Sunday Photo: 33

Lucy feel asleep in the car on the way to church.  

And since we were a little bit early, I had the big four jump out and snapped a couple pictures of these funny kids.  

Eli insisted in wearing the girly pink flip sunglasses.

I don't know why, but my boys don't ever want to open the hymn books and sing the hymns during sacrament meeting.

But today, Eli snuggled up next to me and grabbed a hymn book.  He opened it up during the sacrament hymn and just sat next to me looking at the book.  Then out of no where he started singing along as loud as he could, 

"Oh it is wonderful 

that He should care for me,

Enough to die for me!"

"Oh, it is wonderful,

wonderful to me!"

(listen to the whole song)

It IS pretty wonderful.

I didn't even know that Eli knew that hymn.
Eli doesn't even sing when we sing songs at bedtime.
He never sings...

But even he knows it is wonderful.

What a smart, tender-hearted, crazy, sweet little boy.

I am so glad he could sing his little heart out today and remind his mom what is important.

{First Day - Kindergarten!}

Yesterday was Avery's big day!  

She had her first day of kindergarten!

She was so excited to start school.  She has been ready to start school like her brothers since she was two years old.  Last week she had her kindergarten assessment, which happened to also be on the big boys first day, so she was super excited and kinda thought she was was starting that day (no matter what I told her). Needless to say, it's been a long week of her asking if she can start school yet.

Monday night we went for the kindergarten open house and got to meet her teacher.  We are super excited for the teacher she got this year.  We think she will be great.  Avery told us that she had to go first at the school, since this was the night "all about her"...so we let her lead us to her classroom....which happens to be the exact same classroom that Wade had kindergarten in!  Wade got a pretty good laugh out of this.  He gave Avery all kinds of helpful hints about the room, like....how not to lock yourself in the bathroom.  It's almost like he knew this information from experience! ;)

Tuesday was the big day!

I put Avery in a PM class for a couple reasons.  Gage had afternoon and Noah had morning.  I liked how Noah got up and ready and went first thing every morning to school, but he always came home hungry and grumpy and was always a ball of energy every afternoon when the rest of the littles had naps.  Gage on the other hand, got to play all morning, eat a good lunch and then take off for school while the littles took their naps.  And honestly, I think with a half a day kindergarten and full day big kid schedule, it seems like you are constantly running to and from school  (my schedule is seriously a mess this year and I knew it would be...and that is a whole different blog post).  So it didn't really matter.  AM in the coveted spot at our school, one I didn't really want to fight for, andI really like this teacher too...and she only teaches PM.  Long story short:  PM it was.

Tuesday morning seemed like forever to her, but I think in the long run she will love having the mornings at home with us, and taking her time getting ready.  

Tuesday I put off getting her dressed and ready as long as I could, which is hard since we are morning people and she is usually up and dressed and ready before 8am...but by 10am she was ready and walking around the house with her back pack on.  AT 10:45 she made her own lunch.  (she LOVES getting out the sandwich stuff and making her own every day...she gets so mad at me if I make her lunch for her!)

She knew she would be going to school AFTER lunch, so at 10:50, after she made and gobbled up (as fast as she could) her ham and cheese sandwich, cleared her plate and announced she was done with lunch and it was time to go!

HA!

I let her watch a show for a little bit after that because I was seriously running out of ideas....even then she kept randomly yelling up stairs..."is it time yet?  is it time yet?"

At finally...finally...off she went!

At the school she didn't even look back...or wave at us (although she told me later that she did wave at my sister Kathy, who works in the office).  

I guess parents are old news and aunts are cool.

After school she was a jabber box full of information!  Holy Cow!  I am used to having drag any information out of my boys, but she was so excited and just kept talking and talking!  

As we were walking to the car after pick up, she turned and pointed to a boy and announced very loudly, "Hey mom...that is the boy that I want to kiss!"

We might be in trouble with this one.

Later that night she told a boy at the scout pack meeting that she wanted to marry him and then ran off.

trouble.

