Spring Break

In April we were able to head to St. George for a few days over Spring Break.  We had a fantastic time together just our little family!  We spent a lot of time with this double jogger - lots of hiking and having fun.  Thankfully Benny still fits in it comfortably! 

This is at this really fun park on top of one of the bluffs where we hiked around - and Tanner and I were able to fit through the "birth canal."  These really narrow rocks that you can try to climb through.  I was a little nervous but we made it!  Unfortunately we don't have pictures of that spot.

We were able to spend one whole day at Zions.  It was a perfect day and our kids loved it!  Once again we were grateful for the double jogger and nicely groomed trails so we could visit all our favorite places.  This is a shot at the Emerald Pools with the hot daddy sporting the kiddos.

Lunch on the lawn in front of Zions Lodge.  Nice break from the stroller and shuttle buses.

The next few pictures are all along the Riverwalk at the end of the canyon where the Narrows begin.  Really hard to get good shots that do the incredible cliffs justice but such a beautiful place.

A stop at Weeping Rock also with a great view. . . .

We visited Snow Canyon a couple different times.  This day we hiked up on this huge rock of petrified sand dunes that were really cool with a cool view.

And then we found this little niche in the rock that we thought would make a good lunch spot.  And it did.

And then on to the sand dunes of course!  Benny's favorite that he still talks about almost daily.  Especially when playing in our sandbox.  He has a slight obsession with sand.  We have sand everywhere at our house but its worth it.

This is what we all looked like on the first day there.  Sand covered.  We were grateful to jump in the pool later that day.

Daddy playing dead.

A different day at the dunes in a different spot.  A much sunnier day that turned out way better than we expected.  So beautiful with the red cliffs and blue sky in the background all around.

There is just something almost therapeutic about soft smooth clean sand and sticking your bare toes deep into it.  And spending such beautiful days with those you love best.

St. George is fast becoming one of our families favorite areas.  It was a great few days together also lots of fun swimming which of course I didn't get any pictures of but it was also a great time.  Love our family and my husband who lets me drag our family on occasional adventures.

Processing. . .

Man I have a ton of catching up to do on this blog.  But right now I feel like I just need to use this outlet to release some emotion.

I've felt SO emotional lately. . . .  Its gotten to where I can hardly watch the news without practically bawling.  I guess my emotions are just very close to the surface these days.  I think the root of it is that I have this deep wish that I could just grab each of my children and wrap them up closely and keep them in that moment in my arms forever.  Not let them grow up and ever stop being my sweet little boys ever.  The end of the school year is really hitting me hard for some reason.  It means my kids are a year older.

Tanner is becoming such an amazing kid and I always fear I don't tell him how wonderful he is enough.  There is so much I need to teach him and so much I want to do with him and I fear that I am always kind of not being enough.  I'm sure all parents feel this way.  I know we can only be our best but its still difficult to not feel guilty at times.

Jameson is just a joyous ball of energy and so very sweet and adorable.  I also hope that I am being there enough for him.  I just want to stop him from growing so fast!

And man Benjamin.  To be honest I think the main root of my crazy emotions are coming from him.  He is equally amazing as his brothers and doing such great things.  He had his preschool graduation last week and it really just hit me hard there how much he has grown and developed.  He is not my little baby anymore even though I think that both of us are equally not thrilled about that.  He was so lucky to have such an amazing teacher for preschool this year whom we both learned so much from.  She really helped me learn how I am going to really have to fight for Benj probably his whole life.  Anyway, it is just difficult to have had such great people in my child's life and then suddenly for them to be gone.  I feel almost like we are left all alone again and have to start all over.  Start all over with teachers and people who will hopefully love Ben and help Ben just as much if not more than the ones before.  But its just hard.  He's such a unique kid.  Definitely not any others out there like him and its not an easy task to educate others about him all over again.  But I guess we'll just do it and keep doing it over and over.

Its really not so bad I'm just trying to process things in my head.  Probably just way too much going on in there that is more than I'll ever have to worry about.  But I guess worrying is a normal job for mothers.  So I guess I'll just keep on trying to do my best even though its hard to feel like its always enough.  I love these three little boys more than I can ever say.  So hopefully I can show it to them everyday and take advantage of them as much as I can.  That's what summer is for anyway right?

Jameson's 1st Birthday!

I am honestly in shock at how fast the first year of Jams life has gone.  Was he ever a baby?  Its hard to remember.  While I know he was a tiny baby once, it really did not seem to last long with this kid.  He was ready to start running from practically the second week of his life.  And he's been an absolute joy the whole time!  I'd really forgotten how fun it is to watch a child learn and grow so fast.  Its truly amazing.  We kinda skipped things with Benj so Jams has certainly been a wonder with us.  Its just not fair really though.  Did he really have to make up for Benjamin's lack so quickly?  Did he really have to start walking at 9 months and running by 11 months?  Poor Benny has to be the big brother hollering "wait for me!" rather than the other way around.  Breaks my heart and yet its ok at the same time.

Jameson has always been a little chunker.  A very strong, solid kid who pretty much never holds still unless he's asleep. You'd think he would be thinner.  I was honestly pretty unhappy when he started to walk.  We did nothing to encourage him.  He just kind of did it on his own.  I really wanted a baby longer.  But he had other things in mind.

He LOVES books.  He will sit and look at books on his own - so cute how he can turn all the pages and get it right side up already - or he also loves to bring me a book and climb on my lap.  I'm amazed at how aware and smart he is.  Already pointing to every ball that he's sees in the pictures.  And all the food.  And very particular about what books he wants and the order they should be read in.

