TJ turns 35!

I can't believe I met this man when he was 22 years old! I have loved seeing him age and become wiser and wiser over the years. I love everything about him and I love that I get to share these wonderful years with him!

The girls wanted to get him The Lego Movie legos because really TJ is still a kid and loves his toys. I never know what to get him so this year I went with getting him a "memory" instead of something. Which I like this route better. We have always talked about going to a Real Salt Lake soccer game and so I got him tickets to go. It rained and rained all day and we for sure thought it might be miserably wet and cold but it didn't rain and we stayed warm under our blankets. It was a good game and so fun and of course we want to go again. I wish that on the way home my headache that I had had all day didn't get super worse. I just wanted to die. I don't know what it is lately. Also during the day Mona took TJ to lunch at Kneaders and we tagged along so it was great to see him during the day.

Happy Birthday TJ and remember that for just this week you are an old man who is 5 YEARS older than me! You really robbed the cradle:)

The youngens

I love having these two at home with me during the days. Lexi is so fun and cute and spunky she kills me. Just the other day she asked me if we could have another baby. I tried to explain to her that we didn't know if we would have anymore babies. I told her that I get pretty sick after I have a baby and it's very hard. She then said, "Mom I promise I will be fine with you not holding me while you have a baby in your tummy". It was cute and sweet that she was willing to sacrifice her loves and hugs so that me and the baby would be fine.

Kasen is finally getting the hang of using his words and now will say: No, cracker, book, out (for outside), ball (which is the first word he says when he wakes up in the morning or when I get him up from his nap), car, cat, yellow, blue, ouch and and handful of others. In a span of like 10 minutes he emptied a bottle of dish soap all over himself and the floor, and then took handfuls of chocolate peanut butter and spread that all over the table and himself. He is more curious and busy than any of the girls were but he is so easy and sweet and great to entertain himself. Just yesterday he came over to where I was sitting on the carpet and planted a big kiss on my lips. I didn't even have to ask. He also has to give dad hugs before he goes to work and if TJ is lucky Kasen will blow him a kiss and wave good bye (all things other kids his age have done for many months but new things for us).

Chloe lost her first tooth!

This girl right her has FINALLY lost her very first tooth!

She has shed many tears and watched many friends (many who are younger) loose tooth after tooth. She just couldn't wait for her turn. Once she felt her tooth was loose she sure did everything in the power to get that thing out. And when it finally did she could have smiled to the moon and back. I love this girl!

Easter

This year for lent I decided I wanted to try and read the Book of Mormon in 40 days. I am happy to announce that I did it! It was a lot of reading and the fastest I have ever read The Book of Mormon. It was such a great experience. Because I was constantly reading and not having big gaps in between books I really felt like I learned more and was able to follow and understand what I was reading better. The more I read the more I wanted to read and I was always catching myself thinking about the stories I was reading throughout the day and was likening the scriptures to my life on a daily basis. There were a lot of instances too where the kids were doing something or asking a church question and I was able to quote things and refer them to scriptures to read and tell them stories. It was so awesome. I often found myself reading more than my set number of pages for the day just because I enjoyed reading so much. The best part of this was that the girls watched me everyday. Read and read, while I ate breakfast, while I made dinner. While I sat with the kids in the tub. Everyday they would check out my mark off chart and see my progress and inform me of how much more I had to read. I could have finished before Easter but I wanted to read the last few pages on Easter morning and the kids were so excited that I had reached my goal. Tallie during those weeks had also pulled out her scriptures and was reading every night in bed. I even found her on a Sunday afternoon on the couch curled up reading The Book of Mormon. 

That right there was priceless and worth more than words could say.

I'm now on to reading the Doctrine and Covenants.

I feel like that on every special holiday or occasion in which I should be so happy and grateful, I'm not. I think its on these days that the adversary knows that if he can creep in he can destroy the whole day and take away any chance I have of feeling the Spirit. I should just expect it and try and pray extra hard that I can be peaceful and allow the Spirit into my home. My head was just wrapped around the worldliness of the day and getting the kids dressed and hair done and getting a picture before church. We all woke up late, the kids weren't cooperating and Kasen spilled OJ all over his new outfit. I was so upset. Over stupid stuff that didn't need ruin the day. I had to say a prayer. I needed to change my focus and change the mood of the house. It was hard and I still went to church not in the best of moods.

As I sat in church listening to our wonderful Bishop Packer tell us that he and his family had just accepted a call to be Mission Presidents in Ukraine and they would be leaving in just over a month uprooting their family to a foreign land for 3 years. I just wanted to cry right there with him. And I did. I couldn't help but think that if that were asked of us if we were strong enough to go. And not just go but willingly and happily. It put things into perspective for me. The Packer's will do an amazing job and will forever be blessed for their sacrifice and service. I want to live in such a way that I can be prepared to serve the Lord whenever and in however He asks. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Easter Sacrament meeting. 

I am so grateful for my Savior and for His atoning sacrifice so that I can repent, over and over and be made clean again. I am so thankful that He has felt every pain, sorrow, misery, suffering, joy, fear, tears, and knows exactly how to comfort and uplift me in times of need. He is my friend who loves me and His arms are always outstretched waiting to pull me in. 

