Well hello there, BFF...

Not really sure how I got so lucky to have you but I’m sure glad I did.

Teacher (not) wannabe....

We are swimming in homework and I’m feeling myself slowly turn into a nerd with glasses and I can’t take it anymore...it’s a good thing I didn’t choose to homeschool because my kids and their emotional states would be doomed.

Ray of sunshine...

I’m not sure what I’d do if I had to live in a world without her smile...

Prayer...

I realized something today. Our kids are only with us for a short time and then they’re gone. This picture is around 10 years old. Halee with her aunts and cousins. Three are married and one is engaged. I’m starting to recognize more than ever the need to teach my children what to do to have real happiness. Tonight while I was saying my prayers before bed grace noticed how long my prayer was. I pray for like a full 5 minutes every night and that may not sound like a lot but if you time it you’ll see it’s a really long time. I don’t do it to look good either...I do it because I have a lot of people I pray for and mostly because I’m a little bit of a worrier so I turn to Heavenly Father for the stuff I cannot control. I went through the list of people and things I pray for just so she’d understand what was taking so long. She seemed super interested in what I had to say to Heavenly Father. It made me realize that little conversations like these are crucial little lifelines in helping our kids to understand the meaning of life and the joy you can get out of it. I make a lot of errors in parenting. Mostly I’m not vigilant in matters like this and I need wake up calls to remind me because I get comfortable and I forget. But thankfully I pray again each night and Heavenly Father remembers that one thing I pray for is being a better mom...and that my kids will know they are his children. There are so many hopes I have for my children and their children and so on. I still have time to teach but not much...and then they’ll be gone. Now is the time.

Getting up...

I don’t know how they get up on that beam and not die of fear that they’ll fall. They just do it. There’s always that risk that they’ll lose balance and fall off and yet they get up there and have faith that it’ll be ok. I want to be like them when I grow up...😉

Cruising through life together...

These two lovebirds spent last week on a cruise. I am so happy they have each other. I just can’t say it enough.

Pure imagination...

A temple made of plastic cups...now that’s imagination.

Hiding places...

One interesting fact about living in an old house is there are plenty of little nooks and crannies to hide in...and when you’re as tiny as Scarlett you can take full advantage. This is her new “secret hideout.”

It’s official...

I’m now the mom of three teenage boys who are taller than me...

Dating 101...

Austin is going on his first official date today. Grace wrote him some rules for dating...she’s got him covered...

It’s 2018...

New Years wouldn’t be New Years without doing something to make us feel productive. We went on a 2 mile walk today and froze our royal rear ends off. But it was worth it...

A new season...

There was a time when people stared at us while we sat in church with 5 kids under the age of 10. There was fighting and crying and flat out screaming. There was me smiling the fakest smile on earth and silently threatening my children through eye contact. (That still happens, actually) There was time out and dragging kids out when necessary. 

Times have changed drastically. Our oldest is married and out next oldest is nearly 18. Our youngest will be nine this summer. I kinda miss the old struggles. But with older children comes very different struggles...the kind that aren’t apparent to others while sitting in church. The kind where you wonder if your kids even like you...the kind where dirty looks are flashed at you several times a day (I do have three teenage boys right now.) where just about everything you do or say gets an eye roll 🙄...but just like the struggles when they were little I’m learning that the hard times are few and far between when you step back and look at the big picture. 

Whether or not the struggles are big or small I’m thankful that forgiveness exists. Love is the most important aspect of all and there’s plenty of that to go around.

2017 was good to us...

Don’t judge our year by Connors face but it really and truly was a great year. We wish Halee and Jared could have been with us but they were too busy pampering themselves in good ol’ Colorodo. I pray 2018 brings as much joy and happiness as 2017 did.