Lego & Running

I have a lot to catch the blog up on. So here is the first part. In April Jax had his Lego Derby for scouts. I guess they don't do a Pinewood or boat derby. They build their own Lego mobiles and race them time and time again. No official winners, no losers. And all the little siblings were able to build and race too. It was a fun fun time for my 4 boys. It was a perfect time for them. Not bad.

 

End of the school year means activity after activity. Creed's kindergarten had their Fun Run race. And at the end of the month this last week I volunteered at Jax's schools Fun Run. He came in 5th place for the 2nd graders. I was very proud of him.

Baball

Rafe calls it baball. The older two boys played some basketball this spring. They enjoyed it. Jax was pleased whenever he made a basket, ok he was ecstatic. Creed was great at running down the court and keeping his hands up to block the other team.

Bodie and Rafe loved going and watching. And I am so so glad they were on the same team. It makes life so much easier. Even if you have to say Creed is a little older than he is. (wink wink)

 

I did a blurry capture of Jax shooting and making a basket. And they love their medals they got.

 

Here is the stud Creed. He was fun to watch and cheer on.

 

 

Here's another blurry one of both boys in one shot and then the team photo. Jax and the coaches daughter seemed to have crushes on each other. He had to stand by her in the picture.

 

 

And Greg turned another year older. We went out to dinner and went shopping together without the kids, that is always a welcome experience. Relaxed and played on his b-day, went to my parents house for Mother's Day and b-day celebrations on Saturday, then on Sunday, down to Greg's parents in Alpine to celebrate both days with them.

Mother Dear

On this Mother's Day I wanted to share my thoughts about my mom.

She is amazing. There is nothing she can't do. As more time passes I can see as a mother myself now just how good she was and is.

 

This picture of my parents was taken almost 10 years ago. Don't they look good?!

 

 

A few memories I have of my mother are... when I was little I remember her always reading a book or sitting and doing some amazing cross-stitching or something. Or eating some yummy cinnamon rolls or cookies that she would make. Music was always a big part of our house, she would always have records, tapes, or CD's playing. She used to cut and do all of our hair. When I got older with my dad always out of town for work, she would have to take care of everything - getting the car fixed, or things around the house, running errands, everything- she did it all. She always made sure to surprise us on Christmas with stuff we didn't know we were getting. She would always let me take the car when I needed/wanted it. Whenever we were sick, she would take care of us of course. I still call her when I am so sick. I'm sure I've called her at work thousands of times over the years, even though the last few years she is too busy and never answers her phone, ha ha. We are always bugging her about trying to get a hold of her all in good fun.

 

I am in awe of my mother. She has always worked so hard. She has done all she can to provide for her family.  She loves her job and has made a huge and hard decision to retire early so she can care for my dad. I will have to dedicate a post about him for another time.

I've told my mom this recently as well, but one word to describe her is Selfless. Talk about the best example. She always wants to give so much. I could ask anything of her. And she is always so positive. She has had a lot on her plate over the years. And most recent is slowly losing her eternal companion (my wonderful Dad) to an awful disease. (Alzheimer's)

She has done this once before (dealt with Alzheimer's) with my grandpa, her own father when I was a teenager. So she knows what lies ahead. She has a strength like no other. She is not alone. I love her so much. And sometimes my heart breaks when I think of my dad or the trials she's had in her life or going to have. But I know that she must have become who she is because of these trials.

 

Whenever or whatever I need, my mom is always there. I always have so many questions, about cooking - she is an awesome cook, my kids - she always has great insight, the gospel - she knows it well with her strong testimony, and anything really - she will listen and help where she can.

 

I love that she cooks, sews, cleans, paints, enjoys her grandchildren -aka- babysits all for me and my family. She is the best. Have I mentioned she is selfless. She is very special for all the things that she does. I hope I can be as good as her.

