Family Trip

After 10 years of marriage and 4 kids later Charlie and I just survived our first family vacation. We realized as we got on the road that every trip we have ever taken has been to see family or with family. I hope our next trip is not another 10 years away because although it was tiring we had a blast and made some great memories.

We started our trip in Palmyra to see some church sites and go to the Hill Cummorah pageant.

We went to the visitors center and then hiked up to the top of the hill. It felt so good to get out of the car and move our legs around for a few minutes.

We then headed over to Joseph Smith's home and then to the sacred grove. We had a great family home evening the Monday before we left about all that we were going to see. Abby and I had a great moment in the grove where we sat on a bench and no one else was around and we talked about how amazing it must have been to look up and see Heavenly Father and Jesus standing right above us. She for sure felt the spirit and I hope that she remembers this trip and the feelings she had.

This was us walking into the sacred grove.

A family in our ward was actually in the pageant this year and saved us front row seats to the show. The kids LOVED all the fire and rain and stayed awake through the whole thing despite the long day. We made it back to the hotel around 11:45 and were ready for bed!

The next day we headed to Niagara Falls. When we got there it was raining but that did not stop us from having fun considering the fact that we were about to get VERY wet soon any way. Our first stop was to a walk way that went right next to and under the falls. We put on our ponchos....but I don't think they served much purpose. There is a point where you can go stand right under the falls and I was already pretty wet and was not wanting to go but Abby grabbed my arm and pulled me under and we both got SOAKED from head to toe. I screamed at the top of my lungs and she laughed so hard. I have to admit it was one of my most favorite parts of the trip.

I LOVE this picture of Samuel in his poncho. He was such a good sport on the trip.

This is a little bit of the bridge we went out on. On the top of the picture where the falls are coming down is the part you can stand under where Abby pulled me to. The force was amazing!

We stayed in an beautiful hotel that looked right over the falls. The kids loved sitting on the floor and just looking out the window. The two shots below are from the window in our hotel. It was a splurge but I think well worth it.

That night we walked around town and went right up next to the falls to watch the fireworks. We were right under them so they were really big and loud and the kids loved it. Samuel LOVES fireworks and I snapped this shot of him watching the show in all his glory.

Our last adventure was a hike behind the falls. It is amazing to hear the roar of the water and feel it rumble the ground beneath your feet. I went on this same hike when I was little and still remember it....I hope my kids do too!

Here are our last few shots by the falls. The trip was a success. Charlie and I even had a moment alone one night after we put the kids to bed. We ordered some cheesecake and chocolate cake and went and sat in the bathroom and whispered quietly as we ate! Nothing spells romance like eating cheesecake while sitting on the toilet! Hey...you have to give us credit for at least trying :)

Baptism Day

I have been a bad blogger lately but I am going to do my best the next few days to catch up on some of the great fun we have been having.

A few weeks ago we baptized our first child!!!! I can't believe I am old enough to have a daughter who is baptized and has started activity day girls. The day was wonderful. We had both sets of grandparents in town and that made the day even more special. Abby was so excited and was well prepared for the step she was about to take. One of my favorite moments was seeing Abby stand between her grandmothers and sing. They sounded beautiful together and I am so happy Abby has so many wonderful women in her life to be an example to her.

I can't explain the joy that filled my heart as I saw her enter the font with her proud father waiting for her on the other end. As soon as he took her hand my eyes filled with tears. I met Abby with a towel when she was done and her fist question was, "Mom, are you ok?" I scooped her up and gave her a big wet hug and told her how proud I was of her. I then got to change her into her beautiful white dress, which made me cry even more. I could not help to think ahead to the future and realize that before I know it I will be standing in the brides room in the temple once again helping her into another beautiful white dress.

It was such a special moment between just the two of us. The kind of moment that does not come around very often. I am so lucky to be Abby's mom.

I have to give a big thank you to our families who came. It was a wonderful few days and we wish we could have them more often. Thank you for taking the time to be here. It meant the world to Abby and to us.

This will go down in history as one of my most favorite days ever!

To my kids

8 years ago you made me a mother for the first time. Until you came along I had no idea how it was possible to instantly fall in love with someone. 8 years ago I had no idea what I was doing but you were patient and I have learned so much from you. I have gotten a small glimpse into how our Heavenly Father must feel about us. I am filled with joy when you are filled with joy and my heart breaks when your heart is broken. I am in awe of your excitement to share your testimony and be a loving example to everyone around you. I am so blessed to be your mother. Thank you for sharing the last 8 years with me!

