Alive

I can't believe how long it has been.  Well, I can, but I can't.  I intentionally stopped updating it when I started printing off Social Media books, and that was so much easier.  It seems however, that without another post, it keeps going dormant.  So, a post it is!

We are all doing well.  Life is good!

Thoughts from a mom the night before school starts

I haven't ever had such a hard time with my kids going to school.  I'm usually super excited and prepared and have no doubt that this will be the best year ever.  I'm just not there this time.  For one, I'm losing my Benson to this thing called Kindergarten.  When did he get old enough for that?  I haven't prepared him nearly enough... I need more time!  He's my silly, sweet boy that is always keeping me on my toes.  He's so curious and full of wonder.  He has these excited, twinkling eyes (with killer eye lashes) and this amazingly brilliant smile that I am going to miss WAY too much.  How am I going to stay entertained with him gone?  Thank heaven it's just for the morning!  I just pray that he gets a good teacher that is able to bridle his spirit and enthusiasm for life without squishing it and killing it. 

My Jaymeson and Saryn are so excited to go.  They have brought such energy and enthusiasm to everything this summer.  The house won't just seem quiet without them, it will be deafeningly quiet.  They are so excited to make new friends, learn new things and conquer the world.  Jaymeson might just want to skip straight ahead to making rocket ships, trailers and a mansion instead.  ;)  He is just purely "good".  Who's going to fight over opening my car door and helping me now?  Saryn is the queen of making friends and making people feel special.  People seem to flock to her.  She has a confidence that I envy and I've seen her build up friends around her numerous times.  She has no problem putting bossy people in their place, and then loving to play with them 3 seconds later.  She is a strong girl with an incredible heart.

Kienna and Kaia haven't been as hard this year, as they have both planning on homeschooling.  Kienna, however, surprised us tonight by not being so sure any more.  We had a long discussion, put it to prayer and we'll see how we feel in the morning.  If I wasn't ready to let go of the others, I have no idea how to prepare for this one overnight.  Kienna is so much fun!  She is constantly trying to sneak up on me.  She likes to play tricks on her Dad - especially when he calls from work.  She has a killer smile and always has something up her sleeve.  She is exremely affectionate and loving - and is gaining more and more confidence daily.  I can't believe how much shes grown over the past few months.  She's turning into a lovely young lady - in every way.

It seems as though it's just me and Kaia staying home with the baby for sure now.  She is a seriously focused, motivated young woman!  Why does she want to home school?  Why, to work on her violin, so she can teach in high school; to get a stronger education so that she can get scholarships; to avoid wasting time with other kids who aren't going to school for academic purposes, etc.  You know, the normal things that 12 year olds think about.  She is incredibly helpful around the house and just wants to learn everything (that's if you can pry a book out of her hands).  She wants to learn how to cook, clean and upkeep a house.  She wants to take care of the baby for me.  She's eager to learn skills like sewing, crocheting etc.  She is wise, mature and tall beyond her years.  She's a wonderful girl who I only have five years at home with left (before she goes off to school for good).  How I'll function that day, I'll never know.

This evening, Lanaya fell asleep in the car between swimming and having a back to school dinner at Tony Roma's. I got to hold her asleep in my arms for quite a few minutes.  Tonight, at bedtime, she crawled up to me on the couch and snuggled with me while I scratched her back.  With her being my last baby, I have learned to stop everything else and just cherish those moments.  I hope to never forget them.  What a wonderful, happy, peaceful feeling that accompanies a baby sleeping on you.  She is such a blessing in our lives.  Everyone in the family worships her and wants her constant attention.  She has the perfect little curls, dimples, eyes and personality that just melts me.  What a change such a small person can make on such a big family.  She's really picked up on walking these past 2 weeks.  She is determined to do it - and who wouldn't be with such a big cheerleading section?   That girl has won all of our hearts.  I suppose I am really lucky to have some more time with this angel. Might have to really focus on that tomorrow - and many days after!

Five years ago... While expecting Benson

I love it when her kids play so well together.  Jaymeson is getting spoiled by his sisters playing ring-around-the-rosy a hundred times.

I had a lot of plans for what to do today.... don't know if I'll get to those now.  Sigh.  Stupid hips.

August 30, 2010

I want to thank my sisters-in-law for taking the girls hiking today.  1-on-1 time with Jay will be fun - along with cleaning the house, budgeting and editing pictures.  Just had an hour long power outage too.  Who knows what this day might bring?!?

August 30, 2010

I want to thank my sisters-in-law for taking the girls hiking today.  1-on-1 time with Jay will be fun - along with cleaning the house, budgeting and editing pictures.  Just had an hour long power outage too.  Who knows what this day might bring?!?