Avery said her favorite part of kindergarten was:

recess, and reading books, and the coloring... and all of it

What was her least favorite part:

nothing...she said there was nothing at all, she loved it all

What do you want to learn in kindergarten this year:

All about bugs.

~~

We are really looking forward to a great year in kindergarten.  

Avery is so excited and can't wait.  

~~

two first days down...one more, for a very anxious/excited 4 year old boy, to go!

Sunday Photo: 32

We celebrated the August birthdays with my sister's family this evening.  These silly boys turned 16 and 4! Eli is always so proud of the fact that he has 3 of the coolest birthday buddies.  I used to change these boys diapers and now they are driving! 

driving! 

(totally came in handy though, when we realized tonight that we still needed to return a redbox movie...I didn't even have to get up from my seat)

After dinner, cake and chatting we played outside for a bit...and then the craziest hail storm blew in!

One of our lessons today at church was about being Grateful in Any Circumstance.  If you have a few minutes you should read this entire message.  

It is exactly what I needed this week. 

Exactly.

I know I've spent too much time this past week looking for the rainbow.

~~

"When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heaven’s embrace.

We can choose to be grateful, no matter what.

We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

~~

I'm going to spend this week thanking God for the rain.

Happy Sunday.

{Four}

Yesterday Eli Owen turned four!

For his birthday he really wanted to get a drink from Swig (his current favorite is sprite with peach) and then we played at the "pyramid" park.

He has been not-so-patiently waiting for his birthday the last couple weeks.  He was so very excited to turn four!  Eli (was a surprise) and also surprised  us by being the only baby that I went into labor with on my own.  I'll never forget me and Wade rushing around our house like crazy people...with our FOURTH baby, wondering what to do!  It makes me laugh every time I think about it.

Eli is such a funny boy.  You never know what he is going to say or do and he is always coming up with stuff that makes me laugh.  He is rambunctious and full of energy.  He is "girl trapped" according to his big brothers and he sure puts up with his sisters on each side of him.  Every morning after I get Lucy dress and fixed her hair I always hear him tell her that she looks pretty.  He likes to jump in her crib with her be silly. 

Avery and him are pretty much stuck like glue and they do anything and everything together.  It will be interesting to see what happens the next couple years as they start school.  

Eli loves to be a helper.  He wasn't too wild about primary or going to church every week, but then his (awesome!) primary teachers figured out a perfect trick...if they give him a job he goes and loves helping.  Every week he tells me he is ready for primary and he wonders what Sister Sermon is going to need help with this week.  He really loves his primary teachers.

Eli is very excited to start preschool this year.  He is going to go to the free program at the literacy center that Avery has gone too.  He has watched his brothers and Avery go for the past year and can't wait for his turn.  He is on the younger side, but I think he will really enjoy it.

Eli loves his blankets and still sucks on his two fingers.  We are working on it, but he thinks we can't see his fingers in his mouth if he has his blanket in front of his face.  He is always the best kid at bedtime and always the first one to sleep.  

Eli's Favorites:

Favorite color: blue

Favorite food: chicken legs

Favorite drink: apple juice

Favorite treat: gum

Favorite movie: The Lego Movie

Favorite book: Tinkerbell books

Favorite thing to do: ride my bike, play outside

Favorite song: Let it go

Favorite animals:  tigers, monkeys and lions

Who is your best friend: Bryce and Avery

Who do you want to marry someday: Lucy

What do you want to be when you grow up: DAD

~~

A funny story about Eli.  We are working on memorizing the Articles of Faith in the morning. Eli can recite the first one.  He then surprised us the other day by telling us he can recite the first one in spanish...pretty impressive since neither Wade or I know spanish.  Eli then proceeded to tell us gibberish words in "spanish" which he believes are the first article of faith.

He is such a goof-ball.

For dinner he wanted to go to the McDonalds Play place and then eat a "monster cake" 

Wade made Noah a monster cake for his birthday last year and Eli remembered how cool it was and wanted one of his his own.  It's a little wacky looking, Wade was rushed and didn't have as much time as he would have liked, but Eli LOVED this cake.

We all love Eli and are so thankful he is part of our family!

