Halloween

I think Halloween is the favorite holiday around here. They look forward to dressing up and getting candy almost as much as they look forward to Santa. They have been getting their fill of scary stories and spooky cartoons. We went to the Pumpkin Walk in Logan, and a haunted hay ride in Willard. We had a costume party at Nana's and then the bread bowl party and trick or treating and Grandma's. They each chose what they wanted to be this year. Mason was a devil, Brielle was Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas and Ava was a witch. Little Eric was a monkey, but he didn't get to choose.

Independence Day 2015

This year for the 4th of July we went to a BBQ and Nana's and Pop's. The kids had a little water fight with sponges and then we did fireworks. 

Granny moved back in with Nana recently, and it has been nice having her there when we go over. Ava really loves her. Lately, if I can't find her, she has often followed Granny into her room and is perched on the bed just chatting away. I love watching them create this bond. I don't remember a lot about my great-grandma, but I do remember loving her and thinking she was wonderful. I hope Ava has the same feelings about her great-grandma. During the fireworks, Ava crawled right onto Granny's lap and they enjoyed the show together.

Easter Sunday

I love Easter. The Easter Bunny is just lame enough (to me, at least) that the point of the holiday isn't completely lost. That being said, the kids were very excited about a visit from the little rodent.

We went to St. George this year to visit Sue and her family, and Angie and her family - they recently moved to Washington, UT. All of Tim's family headed down around the same time to take their toys to dunes. We decided to meet up with them one day at Sand Hallow State Park. We weren't feeling too enthusiastic about it because we thought we would just be sitting out in the hot sun waiting for a turn to ride someone else's side-by-side. It turned out to be a lot of fun!

We didn't realize how close the dunes were to the beach, and the kids had a blast playing in the sand and water the whole time. They were in heaven. I love watching them build and explore and let loose. And Tim and I got to go on a few run rides. Someone else's side-by-side exploded and burst into flames and they weren't hurt, so that was pretty exciting. Although it did make me a lot more nervous the rest of the time.

I went shopping for a couple of hours and left Tim with all of the kids and Ava hopped down the stairs on a bouncy horse.

The Easter Bunny came.

We listened to some General Conference.

All in all, it was a very successful holiday.

The beginning of a new year

We had some big to-do's this year. A couple visits to the ER, a big RV project, new schools and activities. Best of all, a new baby. I spent most of the year pregnant, which....bleh. But now we have our perfect little Eric, and he keeps getting better and better.

He will be eight weeks old this week. He finally started smiling at me around six weeks old, and he still saves almost all of his smiles for his mama. The kids looks at me like his world begins and ends in my face, and I am just soaking in all the love I can get. He gets cuter everyday and so our streak of making the most adorable children around continues.

Everyone loves the baby and he gets his fair share of kisses during the day. He has started extending his first sleep of the night to about five hours, which is nice, but the rest of the night are still not always great. He has really turned a great corner personality-wise in the last two weeks - now that he is used to having a human body and is feeling a little better.

It has been a pretty overwhelming having four kids. I keep thinking of things I would like to take the older kids to do, but the thought of leaving the house with all four of them is just so daunting. I took all four to lunch at Sams Club the other day while Tim took a conference call at work on his day off and it went surprisingly well and I am still proud of myself. I had all four out in public for over an hour and I didn't threaten anyone and everyone left happy AND they were still pretty clean when we left. But still. It is terrifying.

Mostly it is Ava. She is just everywhere all the time. It is impossible to keep an eye on her in the confines of our own house, so anywhere else is a nightmare. When we got to the grocery store she won't sit in front of the cart, she won't sit in the big part, she won't walk, she won't ride on the side, and I can't hold her. But she also wants to do all of those things. At once. She just has so. much. energy. Add Mason's nearly constant pestering of Brielle and we basically just don't get out much.

All that being said, my life is so full. There is so much love and happiness to true enjoyment. Some days I feel like I could just sit and watch them all day. Every little mannerism, and their sweet little voices, and those giant imaginations all just fill me with so much satisfaction. I made these beautiful, innocent little creatures and now I get to enjoy them every day. Maybe the hard makes the good that much better.

We have been a little off our schedule this week and I guess Mason noticed because on Christmas Eve when he was going to bed he asked his dad to remind me that we need to read scriptures in the morning. I guess I'm not totally failing.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas with kids is just wonderful.

Mason and Brielle have been so excited. Christmas questions began around Halloween and the build up has been great. We went to the English's and the Arbon's for Christmas Eve and it was good seeing everyone that night. In the morning the kids started waking up around 6:00 and by 6:30 everyone was awake and wondering where Santa was. There were no presents under the tree! Mason and Brielle both snuck out to check before coming in our room and then came in to tell us that he didn't come. Luckily, that sneaky guy did come, he just put everything downstairs this year.

Watching those happy faces and hearing "This is the best Christmas EVER!" a hundred times was the best.

Thanksgiving

This year Tim's family decided to go to his sister Steph's cabin for Thanksgiving, so we didn't get to see any of them over the holiday. It is always weird when we don't see one side of the family on a holiday.

So we had the day with the English's. Unfortunately, they decided to schedule around Brady's family's holiday, and our dinner didn't start until 4:30. That meant that Tim had time to seriously injure his foot with an exercise band (he went to the ER a couple of days later and the x-rays didn't show a break, but it has been a month and it still hurts). So he couldn't walk all evening. Which meant that I got to wrangle all four kids all evening during the hardest time of the day.

But other than that, it was really nice. And I got to meet Emily's sweet baby Ivy for the first time. She is so dainty and adorable. It made me happy to finally get to hold her. I think the kids had a good time and the food was delicious. I have a lot to be thankful for. I have everything to be thankful for.

Here are some photos from the the last part of November, including Thanksgiving.