3/28/15-4/6/15

3/28/15
Today was the ward Easter egg hunt/breakfast. We rode our bikes and enjoyed the weather. The kids had so much fun!

3/29/15
Today we went to church of course. I was able to go to Sunday School AND the combined 5th Sunday meeting. The combined lesson was on a missionary work. It was very inspiring and I feel like Matt and I got a lot from it.

3/30/15-3/31/15
The days are all a blur to me. I probably worked on some bow ties for a friend's sis-in-law's wedding. I haven't been getting many orders in the last while in my shop so it was good to have something happening.

4/1/15
Today I worked on the bow ties some more and made some adjustments to make them look better. We went to a park with some friends (Charis and Catherine and their kids) and we fed the ducks and ate lunch and the kids played.

4/2/15
Today I finished up the bow ties. The kids had a half day so I took them to the cheap movies and we saw Paddington. It was a cute movie.

4/3/15
 Matt had to work late, but later he got to go help my dad with the security at the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple. We decided we wanted to go and watch. Erin and Cheyanne came with us. I brought the little kids to my moms and only Ella ended up coming with us. It was really cool to see after a really long time. Afterwards we got to go behind the scenes and see a cute baby lamb that had been born just a few hours before. My dad took us up to the top also which was cool. We had to be careful not to get in trouble.

4/4/15
Today we watched Conference while doing housework. I was able to get more out of the talks while I kept myself busy. The talks that stuck out to me the most were Pres. Packers talk, Sis. Burton's talk, Pres. Eyering's talk on Fasting, and the one on materialism (can't remember who's talk that was). The kids and I made rainbow jello and it was delicious!! Matt went to priesthood session while the kids and I went to my moms to hang out. Natalia and Erin and their kids came too. We had dinner and chatted. It was nice to be with them. An embarrassing moment I'll share: we were talking about essential oils and about diffusers. I don't have a diffuser yet and was remembering that I had some oils on the stove earlier that day. I panicked and had to leave to go home to turn off the stove. I thought of all the scenarios that could've happened and when I got home the stove was off :-/. Oops! I think I might be losing my mind. I can't remember a lot of things anymore. Embarrassing.

4/5/15
Today was Easter and more conference! The kids were happy to see that the Easter bunny had visited.  Every Sunday morning session, it is tradition to go to Spencer and Lindsay's for breakfast. It is always delicious! My mom had brought eggs for an egg hunt and the kids had a blast! Conference was awesome as always. President Monson only spoke once (except for Priesthood session) and he seems very tired and not as spunky as normal. Sad.
I am Happy that we can celebrate our Savior at Easter and Christmas time. I am so grateful for Him and His Atonement. It has meant so much to me, especially over this last year. I love Him and have
felt His love for me so much! I am thankful to a loving Heavenly Father for sending His son to earth to fulfill His plan.


4/6/15
Today was back to school. I took the girls to school and then brought the 3 littles to the park to hang out with our friends the Garvins. The on I took Brody to school and went grocery shopping. His evening we had FHE and watched videos about the Savior.

3/22/15-3/27/15

Sunday (3-22) we had a good day going to church and to our classes. We went to Matt's parents' house for dinner and had a nice visit with them. Then we headed over to my parents and hung out with my family. I love being with family! Both sides! 

Monday (3-23) was Family Home evening. We had a lesson on recognizing the many ways that God loves us. The kids participated and I feel like they actually got something out of it. 

Tuesday (3-24) to be honest, I can't remember what happened on Tuesday. This is a good reason to be doing this every day. My brain doesn't let me remember much anymore unfortunately. 

Wednesday (3-25) Ella, Macy, and Brody recited their poems at school. They all did a great job! Ella's poem was "My doggie ate my homework". It was really long and she did so good!  Macy's was "Four Bright Coins". She was able to recite it perfectly and has been getting really good at memorizing. Brody's poem was "Make New Friends". He was able to memorize that one easily and without much trouble at all. Matt got home and had to make appointments for Ward council meetings and then we just relaxed until bedtime. Everyone was super tired!

Thursday (3-26). Burl had surgery. We had been praying that everything would go well and it did :). They "zapped" his heart to try and get it beating regularly. Hopefully it worked so that he won't have to have a stent(sp?) put in. I had visiting teaching. We all met up at the park. I was able to give the lesson and had prepared handouts to give to my sisters. The lesson was on patience. It was one that really got me thinking about what patience really is. Good stuff :). Matt had an experience on his way home from work. He was outside of circle K and a homeless man with possible mental issues came up to him and he was thinking "oh man, same old thing, someone asking for money" but the guy came up and said something about food. It was hard for Matt to understand him but he got the gist of it. He took the guy in the store and told him to get whatever he needed and he got some food, a soda, and a candy bar. While Matt was standing in line, he thought about in the New Testament where Christ is teaching saying, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me. It was a good experience for him :). He even went out and gave him the leftover donuts that someone brought to work that he had in his car. It just makes me think of how many people out there who are legitimately hungry and don't have the means. It makes me sad. I wish I was able to do more to help others. 

Today after I dropped Brody off at school I took Brigg and Quin to the park. It didn't last long, Quin was tired. We came home and just relaxed until it was time to pick the kids up. Matt got home (a little) early so we were able to spend some extra time with him. We got ice cream and Oreos and the kids were so happy! Brody said "we are so lucky!"  I love those kids! They can drive me bonkers sometimes, but I can't help but just love them so much!

3-21-15

Today was filled with the wonderful task of cleaning out the garage. We are making room for being able to exercise when we find the time to do so. We have come to the realization that we either have too much stuff, or we have too many people in one house ;). I also cleaned out the van. It is amazing how fast we can accumulate piles of crumbs and multiple packs worth of socks! Now I know where to look when someone says "I can't find any socks!"