Happy birthday little buddy!

{Bow Hunt 2014}

The last hurrah of every summer for the us is the Archery Deer Hunt.  It's such a fun weekend for the boys in the family.

Friday night Wade and the big boys packed up and headed out with Grandpa and Ted.

Wade didn't take a bunch of pictures this year, but he did have service on his phone so I would occasionally get a random text picture here and there of fun things.  They always camp with my sister in law's family and it is a huge affair.  I think their camp has between 100-150 people.  

Gage and Noah have been helping babysit for me this summer.  They used some of their babysitting hours and money to buy a sling shot at Cabelas to take on the hunt.  They had a good time finding rocks and shooting at the target with (not at) Keegan.

Camping with my Chandra's family always means the kids will have a great time too.  They didn't have the zip line this year, but they did have lots of fun things for the kids. They had a candy hunt and played lots of games.  Gage got the worst bruise ever on his shin while playing kick the can.  Chandra also had some cute pinterest crafts for them to do too.

Opening morning Wade got a deer!  He was pretty happy. It's been a couple (more than he would want me to say) years since he took his last deer on the archery hunt.  It was a nice 3x4.  

(I am always so confused on what people call their deer, in Arkansas we counted all the points...this would be a seven point.  Here people just count one side, so a 3 point or a 4 point.  Whatever you call it, I was pretty proud of him)

When the guys got home last night Wade and Ted had already quartered the deer.  They cut it into roasts and steaks and saved some pieces for jerky and some to bottle. I never should have let Ted label the roasts, because now I have deer roasts in my freezer that say all kinds of random things like: 

"look at that BUTT roast"  

"nice BUTT roast"  

"Wade's tiny buck roast"

Glad to know boys will always be boys.

Glad they had such a fun time on the bow hunt this year too.  

Next year I think Eli will be old enough to go!

{First day- 2nd and 5th}

Since kindergarten starts a week later than 1-6th and preschool starts a week after that, we are going to have THREE first days this year.  

Yesterday was our first, first day.  

2nd and 5th.

These crazy boys were ready to get back to school.  

This is about how first day pictures really went at our house:

Noah:

Noah is so funny.  I am really excited about his teacher this year, but he would not tell me much about school when he got home.  I think his teacher is going to be fantastic for him.  He has a couple friends he already knows in his class.  

My favorite story of the day that Noah told me (ok about the only thing he told me about his day) was that there is a boy in his class who sits at his table.  This boy's last name is Burtt.  The boy told Noah, if you take the 'r' out of his name, it spells butt.

Noah thought this was the funniest story every.  He is probably super jealous of that last name now! 

Favorite thing: recess

Least favorite thing:  short recess because of rain (and they did change the recess schedule)  He said it was a long day, longer than 1st grade.  It's the same amount of time, but it probably did seem like a long day by the time he was done and for the 1st day back.

When I asked Noah what he wants to learn this year he said, "I don't know mom.  Maybe about bones"

Gage:

Gage is super excited for 5th grade this year.  (and obviously a little old for holding a sign)  He is really excited to have the same teacher that his cousin Charlotte had last year.  Wade and I were both pretty happy about it too, because we think she is a great teacher and will be perfect for Gage.  Gage was a little nervous to start because he only knew 2 kids from his 4th grade class, but I reminded him he could find his friends at lunch and still see them at recess.  Plus, he can make new friends too. 

His teacher this year really loves cupcakes.  Her room is super cute and even smells like cupcakes.  Gage says it makes him hungry just being there!

Favorite thing:  getting to know game

Least favorite thing: nothing (I think Gage says this same answer every year!)

What do you want to learn this year: "I want to work on my division"

~~

I think in all we had a great first-first day.  We finished the night off with our traditional first day of school pizza and root beer floats.

We are looking forward to a great 2nd and 5th grade year!

Sunday Photo: 31

The big boys in the family are all off on the archery hunt this weekend.  Wade sent me a text yesterday and he took a 3x4 deer on opening morning.  A couple more people in their camp had more tags, so they were staying a little longer.  It's the last hurrah of summer....but the boys have school starting Tuesday morning bright and early so they all have to return some time, right?

