WOW! It's been a long time!

All I can say is that our life has been super crazy for the last few months. I kind of felt like we were spinning out of control there for a while, but we are back to our comfortable, normal again.

The three older kids have been playing soccer the last few months and have all loved it. It's fun to watch them play but busy, busy getting everyone to practice and games.

I coached Gage's team this year and that was fun for me to get to spend that time with him. Sometimes I know he feels like he gets lost in the shuffle. Mike jokes and says he has too much testosterone running through his body. I have to agree sometimes. He's all boy! No kisses, hugs, loves...... nothing! Every once in a while he will surprise me and give me a super good bear hug and I cherish those because they do not come often. He is his daddy's clone.

Carter had a lot of fun playing this year. He is not our most aggressive child, but he gets out there and does his best! He's growing into an amazing boy. Smart as a whip and kind as ever! (Most of the time! Sometimes, "Gage makes him be mean!")

Gavin is doing amazing. He just potty trained himself last week. I LOVE IT! He talking up a storm and right now his favorites are, "But why mom why?" and "k mom k?" All day long:) I can't believe he is already almost two. It has gone by entirely too fast for this mother!

Katlyn did great at soccer this year. She had a fun team with a few friends and her cousin to play with. She says she wants to play volleyball when she gets older but soccer may win out in the end. She is an aggressive little thing. I think she might get a little of that from me....... She is much sweeter than I ever was though. I LOVE this girl to pieces and am having a hard time with the fact that she is becoming a young lady!

So, I have made myself feel too busy to sit down for a few minutes and put my thoughts down for my children to read later and that makes me a little ashamed of myself. I loved President Uchdorf's talk in conference and have thought a lot about how I spend my time in life. Do I put my Heavenly Father first? Not always. Do I put my husband and children after that? Not always. Am I spending my time doing too many of the things that really don't matter? I'm afraid so.
It is hard to balance things in the world that we live in, but I know that I can do better. I want my family to know that I love my Father in Heaven. I want them to know that as long as they follow Him they will be just fine. I want them to KNOW that. I want them to feel love the most when they are at home. Home is where they should want to be. Where they will feel safe and comfortable. Where they can be themselves. I want my husband to feel like I have time for him, and just him. I don't want him to fee like he has to compete for a time slot. Lately, I'm sure that's how he has felt.
So, we are done with overscheduling. Done with always having somewhere to go and something to do. It's time for our family to be at home together, and for that to be important again. Now, I will have something to blog about again.......:)

Roosavelt

Tyler and Melinda were kind enough to invite us to go to Roosavelt with them for the day. Mike got this grand idea to get this old, old, old (you get the picture) boat from his dad that his dad traded for a car without a motor. (That tells you how much it was worth!) Mike wanted to try it out on the water and see if it would work. It was a perfect opportunity for him because Tyler would be there to tow him in if he broke down.
That would have all been fine and good if he had even gotten away from the dock.......... The boat would start but would die as soon as he put it in gear to go. Except once...... when he forgot to take the boat out of gear. He was in the back of the boat holding the charges to the battery ( I know it sounds crazy but if you knew Mike it wouldn't surprise you) and Katlyn was in the front turning the key to start it. So, he held the charges, she turned the key and due to the fact that he forgot to take the boat out of gear it shot off across the water. Not slowly I might add. Kate's face was priceless and Mike's reaction time was pretty good. We were just lucky we were the only boats at the dock!
Needless to say we parked the old boat and enjoyed the rest of the day on Tyler and Melinda's boat.
Thanks for the fun guys! We had a blast! I didn't get many pictures......

1st Day of Preschool!

Gage was so sad not to be able to go to kindergarten this year, but he was super happy to go to his 1st day of preschool! He's got an amazing teacher and the cutest kids in his class. He is learning a ton and is a much happier boy now!

1st Day of School

He's a big 1st Grader now. I'm having a hard time thinking of him being gone all day long. I hope it gets easier! This little boy is a shining star! We sure love him!

She is unbelievably going into 5th Grade. I am feeling so old and so sad that she is growing up so fast. She got contacts and it made her look at least a year older! She's beautiful and we love her too!

Gage is going to preschool next week so I will make sure to put a picture of him on here too! He's so excited!

Happy Birthday again...... @ Grandma & Grandpa's House.

Mike took the boys to Pima and so they could attend Brock's Baptism on Carter's Birthday. It was not very fun for me. I wanted to have him here, but Katlyn had her final swim meet and so we had to let the boys go...........
Grandma and Grandpa did an awesome job making him feel like his day was very special! Thanks you guys!
Love you Carter! Can't believe you are 7 already!