Sunday hair

Had some fun with Kienna's hair at church today.

Benson and Laya

Benson follows Laya around and plays with her all the time.  She just loves him to bits and it's definitely reciprocated.  He has started to call her "Angel Face".  It has become so standard procedure that even when he's upset he will say Angel Face, but more sharply.  When she gets up in the morning or from a nap she hears "Angel Face" in an excited, enthusiastic tone from a loving older brother.  I'm so happy that they have such a special bond.  

Unexpected Side Effects

After Jaymeson's bath last night, his skin felt dry so I asked him to grab some Vaseline so that I could put it on him.  He went and grabbed the container and saw that there were drug facts. He said to me that he didn't want it on because it had drugs in it. I explained that it was just saying what is inside of the Vaseline. This made him look on the back with more detail. He suddenly got very excited saying that he wanted Vaseline all the time because Vaseline would make him faster. I was confused, so I read the back. This is what I found:

Still not understanding, Jaymeson pointed out that it had an active ingredient. This, of course, makes him faster!

Dessert is a must

The other night, Jaymeson finished his dinner and asked what dessert was.  I said, "we don't have dessert tonight".  

Jaymeson was outraged!  "You mean I just ate all that food for nothing?!?  Did you see how much I ate?"

Trees and Bathtubs

Kim came over today and helped me work on this tree. It's so nice to have that done! It is been on my to do list for months.  All I have to do now is to add the flowers that I am going to make out of crêpe paper.

While I was working this morning, I found an awesome way to keep Lanaya busy and out of trouble. Just put her in the bath!  Of course, you cannot leave a baby unattended while having a bath, so I just put her in an empty bathtub with her bath toys and she had a blast!

Heritage Park on August 19, 2014

Everything is packed at Heritage Park today. Oh wait, that's just our crew. Lol! And add a baby in my arms...

Jaymeson Overheard

On Sunday during Sacrament Meeting:  "Benson, I can feel my brain!"  I looked back to see both of my boys sitting with their fingers in their ears.

In most prayers these days, "....and Heavenly Father, I just want you to know that I love you."You created everything for me and I just wanted to thank you for that."  Today, he added, "I am going to try to be my best for you and even try to be the prophet one day."  He clarified for me afterwards, he wants to be like a prophet, by serving and helping others and doing what's right all the time.  That way, he can really thank Heavenly Father.

After Jaymeson climbed a big rock, near a drop off, on a hike in Zion's National Park, my nephew Tanner wanted to follow Jaymeson.  My Mom told him to just tell Jay, "You're crazy" and stay on the path.  Jaymeson's response was simply, "I know!  I'm like a mini Aunty Britter-bee."  He was quite proud of the fact!

A Year Ago

Joseph Smith Encampment

We had the honour of being branch leaders at the Joseph Smith Encampment this year.  We were the Nauvoo Branch and had 11 wonderful youth assigned to us.  We discussed what we saw with each reenactment of the prophet's life with them. It was wonderful to have our niece, Taysia, be in our branch!

  Once again, I forgot to take any pictures, except my camera.  The Spirit there was wonderful! I personally, fell in love with Hyrum while I was there.  What it would've been like to have a supportive brother like that, while going through all those struggles.  I talked to "Hyrum" and asked what it was like to be the prophet's brother.  We talked for a while. The thing that I got most from the conversation, however, was that we can't all be Joseph Smiths, but we can all be Hyrums.  We can support, love, and pray for our prophet. We can also do our best by supporting our local leaders, and doing the very best of our own callings. It was so wonderful to have the Spirit testify that to me.

Ben Grunwald joined us for many of our discussions. Here, he is pouring over the Scriptures with Jarett.

The very best part about this camp, was that I got to be at Kaia's very first young women's camp. It was so fun to see her there taking it all in. She was very sick with her allergies, but she was determined to not let the dampener spirits. I was so proud of her! Unfortunately, she was not in our branch, so whenever I had a chance to sneak a picture, she was not around. I did, however, sneak this very pathetic one of our ward's youth doing their reenactment. She is in the very back row on the left hand side in the burgandy bonnet.  Kim is here running through the reenactment with them.  She did a all of the coaching for a few of the reenactments and I was a very proud sister!

I did happen to take this one picture of Kia before we left. We also did her hair after this.

The Moody's are Here!

Alanna and crew are in town! We had a lot of fun this week. We've been at the lake a couple times, Calaway Park yesterday, and a lot of games at Mom and Dad's house. Lanaya went into Sundance lake for the first time and played with sand for the first time.  We celebrated Travis' birthday, played games and did a scavenger hunt.  Moody's know how to have a fun party!

