Whew!!!!

I thought I would post an update as to all the sadness I was feeling last week when the kids started school. I have absolutely LOVED all this time to get stuff done!!! I of course still miss the kids but they are so happy in school and with their classmates and teachers. So I am not sad anymore and in fact have been able to get back to exercising (which I went about two months doing nothing in that area.) Plus I actually have time to clean and cook more stuff more often. My most favorite part though is that I have so much one on one time with Grace. She is so much fun!!! I was so worried that we would be bored, but we have kept so busy and it's been so much FUN!!!!! So no more tears here. And to all you moms with little ones at home, it DOES get easier!!!! :)

Family Visits And Lost Lake...

My sister April and her son (my nephew) Josh came to visit this weekend. We had so much staying up late eating cold mexican and too much chocolate! I wanted to share some photo's from our venture out to lost lake. ENJOY!

Back To School

You would think that a mom with five kids would be THRILLED that school is finally back in, but I am rebelling because I am NOT! I am so sad. I always do this when school gets back in for at least the first week, and then I am okay. This doesn't mean by the way that I am a perfect mom or that I have perfect kids. It doesn't mean that when they are home everything is just wonderful 24/7. In fact things get a little crazy at times and I even feel I will lose my mind once in a while. Even still, I miss them because they are such important people in my life. I hope they have a positive experience this year. :) On a better note, I am excited to have some one on one with my sweet little Grace this year! She and I won't know what to do with ourselves!

The whole crew minus Grace...

The Soda Shop

Once in a great while I like to invite my kids to what I like to call "The Soda Shop." Why do I call it that??? I have no idea, because really what it is, is chocolate milk. But they love, love, LOVE when they get to go to the soda shop. I usually sit them all down at the bar, pull out the chocolate, cups and straws- which we only typically use when we go to the "soda shop." I especially like to do this once in a while after school, but today we did it because it's been months since we had chocolate milk. Grace LOVED it as you can see!!! I think she'll be a hard true fan of the soda shop just like the rest of them. :)

I thought considered the temperature was predicting 102 degree weather today, I would once again take all the kids to the beach. We spent about 3 hours there and it was a such a great day just being with my children. :) Halee

Austin

Connor

Christian

Grace

Mommy and Lou lou (grace's new nickname...)

Beach Making Memories

Okay, so I think our poor blog has gone dormant long enough! I never like to allow that much time to pass between posts, but my battery went dead on my camera, ugh! Now we're all ready to go again. :) There is one place in this world I can take my kids and no matter how much time passes (minutes, hours) they NEVER EVER want to leave! That would be the beach. They will just dig in the sand, swim, play, and dig some more. I'm sad that the good ol' Summer days are soon to be over.

Are these sweet boys really mine? Yes, and how lucky I am!

See???? They will literally dig like little puppy dogs. All they need is a little sand and they are good to go! ;)

I Love My Family!

This past weekend Chris and I were able to go visit my family. We were only going to be able to spend a few nights because of Chris' work but I talked my lovely husband into going home with two of the kids and letting me stay for the week. It was so fun and wonderful because my big sis was visiting all the way from Florida! She has two kids ages 17 and 13 and it was great to get to know them more. We don't get the chance to see them often so it was just GREAT! Here is a photo of my parents my siblings and our spouses....

This is my little brother David and his beautiful wife Krysta...
Grace LOVED having family around!

My little sister Gina wasn't able to come from Utah but I'm posting a pic of her anyway because we wished she was there!!

This is me with my lovely older sisters Joely and April. I can't even explain how much we laughed together during my stay. I love having sisters!

This is us with our oh so adorable niece Aliyah (David's daughter.)
Halee and Austin had so much fun with their Cousin Danielle. She is 3 years older than Halee but they were like best friends regardless!

My Nephew Chris became Grace's 2nd dad. For whatever reason she fell completely in love with him. He was so sweet with her too. It melted my heart.


Grace and Aliyah had so much fun together! I was sad to leave but Chris, Connor and Christian were so glad to have us home again! :)