January Happenings...

 I'm totally behind in life in general...and especially when it comes to blogging. Considering the fact Alayna has been in ballet for three months and I haven't even posted a picture yet. I think between, school, homework, church callings, volunteering in the school, preschools, laundry, blah, blah, blah...blogging hasn't made it on my list yet. But tonight I had a long day and so I'm going to choose to sit instead of mop my kitchen floors and finish my dishes. Oh, it feels good to put responsibility off for a few hours. (yeah)
This month I'm glad to say is over...with the grey clouds and sickness I think I was about ready to put a for sale sign up in the yard and pack our bags and head for California...or really Hawaii. Pretty much anywhere the SUN was I wanted to be. To show you how desperate I was for sun, I caught a peak of direct sunlight coming through my bathroom window. I pulled up the blinds, sat on the edge of my tub and read a book until I felt the sun warmth on my face..(You know that awesome feeling when your laying on the beach of Hawaii basking in the sun...yes it's that great).Oh, it was a highlight for me this long winter. It's amazing what a little natural vitamin D does for you! (Don't worry I take the vitamin to help out with the drag in the winter!) But with all the doom and gloom I've been able to recover. Let me do a quick re-cap but in no particular order. Pretty much it was doom and gloom until my blessed birthday January 24th!

Ben is in LOVE with toothbrushes. Let's just say he would have one at all times glued to his hand if he could. Classic Ben is to have one in his mouth and one in each hand. 

See...he always has one. Thanks to Grandma Suker for providing us with a huge bag of new toothbrushes. The kids tossed them all over the house and said we were having a "toothbrush party for Ben!" I think we just figured out his next birthday cake. 

This is an activity that you would find my boys doing each morning. Caleb and Ben having Jake work hard to push them around. I'm not sure if you can see but Ben is holding another toothbrush. 

A HIGHLIGHT of the month. My sweet friends put together a birthday lunch for me. It was delicious and even better time spent together. I've been overly blessed with dear friends and for that I am forever grateful. 

Okay, Here is to the best, most personalized gift I have ever been given. It was so perfect for me it brought instant tears to my eyes. This picture doesn't show how darling it is, but it's that cute bracelet next to my watch. Sweet Emily had it engraved with my personal life motto that I happened to share with her many talks ago. (My life motto will have to be dedicated to an entirely different post) How tender is that gift. So personal and so perfect. Oh, just thinking of it makes me smile with tears. I LOVE IT!

We took the kids to the new Texas Roadhouse that opened...Jared got stuck at work longer than expected and so I played the single mom card with four kids for about an hour! I thought I was doing a good job until I realized Caleb had bubbled all his chocolate milk all over the table! AHHH I had just told him to put the lid back on before I decided to take a picture. Either way it was an awesome memory. Our server was standing there chatting with me and he was busting up laughing at how hilarious my kids were. 

Another night in January (yes I'm wearing the same outfit) we went out as family to Famous Daves to celebrate the January/February birthdays. I'm glad Grandma Lucy decided to come along for the ride! Yum.

The MOST adventurous activity so far this month was snowmobiling at Daniels Summit with RPT (Jared's work). They had a director retreat the other weekend and it was AWESOME. That is me hidden under the "scary" mask...I didn't want to take it off because then I would have been exposed to cold air. And I would never wanted to feel cold. 

We each had our sweet snowmobiles and had a great time. Jared was in HEAVEN and I was some where in between heaven and the other place...until I received a few tips to make it more enjoyable. And once I felt more comfortable I could have stayed all day long! It will be a tradition for sure. We loved it. Oh, I need to find the picture on my other camera where Jared rode his snowmobile in to a creek...yeah a small river! Seriously, only Jared would have that kind of luck. THANKFULLY he made it out too easy before I could even snap a picture. I was so shocked and too busy yelling and thinking, "You've got to be kidding me!" 

This mess equals 5 days I spent watching 5 kids. This happened on day one. I left it alone until day 5, then I made the kids pick it up. Shan and Todd ran off to California for a few days. So I took care of the kids.I had a total of 9 kids...wow. Seriously mothers of that many children are saints. It was NOT as crazy as this mess appears. Four of them attended school all day long, then two went to kindergarten then the other three napped during the afternoon. So I did get quiet time each day. But let me tell you, trying to balance 9 kids, a van that seats 8, ballet, after school snacks, dinner prep, etc. It was a tad intense at night. But we had a great time and the kids had no idea I had no idea what I was doing!!! The funny part was Shan and Todd returned home on Friday at 2pm. And Jared and I left at 2pm for our snowmobiling trip. So we just exchanged kids and off we went. OH, maybe that is what made our little get away even more enjoyable! :) 

Celebrating my birthday with the one and only...German chocolate cake...Or maybe I should say, the two loves of my life. Jared and German Chocolate cake!

A three generational picture. 

