Giving Thanks

My life is so blessed.


Sometimes, like today, I feel like God has OVER ABUNDANTLY blessed my life.

This Thanksgiving I am so grateful for my family.

I love mine more than words can ever express.


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Cole's little monster

I had to blog this little catch of Cole's.
Cole LOVES to fish about as much as Matt and Brian do.
Cole caught this all by himself at Yuba.
The kid is crazy about fishing, and
this was his biggest catch yet.
28 pounds baby.
Cole was screaming as he was reeling it in and Matt had to jump in the water and, "bare-hand it" and bring it to shore.

It was pretty cool until he brought it home and Cole, Quinn and the Trax threw it in our garden and poked it's eyes out with a stick.

Summer 2010

Joy Bits

It's funny how there are a few things in life that bring me joy.

Things and pieces of time.

Well of course the THINGS are almost always people. My people are Brian. And my kids....and the TIME I spend EACH and every day with them. It's other things like the gospel and Jesus brings me joy as well.

Moments and pieces and people.

But there is also another piece that fits into my puzzle of happy joy. It is my dad, mom, brothers and sisters. IN-LAWS that I've grown to love just like my OWN.



But just for a minute I want to talk about my sisters.
My sisters are special.


The funny thing is, is that we used to be just regular sisters like every other family. I remember the years after I got married that I wasn't super close to any of them.

But TIME and MORE TIME together has turned us in to something different.
We are a group. A tight group that LOVES just to hang out and do nothing.

So here's a tribute to all of you.....MY best friends that just happen to be my sisters. (Mom included)!

We had so much fun in Colorado visiting Tawny for her B-day surprise! We missed all of the sisters that COULDN'T come, and a HUGE thanks to mom for helping us all so that we COULD!

Good times are things that we really shouldn't ever forget.

Little pieces of time.

Little moments that are special.

Twenty Years!

Last Wednesday, June 23, 2010, Brian and I had our 20 year wedding anniversary.
20 YEARS!
That is so huge! Who stays together for 20 years?

After much deliberation (and MUCH is the keyword)... we decided to renew our vows.
I wanted Vegas but Brian said he couldn't handle it.
So,...
We hiked up to a really pretty spot in Snow Canyon and with our 5 boys. (We missed Ali so much)!

We had both written our vows and I went first.

As I read them, I had so many conflicting emotions.

I don't even know what the deal was, but every time I looked over at Brayden, he was wearing these uber short shorts from the DI, and then I'd look at Brian and get serious and then I'd look at Matt, who was stifling a laugh. Teenage boys are so immature. Anyway, I ended up crying and laughing through the whole thing. Like I said,....conflicted.

But in the end, it was special.
It really WAS a moment.

I am so glad that we did it, and it was a beautiful experience for BOTH of us.

Like I said in my vows: There is no one in this world that I would rather share this journey with.

I love that man!

Here's to another 20.

Letting Her Go

Ali graduated from Hillcrest on June 2, 2010.
She graduated with honors and was radiant and beautiful.
Both mom and dad and Rog and Carole came.
It was a long, but really fun night.

It was a night of reminiscing and remembering the past High School years.

But today is a new day. Today we are looking ahead.

On Thursday morning Ali is going to leave us.
She will fly away to Europe for 6 weeks.

The longest we have EVER been apart was for 4 days at Cheer Camp and 4 days at Girls Camp.

Neither experience went well....for either of us.

But we are 2 years older and more experienced now(!), and Ali is ready to go.

I know I have to let her go.

Even now, as I sit at my computer, she is downstairs fighting and laughing....laughing HARD with (or at) Bray and Matt. It is a typical Sunday evening.

My irrational mind worries too much and I have to fight to remember that this is NORMAL. Our kids leave.

But why did it have to happen so soon?

Where did the time go?

We have to let her go.

A night at the Farm

A couple of weekends ago, our good friends, Eddie and Julia Martin invited us out to Grantsville for a barbecue. They live on like 6 acres of land and have 6 kids. Jules and I have been friends for 12 years now, and we have decided to ALWAYS be friends, because we don't know anyone else who (at least purposely) has as many children as we do. Even though we have both moved away from the old 5th Ward, we have stayed close. We kind of need each other. All of us went but Ali, who was on a date. Here are some pics of us in there.

Julia purposely didn't have her kids collect the chickens eggs in the morning so that our kids would believe that eggs don't ONLY come from the store!

They saddled up one of their horses and took my kids for rides.

The kids all tried to hand feed (and kiss) the chicken.

They also tried to ride their goats.

The steaks were exceptionally good, and it wasn't till AFTER dinner that we discovered that that was Brownie, their beef that they just pulled out of the freezer. Brian wasn't very happy about that and even Bray and Matt got a little nastied out. I was just glad I ate the chicken.....from the STORE.

From the whole experience, I think we learned that we, the Monsen's ARE NOT country folk. We are city people (like Julia kept telling her kids). At least...I GUESS we are.

Part of me loves the idea of slowing life down and having land (haha) and animals and farm air and calm.

I don't know. But our weekend was fun and definately one to remember.

Bray

Have you ever noticed that as parents, the older your kid gets, the harder it is to feel like they love us and that we are raising them right? It's just so rare to get anything back from them! I mean, with little kids its easy! They adore us and we can tell by the things they say and the way they look at us. But with teenagers...(especially boys) we parents don't get a ton back.

