T-Ball

Noah had the opportunity to play t-ball this year, and he had a blast!  He loved being able to get out, run around, learn how to play t-ball and make new friends, and we really enjoyed being able to get out and watch him play.  He said his favorite position to play this year was catcher.

For his last game of the season, he wanted me to make cupcakes to share with his team, this is what we brought:

The Fourth of July

This year for the Fourth of July we did the kids parade again, they all had patriotic outfits, and helped to decorate their bikes and things:

The kids really enjoyed it, and they even won first place for their division and got 5 silver dollars a piece.

At the last minute I found out they were doing a cupcake competition, so I scrambled to get ingredients together and made carrot cake cupcakes with Italian custard cream in the batter, and cream cheese frosting, all from scratch, and I won first place!

Quick Update on the Kids

I have been falling behind on my blog, per the norm.  Here is a quick update on the kiddos lately.

Madison will be 8 months old in 8 days!  She army crawls, scoots, and rolls everywhere.  She is learning how to get up on her hands and knees (or hands and toes!) and rocks and launches herself, it won't be too long before she is really crawling!  She sits up on her own really well, and loves standing holding on to anything.  She LOVES food, and eats everything we give her, even spinach and broccoli! She loves playing with any toy she can hold and put in her mouth, doesn't matter if its a hotwheels car,  a soldier, a teething toy, or a princess.  She has one little tooth, and it working on her second one.  She loves to snuggle, give hugs, and scream!  Oh boy, she sure has a set of lungs! Doesn't matter if she is happy or sad, she loves to scream about everything!  She definitely has her own little personality, and we love her so much!

McKenna is 22 months old!  I can not wrap my head around the fact that in a couple short months she will be 2!  She loves all things girly.  She loves wearing dresses and skirts, she will bring me them to help her put them on and calls them her "princess" clothes.  She loves to sing, her favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," the ABC song, and "You Are My Sunshine."  She sings at the top of her lungs in church, and keeps everyone entertained.  She loves to pray by herself, and always shouts an exuberant "Amen!" at the end of every prayer.  Her favorite toys are her baby dolls and her Barbie.  She is very attached to her pink elephant blanket and has to have it everywhere she goes, it even hangs on the back of the chair while he eats!  She is such a sweet little girl, and has such a spunky personality.  We sure love our little Kenna Boo!

Ammon is going to be 4 in just a few short weeks!  He is growing up to be such a sweet young man!  He absolutely loves being outdoors (just like his daddy!), and is fascinated by bugs, and all types of animals.  He would never come inside if we didn't make him!  Whenever we go for a drive in the mountains, he always comments on how "beautiful" it is, and he always wants to go hunting with Daddy!  We are working on getting him ready for kindergarten (how is it possible that there is only 1 year left before he starts school?!?) and he is such a smartie pants!  A lot of times he doesn't like to show me what he knows (I think he just gets shy) but its amazing to watch how much he really does know, and will do when he thinks no one is watching!  He is such a big helper to me, and he loves his siblings so much!  He is always trying to make others smile, and is such a little ham.  He is such a little firecracker and brings so much joy to our family.  We love our little stinker!

Noah is getting ready for 1st grade, and quickly approaching 7 years old!  He loves reading and one of his favorite things to do lately is read books to McKenna and Ammon.  He had his reading level tested last week for school and he really impressed his teacher!  We are looking forward to a great school year!  Noah has been keeping the tooth fairy in business, he has lost 4 teeth so far, and has at least one more tooth loose at the moment.  He looks so cute with his little toothless grin!  He got to play t-ball this year, and he absolutely loved it!  It was so much fun going to his games this year.  He loves writing and drawing, just like momma!  He is definitely my big helper, and I can always count on him when I need something.  He is an awesome big brother, and is always looking out for his siblings.  He has always had such a sweet and loving nature, and we sure love our big guy!

Maddie is 6 months old!