I have forgotten my camera up until today, but these are the pictures for the week from my phone.

Today:

Yesterday:

On the eggs:

On Wednesday we went to the lake as well, while we were there Benson slipped on a big rock and split his head open. Luckily, it was no more than a scratch, and we were able to fix it with some glue. Of course, the head bandage helped the most, so he got to keep that on for a couple days.  ;)

Deep thoughts from five years ago today.

stupid hips, stupid stupid hips...  and why does Alanna have to move to Maryland.  I'm not sure I'm okay with this.

On this day three years ago...

Jaymeson would have been three on July 31, 2012.

"Awww, so Jaymeson just came into the room asking me to untie something.  I was trying to do so when he said out of the blue:  "Mommy, you're awesome."  pause  "and you're kinda cool"  pause "and Mommy... Mommy.... I LOVE you!"  (fighting back the tears).  It's one of those moments that makes parenting all worth it!"

Personal Progress

Kaia just cleaned the main floor, without being asked, while I put the boys and the baby to bed. What was her motivation? She wanted me to sit down with her and work on personal progress. I think I have a pretty good kid sometimes. Couldn't be more proud today!

PS - Alma 5 is such a good place to start yourself back on track.

June - Lanaya turns 1!

June flew by as though it was a 100 mile/hour wind.  I've never experienced a month that seems so short in all my life.  Was it really more than 2 days??  The most significant of days might of been Lanaya's 1st birthday.  I really can't believe that I didn't post anything.

Not sure about this "cake" thing

Laya has been a complete joy in our lives.  She is a happy, easy going, totally content baby.  She sleeps well, eats well and enjoys playing peek-a-boo more than anything else.  She covers her face and waits for you to say, "Where's Laya?" before revealing her face - with great enthusiasm.  She is a total joy!  She has said "der di is" (there she is) and Dada (just this week, we became much more sure that it was, indeed, aimed at her Daddy.  Mama is still questionable.  She goes up and down stairs with ease, loves playing in toilets and discovering how everything works.  She loves the different sounds of things and nothing soothes her more than some good music (piano, cello and violin especially).

First big shove of cake

She has just started to show that she has some curls in her hair and I couldn't love it more.  She also has the biggest blue eyes (courtesy of Granni Cahoon) and the biggest smile!  She's a Mama's girl and doesn't go to anyone that she's not 100% familiar with.  I, however, love it when strangers try to play with her, as she grips my neck super tight and gives me the biggest squeeze ever (while lying down on my shoulder).  LOVE IT!

It's a hit!!

Blowing a kiss as a thank you.  ;)

Jarett

We have had quite a bumpy road over the last month. We have debated moving and contemplated the effect it would have on our family. After much debate, the choice was kind of taken away from us.

We didn't fully understand why, but we knew it must be the Lords will. This happened on Thursday.  On Thursday evening at about 10 o'clock, Jarett got a phone call from the second counselor in the stake presidency. He wanted to meet with Jarett and me sometime over the next couple days.

Knowing that the bishop had served for over five years, and was about to be released, we were fairly certain he would get a calling into the new bishopric. This was exactly his new calling. He was put in today as the second counselor in our ward's bishopric.  Bret Kapscos is the new bishop. Jim Irwin is the first counselor. I have so much respect for both of these men. It will be a very neat adventure for our family!

I am nervous to get the six children ready for 9am church on time by myself. I am nervous to survive a sacrament meeting without any help on the other end of the pew.  I know, however, that when we are serving the Lord, we are blessed for our efforts, and I am excited to see miracles in our lives!

The Spirit was so strong when the new Bishopric was set apart.  I know these men are called of God and I can't wait to see how they grow through this experience.

Already, I've seen my kids grow - and it's only been a few hours.

Jaymeson's prayer tonight said, "Heavenly Father, please help that your son, and my father, the second counselor, will remember to read his scriptures so that he can be a better counselor."

I love Jarett and I'm super proud of him for accepting this calling and becoming a High Priest.  I can't wait to support him through it and to bond with the other wives of the bishopric through the process.

Benson Facts

The girls have been talking about their favourite kind of dogs etc.  So yesterday I asked Benson:

Would you want a dog?

Yes!

What kind would you want?

Um, a real one.

Benson also was washing his hands yesterday in my bathroom and accidentally knocked over a can of hairspray.  It did something to the nozzle and jammed it so that there was a constant stream shooting out.  It was so strong that I thought the water was running.  Finally Benson comes out and is holding the can spraying straight into the air. "Mom, I can't stop it!  It's just too strong."  Yeah, I couldn't either.  There goes that full can of hair spray... And my floor and walls.  They were sooooo sticky.  Many much mucho hours scrubbing those babies.  