Swim Team 2010

Katlyn decided to do swim team this year and even though it was super grueling she did an awesome job. We are so proud of her. By the end of the season she had beaten most of her times by at least 25 seconds. We can't wait for next year!

Doesn't she look dang cute? I wish I could be like her........

24th Celebration

Pretty pathetic that these are the only two pictures that I have of the 24th. It was a pretty crazy weekend. Mike had to do fire training and so I was solo with the kids. We did have fun though. When Mike got home Friday night we went with John and Debbie, Brett and Angela and Kylie and Andrew to dinner. It was slow, but delicious! Then, Mike and I stopped by our 10 year reunion for a bit. I really didn't know many people but it was still fun. Crazy how much we actually all still look the same! After that we had the pleasure of chaperoning the youth dance. It was so funny to see how the kids interact now. Nobody was dancing! They were all just standing around in their groups! It took them a good 2 hours to warm up to each other. We had a fun time just watching them all. Saturday we did the parade and the craft fair. It was humid as all get out, but the kids still had fun. Carter and Gage bought these bad boys with their money they had saved. They LOVE them. Well worth the $7.50!

Mike and I decided to try out the rodeo Sat. night when he got home, and we loved it! I can't believe we have never gone! We will for sure be taking our kids next year. The fire works were great too. It made for a great Pioneer Days!

They were all pretty good at waiting for their turn on the zipline.

Everyone getting their fill of the pinata.

This boy is all boy and has no fear. He just took off and never looked back!

And this boy had a little infatuation with Katlyn. She was loving it too!

Gage taking a turn trying to bust it open and get some candy!

It was a good time and very relaxing! Thanks John and Debbie!

Family Reunion~ Heber 2010

For the reunion this year John and Debbie rented a cabin in Heber for us all to hang out in. It was really fun to hang out with everyone. The kids loved the zip line. Carter had to conquer his fear of heights, but once he did there was no stopping him!

Here's Gavin taking a whack at the pinata!

We all hung out on the porch a lot eating snow cones, cotton candy and otter pops. Who needs more than that?

All the kids with Grandma and Grandpa. Katlyn is the oldest and there are 18 kids so we have A LOT of little ones.

Katlyn spent a lot of time on the zip line too.

Ride 'em Cowboy!

Mike's friend Milo has a few minature horses at his house and one unexpectedly had a baby a few weeks ago! I don't know how I missed taking a picture of the baby but it was so dang cute! No joke that thing barely came up to Gavin's waist!

These two were loving riding. Next time Milo says he will hook up his cart and let them do that. He's such a nice guy! I think we need one of these~

Cousin Camp 2010

Ohana was the theme and Grandma and Grandpa did a fabulous job! The kids learned so much as usual and had a blast too. Katlyn always gets a little homesick, but she is getting better each time. We are grateful to George and Colleen for taking the time to do this for our kids! Here are all the kids and the event planners. Don't they look awesome?

I love Carter's smile in this one.

The boys doing the Hakka. It was awesome! They did a great job!

Katlyn doing her dance with the girls. I didn't get a picture of them all but they were all too pretty!

Here's a picture of the banner for the year with Katlyn doing the zipline in there too. This swingset it also awesome! Really it's much better in real life. The kids will stay out there all day long once it isn't so dang hot!

4th of July

I spaced taking any pictures but this on the 4th. It was a pretty crazy weekend, but we had a good time. The parade was the best. The food was awesome, and the company wasn't that bad either.

To InFiNiTy AnD bEyOnD....

This was jsut too cute to pass up blogging.

Happy 10 to Katlyn!

On June 19th Miss Katlyn turned 10! I can't believe it! She had some friends come and go swimming with her and then we had chocolate covered strawberries and ice cream. Her favorites!
I can't believe that in two years she will be in Young Women's! She is growing up so fast and turning into an amazing young lady! Mike decided that we should sleep on the trampoline to celebrate. We took the T.V. outside and watched Little Rascals.

This was not Gavin's idea of fun. It was a long night for me.

Mike never knew what was happening. This was him about 10min. after we got outside!

Happy Birthday Katlyn! We love you more than you will ever know!

Swim Lessons

This is how Gavin spent the days. Always with a sucker to make him happy!

Gage was a little hesitant at first but after a few minutes he was in heaven.

This one is just a regular fish! He loves being in the water. His dad taught him how to do a front flip off the edge in the deep end this year. He thinks that's pretty dang cool.

