The Latest...{but not so much the greatest}

Like most of you, this is what we woke up to this morning. {Groan} I'm sure we're all very grateful for the moisture, but can't it at least stay in the mountains? According to the forecast, it isn't the last storm either.

Lately Haley has me put one of the many Home Depot aprons we have on her. She'll wear it for hours. So if you see her in public wearing one, you'll know I couldn't pry it off of her.

A little dirt never hurt anyone, did it? How about a few mouthfuls? Yum!

Don't ask because I have no explanation. I went to check on Kaden last night and I found him with his underwear on his head..... It was clean. {Thank goodness!}

Fashion Police

"How do you like my outfit?"

"Say you like it or I'll make you like it!"

"I knew you'd say you liked it!"

Okay, so maybe that's not exactly the conversation she was having with her doll. I really don't know what they were talking about, but I do know that her outfit is awesome!!

One Year Ago

One year ago today my sweet nephew Samuel passed away. It's hard to believe it's already been a year, but at the same time it feels like forever. I would like Roy, Laura, Elisabeth and Rebekah to know how much I love them and continue to pray for them. I know today isn't an easy day for them and for the rest of my family. We miss Sammy so much. Our hearts still ache, but we keep moving forward. I got out my journal, just curious to see what I wrote about this experience. I'll share a little bit of it here....

"This whole experience has made me really search my soul and find out what I really know and have faith in. I have found that without a doubt I know our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ live and know and love each one of us. They have a plan and we need to do our part so we can obtain all the blessings they are so eager to give us. I know I will see Samuel again and that he will be Laura's and Roy's son forever..... I cried a lot (referring to the funeral), but also felt peace and the Holy Ghost comforting me. No one, especially Laura and Roy wanted or would choose for things to be this way, but we all know it was our Heavenly Father's will and accepting it only helps the healing and moving forward. If we don't move forward we risk losing everything forever instead of something for a short while."

I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who knows each of us better than we know ourselves. The trials and adversity we endure in this life, though hard and painful, can become our greatest blessings. They can shape and mold us into something great if we let them.

Little Hoopsters

It's really funny to watch all these boys try to handle a basketball. Some are better than others, but they all are pretty clueless. Kaden is improving, but I think a lot of it goes in one ear and out the other. That's okay, though. He says it's fun and that's all that really matters.

LEGOS

Kaden is a pretty clever boy and I thought it was awesome when he showed me what he had made with his Legos....

Then I saw this....

He did a great job. I just laugh at myself for feeling so proud of his creativity, but hey, at least I know he can follow directions!

Piggies

Haley's first little piggy tails. Awww.... I just love them! They are far from perfect, but what do you expect when I take the picture at the end of the day? In all reality they probably look about the same as they did in the morning! She would not hold still and absolutely hated me putting the elastics in. {I think she's trying to get everyone to feel sorry for her in the pictures.} Now every time I get the comb out she says, "Ow" even before I touch her. So to avoid any unnecessary trauma I don't put them in very often, but when I do I can't help but smile a teeny bit more.

Our Saturday

So here's the finished garage addition. (Don't pay attention to the ugly garbage cans.... I was too lazy to move them out of the picture! Oh, and now I'm noticing how filthy the cement is. Yikes... just look away.) I know none of you really care about our garage, but I never posted an "after" photo. Moving on.....

Since the addition messed up our landscaping in that area we needed to fill in with some dirt. Lucky for us we know a guy (a brother named Scott, to be exact) who has a skid steer and a mound of dirt on some property near our house. And as luck would have it again, the machine even fit through the gate opening with merely a couple inches to spare, if even that! There are no holes or gashes in our stucco so I'd say Nate did pretty well for an amateur. We also had to make a small "ramp" up to the back of the garage since the grade there was about 8 inches or so higher. (We'll see how well it works with the mower in a couple weeks.) We also decided since we were hauling in dirt we would bring in some extra to fix our tramp hole. It was dug WAY too deep in the first place and our tramp has been up on blocks to get it to the right height for 5 years. The tramp itself is missing springs and starting to rip so we'll get that fixed so we don't lose any kids to depths of despair below. (Note: I use the word "we" a lot. I helped, but Nate deserves all the credit.)


Now for the good part..... Nate and I were in the house meeting with a lady and Tye came walking in. He had his shoes and socks on and that's it! He was holding his underwear, shirt and pants. I asked him why he was naked and he said, "Adrie's mom said I can't play over there if I don't have clothes on." You think? I guess his little friend had her swimming suit on and he wanted to swim with her, but didn't want to get his clothes wet so he stripped down. Her mom told him he needed to get his clothes back on so he put his shoes and socks on thinking that would be good enough. I guess he thought having wet shoes and socks is better than wet clothes. I put his swimming suit on him and let him go swim. Crazy kids! It wasn't even that warm.

Leprechaun, Leprechaun Where Have You Gone?

I colored our milk green this morning and made sure my kids wore at least a green shirt, but am I really suppose to put on a big show for St. Patty's Day? Aren't Santa, the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny enough?? Apparently not.....

Kaden came straight home from school looking all through the house for leprechaun foot prints and gold coins! A friend at school told him all about the leprechaun who came to his house and left just that. I felt so bad knowing he wouldn't find a darn thing. I just told him I didn't think leprechauns came to everyone's house. He didn't seem too upset about it and went to play with friends. I thought I was out of the woods until I tucked him in tonight and he said, "Mom, leprechauns can come on any day, not just St. Patrick's Day." Goodness! What am I to do? Let it pass or give in to his deep desire to have a leprechaun visit in the night?

Dinner Guests

Are we really old enough to have the missionaries over for dinner? Isn't that something our parents do? Not us.

Well, apparently we fit into that catagory now. We had two elders eat with us this evening and it was fun to have them. (They didn't fake any seizures so I think things went well!!) The kids especially enjoyed having new people to show off to. Maybe a little too much... time outs were threatened about every couple minutes, I swear. Rachel, Kaden, Tye and Haley all took a liking to the elder from Quebec. He was happy to play with and entertain them while he waited for a young man to show up who he was supposed to go teach a lesson with. The other elder had already left with another soon-to-be missionary. They were really excited they had 6 lessons scheduled to teach tonight and needed to split up. (I don't know if they still call them "splits" or whatever anymore, so if you couldn't tell, I avoided using that word all together. I'm clueless when it comes to missionary lingo...) Anyway-- They declined dessert. One didn't want to gain the infamous "40 pounds" the average elder gains and the other doesn't like eating a lot of sugar... it makes him tired. It's a good thing I didn't put any effort into it. Ice cream sandwiches were all I offered. That just means more for ME! It was a fun experience and who knows when we'll get the opportunity again. Around here it may take 20 years!