy! 

The cutest part was how worried she was about that little 

fish. She would hold him for a couple of seconds and then 

put him back down in the water.

There was no way she was going to let him die!

We tried more dots and other treats mommy had stashed but 

Carters line had zero activity. 

No doubt we'll try again soon:)

Summer lovin'

For some reason I've yet to figure out why my music doesn't 

play on my blog anymore..

but if it did it would be one of my favorite classics from the

 Beatles...

"Here comes the sun do da do doo...

here comes the sun.. and I say... it's all right.."

(That little ditty has been fresh on my mind almost every morning lately)

I realized that this is my first summer in 11 years that 

I'm not hauling around the baby goods

NO diapers, sippy cups, binki's, snacky roos and such

and I'd be straight up lying if I didn't say I'm lovin' this 

taste of freedom. 

We pick up and go swim a lot because it's easy and 

I'm pretty sure my kids are part fish, 

especially Addison!

I get the best workout tying to keep up with her.

The posse'

(Carter, Jett, Spencer, & Kolten)

(Bailee and Kenners)

(Kade, Addison, JaCoy)

It's still yet to be decided who will win over Kade's

true affection.. 

Addy or JaCoy?

Addy has made it very clear she's not giving up without a fight:)

Yesterday was the long anticipated day for Carter's Baptism. 

He was so ready to become an official member of 

The Church of Jesus Christ of 

Latter Day Saints.

It was an AMAZING day !

It's not an official family gathering without a silly cousin

picture:)

We love you Samantha! 

Nerdy with sTYle

For the last day of school last Friday Kennedy and 

a couple of her girlfriends decided to create their 

own attire and dress up like nerds:)

  I love these ladies..

seriously constantly crack me up.

Kennedy surprised me that morning with an exciting new 

style request.

Mom she said "I'd like my hair in a BOW today"

(with my face all scrunched) "A huh? 

How 'bout a bow in your hair?" 

Thanks to you tube this is what we came up with...

No outfit is complete without a duck tape 

bow tie:)

This was the 5th grade posse' that invaded 

Dairy Queen for their own little end of the year 

celebration! 

On to middle school next year...

Yikes!

Another year older and no doubt WIsER too!

When I planned these spring birthdays I really didn't

have any idea how busy April and May would become as 

my kids got older.

 So now we try to work parties in between

end of the year dance recitals and school programs.

I think when they are older we are just going to 

plan one big birthday weekend vacation.

Hawaii!! Here we come...

(I wish)

Miss Kennedy 11 is heaven with you!

I am so glad you have an AMAZING and calming personality

 like your Daddy...

You are so willing to jump in and help with anything!

I hope someday you'll forgive me for not letting you run free

with your friends as much as you want.

Being a bit protective of my first is something I'm totally

guilty of.
Sorry you will always and forever be my PEANUT:)

O... My sweet baby girl

You are my little SUNSHINE!

You are expressive in everything you do and I love how

you are constantly singing and dancing no matter where

we are, even the people in Target get the full

 theatrical performance.

It's a big birthday for you Mr. Carter...

We are all so excited for your upcoming baptism!

Thank you for always being a driving force in my

life to be a better person.

It's crazy how often I get the feeling that your spirit

is much older and wiser that mine!

I am humbled and honored to be your Mom:)

Memorable for Sure!

Like always I have a million things that "need" to be done

before I lay my huge tired head on my soft cozy pilla but... 

I WANT TO BLOG!

So what if my wet laundry sits in my washer a bit longer? 

Addison turned 4 (four) yesterday and it was also her first dance 

performance with her big sista. 

We knew what to expect from Kennedy, she's been dancing since 

she was 3 but little miss Addy....... well lets just say 

she's the one in the tutu that entertains the crowd with her 

spontaneous individuality. 

She twirled, leaped, and threw her arms around 

while her sweet teacher tried desperately to maintain 

control. 

It was perfect! 

  

Nothing like a blanket tent and conference bingo to 

try to maintain a little reverence.

I remember being about Carter's age and thinking

"I guess you have to be OLD to like this stuff"

Well I'm so thankful I'm "OLD" because I don't

just like Conference weekend I LOVE it!

 I feel blessed to have the gospel truths a part of 

my daily life!

My spirit has been richly fed.

I will admit it I am the worst blogger ever! I have great intentions, I get on and see what all my friends are up to... and then get side tracked a million times and space off posting anything myself. So here's one of our favorite winter days. For all of those that know me you know I am not a fan of snow, ice, coats, gloves... umm maybe it will be easier to say that ALL I like about winter is cute sweaters and cozy boots. I know, I know why do I live in this cold, windy town? I guess because I haven't been able to convince my family to move with me (yet), but I'm working on it:) Even though I'm not fond of the cold I put in my big girl pants, shut my mouth and played for the bigger cause because that's what Mom's do right? Here's my proof...

We've made it a family tradition to go to Brian Head on 

New Years day every year.

I must admit I gladly go along because Kennedy, Carter and Addison

love their huge tube run. 

I was reluctant to let Addy go by herself this year, 

but surprisingly she laughed the whole way. 

Dan was for sure the biggest kid out there. 

He kept making me video tape him so he could see how

fast he got going.

Carter had a minor spill and got a little bloody nose, he 

laid here for a while, saying he couldn't get up.

Totally reminded me of the little boy on the 

Christmas Story.

Wasn't his name Ralfie? 

I will disagree with anyone who says girls are

more dramatic than boys.

I need to be better at keeping track of the crazy things

he comes up with... seriously keeps us laughing.