365 days ago you were swimming around in my belly and I had no idea what you looked like or what your personality would be or how you would change our family. 365 days later I can tell you that I am so glad you are here. The last year has been filled with joy and laughter. You are an easy going and happy little man. Ethan loves being your big brother and the girls love to take care of you. You are just learning how to stand without holding on to anything and you are so thrilled with yourself. You are a great eater and sleeper and are very busy during the day. My favorite part of the day is when I get you from your crib after naps and you look up at me with the biggest 8 tooth grin I have ever seen. It warms my heart and gives me the energy to make it through the rest of the day. I look forward to the upcoming years watching you grow and learn. I am so glad you came to our family!

Teacher Gift

I saw a cute idea the other day for a teacher gift here and I thought I would give it a shot. I made a template on my computer using fonts I liked and then printed it a took it over to the local copy center where they turned it into a transparency for $1. The sanitizer was $2.40. I am giving her two bottles so the entire gift is under $6. I was really happy how it turned out. I will be making more in the next few weeks for my other children's teachers so if you want to join me I would love the company! I thought they would make cute visiting teaching gifts and I love it so much I think I am going to make a few for my own house. You can get 4 cut-outs from one transparency so each one is actually only $.25.

Time Out For 8 Great Women!

This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to attend a time out for women with some of my closest friends. We took a 6 hour drive to Kentucky and began an amazing weekend filled with laughter, tears, and much learning.

The trip was so fantastic it is hard to really sum it all up in a few words. I came home feeling spiritually fed and refreshed. Well... as refreshed as you can be on only 2 1/2 hours of sleep.
We got to eat 4 meals that were not cooked or cleaned up by us...that was a huge perk! We listened to some amazing speakers and even more amazing musical talents.

For me the best part was sharing it all with these women. Each one is unique and special and I can honestly say that I learned something from each one of them and feel even closer to them all. It was such a special experience to share together. One I hope we don't soon forget.

So thank you dear women for coming along and thank you dear husbands for watching all of our children while we were away filling our cups!

Lamp Project

So it is 10:30 and Morgan and I are still in our pajamas and the 8 loads of laundry I did yesterday still need to be put away but instead of doing any of the things I "should" be doing I decided to throw myself into a project this morning.

Samuel's room is still in transition mode and seeing as it is almost his first birthday I am feeling the push to get it done. I purchased this lamp a few days ago and knew I wanted to jazz it up with some ribbon but I was not quite sure how.

So this morning I dove in head first and just went for it.

I put some painters tape on and started marking some spots that I thought looked like the right spacing. No measuring I just eyeballed it.

I then took out my handy hole puncher and started punching away.

Here is the lamp minus the tape once the holes were punched.

Here is the finished project! It was super simple and super quick and I think it looks really cute.

Now here is the question. I love it with the black base but all of the furniture in his room is stained wood. It is hard to decide from this picture because if it was just a lamp I think it looks best with the black but imagine a room with a wood crib, wood side table, and wood chair. Which one do you think would look better?

Keep in mind as well that there is black trim on his bedding and I am trying to add several black accents throughout the room so the lamp would not be the only black thing in the room.

Suggestions????

Recital Night

Last night was Abby's recital. She looked beautiful and did a great job. We were so proud of all of her hard work.

Here are the cute girls together. They had so much fun.

After the recital we took out all the kids for ice cream.
There is something special about being a mom and taking your girls to their first dance recitals. The last few weeks have been filled with great memories!

Here is a small portion of Abby's dance. The quality is not great but hopefully you will get a look into her fun night!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Ross!

By 9 A.M.

It's happened! You know that stage when if it is not glued down or locked up your child will find a way to get to it and destroy it in 3 seconds flat. Well by 9 A.M. this morning these were the 3 messes I have already discovered. Don't let his innocent little face fool you.....he knows just when to strike.

So dear husband, when you come home at night and the house is a mess and I have not showered in days and dinner is not made and I am a bit on edge...now you know why. And the only way I am able to blog about this right now with the peace of mind that nothing else is being destroyed is because I just laid my little one down for a nap. I have exactly one hour now to run around as fast as humanly possible to get as much cleaned up and taken care of as I can. Wish me luck!

Morgan had her dance recital this past weekend. It was so fun to see her up on stage loving every second of it. I had a great time doing her hair and make-up and making her look like a beautiful ballerina for the day.

