We are thankful for Lukey's helping hands

after swimming Luke helped me make the dough for the rolls and the chocolate truffles. He's SOOOOO into helping in the kitchen. It's obviously more mess than help, but he's so cute about it, I have to give in :) He had flour everywhere, this picture doesn't do it all justice. Nor does it do his goose egg justice. At the pool Luke had crashed into a little girl at the bottom of the slide and his forehead was bulging.

We are thankful for half-off day at the Lehi Pool

Kelly jumping in the pool


cute little Noah had the time of his life. He was so funny when he would clap his hands for something- he kept splashing water in his face and would be blinking and coughing from the water and turning his head away- I was laughing so hard.
I would hold him up above the water and go under covering my head and when I would come up he would just laugh! He's so easily entertained :)


Swimming always makes ya tired.

Kelly was so thrilled to have Sarah and Brent and Charlie come swimming with us.

I just think this picture is so funny :) He was totally posing for this one :)

This was cute little Charlie's first time swimming- he did so good! (looks like he's tired too!)

Luke was once again surprisingly fearless. He is a tough one to keep track of in these pools.

Luke would just climb up to the top, go down the slide, and then climb right back up again, over and over the whole time we were there!!

Oh, and he would do this- he stands straight up and then throws his hands down while slamming his face and body into the water. He's all set for chop-chop-timbers I think!

my brother Brent, his wife Sarah and their son Charlie

So Nate went to this pool the night before with the scouts and found out that Wednesday was half-off day for swimming. We just couldn't resist and had to do a last minute swimming trip and met everyone there at the pool. We all had fun trying out the big waterslide, and Luke held down the fort at the little playground. Charity, Kelly and Bradley made sure that Brent and Sarah and Steve were entertaining them nonstop. It was really a fun time. The kids were so thrilled to have Steve, Brent, Sarah and especially Charlie come with us and because they were all planning on sleeping over that night for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. It was such a good time. I must say I was really impressed with this pool in Lehi- we had never been there before. I don't think this will be our last time :)

A much more pleasant view of the chompers

they're still so little :) What a cute little boy I have :)

He was already crying I PROMISE!

I thought I would take the opportunity to get a picture of his teeth while he was already crying. Don't you just love those cute little white stumps! I do.


poor little guy!! This is how he has looked for the last few days- not a happy camper.



But he still manages to fake some happy time for his harom...the little girls at the park just FLOCK to him!! He totally loves it too.

Charity is the pure love of Christ

People ask me all the time, "how do you do it?". I usually laugh and answer, "I don't know if I am 'doing it'!" Sometimes I'm just joking when I say that but other times it's really how I feel. Does anyone else ever get like that? Where you feel like you're just barely getting by- if at all. Well, last week was one of those times. I just felt like I wasn't cutting it as a mom. Or as a person for that matter. Where all I could see was what everyone else was doing and how much more they were doing than me (I know this sounds pathetic, but bear with me). I don't know if this is just something that comes with the territory of raising (and screwing up) kids :), but I feel like it's just really easy sometimes to feel like you're not enough. I see what everyone else is able to do while being a mom, the at-home jobs, the crafts, the homemade masterpieces that I can't even imagine finding time for. All the things that I wish I could do, but don't feel I can. And all the things that I hate doing and put off. I started wondering why I thought I could do extra things when I was already falling short in just the mom area. I started wondering how my kids were feeling and wondered if they were going to be scarred by all of my mistakes and be deprived of a loving/fun mom. I worried about all the things I have missed teaching them already, and all the things I have yet to teach them, that I'm not sure how. I worried about whether or not they even knew I loved them and wanted the best for them even though I can't take them around the world and back. It was kind of hard for me to enjoy anything we did together all week because I kept wondering if I should be doing something else, or if they were going to learn enough or have enough fun. Or I just worried about the fact that I didn't feel like I was enjoying it- and what a bad mom that made me. I started feeling bad that I had brought all of these kids into the world and then wasn't the perfect mom for them. It was really consuming my thoughts. And I was digging a deeper hole, letting Satan win like that. But then, as I was wallowing in self-pity and all that negativity, a sweet little angel came and dropped this pefect little message in my lap and then ran off.

