BYU Basketball Camp

Cody and his cousin Nathan attended a basketball camp at BYU last week.

They had a BLAST!!!! Especially doing it together.

Here they are getting ready for some drills.

Shooting practice--

All the boys together hearing from Coach Rose.

And of course getting a few autographs.

Cody had so much fun.

His basketball league starts this week!

He can't wait!!

(neither can his dad!!!)

A Duggar Moment

Tuesday was a busy day for me.

It got the busiest once the boys got home from school.

I was trying to do about 17 things at once.

Here's a few of the things I was trying to do AT THE SAME TIME!

-homework with the boys

-make dinner

-laundry

-cut 5 boys hair

-change Lia's diaper

-give hairy boys a bath

-cut more hair

-nurse Lia

-cut more hair

-put Kyle and Jack to bed

AND THEN I REMEMBERED MICHELLE--

You know Michelle, Michelle Duggar---

The one who has like 20 kids....

(Michelle is the one in the middle in green)

Well in her home, she clearly can NOT do everything.

So she has the older children look after the younger ones.

And as I thought about all I was trying to get done,

I was cutting Luke's hair and Kyle and Jack needed to go to bed...

I thought...CODY can do this for me!

And guess what????.....

IT WORKED!!!!

He took them to the bathroom.

Washed their hands.

Brushed their teeth.

(I'm sure they were not brushed well, but that's ok they're baby teeth and will fall out)

He played a quick game of hide and seek.

He read them scriptures.

He said prayer with them.

He turned out the light.

And closed the door!

DONE!!!

I had had a Duggar moment!!!

And I just might do this again...soon!

Sweet Thing!

This SWEET THING is 6 weeks!!!

She is just wonderful!!!

And makes each one of us MELT!

Totally Different

There really is nothing these two have in common

except the day they were born.

Everything about Kyle and Jack are different.

The toys they like to play with

Their attitude

Their eye color

Their weight...

Even their creativity.

One is meticulous, and the other could care less--

Here are some pumpkins they made in preschool.

It was a class art project.

Can you guess who's is who's???

(Jack's on left...Kyle's on right)

They are so different and I'm so glad their mine!!!

I LOVE MY BOYS!!!!!

Bath Time--

Lia's come a long way---

Her 1st bath, she just cried---

(look how tiny she is)

And now she loves it!!!

She could sit (or lay) in the bath for hours!!!

There is nothing better than a freshly bathed baby

that smells DELICIOUS!!!

Autumn Time

I really do LOVE Autumn in Utah.

I just HATE what is lingering around the corner...SNOW.

Thank goodness, before snow hits the ground we have so

many BEAUTIFUL colors to see.

A week ago we took a Sunday drive thru American Fork Canyon

and ended up in Midway. The drive was just beautiful!

I brought my camera to capture some of the beauty!

This one is my favorite--

The fall colors on the ground and Deer Creek in the background.

Utah really is a wonderful place to live.

(now ask me that in January--when the snow is thick and I just might disagree)

It was a beautiful drive!!!

SWING!

I brought up the baby swing the other day.

And she LOVED IT!!!

Isn't she just the sweetest!!!!

Luke and Lia

Luke loves Lia.

He is the 1st one to ask to hold her.

There is a special twinkle in his eye when he looks at her.

He is a wonderful big brother.

Even when she's crying, he just can't get enough.

He'd do anything to hold her all day!

He even loves to feed her a bottle!

The other day I showed him how to pick her up and

place her on his shoulder.

He thought this was the best thing ever!!!

Now he can hold her and walk around to keep her happy.

One of the best things about having a new baby, especially a baby girl.

Is to see the love that her brothers have for her.

For this I am truly grateful.

It really does bring tears to my eyes to see the love they have for her.

Tender Mercies

With all of my children I have been BLESSED with wonderful sleepers.

And Lia is NO EXCEPTION!

Thank goodness!!

With 6 children, there is so much to be done.

