Sisters Weekend in Albuquerque

I really love my dad and that he put this trip together and made it happen. It's really good for my sisters and I to get together everynow and then with no kids (except babies) and hang out. It can be difficult for us being that we are all SO different and each of us have strong opinions on things and for some of us it's quite hard to keep our mouths shut and just let things roll off our backs. BUT it is still fun and I love my sisters very much and am so glad that I grew up with them. I also love that I have such an amazing husband who is totally capable of being the mom and the dad while I am away. One thing that my dad really wanted us all to do was to have a photo shoot wearing all of his jewelry. He plans to have them blown up poster size and to display them on his next show (apparently Asians think anyone who models any jewelry and is displayed are models) which makes it even better for my dad because he wants some of us to come work the show for him and wander around so that the Asians see our pics and then see us in person and then thats great business for my dad, don't you just love the way he thinks? Messing with their minds like that?! Anyways so that was fun getting all dressed up and wearing REALLY expensive jewelry the whole weekend. We did a lot of shopping. Which is what us girls do best and it was SO fun being that I had saved up all my Christmas and birthday money for a while and so I went CRAZY and just couldn't stop buying stuff. And the only reason I did was because I LITERALLY could not fit any more in my suitcase to fly home. I got to go on some walks with my mom like back in the day which I love doing. We talked about yards and flowers and gardens and sewing and looked at houses. I love doing that with her, having all of those things in common with her, and it's nothing that any of my others sisters share with my mom. We walked and ran together every summer in the early mornings all throughout highschool. And maybe thats why I love being out in the early mornings now. Prob my most favorite things about summer.

We made homemade ice cream, jodi gave me some nice massages, I gave a few haircuts, and it was just a really good weekend at home. 

Kasen sits...kind of

My baby boy is learning to sit up. He is still pretty wobbly but he is figuring it out and he also ROLLS OVER now. He has been able to roll from his belly to his back for a few months now, hence the reason why we didn't do too much tummy time (he would never stay there) but just a couple of days ago he started to roll and today he rolled multiple times. And everytime he wakes up from a nap or in the morning he is on his belly doing superman and he is pretty pissed. Sometimes he just can't remember how to get back over onto his back. He is so dang cute!

Last day of school

SCHOOL IS OUT FOR THE SUMMER!!

I am so excited. Perhaps more than my kids. I LIVE for the summer time.

Today was the last day of school and I wanted to ambush the kids with water balloons once they got home. Tj also came home for lunch with super soakers (isn't he awesome?) and he and Chloe hid down the street waiting for the kids to come around the corner on their bikes. Lexi and I hid behind some bushes in our yard with the balloons. My neighbor Kristi Wilkins, across the street was totally hiding with water balloons and water guns in her yard too.

It was so much fun to get all of the neighbor kids soaked to welcome them into summer! I can totally see this being a tradition we do every year once school is out. Later the girls wanted to have an american girl doll tea party and I made tiny cookies for them. 

It has been such a good day and there are so many more to come!

Hooray for summer!

I just had to document the kids riding their bikes to school. We do this every morning and I am so lucky that they want me to go to school with them each day and that we live so close so we can.

Our friends Brian and Brooke Soules came into town the other night for Brian's little sister Heather's Mission Farewell. So of course we all went out to eat at Tucanos (their favorite restaurant). It's always fun getting together with the Soules family because we never seem to miss a beat, no matter how long it has been since we have talked or seen each other. We still have stuff to talk about and we always always have a good laugh.

Authors night

Tonight Tallie had Author's Night.

There was a program of songs and it is so cute/ funny to watch Tallie sing in front of all of the parents. I know she likes to do it and she loves to put on performances at home for people but at school she puts on this face that says "I don't really want to be doing this at all". Afterwards we went to her classroom and she got to read to us from her journal, stories she wrote, poems and other writtings she wrote in spanish. She makes me so proud! Tallie is such a smarty pants!

Here she is with her Spanish teacher Mrs. Diaz.

Kindergarten graduation!!

HOLY COW!

I cannot believe that the year is over and that there are no more tears of not wanting to go to school.

Chloe has made it through kindergarten and she moved mountains this year and I am so proud of her! She has done so well with learning to read and is amazing with her spanish and her confidence just exploded. I am so glad that we pushed through this year and that we didn't hold Chloe back. It was hard for sure to see her struggle and cry everyday for the first 3 months or so but she has grown so much and we both have learned that to grow as a person, we must stretch ourselves, leave our comfort zones, do things that make us uncomfortable and to take it a day at a time. It's just like our Heavenly Father watching over us, not wanting to see us hurt or sad but knowing that going through tough times is what molds us and refines us and makes us who we need to be. Chloe's teacher is amazing and I have just loved her and how she has taken care of my little Chlo-bug when I could not. Unfortunatley the graduation program was when my dad had planned a sisters weekend in Abq for all of us girls and so I couldn't go and see her. It really broke my heart thinking about not seeing her at this milestone and to say I never cried over it at night would be lying. However I was able to go and watch their program the day before graduation when they performed it for the school. I did cry there too. She is just so sweet and I love her to pieces. 

