Sundays 2015

We switched to 9am church for 2015, and I am really excited about it!  It will mean more planning and earlier mornings, but we avoid naptime and lunch time and have the rest of the day to ourselves!  Saturday night after dinner(which Jared made while I was at the store- I sure love him!), the kids all took baths, put on pajamas, got their nails trimmed and the boys were in bed and asleep by about 7:30.  The girls wanted "bedtime braids" so their hair would be crimpy in the morning for church and then they were off to bed by about 8:30.  It felt like quite an accomplishment after having no routine for the last two weeks!  

We walked in the doors of church at 8:31am and my husband's jaw dropped when he saw us.  I told him to take a picture, it isn't likely to happen again, we just had to make sure the chairs were set up, and everything was set up for all the changes in primary today, which went so smoothly.  Plus he had me say the opening prayer because everyone else he called said they weren't sure if they would be there on time.

The kids are doing so well during Sacrament Meeting.  Anderson is still wiggly and loud but we are going to get there!  I have proof in the form of our other children sitting on the other end of the bench, quietly writing and coloring in notebooks.

Maddie bore her testimony.  She has born her testimony a dozen times or so, and has never done so without her little Book of Mormon in her hands.  She had to wait for a testimony by an older gentleman in our ward, and then by the time she stood up she forgot what she was going to say.  Our rule is we don't help them, but I walked up and then she stopped being nervous and was able to speak.  I didn't have to prompt her, and she did a beautiful job.

When we sat down, I asked her what happened.  She said, "Mom, I couldn't remember the way to start."  After thinking about that, I know that it doesn't matter HOW we start, as long as we start.  The Lord will bless our righteous efforts.  She had her scriptures in her hand, and she was willing to use them and open her mouth.  He can work with that.  Oh, the faith of a child.  I want to be more like her.

Anderson ready for bed Saturday night!  He is 18 months and went to nursery for the first time!  He was fine when Jared left him, but then had a meltdown.  Luckily he recovered when the nursery leader's husband came in.  He is like Briggs, and does better with men than women, generally.  I think it is because he is such a momma's boy and doesn't need any other women in his life! (except his Grandmas and sisters, of course!)  He was EXHAUSTED after nursery, though, and could barely stay awake to eat lunch.  His nursery leaders(Sister Willie and Sister Northrup) love those little ones so much and will make it a great year for him.

Briggs went to Primary yesterday!  Such a handsome little Sunbeam!  He did great!  He has some amazing nursery leaders who really prepared him for Sunbeams(Sister Garvin and Sister Whiteside), and he now has the best Sunbeam teachers we could ask for(Sister McKee and Sister Hanks).  It is going to be a good year for him.

I am really excited about going home after church and having lunch with my kids.  We talked about their classes and teachers and what they learned.  They set goals for what they are going to work on this week.  Their goals were great, however Briggs made me laugh with, "I'm going to say sorry when I bump into people."  The funniest part is that he had to act on that half a dozen times between lunch and bedtime.

I said, "Smile!"  So she shoved her sandwich in her face to be funny.  Love her and her sassy personality!  She has such a great Sunbeam teacher and is so ready for CTR 4 this year.  Her teachers this year are the teachers Emma had last year(Brother and Sister Buffington), so I'm biased, but I love them and already know she is going to learn so much!

Emma, on the other hand, started striking poses.  She continued taking bites of her sandwich and used half eaten sandwich as her photo prop.  Beautiful, right?!  Emma is in CTR 5 this year, and her teacher is Sister Gibson, our next door neighbor and one of my heroes.  I can't wait for all that she will learn from her!

Maddie photo bombed Briggs and he was not impressed.  She was pretty proud of herself, though.

I'm also excited at the prospect of Sunday afternoon naps.  I didn't get one this week, but I will!  

Briggs insisted on this gigantic spoon to eat his mashed potatoes with at dinner.

My favorite part of Sunday dinners!  Cousin time!  My kids have the big brothers and big sisters they want in the form of cousins.  I'm so grateful for family and that we get to see all of our siblings and cousins frequently.

Ringing in the New Year

This New Year's Eve we did a progressive dinner with Jared's family. There were 28 of us! We did appetizers at his grandma's, salad at our house, main course at his parent's. We put the kids in pajamas and rang in the New Year at 9. We got them settled down with a movie and then headed to Jared's brother's house for desserts and games. It was fun!

Sledding

It started snowing Christmas Eve as we were driving around looking at lights, and Christmas morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. SO beautiful! The day after Christmas we went sledding and had a blast. Jared had to work, but our nephews, niece, and Jared's sister helped the kids up and down the hill. We even rigged a rope to help climb up because it was so powdery and hard to climb up at the very top.

Anderson is hard core and never cried. Instead he just kept going and going.  He even tried to go down by himself.

Briggs is also fearless. Once he rolled and was completely covered from head to toe. To lighten the mood and applauded him on his "ninja roll" and then that was all he wanted to do.

Maddie absolutely loved it. She liked to ride with someone, but was up for anything other than that. Stomach, back, backward, trains, etc.

