FaMiLy PiCtUrEs

My birthday was on September 5, And the best birthday present I could ever get, is pictures of my darling little family. Our cousin Glenn, who is an amazing photographer, did them for us. I love how they turned out. Also, James and I did the editing on them, so we got to make them look the way we wanted, which was fun.

Every time I look at pictures of my family, I feel more and more blessed. I am such a lucky girl to have a wonderful husband who loves me for me and four amazing children. Life really is so great. And I need to remember that. Some days can be so challenging for me as a mother with a disability. I can be so hard on myself and I let things get to me too easily that really don't matter that much. I am constantly worrying about what others think, and I need to STOP it. I am loved by who matter the most to me in my life and that is what's so important. I feel so honored to be a mother, even though it's challenging at times, and I would love to have more!

James and I have actually been trying for awhile now. It's starting to get hard again. I know I have been blessed with four children, but we feel like there are more to come. And for some reason it takes a long time for me to get pregnant. Right now, I am dealing with a golf ball sized cyst on my right ovary, which hasn't been very fun. It's been pretty painful. And my endometriosis is getting bad again, unfortunately. But, I know that Our Heavenly Father is in charge and I have faith that things will work out when it's the right time.

So, when I get down about things, I just look at pictures of my sweet family. Then all my worries just seem to fade away. I love them so much and I KNOW they love me too.

Back to ScHoOL & AnnA

I can't believe the kids are already back in school. And, they're in school ALL day long. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. Part of me thinks how nice it is to be able to spend more quality time with Anna and do more things that I like and part of me really misses having my children home. They're my little buddies! So, as soon as they come home from school, I'm all theirs. We have a snack and do our 20 minutes of reading and whatever homework they may have and then we just play! And I really LOVE taking and picking up my kids from school. It makes me happy to do that, especially when I pick them up and they have the biggest smiles on their faces when they see me. That melts my heart! They mean the world to me.


So, this is the kids on their first day of school. They actually started last week, but I'm a slacker at blogging. Anyways, they were so excited and Anna of course had to be in the picture. We didn't want to leave her out!

Chase, our BIG 2nd grader!

Tyler, Our SWEET boy who's in 1st grade!

Gracie, Our little DIVA who's in 1st grade!

Ty and Gracie have different teachers this year and I think it will be good for them to have a little separation from each other and have their own friends.

My SwEeT ANNA!
I took these pictures of her with my phone, so they're not the best quality, but they're still cute of her! I am so grateful to have her in my life, especially since the kids are gone all day. She makes me so happy and I think I'd have a much harder time during the day if she wasn't here to keep me company.

Hmm...

Mom, can we please be done taking pictures?

I'll be good. I promise!!

OK, one more smile!

Uh, okay mom. Really, can I just go play?!!

Oooh, I just LOVE her!!!

July 29, 2011

I heard about this fun park on Studio 5. It's called the Spider-Man Park and when I told my kids about it, of course they wanted to go. So we decided to go there and see what it was all about and I'm SO glad we did. It ended up being at Oquirrh Lake and it is beautiful. And we got to drive right by the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It has the most breath-taking view. It was such a fun day. We picked up some yummy food from Smashburger and had a little picnic. Then, off the kids went. They loved pretending to be Spider-Man, even Gracie. (oh, and James!) We didn't know it was at a lake so we didn't bring our swimsuits, but that didn't stop us from getting in. We had so much fun and I highly recommend going there. And, I'm pretty sure that the kids loved the lake more than park!!

James took this amazing picture of the temple. I LOVE how it turned out. I would love to have a wall in my home covered with temple pictures that James takes! He's awesome!

Oh I really don't want summer to end!!!

WhAt We'Ve BeEn Up To!!

This summer has been crazy busy for us. It seems like we're gone every weekend. But, I love it. Here's just a FEW things that we've been up to so far this summer. Mostly in pictures.

GirLs JuSt WaNt To HavE FuN!
I just have to say, I LOVE having daughters, especially because I know that they are going to be such great friends when they're older. I cherish mine and my sister's relationship and I only hope that my girls will be as close as me and my sweet sister are. My girls are little miracles to me and I feel so blessed that I have been able to become pregnant. I never thought that that dream of mine would ever come true. Hopefully, there will be more to come! We'll see!!

A PiCnIc aT tHe ParK!
This was at the end of June when I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the park and have a little picnic with them. It was so fun and I need to do it more often. To be honest, I rarely go anywhere with the kids alone because it can be a little overwhelming for me, but I do my best. When I look at pictures of my children, I still can't believe that I have four kids! I feel extremely blessed to be a mother.

HaVin' Fun In ThE SuN!!

Here is what you will find my children doing pretty much every day. This is at our neighbors house and they are the best neighbors I think anyone can have. They are so generous and are always lending a helping hand when needed. They are true examples of how to serve others and I am learning from them how to be better at that.

FatHeR'S DaY!

I know, I am WAY late to be posting about Father's Day, but it's all good. I just have to say that I am so blessed to be married to such a loving, hardworking, funny, sweet, crazy, silly, caring, man. He is my best friend and he truly is the best father for our children that I could ever ask for. Our children just adore James so much and I know that they look up to him and want to make him proud of them. James is an incredible man and I admire him so much. He is always putting us first and he always wants to make us happy. He works so hard so that we may have not only nice things, but simply the things that we need. I am so proud to be his wife, or as he would say it, "his woman"!! He truly does make me so happy!

My BoYs!
Chase and Tyler are the most sweetest boys ever and I am so blessed to be their mommy. They came to us in a time when James and I felt so lost and hopeless. They saved us. I am so grateful for adoption. It has truly been such a blessing. When I was a little girl, I would watch commercials about children in other countries that were poor and needed parents and I always wished that I could just go over there and take home as many children that I could to give them a better life. Not knowing that years later, I would have the blessing of taking in two adorable little boys that needed a mom and a dad to raise in righteousness. To think of where they could be at right now just breaks my heart. I know they were meant to be our children. Because they are in our family, they have the gospel, they are sealed to James and I for eternity, they will have the knowledge they need to serve a mission and they will be able to marry in the temple. What a blessing for them that they wouldn't other wise have. And I am so grateful that they have each other. They're best buds and I love it.

HaPpY 6th BiRthDaY, GraCie GirL!!!
July 1st, our sweet daughter turned six. Wow. I can't believe it. She is growing up way too fast. She acts like she's a teenager already, which is scary. Can you say DRAMA QUEEN???
She really is a sweet heart and we love her so much. The night she was born, we lived in Logan and they were doing the USU fireworks, and now she thinks it's cool cause we do fireworks for her birthday.
This cute picture was taken at Willow Park in Logan, the night of the USU fireworks. We went up there with my in-laws for a picnic and then went to see the fireworks. And Diamond Rio was there too, which was way cool. They're a great band and it was such a fun night.

FoUrTh of JuLy!!
This year for the Fourth, we had James' brother and his wife and kids over for a little cook-out. Don't you love our grill? Next year, my plans for our patio are to have a nice outdoor living room set and a nice size table and chairs, and a new, bigger grill for family gatherings! One thing at a time, right!
Here's the twins doing their thing!

I LOVE these pictures of Anna with her cousin Grey. I turned the camera around so they could see themselves as I took their pictures. They thought it was so funny!

ThE MovIeS!!
This past weekend we took the kids to see Cars 2 at The Gateway. They loved it. It's so fun that they're getting old enough to take them to the movies and they actually sit still. Anna was a little tricky! We were going to let the kids run through the fountains there, but a big storm came so we had to leave. We still had a great time together. I love being with my family. Hmm, what to plan next???