 

I also have to say I am so blessed to have her in my life. I am also blessed to have such a loving mother-in-law. I should have Greg write thoughts on his mother one day. Our mother's are all so great because of the wonderful mother's they had, our grandma's.

I love you mom!

Next to me

Here's a quick shout out to my husband for his birthday!

I love my Homie G!

 

I don't know if you've heard the new song from Emeli Sande called "Next to Me"? Well I really like it and the lyrics. It sounds like a great guy. That's the way I feel about my guy. Here are my favorite lines...

 

Never in my life have I met someone like him
I'm blown away by his love for me
if you ever wonder where it is you'll find him
you will find him, you will find him next to me

 

I am so glad he's been in my life for almost 11 years. And I'm so glad he's "next to me" always!

Babies

I am surprised at how much I miss babies. I tell Greg all the time. When ever I had the feeling that I wanted a baby, we would have one. When one baby was no longer a "baby" I was able to get my fix by having another one. I think being a mother, well a woman, will always make my heart love babies, always. Now I have no grand plans to bring another baby into our family, but it doesn't mean I can't miss having a baby to hold.

We had our babies, they are growing before our eyes. And now we have the boys to raise. I love my little children. I loved having little babies. I miss the baby phase of my life. My heart misses it. It went by so quickly. Time needs to slow down. I want to make sure I cherish the little children phase. Jax is already a big kid. I need to enjoy the moment more and be the best mom I can be.

 

As in some of the pictures in the collage I LOVED the smell of a baby, baths, sleeping, smiling for the first time, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, I can't forget how I loved the scooting on the bum (instead of crawling), cruising along the furniture, first steps, walking, cooing, babbling, first words, feeding, seeing/feeling the first teeth come in, burping, and yes, even spit up, or in some cases - throwing up the whole contents of a baby food jar or bottle.

 

 

Gosh, I had such great babies. I loved it all. I remember being tired, or sick of the spit up or drool and the messy diapers - well we still have one baby doing the messy diapers, and dealing with crying or fussy babies. Good days and bad days. But it was all so worth it!

I am so glad to be a mother to my boys.

"Jims"

Rafe calls it "Jims" and he still often asks for it. A couple weeks ago we took the boys to Jungle Jims to play. And play hard they did. Jax wanted to do Arcades the whole time. Creed was enjoying it all and Bodie wanted ride after ride. His favorite was the bumper cars. Rafe loved it - maybe. Most of the rides he seemed kinda out of it. Blank stare on his face a little confused. Greg put him on the roller coaster - what was he thinking? And after that Rafe was fine to be watching. We did have him go on a few other rides, and he was scared of the bumper cars after his ride on that. But he was so excited when he saw me going through the pictures. I had to get plenty of pics for Bodie and Rafe's first time really going on the rides.

 

Well here is all 4 rascals on the swings.

 

Rafe and his confused face and then the last half he sucked on his fingers. And yes, he did get sick a few days later. They should call it, Jungle Germs - ha ha.

 

The brothers loved bumping each other with the cars and hands up for the short roller coaster rides. Bodie was brave. I could tell it worried him to let go but he did it.

 

 Fun times. Bodie is the perfect age. He soaked it all in.

 

 

Wahoo for tiny, indoor, kiddie amusement parks!

Sunday Art

 

Recently in church the boys had to draw a picture of baptism. Either them being baptized or Jesus with John the Baptist or something. I saw Jax's first. Then I saw Creed's. Ha! I immediately showed it to Greg and we laughed so hard we couldn't talk for a minute. I asked Creed about it and he said "yeah, I was drowning, some kids are short and I am just little in the picture". Ok then, silly boy. And in case you are wondering what the big dome looking thing is above the people in the water in Jax's picture it's a big mirror.

 

Rafe turned 2!

I will keep saying it, that I can't believe my baby is already a 2 year old! I will have to share my feelings in another post. Woe is me.

 

So it was a rainy day, we stayed in, except to buy balloons.

