august.  2014

wow, 17 years being married.  to me that is incredible.  incredible that i’m old enough to have been married this long, have an almost 16 year old, and a couple years away from 40.  i tell you one thing, it hasn’t been easy.  marriage is work.  the trials we have gone through have been heart wrenching.  some are still on-going-like my chronic health issues.  we have had quite a lot of hard things come our way.  i’m not saying more or less than others, but they have been very hard things.  on top of that, we don’t have any family to help us emotionally through any of it.  so we have had to rely on each other even more.  we have had good times, many trips around the world, vacations, and wonderful memories with our children.  the gospel has definitely been the fundamental “glue” that i’m not sure we would have made it through without.  it is our daily spiritual food that gives us strength to make it through whatever that day brings.  our marriage is praying together, fasting together, holding fhe and scripture study regularly, parenting together, going on dates, holding a  weekly meeting together.  we have been in a weird funk lately, and am grateful for some strategies to help us work together better and communicate better.  it’s always ongoing, which is good, because we are always growing and changing, just hopefully for the better and closer together!   i love this amazing man i am married to, and am so grateful to have gone through the things we have with him.  he is amazing, he is my best friend.  i am so grateful to have an eternal marriage with him.  love ya bud.

p.s.  having four daughters is so wonderful.  one fixed my hair, and one made us breakfast in bed.  we’ve done something right!  bicycle built for two is definitely an activity you do when you are on a “good communication” day!  it was fun, and even better, was the completely gluten free restaurant we went to, which was ahhhmazing.  thanks for a wonderful date!

august.  2014

jarom loves to run.  i don’t undertstand runners, and how they love to run.  but i love that he loves to run.  and he wants to train for an ironman.  this guy is a full time husband and father, consults for 70+ hours a week, has a church calling, and i love that he can fit in time here and there to run.  sometimes he can’t, but he decided he wanted to do a triathlon a few weeks before, and just trained a few times and did it.  i would still be out on the course somewhere, probably drowning in the water.  he’s amazing.  we loved seeing him cross the finish line, on the beautiful day it was by the reservoir.  we are proud of you daddy!

aug.  2014

i won’t get into all the reasons why i can’t stand public school…bureaucracy, red tape, propaganda, tenure, teaching for tests…yada yada yada.  but i will tell you a few reasons why i love my kids learning at home.

1.  we learn and explore things together-it’s fascinating, fun, and we make wonderful memories together.

2.  the kids grow up making memories with each other, instead of strangers that aren’t permanent in their lives.

3.  i know what they are learning, and i love instilling in them to love to learn, to be fascinated, amazed, and wonder at things.

4.  i love they each learn at their own pace, and can go faster if something interests them, and spend as much time as they’d like on it.

5.  i don’t have to check my kids out, drop them off, pick them up, run them, do homework, do parent participation at the school, wonder what my kids are learning, who they are being influenced by…

6.  i love teaching them the gospel, sitting with them in the morning, reading scriptures, memorizing important gospel essentials, teaching them manners and how to be considerate(hard to find in the world), and listening and learning about classical music with them.  it’s a lovely way to start our day!

7.  i love that we learn to understand a principle, and that we aren’t learning for a grade.

8.  i love that my children write plays and act and play together, climb trees, cook, clean, work, play, and everything in between together.

9.  i love knowing they have a safe environment to learn, without criticism(i try my best), without bullying, without rushing, without teasing.  i have more time to teach them the gospel, and give them more time for them to develop who they are and who they want to be without constant bombardment of worldly pressure.

10.  i love my kids learning proper socialization skills from me, their mother, as we go out in the world and interact with others, teaching love and sympathy, teaching kindness and service.  i have more time to do these things instead of a couple hours in the evening which would normally be filled with homework, dinner, and bed.

11.  i love the time.  i love being with them.  i miss them when i’m not with them…may sound funny, but they are my buddies.  we do everything together.  life isn’t perfect, easy, or peaceful all the time, but i love whatever the calm or storm of the day is, we go through it together.