Welcome to my life. I look tired in this picture. Is it because I have four rowdy kids? Is it because it was Sunday night? And Sunday's are just a circus act for me? Hmmm. Or maybe that is what the age 31 now feels like. Tiring...Not sure, but man alive I sure love these four monkies...

Another birthday lunch with Grandma Lucy, my dad, and Aunt Kath. Go Coronado's Subs. YUM.

The weekend of my birthday. Jared surprised me with a getaway to a hotel. A late night movie and dinner. It was so much fun. I spent an entire Saturday shopping. Seriously, we got so many lame errands done. It was a great ending to a fun week in January! People seem to ask me why I love my birthday so much. It's pretty much because I am spoiled from head to toe from Jared, sisters, family, friends, etc. Here's to the person who thinks "January 24th is the most depressing day of the year!" I think the entire month is depressing up until the 24th and THEN it gets really fun!! Thank you to one and all who made my birthday extra special. (Friends who dropped gifts off, cards sent, emails, phone calls, texts, lunches, etc. It was wonderful. Thank you!)

Fillmore World = Awesome - Normal World (Not that fun)

So it was January 20th, and we decided to pile in the car and make a surprise visit to my sister Krista. She now lives 2 hours away (boo hoo) but thankfully we can just drive two hours and not have to fly. For that I am grateful! Plus it honestly took my kids 10 minutes to go potty grab their pillow and sleeping bags and they were ready to go in the car. They even decided to skip family dinner and just eat PB&J sandwiches in the car. It was awesome. We were off for the birthday surprise of the year! It was Sunday night and Krista had NO idea we were coming. I talked to her on the phone wished her a happy birthday. Then bam, we hit the road. We showed up, crawled along her porch to hide beneath the windows...busted open the door and screamed..."Surprise, Happy Birthday !!" She gave a wonderful reaction, she screamed and then cried. It was the best ever!! 

Just to put how awesome Fillmore, UT is to my children. Here is a little birthday card Alayna made for Krista...I think it explains it perfectly! If we could all live in Fillmore I think we would!

Ben enjoying a sledding ride behind the four wheeler (don't worry I rode with him)

After we finished Krista's house projects (painting...painting...painting) we took the kids outside for some cold winter fun. Sledding behind the 4 wheeler.

Seriously...look at that BLUE sky! They are so lucky, no inversion down here!

Caleb loving his time with cousin Rigdon.

Alayna and Kennady. This picture shows the land that Krista and Riley now have to play around on. Everything up until the fence on the right and the bails of hay in the back is their new purchased property! Seriously... unbelievable!

Jake, rocking out on the sled.

Nothin but smiles here.

Happy to be here!

Yippee

Ok. Here is the back of their newly purchased home. They are home owners! It's a darling little thing. I shouldn't say little because it has like 6 rooms and 3 bathrooms. It's all newly finished. And with all the TLC Krista has given it (new paint & trim) it's ADORABLE! I'm mad I didn't take pictures inside. Because it's so CUTE! 

 

Oh, this is one sad baby...he was a little too cold. We all had hot chocolate and bundled up. This was a fun short and sweet visit. That is why we love these Fillmore visits. We come for one night stay for two days, play on toys, run around, breath fresh farm air, and realize why we all feel that Fillmore World = Awesome!

Brothers

We do BOY everything around here. Seriously, these boys are so lucky to have each other. It's honestly darling to see how sweet Jacob is with his brothers. Especially Ben. Jake is very gentle and tender. He is always caring for Ben. Racing to him if Caleb is too rough. It's really sweet because Ben either wants, Mommy to hold him, Daddy to hold him or Jake. That's it.

Look at this little buddy just watching Jake. I love it.

Again, he's so sweet to him.

I love this because Jake tried to get Ben to play basketball with him. He just had to get a little creative. Pretty much Ben was the happiest little guy ever!

Again, he doesn't take his eye off of Jake. Thankfully, Jacob is setting a GREAT example to all this siblings. Our family is overly blessed to have him in our lives. We love you all.

Hours of Fun

Well, this is just a cute picture of how silly this baby Ben is. He LOVES toothbrushes. And when I say LOVE I mean...LOVE and cries over them when they are taken away. Obviously, it's not the safest toy so I do take them away on occasion. But truthfully, he loves them and it keeps him good. :) This is ONE BUSY ACTIVE RUNNING LITTLE BOY!

Caleb got this fun train for Christmas. We finally put it up and the kids have literally had hours and hours of fun scribbling and coloring. It's been a fun thing. It moves all around the house. You can see it's not a small thing either. So I'll be welcoming my kitchen back when the day comes, but until then we will all enjoy it. :)

 

 

 

He takes this very seriously. He told me "Mom, this is my work today!"

 

Behind the Camera...yup that's me.

I have loved this new idea. Thanks to a darling blog (71toes.com) brought this new idea to my attention. Read her post from yesterday. It's darling. I also LOVED the article she mentioned. Thankfully I have her link on my blog so I read it and thought about it....all day long. I also had friends mention it to me as well. So I thought it had to be a good idea to capture these precious fleeting moments.

