99/365

Avery had her kindergarten orientation today.

She was one VERY EXCITED little girl.

(We had to have a very detailed discussion that she wasn't actually STARTING kindergarten today)

Here she is with her best friend Sam.  If I have my way, Sam will be my son in law someday. 

He is literally the sweetest kid I have EVER met! 

98/365

Today I spent most of the day working on wedding cakes.  Days like this I feel bad that my kids are being babysat by the television.  When the two oldest were at school, I took some time to just sit and play ball with Brighton.  Then later, he helped me make dinner.
Those little moments were the highlight of my day.  We had so much fun.
I need to remember the small things on my busy days.  It's what life's all about.

97/365

Another spectacular Daddy Daughter Day
Avery played "hookie" from preschool and went skiing with Brian today.
She skiied all day, then went to Zupas for a late lunch.  What could make the day better?
She also made her own "kicker" aka a jump, she was very proud that she could ski on the big hill (she doesn't think Kaden could do), her hockey stops are awesome, and she swore she wasn't tired on the way home only to be snoring a couple minutes later.

What would we do without daddy??? Life is pretty great around here.

96/365

A silly thing to blog about, but I'm doing the happy dance today because the school bus now picks up kids right in front of our house!!!
I can't tell you how AWESOME this is!

On a more "blog worthy" note.....  I've got the cutest boys ever!

95/365

Every time I leave town for any given amount of time,  our house turns into "Clingy World"
Bright wouldn't leave my side today.  He cried when I opened the garage to take out the garbage, and when I put him down for a nap, he said, "Mom, don't leeeeeeve me"!

I'm going to miss these days when they don't need me as much.

94/365

The worst part about coming home....
 87 degrees yesterday in St. George..... 35 driving home today.  Spring in Utah... I just don't get it.

The best part of coming home......
Huge hugs and kisses,  An adorable welcome home sign and kids begging for their presents.  Life away for a few days makes being a mom even better.

92-93/365

For the past two days, this was my life.

A good book.
An awesome Husband.
Sleeping In.
Palm Trees
Warm Weather
and best of all......
NO KIDS!!!!!

91/365

Had to make a cake tonight.
Connor decided he was going to be spoiled.
Can I tell you how difficult it is to cut out fondant pieces and shape them while holding an infant?

Ahhhh the joys of motherhood.

On another note...
Kade came home with this adorable little number today.  One might say, "What does a 1st grader learn in computer class??"   Well, they learn to use the camera and put speech bubbles on their heads.

Hilarious!  (on the picture where it says, "I am mad" he told me that he was trying to hold his breath so his face would be bright red in the picture. What a funny kid)

90/365

It's another first.

Ok.. so it's not a REAL sit up.  He's kinda balancing on his tummy, but it's still adorable.

On a side note, today Avery had Show and Tell.  She decided to take Connor.  She was so excited to show off her baby brother.  I wish I would have had my camera.

The real miracle would have been if Avery would have wanted to show off Brighton.  

Ya!! Never gonna happen.  

89/365

Today my heart broke as a mom.
It was one of those moments that I know I needed to help teach a lesson, but all I wanted to do was cry.

Here's the story.
Kaden has been doing Karate the past 6 months. He LOVES it! Tonight was his "graduation" from his yellow belt to his orange belt. He has been soooo excited for this night.  It's about the only thing he's talked about for the last couple weeks. He told all his friends that he'd be getting his orange belt tonight, Brian got a little time off work to come and see him, grandma Becky came by his class, Avery even prayed for him this morning and said, "bless Kaden that he will get his orange belt". We were all so excited.

Well.....
He didn't earn his orange belt.

