Week 7: Sisters

There are lots of things that come with a house full of sisters. Sharing closets full of clothes and shoes, fighting over the bathroom (unless your dad is a contractor and smart enough to build you all your own!) perfume-lotions & potions, creams & products, laughing and crying and then laughing again, the constant friend or boyfriend drama, fighting and pulling hair, and having built in best friends that love you- despite your quirks.

My girls LOVE each other. Kate and Meg share a room and when Meg gets scared she climbs in bed with Kate. They wake up (early) in the morning and just start playing. Annie recently got her own room, and both she and Kate cried the first night they slept in separate rooms. They all love to snuggle with each other and they are very supportive of each other.

And they currently have a bad case of the GIGGLES! It has lasted for weeks and be careful - its contagious!

Week 6: Super Mario Family

One of our very favorite family activities (esp. when mom is at work or sleeping) is playing Super Mario Kart. We love it so much that we decided to be Mario Kart characters last year for Halloween (while I was taking my blog-cation- so I never up loaded a picture).

They usually try and talk me into playing by letting me be Peach- as I prefer the bikes. The girls love it when Dan will play with them and they are actually pretty good at it.

I am not sure where this tradition of a family theme came from or how long it will last but it sure is fun. Check us out as the Wizard of Oz, and M&M's.

Week 5: Groundhog Day

Who knew I would ever wish that my life could be just life groundhog day!! I made a comment in church on Sunday about the difficulty being reverent in Church with little kids and many of the older ladies offered their encouragement in the form of "this too shall pass."

But I don't want it to. There are LOTS of parts of being the mom that are hard. But there are sweet tender moments in my daily life that I wish would never end.

swimming meets pottytraining sweet kisses

Meg got an american girl doll for Christmas. Her name is Kimberly. She goes everywhere with us . . . to dance, or errands, and has lunch with us. Meg is my baby- and I want her to stop growing. I could have an almost 4 year old forever. She tells me that she has to grow up so that she can be a mom- but she promises that "even when I am big mom- I will will still be your friend."

Kate is sweet little thing. I love bundling her up for her walk to school. As we are loading up her backpack and tying the scarf around her neck she asks me (almost daily) if I have thought about getting a dog yet. I kiss her on the nose and tell her- not yet Kate, not yet.

Annie got her own room for Christmas. With it comes her own space and independence. This is her corkboard. She has designed it all by herself. I know that it will morph and change to pictures of friends and boys and popular fashion- but right now she has a baby picture of herself, school pictures of her sisters, her scripture reading chart, ribbons from swim meets and a picture of Jesus. LOVE this girl. Wish that she could stay 9 (and almost perfect) forever.

As I have been reading back over old posts I found last years resolutions. It made me laugh because I was complaining about the "groundhog" feel to my life, but guess what? since then I have bought a camera and borrowed from the shoebox in my drawer for a gym membership, and signed up for my first 1/2. Thanks Ash- nothing could get me off the couch faster than a chance to run with you!

Week 4:Encouragement

I have been sick for over two weeks now: strep, a strange rash (drug reaction vs. scarlet fever?) and then a nasty head cold.



Current symptoms: runny rose, head congestion, muscle aches and DISCOURAGEMENT.



I will spare you the details and sum it up by saying I was having A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I just wanted to climb back into my bed and cry.



But here comes: Meg! Eating blueberries by the handfulls, smiling and laughing at me despite my grumpiness- not such a terrible day after all!

Week 3: Snowmen at Night

Do you ever wonder what snowmen do at night? We sure did after spending an afternoon participating in a fundraising event to set a new world record for most snowmen built in an hour.




We set a new record- but in a category that doesn't exist yet . . . hmmmmmm- not quite sure how that works.

They had to be four feet tall with two (oreo) eyes and a carrot nose. We helped build about 10 of the 1279 snowmen. Some were blue. why you ask? because they were cold (hahahaha) and some were celebrating a "40th" birthday.

who knew we could be so tired after playing in the snow for an hour!

P.S. we LOVE the book "Snowmen at Night" by Caralyn Buehner

Week 2: Baby Charlotte

My sister Courtney and her husband Scott welcomed Charlotte Louise on January 4th. She is beautiful and perfect.

I was lucky enough to be at work for most of Courtney's labor. I worked some charge nurse magic and ensured that she had only the best. As a Labor and Delivery nurse I am witness at many births and it is always a miracle. (Both Courtney's nurse and doctor said that it was one of their favorite deliveries they had ever been apart of because of the love and support they saw from Scott and my family. Their cute delivery nurse was emotional telling me about my dad putting out a hand to congratulate Scott and then pulling him into a hug) There is something powerful about family welcoming in a new baby- a new and forever part of our family. It is re-newing and makes life seem so simple and clear.

What a blessing! Congrats Courtney & Scott. Can't wait to see her running around in pigtails!

** another favorite L&D memory recently was when one of our resident's wives came in to deliver baby #3. They have two boys at home and didn't find out what they were having. The delivery was a little "intense" and when the room feel silent someone asked "is it a boy or a girl?" the dad choked out a quiet "it's a girl" and the entire room - erupted in cheers! It is a blessing, I treasure, to be apart of families sacred moments of welcoming new babies into the world!

Week 1: Families Helping Families

Dan & I spent the week between Christmas and New Years building a house for a deserving family in Mexico. We spent most of our time with the Carrillo family putting their roof on. (The house had been built this summer but not finished due to funding) Kallie and I were the roofing queens and had so much fun, hard tar and all.

And since this is more my journal than anything I also want to use this year to remember how blessed we are as a family.

Two amazing things happened this year with our trip. First off, was our campaign to raise money for the foundation. I was humbled almost daily for weeks as neighbors and friends dropped off checks, checks came in the mail with Christmas cards and total strangers donated money. It completely changed my approach to Christmas as I saw an outpouring of generosity and love. I was witness to so many tender mercies as I watched people give of themselves and their money. It made my entire Christmas- so THANK YOU again to all those who helped. It was AMAZING.

And second, at the end of a great week, Dan & I and another couple were driving home and we had made it as far as Kingman Az when we stopped for dinner. On our way into the restaurant our friend realized he didn't have his wallet. He and Dan spent 20 minutes with flashlights digging through the "car trip" packed truck in hopes of finding the wallet. Our New Years Eve dinner was spent in silence with our friend on the phone canceling his credit cards. Our Las Vegas New Years Eve plans had already lost their steam so we decided after dinner to drive back and see if it had fallen out of the car when we had taken a quick pit stop on the side of the road.

We said a prayer and texted our kids to pray as well - and we turned around to search for a black wallet on an unknown length of highway in the pitch dark . As we drove back we all remembered details about the stop that we had not previously recalled. We narrowed it down to 15 mile stretch of highway- two lanes, with no shoulder, a few bushes and a ledge. There were very few areas that fit every one's description so we decided to make a second pass at this 15 miles. This time we went a little bit further before turning around to retrace our steps. Now remember there are small wallet size black things all along the side of the road- tar, and pieces of tire. Dan and JD jumped out of the car multiple times and then we drove very slowly on the shoulder. JD saw the wallet before he was even out of the car. He jumped out and hooted and hollered and we celebrated like it was 1999! We were relieved to find the wallet (with cash inside) and know that our little prayer in the desert was answered.