Katie turns 8

It's been a busy, crazy, fun year!

Emily's birthday Video

I can't believe my oldest little is double digits now! The time is going too fast, but I wouldn't want it any other way! The older they get, the more they become my best friends!

Lilli turns 15

This has been such a great year! I am so excited for the next!

Maggie turns 13

A tribute video to Maggie's 12th year.

Katie's Birthday Video

Katie is our little spit fire. We are so blessed to have her in our life. She teaches us patience and tolerance. She keeps us on our toes. 

She is her own girl. Strong. Confident. Energetic. Brave. Loving. 

We love her. 

Maggie's Spring Recital Performance

Maggie's ability to amaze me keeps growing.
Her growth this year was beyond my expectations.
Sorry the picture is so small. She starts the dance on the left.
Next semester she is on point! She is so excited.
We are thrilled with our little dancers!
And we are thrilled with our dance Company!
Go check them out!
www.moddanceacademy.com

Emily's Spring Dance Recital

She is the 2nd dance from the left at the beginning of the dance.

Emily had a great time in dance this semester.  She loves it. She has really blossomed in it. Next semester she is going on to harder ballet. Out of the fun class and into the "beginner ballet" class at MoD Dance Academy. She will be learning faster and Miss Tammy will be stretching her and helping her to grow in a more advanced way! Emily is so excited for this new challenge!

Lilli turns 14

 

What a year this girl has had. So many bumps in her road.

 She is a fighter. she has grown and overcome so much this year.

She is turning into such a strong, confidant girl. 

I am proud of her. 

Happy Birthday Sweety!

Maggie's Birthday Video

Happy Birthday Maggie.

You have such a fire. And you let it burn bright.

Light up, so that they can't put it out!

Love you!

Katie's Birthday video

 

I can not believe that my baby is 6!

In a few weeks she will be in the 1st grade. 

I have loved having her home, but I welcome this next phase of my life with open arms!

I'm glad for all the growth she has done this year,  and am excited for all 

the growth she will do this year.

I'm so lucky to have four beautiful daughters.

I love watching them grow.

Emily turns 8

What a difference a year can make. It always astounds me how much they grow up and change in a year. I don't notice it until I make the videos each year. It's crazy. Emily in particular looks so little in the beginning. but by the end you can tell it has definitely been a year!
Emily will be baptized in  4 weeks.
She is so excited! As are we! Love this time of life!

Lilli Turns 13

Where does the time go?

When Lilli was born, my older sister, Leisha, sent me a letter. In that letter there were 3 little pictures of her then 3 kids. On the back of her oldest child's picture it said, "Kali, age 5. In a blink of an eye your own will be 5 and starting kindergarten. It goes by that fast."
Kali got married on May 4th.
It has been a blink of my eye.
 I still remember holding Lilli in my arms for the 1st time. I still remember so vividly that kindergarten picture of Kali and that sweet warning from my big sister. "In a blink of an eye"... she will be a teen!
I know that it only goes faster...in a blink of an eye she will be dating. In a blink of an eye she will be  graduating high school. And, in a blink of eye she will be in the same place I was 13 years ago, holding her 1st child for the 1st time...
What a ride mother hood is!
It starts slow and steady, but like any good ride, it takes on speed, has twists and turns, and bumps and falls and great climbs with beautiful views...
All enhancing the ride.
 Enjoy the ride!

oh, and if you are still reading this...in the song I picked for her, the artist says, "a vision of ecstasy". I wanted to find a music editing tool to erase that bit. But, didn't have time. So, in your mind, think..."vision of purity". Thanks!

Maggie's Birthday Video

It seems like this is the only thing lately that goes on my blog.
But it is tradition for me to make a video every year for my girls
and show it to them on the morning of their birthday as they eat
their special birthday breakfast.
I love making these for them. It fills my heart with love for them,
and I know they feel that love as they watch!
Happy Birthday, Maggie! I love you so much!

Moments That Matter Most

                                                                             

I have been thinking a lot about this concept in the last few weeks.
I have felt depression and very very busy.

