Big Sisters

Big Sisters are the best!!!  Here are just a few pictures to prove it!!!!

California Family Vacation 2015

So our little family hasn't taken a family vacation since before Chris started PT school.  That vacation was about 5 days up in SLC, staying with Chris' sister and my Grandparents.  We went to the Zoo the aquarium and did some other fun things.  Some would argue that isn't a "real" vacation because we stayed with family, but we had fun, so we count it as one. 

Well Last October I had a compliance conference in Carlsbad, Ca.  For these Compliance Conferences I always get to stay in a real nice hotel, paid for by my Employer.  Chris is always jealous because the rooms are always so nice, and if we do stay in a hotel room, it's a $39.99 a night dive.  Well when I checked out of the Sheraton in Carlsbad they were offering a 4 day 3 night stay for $250 and 2 free Legoland tickets.  (Did I mention that this hotel was within walking distance of Legoland and even had it's own entrance???)  I was so excited to hear this that I immediately called Chris and asked if I could purchase it.  We had a year to schedule the stay so there was no need to schedule the time right then.  Chris said we could do it, so I went to sign up.  Well toward the end of gathering all my info, the lady mentioned that it was a timeshare offer and we would have to sit through a presentation for 2 hours.  I gave the lady the look of, "oh heck, I didn't realize," and she quickly said that they were not pushy and that the kids would get to go to a kids camp and enjoy themselves while we were there.  I hesitated, but decided I was pretty good at saying no, so I went through with it anyways.  

After checking quite a few dates we finally settled on going Wednesday through Saturday.  We left our house Wednesday Morning and we got to the hotel at 3pm.  Check in time was 4pm, but I went in to try checking in early.  It was actually great because they had our room ready and we were able to unpack and get right to our vacation fun!!!

The first thing we did was get in our suits and head out to the great pools.  The kids were ready to swim and I have to be honest so was I.    

   

 

The pool was great.  The deepest it got was 4ft so that made it fun for the kids and pretty fun for the adults too.  We swam for quite a while and then got in the spa for a bit and then back to the room.  We all rinsed off and headed out for some dinner.  When I was in Carlsbad for my Compliance Conference I went to a really good Mexican restaurant, so we found that and went there for everyone else to try it out.  Everyone loved it and ate all the chips and queso did we could.  We headed over to Target after dinner to get some milk for Brynlee, ice cream for us and some other items for the hotel room.  When we got home we got in our pjs and ate our dessert and watched some TV for a while.     

 We snuggled for a bit, but then we headed to bed, because the next day was a full day of Legoland!!  We got up and ready for our adventure and were down to the private entry of Legoland right at 9am.  Only to find out that this gate didn't open until 10am.  So we trekked all the way around to the front gates, so we could get in a little earlier and maybe do more.

This was a guy we ran into on our trek around to the front.  There were more lego things on our way, but I didn't want to take a picture next to every single one.  We got into the park after getting our "First Time" badges and started the fun.  We rode lots of rides and had a blast!!!

Here is Katelee driving her very own car.  Ethan and Katelee loved this ride so much.  There was never really a line for it, so they did this like 7 times. 

 

I'm pretty sure this was Ethan's favorite ride.  When we asked what they wanted to do again, Ethan always said drive the cars!

Ethan and Katelee on another ride.  Ashlee was sitting next to me in this one. 

The only problem with Legoland was that Brynlee couldn't ride very many rides.  So she got to hang out in her very own "stroller" ride.  This is her smiling for me! 

When I did put her down, she would try to escape.  It was the cutest thing watching her try to walk as fast as she could.  And if she heard you coming she would try harder.  She loved this shark and tried to be in everyone else's photos too!

Ashlee got to pick a ride and she wanted to ride the horses.  It's a ride for littler kids, but all of the kids did it.  I think this picture of Ethan is so funny.  Here he is an 8 year old boy trying to act like he is too cool for this ride, but trust me my friends, he was enjoying it!!!

For lunch we went back to the hotel room and Chris went to Subway while the rest of us napped.  The older kids didn't want to, but I made them.  They all fell asleep so fast, it was almost comical.  When Chris got back I woke them up.  We ate and then I headed back with the 3 oldest, while Chris stayed with Brynlee so she could nap longer.

We found some good rides when we came back.  We found a roller coaster that was WAY fun.  It wasn't too crazy, but still tons of fun.  We also found the buildings/cities made out of legos on our way to ride the cars again.  Of course Mom made them take pictures in front of some of the buildings. 

Washington DC

VEGAS

The kids were so excited to see their home city.  The Stratosphere even had the big shot that moved and people screaming. 

Ashlee was just not old enough to ride the big kid cars, so we waited in line for her cars.  While we waited for her car, the older two went on their car ride like 4 times in a row.  Ashlee was the best driver out there, which, if you know Ashlee, is crazy!

