Gratituesday

Another gratituesday!!! I had such a bad week the week before that I really need to take a min and think of the things that I am grateful for!!!
I am thankful for the power of prayer
I am thankful for my healthy children after relay for I life I really realized how lucky I am
I am thankful for a vehicle that gets me where I need to go
I am thankful for a job that helps me to take care of my family
I am thankful I am able to work
I am thankful that family is important to me
I am thankful for life and the choices we all have (free agency)
I am thankful for forgiveness
I am thankful for personal revelation
I am thankful for support
I am thankful for friends
I am thankful for family
I am thankful for my phone and the funny text messages I get
I am thankful I can read and that I enjoy it
I am thankful I can cook and feed my children
I am thankful to be a mother
I am thankful my children can trust and count on my
I am thankful for Diet Coke
I am thankful for Baseball
I am thankful Dance is almost over
I am thankful for McKalls creative imagination (as she calls it)
I am thankful for my kids loving to sing in the car with me
I am thankful for the warm weather. Not too hot not too cold

Bad Week

Last week felt like it was never going to end. If it could have gone wrong it did. My emotions were all over the place and I could go from laughing, crying, or screaming at the drop of a hat. I hate when my emotions feel crazy. I hate when I let the little things get to me and I let them ruin my week. By the end of the week though I was doing pretty good laughing at everything that went wrong. Being tired had a huge roll in laughing and the screw ups. Jentrie had a practice game on Thursday, McKall had soccer and dance. I took McKall to soccer and then go to take Jentrie to baseball, when we are almost there I realize we are headed to the wrong fields. A quick U turn and that is taken care of. I drop her off run home finish getting ready and head back to the ball fields. Stockden and Staelie run off to play at the park with some friends. I sit down with my friend Shannon and we are just visiting away when she turns to me and tells me Staelie just threw up all over the sidewalk. Sure enough right in front of the bleachers. I get her headed to the car, watch Jent hit which by the way she gets a double, and head for home. In the car Staelie is pretty pale I look at the time I need to pick up McKall. I go get her from CVMS, stop at the store get a water for her and head clear out to The Point, get out there and no one is there. Come to find out they have gym practice at CVMS. Right where I was to begin with. I get her taken care of. Run Staelie home, text my friend Shannon to see if the game is still going, she says yes, get in the car ready to leave and she texts me again that it was just over. Finally get Jent picked up and dropped off to turn around and have to go get McKall at the opposite end of town. What a day. I had worked the night before and only gotten about 2 hours sleep on the couch. This was also day 5 of my bad week. I was so glad that I could just laugh.
I think some times we have to have the bad weeks to really appreciate the good weeks. We have to be reminded we are human and we make mistakes. We can let bad weeks, choices, or things destory us or make us stronger. My kids and I have adopted the song Stronger by Kelly Clarkston. It comes on the IPod or radio and everyone is singing at the top of their lungs. When all of our trials are over now and later I want to look back and realize I came out AWESOME!!! I was strong and there were amazing blessings along the way. I am going to deal with my bad weeks because they are part of life, look back later and try to find the tender mercies that I was not able to see at the time, I am going to look at the fact that I made it through and am that much Stronger. I am going to be grateful for all that I have even the bad things for they help make us who we are.

Oh My Word Isnt It Great Little Miss Staelie Just Turned 8

Happy Birthday Staelie!!!! My Staelie turned 8 years old on April 14th. I can not believe it I am not sure where the time has gone. Staelie was born April 14, 2004 at 23:12. She weighed 6lb 6 oz was 19 in long and was a beautiful baby that has grown into a beautiful little girl.
Staelie is in 2nd grade, she loves to play with her friends and be outside. Staelie is the kindest sweetest person I have ever met. She is always thinking about others and their feelings. She is so kind to Stockden and is always trying to help him. Staelie works every hard at school. She loves animals, making crafts and being in the water. Staelie has the most beautiful eyes that you can take one look in and see just what she is thinking or feeling. Staelie I am so glad you are in our family we love you so much!!!!
For Staelies birthday we just had everyone come up to our house and had soup, cake and ice cream. Staelie received some very nice gifts and people traveled far to help her celebrate so thank you very much.
One request Staelie had for her birthday was that her and I go on a date to McDonald's just the 2 of us and that is just what we did. The Friday after her birthday we headed to McDonald's for our special date. It was so fun to spend time with just her. After dinner all the kids went to the park and played and then Staelie and I went and participated in Relay for Life. She walked for 2 hours and did not complain not one time. She did fabulous.
Staelie I hope you had a special day even though it snowed.

