This Man

This man of mine. I love this profile picture of Mitch. I took this picture the other night when we were having a little marshmallow roast in the backyard. Mitch is a special guy. I know that that true intent of his heart is nothing but good inside. Truly. The love he has for his kids cannot be compared with anything thing else in the world and I am always amazed at how much attention and devotion he gives them. Grateful he is mine. Blessed to have him forever.

Proof that you can never be too old or too big{and Caleb almost is bigger!} to have some lovin from your dad.

Feeling Happy?

This morning I woke up feeling grumpy. I am not big morning person, just ask my family. They know better than to say much to me until I have had some breakfast. But this morning, I woke up with a song in my head. Some days it can be rather annoying to have a song stuck and you cant get rid of it. But today was different, I had Bob Marley's song Three Little birds on my mind. And then I realized that Bob Marley makes me happy. I love, love, love this song and its lyrics. So simple. Yet it just makes me feel something, something really happy. So I am gonna share it with you today. Maybe it will make you feel something good too!

A,B,C

I can't help but think of how blessed I am to have such beautiful girls. I am so blessed. I remember wanting a girl so badly when I was pregnant with Aubrie and who would have thought I would end up having three. But with such beauty comes great responsibility. Kind of like with "great powers come great responsibility" {Name that movie}. No really all jokes aside I have been thinking about what a HUGE responsibility that mitch and I have with having three girls. More so me. As their mother, I need to be on my game all the time, every day. And yet I find myself falling short all the time, every day. I read a talk given by Russell M Ballard that a sweet friend of mine posted on her facebook yesterday {Thanks Lisa B}, it was about Mothers and Daughters. Go here to read it. This talk was so great and it was exactly what I needed to hear too. It made me really think about how much I want my girls to make good choices and to be beautiful on the inside. I want their virtue to shine through as they go throughout this life. It is my responsibility to make sure this happens. I am their example that they need to follow. Therefore my choices and actions need to be good enough for them to follow. They are daughters of our Heavenly Father and I want them to remember that everyday. I want them to feel confident and loved. I want them to be outstanding role models for those around them, leaders. I know it is going to be hard for them and for me to get them through this life unscathed by Satan. Unfortunately life is hard and unfair. But I have faith that if I do everything that I can to show my girls the right path, they will follow. They will be tempted and may even fall at times but its not how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up. And I will be there right behind them to help them get back up. I am so very grateful for the gospel in my life. I know I would not be a very good mom if I didnt have it in my life. There are many days that I am not a good mom. I get angry, frustrated, sad and lose my patience with them. That is where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in and I can get myself up again and try harder. I hope that I can be a good mother to them and to stay close with them. I made up what I call the ABC's of being a good mother. Follow your ABC's and you cant go wrong.

 A- Actions; be mindful of my actions. B-beauty; show my girls that beauty on the inside is what matters most. C-Christ; keep Christ in our home 

But I think my Aubrie, Brynley and Carly are the best ABC's.

Have you heard this song by Selena Gomez? Its awesome. Its my song to my girls. Especially when facing the ugliness of the world out there, when there will always be someone there to bring them down. I want them to remember "Who says?"

Ready, Set, Swim

 Today we went to TJ Maxx, as I am trying to find some towels and other accessories for the new bathrooms {which I will post very soon}. My girls love that store and quickly go back to the toy aisles to look to their hearts content. When I found them a short while, Brynley had something in her hands. I had told myself to have self control when going to TJ Maxx today because I knew what our budget was for bathroom stuff and knew I didnt have wiggle room for extras today. Brynley begged and begged for this new found joy, a set of swimming flippers, snorkel and goggles. I had to tell her the usual response all mom's say "Not today". She was so disappointed and sad. Her sad little face tugged at my heart all day and after I heard her telling Mitch all about the, I knew I would just have to go back and get them. And I did. She went with me and was so happy that I knew I made her day! Thats when 20 bucks doesnt really matter, when it makes my sweet girl happy like this and also appreciative of it. She thanked me over and over again. When I asked her why she wanted them so badly, since we dont have a pool big enough to use them in her answer to me was "I will be ready for Papa and Nana's pool when I go see them". And so here she is ready to swim in Cali!

Thursday

Thursday June 23! Gosh, does anyone else feel like summer is just zooming by? I feel like i havent even done anything that fun yet! I guess we better get going on that since the kids have to go back to school August 16th this year! While we are on this subject, why do th kids in Farmington have to go back to school so much sooner this year?!  I dont think that they should have to go back until the tuesday after labor day. It doesnt make sense to me. I miss my kids when they are gone and I just feel like the government/school system just have more control and time over my kids than me! Makes me so frustrated and sad. I guess I need to write a letter to our school board about my feelings about this. What does two more weeks mean to them anyways? To me, it would mean two more extra weeks of being able to play and have fun with my kids. Two more weeks of creating meaningful memories with them. Boo on school. Anyways, this post was not supposed to be me going off  like this about school. Ooops. Sorry. I am getting back on track now. Last night, Mitch slept on the trampoline with the kids. They told stories and watched the starry night together. I opted not to. My warm, comfy bed was just fine for me and I was able to slept in the middle of the bed, much to my preference anyways:) But this morning I could hear the girls laughing and so I went out to see what they were doing and found this... The girls had stuck stickers all over Mitch's face while he was sleeping. They thought it was hilarious and so did I.