We also found this guy sleeping on a bench.  He reminded me of my Grandpa.  Sitting on a bench waiting for my grandma was what he did best.  He had a belly and black socks on.  The kids loved him, Ashlee even gave him a hug!

This ride soon became the kids' favorite ride.  They rode it so many times I can't count.  It is kind of like the Big Shot, but much much milder.  There was also no line for this ride, so they went over and over and over again.  There was shade close by, so I didn't mind it so much! 

We ate dinner and went on a few more rides before we finally headed back to the room 15 minutes after park closing.  When we got back, Brynlee went to bed and me and the older three headed out to the pool for a little while.  

The next day we did our Time Share presentation while the kids hung out with other kids and played.  We are not owners of a Timeshare, so I guess we did pretty good at saying no.  They did not "get" us....  After that we ate lunch took naps and then headed to the beach!

This was the first time at the beach for all of our kids and it made it so much fun!  We just went down the road to Carlsbad State beach and laid our stuff down and headed into the water.  It was cold, but not nearly as cold as I was expecting.

Brynlee was very unsure of the waves and the beach in general.  She loved playing in the sand but if the water reached her she didn't know what to do.  I think she wanted to like it, but just couldn't.  There were a few waves that got her pretty good, but I think overall she did like it.  If Chris held her she LOVED the waves as long as she was high enough not to get them.  She loved watching her siblings in them, just not her in them.  Chris Hates the beach, he hates the sand everywhere, but even he had a good time.

This is where Ethan hung out the whole time.  He was in the water the entire time.  He didn't really play in the sand he just jumped in the waves and rode them.  He loved when I would stand there with him and get in the waves and I must admit I enjoyed it too!  On the way back Ethan said, "I found a new friend while we were there."  Chris and I were both surprised because he didn't really talk to anyone else, so we asked him who and he replied, "The ocean!!"  

Katelee liked the beach as well.  She wasn't a fan at all of the salt water, no bodies was.  But she really didn't like it.  She was also not feeling all that well, but she still had a blast.  She liked playing in the sand and being in the water, as long as the waves didn't go above her ankles. 

 

Ashlee liked the beach also, but she would rather play in the sand or have Mommy hold her hand in the waves.  At one point I looked back and she was eating a sand ice cream cone.  She has quite the imagination so playing in the sand was way fun for her.  We also dug a little hole for her that filled up with water with the waves came up.  She loved that!

Another picture of Brynlee playing in the sand. 

The next day we checked out of the hotel and headed home after we did some shopping.  It was so much fun to get away with just our little family to a new place we haven't ever been together.  Things are just so much better on vacation, we can be so relaxed and have tons of fun!!!  Hopefully with Chris working and out of school now we can do more vacations now instead of just trips!  

Family

There are some days I go to bed so exhausted, worn out and emotionally drained.  These are usually the same nights I wake up multiple times with the kids.  Brynlee crying, Ashlee needing to go potty, Ethan not able to breath or Katelee having a bad dream.  I usually wake up the next morning feeling exactly the same exhaustion as I did when I laid down.  I get myself ready for the day, squeeze in a bit of scripture study and then wake each child up and help in various ways to get them ready for the day.  We eat, do hair, sometimes argue, get lunches in backpacks and more and head out the door by 7:10am.  I drop the two oldest off at a friends house who will take them to school with her kids.  Then it's off to my mom's house to drop the younger girls off for the day and then to work.  By the time I get to work I have already been going for at least 3 hours.

No worries, only 9 more work hours left.

I leave the office between 4:30 and a little after 5, head over to my mom's house to get the two youngest and then head home where Chris, Katelee and Ethan will be working on homework.  We decide what is for dinner, because I can never quite seem to plan ahead that far, and then maybe hang out a bit if we have time before it's bedtime.  On Monday's we do some kind of activity or lesson for Family Home Evening, On Tuesdays Ethan has scouts and Chris has church meetings, Wednesdays I have YW Mutual, Thursdays I have been practicing for an upcoming Shooting event and Saturday nights Chris and I play on a coed softball league.  Not to mention baseball games now that Ethan is playing again.  Of course there are always the random school things going on as well that we have to squeeze in wherever we can.

