April 18-30 2014

So for Emmy's 7th birthday we are going camping at the beach!!  In the morning her firends will meet up with us for the party!

Last time Ryan went camping he barely packed any food and his Dad teased him so bad for it, so this time we came prepared, ans of coarse he had to take pictures to send to his dad :)

Our tent

We had so much fun!!  Mom, Tiara, Kalisha, Jace, Carter (Kalisha's little brother), Andrew, Cloe, and their two dogs came camping too.  Julia and her crew were incharge of their city's 5k and easter egg hunt so they couldn't come and Dad, Jess, and Min had Youth Conference so they couldn't be there either.  We got our tents up, had a great time hanging out on the beach, and they had somores around the campfire.  GREAT evening!

In the morning we got up had breakfast,  packed everything up and headed to the beach for Emmy's party! More family and friends came and everyone had a nice time enjoying the sand, sun, and water!

Emmy playing with some of her friends in the sand

They loved jumping off together and running back and forth between the water and this ledge.

Opening presents

Singing Happy Birthday :)

Thanks to everyone who came and made her day special!

4/20/14

Happy Easter!!!

The kids finding their baskets in the morning.

Dressed for church love my babies!

Cutie pie sisters

Me and my boys :)

All the kids and I, but Ryan's finger accidentally was in all the shots!  It was bright out and hard to see the screen.

Ryan and the girls

This was my Easter present and forced on the poor kids and Ryan.  All of them hate family pictures, but they looked so nice and it was Easter so I made them.  

4/21/14

I got to go see Logan present his PBL (project based learning) in school.  I'm loving this school, the kids are learning so much and the teachers are wonderful!

for FHE Ryan taught the girls how to ride their bikes!

Evan as he gently rubs my belly "when the baby come out?"
So sweet. The kids are so excited to meet this new little one when he gets here! 7 more weeks. So probably 4-6 to go!

4/22/14

This was one of the hardest days of my life and the beginning of a lot of emotional changes in our family. I had been at a friends house all morning helping her get ready to have her baby as she was due very soon and SO ready to be done.  I wasn't much further behind having only 7 weeks until I was due to have Jayden.  I had my phone on me the whole time and had the volume on.  When we finally left (I was dragging my feet because I was getting some much needed girl time while the boys played) I knew we were very late getting home so that I could get the boys down for a nap before it was time to pick the big kids up from school. When I pulled into the driveway I saw Ryan's truck in the driveway.  Ryan is never home during the day so I was immediately concerned.  I parked the car and pulled out my phone.  Sure enough I had missed LOTS of phone calls not only from Ryan but also from his mother.  So I parked the car and ran inside to see what was going on.  Ryan was sitting on the couch.  I can't even explain how sad and forlorn he looked, it broke my heart. Ryan had lost his job.  It was very sudden and completely unexpected.  My strong, amazing, hard working husband was just crumpling before me.  I had all sorts of questions (mainly how are we going to pay for this baby that's due in 5 weeks! and will we be able to keep the house?) but I knew though that the most important thing in that moment was that Ryan knew how crazy in love I am with him and that I support him no matter what.

In my patriarchal blessing (a blessing given to me that is very special and has blessings and promises from the Lord for my whole life) it says among other things that I'll have peace and trust in the Lord in times of trials. And while I did have all those questions and concerns running through my mind there was an undeniable calm and peace.  I knew that everything would work out and we would be ok.  I didn't know how or what any of the answers to my questions would be, but I KNEW we would be ok.  I'm so thankful to my Father in Heaven for that amazing blessing. During the next weeks and months we both leaned a lot on that faith and promise. It has been very hard and stressful, but I continued to feel peace from God.  That night we had my Dad and Jace come and give Ryan a blessing.  I'm so thankful for the priesthood in my life!  There were some wonderful promises and council given.  Afterwards we sat down to talk and I asked Jace about some changes in work he was considering and he said well, do you really want to know? Yes, of coarse. Then he told me that he wasn't going to take the job because he and Kalisha had just decided to get married!  I am so so happy for them!  I jumped up and was crying I just couldn't contain it.  Ryan and I set them up. I just love her and her whole family, they are amazing!  I had secretly hoped they'd fall in love and get married, but that never actually happens.  It was such a wonderful wonderful thing to be a part of and a reminder of the real important things in life.  The hardest part was I wanted to tell EVERYONE, but they weren't telling anyone yet.  I'll always be so thankful for the blessing of such beautiful light on what had been a dark and very difficult day.