Could I have asked for more of a blessing? I don't think so. This innocent little 6 year old girl was an instrument in the Lord's hands in helping this Mom feel like she might actually be something more than she was giving herself credit. That she just might be enough for that little one. I just couldn't believe the timing. I don't know why it surprised me so much either, the things that she wrote, but it did. Of course she loves me. Of course she looks up to me. I am her MOM!!! Does this note magically change the past? or the supposed wrongs I have done as a mom? no. But does it show me that I am not working alone? and that there is a reason we were given this charge? yes! I believe that Heavenly Father helps us as moms by kind of filling in the cracks. And that through the Atonement of Christ we can be enough for our children. No matter how many times I fall short and how many things I slip up on, as long as I am showing them my love, relying on the Lord, and as long as I am there for them, my children have that unconditional love, that charity, for me. They will love me back. And that is all that matters. It was just perfect. I am grateful for those down times because it does help me to reshape and rethink what is most important, but comparing ourselves to others is not the key. We were all sent here to be ourselves. Heavenly Father was aware of our differences when he sent us our children. I believe he has gaged things so that we would be able to show our children our love the way that we do it, and that it would be "enough" for them. I hope that someday I will be able to do more and feel like I am making more of a difference in the world, but I guess there is a time and a season for everything. Right now just isn't the time for that for me- hopefully later, but not right now for me. And right now making a difference in the world my children live in (our home) is the most important difference I can make. In the end I don't think that Heavenly Father is going to measure how well we did as a mom by the "extra-curricular" things that we do with them or outside of them. Or by how much money we are able to spend on them. He knows our hearts. And He knows our focus. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and I am grateful that my little Charity was in tune to the Spirit enough to be able to share His Love with me through her childlike love and charity.

Kelly's new look

Kelly got glasses!!!

Background (whether you want it or not): so, back in June when I took Kelly in for her 5 year well child visit, she had her little eye exam, and the Doctor said that she "failed the test" but that it could "be a fluke". So he told me that I should take her in and have her eyes checked again in 6 months. Now I won't even get into how weird that sounded to me- hopefully I'm not the only one that thinks it's strange to wait 6 months when you know the eyes are bad, but WHATEVER!! Who am I to question the doctor (not that I don't). Okay, so part of me just kept wanting to take her back in sooner considering Nate and I both have bad eyes.... but I waited. Then one day as we were reading with her we noticed that she was having a little trouble when she was reading, so I decided to ask her teacher if SHE had noticed anything. She said she hadn't but that she would pay more attention. Well, three days later she informed me that she had asked Kelly 3 times if she could see the board during class, and she had said no. So was it still a fluke? maybe. So anyway.....I couldn't stand waiting till December (and December's already so packed with stuff right?) I made her an appointment. Today was her appointment. I have to say that during the last couple of weeks when I knew she had the appointment I kept thinking "she does NOT need glasses, she can see fine, I'm such a paranoid mom, bla bla bla" and all the way to the eye doctor I was second quessing it all and feeling like a dork for checking her out of school and wasting the time and money to take her in (duh.). But SURE ENOUGH! Much to my surprise (now), she was "REALLY needing glasses". He said he couldn't believe she had made it so long without them. (which is saying a lot for my little reader!) He said she was really farsighted with a slight astigmatism (further proof that she was not adopted- Nate's farsighted, and I have an astigmatism :)) she can blame those on us. (It's funny because NOW I'm second guessing THIS doctor!! But I do that a lot- with the need for fillings, crowns, stitches, surgeries- I have a bad habit of wondering if they really do need it. Does she really need glasses, or is he just looking for another dollar??? I'm so untrusting!)

Kelly was way cute when he told her she needed glasses. Which I kind of worried about once he said she would need them. I was preparing a talk about how cute her cousins Reagan and Hannah are in their glasses. I wanted to make sure she was alright with it all. But she just gave me her cute little muted nod of the head with her lips sucked into her lipless smile :) Then we walked over and saw the cute little girl glasses (they really are adorable!). She pointed to all of the purple ones that she could see. The girl got them all down and most of them were too big, so she pulled out a few from a box with smaller ones that were pink/purple/sparkly/girly ones. Kelly tried on about 15 pair before picking and settling on the cute ones she did. She is such a decisive little girl (compared to me I guess- I would have had to try them all on 40 more times). She got the Barbie brand, so she got this adorable little drawstring backpack and a little pen and notepad (cute ones!), and you should see her glasses case!! It's got handles like a purse (oh, I guess I did get the picture) SO CUTE!!! I guess they are trying to make ya feel like you're getting your money's worth or something :)-throwing in all the extra crap. She's really thrilled about her glasses though. She talked about them all the way home, and she's cleaned them at least 10 times with her OWN spray stuff and cloth (both very thrilling extras as well).

