Things I Love

i love READING... I love to read. I love to read classic novels, historical novels, fantasy, and romance. I started reading the one everyone is talking about and can't decide if I should finish it. It's pretty....I can't think of a word!

i love BUTTERCREAM FROSTING....I can buy a cake and scrape all of the frosting off and eat it all without even thinking two thoughts about it!

i love NAPS...Everyday when my kids lie down for naps, I do to. I don't know how my day would go without my naps!

i love RAIN...I love rain storms in the Summer. Even better when it is accompanied by thunder and lightening.

i love CLOTHES...I love to shop. Whether it is for clothes for my kids or myself, I love buying clothes. And I always get a Post Shopping High!

i love PRETTY THINGS...I love to have things around my house that are pretty and dainty. I love reading Better Homes and Gardens to get ideas to decorate my house with pretty things.

i love HUNTING...I may love pretty things and I may be prissy, but I love to go hunting. My dad took me with him when I was very little, and then I married a very avid hunter. I love being in the mountains and glassing for deer and all that fun stuff.

i love BIKE RIDES...I love to go on bike rides on a summer night with my family. I got a very cute pink beach cruiser for my birthday a few years ago and I love it. I like to ride it to work sometimes too!

i love COOKING...I love to try new recipes and the look on my family's face when it's a good one! It feels so good to sit down together as a family and talk about things going on in our lives!

i love FAMILY....Family is very important to me, all of our family is very close and we see them on a regular basis. I love family parties and BBQs and just the fact that if I ever need ANYTHING, I have so many people I can call that will drop what they are doing and be there in five minutes. I love my own little family and our evenings together, eating dinner, going on bike rides or just hanging out watching TV. I can't imagine a life with no family to turn too. At the end of the day they are all you have, so grab your family and hold them close!

Nationals at Lagoon!

On Saturday we got to go to Lagoon for Lexi to compete in the America On Stage National Dance Competition. It was so much fun. I always love watching her dance because she really gets into it! Besides the fact that we had to be there at 7:30 a.m. which means that we had to leave at 6:30 a.m. which means that we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to get ourselves and three children ready, it was so fun! Lexi's team took 2nd place, they did so well and all of them looked like they were having so much fun.

After dancing we decided to ride the rides! This is the first year that we have been since Lexi is tall enough to ride most everything. She was very disappointed when she found out that she wasn't tall enough to ride the rocket. I swear she is a daredevil and has no fear. She even rode the Sky Coaster. Yes, that is the one where you get in a suit and get hooked to a cord that lifts you 150 up and then drops you! What a kid!

And this is the infamous Max. His sister dances and we saw their family right at first. The whole day Lexi kept saying " I need to find Max so we can go on a ride together." Well we finally found them, and this is the ride they chose. it was so cute. After they were done riding Max said to Lexi  "Thanks for riding with me Lexi." So sweet! They are good friends!

From dancer to daredevil! There were several parents watching when Lexi went and they all asked me how I talked her into going. The truth is...I tried to talk her out of it!

We had so much fun. It is always fun to go and do something exciting as a family, but after a long day at Lagoon, we were sure glad to come home and go to bed! I joked with Cameron about how when we used to go before we had kids, we would go ride everything. This time I only rode to rides because I spent most of my time on the kids rides. But it was so worth it to see the look on the kids faces!!

Month 4

Dear Hudson,

I absolutely cannot believe you have been here for 4 months. It seems like just yesterday you surprised us by coming a week early. And mommy is such a planner, you kind of threw me for a loop! 

You weigh 13 pounds 10 ounces which puts you in the 23rd percentile, and you are 25 1/2 inches long which puts you in the 71st percentile. Dr. Tayler thinks you are going to be tall and skinny. 

You have started to giggle and laugh and pull funny faces. You like to "talk" and make noises to hear yourself. It seems like every time I look at you, you have your fist in your mouth! You have started to scoot on your back by planting your feet and pushing. You can actually get around a little bit! When laid on your belly you will almost roll to your back, but then you get frustrated and start to scream! 

You have been so fun to have in our family. Your big sisters adore you so much and they love to play with you. You are a good baby and sleep through the night for the most part. On a normal day when your sisters are at school one would find you and mommy sitting on the couch cuddling. I have spoiled you!

We love having you here and the sweet spirit you bring to our home.

Love ya,

Mom

Mother's

I heard a saying once and I can't remember who said it, but here it is...

"A Mother is the one who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take."

