Summer & Fall Updates

Here is a quick run down of the past few months:

-Had a great summer attending Hayley's wedding in NY, camping on Martha's Vineyard, and camping up in American Fork Canyon. We can say that we vacationed where President Obama vacations (Martha's Vineyard), but I doubt he visited the luxorious Martha Vineyard Family Campground. The kids loved the camping and Luke would roll over every morning and first things ask Mike, "Dad, when are we going to the beach?".

- Julia participated in a 4 year old soccer league and loved it. We were a little bit surprised on how aggressive she could be. We had to have a few talks about letting other members of her team have a chance in kicking the ball. But it was sure fun to see her race up and down the field every Saturday.

- Luke succeeded at potty training with bribes of new hotwheel cars and tell him that if he wanted to do itty-bitty basketball this winter he had to be 3 yrs old and potty trained! Worked like a charm!

- Julia was a fiftys girl for Halloween and Luke was a cowboy. Julia called her Halloween costume her poodle princess costume, since she had no idea what a fiftys girl was. Mike was a ghost buster and Les was a skeleton.

Here are a few pics:

Kids love slimy fish- not Mom though!

This past week I spent Monday- Friday at a Continuing Education class at BYU to earn some college credit towards my re-certification in school counseling. So....we have no new pictures. Thought you would just like this one from our last camping trip. Mike is one of the best teachers around. He would never admit it, but he super patient when it comes to teaching our children- guess who will be the one to teach our kids how to drive! He is also really good at thinking of new things to teach them. Here is a picture of Mike teaching our kids to fish.

Next week I will post some new pictures of us at Cowabunga Bay water park and our new tile backsplash in out kitchen.

4 yr olds & Friends

It seemed like the day Julia turned 4 yrs old all she wanted to do was play with friends. I swear even on her birthday she woke up asking if she could have a friend come over. When we went camping in May she scouted out this little girl who looked about her same age, went straight up to her, asked the little girl to play, and they were instant friends for the rest of the weekend. She is social, sweet, good at sharing, creative, and full of energy- who wouldn't want to be her friend. But, she is my daughter- so I always think she is amazing. Anyways here is a picture of Julia and our neighbor friend Taylen. Taylen has a little sister who was born the day before Luke and they are crazy together. When you ask Julia who her best friend it is always different, but I think if she really understood what a best friend is she would say her brother. Julia and Luke are usually inseparable. They wake up asking for one another, Luke always does what Julia does, and Julia is usually the only one who can understand and make Luke happy. They run around all day being mischievous together. I hope their relationship always stays this way for them, but for right now I feel so blessed to see their little relationship blossom!

A break from posting

It has been a while since I have last posted anything on our blog. I would like to say it is because we were traveling around the world, or remodeling our house, or having more babies, or being super-mom- but in all honesty it was a chosen break. Yes- I was busy being a Mom to 2 toddlers, being a wife to a husband who works long hours and gets to travel around the world for work, and fulfilling my church calling. However, in no way was I busier than most of you. It was a chosen break for my own personal sanity. Have you ever noticed that no one posts on their blogs all the awful things their kids do, all of their horrible pictures, how much weight they have gained over the past few months versus how much they have lost, what their house looks like on a daily basis, or the mistakes they make on a daily basis. Back in the fall I would spend a hour or so a day looking at blogs everyday and what I noticed is that after I was done seeing all the amazing things people were doing, I felt horrible about my life. I was crabbier with my kids, frustrated that we weren't taking amazing vacations like all of my other friends, frustrated that I hadn't lost all of my baby weight with Luke, or had any big announcments. A good friend of mine from NY wrote this on her blog "Sometimes it seems hard to know who we are to the world, who we are to others, what whey see when they look at us, and what they think when they think about us. And so we use the people in our lives as mirrow for ourselves." (Thanks Tracy- you are always inspiring!) This is what I realized- I was using other people's blogs as a mirror and standard for my own life.

I do have an amazing life, husband, and kids- please don't think I take these things for granted but maybe you would have to live in Utah to understand how I am feeling. Utah has a culture of always being better than your neighbor-looks, possession, you name it. Since I didn't grow up in Utah this lifestyle of overstating all your accomplishments is sometimes a bit to take. So.... I decided that I would try blogging again- thanks to much nudging by the Grandmas. But I have limits- twice a week for 20 minutes (and this includes facebook!). My children need a happy Mom who is not does not spend her life sitting in front of a computer or constantly hooked up to the internet.

So....Here are some current pictures of the kids and a list of what has been going on:

- Luke turned 2 at the end of January

-Julia turn 4 in May

-Julia finished her first year of preschool
-Julia had her gymnastics graduation

- Mike had his birthday in May too!

- Julia had no cavities at the dentist

-We went camping at Palisades State park and had lots of fun hiking, fishing, swimming, canoeing, riding bikes

-Took a family vacation with an old mission companion of Mike's and his family to Lav Vegas in April

- Mike visited Singapore at the end of January and brought back lots of fun stuff for the kids.

-Helped my sister Hayley moved out of the BYU dorms and are excited to travel back to NY this summer for her wedding!!