Her preschool teacher even came to the performance to see her. I think that was her favorite part!Here is a picture with her and one of her best friends. They are so cute together!

Below is a video of one of the dances she was in. The video is actually of her dress rehearsal because the one of her recital was too dark...but it is still pretty cute to watch. Enjoy!

20 memories in 10 days

We have just arrived home from our trip out to Utah and I thought I would share some of the

fun we had.

1. Sometimes the best part of the trip for the kids is the stay in the hotel. They had a blast swimming and jumping on the beds. I was not in the room when the jumping occurred...I can only wonder what else goes on when I am not around.

2. We got to ride on the airplane with our good friends. The girls sat with the girls and the boys sat with the boys. When we were walking down the isle with our 7 kids you should have seen the look of amazement/terror on peoples faces. I am sure they were just happy when they realised we were not sitting in their row. The kids were actually REALLY good!






3. Our next memory is hanging out with our best friends The Pittman's. Our kids have so much fun together and we just LOVE spending time with them. We had bad movie night which is a tradition for us, we had lots of laughs...and lots of great night talks. What would we do without them????

4. We went bowling...my kids always love it and I actually bowled a really good game!

5. I got to go to General Conference with Abby, my sister, and my nephew. It was awesome to be in the actual conference center and feel the hush of the crowd when the prophet walked in. Abby took notes through the entire thing and was so cute. It was a great experience that I think she will remember for a long time.

6. We got to spend a good amount of time up at my parents cabin. It was the perfect amount of down time to just hang out and play games. My sister and her family were there and our kids always have a blast together. My favorite part was when Abby and her cousin Grace saw each other for the first time. It was like a scene out of a movie..they ran down the hall towards each other and started spinning around hugging each other. It was a true moment of pure joy and so fun to watch and see their excitement!

7. We were there for my brothers birthday and we went bowling with all the kids. It was great that we could all be together with him on his special day.

8. We spent an amazing day at the zoo. The weather was beautiful that day and it felt great to be outside. The kids had a blast...the train as usual was their favorite!

9. We went out to eat at Tuscany KID FREE! The food was amazing the company was even better. It was great to spend one night as adults and remember the good old days!

10. We took the kids to eat at the Mayan. Do you notice anyone missing in this picture? Morgan!!! She had been left outside and we had been at our table taking pictures and ordering food before some front desk lady brought her up and asked us if she was ours!!!! Great parenting moment if I do say so myself. You know you have too many kids when you don't even notice when one is missing. OOPS!

11. We went on a hike to the temple quarry trail where they got all the stone for the Utah temple. It was a perfect hike for the kids and they each found a little stone made out of rock that looks just like the temple to bring home with them.

12. We took the kids up to BYU to show them our old stomping grounds. We went and got ice cream at the creamery and then walked them around campus. It is always weird to be back in Provo..so many good and crazy memories!

13. We had a special lunch at Thanksgiving Point for my grandma and grandpa. It was a great way to see family and have a special lunch together. My grandma and grandpa looked great...I wish I could be around to spend more time with them.

14. We took the kids to the Dino museum. They had a great time exploring.

15. My grandma Jane had her annual easter egg hunt and we were able to go and see lots of family and the kids had a great time on their hunt. I love spending time with family!

The last 5 memories I don't have pictures of but they were fun all the same.

16. Spa day with my bff at my favorite place in the entire world. I seriously would be broke if I lived in Utah. The relaxing time was fantastic.

17. Charlie and his brother and two good friends spent a day skiing. Actually Charlie spent most of the day falling and the boys spent most of the day laughing. They purposely would let Charlie go ahead of them so that they could watch the show. No broken bones just lots of bruises and a shattered credit card. Thanks Rich for finding my husbands cell phone....I have no idea how you did it!

18. The kids got to go swimming in Uncle Chris' outdoor hot springs pool. They had a blast!

19. My sister invited the kids for a sleepover at her house. It was a special night for them and they are still talking about it. Thanks Jeni!

20. Last but not least, we spent an afternoon with Charlie's family and had a great time. The kids had an easter egg hunt, they rode in the back of Uncle Chris' truck and we ate great food and enjoyed the company of fun family.

It was a great trip...now we are just in recovery mode. I feel like I always need a vacation from my vacation. It feels good to be home but our time with our friends and family will truly be missed. COME SEE US SOON!!!!!!!!