Fall is Here

The kids are in school, the weather is more warm or cool than hot, the evenings are cool, and mornings are cooler. Fall is here. I love the fall colors, but I don't love that it means the end of summer. I actually needed to wear long pants a couple times and though it was fun I felt like I was giving up on my summer clothes. However, I really do not enjoy being cold, so the shorts have to be put away sometimes.

One of my favorite things about fall is it becomes bike riding weather. After we take the kiddos to school we come home and they almost always want to ride their bike. Usually they just ride in the neighborhood to go see the turtle or go to the park, but lately they have been wanting more. So, this past week I let them ride to the 'Richards park' which is not too far away. It is easy to get there, but a little rougher getting home because you have to go back up the hill. Then yesterday we went on our first family bike ride. It went good for awhile, but then the two big girls said it was hot and wanted to go home. I let them go home and we finished the bike ride the way the twins wanted. I would love for us to have stayed together the whole time, but it just wasn't worth it, and we all ended it having a good time even though we weren't together all the time. 

Another great part of fall, is the school's Fox Trot. I don't like the fundraising part of it, so we don't do that. However, I do love watching my kids run and cheering them on. Tia ran quite a bit of it and ended up with 5 3/4 laps and Kylee walked most of it and ended up with 4 1/2 laps. They both I think enjoyed it and me and the twins had fun cheering and marking laps (me) and playing (twins). 

Because the weather cools it allows for some project like cleaning the garage to get done.  The garage got a major overhaul. We moved everything around and have about double the space. It is so great. I love walking into the garage and knowing I can reach everything I need to and can find what we want. I am not going to run over a scooter or a bike. It so great. It took all day and wasn't smooth sailing the whole time, but we got it and it worked out well. 

Lately I have been super bad about taking pictures and the fox trot and garage cleaning were time I should have pictures but don't. They both really did happen though. 

Another big thing that happened is we had friends over to play games. We haven't done that in forever, mainly because our kids don't go to bed early anymore so we either have to start late or deal with kids during a game. However, we have really wanted to have Gaupo's co-worker and fiance over for games so we just took the plunge and hoped for the best. I was a little nervous about it because well they don't have kids and we have four. My house was kind of messy and I just don't feel like I sell how awesome it is to be a stay at home mom because I don't dress fancy (mainly because I am not fancy. I love a good t-shirt, jeans and ponytail), my house isn't super trendy, and our food isn't fancy. However, I got my house tidied up, made some delicious food (pizza and cookies and cream blondies), and forgot about everything else. It turned out really fun. The twins were with Gaupo and I most of the time, but the big kids did watch the movie. We had fun and they said they had fun, so hopefully we will do it again, because I really enjoyed it.

At this time, probably because I feel like it might end before I am ready, my heart is so full of gratitude to be home all the time. I also love to have my two buddies with me all the time. I love taking them for bike rides, going to the park, playing in the basement, going shopping or whatever else we decide to do. I love right now when we can just play and have a good time. No one tells me they should be doing this or doing that we just do what we want because we can. I love that I can be here when my big girls get home. I can make them breakfast and take them to school I love the conversations our family has at the dinner table. I love that we enjoy being together. I love that my kids love each other and play together. I love that being a mom is fulfilling to me. It is a gift that has been given to me and I love it because I feel like it is a great work. 

One last note, is this--sometimes my kids actually hear what we say. Duh, right, but seriously our family home evening nights and come follow me lessons are a zoo. The kids are up and down, touching each other, playing with toys, and I don't even know what else. It feel like once every other blue moon they will sit for half of what we have to say. We try and try and I don't know why they don't but its like they can't I don't get it. However, this week when Jake (Jason's co-worker) came over he asked about he organization of the church. You know what we talked about in family night this week just that. So, I started to explain, but you know who finished--Kylee. She listened enough to be able to tell Jake about church organization and I got a glimmer of hope that maybe just maybe despite all the chaos my kids are learning, and feeling the gospel in our home. Also, Jake mentioned while he was here "I don't know if I have ever seen a bunch of kids smile as much as you guys." That helped me and Jason see that really our kids are a pretty happy bunch. I mean yeah we have time when things are not happy around here. We have our fair share of tantrums, its-not-fair fights, misunderstandings, and other stuff but most of the time we have pretty happy kids. I am so blessed.