Chris and I often reflect on our life years ago.  "What were we doing 8 years ago?  6 years ago?  What were we doing when Katelee was just a babe?"  It's funny how when we reflect on the past, we realize how easy we had it.  How easy it was to come home from a long day at work and just veg on the couch, get in our PJs at 7pm and sleep ALL the way THROUGH the night!?!?  When Ethan was a baby he would go to sleep by 7:30 or earlier, what did we do after that?  Life was so slow, no school activities, no sports and no other kids to worry about.  Then we look around the house, every night after the kids are finally in bed we go back downstairs and straighten up.  We put shoes away, toys, random papers and backpacks.  We make lunches and get the bottles ready for the next day.  If we are lucky we run the vacuum or clean something, very lightly.  When we were first married we cleaned the apartment every week, I think it was on a Wednesday night.  Now we clean whenever we have a few spare minutes because there is no set night or day that works.  We use to do laundry every week and now we do laundry every night almost, just to keep up with our clothes and the kids'.  Oh how I loath laundry.  I don't so much mind getting it in the washer or the dryer, more the handing and putting it away.  Folding, I'm even ok with that...  But the putting it away kills me for some reason.  (probably because by the putting away time it's after my bedtime and I just want to climb into bed.)

Seems like this post is my complaining about all the work that has evolved since that wonderful day, 10 years ago, in May when Chris and I committed to marriage for Time and ALL Eternity!  I could have never known life would be like it is today, you don't know any of that until you actually experience it!  But this post is not to complain or want for sympathy it's simply to say how grateful I am for my family!  How is it that I can be grateful to do laundry almost every night?  Because doing that laundry means I have FOUR healthy, ACTIVE, beautiful, unique and perfect kids that call me Mom!  I have a husband that loves me and is right there every night helping out with all the chores and more.  We have really become a "TEAM" that can't be beaten.  It's like a tag team, but with no one tagging out.  Each working and fighting for the same goal.  All of the above has simply become life.  Many times I have coworkers that ask how I manage it all?  How do I have time for everything that happens?  I simply say, "It just works out, it is just my life!"  There is no magic box that gives me more hours in each day than everyone else gets.  There are things we simply can't do and those things just don't get done.  There are activities that I would LOVE to participate in that just aren't an important thing in the real scheme of things.  There are MANY things I wish I could do better that one day I will be able to get better at.  I just have to accept the fact that sometimes I'm not the best mother that everyone thinks I am, but I also have to accept that when my kids tell me I'm the best, they really mean it! 

My Heavenly Father knows what kind of a mother and wife I can be and he gave me four wonderful kids and a husband that could manage with that kind of mother and wife!  Oh yes, my potential in His eyes is far greater than where I am now, but as long as I keep trying and working to improve I think I'm right on track with him!  My kids don't have the kind of mom that picks them up from school everyday, that plays with them whenever they ask, that finds creative ways to study spelling, that doesn't fight with them over getting things done, or one that doesn't require them to try their absolute best no matter if they fail or not.  But the kind of mom my kids do has is a mom that expects a little too much from them at their current ages, that isn't afraid to cry in front of them, that doesn't hide my flaws, that might let them get away with a little too much, that doesn't get too concerned over a little cough, wheeze or sniffle, that will laugh when they do something naughty after having a serious talk about why they were in the wrong and a mom that embarrasses them constantly.
    

     
Every time I reflect back on my life prior to the kids and Chris there is a sense of sadness, not having the joy I have now with them in my life!
Yes life was much simpler and less complicated 10 years ago...  But it was also lacking so significantly that I couldn't even have imagined!        

Halloween 2014

 This year for Halloween we were all extra excited.  We purchased our costumes super early and had to wait what seemed like forever to wear them.  Finally our ward had a trunk or treat, so we got dressed up.

Brynlee was our little dog, we figured she had the perfect cheeks for a little bull dog.  The whole night of the trunk or treat she had the little dog tongue in her mouth.  It was quite cute since it looked like a little doggie would look.  

Katelee wanted to be Ariel from the Little Mermaid.  She rocked it of course!

 Ethan chose tp be Spider man.  It came with gloves and a mask thing, but he just wore the outfit with super strong muscles on it. 

Ashlee was Dr. McStuffins, she loved her outfit because it has a Tu-tu and was dropping glitter like crazy!!!  

We parked our van this year and Daddy and the little doggie Brynlee stayed behind and passed out candy.  I took the kids around to all the millions of cars passing out candy.  We were still pretty new to the ward so it was a bit awkward for me, but the kids fit right in.  

 

We all had a good time and the kids came home with WAY TOO MUCH candy! 

Funny story from that night, whenever someone would give Ashlee something with nuts she would look at them crazy and then turn to me and yell, "Mom, they gave me nuts again!  Geezz!!!"  It was the silliest thing and all I could do was shush her and tell her it was just fine.  That girl is a firecracker!

The next day the kids' school did a costume parade.  I was able to take the day off and helped out in Ethan's class and then was able to watch the parade.  Katelee was shy as always but she really enjoyed herself.  

Ethan was his normal crazy self and loved seeing everyone else.  

Once the classes reached the end of the parade they got to sit down and watch the rest of the kids walk by....  Here is Katelee with her class.

