Life

Amber taking Soran for a ride.
How many cousins fit into one sandbox?
Friday nights at our house

Amber's dance costume

My brand new couch--it's so big!

Life. It's crazy. I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've been able to blog. But I wanted to catch a little of what our life is like right now. First, I got my first brand new couch and I love it. It's a sectional big enough to hold our whole family. Thank goodness for tax returns. The floral couch with large tears was getting kind of old. Amber's dance recital was in May and she looked beautiful and did a great job. Thanks to Vicki for teaching her!

There are 9 kids living in our house between me and my brother. It's a large house, but still. And on Friday nights part of our rental agreement is that I will watch the kids while they go out. It makes for some fun and wild times. I have grown to love their kids, even when it gets crazy. Scott just got made a high priest on Sunday and was called to the high council. I keep telling myself that we're not that old--right?!?! He really enjoys it so far. He is still working 2 part-time jobs and going to school, but he graduates in a month--yeah! And then the job search will really begin. Of course, he'll also be studying for his CPA exam but we'll figure that out later.

The kids are loving being out of school, and I love it so far. We go to breakfast and lunch at the school and have visited various parks. I love Utah for that. There are lots of nice parks. We have a reunion coming up this weekend, the 4th of July the next and another reunion the weekend after that. Bring on the good times!

Whew! And that concludes my 6 post catchup.

Girls Camp 2010

Cabin decorated with lots of cute glittery spots but no heat
Me and Chelsea rocking our hike

Girl chats and singing all night long

Singing around the lake with the bonfire and flashlights

View from our cabin porch--notice the trees haven't budded yet.

Okay, so the reason I have a mountain of laundry and haven't blogged in 2 months and have neglected my kids and husband and haven't read a book in forever is all due to Girls Camp. But it was so worth it. I used to go to Mia Shalom when I was a teenager and it was amazing to go back. The spirit is so strong there and it was beautiful even with the lack of green. At least there wasn't any snow. Not to say it wasn't cold, but at least we didn't have to shovel walk ways or anything.

The first day (after getting lost and getting there late) we set up camp and then we went canoeing, played games and had a night hike. The next day I got to go to the scripture cabin and read scriptures all by myself and scarf down some candy bars. Then we played marshmallow gun wars with the girls and had a lot of fun. Then we sang around the lake. You sit across the lake from another stake and when it's your turn you turn on your flashlights and sing. It looks so beautiful. When we got back to camp we sang around the lantern and it was so peaceful. Next day was hike day (we went with the first years so it was pretty easy) and I got to see my little sister. We hung out at camp for awhile while the girls crafted and certified. That night we had a testimony meeting and it started to get really cold. The next day we canoed again and did some confidence courses and it started to rain so we went back to our cabins. The bishop showed up that afternoon and we had pizza, played a game and had another testimony meeting. Then they made the men get up and do some goofy songs (way to go B) and last night sleeping on the cold hard ground. I think of everyone in our ward I was the saddest to come home. It was an awesome experience. And when I got home my husband and 5 children were still alive and the house was even clean. Mostly.

Livi enters the terrible 3s

Birthday candle glow
My princess--always in a dress

2 years old with all her babies

1 year old--she has always sucked her fingers like this and still does.

1 day old with daddy and a very bruised face

Livi turned 3 this year and I can't believe it. She is my sweet little girl. She is always wearing dresses and loves to get her nails painted and makeup on, when she can sneak it. She is never mean to other kids. If she gets hurt she just cries and walks away. She loves her siblings more than me, I think. She always wants to be with them and doing what they're doing. She is such a cutie. She talks with such a cute little voice and you just want to squish her.

For her birthday we just had a little party with the cousins and had chicken nuggets, carrots and chips (her pick). She got a lot of presents and a lot of dresses. She is such a light in my life. I can't ever get mad at her because she is always so fun. I love you Livi!

AZ here we come!

Lindsey and cute little Lucy
Swimming with daddy

Alyssa got invited to spend a couple weeks with her friend in Prescott Valley, so we took a trip down in May. The kids were so good on the drive down, even though our TV was broken. I didn't even know Alivia was in the car except every once in awhile she would say, "Mommy, the mountains is moving." We stayed with Michael and Lindsey for a couple days. It was really good to see them again. We had a good time just hanging out, went to the mall, went swimming, to Chuck E Cheese (thanks, Grandpa) and the boys went golfing. It was hard to believe a year had gone by since we'd seen them.

Then we headed to Prescott Valley and caught up with some friends there. The Kendalls were so sweet and threw a dinner for us with a lot of friends. It was fun to see how much everyone had grown and things had changed. The next day Scott took off golfing and we went around and visited different places. Jessica had a munch-n-mingle at her house and then I got to visit with Tina and Amber spent time with her bestest friend. We had a fun family home evening with the O'Connors and left the next morning. The drive home felt a lot longer, as it always does, but the kids were really good again. After driving for a few hours, Livi looked around and asked, "Where's Lytta?" I said she was at Jonah's house. She said she wanted Lytta. It was cute. We did bring Bryant back with us to keep Christian busy for a couple weeks, so no shortage of kids.

It was good to go down and see everything. I had been missing AZ so much and wanting to go back. I was curious to see if being there would make it worse or better. I was relieved to find that while I really miss our friends and my house, I have moved on. I'm happy with where we are in life, even if it is in my brother's basement and Scott's working 2 part-time jobs. It's a good life here (that's easier to say when it's summer--come winter I may be singing a different tune) and I'm excited to see what comes next.

My baby's one!

Pink cupcake with one candle
Princess Kayla and Princess Alivia

Soran on the swing with Grandpa

My baby turned one on April 22nd. Soran has been my blessing baby. I don't know what I would have done with a different child this past year. She has rolled with everything and still been the happiest baby we've ever seen. I am so grateful for her. We went to the park and had a picnic lunch with grandparents and cousins. She was absolutely covered in dirt by the end of the party. She was crawling and dragging her food with her. She was also spoiled, of course.

Since then she has started walking and says her first word, "uh-oh." Scott keeps trying to get her to say daddy but no such luck. She seems very content with her one word. She puts up with most of the kids loving on her (there are a lot of kids around who are constantly hugging her) and loves to be outside. Thank goodness she's walking so she doesn't get covered in dirt when we go out. Since she was born on Earth day I told Scott I want to plant a tree for her on her birthday. We planted an apple tree at Ben's house this year.

I love you baby girl. Happy first birthday!

Womens Conference

Now that's a lot of girl power!
Nicole at the service project (lots of cutting)

Me at my old alma mater (BYU). Cold.

Me and Nicole (sorry--I know it wasn't your best pic but it was the better one of me and it's my blog:))

My friend Nicole came and saw me while I was in the hospital on my birthday and brought me a gift card for Old Navy. Then she took me out and made me use it on myself (a couple weeks later, of course). It was so nice and I wanted to do something for her. So for her birthday I got her tickets to Womens Conference at BYU. It was the first time I had ever gone. The first time I left Scott with the kids the whole day for a break for myself. And the first time will definitely not be the last. It was so great. We had a really fun time and I didn't realize how much I needed it until we were there. I gained some really good insight and felt more inspired to be a better mother and wife. The concert in the evening was fun and I will never look at laundry the same way again. Thanks, Nicole!