Goodbye 2016

Hey everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you from the Wrights. This year has seemed to go by so quickly, but we packed in a lot of fun and some not so fun :-). I planned on writing all year long, but totally failed :(  I hope to do better in 2017

In January Talmage celebrated his 10th birthday, we had sick kids and Talmadge and Nate went skiing for the first time.

In February it was when we had the big snow and the kids had a blast playing in the snow all day, the next day it was melted and life moved on. Also in February we were able to go to the Provo City Center Temple open house! February also brought our first stitches on a child. Talmage cracked shin open. In March we had 3 birthdays and 1 anniversary. Jack's birthday was first. Then Eastons followed up by our 14th anniversary of being married, and then my 34th birthday. Maddie was also in a play at a small-town theater called Brigham's Playhouse. At the end of the month Jackson got baptized up in Orem. He was baptized by his dad and it was such a sweet experience to have so much family around us! 

Iin April we were able to go to Goblin Valley with our family on an overnight camp-out. The kids loved it and we can't wait to go back. Bennett played soccer this year and loved it. His favorite position was goalie. Maddie was also in another play with her Homeschool Group, it was an adorable fifties version of Shakespeare's Love Labour's Lost. 

In May we had an amazing opportuniity to fly out to Chicago and go pick up an RV in Elkhart Indiana. It was most of my kids first flight and they were angels. We went from Indiana all the way to Utah stopping at all the church history sites such as Nauvoo, which was amazing, Carthage, Liberty, and adam-ondi-ahman. We also made it up to De Smet South Dakota which is where Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo lived their lives. We went to Mount Rushmore and also to Martin's Cove on the way home. It was a trip of a lifetime and my kids can't wait to do it again. At the end of May Bennett celebrated his fifth birthday. He is an adorable five-year-old and we're so grateful he is growing up and learning so much. 

In June Nate turned 36 and he makes a pretty good 36 year old. 

We had a fun Fourth of July spending it with family up north. In July we decided to rent out our house and buy a new house in town in St George. It was a hard decision but something that we want to do financially. 

In August we moved from Leeds to our new home in st. George. Before we left Maddie and I were  able to go to girls camp with our Leeds Ward and also have a little birthday party with her friends there. It has been quite an adjustment moving from a little small town where we had a lot of land, to a busier way of living. But the kids are enjoying their new friends, we are able to not spend so much money in gas and are enjoying the ward. I am serving as the Webelos leader with Nate, and he is also serving as the elders Quorum second counselor. In August, Talmage begged me to join a tackle football team. It was really hard for me to let him do but he really enjoyed it and learned a lot. Jackson has surprised us this year and is quite the runner. All 3 of my kids did the Pine View Junior cross country team and they loved it. 

In September we joined a new homeschool Co-op that we meet with every Wednesday. The younger kids and I go half day, and Maddie goes full day. It's been fun to meet so many moms and new homeschoolers in our community. My kids have been taking karate, and a ninja warrior class in that homeschool Co-op group. 

We had a wonderful October full of Halloween fun, sports, lessons, and school!

In November we headed up to Orem for Thanksgiving which we are always grateful we are able to do because we don't live very far away. 

This December has been full of programs, recital and teaching our children to serve the way that Christ serve through the 25 days of light the world. Nate i\was busy doing Christmas lights this time of year, and will continue selling cars on the side as he starts up his own business of doing mobile detailing. I am still blogging and enjoying my life at home with the kids home schooling. Life is good and we know we are blessed and are grateful for Our Savior Jesus Christ, especially at this season remembering his birth. We hope you all have a wonderful 2017 And we can't wait to see what it brings for our little family!

Six Month Catch Up 2016

This summer has been flying by and I can't believe it is already July. I will for sure go back and write about our Nauvoo trip, but writing about everything that has happened since January feels a little overwhelming so I am just going to skip so 6 months and start fresh. The summer has been great! Like I mentioned we had our amazing Nauvoo trip and will always remember what a wonderful trip that was. We can't wait to do something like it again. We have also been up to Orem a couple of times to visit family, we had a really fun 4th of July in Orem. 