Mindset Change

 I am the Young Women President in our ward and one of the thing I do is try to mentor the oldest class of girls. Girls ages 15-18. I was really struggling with this calling and feeling like I was connecting with the girls, and really just struggling. There was a day when there was an activity that night and my co-leader said she couldn't come and so I sought out some mom's for help and learned that 6 out of 10 were not even coming to the activity. When I arrived and was about to start one more didn't come and so we had 3 our of 10 young women there. I also miraculously found another leader for that night. It really was a miracle. I said a prayer right before I called this mom and it went something like this,"Heavenly Father, I know she has never answered her phone the first time I have called ever, but I am out of time and pretty out of options. I need her to answer now. Please let her answer." I then called her and she answered and was able to help. Now, that should have showed me that those 3 girls were important to the Lord and, so even just three should be enough for me, but instead I just became more convinced that my young women weren't coming because they didn't like me. Well, the activity was fun good and the girls that came did have a good time, so win. 

However, I was still believing my young women didn't like me. That why had I been called when all I was going to do was make people mad and not want to come. Well, on Saturday I was cleaning my house and had a quiet moment and decided to listen to a podcast that a friend sent me. I rarely have time to listen to podcasts but I didn't listen to it. Honestly, I didn't love it but at the same time it taught me exactly what I needed. One of the things the author said was that Satan tells us lies and they are in second person. They will eventually change to first person when we begin to believe them, so we need to cast them out. Well, I realize that I was believing one of Satan's lies. No one had told me that they didn't like me, no parents had said my daughter refuses to come because you expect to much. Nope, no one. I knew none of that for certain yet I was letting myself believe I did. So, right then I said a little prayer to have help to cast this lie away. I no longer wanted to believe it instead I was going to believe that unless I heard otherwise no one didn't like me. 

Since then my calling and my ability to serve has increase. I am blessed it was that easy. The darkness that surrounded this calling for me dispersed and I could do it. It wasn't a burden. I could learn about those that come. Worry about those that don't. Love for real, and not out of obligation. Now, its only been two weeks, and I am sure their will be more things that come up, but for right now its great. This last activity I stayed late one because I felt I should make sure everyone got picked up even though I didn't have to and also because I wanted to hear what they had to say and they didn't ask me to leave. They didn't say this is personal please leave, so I didn't and I now know them more. Staying didn't feel as obligatory as it has in the past. Instead, I chose to stay because I wanted to be there. It was great. Then today I actually called my class president checked in on her and asked her, her opinion about a challenge to have more meetings and how she thought we should do it. I texted another girl just seeing how she was because I haven't seen her recently. It sounds so simple, but I couldn't do that before because I was thinking way to much about what they would think or if I was intruding or whatever. For me in this moment, I can move forward. 

Its different. I can't explain it very well, because so much of it was in my head, and then had an effect on everything I did. I still wonder about the bounds on caring verse nosy and if I am asking and expecting too much, but if I do its now more genuine that obligation and I am so grateful because I want to love these young women and this calling. The youth really are amazing despite their faults. I want to see what the Lord sees in them and I want to love them. It is so much easier to love when you don't fear. I am so glad the Lord helped me see.

Nothing Grand Here-- Just Us Doing Our Thing

 Today was a fifth Sunday. That means no meetings. It was so great. I took my time waking up. We took our time in the morning getting ready and went to church together. It was so nice. Gaupo probably didn't love it quite as much because I got the Lego's out which in our house just means the kids need a lot of help. Some families love Lego's and their kids just build and build and play, but not here. It takes some work and it doesn't last, but I still love to get them out because my kids do some good thinking and it brings back good memories for me. Anyway, having a meeting less Sunday made it feel like this is what I could do right now. There are honestly quite a few things that I could do instead like make an agenda for my presidency meeting, make some phone calls and texts about ideas I have, or make some food, but really I just want to revel in the quiet moment.

Quiet is not something our house is good at. I thought that once the big girls went back to school that I would have so much more quiet time, but I don't. At least not as much as I would like. I only love quiet because so much of my life is noisy. We always have chatter, laughter, yelling, screaming, music, talking, and what not going on it seems like, but I love it because I want a home where people live and do. Anyway, I don't have as much quiet time as was originally planned because the last week of summer Tia and Kylee taught Abby how to get out of the baby bed where she was taking naps (in order to keep her away from Kade) AND how to open the baby gate which kept Kade where he could sleep. So, now I get to do my scripture study at the top of the stairs until Kade is asleep. Gratefully Abby leaves him alone once he is asleep and then she usually falls asleep too, but when they party they party and they will not sleep if they can help it. The other reason 'my' time is shorter is because I have a bad habit of playing to long and letting lunch last a little long. So, the twins are down for a nap late. However, I love this time of year when it is warm, but not hot and playing at the park and riding bikes is fun. We take forever to get home from taking the kids to school because we play along the way and I usually talk to someone. I love it. I really do. I love seeing people. I love that my kids can run, jump, climb, and bike. I love that the twins are 2. For me it is a magic year, because nobody expects anything of two year olds. They don't expect them to know numbers or letters. They don't expect them to sit still. They just expect them to be kids and it is so freeing because I love letting kids be kids. I love just going with the flow and playing. Being with the twins is really fun. I am glad we get the chance to be together even if it maybe for only a short time.

