Horseback Riding

Some months ago when my Dad was home on leave from the Middle East, my mom wanted the adults to take a night horse ride.  It was my first time leaving William, but we did make it through the evening.  Here are the backs of our horses.

 So I saw this "Good Luck" star in the bathroom.  Really?  What a way to make your customers feel confident in your horses!

 My mama

 The view on the way in

 My mom and Dad with their horses.  This was right after dinner.

As you can see, my dad's picture was taken before dinner because it was still light.  My mom's was taken after dinner because it was dark.  So we rode the horse in to a steak place that was DELICIOUS!  I don't normally love steak and since these photos, we have pretty much cut 80% of meat out of our diet, but this place made a really really good steak.  After dinner, we rode in the dark back to the start.  It was SO fun and such a great opportunity to try something new.  I loved it!

Almost 4 Months

I cleared up a little space on here, so here are some of my WAY behind pictures.  These were taken the last week in April, so William was almost 4 month old.  Laycee and Will are napping.  That is our normal Sunday afternoon activity and one of my favorites.  Laycee loves to nap and she loves it even more with me and William!

 

William rarely has a bottle at 4 months, but I was so surprised one day when I handed it to him and he could hold it!  Laycee and Logan couldn't hold their own bottles forever so I was shocked!  Also, he rarely laid in his crib either.  I just happened to get a cute photo!

 Some cute smiles

 His idea of helping with the laundry.... eating the clothes!

 William has always loved being with the kids and part of the family.  He was so happy to finally get to sit at the table with him!

So for now, I am able to put a few more pictures.  I just made year 2007 into a book.  So when it arrives, I will be removing 2007 from the blog and clearing up more space.  If you feel like reminicing the good ole days, now is your chance before the photos and commentary are gone.  I have been wanting to put the blog into a hard copy book forever, so this was my motivating factor.  With all of the social media options (that were not near as prevelant in 2007), I should do away with the blog.  But I just love to look back and see how we have grown and changed.  When I am down, I get to remember "the old days" and see pages and pages of beautiful smiles of my children.  I get to remember great times with great friends.  Our blog started when we were far away from family in a foreign country and how can I replace those great memories?  So... look back, enjoy the days now gone before they are REALLY gone from the blog!  Love you all!

Year End Review

I suppose since we are nearing the end of December, it is time for me to at least make one post from the past 6 months.  Unfortunately, I am having some difficulties with blogger capping their limit of photos for "free" so I am working on a solution for that.  It is very likely I will be using a 3rd party company to create a rememberance book by years and then delete those posts so that I am able to free up some more space on here.  Until then, I am a little stuck on blogging.  BUT, I felt like it was at least time to close out 2012.  Yes I know there are still days in December, but it's time to sum it all up.

First I would like to say MERRY CHRISTMAS.  This is one of my very favorite times of the year where I can ponder and think more clearly on Christ.  I am so thankful for my chance to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and to have a knowledge of the Savior and our Heavenly Father in my life. 

Our year started out AMAZING.  We were so blessed to have Dave come for a visit from the middle east near the end of December.  I was past my due date, but we were blessed with a week of time with him before the baby was born.  In January, we welcomed our sweet William David.  What a joy that has been.  The following months proved to be more trying as Dave went back to the middle east and we continued life here.  Although, it was so great to no longer be pregnant!

The months passed by, William grew, learned to roll over, scoot, crawl and eat.  And in the summer, Dave quit his job and returned home.  We have been blessed to have him back.  He has been gone much of the last 3 years so this has been a welcomed change. Dave and I both became Certified Personal Trainers through The National Academy of Sports Medicine.  We opened our own company HigFit, LLC.  And we both went back to school.  He is studing strength, conditioning and personal training and I am studying dietetics. 

Haylee has finally found a passion.... music.  She started the piano this year and also started the cello.  She really has a talent in music and the dedication to practice often.  She has also taken the plunge to try sports again and is playing soccer this winter. 

Trent has continued to work hard in karate.  He just passed his green belt exam.  He has practiced and worked hard to achieve green belt.  He continues to struggle with his dyslexia and eye issues in school but he continues to persevere. 

Laycee has also found a love for music.  Many of her issues in the spring have been worked through and she is excelling in kindergarten.  Thankfully her teacher loves to sing and her school has a good music program where she gets to use music to process her emotions.  She too is finding a love for soccer.

Logan has always been a boys boy.  This year he played flag football and soccer.  He loves sports. He also loves kindergarten and is becoming quite the little reader.  I have been impressed with how quickly he picks up his educational studies.  He hates homework and that continues to be a battle here.

William is a pure joy to have.  The little man has grown so fast that I feel as though he was a baby for such a short time.  He is nearing 1 years old.  He learned to crawl by 4.5/5 months, then to walk by 9.5 months.  He took his first steps at 8 months.  He has learned to crawl up and down the stairs.  Onto and off the trampoline.  And onto the stool to open all of the kitchen drawers.  Thankfully, he is not mischevious, just BUSY.  He loves the dogs and his new favorite skill is dribbling the soccer ball while saying "kick". 

We hope you all had a wonderful year and if you didn't, we hope the new year brings more joy.  We are truly blessed and attempt to find blessings in the little things of life. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Love,
US

End of Season

The end of the school year brings a lot of activities for the kids.  The first picture is Laycee and Logan singing at the School District Board Meeting, where they were showing some of the skills of their preschool program.  Logan was on the other side of the stage unfortunately.

 Haylee's class put on a show and she was able to have a SOLO!

 These last two pictures are Haylee at her end of season cheerleading party.  She was so happy to see the girls one last time and to get a DVD of her season!