My kids are all getting better at playing in the water and enjoying being outside even though it super hot. We bought paddle boards a while back and have taken them out to the lake a few times which has been so fun for the kids. Even Easton and Bennett love to sit on the paddle board while Nate adn i paddle. It has been the summer of Jack becoming more brave. He goes out on the paddleboards and the water all by himself, he jumped off a cliff into about 10 feet of water, and rock climb the other day in deep water. Its been so fun to help him see that he can actually swim in deep water!

Yesterday we went out to Enterprise to visit some friends with the Jenkins. And then we went on a really fun hike in between Cedar in Newcastle call the Lions Mouth which has some really cool petroglyphs. We also went to the Manti pageant with the Guidrys and the Jenkins. Its so fun having friends that have kids my kids age. Even though they have 5 boys Maddie gets along with her oldest boy really well. And they are good friends.

We spent fathers day and Nate's birthday in Orem and that was fun. Nate is now 36 years old! Maddie's birthday is coming up soon and I can't believe she is going to be a teenager. Easton and Jack and Bennett all had birthdays and they are all getting so much older. Easton has just joined the potty train! It's time for him not to have poopy diapers anymore so he is now on the potty train and will hopefully figure it all out within the next couple of days. I go to girls camp next week with Maddie and I am super excited about that.

We took Maddie and her Key of Liberty class friends out to the lake a couple of weeks ago and she had so much fun! I'm so grateful for the good friends that she has made through the homeschool community. We are planning on continuing homeschooling her through high school, even though it gives me a lot of anxiety trying to figure out how to do exactly that. I just hope she has a fun experience and enjoys high school as a homeschooler. She wants to run on the cross country team which I will probably let her continue doing.

The biggest news that we have is that we are moving. We have always wanted to own rental property, but because of finances we can't really stay where we are at and buy a new house to rent out, so we are going to rent our house, which is actually under contract right now, and buy a new house which is actually under contract right now and we sign on the 19th of this month. I'm very excited but super nervous. We went from one extreme to another moving from Stoneridge all the way out to the country and don't have any neighbors, and now we were are going to an in between living in St. George and Washington near Costco. We will have neighbors, and lots of young families in our ward which I'm excited about, but I am also nervous about it also! Our friends Shelly and Dave Harris live in that ward,  and it is actually a ward and neighborhood that we were considering buying in before we moved to Leeds. Maybe it's meant to be. The home is a little bit bigger, but on a much smaller yard. I think it will work for our family right now. I think Nate feel so overwhelmed with yard work and work and all that he is going through.

Life for us is good too, we still have our struggles every so often but it seems that we are getting closer and working harder to have our family and our relationship where it should be. Sometimes I think it's really interesting that we start off these marriages and have such high expectations, I'm just grateful that we can work through hard stuff and struggles and become better from what we learn. I sure love him and am grateful for the man that he is and the provider that he, and the dad he is for my children. I know life won't always be perfect but it feels really good right now and I am very grateful to God for that. Everybody has stayed healthy for the most part this season. I had a really bad ear infection a few weeks ago which resulted in 8 having to pour oil in my ear and me screaming so loud it woke all the children up! It's been a good half of the year!  I hope I get back into this blogging thing.  It's good for me to write about my personal life!

Girls Night & Father's & Sons

It is so hard being back from a long wonderful family trip and to start back in to life, school and work.  Nate and I are both feeling a little blah and really need to start working out and feeling better about our health and our life. We just refinanced on our home yesterday and are excited to get rid of the mortgage insurance and only pay about $900 a month on our home. The problem is we are feeling like we might be moving.  Life just feels strange right now and like something is going to change.  We can't put a finger on exactly what, but moving is a big possibility.  It breaks my heart to think of moving from this home, but it also breaks my heart that non of my kids have real friends out here.  It's sad to see Maddie with no friends here in Leeds. I was so excited when we moved here and the girls wanted to be with her or invite her because she was the new girl, but now no one calls. Talmage has friends, but they don't call very often. Jack has 2 and they are pretty good boys, but they can't do much. Bennett has no friends and it breaks my heart. T and Maddie had tons of friends at his age, and Easton, well there are also no friends for him, but I'm not concerned he is only 3.  Anyway we are just praying and trusting God that things will work out and that we will feel peaceful about what ever comes our way.

Tonight was the Father's and Sons, so Nate took all the boys and headed out, while Maddie and I went out to dinner with Christy and Haylee and then went to Christy's and chatted, made cake and ate break and cake!  It was fun and I love chatting with good friends! I can't wait to see how the camp out went.  T and Jack were so excited!!

