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! :)