Ethan with his class.

After a little bit I snatched the kids up and we left school early!!!  

On Halloween we put out a bowl of candy and then headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for their ward party.  We trick or treated inside and played games at each room for candy.  We also had dinner, which was yummy!  We still have some candy from Halloween and Daddy scored huge with all the nut candy the kids received.  He is not sad by that at all! 

Tis the Asthma Season

Our house does not like Asthma season, especially poor Ethan.  During the allergy season Ethan's asthma is always bad.  He will do OK during the day but at night he will wake up and not be able to breath well, or cough all night.  There are many night that I will set the nebulizer up and prop Ethan up and he will sleep through almost the entire treatment.  The poor boy, I still remember his first nebulizer treatment and would have never guessed that he would one day sleep through a treatment.  

I usually lay down with him so I can take it off when it's done but this night the baby started crying so I had to go into her room and get her taken care of.  When I came back he just looked too precious and I had to snap this picture.    
 

One morning before school Ethan woke up early and got all dressed.  He was weezing quite bad so I told him to lay down in my bed and do a treatment.  When I finished getting dressed and came back into my room this is what I saw......

  

 A boy, his dog and his nebulizer....  We sure do hate asthma in our house, but we are grateful for medicine that helps make it easier to deal with.  And for sweet pictures of this boy with his mask on..... 

Sleeping Angels

The human body is so amazing and I believe our Heavenly Father was divinely inspired when he created it.  Every aspect of our bodies were thought out and planned.  Each had their own function and place.  Our eyes, nose, brain, hands, thumbs, blood, muscles...  I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.  We are capable of doing so much, running miles, lifting large amounts, comforting with hugs and tender touches, crying tears of joy and pain, creating life and giving birth.  Then every person, every body needs rest in order to continue to function.  It is a vital part of our daily life.  This I believe was truly inspired as well.  I don't think sleep was just an after thought, it was part of the plan, it had to be.  There is something so serene of seeing someone sleep, something peaceful and calming.  Often in death our loved ones appear to be asleep and that provides us with a sense of comfort that they are at peace.  

As a mother I have grown to love the view of a sleeping child.  Of course as a first time mother I loved when Ethan was asleep.  It meant I could sleep as well, it meant he didn't want to eat or be changed.  It calmed my nervous mother heart.  With each birth sleep was valued higher than the last.  As we move out of the newborn, up all night phase, sleep is still so calming to me.  There are days (more than I'd like to admit) that don't go so well.  Where the kids seem to find my last sting of sanity and pull with all their might.  Where scriptures are skipped and kids sent straight to bed.  And then before I climb into bed I check on the sleeping kids and am reminded anew how wonderful it is to be a mother.  How peaceful and beautiful each one of my kids is.  

I'm convinced my Father in Heaven knew I would have real rough mother days and he smiled knowing that each of my kids would eventually fall asleep and I would see them as they truly are and it would be his reminder to me how special they are, how lucky I am to have them in my life.  How fortunate I am to be called some form of mother by each one of them.  I once read a blog of a mother whose toddler child had died in his sleep.  For her the sight of any child sleeping was painful to see and would cause her anxiety due to this tragic death.  My mother heart ached so much for her, how tragic and how sad that such a source of joy and peace could cause someone else such pain.

Every night before I crawl (or fall some nights) into bed I go room to room and check on each child.  It allows me to go to sleep knowing each one of my kids is safe and sound.  One night I went into Ethan's room and he wasn't in bed.  I was a little upset with him thinking he had snuck out of bed to play or sneaking around the house.  I decide to check on Brynlee before I busted Ethan and how great was my surprise when I found him sleeping in the rocking chair in Brynlee's room.  They were both sound asleep.  The next morning I asked Ethan why he had slept in Brynlee's room and he said that he wanted to make sure she was ok all night.  (He really is a sweet boy)

How thankful I am for little reminders, such as a sleeping child, that the world is good, kids are great and being a mother is AWESOME!!!       

   

Mommy's Mini Me...

The other Sunday Ashlee actually let me straighten her hair..... And we were twins.

 I wasn't sure what Ashlee would think of that, she usually doesn't like things that I like....

 But I think we got her!  She loved it and said multiple times during the day how Mommy looked just like her.  It was quite weird to see her with straight hair, it changes her looks so much.   

 This girl is hilarious and stressful and beyond taxing to be her mother, but I am often reminded (mostly by my parents) that she is just like me.  Not only in looks but also in action and attitude.  Ashlee is go, go, go!  She never stops and she is relentless with silly noises, annoying her siblings and attitude expressions.  I love to say I have no idea where her looks and expressions came from, but I'm lying.  She brings our house so much joy and frustration and I think we wouldn't have it any other way!  

I loved being this girls twin, even if it was only for a day!