Parowan Dance Comp 2012

McKall had her annual dance competition in Parowan on Saturday April 21, 2012. This was the first year that she has danced in the afternoon instead of morning. It made for a long day. She had to be out to Parowan at 12:00. She did not get home until around 8:30 pm. The Point did a great job and I thought McKall looked fantastic. I forgot a camera and did not even think about using my phone. That is what happens when you have a 3 year old little boy at dance from 2:00 until 7:00. He had had enough. Stockden was actually really good. We went and got lunch and a treat so he would be able to sit. He then was able to play underneath the bleacher and outside in between dances. By the end he had just plain had enough but then again so had I. I love watching McKall dance it is probably one of my favorite things to do. I love watching how much she improves each time, her facial expressions as she dances and love of dancing that she has. Hip Hop seems to be her favorite and she gets in to it. It is probably the funnest to watch because of how much she likes it. Congrats to McKall and the other dancers at The Point on the great job that they did.

Easter Weekend!

We had a great Easter Weekend. The kids were out of school Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for Spring Break. I unfortunately had to work on Wednesday night so the kids spent the night at my moms. Staelie headed to Zions camping with her friend Kelsey. She left Wednesday morning and came back late Saturday night. She had a great time and I am so grateful for Heather and Kelsey inviting her and taking such good care of her. The other 3 got to spend time with my mom and sisters. They went hiking up on the Dixie, they played at the splash pad at the park, hung out at Ashlee's school, and I cant even remember everything else. My mom kept them on Thursday so I could sleep. I got of work and slept as late as I wanted. I cleaned my house, caught up on all the laundry and just enjoyed some time by myself. I then headed to St George Friday morning to hang out with everyone, celebrate Easter and pick up the kids. We had a great time, we played at the soccer fields, had a BBQ and a fun Easter egg hunt that Kacee did. It was a very fun day. On Saturday we headed to Mesquite to spend some time with Andres, Sarah and the boys. Sarah bought eggs for the kids to color I had to laugh she bought 7 dozen eggs. While Andres helped the kids dye eggs and make cookies Sarah and I headed to her salon and dyed my hair for the first time ever and I loved it. After the fantastic dye job we headed to Walmart for a last min shopping. I had a great time hanging out and getting to visit with Sarah. While we were out and about I got a text from Staelie that she was home sooner that expected. So I left the kids with Andres and Sarah and headed home to Cedar to pick up Staelie. We then headed back down to Mesquite Sunday morning to finish celebrating Easter. We had a great egg hunt, kids played on the WII, went to church, and had a great dinner. It was an amazing weekend we had such a good time everywhere we went. We are sure blessed with amazing people in our life.

Here We Go Maggie Moo's

Baseball season has officially started and Jentrie is in 7th heaven. She had her 1st real game of the season yesterday and they kicked some major behind. They won 12-0. Jentrie did so good. She got a hit every time that she was up and batted at least one runner in every time. I love watching Jentrie play baseball the girls are so cute and cheer each other on. Jentrie gets so into the game that it is fun to watch how she reacts to different things that happen. I am excited for nights at the ball park. I enjoy being up there. Also baseball is relaxing for me to watch unlike soccer, that makes me want to pull my hair out. Baseball is good for my blood pressure.

DIVA

Here is just a couple photos of my beautiful McKall. They are not the best quality, taken in the car on the way to dance with my cell phone. Oh well!!

The Music Man

Oh my little Stockden is quite the boy. He loves music, he loves loud music. He loves to get my IPod and the headphones and just jam out. He sings along and boy is it funny the words he comes up with. A Taylor Swift song came on the other day and he told me to change it that was a girl song. He calls Metallica, America. He is just so funny.

He gets a little rough with Staelie. She usually does not stand up for herself, she usually nicely trys to talk to him. I had to laugh the other day she had him pinned to the ground. Staelie was still so sweet, she was tickling him and kissing him, but she did keep him pinned down the entire time.

Gratituesday

I am going to copy the radio station and have my own Gratituesday. What I am thankful for and technically it is after midnight so it makes it officially Tuesday.

