Savanna or Carolina?

Can you tell who is who?

Ok, so it is really obvious I know. But I thought when I saw Savanna's picture that she looked just like Carolina. I put this dress on Carolina today and remembered so clearly when Savanna wore it. I love it!

Camping in the Rain

Carolina in the camper where she spend most of her time.

Natalie and Kenna riding the motorcycle- I thought it was hilarious seeing her riding that little bike.

Josh, Reid and Treyton in the rain.

Maddy all ready to ride

Savanna and Carolina enjoying some watermelon in the camper

Maddy and Mitch

Kinzi and Savanna

Our camp

Carolina

Me and the kids by the fire

Reid and the kids

Mitch and me in the camper- we were kind of bored during the rain so we started taking pictures.

We went camping friday and saturday in Tetonia with our friends the Williams' family. Their family owns some land there and so that is where we camped. It was a lot of fun to get away, but unfortunately it rained almost the whole time. There were a few moments that it let up a little so the kids could ride for a little while, and luckily friday night it let up so we could sit around the fire, which is the best part of camping. Even in the rain it was still fun, except taking an almost 1 year old who is just learning to walk was kind of a pain. I didn't want to let her down in the mud, so that made her really mad. We spent a lot of time in the camper, so I think she was really relieved to come home where she could move around more.

Savanna 1st grade

I feel bad that I didn't get a picture of just Savanna and Mrs. Goodwin- so this will have to do.

Savanna's 1st day of 1st grade

Savanna is officially done with 1st grade- I just wanted to mention what a great year she had. Her teacher was Mrs. Goodwin, and we loved her. She was a great teacher that pushed Savanna this year. Her reading skills improved by leaps and bounds, infact she had the highest A.R. (advanced reading) points in her class. During the last week of school she got to have lunch with Mr. Marlowe (the principle) for her AR points. She was a little dissapointed that she didn't reach her goal of being principle of the day- she was so close, but didn't quite get there. I told her that it didn't matter because we knew that she tried her very best and that is all that mattered.

Savanna is very self-motivated, I rarely had to remind her to get her homework and reading done. She usually walked in the door from school and sat right down and pulled out her homework. I just hope her motivation continues throughout all of her schooling! We love you Savanna!

Mitchel's kindergarten graduation

Mitch's first day of school sitting next to his friends Tyler and Gabe.

Tonight at kindergarten graduation- my little graduate

Mitch singing

Doing the march

Mrs. Davenport and Mitch

Tonight was kindergarten graduation for the class of 2022 (weird huh) at Discovery Elementary. It was so cute to watch them walk in and sing their songs and get their certificates. They had a really nice slide show, that of course made me cry. Mitchel had a great year in kindergarten. His teacher was Mrs. Davenport who I think is a wonderful teacher. Mitchel went from the beginning of the year barely being able to write part of his name to now being able to read. I honestly thought he would have to repeat Kindergarten at the beginning of the year, but he made such huge strides this year and I am very proud of him.

Today my Mom picked him up off the bus while I was at work, and she asked him if he was sad that school was almost out for the year. He said, "No, I hate school." My Mom said "no you don't, tell me who your friends are" he said "Gabe, he hates school too." Which I thought was funny because they are friends and both have done well in kindergarten. I told his Mom he said that and she laughed and said, "it's true, he does hate school." Maybey need an extra push to keep them going. Hopefully he will always have good friends.

No complaints

I have found myself complaining a lot lately. I don't want to be that kind of a person. I want to think positively and think kind things about others and about circumstances. I don't want to be known as the kind of person that is always complaining. I decided that the only way to combat this is to think of all the things that I am grateful for, so I here I go: Not in any particular order.

I am thankful for my good health. Sometimes I get frustrated at my body and that it doesn't look the way I want it to and because I struggle a bit with asthma and allergies, but that is nothing compared to what a lot of people struggle with. I am grateful that I can get up in the morning and exercize and accomplish the things that I need to daily, I don't take for granted that not everyone has that luxury.

I am grateful for my extended family. I feel so lucky to live close by our family, I don't know what I would do without them. My parents and siblings help me so much with my kids and just to have someone to talk to. I love and appreciate my in-laws and sisters and brothers-in laws for all that they do fo us and for putting up with me.