The girls are in school, and there school days sound like they are going well. For the first time ever, I hear a ton from Kylee about school and not so much from Tia. I wish I got to hear lots from both, but hey at least I get some. Kylee has her first boy teacher and is loving it. I don't know about his teaching, but he sounds like a pretty funny teacher. Tia's teacher is a really good teacher, but not so openly funny and silly, so that is probably why I don't hear as much. After school, is still a little bit hard. Tia pretty much just has reading for 20min. I think she will get homework later, but hasn't gotten much yet which is totally fine with me. However, Kylee has reading, homework, and piano practicing, so she feels pretty jipped in the amount of time she has to play. It makes for some hairy days after school, but she has made a goal to not go to summer school, so she has work to do this year. With the start of school we also started gymnastics. I found an affordable play to do it and so they are both loving that. Kylee really wanted to do it and for the first time in a long time I limited Tia's choices and did what Kylee wanted. They both really like it though and even though we have to rush right from school to there we are done by 5 so it is totally worth it. I love that Kylee is getting to do something she has heard about and wants to do and I love that Tia is using her strength in a focused way. 

Guapo is working at the library. They were going to open up to full hours but with the new strains of Corona developing they might not open to full hours just yet. Its great because he wont work any nights or weekends, but its a big thing for the library to be open so people can use it. I know we have loved be able to go in again and pick our books, watch the train, and see our dad at work. He is busy at work though and still seems to really like it.

Me, I keep our show rolling. Sometimes maybe not as a well as others, but that's okay, I think. My house isn't very tidy most days because for the first time in 4 kids I have kids that play with toys and so they are always out and I don't always get around to getting them picked up. Sometimes it isn't very clean because when I clean I want to be left alone and that doesn't happen very much, so I just play with them instead. Its okay. One day I will probably have more time than I want for that kind of stuff. But when I am not being a mom and often times while I am being a mom I do young women's stuff. Its been kind of hard lately and I think its because I was believing that the young women did't like me. Now I don't know if its true or not because they haven't told me and neither have their parents, so I need to stop thinking that way. They don't have a reason not to like me and if they think they do its because they don't know me. I care a lot about them and that just might be the problem. I discovered this 'problem' of mine yesterday as I was listening to a podcast a friend referred me to and so I don't know if it will make this week better, but I have decided to give it a shot. Try to let of the lie that the young women don't like me, and instead try to get to know them and not be afraid of them. I am not afraid of them per say just more afraid of making things awkward and uncomfortable, but I got to get over that too. I am sure they will let me know on that account. Anyway, yw is teaching me a lot. I hope the yw learn about their Savior as much as I am.

I know the Lord love my family and these young women. He continually works in small and simple ways to bless their lives. He gives me patience when I feel I have no more. He answers hurriedly offred pleading prayers. He provides me with strength and love and testimony as I read the scriptures. He gives me courage and hope when I just want to give up and not do hard things. I am blessed and watched over, and I can do hard things as I continually lean on the Lord and those He gave me to lift and help me.

Summer Nutshell

 We have exactly two weeks of summer left and I am so glad to have 2 weeks. Every time I have finished up one thing, I have felt like school would be starting, but nope we still have summer. I am loving it. We kicked off our summer in Swanlake. We spent almost 10 days there. It started off with a huge Merrill Family Reunion. All of Grandpa's brother's and sisters and their kids came. We played on the pond, ate food, and visited. It was so fun, but also kind of exhausting. We were glad to have the farm to ourselves once everyone left. We enjoyed the pond, four-wheeler rides, cousins, and Grandma and Grandpa. It was really fun. 

After our visit to Idaho we came home to take on Summer School. I swore a couple of years ago I would never do it again, but it was the right thing to do this year, so we did it and the kids loved it. Kylee came home happy almost every day. There was no homework, so we just did reading and then played. Plus, it is summer so we stayed up a little later. My favorite part was them riding the bus with kid from our neighborhood. We don't get to do that since we don't go to our home school, but it was a great opportunity. I asked Kylee what the difference between school and summer school was and she said it is that the kids ask her to play with them. I think school is a little less intense too, but what she mentioned is friends. She has mentioned trying to be a little more outgoing this school year so we will see if she does.

During the last week of summer school I had girls camp. It was a day camp in Lyons. I just went one day, so we wouldn't have too many leaders involved. It was good to be with all my Young Women to see them interact and play. I learned a few things about myself and the girls. I was grateful Gaupo could stay home so that I could go.