4/23/14

Counting my blessings today. One of my greatest...I get to be a stay at home mom to these angels. Babies are so so sensitive. He knew I needed a little extra love. So thankful!

Emmy decided she wants to sleep in Kaitlyn's room...

4/27/14

Selfie from Kaitlyn

4/28/14

4/30/14

So true!

"Put your trust in God and move forward with faith and confidence in the future." —Gordon B. Hinckley http://oak.ctx.ly/r/zczt

My poor sick baby :(

April 1-18 2014

April 1, 2014

Took all 5 kids grocery shopping at Walmart today.  The kids were great! And exhausting :)  Since I'm
supposed to "take it easy" HA! I can't push all the groceries plus the kids soo, the older 3 took turns pushing and they LOVED it!

When'd my "Nogie boy" get so big???

Played a few tricks on the kids. This was their favorite! Happy April Fools Day!

Cake for dessert!!

 April fools, it's watermelon!!

Found Brayden like this after everyone went to bed for the night, he's going to be such a great big brother!

4/3/14

Saw this driving down the road and made me think of Wisconsin! I miss those days!

and a friend posted this of Logan on FB today:

Crazy night, tornado warning and thunder and rainstorm, then hail, then nothing and then more hail, and flash flood warnings. So thankful for the rain! Less thankful for the contractions...gonna be a lot of babies born tonight! (But not mine!)

4/4/14

Mommy take my picture!!

4/5/14

General Conference today!!  Daddy set up stadium seating :)  The kids loved it!!

We somehow won FREE tickets to the elementary carnival!!  So awesome!  The kids had a BLAST!  So thankful we got to go!  Here's a video of the ride they got to go on.  (Evan had tickets and waited in line and just as he was climbing on a guy came up and said he was too small.  So sad!!)

4/6/14

For Sunday's sessions of General Conference we went to Grammy Wilson's house. Fun!  While we were watching conference the kids quietly played (or sometimes not so quietly!), and apparently took a video.  Now I know why Brayden and the dogs were so quiet and happy!! So gross and cute all at once.

 

4/8/14

Random selfie from Emms

4/9/14

Kaitlyn visited Uncle Chris today!!  She has great vision but often gets headaches after school, so we're going to see if these help her out. I have to say, I tried to steer her away from these glasses, but she was set.. These were THE glasses she wanted.  Now that she's had them a while I have to say they are perfect for her and she looks adorable in them! Cute, and artsy (She only wears them when she wants to or her head is starting to hurt per doctors orders, so if you see her not wearing them it's fine.)

Ugggh.  So I was cooking dinner and Ryan started cutting Evan's hair.  I look over and it is SHORT! Sooo short.  Way shorter than I like.  Sigh.  At least his hair grows fast.  He loves it though, so that's good!

Every time I'd look at his hair it'd make me want to cry.  But I didn't want to make Evan sad so I didn't say anything until they were in bed. Ryan knew I was not happy about it though!

4/11/4

So Ryan's work had a little get together that Ryan went too.  They had awards that the handed out, and Ryan won :

Most seeds planted

Yeah,hahaha. He's pretty proud of himself...  

Some of the awards were more crass so I'm glad they didn't go vulgar with his award!

4/12/14

Mustaches at a friends Mario party :)

We went to Grandma D's to see Ryan's Uncle Ty.  He was here to receive an award from NASA!  Soo cool! We were out back talking when Ty's chair fell out from under him.  It was so funny!  

4/14/14

The Wilson's came over to hang out and brought my (so the kids great Grammy) Grammy Joy with them!! I didn't get a picture with her, but I got these cute ones of Grandpa and Brayden :)

4-17-14

Brayden took off with Logan's glasses and then stopped and put them on.  They look pretty good on him!

Kaitlyn had a concert of sorts at the school.  The video is terrible, sorry!

4/18/14

I am one proud momma!!! This girl, she amazes me! Kaitlyn researched Amelia Earhart and wrote an essay on her then memorized it. Here's her in Glen Oaks living museum! She's in second grade!

Mommy, Daddy, and the boys got to go see her! I know I'm biased, but her poster was by far the best. That girl LOVES any and all art projects.  I'm blown away at her talent and creativity!

And tonight we're going camping!  For Emmy's birthday!  At a lake!  Soo fun!