Family Parties and visits

This weekend I have had a blast. To start off, we had Jonathan's cousin Tyler, his girlfriend Emily and our sister in law Amy over for banana splits and a game of Apples to Apples. Tyler is visiting from BYU Idaho. It was lots of fun and we are glad they decided to come and hang out with us old married people.

On Saturday we went to my cousin Amy's house for her son Stockton's baptism and a barbecue. It was so much fun. Lots of my extended family was there.

My in-laws also made a last minute trip up to visit with us. They brought 2 bags of their green chilis from their garden and a bag of fresh tomatoes.YUM!!! We than roasted the chilis and put them in my freezer. I now will have some to last me all winter. It is such a treat to have them come up. We don't get to see them as much as we would like though.

My brother Jared came up from Vegas on Friday. So, we were also able to spend this whole weekend with him. I don't get to see him very often. So, it was an amazing treat to be able to spend time with him.

On Sunday we celebrated my nephew Aaron's 18th birthday with a big barbecue at my sister Monica's house. All my siblings were there. It has been almost 4 years since we have all been together. I enjoyed my weekend immensely. I love my family so much, both sides.
PHEW!! It was such a busy weekend. I am blessed to be part of one of the most amazing families. Sad to see that it is over..

Cub Soccer

In Springville they have a thing called Cub Soccer. It is the beginning league for 4 and 5 year olds. Today was Haylee's first game. It was so much fun to watch.. They only had 3 players from each team on the field at once and they played on a field that was only 30 yards long and 20 yards wide. The kids didn't care who won.. They just wanted to play and have their treat. Haylee absolutely loved it.


Haylee is in the line-up to kick the ball. Well, I guess they all are, considering there are only 3 players on each team.


Go get the ball Haylee!!!
She is taking a break and getting a drink.


She was in charge of the treats for her first game. She picked fruit roll-ups and Caprisuns.

Buckin Bronco

Since Aubrey and Devin were little, Jonathan has been their buckin Bronco. Every night after prayers, he would get down on all fours and act like he is a buckin Bronco and try to knock the kids off of his back. Aubrey and Devin are both to big for it but Jerin and Haylee still love it....

He is a great dad and a Buckin Bronco too!! 

Good Bye Buddy!!!

Last night as I was helping Jerin say his prayers, I looked in on his Russian dwarf gerbil, Buddy. I usually look in on him nightly because he liked to come up to the opening of the cage so that we can pet him. He was a very friendly gerbil. Well, after 2 long years of living in Jerin's room, he died.... We think of dehydration as his water bottle was empty. Jerin is having a hard time with it.. When he woke up this morning he asked if we put some water in his mouth if he would come alive again? He also wanted to know why we have animals if they only stay in cages and than die?

Jerin said he is done having animals.. I guess we will see.

So, we are putting him in a fruit roll-up box and burying him in the backyard.

So long Buddy!!

The Choice

As all the kids around us are getting ready to start school tomorrow, mine will not be. This year through much thought and prayer by both Jonathan and I, we have decided to pull our children out of government schools. I will be homeschooling Jerin and Haylee.  Aubrey and Devin will go to an LDS based private school. There were many reasons why we made this decision but, the biggest one that stood out the most for us was that I wanted the gospel of Jesus Christ to be taught in their school subjects. For me, this is an important factor in their learning. I know this choice is not right for everyone, but it is right for our family. I am very excited and nervous to be making such a big transition. So many exciting things have presented themselves to us lately that I feel and know that the Lords hand is a part of. This is one of those things. 

10 ways to love yourself

"The Power is Within You" is one of the books that I am now reading. I came across a chapter that is entitled "How to Love Yourself" I wanted to share something from this chapter that I thought was very right for me. She gives 10 ways to love yourself.

1. Probably the most important key is to stop criticizing yourself. If we tell ourselves that we are okay, no matter what is going on, we can make changes to our lives easily. It is when we make ourselves bad that we have great difficulty. We all change, everyone. Every day is a new day, and we do things a little differently than we did the day before. Our ability to adapt and flow with the process of life is our power.

Those who have come from dysfunctional homes often have become super-responsible and have gotten in the habit of judging themselves unmercifully. They have grown up amidst tension and anxiety. The message they get as children is: "There must be something wrong with me." THink for a moment at the words you use when scolding yourself. Some of the phrases that people tell me are: stupid, bad, useless, careless, dumb, ugly, worthless, sloppy, dirty, fat, etcetra. Are these the same words that you use when describing yourself?

There is a tremendous need to build self-worth and value in ourselves, because when we feel not good enough, we find ways to keep ourselves miserable. We create illness or pain in our bodies; we procrastinate about things that would benefit us; we mistreat our bodies with food, alcohol or drugs.

We are all insecure in some ways because we are human. Let us learn not to pretend that we are perfect. Having to be perfect only puts immense pressure on ourselves and it prevents us from looking at areas in our lives that need healing. Instead, we could discover our creative distinctions, our individualities, and appreciate ourselves for the qualities that set us apart from others. Each one of us has a unique roll to play on this earth, and when we are critical of ourselves, we obscure it.

3 in the double digits

Today is Jerin's 10th birthday. My third child has reached the double digits. Jerin is my child that always has a smile on his face. He cracks jokes constantly, has a very curious mind and a great imagination. When he was about 3, he had an imaginary friend that he named Canderlion who lived in the mountains. He stayed with Jerin for about a year. When we moved away from Logan his friend stayed there. He loves to read and learn and I am so thankful that the Lord has given me stewardship over such an amazing child.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERIN!!!

Thoughts on my brother

So today has been a strange day. I have felt sadness most of the day, wanting to be by myself.. Trying to understand why I still feel this way. It has been 5 years tomorrow since the passing of Joel. It is sort of strange because this is the first year that his anniversary actually falls on the same day of the week that he passed. So, I have been thinking about his amazing life not his death. I miss him terribly. I remember we were together the night of Saturday the 9th in 2003, exactly 5 years from this day. Jonathan, myself, Kristy and Joel were helping Lindsey and Keith move into their new apartment in Salt Lake. We spent the whole evening together having fun laughing. Joel would carry 3 boxes on top of each other down the ramp of the Uhaul. I remember cautioning him to be careful... It was such a great memory. He was always the practical joker, willing to help someone in need, the person that would pick up the hitchhikers and take them as far as he could or help someone fix their car. He lived everyday in the NOW.  I love him so much. He is as always an example of how I want to live my life, in the now. To be glad for today..... I celebrate his wonderful life because it was that.. 

If you have a memory of Joel, please share it here...

Really, that long?

Has it really been two weeks since I last published something? I think that is the longest I have ever gone. I have been very busy these last few weeks.

Last weekend Monica and I headed down to New Mexico by ourselves. I left all the kids at home with Jonathan and took the trip with just my sister. It was such a blast and that was the first time that I left all the kids with Jonathan by himself for an extended period of time. He did alright... I think he really learned to appreciate all the things that I do and asked me to never leave him alone again. I guess he missed me.


When I got back, my newest book Breaking Dawn was waiting for me. I had preordered it in June and was very excited to get home and read it. So, all my free time has been spent reading that book. It was crazy good and I have sort of a lost feeling now that it is over.... Hmm. I guess I really got into reading it, so much so that today when I was mowing the lawn I was stung by a wasp and thought to myself "if I had vampire skin that wouldn't even of hurt me." HA HA!!!