He LOVES balls.  All I have to do is throw a bunch of balls throughout my house and he's pretty entertained chasing and throwing them around.  I love when he picks up Spencer's big basketball and walks around with it - its half his size.  Guess we didn't semi-name him after Jimmer for nothing!

He already has a handful of words - Tanner didn't even say anything until after his 1st birthday so we've been surprised at how verbal Jams has been.  Of course mama, dada, ball, tat (cat), nana (for both bananas and food in general), uh uh (uh oh), and dat (for that), good imitations of a good number of other words that I notice everyday, and pointing at everything that he wants and sees.

This child so far eats food!!!  Everything I give him practically.  And lots of it.  After dealing with his older brothers it is SO nice.  And also kind of good to know its not me but honestly just each child's own personality of preferences on whether they eat or not.

It has been a great reminder how difficult it is to keep up with a child at this age who wants to get into everything and go everywhere with no understanding of what is dangerous or naughty.  We were able to be lazy with Benny.  I forgot.  Like the other day when visiting teaching and he threw some books in the toilet at someone else's house.  That was really nice.  At least there wasn't pee in it like there usually is when he escapes into the boys bathroom at home.

We had a pretty low key birthday celebration.  We honestly had errands to run most of the day and then when daddy finally got home we had dinner, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream.  Just our family. I had been sick and Jams wasn't feeling too great either so as you can tell the house was in the process of falling apart (and also had a partially finished project going on in the background still) and so we did his birthday simple.  Luckily, 1 year olds don't really care or know what's going on.  It was probably more fun for the big brothers honestly.

Jameson is just our so cute and so fun little 1 year old who is growing and learning so much each day.  He seriously brings our family and me personally so much joy and love each day.  He is so sweet.  And we love him so much!

Tanner's 7th Birthday

Tanner turned 7 years old in January.  He is getting so big.  He was able to do lots of celebrating.  The Friday before his birthday he was able to have a little party with 4 of his best friends.  We kinda talked him out of a big friend party and tried to make it sound fun to just have a few best friends over.  I wasn't sure I could handle the whole invite every kid in your class kind of thing this year.  But it turned out really fun I think.  So it turned into an xbox and legos party - we just let them play legos, xbox, and ate pizza, cake and ice cream, and I think they all had a good time.

On Saturday he got to go the BYU basketball game with all our family and probably to his favorite restaurant.  Chuck-a-rama - what else?  And on his real birthday the next Tuesday we met daddy up at Trafalga in Lehi after school for a little mini golf and a few games.  Needless to say, he was / is thoroughly spoiled. 

Tanner is so lucky to have such good friends!  All such cute and good kids.  He's a lucky boy!

We love Tanner so much.  Although I must say 7 year old boys are an interesting bunch.  But overall Tanner is a good kid.  I know he tries to do his best at everything and I love that about him.  I also know he has a great desire to do what is right and tries to be a good example.  I love it when he plays with his younger brothers.  They are all so happy and enjoy each other so much.  It also helps me out so much when he plays with them.  He does not like girls very much right now for some reason and it kind of makes me happy.  He already knows he can't date until after his mission.  (totally kidding)  No really I think its gonna be hard to keep the girls away from him.  He's already got quite a following but he seems to be totally bugged by all girls so far so so far so good.  

Tanner is excited that he will get to be baptized next year and talks about it often.  I think it is going to be a good growing year for him and hope we can help him be prepared.  He is a very good student and top of his class in pretty much everything.  He is such a competitive kid.  Like extremely.  No idea where he could have gotten this from.  This can get him into trouble at times but hopefully he can learn to use his competitiveness to work hard at worthy pursuits and I know he will be successful in anything that he really desires.  We love Tanner! 

Christmas 2011

Christmas was also fun this past year.  Spencer took the whole week off between the Christmas weekend and the New Years weekend so it was a lot of fun.  We spent a lot of time up at my parents house with my whole family which was fun, and crazy.  Not sure how much we can still all fit together anymore but nice that we tried!  Anyway, it was a good Christmas.  We had lots of parties and lots of fun activities and lots of food and lots of fun.  I think we were ready to get back to normal life though afterwards.  We took mostly video on Christmas so I didn't get tons of good pictures.  

Thanksgiving 2011

We had such a fun Thanksgiving last year that I didn't want to miss it and forget to blog about it.  Even though it was about 4 months ago!

We were able to go down to St. George and stay in some condos with some of my family - my parents, my sister and her family, my brother and his wife, and of course the two single bros.  It was fun to not only just get away to some beautiful weather for a couple days but to also spend time all together.

The condos we stayed at were a couple blocks from the St. George temple and it was fun to walk there a few times with our kids and enjoy the beauty of that historic temple.  It was also fun cause they turned the Christmas lights on on the temple grounds while we were there which my children were of course thrilled about.  And Spencer and I were also happy to be able to attend a session there with the advantage of people with us to watch the children.  Always love to get there together whenever we can.

We enjoyed a wonderful feast together in the condos - nice to have two kitchens!  And we also enjoyed going to Snow Canyon to play our traditional family football game at the sand dunes.  The dunes were so much fun and I cannot stress how lucky we were to have such beautiful weather!  Benjamin LOVED them and has talked about the sand dunes ever since - and when are we going back?

We also had fun doing shopping down there and the boys got to enjoy a round of golf of course.  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and we realize how much we have to be thankful for.  We have been so blessed.  Especially with our wonderful families and our testimonies of the Gospel.   

Of course the only pictures I got of our time were at the sand dunes.  We love it there!