hello again

Wow!! June 2nd was a LONG time ago!! A lot has happened in the last 8 months. We have had birthdays, holidays, school and some fun family stuff. Let us start at the beginning shall we...

We spent the summer at the pool. The Fourth was spent at my MIL's eating good food and doing fireworks with the kids. The weekend after the Fourth, the kids and I headed to UT.

The drive was long and the baby was sick the whole 16 hours. It was worth it though, we did so many fun things. We spent some much needed time with Grandma and Grandpa Love, aunts, uncles and cousins. We went boating, camping (twice), went to museums and the aviary. We got to spend time at Aunt Jessie's and Uncle Travis' house. We toured Temple Square and we even all "ran" a 5k that ended in the Pioneer Day Parade in SLC. The kids thought it was amazing to walk the parade route and get cheered on by the people sitting out waiting for the parade to start. Jake had a blast at the Planetarium and the copper mine was very interesting.

John joined us out there for a couple weeks and we had even more fun.  We were able to travel to MT to visit John's brother, Scott, and his wife, Laura. They took us hiking to waterfalls and to the hot springs. We went to some caves (super cool!!) and to the kids' great excitement, a playground. We were able to attend church with them and visit Laura's sweet family. We ended our six week stay away at Lake Powell with my siblings, parents, and extended family. I love the lake! Rustic camping is a lot of work, but it is so much fun. We eat, play and chat for a week. I don't have to worry about schedules or naps or making them eat their vegetables. Life is simple. Love it. The kids play in the water and sand all day. The adults visit, water ski, wake board and tube. Actually, A tried wake boarding and she even got up a few times. She also loves to tube. J and Ike were content just to swim and play in the sand. E wouldn't even get in the water past his ankles...weirdo. They all love riding on the boat though and Grandpa loves to take them. John was such a good sport and we both went out wake boarding on Manda and Terron's new boat. I hurt my ankle pretty badly...it's just now healed all the way. I was able to hike to the top of Hole in the Rock for the first time and we had a great beach with lots of cool placed to hike and explore nearby. A and I went exploring one day and made up names for all the "mountain tops" that surrounded our beach. John and I decided to take the kids to a "mountain" they wanted to climb one day. After rowing/swimming a big channel with all of them, we started up. We made it to a narrow ledge and A had a panic attack that scared us all to death...so we turned back. Such great times, and great memories.

So, we had a blast with our awesome family. The kids and I were gone for a LONG time. It is very important to me for them to have a relationship with the family members they don't get to see often. My parents are so important to me and I want them to be a big part of my children's lives. That is just difficult to accomplish from 1,000 miles away. We had, and always do have, such a great time with them. We came home from our vaca to school and schedules and extra kids and life. That will be another post though. I am going to try to be better about posting, if for no other reason than to just have some kind of documentation of my awesome life.

 Sick Baby :-(

 We had just had a major battle because none of the boys wanted to sleep next to each other and A "could never" sleep next to one of the boys. I am so glad we worked that out

 J is a monkey, he can climb anything. This pole was a good 12 feet high on the U campus. We were with Aunt Jess waiting for the bus to go back to her house after having lunch with Grandma.

 Natural History museum with Aunt Jess and Cousin Riley

 Natural History Museum. We went on a free day...it was insane!! We witnessed a panicked lady lose her son. I hope they found him. It was pretty cool and the kids had a blast. Their fave was probably digging up dinosaur fossils in the pit outside.

 Completely taking over Aunt Jessie and Uncle Travis' house, and Cousin Riley's toys.

 Planetarium

 Ike was just so pooped. HAHAHA

 At a splash park in SLC with Aunt Jess and Great Grandma Von

 Right before the Pioneer Day 5k

 Temple Square. We were on the roof of the Conference Center after our tour

 I believe I have mentioned that E is a weirdo

 We were lucky enough to visit the Hill Air Museum again (love it!) and make it for a class for the kids. They made these little paper rockets and then we went outside and they got to launch them with an air compressor. So cool!! The kids LOVED it.

