Summer Fun!

So as you all have probably already guessed, we've been pretty busy this summer (hence the lack of posts)! Here's a few pics of what we've been up to:

Planting grass....
And more grass....
And more grass!! It's a little patchy in spots (that's what you get when you do it yourself) and it's been a LOT of work, but it's so nice to see green instead of brown! Now if we could just figure out how to get our grass & garden to grow as fast as our weeds!!!

We've also had some fun celebrating birthdays! Here's Camilla with her first birthday cake!

She wasn't so sure at first, but as you can see she decided that chocolate cake is a GOOD thing!

Here's Grammy and Karalie, the birthday buddies! They each got their OWN birthday cake thanks to our sweet visiting teacher. Oh, and she made Camilla's cake too! Thanks, Marge! You were definitely one busy lady!

Here's Karalie celebrating #3 with her very own stick horse (she named him "Buck") and cowgirl get-up (thanks Grammy)! We can now always tell where Karalie is in the house by the tap-tapping sound made by her galloping with Buck!

As for other goings on we've had, my family came to visit over the 4th of July; Ben's been involved in a ward roofing project; and we've had Jenny & co. and Bob & Julie & co. come to visit as well! It's been chaos at times, but we have just loved it! The house and life in general just seem so lonely and quiet after everyone goes home! However, with all the excitement we do tend to get a little tired and often fall asleep at odd times...:0)

Lessons I've Learned

So I have a little confession to make. I never ever thought that being a Mom would be this hard! I was the oldest of seven children and, honestly, I thought I knew everything and could handle motherhood without a problem! I loved kids and I had babysitting down pat! What more could there be? Fast forward a few years and -WHAM! - I'm a new mother with a screaming baby and I have no clue what to do! Thank goodness for parents who have been there and done that and can give some much-needed encouragement and advice when needed (even if that happens to be in the middle of the night)! So the learning began, and as all mothers, I have been in intense, hands-on, motherhood lessons ever since. For a Relief Society bookclub, we recently read I Am A Mother by Jane Clayson Johnson. It was such a good reminder of just what an important job mothers have! As I have read this book I've been led to ask some older Mothers what they would do differently or what advice they had for someone "in the trenches of motherhood". While each answer has been unique, they have all had the same theme of spending less time on the unimportant and spending more time really enjoying your children. So here are some of the lessons I've learned in an effort to more thoroughly enjoy my children: #1: A little smile can light up your day!
#2: A spoonful of sugar (or in this case, "princess panties") helps the medicine (or potty training) go down!

#3: If life gives you dirt and water, make mud (and let your kids enjoy it)!

#4: Enjoying your kids is not a spectator sport (in other words get down and dirty with 'em)!!


#5: I LOVE being a mother and wouldn't trade these experiences for anything!

Busy As Usual!

So life seems to be going faster and faster and I've been noticing that with all the crazy stuff we've had going on the last few years (moving several times, house-building, babies, etc.) I've really gotten out of the habit of taking pictures. I'm not just talking professional pictures, but regular everyday pictues as well. So, thanks to the world of blogs, I am now not only aware of my ineptness, but am resolved to do better in my own little realm of photography (however amateur and uncreative it may be)! Hope you all enjoy some everyday shots of the fam!

This is how Karalie likes to fall asleep for her afternoon nap! She chooses a book, I read it to her while she sits in her bed. Then she gets to keep it and read it until she falls asleep. It's worked really well until she decided she wanted to start playing in her poop at naptime....ICKY!

Here is Camilla crying because I wouldn't pick her up. She's been going through a stage where she's decided she no longer wants to take naps! Tough for her and Mommy! She'd get to the point where she'd be so tired that she wanted me to hold her all the time. If I put her down, this is what she would do. Thankfully we've reached a compromise. I put her in her carseat at naptime so she can still see everyone, and she goes to sleep!

This is the girls' favorite place to come in the morning!

Unfortunately, it's not big enough for them and us. So Ben and I usually get up and go about getting ready for the day while they lounge around in their pj's and play. Talk about living in the lap of luxury!

Growing Pains

This may seem like a weird title for this post, but really, I think it applies. There are so many experiences that help us to grow that are not comfortable. In fact, I think that some of our best growth occurs when we are experiencing extreme pain or difficulty in our lives. Recently, my sweet little niece passed away. Even though we were never able to meet her in person, her tender little spirit had a profound influence on our family. We were fasting, praying and thinking of her often during the three weeks that she was here. I was amazed at how diligently my own children were praying for their little cousin. I have been equally amazed to see how strong and faithful my sister and brother-in-law have been throughout this whole ordeal. This experience, though extremely painful, has brought so many blessings to me and my entire family. I truly feel that as a family, immediate and extended, our faith and love for one another has grown. Incredible isn't it, how much the important things matter and how insignificant the little things seem when we are really tested? I am so thankful that Kaylie came to be a part of our family! Though she is gone, she will be remembered in our hearts forever.

Primary Giggles

Primary really is the place to be on Sunday! For all of you who are elsewhere, you are really missing out! All of us adults were in stitches today due to our many "out of mouths of babes" moments! For instance, after the counselor who was conducting recited the fourth article of faith one of my dear little ones said, "Correct!" just like she was Alec Trebec on Jeopardy! A little later we were having sharing time on things the children could do to help out their families. One little boy was practicing cheerfully helping make dinner. After he was done a darling little girl piped up, "He did it wrong! He forgot to lick the spoon!" I'm sure it's not nearly as funny written on a blog as it was in real life, but hopefully it gives you a little bit of a smile and sunshine as it did me!

Happy Everything!

Well, as you all have probably noticed, I kind of fell off the blog bandwagon for a few months! It just kinda got crazy there for a little while! Of course, after it had been a couple of months, I put it off purposely because I just felt there was so much to cover that I would never catch up! This is kind of a bad cycle to get into, because it just keeps getting worse not better. However, I am not going to let the past hold me captive any longer! So here are some pictures of our all our holiday and winter-time fun! :0)

We really enjoyed seeing the beautiful lights and nativities at temple square this Christmas!

Lucy & Karalie trying out Grammy's "real" sled! They had a BLAST! (Aren't Grammies great?!)

Natalie cheesing it for her 6th birthday! We made a special "Lethal Peppermint Chocolate Cake" just for her and she just loved it (in fact we all did)!

Here's our little Camilla! She's growing so fast we can hardly believe it! She's already scooting around the house, thus earning the nickname of "Scooter Dooter" and "Hoover"!

And here's a last recent shot of our girls in their jammies! They are really into building forts and "camping out" lately!