I am grateful for my home. Even though I get frustrated because there is always so much to do to keep up with it, I feel so lucky to have a nice new home. I know that not everyone has a home and I am so happy that we do. (and to think in only a few short years-like 20 we will own it!) not complaining!

I am thankful for my children. I am so thankful that all of them are healthy and thriving. I feel so lucky that I get to be the mother of 4 beautiful children. Although I don't always get to do the things that I want to do for myself, I wouldn't change it for the world. There is no place I would rather be at this time in my life than their mother.

I am grateful for a good husband. Reid and I are good for each other. I know that he loves me and that is a good feeling. He works very hard for our family, I am so lucky that I am not married to someone that is lazy. Sometimes I get frustrated that he is gone so much working, but I appreciate his willingness to do what it takes to provide for us so that I don't have to work full-time.

I am thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My testimony of the Gospel means the world to me. Sometimes it is overwhelming to think of all the things that need to be done as a member of the church, but the blessings that come from it far outway any of the responsibilities.

I am thankful for my good job. When I started having kids I planned on not working outside the home, but I just could not stand the thought of not having some kind of a job. I feel so blessed that I have a job that is so flexible with my kids, and that I love doing. I love the ladies that I work with, my boss and the kids that are at the daycare. I feel like this job was definately heaven sent. It not only has been great for me, but also for my family, I have a sister that works there and siblings that take their kids there part-time. This probably would not have happened if I didn't have a job there. It has been a great thing for all of us.

There are many more wonderful things that I am grateful for like, food to eat, great friends, cars to drive, warm bed, flowers, the change of seasons, the atonement, the list goes on and on. I just needed to write about some of them so that I can start having more of a positive attitude.

Spider man tumbling

Mitch's tumbling class

My cute Mitch- he did pretty good at the recital, but got a little mixed up at the end. I guess we should have gone to the dress rehearsal instead of the motocross races!- oops!

Mitch, Cooper, Elijah and Kaden Taylor- not sure who is who

Mitch and his cousins Cooper and Elijah

Last night was our last "Dance with Kids" recital. It is kind of sad because we have been doing this for the past 5 years. Savanna did tumbling and dance with Nancy and Mitch has been doing tumbling for 3 years now. They have loved it! Mitchel's class this year did a Spider man routine, it was very cute. Here are some pictures from it.

Dirt Bike races for young and not so young

Reid after the race covered with dust

That is Reid coming through another check point

Reid's friend Josh

The race is on- it scared me when it started because there were so many bikes to close together but as the race went on they spread out and it didn't seem as dangerous.

Reid before he started. I tried taking several pictures of him througout the race but I kept missing him because my camera is slow and he was going so fast!

Mitch on the motorcycle and Savanna on the 4-wheeler

Here comes Mitch

Savanna taking on the hill.

And Mitch

The starting line

Savanna and Mitch

Yesterday we went to Noise Park for some dirt bike races. They had two pee-wee races that Savanna and Mitchel participated in, and the regular race that Reid participated in. Our friend and their kids also participated in the race. The kids had a lot of fun, so much fun that they can't wait for the next race. (Darn-it, I was hoping they wouldn't enjoy it so much.) The kids race was about 20 minutes, and Reid's race was 2 hours long. They had a kids race before the main race and then another one after the main race.

For the first pee wee race Mitch rode the motorcycle and Savanna rode the 4 wheeler, and then the 2nd pee wee race they traded. They were both happy to get a chance to ride the motorycle. I was really glad that both of them were pretty cautious.

So all in all it turned into a really long day out in the cold, wind, rain, snow, hail, and dust. But Reid and the kids had a lot of fun. It was just Carolina, Treyton, Grandma Mickey and me that didn't have so much fun sitting in the car for most of the day eating cheetos. But it was worth it and fun watching.

Carolina's 1st steps

Tonight as we were getting ready for bed Carolina got motivated and took her 1st few steps, she was so proud of herself. It was so cute to watch, she also went from the sitting position to standing without holding onto anything. She is growing up, I can't believe that she will be a year in 2 weeks, my baby isn't going to be a baby much longer!

Oh and if any one was interested, yes I did find my camera. It was in Mitchel's toy box!

