We had my family over to celebrate Faith and Doug's birthdays! It is always fun to get together and laugh and enjoy each other's company. Faith was thrilled with the fabulous clothes and jewelry from Grammy and Granpa as well as the LPSO from Uncle Steve and his family! Doug is always amazed at how my parents go above and beyond and make him feel like a part of the family (which he is, and we love him). I am grateful for my family and although they are not perfect, I love them very much and am glad to be closer to them and able to celebrate special occasions together!

Mommy / daughter time!

So, Friday Doug flew in from Colorado, and after picking him up at the airport we decided to celebrate Faith's birthday. We took the kids to see "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" in 3d, and then to the Mayan Restaurant for dinner and a diving show, and then home to open presents. She is at the age where most of what we got her was clothes and she was thrilled!
Saturday, I took Faith out for some one on one girl time! After the primary activity, we grabbed lunch together and then went and got pedicures and our hair styled. Faith looked so beautiful, so of course I had to take some pictures. Then we went out for smoothies together and headed home. It was wonderful to spend the day together just us girls! Faith said it was the best day of her life, and I am glad! What a blessing it is to be a mother!

My 10 year old daughter-Happy Birthday Faith!!!!!

Today Faith will turn 10 at 9:02 pm! It is crazy to think that she is that old already. Time really does fly. She is growing up to be a beautiful girl, inside and out. I am very proud to be her mother. I love her so much and it is hard to imagine life without her. I am grateful for her smile, and the example and helper she is to her brothers.
Doug is out of town, so we didn't do too much. When she came home from school I had balloons tied to her bed and a poster with candy on it on her bed. She opened a card from Grandma Ward and was pleasantly surprised to find 10 dollars. We took cupcakes to school and have some cupcakes here. I let her pick what we had for dinner.....pancakes! But, the real fun begins on Friday. Friday is our family fun with Faith day and Saturday I am taking her out for some mother daughter fun and then Sunday more family fun with Grammy, Grandpa, uncles, aunt and cousins.
It will be hard to top last years party, 22 girls getting makeovers and singing Karaoke in our basement, but we will try!!!!

4th grade field trip to Camp Floyd

I am grateful that my husband is able to work from home occasionally and can watch the kids so that I can go on these fun field trips with my kids. Friday we went to Camp Floyd. The kids got to see the the old schoolhouse and had to bow or curtsy as they walked in. They walked through a museum they have there and got to shoot muskets. They learned how the early settlers made bricks and got to make their own candles. In fact, today is Faith's birthday and we used her candle on her pancake for dinner to sing happy birthday and then later on the cupcake.
Apparantly I am considered a "cool mom", or so Faith and her friends tell me. I had a lot of fun playing with the kids and teaching them camp songs to sing on the bus.

Homemade Scones + General Conference = a good day

My kids all get excited for General Conference. Maybe that is because I always cook big breakfasts, buy tons of candy for Conference Bingo and we all get to relax and be together. I am a big fan of the DVR. One of it's best uses is to pause Conference to ask questions, or talk about something the speaker just said. I was impressed with how well my kids listened, and how well they could tell me what the speaker was talking about. In fact, today during Family Home Evening, Doug asked each of the kids to tell him something they had done today to show love or service to someone. Faith immediately said, "Hey dad, this is just like the Conference talk." She then told us just about the entire Conference talk. It was neat to see my kids putting away the bingo cards to take notes a good chunk of the time. Brayden's notes were pictures of family, temples, Jesus, the Prophet and the Book of Mormon. Gavin's notes were one word or thought at a time. Family, Love, Jesus Christ, Temples, Service, The Holy Spirit. Faith's were stories she heard and thoughts she had during Conference. It was wonderful to listen to the Conference talks as a family and be uplifted together.

Gavin's 2nd Grade Field Trip to the Farm

I went with Gavin's class on Wednesday on a field trip to the farm. We had a lot of fun! They had a lot for the kids to do and learn. I was especially proud of Gavin on the bus. Some of the kids started chanting, "Bus Driver Stinks" because he asked them to sit down and not put thier hands out the windows. Gavin told me he didn't think that was nice, and on the way off the bus he said "Thank you bus driver for taking us on a field trip." The other kids followed and said "thank you". I was very proud of him. I love going on field trips with my kids. I am grateful my husband was able to work from home and watch the kids!