Last year, I reached a lot of limits on how much I felt like I could do. I had 3 church callings, and all 4 kids in sports. I was a mess. I screamed... a lot. I cried, a lot. I forgot to turn to the Lord, a lot.  I turned away a lot of photography jobs, and felt like I was slipping into a blurred state of driving kids around, and never having and real time with any one of my family members. So, We decided to start scaling back.
First, Lilli quit soccer, on her own accord, and I thought..."Phew, I can slow down a pace." But it didn't slow down.
So, we took Katie and Emily out of soccer.
This helped so much. But, Maggie was still in club ball, and I was running around with just her 3-4 days a week, leaving Lilli to watch the little girls. It wasn't right yet. I felt too much pull, too much stress.
I prayed for guidance, for a way to be a better mother, to not feel so much stress. And I waited.
A few weeks later, Maggie broke her foot.  I know, sounds like my stress should have gone up...but, in those months of healing, we found each other.
WE didn't know it, didn't realize it, but our family was in pain. It was broken.
We were never together, always running around. Eating very very poorly.  Missing out on the laughter, on the simple times.
In those months of healing, we laughed. We played. We painted nails! We healed!

Now, that Maggie is healed, and she can go back to soccer, she has chosen not to. She knows, as I know, that FAMILY is the most important job. That being together, loving, and laughing, is what we need to do right now.

My kids are young. 12,10, 7, and 5.  They are not going to be young forever.
As their mother...I feel it is my duty to keep them little, to protect them from the world. To instil in them a sense of family unity and a love for the gospel.

I can't do that when my life is being pulled a dozen different directions. And I am done.

We are enjoying our life. My kids do have an activity. Each child is learning music. But that means they are each out of my house once a week for 30 minutes. Not 4 times a week for 2 hours!

I believe in Family! I know that what I am doing for mine is right for mine!
I want my children to look back on their childhoods with fondness. I want them to remember a mother who was happy, and in their life! A mother who sat on their bed and talked and laughed with them. A mother who had time to listen.

Slowing down our lives is making me that mother!

I don't care anymore about "keeping up" with other families. Let them spend bookoo bucks on sports and other things. They don't get to hang out with their kids as much as I do. They don't know what they are missing.

I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven, who listened to my prayer. Who answered my prayer. Who loves me. Who intrusted His children to MY care. I will listen to Him. I will be involved in their lives, and  I will teach them to listen to Him.

Joshua 24:15 "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve"

Katie Turned 5

Sorry, this is 3 weeks late. 

We've been busy around here. 

She was a good sport waiting for her video. 

Happy Birthday, Emily!

I can't believe she is 7 today!

My, my.... time flies!

We love our Emi Kay

Happy Birthday Lilli!

Girl's Camp Theme song. 

I thought it was appropriate considering she is now a YW, and gets to go this year!!

Maggie....Maggie today is 10!

She is our little "Firework"

I hope she always stays that way...

she makes our lives fun and full of love!

Temple Square Lights FREAK OUT!

Let me esplain...no, there is too much.

Let me sum-up!

 We went to Utah to do 2 things...1, buy Emily a much needed dresser at IKEA for her Christmas present, and

2, go see the Temple Square Christmas Lights.

We went on Friday Night...and it was a MAD house! 

I hate crowds, and this gave me soooo much anxiety!

We did have the right cloths this time...and 3 out of the 4 kids were thankful for the layers.
Lilli was NOT excited about wearing her dorking snow gear, and her teenage side took a nasty turn.
She threw a super mega ultra fit...and it was ugly.
In the end, I won, she decided it was cold enough to wear the snow gear and put it on.

I couldn't figure out how to use the flash on my camera without it being super washed out and ugly..

.but I got a few pictures anyway to help us remember this event.

This is my favorite shot from the night. She was still sort of pissy...because we had to walk like 6 blocks.

Joe decided to park like a mile and a half away because he figured there would be no parking closer.

I think he forgot that there is a parking garage right under Temple Square... I know I did.

But this picture is so pretty.

 Here is my family, under the glow of the millions of lights. 

I don't think this will be a family tradition...

only because I had such bad anxiety about it. Crowds and me do not mix.

But it was a wonderful weekend, and lots of memories were made with my sister and her family. 

And we did get both of the objectives met!

So, not all was lost!

Dance Camp

Emily and Maggie begged to do this Nampa High Dance Camp, presented by the Drill Team.

I let them. It was cute...but if I didn't know a girl on the drill team that I was supporting,

I probably wouldn't have done it.

Here is their dance numbers.

Emily

Maggie

This is the big group final number. They performed it at the Varsity Basketball game that night.
They had fun, but like I said...it was basically for this one girl!
We will not be doing it next year.
At least they got a t-shirt out of it!