around here

This was my view for most of the second half of my day. Katy endlessly creating and drawing, Will turning up the charm for the camera (even though I'm trying to be sneaky and take a candid shot).

I spent the night downtown with my mom and sisters for our annual girls trip getaway (something we have done for my mom the last 7 years). We usually give it to her for Christmas and go in the spring. Truth be told, we already went on a getaway earlier this year, but with upcoming babies we decided the best thing to do would be to go early.

It's always nice to take some time out for yourself. Steve is a great husband in letting me do this every year, and happily reported that the kids (for the most part) were really well behaved while I was gone.

My mom, sisters and I had a lot of time to talk and catch up. My little sister is due next spring with her first and was conveying her fears of becoming a mom and having that responsibility. It's crazy when you have your own kids how you just figure it out...perhaps because there is no other way than to just dive right in (what other option do you have anyway?).

Pregnancy for me is hard in a sense that I feel a bit out of control with my emotions. I am usually a very level headed easy going (at least in my mind *wink*) kind of person. I seem to loose my patients with the littlest of things when I have a bun in the oven. I have yelled more that I would like to admit, with this pregnancy, at my kids (insert sad face). The thing is, at the end of the night they always willingly throw their arms around my neck, kiss my face and tell me they love me. Which of course melts my heart and makes me want to try even that much harder the next day to just be better.

Being away from my family doesn't make me appreciate them more, I don't need to leave them for that. Being aways from my family just makes me realize how blessed I am to get to deal with the occasional (sometimes not so occasional it feels like) fight between siblings, that Will is a kid with so much energy it seems to be bursting out of him 24 hours a day (which can be really exhausting), that Katy is the very most sweetest sibling anyone could ask for (she teaches me so much every day), and that Steve is pretty much the grandest thing to be invented since sliced bread!

I am grateful for everyday moments, around here, that I get to spend with my family. They are some of the very best people I know.

On a side note our painted leaf project was another success this year. Will even got in on the action with us.

cheers to 6 years

I can't believe this sweet girl of mine is 6 years old. When most people find out they are going to become a mom, while ecstatic, worry about raising a kid. For some reason I was not worried in the slightest about becoming a mom (as much as I was trying to figure out how I was going to get through labor!). Katy is a dream come true in the kid department. She made the transition into becoming a mother quite smooth. 

She even let Will open her presents.

would you like some cheese with that?

This picture kills me on a number of levels. I'm seriously at a loss where my kids got the "cheese" face from. Oh and they actually say "cheese" too. Will is demonstrating this as seen above.

He has been having a particularly rough go of things this week. I feel like he is not trying to be bad, but also that he knows better. I know, I know he's only 2 but I think he uses that cute face to his advantage. When I saw him taking selfies with my Instax camera again (wasting a lot of film) I got mad at him and made him sit in his room (seriously the third time this week he had some how MacGyvered my camera from the shelf). When I went to have a "Full House Moment" with him, he kept saying sorry and he gave me a big hug and kiss....which turned into lots and lots of kisses all over my face. And of course I totally melted and he had me wrapped around his finger again. This kid is going to be trouble for this sucker of a mom. Dad wasn't as moved with him when he found a pen in the back seat of his brand new truck and decided to have an art show all over the seats! Your on your own for that one buddy.

good bye mr. tooth

September 2, 2014
First Lost Tooth

As you can tell this girl was a wee bit excited about her first lost tooth. It was loose for several days, actually. I tied a piece of floss around it and she walked around all day tugging on it ever so gently. I finally convinced her, through my many years of having teeth, that I could just get it in one quick tug. That tooth went flying...we were lucky to find it. Katy and Will erupted into cheers and screams. Lucky for her the tooth fairy had a 2 dollar bills on hand. She was one happy camper when she woke up in the morning. Just another reason she is growing up too fast.

in pictures . a pretty happy preschool graduate

May 22, 2014
Preschool Graduation.

It's funny to think that a day like preschool graduation would hit you so hard. I mean it's preschool after all....but I think for me it really hit me how fast time has gone by since we welcomed Katy to the world.

I always say it, but Katy is defiantly one of a kind. I can't say enough what a neat person I think this girl is. Of course I am sure that you would chalk that up to the fact that I am her mom. But I think if you met her you would get a feel for what I am talking about.

Although Katy is scared to death of anything Halloween, and is sensitive....she is also one of the most thoughtful and caring people I know. She is always so kind to others, she is beyond excited when she can meet someone new and is instantly "best friends" with them (at least in her eyes....by that I mean complete strangers we meet at the park and are bound not to ever see again). She has a huge heart and an interest in learning anything that will fit in her head.

When we moved up to Bountiful I was not expecting this is where we would end up, as we had looked at 40+ houses pretty much all over the valley. Everything fell into place, as it should, but we found our selves moving at the end of August and all of the preschools around here were full. I was feeling pretty desperate when I found Mrs. Bri. She has been teaching for over 7 years (I believe) and had recently moved her family back from China, where her husband was in the military. She decided last minute to start her preschool up (something she wasn't sure about since she had just barley moved back). Boy am I glad I found her. We had a good experience in her last preschool...but if you know Bri then you will understand that she would BLOW any other preschool right out of the water. She was incredibly amazing and caring and is beyond gifted at what she does. I have never seen Katy more excited about learning and going to school. She had a great bunch of kids in her class and they were able to do the neatest things.

Katy was especially excited about all the Chinese she was learning. She said it was her favorite country, ha ha! At the end of the year I felt so strongly about her love of Chinese that I opted to put her into the Chinese Emersion lottery for a school that we are just barley out of bounds for. Unfortunately she did not get in, but I am grateful for all that she learned with Bri and for our experiences there. I am blessed to call her my friend.