After cleaning out stuff, Matt and I were able to go to a session at the Temple. My parents were able to watch the kids, which is so nice of them! I don't know what I would do without them being near. It's so nice to be able to go and sit quietly and feel the Spirit inside the Temple. I love to feel the peace and the love of Heavenly Father and the Savior.

I'm back... Again.

I'm wanting to keep up with this so that I have something to look back on down the road. I have missed out on writing down a lot of things that have happened over the last few years. Hopefully I'll be able to remember some of those things and document them eventually. This is really for me (I know, selfish) to be able to write down some thoughts and memories and have someing for my children to see.

I am also going to try to remember the positive things that happen daily and have this sort of like my public 😬 journal. If you feel so inclined to read, be my guest.

Today was a good day! The kids (Ella and Macy) went to school and Cheyanne got to come over since it is her spring break. She worked on her book report and then we made brownies together after taking Brody to school and While Brigg and Quin (yes, another kid, and she's already 2!) watched a movie.

After Matt got home, the kids played out front with the hose, then we got on the bikes and rode to Chick-fil-a. After filling our guts full of chicken and waffle fries, we rode over to the dollar store. The kids each got to pick out one thing. We rode home and played with our thigs on the playground. I love to go on bike rides with the family! It it something that we do often. It seems to bring out the good in our children and they can get along, mostly. Sometimes after a long day, Matt and I will want to just relax and do nothing, but bike rides are always worth it. I am so wishing I had a picture of us riding our bikes. Hopefully next time.

Fire station

Macy had yet another pre-school field trip.  This time we went to the fire station.  Ella was lucky enough to come along because she was off school for most of the week.
We went into the station and saw where they eat, sleep, study and exercise.  Then we got to go out to see the engines.  It was cute to see how my kids all stuck together.  Ella was so helpful and made sure they were all okay and together.  They got to go inside the truck together, too.

I'm pretty sure a couple of the firemen were some of the ones who got to make a visit to our home last year... (Brody gave us a scare but everything was just fine, no worries!)

Two-finger Brigg

We don't see this kid much without these two fingers in his mouth.  I've seen babies/kids suck on their other two fingers and of course thumbs (we have 2 thumb suckers), but not those two fingers.  He is definitely one of a kind!

Macy is 5

Macy turned 5 last week and she couldn't be more happy!  She is very excited to be going into kindergarten next year.  She will miss her pre-school class though.  She is already super sad that she only has a couple weeks left.
Macy is the biggest helper in the house and is always willing to do anything we ask her to do.  She can even put Brigg to sleep.  She is his "mini momma".  Or my "mini me".

She is putting letters and words together and will be reading well pretty soon without much help.

Happy Birthday Macy!  We sure love you!

Pizza!

We do a LOT of this lately.  Last year my dad built a brick oven in their back yard and we have been making pizza quite often.  I've got to say they are mighty tasty!!  They also make bread once in a while and my dad even made the turkey in it for Thanksgiving.  It was really really good!

9 months

Big Rigg turned 9 months last week. He weighed 21 pounds 6 oz at his checkup. He is saying lots of things like ewa (Ella), momma dadda, bababa, nana, etc. He's crawling, pulling himself up to stand and smiles the cutest smile you'll ever see. He has 8 teeth and is working on his 1 year molars (I think). He is angry when hungry and happy pretty much the rest of the time. Yesterday he got his blood drawn and didn't cry once. He even gave the people doing it a smile! He's a tough kid!

Nemo the butterfly

Macy got some caterpillars to take care of from pre school. We got to watch them make their transformations into butterflies. One of them ended up with a messed up wing and didn't make it so we named it Ramus and let it go. The other one we thought wasn't going to make it but apparently butterflies can do amazing things. It is orange, black and white with one wing smaller than the other so the name "Nemo" seemed perfectly fitting. We kept Nemo for a day or two and then let it go in some flowers.

Easter 2012

We had a nice Easter. The week was filled with fun activities and great messages. The week before was General Conference. Every conference for the Sunday morning session we go to Spencer and Lindsay's to watch and have breakfast. My mom brought some really fun things for the kids to do to keep them busy. They had so much fun making crafts and we enjoyed listening to messages from our General Authorities.

On Good Friday we had some friends come over to dye Easter eggs. The kids had so much fun and us moms did too!

The Saturday before Easter we went to Sheri and Greg's. We had a delicious dinner and the kids did an Easter egg hunt, decorated cookies and dyed eggs.

On Easter we went to church, rested and then went to my parents house for dinner. Everything was so good. We got to eat outside because it was so nice out.

Super brothers

Love finding them like this and having fun together. Usually Brody is bullying him lately so it's nice seeing him getting along with Brigg. Brody's face is priceless!

Baby brother

Can you tell this kid has big sisters? They dressed him up in a dress from my doll that I've had since I was three. It's a perfect fit, I think.

Zoo days

Another fun field trip for pre school. Macy's pre school got to go on a field trip to the zoo. We had lots of fun. Macy especially wanted to see the zebras to show them her cute dress.

Love it!

I loved looking out the window to see this.

Ella the Bike Rider

Ella learned how to ride a bike!

Dance

The girls have been taking dance and they LOVE it! This was them at their dance recital. They are taking classes in the winter/spring as well. We'll see how that goes.

Superstition Farms

For Macy's pre school we went to Superstition Farms for a field trip. We went on a hay ride, fed some animals, drank flavored milk, held a chicken, pet a bunny and some goats and played king/queen of the hay stack. We learned a lot about cows, too. Fun field trip!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Jack-O-Lantern Babies

So all of my babies have been Jack-O-Lanterns for their first Halloween. Can you guess who is who??