 That night they watched their favorite movie "Soul Surfer" and Chloe always loves to play the little girl in the movie who lost her arm to a shark. You will frequently find her with her arm in her shirt.

A picture with all of her friends: Tayah Smith, Haeli Wilkins, Addie Brinkerhoff, Maya Anderson

BOM

Another reason why Mother's Day was so great is because I finished reading the Book Of Mormon that day! I had set a goal back in January to read cover to cover without stopping and starting over and it took some months but I did it! I read a little everyday while eating breakfast and I am so happy that I stuck to my goal. And what's cool is that I really feel like I learned a lot. I'm now on to reading the Doctrine and Covenants.

Mother's Day

I seriously have the best kids.

They're adorable, sweet, funny, obedient, good listeners, great snugglers, great learners, independent, smart, really the list could go on and on. I feel so blessed to have them and to be the one to help and guide them through this life. As much as I am their rock in life, they are equally mine. They keep me grounded and I would do anything for them. I love their innocence and pure nature and desires to learn. I love the Spirit that each one of them carries. I love that they over look my faults and shortcomings and forgive me time and time again. I love how they make me want to be a better mother and person every single day. 

I love being a mother, especially to these 4 awesome kids.

A few weeks ago on the news here in Utah a mother of 5 who went into labor with her 6th child died of complications with a C-section. 

Her husband went home with a newborn baby to 5 kids waiting for him and their mom to come home.

My heart breaks when thinking about those kids who lost their mom who thought their mom would come home to them with their new brother.

My heart breaks for the father who has to tell his kids that mom isn't coming home, and for his new responsibility as a father and now a  mother to 5 mourning children who need their dad more than ever and a new baby who needs constant care and for the dad himself who needs to grieve, who just lost the love of his life, his partner and companion and mother of his kids.

This story really hit home.

That was almost TJ.

And I am forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for watching over me, time and time again.

I don't know if there are more in heaven waiting to join our family and I trust that the Lord will let me know what to do when that time comes.

I would love to have one more. 

Tj said it best when I asked him if he felt complete after Kasen was born, he said, "I don't think of it as being complete, I just think of how incomplete it would be if you weren't here."

That story has scared me enough and made me really think about having one more so I'm trying to say we are done and being ok with it. But really I'm not. And if we feel later down the road that we really are done then I will definitely need a blessing to help me feel peace with that and to not ache to be pregnant again, to feel a baby move inside, to give birth and to hold another little bundle.

More birthday stuff

So on my birthday I took the kids to redeem their coupons from school for free ice cream cones and after I almost crashed the car running into the drive thru, we stopped at the library for new books and to play in the water feature.

Ok so Tj and I are not that old! And roller blades are still sold in stores (I guess mostly for kid usage) but still It's a cool thing to do, but apparently only to us. Don't get me wrong, going rollerblading up the canyon is one of my favorite things to do and it's always so much fun especially with Tessa and Tj but man did we get ripped for rollerblading! We got laughed at and made fun of and sarcastic comments were made as we rode by. All coming from college kids, male and female who were on their longboards. Ya I know thats the cool thing to do now and Tj could have blown those guys away on his longboard. It's not like we care or that our feelings were hurt but I guess it just made us feel kinda old. So since then I have been practicing on my longboard, ya thats right I actually have one. I'm not great at it and it's because I don't feel comfortable on it. I can snowboard fine because I am strapped in but free feet is different and it scares me that I will fall off all the time. Well my goal is to be able to ride it comfortably around the block and to and from places and even over on the creek trail. Stopping is another issue I need to work on. I will never ride it down the canyon but I want to feel young, since really I'm not that old. I want to be a cool mom!

Lexi funny

So lately Lexi has been wanting to wear PJs everyday as her regular clothes (since she gets like 20 pairs from our neighbor every season), and so today she comes out of her room with a shirt in her hands and says, "Mom, I was in the pajama aisle and this is not a pajama shirt!!!"

I was dying laughing at the fact that she called the shelf in her closet that held her PJs a pajama aisle.

She cracks me up.

New splash pad and FHE

FINALLY Springville has something of their own and I don't have to bum off of all the other neighboring towns to have fun. We just got our very own splash pad just a mile or so away from our house. And although the water shoots are not as cool as other splash pads I have been to, I will admit that the little river running through is great and the kids have voted this splash pad to be the very best and their new favorite. We made a quick visit yesterday for the first time and the kids loved it, not so much Kasen, but he will have to get used to it because I am guessing we will be spending a lot of time there this summer.