When it was time to pick up Charity, Kelly remembered that she had left her jacket at school so she thought it would be fun to go show her teacher her new glasses. I had to laugh when we drove up to the school and I could see Mrs. Davis standing outside her door and I noticed her glasses (for the first time) and realized that Kelly had chose some that were almost exact replicas of Mrs. Davis' :) now how cute is THAT! She said that Mrs Davis said, "hey! they look just like mine!!" When she showed them to her :) How adorable. So anyway!!! That's my long story about Kelly getting glasses.

Roses from my Sweet Brad

I know I post a lot of the notes and pictures from my kids, but I have a lot of kids, so it's okay :) This one is one of the first from Bradley though! My cute little Bradley is now into making pictures for his Mommy. His latest creation was just so sweet- he actually cut these ones out himself as well as drawing them. They are roses. (which I must say he has done an EXCELLENT job!) He sat here and worked on these for a of couple hours on friday just making sure they were perfect. It was really fun for me :) He was just so sweet about it too. And yet another one of those moments that make me grateful to be a mom- wouldn't trade it for the world.

Noah's getting his first 2 teeth!!!

On Tuesday, November 18th, I noticed two cute little shiny spots on the bottom gums, right in the front of his cute little mouth. I don't know why I'm so excited, I know it only means sleepless nights (which has proven to be true), crying nonstop, and nipple trauma (and frankly I've never nursed a baby with teeth for very long, so we'll see how long I last this time- he's actually broken our record for longest nurser-which was held by Luke at 10 months- by a couple of weeks now), but it is just so cute and fun to have him reaching these milestones. The kids and I can't get enough of them, poor Noah :) I keep trying to get a picture, they're just to little still I think. But I wanted to make sure I documented what day it was since I still don't have a baby book for him yet. I'll be sure to get a picture as soon as I can though!! Thanks for letting me get excited about it to ya!

Quick learner

At least with kid #5 there aren't TOO many surprises (knock on wood- I'm still crying for you Natalie!). The house is already kid-proof. And as I always say, "if it's not already broken, then it probably can't be". Noah is so stinkin cute doing his slow little crawl everywhere- he reminds me of a turtle. But slowly and steadily he makes his way around just enough to get into things :) So cute.

Luke's latest trick

This is Luke's latest fascination. He has figured out how to swallow air (or water as in this video) and then burp after. In this one he also figured out how to gargle water :) This video just makes me laugh with all the little extras. Like Luke's diaper hanging out of his pants. Luke's belly. Kelly going back and forth a few times for water to gargle in the background. It's just funny.

Noah's Mobile!!!

I'm not sure what order these will be in, but Noah finally started crawling!!!!! I'm just SO stinkin' excited about it- I made sure to get videos for you all. He's so cute when he crawls! One of these is of him crawling to me and he's pretty happy about it. Then there's one of him going from the crawling position to the sitting position- another very exciting thing for his mommy. And the other one is of him crawling a lot farther, but not so happy about it :) He was definitely on his last lap :) But anyway- he finally did it! And I'm so proud of him! Time to get into things!!! And how cute is he in a sweatshirt- I love sweats on babies.

Charity's project

Charity brought home this homework assignment on Thursday (it was actually assigned on Tuesday, but Charity had missed Tuesday and Wednesday). It was her first book report. The assignment was to draw the outline of a character from your book on a posterboard, and then dress it and decorate it to look like the character. We were trying to make it simple since we were doing it in only one day rather than 3, but it turned out really cute. After we finished the boy we thought he wasn't complete without his monster. We were up until 11:00 making this silly little project though, so I thought it only appropriate to take a picture of all of our hard work :) (and notice how I keep saying "we"! No matter how much I want her to do it all on her own, she still needs my constant guidance....First Grade though, what can ya do I guess!) Ya gotta love the last minute projects.

Has the suspense been killing you too??