Emma is ever cautious. She was careful about who she rode down with and where they went down. She was the most grateful for the rope to climb back up as she was dramatically slipping and sliding without it. She said her toes were cold, otherwise she didn't want to leave.

Freezing at football

All Briggs wants its to watch football. And lots of it. More specifically he wants to watch his cousins play football. So into the windy, rainy cold weather we go, because we love those boys.

Life!! Whew!!

I have been terrible at responding to texts, e-mails and phone calls lately.

The last 3 weeks have been much busier than expected, and to keep up I've focused all spare time on my little family.  They need me most.  I promise I'll catch up to the rest of you soon. :)

I can't believe Anderson is already 3 weeks!  It has literally flown by!

We had Standards Night when Anders was 5 days old.  It was an amazing night, and I know the girls got a lot out of it, I know I did!  Girls camp is coming up, and we've been having fun planning and preparing!  I love love love the Young Women.  I will be released the Sunday following Girl's Camp, and I will miss spending so much time with them.

Jared's grandfather who lived in Pocatello passed away last Sunday morning.  He was in the hospital at the same time as I was, then went to a care and rehab center for a couple of weeks before passing away.  He is who Jared (John) is named after as well as Anderson (John).  He is an amazing man, and we are lucky to have him as part of our family.  This past week has been filled with lots of family time, as all of John's children and grandchildren traveled to be with Jared's Grandma and with each other.  He loves when everyone gets together, and I'm sure he was there, too.

We survived a little flu bug the first part of last week.  It was short, but miserable.  For a couple of hours, I really wasn't sure I would survive it, but I pulled through. :)  Luckily, Anders seemed unaffected by it.

Our house in Twin Falls needed new tenants this week, too.  So I spent several days taking phone calls, texts, e-mails, etc.  We had over 70 calls!!  We held an open house Saturday and found some great applicants.  It was actually difficult to decide, and we feel very blessed.

Sunday morning, I received a phone call and was asked to be to church early to meet with the 1st counselor in the Bishopric.  I literally laughed when he asked if I could come 20 minutes early.  Not very nice of me, I know, but with no husband on Sunday mornings, I just cross my fingers that no one has a melt down, diaper blow out or a missing shoe as we head out the door.  We did get there in time, and it wasn't even that crazy.  A result of many tender mercies that occurred that morning.  Anyway, I was called, sustained and set apart as 1st Counselor in the Primary.  However, I will continue as 2nd Counselor in Young Women's for the next 3 weeks until Girl's Camp is over.

Anderson is SO sweet.  He just kind of goes with the flow.  Day 4 of his life, he slept a 5 hour stretch at night.  He consistently does that at least once a night, so I am usually only up with him twice at the most.  Friday night he slept from 10:30pm to 6:30am.  His circumcision is healed, and umbilical cord has fallen off, and he had his first "real" bath yesterday.  He LOVED it.  Curled up in the warm water and acted like he could have stayed all day.  All 3 of the other kids screamed for months when they took baths, so it was fun that he enjoyed it so much!  His eyes are still blue-ish, but I keep expecting them to start changing since all of our kids have such dark brown eyes.  He loves being held, but also loves to stretch out, and sleeps best with his arms and legs sprawled.  He doesn't like to be held facing in, but out looking around.

He is so loved.  The kids can't help but caress his face or arms or kiss him when they walk past.  He just sleeps through it, though!  I have to admit that I do the same thing to him. :)  He came when he did to help so many in the family who needed a tangible piece of heaven to hold, and I'm glad Heavenly Father trusted him with us.

I promise I'll post more pictures soon!

Me Neither!

Had to get a bath picture with the socks on... long-standing family joke. Maddie was happy to oblige!

Island Park 2010

First off, I'm not really happy to be back HOME doing this blog. You know how lots of times you finish a trip and are a little relieved to be back home, sleeping in your own bed, etc.? Not this one! I think I could live there! But when this is where we were "camping".... can you blame me?





A family friend was generous enough to let us stay at his awesome cabin for free, including a hot tub and Rhino for us to use for almost an entire week. Since it was conference weekend, everyone in Jared's family(minus Bubba) came up for at least a day, too.
Maddie wasn't sure what to think of the Rhino at first.
I don't think Emma understood while we were waiting around on those benches, but when Old Faithful went off, she thought it was cool.
A little sandbar on Yellowstone Lake. We had to stop and play in the water. Jared was skipping rocks, so Emma had to try too.





The Lower Falls in Yellowstone Park. We thought it would be a little walk down to the brink. It was 3/8 of a mile, but it drops 600 feet in that 3/8 of a mile. Not fun to push the stroller down, but going up was seriously crazy. Good thing Jared has been working out. ;)
Paige and Emma the second day in the Park.
Then Paige took some pictures of all of us while we were waiting in construction.


Paige and Emma at the Artist Paintpots. The water behind them is a beautiful blue color.





A bridge over the creek that runs behind the cabin. Emma loved it.