 

I cannot believe my little baby girl is 6 months old!! Time is going by way too fast!!  Miss Maddie is such a sweet little girl, she loves to snuggle, smile, giggle and squeal.  She can roll both ways, and likes to propel herself backwards on her back by pushing off with her little legs.  She is my little thumb sucker, and has been from the beginning, she never would take any kind of pacifier, but she sure loves her thumb! (and it is so cute!)  All her siblings are just in love with her, and she loves them too, it is so sweet watching them together.  She just started solids a couple weeks ago, right now she eats oatmeal, carrots, and squash, and she LOVES to eat!!  We are so very blessed to have this little girl be a part of our family!

A Letter to My Children

To Noah, Ammon, McKenna and Madison:

I don't know if you will ever truly understand the depth of my love for you until you one day have children of your own, but I do want you to understand that I do, and will ALWAYS love you more than words could ever express.  Do not ever let the world, or any person in it make you believe you are not loved, because that is absolutely, unequivocally a lie.  I loved you from the moment I first knew you were coming to join our family, even more when I first saw you on the ultrasound screen, even more when I first felt you move inside of me, and even more when I first held you in my arms and saw your beautiful face.  My love for you grows stronger with each day, and there is absolutely nothing you could possibly do to make my love for you lessen.

I want you to know how absolutely beautiful you are.  Beauty comes in all sizes, shapes and colors, and everyone is beautiful in their own way.  Do not define yourself through the world's idea of beauty, or let others define your self-worth.  Learn to love yourself for who you are and embrace your imperfections; beauty is not defined by perfection. Nobody is perfect!

I do not labor under the delusion that I will be able to shelter you forever from those who would wish to hurt you or cause you harm, but I do hope that I can build you up to be strong enough not to let those hurtful people affect you.

I want more than anything for you to be happy, to be successful in what ever endeavours you choose to pursue in your life.  I want you to dream big, to hold fast to your dreams, and never let anyone tear them from you.  If you work hard, and put your sincerest best effort into becoming what you want to be, you can do anything!!

I hope that you always have a positive attitude, that you will look for the good in everything.  I hope that you can focus on the good qualities in people, and never allow yourself to be judgmental and unkind.  I hope you can find positives in ever situation and realize that your trials can be learning experiences that will help you grow if you allow them to.  I hope that you can look for, and appreciate the beauty that is all around you.  Remember there is always a rainbow after the storm, and stars in the darkest of nights.

I want you to learn the value of hard work, integrity, honesty, and respect.  The world is quickly devaluing these principles, and I want you to know how important they are, whether the world believes so or not.  I hope that you learn not to lower your standards, or jeopardize your integrity to follow what is popular or trendy.

I think it is very important for you to know that you WILL make mistakes.  Learn from them, learn to forgive yourself and move past them.  I hope that no matter what situation you may get yourself into, you always feel comfortable with coming to me, and your father, to talk about it.  We are not perfect parents, but we love you, and we are here to help you the best that we can.  Please remember that no matter what you do, we will always love you, and there is nothing you can do to lessen that love.  I hope that we can always have an open and forgiving relationship with each other.

I have greatly enjoyed watching you grow, learn, master milestones, and develop your personalities, and I very much look forward to watch you continue in these things.  Every day I get to hold you, watch you, and call you mine is the most glorious blessing.  You are my little miracles, and I thank God everyday that he let me be your Mother.

Love you always and Forever,

Mom

Our Forever Family

 

 

On Saturday, April 13th, we had the great privilege of going through the St. George LDS temple.  It was truly an amazing experience, it was so neat for Michael and I to be able to go through together at the same time, and such a blessing for us to be able to have ALL of our babies with us to be sealed to us.  It was truly a miracle that Noah's dad agreed to let him be sealed to us. God truly and absolutely answered our prayers, and it made it so perfect that he got to be there with us.  It was just amazing when they brought all of the kids in, dressed in white, and they were all so calm, it was beautiful.  I am so grateful for the family and friends who came to support us, and for those who couldn't come, but supported us in spirit, and for all those who helped us on our journey to get to the temple.  I am so blessed to be able to say that my family is Eternal, and I will be able to have them be mine forever!!