 J is going to be the first man to walk on Mars he says. He loves space.

 Taken in MT after our picnic and our hike up to the beautiful waterfall.

 At church with Scott and Laura, Baby G was sportin' her first ponytail.

The Lewis and Clark Caves were so cool. They brought back memories of Carlsbad Caverns. Baby G was getting frustrated not being able to get down and get around. E was a bit clinging too, but the other kids loved the caves.

We had so many opportunities to teach the kids, build relationships with loved ones, and just have fun. It was a great time!



Three months is a long time without a post. A lot has happened since March 6th or whatever it was at my last post. A is finished with 2nd grade and is loving being out for the summer. She LOVES to go to the pool every day and get new books every week at the library. J-bird is a first grader now! He has really excelled this past year academically and is really interested in outer space right now. Ask him anything....he probably knows the answer! Ike had his tonsils removed in April (which went reasonably well) and he was happy for preschool to be over. Weird kid. I am pretty excited to have him home all day next year. Nap time will be perfect for me to spend some one on one time with him. I think we will do some "preschool" stuff with a friend and a cousin. E-man is all potty trained!! He did so great and now we only have one in diapers!! I am pretty excited about this. Pretty Face (aka Baby S...yeah, I don't know where John comes up with some of these names) is getting so big! I can't believe she is 9 months old...it makes me a little sad. She absolutely adores all the older kids, until she is done with them, then she yells at them until they get out of her face. She won't eat anything unless she can feed it to herself, yet she refuses to hold her own bottle most of the time. She crawls all over the place and has started to pull herself up on everything. Awe, my baby.

Life has been pretty wonderful around here to be honest. We made our big Summer List shortly before the kids got out of school and now, two weeks after their last day, we have accomplished many things on that list already. We have been to the pool several times, the library and the zoo. We have done bike rides, picnics, sprinklers, a BBQ and so many other things. We just recently made a trip to the craft store where everyone picked out a big project that I will work with each of them on. Super fun times over here!! We will knock out many more things on that list and top off the break with a trip to UT to see Grandma and Grandpa Love and, most of all, our annual trip to Lake Powell. We had to miss it last year with me being 9 months prego at the time, and we all (the kids and I anyway, the man is not a huge camper...we still love him though) are so psyched for it!!!

I will have to post pics later, but at least I got an update in! Happy Summer everyone!!

Taking pictures with 5 kids is torture!!

I-Kick

Mr. Ike turned 4 in February! Let me tell you a little about my second son... He has an unhealthy obsession with Thomas and calls John "fit-fat". I am not sure where that one came from, but he calls me "stinky". I would have preferred John's name if given the option, but I wasn't. Ike LOVES baby S. He will sit and hold her and sing to her and it just melts my heart. He is also very kind and patient with E-man but his second favorite thing in the world (anything Thomas being the first) is to bother his older brother. Ike goes to preschool as an excellent peer model but I think his favorite part might be riding the bus to and from. He still has an ear fetish and started sucking his forefinger too. This boy loves to play and be read to. He says his best friend is "Ainswee", he also says he is going to marry her but I don't believe that one quite as readily.

There are so many things about this 4 year old that remind me of his daddy. He is kind, generous, and goofy. He has a very compassionate heart and everyone says he looks just like his Dad. Happy birthday little boy!!

Ike has a cousin who's b-day is exactly 7 days after his. We decided to make it easier on g-ma Kathi and Aunt Jordan to just come up once and just combine the two. We ate dinner and had cake  and ice cream. Ike wanted a Duncan cake. Not a Thomas cake a Duncan cake so I got a Duncan and stuck it on a cake...lucky boy. He got lots of Thomas things which he LOVED and John and I got him this huge kitchen/market thing. All the kids love it, it's even a hit with friends that come over! The sweetest thing was that each of his cousins used their own money to get him a little gift. So sweet! he had a great birthday.

That Baby!!