The time is flying by fast.  I can't believe the little kids are in kindergarten and Haylee is in 5th grade!  Trent is in 4th grade!  They are old enough to have solos and sing before the school board.  I love my children and their willingness to be involved.

Harvests Bounty

Oh the joys of the garden

 

 I was excited to get back into gardening this year.  I wasn't able to fully take care of it because of William, but Trent took it upon himself (or his chore list did anyway ha ha!) to take care of the garden.  He has a green thumb for sure!  We were able to get tomatoes, strawberries, a couple peppers this year.  Also, he chose some baby watermelons which looked as though they might die.  But this fall they have provided us with some YUMMY fruit.  There is one outside growing right now that we are all anxious to be ready!

 

 



Peek A Boo

Just had to post a couple update pictures of William.  He is 3 months old in these pictures. I have no idea what he is looking at but he is cute!

 

 William and Arianni!  Newest cousins

 I love his little chicken legs

 I babysat Arianni while Linzi was in town and it took me back to the good ole twin days!  Oh it was fun to remember, but then I was reminded why twins were SO exhausting!

 Haylee loved holding Arianni

 Yes Arianni, we know, I am an AWESOME aunt!

 Cute man!

 Love this picture of him!!

Stay tuned... more to come!! And up soon are all about William becoming MOBILE! 

Easter

My sister was in town and my mom usually has some kind of Easter Sunday fun for the kids.  This year, she had a neat idea that turned out... interesting.  First, we got to see Linzi's baby for the first time!  She is adorable.

 

 

 Mom had a pinata.  It thankfully was hard enough that all of the children got to pull the strings twice!

 My mom and her legacy... 13 grandkids.  We are missing Linzi's step daugher Natalie in this picture though :(

  So for the goodie bags, we attached the bags to strings.  Then we wound the string through the house.  It seemed like a great idea!  However... the strings ended up in the biggest ball of mess ever!!  We will not do this again.  But on the plus side, the children still loved it.

 

I have been so thankful for family time since we have moved back home.  We were talking the other day and we realized that William will never have experienced our crazy moving adventures that the other children have.  How funny to see how life can change in such a short amount of time.  I am thankful for those changes too!



Easter

Our Homeowners Association had an easter egg hunt.  Unfortunately Laycee was still under the weather after her surgery, but she was such a trooper trying to get out there still!

 Here they are Easter Sunday all dressed up

 Unfortunately, during the surgery her mouth was cut.  It was a painful recovery for her.

 I cannot believe how grown up they all are!  I remember just a few years ago when the Logan wore that same outfit that William is wearing.

Rolling Over

William learned to roll over!  He was 4 month 3 days the first time he rolled over.

Oh this rolling over was the beginning of the end of him!  He has been moving ever since then!  I love it but have found it difficult to have such a young mover!  None of our other children moved this early.  He is definately one of a kind!  Love him!!!

Tonsils

Next up in April was surgery.  I was told that Laycee could get her tonsils removed the summer before kindergarten.  Trent and Logan had both had their's taken out the summer of 2010.  The doctor didn't want to do Logan's then, but there was medical need.  She told me that Laycee also needed hers removed, but wouldn't do them at that time because of her age.  So we waited.  When preschool started last year, Laycee really struggled.  There were many social issues that we had to work on.  Eventually, that led us to a psychiatrist.  That was both a blessing and a dead end.  The psychiatrist encouraged me to put her on medication and I didn't feel like we were ready for that.  But he also subscribed a few other methods that might would help us help Laycee.  First problem with Laycee is that she is unable to sleep through the night.  She has never been a good sleeper and even now she isn't.  This issue led us back to to the tonsils.  Given that now there was a bigger need to get them taken out, the new doctor (switched because of insurances) decided to go ahead and remove them.  I am always so nervous any time Laycee has to be sedated.  She fights to the very end and comes out kicking and screaming.  Even the pain meds were too much for her.  It took her a little longer than the boys to recover, but I was so proud of her!  Back to the bigger issue, tonsils are taken out and melatonin was not a great alternative for her.  However, we have found more "natural" ways to treat her and they are really helping.  Yes I know this is going to sound quacky to some, but desperation takes us to new heights.  So, we started adding flax to her diet.  Refrigerated Flax Oil (also has the right ratios of omegas) is a mood elevator.  In addition, I have found a combination of essential oils to also help her sleep through the night.  I have a sensitivity to lavender so it took us a little experimenting to find something that worked without lavender in it, but we have found something.  We have undergone several transitions over the summer and she has only had 2 "periods" of instability in that time.  However, before our natural treatments and the tonsils, she had an episode every 4-6 weeks lasting about 1 week!  That is amazing improvement!  We have been working on routines and rituals to help the separation and anxieties that she has.  So, seeing the psychologist didn't help in some ways, but he definately pointed us in the right direction. 

April Beginnings

 Above is William at 4 months!  So the beginning of April brought about great fun.  We LOVE LOVE General Conference that comes around every April and October.  This year, I found a fun idea that I selected key words to correspond with a bowl.  When the kids heard the key word, they were able to pull one item out of the bowl.

 They had marshmellows, jelly beans, stickers and silly bandz.

 This is what William did during conference... he started playing with his toys!

 Sweet smiles from Logan.  I love Logan Smiles!

 The first Monday of April, we had Family Home Evening with my sister and her children again.  Brooklyn (my niece) had made a lesson at Activity Day (program for girls age 8-11) about Easter.  Here is the clan holding up their Easter story!

 And for dessert, we had birthday cake for Dave even if he wasn't here. He turned 33 this year.  I told him a few years ago that by age 35, I would hope we could settle down and have a steady life.  We have made some strides towards that, and we have made some strides away from that.  I am however, excited to see where life takes us.   

So Happy Easter all and Happy Birthday Babe (even if these were from 6 months ago lol)