Gavin reading his scriptures

This last week Gavin has been reading his scriptures on his own without us even mentioning it. I went in his room Monday night and he was just sitting in bed reading scriptures. After we had read our family scriptures that night he didn't want to stop reading. When I poked my head in he said, "hey Mom, can I read you this verse, I really like it." It was very special to see my son reading and loving the scriptures so much.
Then, the next night he was reading them again. I went in to his room to tuck him in and put him to bed and he said, "just give me a few more minutes, I am reading about Nephi." When I went back in he had fallen asleep with the scriptures over his face. I had to laugh...and take a picture!

Testimony

At the end of Family Home Evening on Monday, we encouraged the kids to each bear their testimony. Doug and I each took a turn and then Faith and Gavin each bore their sweet testimony's. After Gavin had finished, I turned to Brayden and asked him if he would like to bear his testimony. He turned to me and said, "but, I don't have one." I asked him if he believed that the Church was true, and he said "yes." I asked him if he knew that Jesus is real and he said, "yes." Then he got up and bore his testimony. He said, "I know the Church is true, I know that Jesus is real, and I know that Santa is real. I also know that you are supposed to brush your teeth every night and every morning. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I love my kids!!!!

Larry

This past weekend Gavin brought Larry home from school. Larry is a stuffed gorilla that the kids each take turns bringing home. They are supposed to do everything with Larry, and then write about what they did with him. Gavin did pretty much everything with Larry. He played Toy Story Mania with Larry, he brushed his teeth with Larry, he slept with Larry. The coolest thing though was fishing with Larry. My sister in law came into town and we went fishing with them on Saturday. Gavin and Brayden each wound up catching fish before the rain clouds rolled in. It was a lot of fun. On Monday Gavin was very sad to take Larry back to school. He really missed him that night.

I Love You Mommy

Landon just barely came into my room an said, "I love you Mommy," and gave me a big kiss. I love it when kids are learning to talk, especially when they say such wonderful things!

Catching Bugs

This last week we have been catching bugs to help my brother, Michael, with his bug collection for school. He is supposed to have 50 bugs. Gavin is awesome at catching the bugs. So, this morning we were catching crickets and grasshoppers and Brayden looked up and asked me, "why does Michael's teacher want 50 bugs anyway?" Then, he answered his own question by saying, "Oh, I know, she must have a frog." I love my kids.

Gavin's Crush

Gavin came home today and told me that he had a crush on a girl at school. Then he asked me if I wanted to know why he had a crush on her. I asked him why, and he said, "Well, my brain is only attracted to pretty girls." He cracks me up.

Landon's newest word

So, today when Brayden was at school, Landon was laying down in Faith's room as I was trying to get him to take a nap (unsuccessfully I might add.) He looked up at Faith's poster and said, "Hannah 'Tana". Can you believe that! My little two year old boy is saying, "Hannah Montana". He really does love his sister and wants to be like her. They all better watch what they say. Well, I guess WE all need to watch what we say.

Brayden's Kindergarten Adventures

So, today
(well, I guess it is after midnight, so yesterday technically) was Brayden's first day of Kindergarten. He was so excited! He walked to school with his buddy Alex Hardy, the mom's walked with them, although they hardly noticed us. He was thrilled to find that his other friend Conner was in his class. He told me that it was great, because in Kindergarten you get to have more friends than in Preschool. He had no problem going, although even though I enjoyed just having Landon I missed my little Brayden. Every hour tonight he would think of something new about school that he liked. My little Brayden is growing up!

My Creative Little Landon

Landon cracks me up! He decided to make a cake today. He put the laundry basket upside down and then a cooking pot on top and then a package of wipes on that and a pencil stuck in the wipes. He then said, "Happy Birthday" and blew out the pencil!
It is so funny how they come up with these ideas, even at two years old.

Drama isn't just for girls

My litte Brayden is so dramatic. If he doesn't go into drama, I will be surprised. The other day he got hurt because he was standing against something that fell and he fell too. He ran downstairs and said, "I hate myself". He got that from his sister. Anyway, I told him that he should never say that about himself and how wonderful he is. He went to his room and I could hear him saying, "It's all my fault, I'm sorry me, I'm sorry Brayden, I'm sorry Brayden Ward. If I hadn't been standing there you wouldn't have gotten hurt." He had such a dramatic tone in his voice that I couldn't help but bust out laughing.
Yesterday, Landon hit him in the stomach and he told me I had to take him to the hospital. I picked him up and carried him downstairs to the couch and gave him a pretend shot and gave him "CPR" that results in my tickling. He said, "No, mom, really, we need to go to the REAL hospital." I told him I didn't think he needed the real hospital and that he would recover. Well then he burst out into, "You don't want me to live, you just want me to die!" Followed by, "I don't have a mommy, someone forgot to give me one, I have a killing machine who wants to kill me. You're just a killing machine!"
He makes me laugh!