So here I am, sitting (laying actually) on my couch, not at church on this fine Sunday morning. Why is that you ask? Well, John is at work and as much fun as taking all the kids by myself is, I just couldn't do it on two hours of sleep. Nope. Little Sis did not have a great night last night. She woke up at about midnight, before I ever went to sleep, and decided it was not necessary to go back to sleep. I brought her down stairs and we crashed on the couch. Well, we laid on the couch so Daddy could get some sleep, because the girl was up until after 4. What the heck?!

 We have a problem in this house....little princess is spoiled. I know, I know, people will tell you that you can't spoil an infant...I beg to differ. The girl is ALWAYS being held or talked to or sung to or played with. If it's not me, it's John, or A, or J, or Ike or even little E-man....you get the point right? Because now she INSISTS on being held, or sung to, or played with all the time. She has also decided that sleeping through the night (something she has done since 5 weeks) is not something she is interested in either. Oh and this same baby refuses to eat rice cereal, or formula for that matter. Napping is also something of the past...20 minutes is about as long as I can get her to go and that is only if I hold her and 'rock' her to sleep. What happened?!

Baby S is a funny baby...but she is my last baby. So, even though my nights are not always spent sleeping like I would like, or I get a little frustrated that she cries EVERY time I put her down, or that I will be nursing her until she's three (not really), or my house is even more of a disaster all the time because I spend my days holding a baby.....that's all ok. I am so grateful that she is part of our family and that the older kids all just adore her and help so much. I am actually grateful I have gotten to a point that I will let myself put aside other things and just hold the baby (we are working on a better balance) because she won't always be a baby. She rolled over yesterday and while I was pretty excited about it, I was a little sad too. She's getting bigger. They all are.

I have a confession...

I think E-man's screaming kicking tantrums are hilarious. They are not encouraged but I definitely have to make a concerted effort not to laugh out loud at him.

A's drama over EVERYTHING drives me crazy but I love her for it. She knows what she wants and she is a seven year old girl...what else would I expect?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how protective J is of me. He is always getting after John or the other kids when they even tease me. My little boy that is just in love with me right now won't always be.

Ike is insane. I don't know what we are going to do with this child but he reminds me so much of his dad that I just can't help giggling at him sometimes.

And baby S stresses me out!! But I am so glad I have the opportunity to stay at home and kind of glad that she loves to be held, I only wish that holding included cuddling. Nope the girl with have none of it...she just wants to be in your lap so she can see what's going on. Oh, and that she thinks I am pretty much the only funny person on the planet.

So, in conclusion, I am losing it I'm sure, but baby S is not really the most convenient of babies, especially for baby #5, but I made it through another night and I am secretly grateful to have a day to just hang out with the kids, Sabbath or not.

kids

Christmas 2011

This year we had the opportunity to stay in our own home for the blessed holiday. The kids made cookies, "gingerbread" houses and chose appetizers for dinner on Christmas Eve. They opened their new jammies and headed to bed. I actually had everything wrapped and ready to go so Santa just need to get everything out and stockings stuffed. I made it to bed fairly early.

A was the first one up...at 5 am I think it was. We told her to go back to sleep so she did....NOT. She proceeded to wake up every other child in the house. We all made it downstairs, read the Christmas story from the Bible, and A was pretty excited to pass out the gifts (J got to help). Some of the big winners this year were the bouncer for S. She was REALLY psyched about it.

E and Ike got a power wheel!! They were so excited when they finally figured what was in the big box. It wasn't wrapped but they totally didn't notice til Daddy started putting it together.

These two were also pretty excited about the Thomas, Lightning, and Mater playhuts that they got. J liked the remote control car and super hero stuff he got. And was thrilled with the MP3 player and sing along speaker she got. They are all spoiled!

We cleaned up a bit, I made (gasp!!) french toast and bacon, and we got ready for church. It was a lovely sacrament to remind us why we celebrate this season. Then we were able to host John's side of the family for an afternoon of eating and visiting and Christmas dinner. The only thing that would have made the day better was if we were able to see my side of the family too.