Here is Caleb thinking it was SO silly for me to say I wanted to be in the picture with him.

Just showing his adorable little face. Some days he likes his hair in spikes and other days he likes it combed over...literally in a comb over. It's just priceless. If you look closely you can see his chunk of hair he chopped off the other day...he wondered if scissors would work on cutting hair like it does on paper...yup it does.

First day to showing my love for one of my kids. He just happened to be the one child awake and home with me. I love every ounce of being his mother. I ask him EVERY single day to NOT grow up. I think it's because my heart already knows he must grow and change. (Just as my other kids have) But for a few minutes I will always remember how much I LOVE being his mother when he was three. Really, I love this idea. Thanks to all my cute mom friends who have also posted their cute pictures on this new journey of showing US...Mothers loving this journey of motherhood. Love it! I just need to take more pictures in that CRAZY (4-7pm) hour of the day.

FHE for 2013

Alright all you busy moms out there. It's that time of year again (I talked about this last year) to dedicate ourselves for following our Prophet. I think after years and years of trying Family Home Evening. I have finally found a system that works for me. Pretty much it's SIMPLE and I'm super FLEXIBLE. I don't have a cute chart...because honestly my kids fight over who does what, and Alayna would just boss the other boys around. So we just assume that I run the show...(I'm sure this will change as, yes, they learn not to argue with one another!)

This year with FHE is going to be more fun because after what, seven years or something Jared gets home for dinner and FHE now. (YIPPEE) This honestly is the best SURPRISE each and every Monday. (I mean, I've had him home for one week!) It's been great so far.

FIRST IDEA: Anyways, back to what works for us. Simple. We get the Friend out one week and have the kids each pick a number between the first page of the friend and the last. We then read the three different articles and IF the treat listed inside is SUPER easy and not to long of a process and if we happen to have the ingredients we then will make it or something similar. The kids love this night.

SECOND IDEA: Another option that works for us is I pull out the amazingly beautiful Primary Manual 2013 and pick something that coordinates that is a simple object lesson or activity. Once again depending on what I have on hand and can put together in minutes. This is another favorite, simple, already thought out and a great review for the kids from primary.

THIRD IDEA: A third option that I really enjoy is taking a FEW extra minutes earlier in the day to find something extra special that pertains for our family that week. (Anywhere from...Modesty, respect, prophets, scriptures  reverence, etc.) (EXAMPLE: Alayna is preparing for her baptism so we focus pretty much everything on that decision ) For example today we talked about Baptism and I found this darling story and ideas on ROAD SIGNS back to our loving Heavenly Home. It was perfect because my kids love Maps, and I printed off some road signs (I found it all done online) that are commandments that have been given us to help us return home. It was darling. Anyways, we did a little scripture chase with two teams, we read the scriptures, wrote down the answers on then a review.

FOURTH IDEA: Finally, we love to use the ipad and the Mormon channel. My kids are HOOKED to any and all Mormon Message. I love how impacting they are to them. They honestly remember and love each and every movie. I'm so thankful for that.

BACKUP IDEA: The only other thing we do each morning as we are racing out the door and eating breakfast before school is we recite and attempt to memorize the Primary Scripture. I love this because if our morning scripture reading hasn't happened (due to crazy kids and ornery parents!) then we all say it. Alayna is sweet because she's so consistent and predictable and she always says if we've forgotten..."But Mom, I can't leave without a scripture in my mind!" I think it speaks volumes for the repetition of spiritual things, what great counsel we have been given from our loving prophets.THOUGH we are all super imperfect and really just trying to do better each day. I've compiled them yet again for this new year so print them off if you desire....
PRIMARY 2013 MONTHLY SCRIPTURES

Being a parent is a challenge. A great rewarding one, but a challenge nonetheless  I think often and even have this scripture printed on my fridge) of this quote from Elder Bednar's talk given in General Conference October 2009. (Man I only had two kids then...wow how time changes!)

In my office is a beautiful painting of a wheat field. The painting is a vast collection of individual brushstrokes—none of which in isolation is very interesting or impressive. In fact, if you stand close to the canvas, all you can see is a mass of seemingly unrelated and unattractive streaks of yellow and gold and brown paint. However, as you gradually move away from the canvas, all of the individual brushstrokes combine together and produce a magnificent landscape of a wheat field. Many ordinary, individual brushstrokes work together to create a captivating and beautiful painting.

Each family prayer, each episode of family scripture study, and each family home evening is a brushstroke on the canvas of our souls. No one event may appear to be very impressive or memorable. But just as the yellow and gold and brown strokes of paint complement each other and produce an impressive masterpiece, so our consistency in doing seemingly small things can lead to significant spiritual results. “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33). Consistency is a key principle as we lay the foundation of a great work in our individual lives and as we become more diligent and concerned in our own homes.

Good luck to you all with your consistency in your homes. Am I the only one who loves a new year with a new start?