It's been a quiet weekend with just the little 3 around.  This morning we took a drive out around the lake and took some goofy photos using a fence post and a self timer app.

                                      

At church this afternoon we were fed some spiritual meat.  Serious meat.  It was a good Sunday.  We talked about faith.  Faith is easy and hard.  But I'll admit, I don't always want to give up what I want to do, to do what the Lord wants me to do.  And I know that is something I need to work on.  It's hard stuff.  

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths"  Proverbs 3:5-6

With school starting I am looking forward to starting a fresh new schedule.  Summer's been fun, but a schedule is always nice too.  I'm looking forward to getting back to eating breakfast at the breakfast table and working on our scripture time.  Maybe we'll work on memorizing some articles of faith or scripture masteries.  Maybe we'll start with Proverbs 3:5-6

After church we had a fabulous fancy dinner that consisted of kraft macaroni and cheese.  Everyone ate it up and no one complained.  Then Eli and I had a little pow-wow in the kitchen and talked about how  it's not a good idea to color with our blue crayon on the church pews.  Not a good idea at all.  Poor Eli had to sit with his arms folded the rest of the meeting and then I had him help me scrub the pew and clean it up.  We sat on the kitchen floor tonight and had a talk because he looked at me with his big brown eyes and wanted to know "Do you still like me mom?"

Of course!  I still love him.  

Just not his blue crayon on the church pew.  

He said that was good, because 

"I like you a lot too mom."

Then Lucy plowed through our conversation, and pushed Eli off my lap so we decided to take some Sunday-selfies.

~~

Man...

My kids make me happy.  

My family makes me happy.

I am blessed to have them.  

Challenges in my life might be hard.  

Faith might be hard.  

ok, faith IS hard.

But I can still choose to be happy.

I choose happy.

~~

ps.  made some changes on the blog this weekend, added a new page and updated my completely old bio that didn't even include Lucy.  don't think we have any more major life changes coming for a while, so hopefully it stays currnet for a good long time:)

Sunday Photo: 30

My parents have been here this week visiting from Washington.  It's always fun when they come for a visit and I've been working on convincing them to move it utah.  Someday my plan might work.  Gage said this would make him happy and sad.  Happy to see them more often and sad to not visit Washington as often. We'll see if it even happens.

One more week until school starts!  Supplies have been bought and are packed in the backpacks.

The bow hunt is this upcoming weekend and it marks the last hurrah before school starts.  I have a feeling it's going to be a busy-fun-filled week.

Poor Lucy was not having any part of the Sunday Photo this week.  Or last week.  Maybe next week we'll get a picture of her not crying.

{July}

Picture overload time.  July was a very busy month for us.  I took a lot of pictures and even managed to blog between a couple Sunday Photo's, but I still have a lot of pictures and activities for this post.

~~

Our car.  I love it.  I actually really do. It's old, but it's been with us for a long time and  I really do love it.  But sometimes I am so ready for another car..just not a car payment.  Like, for example the ac doesn't work on the drivers side of the front.  We cannot figure out why, it works just fine on the passenger side.  Trust me, Wade has tried it all.  But, don't worry, the passenger side has it's problem too.  The window gets stuck down.  So one day right before we had to drive an hour to visit our friends, the window got stuck down.  And I got to sit there on the freeway for an hour with an open window.  It was very nice.  I think I got my hearing back after a week.

Speaking of driving to see friends - we spent one evening on our old stomping grounds playing in the splash pad with some good friends.

We've totally loved trying some food trucks this month.  If you are in the Utah County area you need to find this truck!  The eggrollin truck is SO good.  Authentic filipino food.  

On the morning of the 4th Gage and I headed to Provo to run in the 1 mile Freedom Run.  He really wanted to do a race since I ran in the Lehi Roundup race.  We had a good time and are looking forward to making a better time next year.

The fourth was also filled with food, family and fireworks.  I was bad at getting pictures.

We've really enjoyed living within walking distance to the pool this year.  It has been so nice to run over there every once in a while to play around.