For dinner we met up at Bob and Mona's with the rest of the fam and also had an easter egg hunt.

It was a wonderful day!

St George for Easter weekend

Leave it to me to be mean and grumpy and annoyed if anyone asks me to do something I don't really want to do and that will might put me in an awkward situation. I never want to get out of my shell and especially hang out with people I don't really know. Well TJ and some guys at work had planned a weekend in St George staying at Kendall and Jamie's condo. It would be them and their twin boys, Spencer, his wife Joni and their 4 kids and us. I was not excited. I hardly knew these girls and they knew each other and the guys were all friends since they work together. I never said anything and decided to just bite my tongue on this one and try not to be too noticeably pissed (I don't think I am good at hiding that). Well the guys had work off on Friday so we all drove down Thursday night. We didn't get there until around 11 and I was so tired from having got up at 5:15 to run 14 miles (TJ still doesn't know that part, maybe he would understand my beastliness). Anyways we put the kids down and I just went straight to bed I was so tired. Everyone prob thought I was so lame to not hang out since we had just got there. In the morning the guys went golfing and us moms took the kids to the pools. It was such a nice condo with 3 great pools and parks and the kids were in HEAVEN. Joni had an 11 year old daughter who just entertained my girls and they had so much fun with her. It was nice to sit around in the hot sun and chat the girls. I really do like them and we had a lot of stuff to talk about. Once the guys got back we all ate lunch and then the girls went to get pedicures. Tallie came along with since Joni's daughter came. She was so happy to be hanging out with the big kids. After we went to Costco to pick up steaks and food for the guys to cook for dinner. The kids played down at the park right outside the condo. We stayed up late and watched some movie (I may have fallen asleep), and TJ and Spencer at some point went on a "Swig" cookie run, which I woke up for :) and I don't even like sugar cookies but man those were to die for. The next day we hung out at the pools all morning until the kids were tired and then we took a drive to get us some Veyo Pies (another first for me). They were so good and it was so ironic that this pie shop is at the bottom of the well know Veyo Hill that runs through the St George Marathon. It was so crazy to look at that hill and realize that I had run up during the middle of a marathon. You would seriously have to run up and down that hill like 10 times to work off your pie. We stopped at the Gap Outlet and did some minor shopping. Everyone was staying over for Easter Sunday but we drove home Saturday night so we could be home with family on Easter.  It really was a great trip and I am so glad I went. I wish it was easy for me to try new things or meet new people but hey at least now the ice is broken with that group of people and hanging out with them will be so much more fun now.

Coloring Eggs

Every year I say I will go to Costco and buy a million eggs for the kids to color and let them go crazy but every year it sneaks up on me and it never happens. And I still have all of the hard boiled eggs sitting in the fridge because no one will touch them. They go through phases with eggs where sometimes they won't stop eating them but now that I need them to eat them no one wants to. We didn't even hide the real ones, how lame are we?

Spring Break (continued)

Spring break is coming to an end and I have to say I'm pretty sad about it. I have loved having the kids home, doing things we don't always do and having no routines or schedules to follow. I really just don't want it to end. But I guess summer will be here in just 5 short weeks. The girls painted new birdhouses for the trees one morning. I love it because it is a project that lasts a full hour or more and everyone is happy and quiet just working on their own house. We found a bird nest in one of our light lanterns under the deck. Good thing I hadn't torn them down like I had planned. I also gave the girls a project to paint the little picnic table. Which also took a good portion of the day. They had been begging all week to go to the Rec Center and so finally when I thought Kasen and Lexi were in the clear we went on Friday. When Tj got home he took the kids to see Nut Job at Spanish 8 and I stayed home with Kasen and worked on primary stuff for the next 2 hours. And now I'm feeling good about being caught up. I ran 13 miles yesterday and it was rough towards the end and my knees are pretty achey but I'm not as sore as I thought I would be. Tessa ran her first 15 and said her knees swelled up so HUGE. But totally awesome she went that far. I am almost done staining the swing set. Worst project ever and the kids keep telling me it looks like crap because the stain is so dark. Plus I think I forgot to get waterproof stain. We would have finished grouting the backsplash last night had we not run out of grout at the very end. And this week I hope to get my island painted in my kitchen. Hopefully I don't make that look like crap.

Spring Break

I am so glad that the weather is awesome this week! Because that means we get to play outside everyday and do lots of fun things. Some of those plans have had to change however because Kasen and Lexi both got Hand Foot and Mouth disease on Sunday.

Which means sores in the mouth, blister on the hands and a rash all over the body. Loss of appetites and little sleep during the night. Its been fun for all of us.

I feel so bad for these two because they don't want to eat or drink because it's so painful to swallow. Luckily after the fevers went away, they both have been happy and ok during the days. I was so bummed that they got it at the start of this week and will last all of spring break.

I'm trying to make it a fun week tho. We have gone to the park to play soccer, flown kites, played a lot of tee ball in the backyard (best $12 I ever spent). We went to the wooden discovery park in Pleasant Grove and had a picnic there. The girls had a bike wash which turned into a water fight and tonight we went up Hobble Creek Canyon to roast some s'mores and starbursts. We stayed and played at a park we found up there that I had never seen before. It was so fun. I can't wait for late summer nights.