And he knew they were his balloons. In the car on the way home, he held on tight and would scream at his brothers if they tried to take one or play with one. He has them all gathered in his hands. Love this kid!

 

 Then we had the grandparents over to celebrate. I have been trying to practice with Rafe to say he is 2 years old. He flashes his finger and says "due". And he LOVES to say and even sing Happy Birthday. Now that is cute.

He makes a great baby of the family. His brothers love him dearly and smother him and bug him and play with him and desire kisses from him.

 A little about Rafe... He is tall and skinny. I think he is like 85 percentile for his age in height. He will eat just about anything we put in front of him. (I love this stage) He also begs for our food all the time. We all sneak food behind his back (the junk food). He is a good napper. Loves bath time, loves to dance to any music he hears. He has quite the giggle laugh.  He loves to play with cars - ALL DAY LONG.  He calls Greg "doggy or dog" or goggy, sometimes we wonder if he is trying to say Greg. He is the first child of mine to actually call his blanket by the correct name, he says "blankie".  When he needs a diaper change he comes up and says "icky poopoo". He got that from me :)

 

He is a rascal. Here are some pictures from his big day. Lots of faces by him.

 

 

He loves Mickey Mouse. I love it when he says Mickey Mouse. So that was his "theme". He watched as his brothers blew out his candles and he was sneaking cookies off of cupcakes all afternoon. That was the first to go.

 

We got him a skateboard scooter. So now he can join his brothers. I like that it doesn't wobble for him. He's been trying to figure out how to push and scoot on it. We have all summer. And opening presents is always fun!

 

Happy Birthday to my little boy. He also loves balloons. Who doesn't? And his tongue - always sticking out of his mouth.

Spring at Snow

Spring Break in Snow Canyon! We went to the sunny warmth for a few days. We were able to get a nice condo right by the St. George Temple. It was the perfect location. Right in the middle of everywhere we wanted to be. After a relaxing Sunday, on Monday we went to explore Snow Canyon. It was amazing! I thought I had been there one time, but it didn't seem familiar. The boys loved climbing the rocks, and seeing the incredible formations. They loved being on top of the world. And they loved playing in the sand dunes. I played with Rafe in the car during that outing. :)

 

Cute little boy Rafey. We sometimes call him that.

 

Have I mentioned the amazing formations. This is at the petrified dunes. You can kinda see the boys scattered around.

 

 

 Jax in wide open spaces, Creed, Jax, and Bodie (can't see him) going through a short narrow slot, Bodie's excited face, and Creed looking on.

The boys getting all sandy, taking a lunch break and playing around. And then that night we went to eat at Red Lobster. The boys LOVED it! They loved their crab. Seafood eaters! Not me though. Blah. I enjoyed some pasta and chicken.

 

The next day we hung out, went shopping, and then went to the best pool around. We loved the Washington Community Center. They have a great pool/slide/play land. Great for year round. It was pretty cool, and big. After dinner we went to another park to play.

 

One of the favorite things on this trip was that we took all of our bikes - on a rack. I'm sad I didn't get any pictures. Bodie would stay out front in the condo and ride around the quite little street. That's all he wanted to do. All the boys would go up and down the road. Rafe on his big wheel. I did go on a few laps. Literally a few.

 

The drive down and back home went smooth. The boys did great. Such a fun little trip.

(ee-ster)

I don't know why this picture looks so blurred. It looked fine until I put it on the blog. We had our Easter morning. The boys all got umbrella's. And it was fun having the Easter Bunny use the whole "new" basement to find new places to hide baskets. Yum yum, and fun, fun. Then we hit the road.

 

On our way down to St. George we stopped at Cove Fort. A little bit of history and a cool real fort for the boys to see. It was right off of I-15. It was quick and easy. I never knew it existed.

 

 

 After we got there and had dinner we headed to a park to fly kites and hang out. It was an enjoyable day. More of our Spring break on the next post.