Below:  art done on own and together, plays, eating honey from honeycomb at our neighbors, cam doin’ her thing in the kitchen!

july. 2014

the girls wanted to do a bake sale, but i didn’t want to do a bake sale.  i had run some errands, and when i had returned, cam had made homemade chocolate chip cookies, and the girls had decorated boxes for the sale.  what could i say?  i drove them to the end of our neighborhood(busy road, hard to read signs when driving by), and we sat out there for probably 40 minutes, sold a few cookies, and it started to rain, thank heavens!  it was fun, and they got their fix.  i love their entrepreneurial self starter spirits!

july.  2014

wow, what a gorgeous, elegant, simple reception.  the hughes, our friends from evergreen, asked me to make the wedding cakes…uhhhh, me?  two large dark chocolate sheet cakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting and three coconute layered cakes.  i couldn’t even taste them because they were regular cakes made with regular flour, which is difficult for someone who is allergic to gluten.  makes ya a little nervous since you can’t tell if tastes good or not!  but it was a lovely evening catching up

with old friends, the food was amazing, the location inspiring.

july 2014…

so the renaissance festival is something all must experience at least once.  i’m not sure how to explain one…yes, it’s a medieval castle with entertainment and food, but the people there are so very interesting.  people watching at the ren fest is always very entertaining.  we had a blast with our turkey leg, candied almonds, and jousting tournament.  the best part was camden up on stage…she’s a little funny duddy!  it was a great family day, which makes me the happiest spending time with my favorite peeps.

 

[wpvideo mCyYmzyM]

2014…

we did trek last year in our last stake, and was asked to do it again this year in our new stake-to be a ma and pa.  alex was able to go twice also.  that’s a lot of camping for me within a year, but we were happy to go, and had a good time.  we walked close to 30 miles in 3 days, with our 10 children, and outhouses, but it was a memorable experience.  i hope alex was able to build more of a testimony also about the strength of the pioneers, and their determination to do and sacrifice all they had to follow our Savior and the gospel.  the best part was being with jarom and seeing alex throughout each day.  great experience.

 

july 2014…

i have only been back to my home town a couple of times since i graduated from high school 20 years ago.  there’s something about this small town, that i never really cared for.  and most of the people i grew up with still live in this small town, or have moved not very far away.  for me, that was never an option.  i couldn’t wait to get out, see the world, and experience new things.  small towns can be really annoying, and weird.  but nevertheless, our 4th of july trip was entertaining, enjoyable, and a trip down memory lane for me to share with the hubby and kids, and the family friends we stayed with were so much fun.  their daughter has three kids, and our kids all played together so well.  and we did jamberry nails, which are the cutest things ever!

our weekend consisted of the 4th of july parade, a concert and fireworks on the ‘ol high school football field…my 20th reunion, and you’d think after 20 years, people have maybe become more confident, or have changed, but mostly everyone was the same, and sitting with the same people they hung out with in high school.  so weird! 

on our way out of town, we stopped by the snowflake temple, four corners, and stayed the night in durango, co.-thank goodness for the green mountains, and streams that we were able to come back to! overall it was a great trip, and really had a lot of fun with the hubby and kids.

 

2014…

we love doing outdoor movie nights!  so we have started a semi-annual tradition, hosting a summer outdoor movie night.  getting to visit with lots of great people, watching a movie under the stars, kids running around happily playing, just something about it all…i think the youth-kids-adults played volleyball for a couple of hours before the sun had set.  so much fun:)

 

2014…

did i mention our ward here is awesome?  and also, colorado is just amazing.  our girls went to lake dillon for girls camp, and on the way up, went ziplining, and on the way back home, went white water rafting.  what memorable experiences, and awesome adventures.  i love that our girls were able to go and have such a great, positive time.  thank you amazing women in the young women program in our ward!

 

And the after girls camp party and video…