I'm constantly on the go.

Between meals, cleaning, homework, carpool, laundry.......

There is one HUGE blessing.

A good sleeping baby.

Since we brought Lia home from the hospital she only got up once a night.

And now at a month and 8 days old she is sleeping thru the night.

And not only that she is a great napper too.

I'm able to get things done.

Keep to a schedule.

And maintain some kind of normalcy.

Thank you Lia for being a fabulous baby!

And thank you Heavenly Father for sending me these wonderful

sleepy babies! I'm so grateful and realize the blessing that it is!

Lia's 1 Month

Lia's 1 month!

The time is passing all too quickly.

Knowing this is the LAST baby, I really relish each and every moment

with this little baby! She really is the best baby and is so happy all the time.

So happy in fact that she started to smile!!

One month stats:

9.9 pounds

22 1/4 inches

She has started to sleep thru the night

She has started to smile

She can recognize my voice

She is the best nurser

She will also take a bottle

She's only awake about 5-6 hours in a day

She loves to sleep

And we are all wildly in love!!

General Conference Oct. 2011

There is just something so wonderful about the 1st weekend in October.

Being able to hear the Prophet speak and be spiritually fed, is so nice.

I learned so much and felt the spirit so strongly.

One of my favorite talks from this weekend was by Elder Eyring.

He spoke about the importance of the Book of Mormon and

how important it is to read it daily.

This really resinated with me.

I am SO diligent in reading the Book of Mormon with my boys.

We NEVER miss a night.

I don't think they would let me. They love to read it and know

how important it is to read it daily.

And when it comes to my OWN personal study, I really struggle.

There is SO much for me to do on a daily basis...

Keeping a home and having 6 children some things go by the wayside.

and that has been my own personal scripture study.

Our Relief Society has come out with a Book of Mormon challenge.

To read from the book daily.

I'm going to START TODAY and take the challenge.

I know if I read from it DAILY, the spirit will be with me and

it will also be in our home. Being the Mother--I set the tone in the home

and what a better way to set the tone, then by reading the word of God.

I'm excited and anxious to have the spirit more strongly in our home!!!

Here's to reading!!!!!

Usually on conference weekend I hardly get to listen to any

of the talks due to the boys needing this or that.

But this year, having the boys be older, and having a newborn

that just sleeps, I was able to watch and LISTEN to all

4 sessions!!! It was great!

This was Lia right before conference started.

Here are the boys working on their conference packets.

So at least they can try to listen and color.

And this was Lia, pretty much throughout the 4 sessions.

I just love her!!!

Isn't she just the cutest!

Now on to the 1st weekend in April,

when the next sessions of conference will be held!

Lia's Blessing

Today September 25, 2011

Lia was given a name and a blessing by her dad!

Lia Renae LaPray...

Mom, Dad and Lia

We sure love you baby girl!

Grandpa Mitch, Daddy, and Grandpa Joel

Grandpa with Esther and Lia!

The 2 newest grand daughters!

Only 10 weeks apart

They both had a LONG day and decided to take a nap together!

I just had to take a picture!!! Priceless!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa with Lia and Esther!!

It was such a great day to honor our new baby girl.

We had about 50 people. Both family and friends.

We love you so much sweet Lia!!!

Meeting Grandpa!

I have one amazing dad!

And Lia has one amazing grandpa!!

He allowed his wife to be away for a month and 1/2 to be with us.

Here is their 1st meeting!

Today is Friday September 23rd 2011 and Monday the 26th

we say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa!

I'm so lucky to have such great parents!!!

BYU Football!!!

We love Football season!

Especially BYU FOOTBALL season!!

We got together with Tyler and Jamie for a game,

and to celebrate Alex's 3rd birthday!

The best part about getting together are the 10 of these!

There is just something so special about cousins!

And here are the girl cousins!!!

Lia was just a week old!!

I think Olivia is going to be a great mother!!!!