Alex gets Baptized!!

Alex made the honorable choice to be baptized.  We are so proud of him and the awesome choice he made.  We love him! We are blessed as a family to have him! He has such a great heart and so many qualities that I look up to him for. He teaches us new things everyday. 

Sara's Balloons

On July 27th, we as a family, get balloons, write notes on them, and then let them go. We do this every year. We have the last 2 years.  It's been a great way for us to heal after my sister Sara passed away.

Sara passed away unexpectedly on July 27th, two years ago. It was a blow to all of my family, including my own little family.  We write a note to Sara on our balloons, shed a tear, and let them go.

Just like we have to let go of our pain. We visit it each year because we still miss her. But, the holes in our heart are getting smaller each year. We still long to have her here with us, but it's getting easier to celebrate her life and not be so angry.

We love you Sara and miss you all the time.

We hope you liked your balloons.

Not my favorite day...

Today is not one of my favorite days. In fact, I dread today. I have for the past 2 years. From the time I got the early morning call from my dad.  Whenever today comes around, I carry a lump in my throat, a knot in my stomach, and a feeling of the wind being knocked out of me.  Today will come and go. Nothing will change the outcome of today; except for the fact that I am always grateful for my blessings and the "little" things that happen. I am grateful my brother was here today. It was a wonderful surprise and I loved him being close. Helped make today just a bit more bearable. Tonight we will have a picnic dinner with daddy at work, and we will do our traditional letting go of pink balloons with little notes written on the outside.

We love you Sara and miss you everyday. Today is just the day it hurts the most.

Alex our Scout

Alex turned 8! He not only is getting Baptized in August, but he also has become a Scout! He had his first Pack Meeting and received a few new merit badges. 

He also completed his Bobcat requirements. He was accepted into the Pack! Dad got to paint Bobcat marks on his chin. 

He also had an arrow broken over his shoulder. He got the feather end of the arrow and once he receives his "Arrow of Light", he will get the other end of the arrow. It's a great accomplishment and gives him something really awesome to work on.  




















































 We are so proud of Alex and his excitement to begin the Scouting Program. He can follow in his dads footsteps...and become and Eagle Scout! 

Way to go Alex! We love you!

In Arizona

We are in Arizona. It's awesome. It's hot. It's exhausting. We have done a lot of swimming, eating, walking, talking, and laughing. We are having a blast.

Last night I got to hang out with a few of my favorite people. People I don't get to see very often. It was exactly what I needed; after a 11.5 hour drive down. Of course, I forgot to take my camera. 

I did take pictures of the my water babies today. I will post more tomorrow. Looking forward to hanging out with my brothers and their families tomorrow, more walking, more swimming, and more eatting!

We are having a blast...heat and all!

I Know...

I know, it's been too long since I've posted, and some people out there are still waiting for pictures from the rest of our trip. They will come. Eventually!

Tonight though, it's about being grateful.

Life has been...well, pretty crazy. I have quit my job and have been working from home for 3 weeks now. I LOVE it. I am so grateful for the opportunity to stay home with my children. I know these opportunities are few and far between. We are very lucky and blessed that this one came along.

Because I get to work from home and my schedule is flexible, I've been able to start an exercise program that I LOVE too. It's a workout unlike any I've tried. But it's more than a workout for me. It's about mind over matter. Finding my confidence and knowing what I am actually able to accomplish. And it's ALL me. No one else is going to do my 185 squats for me. If I want them, I have to work for them. And it feels good.

I'm grateful for my friends. Girlfriends that introduced me to my ever-loving workouts. One girl in particular that we have been friends for the past 14 years. Funny how our friendship started. We aren't the "say all our feelings" kinda friends. After my sister died,  we didn't talk much. We didn't have to. She came up to me, handed me a tile with some writing on it. The tile said it all: "A friend walks in when the world walks out". Nothing else needed to be said. I knew all I needed to know.  Another friend; after meeting in HS, became good friends. We lost contact for awhile there, but when the timing was right, we got it back. And it's as if it never dropped off..except we are so much funnier now! My day doesn't seem complete without at least 5 texts from her. (Thank goodness for unlimited texts!) I am a few very close friends. My friends have become family. I am grateful for each friendship that I have. I have also been blessed with a few "new" friendships. I love the things that these girls bring to my life. It feels good to laugh.

