Scaredy pants and Happy 39th Birthday Guy!

Trying to look happy at this age is hard:)
Doing what Grandma's do best, Grandma Debbie spoiling Bella with cake!
Dad celebrating 70 years with his brother, Happy day Uncle Terry!
And last but not least our little princess showing off her piano skills (can you say child genius:)

I hate when I go too long without posting; things get a bit overwhelming trying to catch up on all that has been going on. But here I am going to give it a go:) We will start picture #1 Guys birthday! What a great day. He had a few days off so we spent the long weekend going on bike rides and refinishing the swing set from Guy's childhood. Our bike ride started with Timothy teasing Bella in the bike trailer and Samuel crying that he was dying of thirst. I would have believed him but we hadn't even made it to the end of the block! I should have known if the trip starts with whining the trip will be filled with each child taking his or her turn to cry. Seriously the whole bike ride. I tried to make the most of it so I put in my headphones and cranked the Neil Diamond:) As I was trying to play catch up, peddling in my one gear that works, up a huge hill ;) I triumphantly make it to the top and start my descent only to find my brakes barely work. I immediately start yelling for the small children to get out of my way only to find Samuel swerving hogging up both lanes of the trail. I also find, after hitting Samuel's pedal with the trailer tire, that some idiot put a small dip at the bottom of the hill. Here I am going way over the speed limit allowed for bikes, especially ones with trailers attached, and am trying with all my might to slow down (I even tried putting a foot down and dragging it) nothing slows me down in time and I hit the dip just in time to look back and see the trailer take flight. Guy says it came at least a foot off the ground. I had just got the kids to stop crying only for them to start again upon landing. What a bike ride. On the ride home Guy hooked the trailer up to his bike (for safety purposes:)
Guy had a great birthday with the family. I am so thankful for him. I still can't believe he is almost 40! I love him so much!! I remember my Dad turning 40! Speaking of Dad, we were able to caravan with Dad and Debbie to my Uncle Terry's 70th birthday party. It was great to spend time with them and see some of my cousins and their families.
Now I am sure all of you know how I hate snakes, I dread them. I look forward to winter for the sole purpose of saying goooood bye to snake season. I thought it was already too cold for the stinkin things to be out, but last Thursday cousin Terrin made the worst mistake of his life......he let a snake go in my house! I should have known that trouble was brewing when Nikki and I were leaving to go to my first ever craft night at the church, and Mitchial and Terrin stopped us to surprise us with what they had in their pockets....snakes. I hollered at Mitchial and thought I scared Terrin enough he would never touch a snake again....but no!!! When I came home Mitch was still up and tried to hide and scare me but I saw him and foiled his plan. To get even he tells me "well if that didn't scare you I know what will" He then proceeds to tell me that Terrin came in to play and somehow his snake got out of his hoodie pocket. WHAT!!!! @#^$^&%&%&%^ I quickly look to Guy and see it in his eyes.....right away he starts telling me they have looked everywhere and think that maybe it might be outside. After I stop yelling I start to cry. I hate snakes that much. I had visions of stepping on a snake in the middle of the night or find one in my room. I prayed that night that I we would find it if it was in our house and prayed even more that it was not in our house. Well after 2 fearful days Mitchial yells to Guy that he found the dang thing curled up on his shoe by the front door. I don't know what is worse seeing the snake or wondering were it has been for 2 days. I am thankful that my prayer was answered, but it is going to be a long time before Terrin is welcome in my house:)

Happy 1st birthday Isabella!!

My first time holding her in the NICU!!
Forcing her to eat her cake!!
Daddy made the little "lady" birthday cake!!
Wow! It is hard to believe my baby girl is one!! Somedays I never thought it would come, now I have that post Christmas feeling, let down because my baby is no longer a baby.
She is truley the joy of our lives. I will never forget the day we found out IT'S A GIRL!! Guy and I both were crying and asking to please make sure it's really a girl. Our boys were so happy. I remember calling to tell my mom, talking all about the blessing dress we would get and so on. I also remember in the OR seeing my mom walk out after they took Bella to the NICU. Joy filled my heart knowing Grandma was seeing over my baby when I couldn't:) We are so thankful for this first year with Bella June bug and can't wait for the years to come! Love you Bella June!!

Summer fun!!