As Mother's Day approaches, I have been thinking a lot about obviously me being a mom, and my kids, and how great of a blessing it is to be a mom. But I have also been thinking that I wouldn't be a good mom if it weren't for the moms around me in my life who are such a good example to me. 

I am very blessed to still have a Great Grandma alive. Which means that my kids have a Great-Great Grandma. Which also means that we have five generations. So I am lucky to be able to learn how to be a good mom from generations of mothers.

My Great Grandma, Normalind, (who I have no pictures on my computer of) is 84 years old. She is the mother of 4 children. One girl and three boys. I have been so blessed to see the example of a Mother and a Grandmother she is. She raised all of her kids to be hard workers, good examples, and people with integrity. And has passed that down to the next four generations.

This is my Grandma Bonnie. She is 63 years old. She is the mother of 5 children. Two girls and three boys, including  a set of twins! Yikes! She has been such an example to me of not only how to be a good mom to my kids, but to be a good person in general. A good friend, sister, daughter and worker. All of my Grandma's kids are so close to her. On any given day I bet she sees all of her kids (except my Mom who lives in Montana) at least once, maybe sometimes two or three times. There is always family at her house, it is just so comfortable it is like the meeting place for the family. She has taught me so much and I feel very close to her because we are a lot alike and have a lot of the same interests. What a good Grandma to have!

This is my Mom. She is 44 and the mother of four girls! She has been such a good example to me and taught me to be a good person. I never really knew how much I needed my mom til she moved. Like I would call her for the dumbest things when I first got married and ask her the silliest questions. Strangely enough, since she moved to Montana, we have had such good conversations. We will talk for hours on the phone about things we probably wouldn't if we were face to face. So needless to say, it's been hard having her gone, but I feel like our relationship has grown a lot. My mom always took us to do such fun things when I was little. I don't remember a summer that we didn't go to Lagoon or 7 Peaks or Fun Dome and lots more. One summer we got Season Passes to 7 Peaks and went twice a week! It was so much fun, she always made sure we had something to do! My mom has been such a good example to me and I have learned so much from her. She has always been there for me even when I put her through Hell as a teenager. She is such a good Grandma to my kids and makes sure to call them a couple times a week and is always sending them mail, which makes them feel so special. She is awesome!

And lastly, my feelings as a mom. Sometimes motherhood doesn't feel real to me. I am not exaggerating when I say that at least once a week I find myself crying just sitting and watching my kids. Whether they are sleeping or playing, or even being naughty. I can't even explain the joy that comes with being a mom. I wake up and my kids need me and throughout the whole day and even sometimes in the night they need me too! It's so crazy when you become a mom, you are so overwhelmed by everything, and really there isn't a manual on motherhood, you just have to go with the flow. And I have had to learn that things don't always go as planned. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father has trusted me with such sweet little spirits, and I strive everyday to teach them to be good people and make good choices. I hope my children know how much I love them and that they are my world. I really can't imagine life without them. 

Parenthood

It is 10:30 on Friday night and I am sitting in my bed and the only thing I can hear is my typing. Cameron is at work and my three beautiful children are sound asleep in their beds. The tv is turned off and I just had a shower and feel like I can breath...

For some reason no one ever told me parenthood would be this hard. I feel like I have been hit by a freight train! I don't know if it is adjusting to life with three, or that my older ones have so many activities/appointments or what, but it seems like it is 10:30 or later every night before I get a chance to sit and have time to myself. 

Someone asked me last week..." Why are you so busy?" I replied "Well, this week Lexi has dance on Monday, Soccer game on Tuesday, Soccer practice on Wednesday, Tumbling on Thursday, and homework. And Quinn has Occupational Therapy at Shriner's on Tuesday, a Neurology appointment on Tuesday, and dance on Thursday. And Hudson, well he just is busy everyday, because let's face it, he requires a lot of attention." 

So needless to say I have been feeling a little overwhelmed! I became a mom when I was 18 years old. When you are that young it could go either way, you can grow up and be a good mom and be responsible, or you can have a pity party and not take care of your kids and let your parents raise them. Regardless of the busy weeks and days we have, I am so grateful that I chose to be a good mom. Even though I yell and scream sometimes and lose my patients, I am still a good mom. Even though I am sitting here wondering what the hell I am gonna do with 3 kids, I am a good mom. And I am so grateful to be a parent because if I weren't, I would miss out on moments like these....

