A record worth mentioning...

My boys suddenly have a major interest in record players. Who knew these would come full circle and be popular again? 

Grace has been incredibly envious and wanting one too so all three boys pulled together and made her a homemade one. It has all the knobs and even the needle. Does it play music? You'll have to figure that out on your own.

I smiled and felt good all over when I saw this act of service from the boys. They have big hearts and will one day make great husbands.

Beautiful...

A beautiful day for a beautiful hike with my beautiful husband and my beautiful children...

Leaps and bounds...

This is Connor and his big brother, Connor. Oh, that's right. They're both Connor. What the heck happened? I found this picture of my little boy Connor at the start of the school year (10 short months ago) the I took a picture of him to compare how much he's grown. He's not little Connor now. He's big Connor. Watch out world...

13...

There's a teenager on the loose and his name is Christian. This guy turned 13. This makes me the mother of 4 teenagers. I don't even know how it happened...

What I do know is that Christian is still my little boy. He's so respectful and helpful to me. He's always offering to get my door, carry stuff for me, or literally anything I need. He's a true gem. He's so much like Chris, it's uncanny. It may be hard at times battling so many boys under one roof but I love that I have so many protectors. And so many gentlemen. Christian will make one heck of a husband one day. But for now? He's still all mine.

Southern food and beautiful temples...

I am a southern girl true blue, so when I have me the opportunity to go to Cracker Barrel I jump on the chance. I loaded the kids up this morning and we headed an hour and a half away to our favorite restaurant and ate like little piggies. Afterwords we absolutely had to stop at the Portland Temple. It was a wonderful day because in the summertime it is no easy task to keep my five children from fighting and arguing and picking on one another. Maybe it was the fact that we were at the temple, maybe it was because we weren't stuck in the house. But whatever it was, it was a wonderful, fantastic and peaceful day.

Eight years of pure joy...

It's officially official. Scarlett is 8 years old. She can be baptized. She WANTS to be baptized. She no longer has to ride in a booster seat. She claims that she "feels" older too. So she must!

I love this little girl so so so much. She packs a powerful punch of sass, humor, and love unconditional. I wish the world around her could see how loud she is. She has real opinions and real dreams that others don't always hear about because she's not ready to share all of that with everyone. But thankfully she shares all of that with me, and I consider that a huge honor. 

We love you, Scarlett Paige. You're a true gem to this world. 

Fancy free...

I think it's safe to say that Christian is enjoying the Summer...