Easter 2013

 

 Here are a few pictures from our Easter celebration this year!

 

 

 

 



 



Life Lately

Life has been a bit crazy lately, some days I feel like I am living in a zoo...but I figured I needed a little more positivity, so I am going to blog about the good things going on.

Madison is growing by the minute.  She already has such a sweet little personality, she loves to be held and have you talk to her, and gives giant, contagious smiles when you do.  She loves to talk, and squeal, and make this little sucking in noise that sounds kind of like the beginning of a hiccup.  She is definitely a snuggler, and LOVES to be swaddled.  Everyone thinks she looks like me, and not much like McKenna and Ammon who are both the spitting image of Mike.  She is VERY much a co-sleeper and does not like to sleep in the bassinet period...we are going to have to work on that... ;)

McKenna is my funny girl.  She loves smiling, laughing, and applauding herself on anything cute she does.  She is starting to be a climber like her brother.  She is pretty rough and tumble and has plenty of bumps and bruises on any given day.  She HATES having her hair done, but its getting too long not to pull back out of her face, besides, she looks SO cute with pig tails!! :)  She is at the age where she is starting to pick up new words every day and is getting better at communicating with us.  She loves her baby sister and will hold her and kiss her, but she definitely lets you know when she is done  by shoving her away.  She loves to fold her arms for prayers and will always shout "Yay!" and clap in the middle of every prayer to let you know she did it right and folded her arms.  She has gotten very attached to a specific blanket, and has to take it EVERYWHERE with her, she even tries to make me let her take it in the bath with her.  Her favorite toys are her baby dolls and her little people princesses, very girly!

Ammon is such a sweet little guy.  He is going through kind of a sensitive phase, which is a little difficult, but we are trying to make sure he gets more positive attention and love.  We are working on learning how to write letters with him, and he LOVES to do his "homework" when Noah is doing his.  He has an amazing memory for things, and is starting to talk like a mini adult, it cracks me up.  He wants to be a big boy just like Noah, and has to do everything he does, I am thinking about trying to get him in to preschool because he wants to go to school like Noah so bad!!  He is really into big construction trucks, tractors, and trains.  He LOVES any little furry animal, and his greatest desire is to be a hunter like Daddy.  He is always talking about hunting, different hunting seasons, trapping, and all the animals Daddy hunts and traps.  He is such a good big brother, and loves his little sisters so much.  He is quite the little character.

Noah is growing up way too fast.  He is doing so awesome in school, he loves to read, and amazes me at how well he is reading.  I am also amazed at how good his handwriting is.  He has better handwriting than a lot of adults I know.  He always takes his time, and is a perfectionist with his homework, which is kind of a two edged sword.  It is good that he likes to produce quality work, but its hard for him when he gets frustrated when things are just quite the way he wants them.  I am trying to teach him to just take a deep breath, laugh about it, fix it as best he can, then move on.  It seems to be helping him so far.  He is a wonderful big brother, and is always willing to help me out.  I have caught him sitting next to Madison and singing to her to keep her calm while I am making dinner, and playing baby dolls with McKenna.  He loves playing hunting with Ammon, and tells me he wants to be an archery hunter when he grows up.  We are trying to get him into T-ball this year so he has another activity to do to get him out of the house, make friends, and have fun.


Mike and I got our temple recommends this week and are trying to figure out a date to get to the temple and have as much family with us as possible.  We are going to try and get Noah's dad's permission to have him sealed to us as well, and need as many prayers as we can get to soften his heart so he will agree.  We are very excited to go, and can't wait for our family to be sealed to each other for eternity.

My Sweet Little Valentines!