Katlyn is on the swim team this year, and her last meet is this saturday so I will be sure to get pics of it!

SRP Picnic 2010

SRP puts on a family picnic every year and we have always had other things we had to be to until this year. We realized that we have seriously been missing out! It's like a kids dream and it's all free! They had bouncers and basketball and a rock wall and all the free hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, soda and bbq you could eat. Gavin loved every single second of it. The cotton candy was his favorite.

Here's Katlyn on the rock wall. She and Nicki took their fair share of turns on this one. In between climbs they were looking for cute boys. They say they didn't find many in St. Johns. We will see what they say about that when they are in High School.

These girls are pretty dang cute!

10 years seems like 10 days!

On June 3rd Mike and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by going camping alone for 3 days. I know, a little unusual but you improvise on your dream vacation when you don't have endless $! It was the perfect way to relax from 10 years of go go go! Mike will probably want to shoot me if he ever sees this picture but this is him to a T! He's a goof and a blast to be around. We laughed more than we have in quite a while. We took the 4wheeler out to try to find some elk and he decided to play a trick on me and acted like it died. It was pitch black outside and I am such a chicken of the forest at night! Don't laugh! You never know what's out there! He laughed a little too hard so I punched him in the gut!

This was our campsite. Nobody at all around us. I think we found the perfect spot! We are going to keep it our little secret! We were able to literally do nothing the whole time. Mike took a 3 hour nap every day and I read my book for those 3 hours. It was funny because Mike would wake up every once in a while and say, "You aren't mad at me for sleeping so long are you?" Normally at home I would be waking his rear up after an hour and a half telling him to come help take care of all the kids he created! I wasn't mad at all! I was loving reading my book without him saying, "I am home for the day and all you are going to do is read your book?" Or the classic, "Turn you dang spotlight off and rub my head so I can go to sleep!"

I married a real man! With his little tiny chain saw! We did dutchoven and it was heaven! I love camping. Sometimes I secretly wish we could just live in the woods like that and stay far away from the rest of the world.

3 days wasn't long enough but we had to get home back to real life. Thanks to Colleen who came and watched the kiddos for us!

10 years seems like so long when you say it, but is has gone by so fast it's unreal! I can't say that I regret a moment of it. Even the hard parts. That's what makes us the people we are right? We have definately become eachothers best friend and don't really care what anybody else thinks. We have a blast when we are together. Mike loves to be a smarty pants and I am catching on really well now. I am a clean freak and he has learned to deal with some parts of that and has succeeded at breaking some of my OCD habits. For example, the guy very rarely puts his clothes in the hamper. He throws them on the floor by his side of the bed. I have tried and tried to train him to put them away but he insists that I need to lighten up. So, there they sit and I just have to breathe and walk away!

We have an understanding at night when we get in bed that if I will rub his head, he won't get mad at me for turning on the lamp and reading. After 10 years we have it down to a science.

I hate when he spends money and he says not one word when I do. Makes me feel like crap!

He's pretty much almost the perfect guy. Who's really perfect anyway? I love that he loves our kids and makes a point to spend time with them and be down at their level when he does. I love that he works incredibly hard in order to provide for us. We have been married since he was 17 and not once has he not provided for our family completely on his own. That is something to be proud of! He loves our country. He is honest and kind. He will do pretty much anything for anyone. He loves the gospel. Is he perfect at it? No, but neither am I so we learn together. His family comes first. ALWAYS! He teaches our kids to be good, honest people in a world where those two things are becoming rare. He loves me and tells me so every day. He is ALWAYS complimenting me on how I look and lets just be honest, what he sees isn't that great! He makes sure that our kids know that he loves and respects me. He's just a good guy! I can't wait to see what the next 10 years brings!

A Boy's Dream.....

My parents neighbors bought this tractor to help to build their house and they let Mike take the two little boys for a ride. They both had a blast and cried for another ride.

School's Out For Summer!

Next year it's off to 5th Grade! I can't believe it! They grow up way too fast!

Next year it's off to 1st grade! Can I send him away all day! I'm such a chicken!

I might have called her a nerd!

Gosh she's beautiful! This little lady is quite the "nerd." I might have called her one in school! She loves it though and so do we! She was on the Superintendent's list all four quarters this year! That means straight A's all year long!

Mike and I were such proud parents sitting in the crowd watching her get all her awards! She is doing so good in school! I hope that she will always strive to do her best and make her education important in her life! I can't wait to see what the next few years bring!