This Minivan Life

Today one of the families in our mothers' group lost their youngest child. He was healthy one day, contracted a virus that attacked his heart, and passed away within just a few days. This sweet little boy was just a few months younger than Zach and so full of energy when we saw him a few months ago. My heart breaks for his sweet mother, this little guys was quite a bit younger than his older siblings and his mom's special buddy. Yesterday while we were at Costco we saw another sweet family that recently lost their mother. The dad was there with his three sons, and they appeared to be doing okay, but I'm sure they are still having a rough time and missing their mom- especially with the holidays. As I see these sweet families go through tragedy I am awed by their strength and resolve. Both families are religious, one is in our ward and one belongs to another faith, and both have expressed that their faith is what has gotten them through each day. But I am so impressed that th

We were able to make our annual trip to Great Wolf Lodge earlier this month. The kids had a blast, and we all survived (though I was a little bit nervous we wouldnt before we left). We decided to break up the waterpark this year- we did one day at the zoo (maybe more like a half day), some time with my aunt and cousins (pretty sure this was the part the boys loved best), and we went on the Magiquest. Grace wasn't a huge fan of the waterpark, it's loud and nosy, and she doesnt like to be cold, but Brian was a great sport and kept the boys for most of the time so she only actually went in once.  This was our first year to do Magiquest- the magic wand game located throughout the hotel. It was a bit more complicated than I anticipated. My aunt and cousins came to play one day, and Michael loved having them there. The last day we opted out of the waterpark in an attempt to complete our quest... yeah the two little ones were not a fan of this idea when we learned it was hours (no

I decided that Grace was going to love the baby carrier because unlike Michael there is no freaking way Zach is going to stay on the stroller. So she started the baby carrier really early. And she does love it, but maybe a bit too much. She is my sweet velcro baby, and since she is the last baby it's ok. But boy does that girl want to be with me... always. I kicked her out of our room today, let's face it, she is almost as long as the bassinet and she really just wants to sleep with us. So tonight is her first official night upstairs. All her stuff has been moved too, no more baby bed, no more rocking chair, no more clothes downstairs, everything is upstairs in her room. Let's see how it goes. Naps went terribly, but she's almost 6 months old (no really she will be in 2 days) so maybe she needs to learn to sleep up there, let's be honest, maybe I  need to learn to let her sleep up there. I will say that so far I have loved  having a daughter. I was pretty sure it

Here are just a few of the family photos from this year- they turned out so much better than I hoped they would!