When they called his name, they gave him his 100% attendance star and a certificate saying he is now a 2nd Degree yellow belt. My heart sunk.
Kaden (the tender and proud little guy he is) ran over to Brian and I with a smile on his face and gave us a hug (no other kid did that) and said, "I'll be getting my orange belt at the end". Ahhh! I barely could hold back the tears. He was going to be so disappointed. I felt so hurt for him. It was a feeling I don't think I've had as a mom yet.
The class went on, and pretty soon he started realizing other kids were getting their belts and he wasn't.  When all the kids were asked to stand up and change their belts, he and his buddy Ryder were asked to come over to the teacher.  She put a black piece of tape on their belts and told them they were now 2nd Degree black belts. All Kaden could say was, "uhhh... after yellow belt, it's orange belt".  The teacher then had to tell him he didn't pass his test so he didn't get to have his orange belt yet.
Now... his heart sunk.
(crap... I'm crying just writing this post!)
The rest of class, he looked sober and kept his head down.  He kept blinking like he was trying to hold back tears. He came over to me and said, he didn't earn his orange belt.  I knew I just needed to put a smile on my face and tell him what a good job he had done.  I was so proud of him, but  all I wanted to do was hold him and take away all his disappointment.  We put smiles on our faces and told him how proud we were that he was a 2nd degree.  It was hard.
 As I was watching him in class, I couldn't help but feel the hurt my parents had for me the first time I didn't make the school play or when I was benched on the softball team.  I knew they felt bad for me, but I had never realized how bad it hurts to see your kids when they are heartbroken. Wow!!! It really sucks.
The crazy thing is.... despite how much I wanted to take that pain away from Kaden, I also realized what a good lesson this would be for him.  Having him not pass this test will help him realize that he has to work hard. The best things in life don't come easy.  He loves karate. And now I think he will appreciate it even more because of this experience.
 Brian told him some great advise that I hope that he will always remember.  It's this advise that made me want to write this (super long) post on our 365 blog.  So Kaden... in years to come, read this post and remember what your dad taught you tonight.
He told you that now that you have to re-do this class, you will learn it better and you will have the potential to be the very best yellow belt student.  He told you that you will appreciate your orange belt so much more because you had to work so hard for it.
He then told you that he could go and buy you an orange belt, or even a black belt. He asked if you thought those belts would mean anything to you. Dad told you that the reason those belts are so special is because all the hard work it took to get them. The real honor is the work... not the color of the belt.
So... as hard as it was to see you hurt and disappointed tonight, I think it was a lesson well learned.  Not just for you, but for me and dad too.  As a parent, we have to be able to support, love, hug, cry and think positive.  Teach our kids to be strong while giving them a shoulder to cry on.  We can't just be negative and put the blame on others.. we need to help lift up our kids head and get them out there to try harder.  This is what will make them strong, confident and successful in all their endeavors.
Kaden.... I love you so much. I am very,very, very proud of you! I'm hurt when you hurt, but I gain strength by watching you pick yourself back up.  You are only 7 years old and you haven't had too many disappointments in life yet, but I know when you do have to face them, know that your dad and I will always be there for you.   You are one awesome son!

88/365

Dear Future Me.

I have one question for you.
Do Avery and Brighton STILL pester and bug each other over and over and over and over and over again?

Have I gone crazy yet?
Because Present Me is about ready to lose it.

87/365

Today I actually learned something in church. Most days its just a lot of running around chasing kids or trying to keep them reverent.  Today, we had a cute senior missionary speak to us in Sacrament Meeting.  He told the primary kids that they were right where their Heavenly Father wanted to be at that moment.  As I thought about that, I changed my attitude about church.  Yes I'm chasing kids for 3 hours. Yes, I spend more time looking at coloring books and passing out treats than I do listening, but I am here.  My kids are here.  We are where we need to be on Sunday's. It gave me a clearer perspective on the importance of being there each week.
Thank you for the little kick in the behind.


We also had a great lesson tonight from dad.
The kids learned about honesty.
Brian told them that when we aren't honest, it's like we are getting tied up tighter and tighter and it's very hard to get out of the ropes of Satan.  We need Jesus to "cut through" the ropes that bind us.

The kids loved the object lesson.
(I love Avery's face. She's listening to every word Brian is saying. So cute)

86/365

We tried rice cereal today.

He doesn't look too impressed.

85/365

Late Over Fun!  A little organized Chaos makes the best parties.
We had a couple extra this week.  Sadee and Kenzlee joined in on the fun.

These two are best little buddies.  We sure with Sadee was a "Sohm" cousin so Abby could have a cousin her age.  They thought it was super cool that they both had on purple peace jammies.