Savanna's first piano recital

Savanna took piano lessons for the first time this year. She has done really well , it has taken a lot more time from me than I had anticipated, but I feel that it is well worth it. This is a skill I hope she will learn well and be able to use through out her life. She played 2 songs at her recital. "A Dream is a Wish" and "Arab Dance" she did very well on her songs. She is very self motivated and I haven't had to push her too hard to practice each day. A quick shout out to her teacher, Natalie Peterson- she is great- thanks Natalie!

Ready for some changes

I am really looking forward to the next couple of weeks, piano recital, tumbling recital, kindergarten graduation, and the last day of school. But mostly I am really ready for the summer to begin. I am ready to be done with getting up early every day, not being so strict with bedtime, and I have to admit homework. (Although I am going to have a summer reading schedule for my kids so that we don't do any back-tracking.) Sometimes you just need something to look forward too, and these are it for me:

1-Summer baseball, Mitch will be doing T-ball (which I am helping coach-scary), and Savanna will be doing pitching machine. I always enjoy t-ball, it gets me out socializing with all our neighbors and the kids love it! I can't believe that this is our 4th year of t-ball.

2- Summer camping trips and family reunions. These are our forms of family vacations. Even if they are just short overnighters it is just nice to get away for a day or two. I am really not much of a camper, and I sometimes think it is too much work, but the kids love it and I know that it is worth the effort for the memories that we make.

3- Flowers in my flower beds. I don't have much of a green thumb, but I really enjoy planting flowers in my front flower bed and pots and watching them take off. Reid does most of the yard work at our house, but the one thing I do is the flower beds. I love the satisfaction I get from seeing them grow.

4- Kids spending their days outside playing. It is so nice to have my kids outside playing and wearing themselves out! I love to see them riding their bikes, jumping on the tramp, running through the sprinklers, and playing with the neighbor kids. Some of the best memories I have of my childhood is doing exactly that.

5-Waterskiing. I love waterskiing. Last year I had just had Carolina and I didn't dare do it having just had a c-section. So I really hope that I have the chance to get out on the water and do some skiing.

There are a few other changes I am hoping for. I really want to get my basement finished, at very least my kids rooms. I feel very blessed to live in the nice home that we have, but one thing I don't love about it is the kids rooms are super small. I really struggle with keeping their rooms cleaned up and organized because there isn't enough space. There just doesn't seem to be enough room in their closets for all their clothes and stuff. If we could get 2 rooms done in the basement we could move the 2 oldest kids downstairs and it would eleviate this problem. I don't know how we can make this happen on a limited budget, but I am just throwing it out there.

I am also needing to change things up a bit with my own personal habits, such as reading the scriptures on a more daily basis, instead of just hit and miss. I know that this will make a huge difference in my life. I also really need to be better at my diet, I was doing so well but in the last few months I have thrown all caution to the wind and you can tell in how I fit into my pants. it is time to get back on the bandwagon.

I did take some pictures of my kids rooms yesterday, I was going to do a before, and after picture. I took one of them while they were a total mess and then I was going to take an after picture when they were all cleaned up, but somewhere along the line I have lost my camera. I know that it is in the house somewhere because I didn't go anywhere yesterday and I took those pictures while I was cleaning. So I am going to exercize faith that we will find the camera since we have all said a little prayer that we will. I will keep you posted on that.

Mother's Day!

My kids- oh how I love them!

It was a great Mother's Day this year. Reid and the kids brought me breakfast in bed and got me a new (very much needed) frying pan. I felt very appreciated and loved. We got to have dinner with Reid's family and spend time in the evening with my side of the family.

On this Mother's Day I wanted to express my gratitude for the great blessing I have of being a Mother. I know that not everyone has that opportunity, and I feel so lucky to have 4 healthy children that make me so happy. There are days that I feel so overwhelmed and I get to feeling sorry for myself because I don't get to do the things that I used to be able to do, and that my time is not my own, but I wouldn't trade the opportunity to be their Mother for the world. I am so lucky to be married to someone that treats me so great and that loves me despite my flaws. I also feel very lucky to have been raised by such a wonderful Mother, I feel very blessed to have my Mom in my life and that she is one of my best friends. Happy Mother's Day!