Brayden's Kindergarten Assessment

Brayden is so excited to go to Kindergarten. We went to his assessment today and he did really well. I had to laugh because he told the teacher that the math problems she gave him were not hard enough. She asked him what 7 take away 3 was and he said "4, and do you know what 20 take away 9 is, 'cause I do, it's 11." Then he started telling her what 3 + 9 was and what 5 + 4 is. It was just funny. Then she told him he was smart and he said, "I know, I practice math on the computer." It is good to see him talking to his teacher so well the first day though, last year he was pretty shy at first.

A beautiful experience

Today Faith and I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication. It was a special experience to share with my beautiful daughter. They talked a lot to the children there and how special it is that they are worthy to enter the holy temple, and how we as parents want with all our hearts to see our children stay worthy so that they can always enter the temple. It is true. I can't wait for the day that all my children can gather around me inside the temple. This was the 5th temple dedication I have attended, and the second I have had the opportunity to attend with my lovely daughter. It is such an amazing experience and only further strengthens my testimony of the sacredness of temples and how blessed we are to have them on the earth today. I never can get through the whole song "The Spirit of God" without tearing up and crying.

Mother Daughter Activity

Friday night we had a really fun mother/daughter date for Achievement Days. We did each other's hair and makeup and nails. Faith turned out to be a pretty good makeup artist. The nails needed a little work, but it was a really fun night!! I am so glad I have a daughter! A lot of drama, but so much fun!

Back to School

I thought I would post a few pictures of Faith and Gavin on their first day of school. They were both pleasantly surprised to find out that they each got the teachers they wanted. They started to get nervous Wednesday evening, but thank heavens for the power of the priesthood. I took the kids over to Grandpa's house and he gave them each a blessing to comfort them. They went to bed feeling excited and woke up with that same excitement, in fact, Faith (who we have to pry out of bed in the morning) was up at 7:00 on Thursday and couldn't wait to go to school. They were both pleasantly surprised to find good friends in their classes, and I was very grateful! They both came home happy. Gavin came home and when I asked who was in his class, he told me a few boys and then said, "and the girl I sit by is really pretty." He is growing up. I can't quite believe I have a 4th grader now, or that my little Brayden starts Kindergarten in a few days. He is so excited! He really wanted to go on Thursday with the older kids.

Teaching my kids to cook

It is an interesting experience teaching my kids to cook. I love that they want to learn how to develop new talents and have such an interest in learning new things. It is fun to see them cook though. Faith made breakfast a couple days ago and Gavin made dinner yesterday. They were so proud of themselves. I love being a mom!

Church

This past Sunday Faith was the reverent child in Primary. What this means is that they stand in front with a picture of Jesus as the kids come into Primary and then they have the opportunity to share their favorite story from the scriptures and then share their testimony. She got a little nervous, but it is always neat to hear your child share their testimony. It is a special thing.
Along the lines of church, a few months ago Gavin was struggling with wanting to go to church. He told me he didn't like going to church and then he said "Do you think Heavenly Father would help me want to go to church again?" He has been praying to help him to like church and thanking Heavenly Father for church, and a few weeks ago he told me that he really likes church and is happy when we go. He definitely believes in the power of prayer, and that is wonderful to see.

Pictures from our camping trip

Camping, swimming, fishing, boating and lost keys....good times!

We had a great time camping with our fantastic friends, the Hardy's! The kids all love the outdoors, so they were in heaven, and having their best friends with them just made everything better. We went up just past Strawberry Reservoir at Aspen Grove Campground. We rented a boat and had a lot of fun taking the kids out on the water. Doug tried to get out with the kids on an island, but there was a little problem with that, he left me to drive the boat back. Wow, bad idea. I freaked out! Faith turned out to be a better driver than me. She actually did really well. Still, we all had a lot of fun! It is always funny camping, because even with it being 102 degrees during the day, it was freezing at night. Thank heavens for warm sleeping bags, and lots of kids to cuddle with.