My Dad and his new wife, Debbie!
Fun at South Ogden water park!
Almost every night we have deer pass by our back yard!! This was on Sam's bday, he thought they came to say Happy birthday to him! Look how close they are to our back fence!
Cute Bella June bug!!
The neighborhood kids put on Phantom of the opera, singing, dancing and costumes! We even painted Mitchials face:) Very cute program they did all by themselves!

Back to school, back to fun, back to mischief!!

Dad let Bella play with mashed potato's!
Timothy and his preschool buddy Sarah!!
Mitchial 1st day of 3rd grade, Samuel 1st day of 1st grade!
Bella's favorite thing lately has been to eat the plant dirt!! Almost everyday I find her with a dirt ring around her cute little mouth! I feed her I promise!! I have noticed since she has started eating dirt her hair has grown longer.....mmmmmm makes you wonder what is really in the dirt:)

Important things for Important people!

Some days I search for meaning, meaning in the tasks I am doing, meaning in what I am teaching my children and some days just to find meaning in myself. I know this might seem silly to some, but some days I feel I am doing the same meaningless things over and over. I am thankful that I can stay home with my kids everyday but sometimes the outside world seems so "important" and interesting. So to lay my despairing thoughts aside I prayed to find "meaning" in my daily tasks. These are a few of the things I found important in my life.
I noticed how kind Timothy is when he first wakes up. I noticed that Samuel is defiantly a morning person and loves to be the first awake. He loves to be in control of the house that first 30 minutes he has all to himself. He is commander of the tv, has food all to himself, and is ruler over the toys!! That made me happy to see him so happy in the simple things.
I noticed that Mitchial is a young man when he goes to bed. He just seems so "big" on the top bunk. He can read books for hours and is so excited if you sit down and listen to his latest adventure. This is his alone time. I saw how kind he was when he called to Timothy to come lay in his bed if he was scared. All those times of teaching to love his brothers, he did it. I didn't even have to tell him to be nice, he did it all on his own.
I noticed that Timothy loves to hold hands to go to sleep. I know that seems like a simple thing, but it is heart warming when he asks "please hold my hand". If you think he has fallen asleep and try to move your hand... he will look up and find your hand again and hold it. So cute. I found I had many answered prayers and so much meaning in my day. So before I knelt down to say my bedtime prayers I thought I would go switch the laundry out really quick...this is what I found at the bottom of my washer.... a plastic snake, a gi joe guy, rocks, shells, a paper clip, I love Pedro wrist band, a lid to a marker,half of a used smoke bomb, water balloons, 2 nickles, a used Popsicle stick,3 beans from some tree, and a big mystery to where this was found, a used mary kay makeup container! Most days I would be annoyed or frustrated with myself for not searching pockets well, but today I found my kids treasures and found joy in the simplicity of their lives.
Ok, a little off the subject but we have had a ant problem for the past couple weeks. Guy put bug killer outside the back door and along the side of the house where they seemed to be coming in from. For days I kept checking and found bits of food, it all came together when I caught Timothy feeding the ants...right by the traps(notice the animal cracker) And all along I thought we just had trouble some ants....not a ant feeder!!

Happy 6th Samuel!!

Samuel was our third boy and by far our biggest baby coming in at a whopping 8lbs. From day one he has been our baby pterodactyl, screaching when he is hungry(and he is ALWAYS hungry). We are so thankful to have our Samuel in our family. He a source of strength and already has a testimony of what is right and wrong. Samuel is our best listener and usually is the first to do what is asked. He loves to wear jammies and would all day if I let him! He is Bella's babysitter and once asked if he could marry her because he loves her so much! Oh the innocence of a child. Thanks Samuel for coming to our family...We love you soooo much!
(his toothless smile)

Stones Indian Warriors!

Now don't get me wrong, they are cute, but when you see them one minute with shirts on and clean faces, the warriors are a little alarming. Our great new neighbors "the girls" decided to paint the boys. What is funny, and a little sad, they didn't put on sunscreen so see the pink shoulders? Everywhere there wasn't paint; there was sunburn! In the tub as we were scrubbing black ears, eyes and belly buttons we were surprised to see white skin everywhere the paint was. Mitchial got the worse of it and has regretted not using sunscreen!! The thing I keep thinking is ....we still have over a month of summer left! Uuuugggghhhhh! Do I dare ask what's next?