I am grateful for my extended family. My own family as well as Kevin's family. I think it's more the ab-normal to get along so well with your in-laws. I love mine! I was very blessed to have married into such a great family. And my own family. I couldn't have asked for 2 better parents. I am grateful for the relationship that I have with my parents. I look forward to our Sunday afternoon chats. I love and look forward to going running early in the mornings with my dad when we go to Arizona to visit. I love that I can talk jewelry with my mom! I have great brothers that I love very much. I probably don't tell them often enough. They have pretty awesome families as well. I am grateful we all get along and enjoying spending time together.

I am grateful for my husband that works hard. He is so good at what he does. I love that our kids adore him. In fact, it pretty likely that when he's sitting down he'll have at least 1 or 2 kids sitting on his shoulders, his lap, or climbing all over him. He is patient and doesn't shoo them away, he welcomes the fun! I am grateful for his understanding of things. (He understands way more than I do!) I love that he is so handy. I love that he fixes everything. I love our compromises and the way he makes me laugh. (What to do, now that Biggest Loser is over...that's the show we always watched together.) I am grateful for my husband.

I am grateful for my children. I had an awesome moment with them today. We got to participate in the Special Olympic Torch Run. We got to run with special needs kids and Officer's. It's the 3rd year I've participated. This year, we took all the kids. We rode in a trailer with some of the special needs kids. We got to watch these kids run, bike, and run some more. Their determination was inspiring. It must have inspired B and Alex because before I knew it, they were asking to get out and run. And run they did! Alex ended up running about a mile. B did about 1.5 miles. She kept right up front too, with all the runners. I jumped off with about a mile to go before we handed the torch off to another city's officers. As we rounded the corner to head into the park for the pass-off B was running next to me. I looked back to see Alex come running up the side. And Kevin and Luke were right behind him. We all got to run into the park together. It was a pretty awesome experience for all of us. B and I carried on with Lehi City for a bit. B kept me going. My kids inspire me everyday. They make me want to be a better mom. I am so grateful to be a mother to these 3 amazing children. The sky is the limit with these 3!

Lastly, I'm grateful for the different blogs that I have access to read. Some are purely for entertainment. There's one in particular that I find a lot of advice, example, sympathy, and love from. This one has made me do a lot of pondering. Made me think about what I can change in myself to be better; to do better; to be a better mother. She's a mother to 8, that's right 8 kids. And to her, it's just another day-in-the-life. We live quite similar lives. Our husband are away from home some nights and we are left to single parent. Sometimes, when I feel like I've had enough...I find myself reading her blog and seeing that she has more kids than I do... and she's doing it. I appreciate her quiet confidence. She has no idea how grateful I am for her blog. (It's on my list to send her a thank you...one of these days!)

Anyway, when I've written some of the things that I am thankful for, it is a lot. And I am grateful. I am blessed. I am a better person for the people that are in my life. I am grateful for each one of you.

Our Adventure Began...

I can't get the captions under the pictures, so I'll just have to go from top to bottom.

After our 2 day delay in Minnesota, we were finally able to make it over to England. We arrived in London and picked up our rental car and drove straight to Birmingham England. We got in to town and Kev of course was looking for the first Fish & Chip shop. No luck finding one that was open though. The quest was on then.. to find as many fish shops as we could. 

Kevin's cousin Joanne and his aunt Iris were waiting for us to arrive. Jo had made us a traditional English Breakfast. It was really good. It was sausage, eggs, bacon, hash browns, beans, and tomatoes. Kevin and Rob were in heaven. Jo has 2 of the cutest little boys ever. It was fun to have boys crawling all over us. Reminded us of home! Of course, Iris couldn't get enough hugs from her favorite nephew! After leaving Jo and Iris's house, we drove around Birmingham and Kev showed us some of the places he used to hang out. 

Then we made it over to his friend Pete's house. It was late, but we stayed up for a bit and had a chat and a good laugh. Kev and Pete picked up just like they were young lads again. I think I even heard a little bit of his accent come back! Pete's family was lovely and it was nice to visit with them. They children were so cute with their English accents! I loved hearing them talk. 

Then we drove around the town a bit more before heading back to London. I loved the picture of the car. The big "L" on the back of it is a driver just learning to drive. I think we should adopt something like that here. At least you'd have a heads up! 

Then we went past the Chapel that Kev and Pete help build when they were younger and also the Mission Home. We stopped and chatted with one of the Elder Missionaries and he was from Logan Utah. (We met lots of people from Utah on our journey!) 

We had a great time in Birmingham. We wished we could have stayed longer. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but we enjoyed seeing all of it!