I am pretty certain I have the CUTEST little Valentines in the WHOLE world!! :)  This year we got the kids all a little stuffed animal, and the three older ones got a little box of chocolates as well.  Its amazing how little simple things can make kids so happy.  McKenna wanted to have EVERYONE's stuffed animals, and the boys did a good job trading and sharing with her.  She is such a goof ball.  Noah had a great time at his school party, and he and Ammon both had a lot of fun writing Valentines cards to their cousins.

Madison's Blessing

We were able to bless Madison at our church a couple of weeks ago, and it was a very beautiful day.  Mike's brother and a couple of his uncles were able to come to help with the blessing, and Mike did a beautiful job.  Here are a few pictures of our beautiful baby girl!

Noah is Six!

I tell Mike all the time that as an adult and a parent time seems to fly by unreasonably fast.  I am still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my oldest baby is 6 years old!! I don't know how it is possible when it seems only yesterday he was the same size as McKenna.

At six years old Noah is about half way through Kindergarten.  He LOVES school, and is doing AWESOME!!  He seems to make friends very easily, and as much as he likes to hang out with the boys, he has lots of girl friends too.  He is the top sight word reader in his class and is getting better at reading and writing every day.  He is a BIG helper to mom, and an awesome big brother!!  He loves everything about being outdoors, and even wants to be a bow hunter one day!  He still is not embarrassed to hug and kiss his mom (and siblings) when he goes to school, and still is a BIG snuggler.  He has a big heart! He is kind to the other kids at school, and is always empathetic and helpful to those who are sad or hurt.  We are so blessed to have him as a part of our family, and it has been so much fun watching him grow up into the big boy he is today!!

Here are some pictures from his birthday:

 

Minion cupcakes for school :)

 

His Lego cake :)

 

His big birthday surprise! :)

White Chocolate Chip Red Velvet Cookies

I LOVE trying new recipes, its always so fun and adventurous.  I wanted to make some cookies with the white chocolate chips I had sitting in my cupboard, and these looked yummy, and fun for Valentines day!

(If you are making these to share, or you have a big family like mine, I would suggest doubling the recipe as this didn't quite make 2 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

1/2 C butter at room temp
1 C Sugar
1 t distilled white vinegar
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 t red food coloring (I didn't use quite that much b/c I only had the food coloring that squeezes out one tiny drop at a time, and I didn't feel like waiting to measure out 1 1/2 teaspoons, but it would be prettier if you use the correct amount :) )
1 1/2 C flour
2 1/2 T Cocoa
1 t cornstarch
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 C white chocolate chips (plus more for garnish if desired)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat sugar and butter in a mixer until fluffy.
3. Add vinegar and mix just until combined. Add the egg just until combined. Scraping the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla and red food coloring and combine.
4. Sift together the flour, cocoa, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.  Add half to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. (scrapping the side of the bowl)  Mix in the remaining flour mixture just until combined.
5. Mix in white chocolate chips.
6. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on parchment lines cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
7. Bake for 9-11 minutes. While still warm, press a few white chocolate chips into cookies, point side down. (this is mainly just for looks, you can skip this all together if you don't care too much about presentation ;) )  Allow to cool on pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

My kids really enjoyed these cookies, I hope you do too!

Christmas 2012

Our Christmas was pretty laid back.  Since we knew we were either going to have a brand spanking new baby, or I was going to be very very pregnant, we did not make any plans to go anywhere.  It was our year to have Noah for Christmas, and we had Madison a week before, so it was VERY nice to have all four of our babies with us for Christmas.  Mike's parents and sister came over to watch the kids open their presents and have breakfast with us, and it was a very good day.

Here are the kiddos in their Christmas Eve PJs:

 

Christmas Morning, coming to see their presents:

 

 

Their present from Santa:

Checking out their stockings:



 

The boys and Daddy all got Marshmallow guns :P

 

 

A few pictures of them with some of their presents:

 

 

 

I think holidays are so much more fun when you have kids!