I am thankful for Diet Coke and sisters and kids that will bring me one.
I am thankful for my kids and the truly amazing people that they are. They inspire me to be a better person and amaze me every day with the love that they show and the kindness they give.
I am thankful for my sisters. I have the best sisters ever. They are always so good to help me with my kids, listen when I need to talk which lately is all the time, help me to feel better or as said above bring a Diet Coke.
I am thankful for my parents. I have the most amazing parents ever. I don't know how I got so lucky maybe the lord figured life would be hard so he made sure I was surrounded by amazing people.
I am thankful for my Grandma. I have the BESTEST Grandma ever. She is about as perfect as people can come. She is so wonderful and I love her so much. Again I think the lord blessed me with amazing people.
I am thankful for Andres, Sarah and their boys. They are so willing to do whatever they can to help others. They love my kids so much and are so willing to make sure the kids know it. I cant thank them enough.
I am thankful for my job. I may spend too much time tired but I am grateful to know I have it and can take care of my family.
I am thankful for my home. It is not always clean sometimes really loud but it is always filled with love.
I am thankful for the power of prayer. If there is nothing else I learn from this journey we are on I will always be grateful for the lesson of just how powerful prayer really is. What comfort it can bring. Don't want to cry at work so that's all about prayer.

I have so many more things to be grateful for but I could write all day long about the blessings in my life. I am truly a blessed person and the lord is very mindful of me and my kids. For that I am so thankful.

Bike Riding

My little big boy Stockden has finally learned to riding is big boy bike. (with training wheels). He got the bike for his birthday last June and has just not shown a whole lot of interest in learning to ride. I have tried a few times with limited success. Well the Cowboy Truck died the back wheels fell completely off and he was just devastated. He was so funny though he wanted to call Aunt Ashlee because she would get him a new one. He knows where to go to get what he wants. Well after a few days with no Cowboy Truck I asked him if he would like to learn to ride his bike and he was all over that. It did not take him very long to get the hang of it and he was so proud of himself. I do not think that there can be a whole lot greater feeling than to watch him figure riding the bike out and then to see the pride in his face as he could do it. We spend a lot of time outside now riding the bike. He loves when I say Ready, Set, Go and he then shows me how fast he can pedal. He has gotten my dad to take the bike down to his house when Stockden spends the night so he can ride.
He was so funny as he was riding though, he is still trying to figure out the brakes he looks over and tells me that he does not need to use the brakes because that's how cowboys do it.

DIxie Spectacular

McKall had her annual dance competition in St. George on March 24, 2012. They took 4 dances and did a great job. I love to watch her perform her hip hop she gets so into it. She said she tried to have fun with the  Footloose dance just for me. Thanks Kall. I did not have a camera so a just have a couple of pictures from my phone. Jentrie, Staelie, and Stockden were completely entertained with my sister Kacees IPad. Thank you Kacee. It made it so much better.

Sister Baker

I have one the most amazing Relief Society Presidents every. Mrs Susan Baker and I just love her. She has been amazing and I could not ask for a better person in my life right now. She was called to be the President about a 1 week before I met her. We both her brand new. Her to her calling and me to the new ward. She is always there when I need her. She will just show up in random places with a smile and a hug and I am so grateful for her. One day after a really hard day I had talked to her on the phone earlier in the day, she shows up at my work with flowers and chocolates. That just made my day. I felt so special and so loved. I hope she knows just how much that meant to me.

DARE

Miss Jentrie graduated from the DARE program. What a great program. They teach kids about drugs and alcohol. They teach them what these things can do to your body and then also teach them how to say NO!!!
All the 5th graders are able to participate in this program. They wrote an essay on why they would stay drug free and then they did skits on how to say NO. My mom and sisters were able to come up for her graduation.

McKall, Kati, Ashlee, Grandma L, Me, Stockden, Jentrie and her friend Shannon

Love the Face

Here is just a cute one of Grandma C and Jentrie

So Behind

So life has been pretty crazy lately it seems like it is all I can do to stay on top of things. Between working, sleeping, taking care of kids, cleaning the house, laundry and kids activities there is not a enough time left. I love watching my kids play sports, dance, or assembly's at school so the house can stay dirty I guess.
Soccer season is completely under way for McKall so we are usually in St. George on Saturday for a game. Baseball season is just beginning that will make things fun. I like to tease McKall and tell her I like watching Jentrie play baseball because it doesn't make by blood pressure go high like soccer. It is also dance competition season. Fun Fun bring it on. We are finding out that me and my kids are kids of like Superman we can survive just about anything theses days.
Stockden went down to Smiths the other day with Jentrie and was hit in the eye by some lady's shopping cart. He was so sad but oh so cute. He kept telling me how red it was and how much it hurt. He didn't need a kiss for that owie though.

He is such a funny kid, he asked me the other day if he could get in the shower to wash his hinny. He then flooded the bathroom and told me he did it on purpose but dont tell Grandpa. He always keeps me on my toes and is always good for a great laugh.