May 26, 2011

Anyone else have a CRAZY hard time getting up today? My kids had to be woken up multiple times.

Yeah, my kids just went out the front door, shut it and rang the doorbell. Perhaps they want my attention?

Off to pick up the kids, do violin, go to kindergarten orientation and RS meeting. Hopefully Jarett can come home from work regular time!

Today's comment:  Sounds like a pretty typical day to me.  ;)

Butter Fingers (today in 2013)

Out of everything that I've broken today - I've decided that the butter dish is the worst to clean up. Can't just sweep, vacuum and mop like the others. It's hands and knees with paper towels from the get go. Sigh. I suppose I have butter fingers in a couple ways today.

Remember this from 2009 SO well!

Waking up to a stray cat coming through the window right above your husbands head is a little bit terrifying.

Four Years Ago... Baby Benson

Benson up every 1-2 hours last night (of course, now he's having a FABULOUS nap), warm milk for breakfast this morning, immunizations after lunch... it's going to be a spectacular day!! 

Benson just got his immunizations done... didn't even cry. AND he's weighing 17lbs 7oz!

My Hero - from a year ago

Feel so good!!  We cleaned the house, moved the girls to the basement (we're talking assembling bunk beds etc.), and completely reorganized almost everything in there.  Also brought all baby stuff up to newly vacated room, and cleaned out the newly vacated garage.  Jarett also trimmed and mowed the lawn while I took the kids to their lessons at the Y this morning and prepared his lesson for church tomorrow.  He's now doing a 20 km bike ride.  I'm completely exhausted and I really did hardly anything compared to Jarett.  That man is my hero!

May be a year ago that I wrote this... But yesterday Jarett cleaned out the whole garage again.  Funny.  Still is my hero!

Flyers

We started doing flyers in February. Kaia has one route, Kienna has the other. Altogether, we deliver about 200 flyers.

Jarett has been helping Kienna with her flyers and I have been helping Kaia with hers. Kaia, more than often, prefers to do hers on her own so that she can practice.

Today, I decided to help her and do the last third. Benson came with me. He was so excited to run up and down the driveways. He carefully placed each flyer directly on the threshold of the door, not just on the doorstep (he has done this each time he helped).

Today, he also noticed that there was an alarm sign in the shape of a stop sign in someone's front garden.

He told me that he couldn't do that flyer, the sign told him that he had to stop. I told him that that just means that you're not allowed to go inside the house without permission.  He took that with caution, but still delivered the flyer for me. He is a boy that likes to stick by the rules, that's for sure!

My Littlest Bookworm

I just read Laya her two favourite stories. You might have even heard of them:  

Moby-Dick and Pride and Prejudice.

We have loved the BabyLit books!  Way to have a kid get a head start on the classics!

Saryn came in after and read them to her again...

She might have not wanted to get her picture taken though...

Little toothless bookworm

Jaymeson lost a tooth yesterday... or he might call it a business opportunity. He is so excited about making money whenever he loses a tooth, it is hilarious! This one was finally getting wiggly enough that he could move it, so he asked me to pull it out. I wouldn't do it until he worked on it a whole lot more, but with in a few minutes it was ready to go. He is one determined little boy!

As you can tell, he has made a lot of money recently!

He has also started to read more and more. He is top of his class in reading, and way past our wildest expectations. He will have no problem letting you know that either. Right now he is working on reading the book series Fablehaven.  He has seen his sisters reading the box, so he wanted to give it a try. He tells you every single time he is done the page, lets you know his favorite characters, plot twists, and anytime anything does anything. He is determined to read almost as much as he's determined to inform!  

He saw that the girls could read from 8:30 to 9 o'clock on their chore chart. He was wondering if he could also do that but have his lights out at 8 o'clock instead. Last night, I found him like this when I went to go put Benson to bed.

See the size of that book?  This is one determined boy!!

My little monkey - goes productive

As I put both Lanaya and baby Bruce to bed today (I watch my nephew Bruce on Thursdays while his mom works), Benson decided to go downstairs.  Normally, this scares me quite a bit. Today, however, he had a paper airplane in the car, so I wasn't quite as worried. I put the babies to bed, waited for them to stop crying, and then came downstairs to find Benson like this:

Besides a little bit of water that had overflowed, he hadn't made any mess, but was actually cleaning. He was so excited to show me that he was cleaning! He was using our scrubber from the sink and using it on the cupboards around him. He is such a sweet little guy!!  He has a mind of his own, but he is so well-intended (90% of the time anyway).