Yay for SUMMER!!

Last night for FHE we talked about putting on the whole armor of God and protecting ourselves from Satan. Tj used the nerf gun to shoot the girls, which symbolized Satan and then I stuffed the girls (putting on armor) with pillows as they protected themselves with prayer, scripture study, going to church and so on. Then they got to go outside and Sumo wrestle on the trampoline. That part didn't last long because someone kept getting hurt but it sure was funny to watch them try and move their bodies.

I got in!!!

I'm freaking out a bit...

I didn't actually think that we would get into the St. George Marathon.

All weekend I thought I really wanted to get in and then I ran this morning and decided that I really didn't want to run it.

But here we go again...only this time it will be without my family, and that makes me sad.

I'm having mixed thoughts and emotions.

Not sure about what I just got myself into.

The endless runs and lack of sleep.

I need some motivation quick.

School lunch date with Tallie

Tallie asked me if I could eat lunch with her one day at school.

How sweet it was of her to ask me.

So I asked Tj if he could come home on his lunch break so I could run over to the school to have lunch with my Tallie.

It brought back so many memories of my own childhood and I am so happy that I never have to go back. It was so cute and somewhat awkward to sit at a tiny lunch table with a million 1st graders and listen to them talk, interact, make stuff out of their food, tell jokes, and stuff their faces as fast as they could so they could hurry out to recess.

It was fun to see Tallie with her friends and fun to see how brave and independant she has become. She finished her lunch before the other girls and wanted to go out to play and she had no problem telling her friends she was leaving(alone) to go play on the monkey bars and for them to meet her when they were finished. When I was her age I was too shy and afraid to do or go anywhere alone. I had to wait for my friends to finish or if they were done before me I would just be done too, whether I really was or not, in fear that they would leave me and I would be alone.

I am SO GLAD that she is not like me and is not afraid to venture out on her own.

Turns out the kids eat super fast and I think I was there a total of 15 min. It was fun and I miss helping out in her and Chloe's class rooms and seeing them at school. Next year for sure when Kasen is older I will be more involved.

There are only 2 weeks left of school, just one for Chloe and I can't believe the school year has just flown by. I can't wait for summer and for Lexi to have her constant friends back. I am excited for no routines and schedules. I am excited for the kids to stay up late and play night games. I think it would be so fun on the last day of school to start the summer out with a wrapped gift full of water guns and homemade ice cream to celebrate SUMMER!!

Tomorrow will be a busy day, I want to wake up and run a long run, plant the garden, plant the pots and plant the yard flowers and of course we will have to make time for the slip n slide! It's gonna be 90 degrees!! Tonight after Kasen went to bed the rest of us either roller bladed, rode bikes or long boarded together and after, Tallie, Chloe and I went on a bike ride to the school so they could show me their tricks on the monkey bars. It was a good night and now it's time to watch some LOST.

Oh and I also on a whim registered for the St. George Marathon.

I must be crazy.

I doubt I get in but the fact that I am even trying??

I find out Monday so stay tuned...

kid #4...

The difference between child #1 and child #4 is this...

When Child #1 leaked poop out their diaper you would wash all sheets immediately, strip the child and promptly put them in the bath,

With child #4 you change the diaper, lay a blanket over the poop smeared on the sheet and lay the child back down to go back to sleep.

Am I a horrible mother or what?

Chelsea and Thomas move

For the first few years or more after TJ and I were married we lived in Utah alone.

We had no family near by, no Sunday dinners with parents or double dates with siblings or cousins for our kids to play with, and we never had someone to leave Tallie with once she was born.

Then some family started moving here and it was really fun. Jamie and her family moved to Layton and although it is a drive for us we were able to meet up with family. Soon after Tessa and Ian moved here and have always been pretty close to us, Tessa and I hang out and our kids play and it's pretty much awesome. Megan and her family came along and then Chelsea moved to Utah for school. She was great as she became our go to  babysitter. Finally TJ and I were able to go out on dates again alone. Then best of all Bob and Mona moved here and spoil us and take the kids and they do sleep overs and me and TJ going on a vacation together becomes a reality. We have family dinners on Sundays, we spend holidays together and the kids get to spend time with grandma and grandpa and get to know them and grow up knowing and playing with their cousins.

I love it.

Then Chelsea and Thomas and baby Stella moved.

They now live in AZ, which is good I guess since we go there anyways to visit the other AZ people.

But still.

It sucks.

Megan is next. 

They are moving to California.

I guess at least Bob and Mona are coming back from their mission and we still have them but it won't be the same.

It will be a lot quieter.

I don't know what I will do if Tessa ever says she is moving.

I will become quite depressed.

Here are some pics of our last family get together with the Fredricksons before they headed out.

It was a sad day and my camera died so that why I only have lame pictures.