The long awaited day arrived!! The "mean guys" (Luke seriously called the guys that were out there working on his blessed playground "mean guys"!! I honestly think that he is a little racist :)) finally finished "our" playground!!! We're so happy :) We saw the big pile of wood chips out there this morning when we went to take the girls to school, so we knew it was probably going to be up and running by this afternoon.....the kids' excitement has seriously been building up ever since they started digging and finally just peaked today! It was intense :) We saw the huge pile of woodchips out there when we took the girls to school, and then they were shoveling it in by the time we picked up Kelly. Then during rest time Kelly's friend Abby came over and we saw that the playground was all done!! No more caution tape, and the wood chips were set!!! So I let everyone end rest time early to go out and take her out for a spin! They were so thrilled. I have to admit I think that most of the moms there were pretty thrilled as well. People were coming from miles around (jk) just to test it out. Pretty fun stuff. Kelly, Brad and Luke played on it for about an hour and a half before they were bored and started wandering around elsewhere. I actually made a couple new friends today from the forbidden territory of the other ward. So I stood there talking to them for a couple of hours before I realized it was time to pick up Charity from school (not a moment too soon). Then once Charity got home, she spent a good 45 minutes out there before deciding it was too cold. But what fun!! We're so excited :) Thank you Eagle Mountain for forking out the dough to get us a playground- now we don't have to :)

Kelly calls this the "Dinosaur wall"

One of my favorite things about having kids is the getting so excited for such little things. I don't know how people can survive without that! (I know Aimee was feeling it!!) It's so fun to let your excitement build up for a month and get all jittery about every single step that is taken to the end result. And then to be able to enjoy the fruits of your anticipation!! It's just so awesome!! A PLAYGROUND! Who would have thought this could be so thrilling :)

Lukey was in heaven :) He just kept going down the big slide and then marching his way back up there to go back down again. Not letting anyone slow him down. (just to see how close it is to our house- that is our white garage you can see in the background. Our garage is on the side of our house- this park is our next door neighbor :))

A HANGING BAR!!! YAY!!!! (see what I mean!)

Noah enjoyed my camera case immensely I'm sure :) And he did go down the smaller slide a few times with Lukey, but obviously no pictures of that.

Check out the crowd!

Here's Isabel and Abby. They're our cute little friends from down the street.

awww.

Good thing Lukey wears diapers! That could've been a killer of a wedgie.

I just took this one to capture the aroma of the freshly laid wood chips. They aren't my favorite thing to have in playgrounds (so unsanitary- don't get me started on the kid we would see peeing in them at our park in Taylorsville- like EVERY TIME we were there!!! and they are kinda messy, Kelly had them all over her when she came inside, but anyway, enough complaining, sorry), but they sure smelled good today! AND it was all soft and bouncy under our feet. Give it a few days I guess :) HA! jk. I'm so negative!

And here's one of the few shots I got of Charity on the playground. She didn't slow down long enough. She found a friend out there and she was off. But I'm glad she likes it :) It was like an early Christmas for all of us :)

In the Holly Boutique

This is my cute sister-in-law's photography flier that she will be handing out at the "In the Holly" Boutique this week!! I meant to put this on here sooner but anyway- she says it's going to be pretty big! She also said to bring cash. But even if you can't go to the boutique you should still check out her blog and see what a great job she does, not only on photography, but photo improvements as well!! So anyway :) Just a little plug for my sil!

she took most of these on their trip in Europe!!

Kelly was NOT adopted!!

Okay, so this has been bothering me for a while now- back on Halloween when I was helping out in Kelly's class, I was talking to another mom and we were introducing ourselves. She asked me which kid was mine, and when I pointed to Kelly she acted all confused, and had to have me point her out more clearly and then she said, "WOW! She doesn't look a thing like you, was she adopted?" Who says that?!! I'm sure she didn't mean it to be rude, and I didn't take it that way, I just couldn't believe someone would actually say that. Don't get me wrong, I personally have nothing against adopting, so please don't think that, I was just annoyed that she would say that Kelly looks nothing like me :) Mainly because I DO think she looks like my kid pictures. But anyway. It's probably the hair- you know how if the mom has dark brown hair (with natural gray highlights), and the kid has lighter hair- that can throw you off. I don't know. Maybe I'm just lame, but I went and found some of my old pics (I would have found better ones of both of us, but there are just so many to go through) that I think we look similar in. Clearly I take the cake when it comes to the chubbiest cheeks (how's that for a pun- not intended), but you tell me- does it look like Kelly was adopted??

So, then while I was going through all my old pictures I realized how much ALL of my kids look like my baby pictures!! Even my boys which I consider spitting images of their Daddy. I'll have to post those another day- since I know you're all just dying to see them :) HA! jk.