84/365

I'm going to try and not make every post be about Brighton, but if he doesn't get out of the terrible 3's pretty quick, we might be seeing alot of his adorably cute, knotty face.... or the blog will be dormant because I will have gone crazy!  On the positive side, he does give me a lot to blog about :)

After yesterday's flower picking, the day before's, telling me he was going to beat me up...
today he peeled the entire bunch of bananna's and left them on the floor, opened a bag of chips, ate some and then poured them on the floor, (these two events took place before 8:30 in the morning)
Grabbed a loaf of bread and took it in his room without me knowing. When I went in to put him to bed, there were 6-7 hard stale pieces of bread on the floor.  He spilled a box of candy all over the floor. He decided it would be fun to jump OVER Connor while he was laying on the floor. (I'm glad I was right there for that one), He went in the fridge and got  into a container of strawberries (I had bought about an hour before) and eat one bit of every single one and then put them in the garbage while I was helping Kaden with homework, he took out EVERY SINGLE ONE of his diapers from the drawer and started throwing them in the air.  When I told him to put them away, he said, No mom... I'm playing with them! He got up over and over and over again tonight (again)... then when Brian got home from work, he had the guts to slowly come tip toeing in with a sly grin on his face and said to Brian, "Dad, I just want to give you a hug and kiss!"   (he knows how to work it doesn't he?)

I tell you what! 2 1/2 years old is my favorite stage of all time.  3 years old is pretty great too, but you hit 3 years 3 months and life is a different story.  I'm exhausted.  This kid is going to drive me to drink.

I love you Bright, but this weeks been tough.

self control experiment 1

it's time for an experiment
I have realized the last little bit that all the things about myself that I struggle with all stems back to having no self control.

I eat what I want. I clean when I want. I shop when I want. I pray when I want. I play with my kids when I want.... etc. etc. etc.
It all boils down to the fact that I have a bunch of kids that I'm the boss for, but no one is my boss.  I have no one that I have to report to.  It's not a good thing for me.
Im a rule based learner.  I succeed and push myself when I know there is someone that will be checking in on my progress.  It's not that I need to be babysat through life, I just need to figure out how to let my better, more focused and inspired self be my boss.  I need to learn that within MYSELF I can gain the self control to overcome weaknesses and bad habits.
Soooooo.... I've decided to challenge myself to several "Self Control Experiments" over the course of this year.  In doing so, I hope to prove to myself that I have power to control the good things in my life and not let laziness have all the power.
I may not look lazy on the outer appearances with 4 little kids, having my own business and being in the primary presidency, but I am lazy with the things that matter most in growing as an individual.
I'm "lazy" in that I don't take time to go to the gym
I'm "lazy" because I let my kids watch hours of tv because it's easier
I'm "lazy" with saying my prayers because I'm too tired
I'm "lazy" so I don't read my scriptures.
I'm "lazy" to think of healthy things to cook for dinner, so I always fall back on eating out or fast unhealthy foods I can cook in minutes.
The list could go on and on.... but I don't want to focus on that anymore. I want to focus on the thought that I CAN overcome my lack of motivation to be better.  I know it will be hard, but I'm ready for the challenge. I just think I need to prove to myself that I can have self control over small and simple things, and in doing that I can overcome anything.

So, my first Self Control Experiment for 2011 is.........
No Television during the week. Only on Saturday Night.  Nothing on Sunday.

83/365

I was so excited to have daffodils growing in the garden.

And then I heard, "Mommy! Look at the pretty flowers!"

 (sigh)

Every single one of them left this earth way too soon. 

82/365

Don't have much to report today except to say that Brighton told me he was going to beat me up because I had to take his "guankey" away from him again tonight at bedtime.

Seriously... he said, "mom, I'm going to beat you up. Give me my guankey!"

Oh boy.

81/365

We got a cute little nephew today.
Madden Jacob Larsen
Connor is going to have a buddy :)

He's so cute.

80/365

wow. wow. wow.

My parents told us a surprise today.  Something we've been wanting for longer than I can remember.

THEY BOUGHT A HOUSEBOAT AT LAKE POWELL!!!!!

There is no other place in the world that I have more memories from than Lake Powell.
It is my happy place.  

I have spent 36 years going to Lake Powell camping in a tent. (yes, I went when I was just a couple months old)

This is going to rock! My kids will be able to have the same memories I had.  I am soooooooooo excited. 

Thank you mom and dad!!!