Our garden is huge and has really taken off this month.  We have zucchini coming out our ears.  As soon as I can use it up, Wade goes and picks 4 or 5 more.

At the beginning of the month the sunflowers were as tall as Noah.  Now they are over Wade's head and blooming!

We've had park and splash pad time:

One of the things on Noah's summer list was to hold a preschool.  He really wanted to do it, so one morning he made up some lesson plans, and activities and totally taught Avery and Eli for at least an hour.  He had a lot of fun.  He is a really good teacher.  

On the summer bucket list the kids wrote at the bottom that they wanted to buy legos.  I was not going to buy them for them, so one day they made some cookies (the take and bake kind) and set up a cookie/lemonade stand.  They did really well and made enough to buy the lego set they had their mind on.

Lucy was pretty cute sitting out there with them.

They got a lot of their customers by standing out on the corner and dancing with their signs...like the Little Caesars guys.  Plus, we found out after about an hour, that they had been holding their sign upside down!  We found out because one lady said it was just too cute and funny that she had to stop and buy something!

Some days the kids get to come to the office while Wade and I work.  We found a good way to keep them all in one place.

I read the kids The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe this month.  We've started the Janitor series and they really like that too.  And Gage has been listening to the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites books on CD while playing legos.

Darth and Cinderella went on a date.

Gage built a couple different stick boats:

We had opening day!

Wade's buddy from residency Micah came to visit.  We love their family!  This picture totally cracks me up.  We wish they would move to Utah.  Wade needs Micah in his life to lighten things up.

My best friends from Iowa!  My best friend Anne-Marie made her annual Utah trip and we managed to get a lunch together with Erica and her!  It was so great to see everyone and all the kids.  We went from 3 kids to 11 (and a half baked one).

More garden pictures....

I've been running! My sister bought me this shirt, it says "I am a runner.  I am strong.  Nothing can stop me.  Nothing!  Unless my iphone dies"

I ran 61 miles in the month of July!

Wade took a weekend trip down to Arizona with his dad, his sister and brother in law.  Wade's mom's best friend's grandson passed away from cancer.  They took a quick trip, but they said it was worth it for friends like that.

While Wade was gone I took the kids up the canyon one day to play in water.  I took my fake 6th child Charlotte.  She evens out the boys versus girl number and Lucy loves her more than she loves me.

We tried to find a bottle of Diet Coke with Mom on it, but could only find it in the cans.  So we settled for sharing a Diet Coke with Family and took Grandma a new one.

I was part of the world wide indexing event!  It took me just a few minutes and I indexed 2 batches.  I need to make more time and do this more often.  It's pretty easy.  You can read about indexing and family history by checking out Family Search.

Dinner up the canyon with cousins one night:

Wade thought he would be so funny and tried to throw me in.

We went to check out the 24th of July parade floats at the South Towne Expo center.  It was free and had air conditioning so we figured that was WAY better than sitting at a hot parade.

Wade went hiking and climbing with the scouts in his brother's ward one night, Lucy tried to convince him to let her go with him.

More pool time:

And on the 24th I ran with my sister down Traverse Mountain into Salt Lake Valley.  It was 5 miles and the longest I have ever gone.  The kids couldn't believe that I ran down that hill when I showed them the next day!

Later on the 24th we went to Lehi Foam Day.  It was crazy.  We left Lucy with my sister and Gage didn't like it, but the other kids loved it!  Such a fun time!

and more splash pad and pool time:

Last week Gage had the Raingutter Regatta in scouts.  We have never done this before, so it was kinda fun.  He will be too old next year so it was our first and last year.

And last, but not least, the kids completed their summer reading classes at the literacy center last week!  Eli is pretty excited because he gets to start preschool there in the fall.  Avery is going to take a class too, and Gage has decided to tutor.  Noah isn't a huge fan, but he went all summer even when he didn't want to.  I really love their programs and think they are one of Lehi's best kept secrets!

~~

Phew.  

It's been a long busy month.  

We are looking forward to August; packing these last couple week of summer with activities, school starting and Eli's birthday!