On Sunday, I told Matt and Bray that if they got up and bore their testimony and said how much they loved their mother that I would give them $10 bucks. Brayden was like, "I wouldn't do that for $20."
Matt actually considered it, but said that probably wasn't enough either.

Well, anyway, so last night was actually a night that we, as parents got to feel like we are doing something....maybe just a little bit right.

So, Alta Varsity took STATE this year for 5A. They went 10-4. Now, Brayden didn't suit up for Varsity bc he's just in 9th grade, but HIS own Sophmore team went 13-1. The JV's were...ok. Bray played JV on and off this year. But the Sophomore's... they were amazing and we're thinking that in 2 years, we will take STATE again, (depending on who else Lone Peak recruits illegally).

So we had a huge dinner at the Energy Solutions Center on the top floor, overlooking the B-ball court on one side and SLC on the other. It was all catered and at $40 per head, all of us were dressed up and ready to party! The Jazz Bear was there (and threw a mini b-ball that hit me in the left bosom by the way) to honor the boys and they had big screens of the Championship game playing to music like, "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night" by the Black Eyed Peas. The boys each recieved trophies and b-balls and shirts with State Champs written on them and then the coach got up and said a few words about each boy.

Well, when it came to Bray, Coach Boardman talked about how Brayden is possibly the best player he has ever recruited and how Bray is an amazing kid on and off the court. He also said that he is just a kind, good kid all around and that he has a real respect for him. He said that he believed Bray would play at "higher" levels.

Well you would've thought Brian and I had won the lottery with how proud we were. I am seriously ashamed to say it, but we were like bursting at the seams. I am actually embarrassed for myself.

But it is true. He is a fabulous kid and as parents, we don't get a lot, but those little moments mean the world to us.

So here's to Bray.

Love ya kid.

Unexpected Joy

Saturday, April 3: Overcast, snowy and so very monotonous.

I don't know what the deal is lately, but March has been so depressing and April has come, looking no better. We can't seem to get any sunshine. Or we might, like for 1/2 a day, and then we'll have a straight week of grey and cold. That's Utah though.

But then,

Yesterday, the boys went fishing. Don't ask me why. Matt had been bugging us to go for weeks now, and finally Saturday, we just said, "Fine. If you really want to go that bad, just go. And good luck by the way. No fish are going to bite. It's too cold." But Matt and Cole packed up and took off fishing for the first time this year.
There was snow on the ground, but when you have a son like Matt, that's nothing to worry about.
Matt is the child that I believe all moms dream about having. He only sees the positive and only concentrates on the good in life. That is one of the things I love most about him. In fact, that is the definition of Matt.

Snow? Who cares!
Freezing out? What the...!

Now, we have been in our house for exactly ONE year now, and right down the street from us...(the boy's can ride their bikes) are the Draper Ponds. There are three of them and wow was the fishing hot yesterday.

At first, we just dropped Cole and Matt off and went home.

Then, Matt called and said, "Dad. You have got to get down here. This is awesome!"

Brian packed up the Trax and was there within 10 minutes.

And you won't believe what happenned! Within 1 hour:

Trey caught his first fish....ALL BY HIMSELF. It was a small mouth bass. He cast, held the pole and reeled it in.

Dax caught his first fish....ALL BY HIMSELF. A rainbow.

Cole caught 5 rainbows.

Matt caught 7 rainbows.

Isn't it funny how, in the midst of a downright ugly, overcast day, the boys found happiness and joy?!? It was so unexpected and wow.....so needed!


They've been happy ever since.

CHANGE.

I used to ba a fan.
Now it just makes me sad.
Everything is changing and it seems impossible to stop.

Ali will leave to college.
Brandon will leave to Afganistan.
The twins will go to school.....(maybe an ok change...haha?)
Tawny will leave.
Brooke will be moving on.

I used to love change.
Change was exciting and change was an adventure.

Now I hate it.

I wish it would just leave me alone.

Sometimes, you just need it.

Bri and I got back from a week in Mexico late Sunday night.
The crazy thing is that we haven't gone on a trip....just us.... for a really long time. We always go with family (Tawny and Ry or Brandon and Linds) or we've taken the kids.

To be honest, (and this is so sad), I had been kind of nervous!

Wierd, right?

I mean in June, Bri and I will have been married for 20 years. What's the problem?

Maybe it's because life has been so busy and crazy and so filled with our kids....

But, last week was so full of laughter and fun and adventure and wave runnin' and rides through the jungle and private little beaches that I realized that this little vacay is exactly what we needed. And thanks to an amazing MOM, we were able to do it.

You know..? Sometimes, you just need it....

Sometimes on a cold January day, my mind goes back to my happiest moments....
I know it seems crazy, but that one week that we spend at the Beach House is like the highlight of my whole year.

SK's and sun and oil and the pier and breadsticks and Ruby's and the Closet (Ali)and walks and runs and fishing and surfing and laying out and sun and sand in all the wrong places and wipeouts and seagull catching (Bray) and ukelele playing (Matt) and leopard sharks in our bath tub (Bri) and swimming and hot tubbing and diet cokes and life guards and sisters and brothers and my kids and Bri.

Dang.
Sounds good about now.