Beautiful

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Jacob Turns 8!!! July 2009

Well the Big Day of Jacob's Birthday arrived!!! Almost all of his boy cousins were in TOWN too (except Cooper)! We invited them all over for a great swimming party. First we had cake and presents at our place then headed over to our neighbor's pool for some swimming.

Before the boys started on the present opening frenzy, Jacob's cousin Issac led them in a brief moment of meditation.....ooommmmm...... to center there chi so that optimum present enjoyment could occur. hahaha they are soooo cute!!!



Of course the Legos were a HUGE hit!!!
I love that Jacob is such a creative and smart boy. He is growing up in such a great example to his younger brothers. Mom and Dad love you so much and we are eternally grateful to have you in our family forever. You are precious to us.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Hanging out at BYU - July 2009

We made a trip over to BYU for Paul's Birthday with the kids, Nanna and Pop-Pop. It was VERY HOT. But the kids of course didn't care. We then headed over to dinner for the celebration of Paul and Jacob's birthday (his is the next day).

MmmMmm. Cinnamon Rolls June 2009


Just a cute picture of Max enjoying his cinnamon roll.

I loved June!!

We had the most beautiful June this year, it was wet and cool. I know a lot of people were waiting for summer to come, but it was GREAT!! I loved watching the storms coming in over the valley. Besides we didn't have to start watering our lawn. We had gorgeous sunsets.



When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Fireman- Ammon and Isaiah May 2009







Ammon and his preschool went on a field trip to the firehouse and had a great time. I tagged along to help and of course I had to bring Isaiah.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Ammon's Preschool Program May 2009


Ammon's preschool had an end of the year/Mother's Day program at school. I always thought Ammon was an over active kids until this program. I notice that Ammon was about as crazy as the rest of the kids. It's always nice to know your kids isn't the only one (even when it feels like he is). I was so proud of him, he remembered his lines and sang the songs (most of the time :))
I love being a mom!!

Mexico and the Orphanage April 14-19, 2009



Well this last spring break Paul, Emma, Jacob and I headed down to La Mission in Mexico with a Child's Hope Foundation to work for 4 days at an orphanage. The experience was awesome, Paul and I worked at the new nursery being built, we mix cement, plaster and mortar for the workers. I even got to plaster some of the walls, worked on rebar and I also got to lay mason stone. It was great to feel so useful and helpful. We slept in bunk houses with our family and other families as well. (Well we kind of got stuck in the teenage and preteenage boy room, boys are kind of stinky). Every night we had a large bon fire to have kind of fireside with all the families and talk about our experiences of the day and the things we were learning. It a was great to have this time to reflect on our lives and how much we are blessed to have families. I discovered on this trip that we don't need very much to be happy and that we are extremely blessed and that we need to give more for other to have better lives.
Jacob was usually right by our side the entire time trying to get in on the action of building a building. It was difficult work and usually we had him help out with running things around for us. He did slip away to play soccer or basketball with the orphan boys.
Emma spent her entire time playing with the little girls, especially the one who were about two years old and younger. She wants a little sister so bad!! She asked many times while we were there if we could bring one of the little girls home with us. We were wishing we could of.
I did finally brave a visit to the nursery, I had been trying to avoid seeing the little babies. I was afraid of how I was going to feel seeing these little innocent babies with no mommy to love them like I loved my babies. I finally worked up enough courage (and a little prompting from Paul) and made my way down to the nursery. I was able to hold and play with each one of them. They ranged in age from 4 months to almost 2. When I finally left the nursery I went back to my bunk and cried for a while. It is a very strange feeling holding a child who you know has no one to be thier parent and find yourself thinking "why not me, why can't I just take them". Trust me, if the Mexican Government would allow the adoptions to Americans I would have been going home with a little girl. I prayed alot on that trip for strenghth through the emotional ups and downs. It was an eye opening and inspirational trip, one that I want to repeat again and again. Sometimes doing the hard things are worth every minute of the pain and joy.
WE all loved our trip there and we are planning on going in the fall again with the kids. Both Emma and Jacob ask all the time when are we going back... I can't wait until the other kids get old enough to go too.
By the way Paul and I were horrible at taking pictures so we asked a friend of ours to go take some pictures for us, these were kind of all we ended up with....I promise when we go in the fall we will be better at getting pictures of the all the kids.