Strangers

Last night at work we were very busy...like probably a 30-45 minute wait busy. We were all running like crazy and there were lots of people sitting at the door waiting. So apparently...in order to get seated faster, two couples decided to join together and eat. I thought it was so cool that four people who had never met before sat and had dinner. And they didn't rush through it either, after they were finished eating they stayed for a long time visiting. How cool is that? I really think that I would enjoy doing something like that but I am not sure Cameron would. Who knows? Maybe that was the start of a new friendship. So I told myself that I want to be more like that and that I am going to start more conversations with strangers. (Cameron ought to love that seeing as how he says I can't go to the grocery store without talking to everyone I know, turning a five minute shopping trip into a 45 minute one.) 

Have ya missed us?

Lexi

Lexi started 1st grade in August. She is so very smart and in the 3rd and 4th term has not missed one spelling word! She loves to read and loves doing homework...I hope that continues! She is on a company dance team at Dance Central and we have been to a few competitions this spring. We even traveled to St. George to watch her dance. And at every competition so far, her team has won 1st place! She is playing spring soccer and is so excited that she is just on a team with girls now and says that it is so much more fun with out the boys. Not to say that we haven't had a lot of boyfriend drama a lot this year. She had a boyfriend at the beginning of the school year but about a month into it she told me she had to break up with him....here's how the conversation went...

Lexi: "Well I guess I have to break up with Max. But I am a little scared to break up with him because last time I did he squeezed my neck."

Me: " That's not good, but why do you have to break up with him now?"

Lexi: " He told me that he is going to teach dogs how to poop on the toilet and play X-BOX all day, and I just don't want to live like that."

So I am totally prepared to have more of this drama, especially when she's a teenager! Lexi is such a good kid and has a big kind heart. She is the best sister to Quinn and Hudson and always makes sure Quinn is taken care of. She is a big help around the house and is always trying to find things to do to earn money! She will be 7 in June and I can't believe where the time has gone!

Quinn

Wow! What to say about Quinn....in the last nine months she has made so much progress with all of her therapy. She started attending preschool in November and absolutely loves it. She is such a social butterfly and it doesn't matter where we are she makes a friend. She speaks in a cute little accent, which I have no idea where she got it because it's not a hick accent it's more like from New Jersey. Quinn is such a sweet spirit and always reminds me how lucky I am. We travel to Shriner's Hospital every week to have therapy and she loves the people there. They are so nice and helpful and truly care about Quinn. She is a little spit fire and has said some pretty funny stuff at school ranging from " Justin Beiber's a punk!" to " I'm sixty and I know it!" (Instead of "I'm sexy and I know it) to this.... I just have to spell it out because it is too funny!

While playing in the sand box at school, trying to get a horse unstuck...as her little glasses slide to the tip of her nose and she looks over them at the stuck horse and says....

"Come on you bitch"

Like I said, I don't know what I am going to do with her! But she is so fun to have in our family and loves everyone! 

Hudson

Hudson was born on January 13th. Did I mention that was a Friday? Yes...Friday the 13th! I had my C-Section scheduled for January 20th but apparently he had other plans. All day I was having pains and just feeling pretty crappy. But Cameron and I were cleaning the house and getting ready for the little man and for my mom to come stay with us. So I just put it in the back of my mind. We were at Wal-Mart and I had a really bad contraction and tried to hide it from Cameron because he wanted me to go to the hospital, but I just kept telling him I couldn't have a baby that day because it was Friday the 13th. So, I went to work that night and the pain got worse and worse, so I ended up going to the hospital. My contractions were 2 minutes apart at that point and I had a C-Section a couple hours later. He was 7 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long. He is such a fun baby and the girls just adore him! I feel like I have taken a lot more time to enjoy him than I did my girls because I am not so focused on doing everything by the book. There are some days where I just sit and hold him all day long! He is 3 months old now and can hold his head up and has started to laugh and smile at us. We don't know what we would do without him!

As for Cameron and I, we are doing great. I tell him all the time that I just can't believe how lucky I am to have such a good husband and wonderful kids. Sometimes my life doesn't seem real. We try to go on date night once a month and just enjoy each other a little bit. Having three kids has definitely been busy so it's nice for the two of us to get away for a couple hours. Cameron is still working for the Jordanelle Special Service District and I am back at Claimjumper. And on a normal night you can find us running kids to dance or tumbling or soccer or Dr. appointments or therapy and finally winding down to watch a little Vampire Diaries at about 11 at night. But it's so worth it!