Things to remember from the past!!

In the words of my 8 year old daughter last night right before bedtime.  

“Mom we need to have a family council.” 

“Okay, a quick one, it’s bedtime.”

”I’ve called this family council together because I feel like us kids are uninformed about what is going on during the week,  and we have been left out on the planning and have no idea what is going on each day.  It’s like all the sudden dad has a meeting, I didn’t know dad had a meeting.  Cowboy has a soccer practice and we’re being pulled here and there….” 

(she went on and on.  I loved it.} I guess I better keep this girl informed a little more about our days because we usually do so much…school, school, lunch, school, once a week piano lesson, play outside, dinner, bed, repeat!  I guess she now needs to know daddy's schedule.  So I got out both our calendars and told them ALL that was going on this week. Took about 2 seconds and she was happy!!

We have tried to have a family council where we plan the week, and answer any questions they have every Sunday for the last few months and for some reason this month we have forgotten.  We have been rebuked and will change immediately to having family planning EVERY Sunday after church!

Yes this is my baby BOY.  Poor kid.  The other day my daughter brought Little Mister to me looking like this…

I think she is trying to tell me something.  Especially after receiving this note…

And after giving me these pictures she colored of her and her little sister growing up together.

She and her very cute (large) baby sister…

Them getting ready to go to a dance…

Her getting married and Amelia Belle {that’s what her name would be if we had a girl} as her brides maid…

She really does love her brothers (most of the time), but this girl wants a sister SO bad.  She keeps reminding me that “we’re not done yet, because we have to get a sister”  Oh how I wish I were in charge of that sometimes.  But if we have anymore kids chances are it’s going to be a boy.  I mean really.  After 3 in a row, the odds are it’s going to be a boy.   Which really I am fine with.  I love my boys so much.  They are wonderful and all such a relevant part of our family.  Yeah, sure I think it would be fun to have a little girl again.  I miss the little baby, toddler girl stage.  The time went by way to fast.  LaLa is now 8 and is growing up to be such a sweet and wonderful girl, but the problem is she is growing up.  She still loves to play dolls and dress-ups and all those little girl things, but soon enough those things will be put aside for other things.  She did promise me on our girls night out last night that if we ever got a sister that she would play dolls, and Barbie's with her :)

this was my reply...

My last two kids, at their Kindergarten graduation have or are going to sing this song called Big Dreams.  I cry every time I hear it.   A couple of days ago, Cowboy picked up Little Mister and took him outside and all the suddne I hear this sweet little 6 year old voice singing this song to his baby brother…

Big Dreams - By Teresa Jennings Just because I'm shorter than a grown-up. Just because I'm young, I'm not afraid. It's true I might not know the best way to go But I have big, big dreams! Big, Big Dreams ,Lots of big dreams Things I wanna do someday. Big, big dreams, Lots of big dreams Big dreams are okay! Just because I haven't been around long. just because I don't know lots of stuff. I have a lot to say, I try everyday Cause I have big, big dreams! Big, Big Dreams, Lots of big dreams, Things I wanna do someday. Big, big dreams, Lots of big dreams Big dreams are okay!

Yup I was crying, and my husband was laughing at me.  I’m going to be a mess at kindergarten graduation, but I bet I will be a bigger mess at high school graduation, or when they go on their missions. I just hate that they are all growing up so so fast. Is there anyway we could slow it down!?! It was just so sweet to watch him holding, or at least hanging on to, my baby and singing him a song about getting big.  One day these little ones are going to be big, and they are going to achieve those “Big Big Dreams”.  They are going to be amazing.

New Years 2015

We had a different New Years Eve. We decided to come home so Nate could work.  Jack had been acting really weak and weird all day, but no fever, he just said he was tired. I thought maybe it was something he ate, or what, but he could fall asleep in a second, and just didn't want to be standing.  Because I didn't think it was an illness we decided to go Laser Tag with the Gardines.  We don't get to see them much even though they live down here, but we do have fun when we get together.  We ate at the Habit afterward and then headed to their house for about an hour to borrow some snowboarding gear for Nate to take T for his birthday!

Then we came home, had a treat and cheered for the New Year, well most of us, Nate was asleep and got mad when I woke him up.  Oh well there is always next year!! :)