Also today, we had to take Carly for her 15 month well child checkup. Even though she is 16 months, I find myself always a month behind. There is just something about not wanting my baby to get shots, so I put it off just a little to give her some more time. The girl is smart. Super smart. Her baby senses went off right when we walked in the room. She became very irritable and she knew shots were coming. She also had to get her blood drawn to check for anemia. Boo. It was horrible today. Usually I can contain myself and fight back the tears. But today was just too hard for me. I broke down after she was held down and pokes in the arm by the nurse trying to get her vein for the blood draw and then she got two shots one in each leg. After that I started to cry. There is just something about seeing your baby in pain that tears at a mama's heart. Poor Carly. I took this picture of her when the nurse was checking her arms for a good vein to draw from. Normally, I would never take a picture at the doctor's  but her frown ironically made me smile. She was just too cute. But right after this was no laughing matter!

Two-sies

These two are my little bookworms. Snapped this photo the other day when both Caleb and Aubrie were reading their books in Caleb's bed. "Two" Cute.

Our evening bedtime ritual is our sweet baby climbing in bed with us for some snuggle time. LOVE these precious moments of our last little one enjoying some mommy/daddy time. Though when Mitch is home, she prefers her daddy!

Naps

The other day was a first for me ever. And for the kids. Every one of them took a nap at the same time! It was a little bit of heaven for me:) Usually one of the older kids cons me into not making them lay down but this day was a day that a nap was much needed by each of them and even for mom. It was really such a nice treat. I couldn't help but sneak a peek of each of these little angels while they were sleeping.

Loves...

Recital 2011 "Fairies"

This year's recital was called The Quest for the Medallion. It was written by Aunt Judy and Aunt Becky about a girl and her quest to find a medallion to make her sister well. Along the way she meets lots of different kinds of fairies. Aubrie was a Autumn Fairy and Brynley was a flower fairy. Such beautiful fairies if I might say so myself. Aubrie did amazing- smiling and did so great! Brynley did great too. She was so serious during her performances though. It was funny:) A huge Thanks to the Aunts for making the recital once again amazing!

Papa and Nana came out to see their little fairies and we spent the day with them yesterday. Had such a great time! Always laughing and good conversation. Thanks so much again for coming out for the girls and making their night special.

Nearly 30...

I never put pictures up of myself on my blog. Mainly because I am always the one taking the pictures. So here I am. I cut 7 inches off of my hair recently and also dyed it much darker. I think I am going through my "I am not going to welcome thirty nicely" phase. I cant believe next month I will hit the big 3-0. Ugh. I dont know why I seem to be dreading it but I am. Maybe because I feel like I have so much more to accomplish in life that I didnt seem to get done in my 20's. I have a list of things I want to do in my 30's that I will share next month:)

Fountain Fun

Carly kept trying to drink the water!

Yesterday my friend Monique called and invited  us to meet up at the park to have lunch and to let the kids play together at the water fountain park. Of course I jumped on the chance to hang with our dear friends, so we changed our plans and headed over to the park. All the kids had a blast playing and enjoying our time together. Thanks Mimi for the invite:)  

Told you so...

At least she has found the stuff that really goes on your lips:)

Surprise!

Well, after the previous post. I decided I needed to take a break from everything and join my hubby in Durango for the weekend! I went up on friday afternoon and came back this morning. Mitch had classes all day yesterday and so I made a day of it-ALONE! I went and got my hair done and got my very first european facial! It was amazing! It was such a nice treat for myself. Then I met up with my friend Rebecca who lives there. She had a sweet baby girl recently and I got to spend some time with her and meeting baby Brooklyn. Such a beautiful baby! And it was so nice to walk and talk with Becca. I have missed you dear friend. She just one of those people that you dont seem to miss a beat with and I feel really comfortable around. Also much needed!

Mitch made reservations at East by Southwest for dinner and was soo good! One of my favorite meals ever.Wonderful sushi rolls and japanese cuisine. We walked downtown Durango and it was just such a great night together. Laughing our butts off and just being together without kids was wonderful. Don't get me wrong I missed my lovies so much. I was so happy to see them this morning.

Thanks hunee for treating me to a weekend alone.Thanks for being such an amazing husband.

The Weekend of Memorial

This past week Caleb did lots of umpiring. He had six games that he got to work. He umpires younger boys, ages 7-8. He has really been having fun with it and I am so happy he found a little summer job to keep him occupied and some good work experience in. I ran into an friend today and she said that he had umpired her son's game last week and wanted me to know how good he did. That made me happy and Caleb happy:) He also started baseball camp yesterday at the Strikezone with Adam Morrissey. Caleb and him have become good buds. So on top of his baseball games and all of this, he has been busy. But dont worry he still has been finding time to hang with his buds. Oh and he mowed and weedwacked the lawn for his old man tonight. Did a super job. Love that thoughtful kid.  

Cal calling an "out"!

Memorial day weekend was full of baseball games, Riverfest, sickly me, and cranky kids. Mitch was working to top it all off, so I had my hands full all weekend long. I took the girls to Riverfest by myself and met my mom and phil down there for a stroll. The girls insisted on riding the barrel train and Carly absolutely loved it! It was so funny to watch how funny she was about it, all smiles and giggles, turning the steering wheel and loving every minute of it. Loved watching her!

I havent been feeling that well lately. Tired. Over worked, under paid:) Haha. I love being a mom but lately it sure has been tough. I am grateful for so much in my life, that I dont want to seem or even be ungrateful. But life can bring its challenges and lately I have been challenged. But I believe we grow through these trials and only become stronger and have a much clearer outlook on life.