On the last day of summer school, we took off for Idaho again. We went to the Brady family reunion. It was regular style this year so 2 days 1 night. My big job was the float. It was a big job, but I think people had fun helping and the teens had fun riding on it. I had fun riding on it and I learned what family means for me. My cousin Colten summed it up when he said, "I can be silly here, because these guys know and will love me anyway." Family is somewhere you don't have to pretend you can just be what you are. Sometimes you have it together and sometimes you don't and family loves you anyway. Reunion is always tiring, yet too short. However, it was very fun and I think everyone had a good time. 

After reunion we went directly to Arizona. Gaupo drove my parents car to Colorado and my parents and I drove our van to AZ. We broke it into two days, but it was still a long drive. However, the kids were troopers and did really pretty well. My Arizona vacation was probably one of the most relaxing it has been in a couple of years. The twins loved kicking around the pool in their puddle jumpers, so I wasn't constantly hanging onto two babies. The girls had fun play sharks and minnows, doing handstands, jumping in and Kylee learned how to do underwater flips from Betty. We swam at least once a day for and hour and a half. We saw all of our Arizona cousins. We got some time with just Oma and Papa. The kids adjusted pretty well to the time diffidence. We just lived there and had a great time. They also had a pretty good monsoon season and so that was fun to see all the rain. One time, Uncle Seth helped us catch tadpoles in various stages and we watched them grow over the following week. We had Betty stay a week with us by herself. We watched TV and had some special treats. It was a great 3 weeks.

Now we are home. I just finished a 3 day 2 night youth conference. I almost cried when it was over just from relief it was over. It had a huge service project that I helped the youth put together. It involved boys and girls camping out, a trip to Waterworld and lots of Nine Square. It was fun, but it would have been way more fun to not be a leader, but I was and the youth were pretty good, so I call it a win. There was a huge rainstorm on one night and so almost everyone ended up in the house. We had a group of girls in a camper and another group of girls that wanted to sleep in their tent despite it being wet. They were so funny the next morning when they insisted it was great. I think they loved it but it must have been a cold night. It is kind of stressful being in charge, but it was good to watch the youth be together and get to know a lot of them.

This week we don't have anything and its been great to just be home, have some friends over, clean the house, and just be. Its been a summer worth living so glad I have had the chance. We have one more adventure left--family camping trip for 3 days 2 nights. We will see how it goes. I am excited but it could be a little crazy. Oh well, that seems to be the name of the game lately.

Sickness, Sleeplessness, and ADHD Our Personal Whirlwind

Its been a bit crazy here. We had Spring Break about a month ago and it was pretty fun. I really didn't do anything super cool for Spring Break but it was fun to have a break from school. We had friends over to play a couple of day. We bought an unlimited wash pass for the van and rode through it about 3x one day. We went to Cabels and shot arrows, played on the ATV's, and checked out the taxidermy animals, and the fish. Our "Big" things was suppose to be riding the train from Westminster to Kitt's house, but Abby came down with a fever. I was so sad it didn't get better. We actually ended up wanting to take her to the doctor and we had a doc come to our house which was super cool especially since it didn't cost any more than urgent care. Anyway, it really did kind of bum out the end of Spring Break, but we were like that's okay we will see them next weekend for Kitt birthday and conference. Well, Kade started throwing up on Wednesday and into Thursday a little. I got worried with him to because he threw up so much it started having blood in it. So, we took him to the doctor and it looks like it was just a stomach bug. However, we did get a little bit of anti-nausa medicine there and that helped him a ton on Thursday so that was great. Still I didn't want to pass anything onto Kitt and Matthew so we told them it was probably best to stay home. That was probably even more of a bummer for me because I was so excited to do a birthday celebration, conference, and Easter with family. AHHHH! However, it didn't happen and its probably for the best because these sicknesses were no fun at all.

Being sick is bad, canceled plans is bad but there was more. Kylee has been having troubles sleeping through the night. She is nine, this should not be an issue, but it is. It was kind of bad before, but about this time it was starting to get worse. The worst part of it was she would wake-up, and then if we asked her to go try to go back to sleep she would start throwing a verbal tantrum and get herself all riled up and we of course at 2AM aren't so great either so we would get mad and then no one could get much sleep for a couple of hours. It was so bad. We went to the doctor for it. She hooked us up with some ideas and a therapist to talk to. However, when the therapist tried to call me I was taking a nap because I was tired. Anyway, I did later talk to her and honest I am like meh she has been okay but not great at least not what I was thinking. Anyway, she did help us get a really useful app that has sleepcasts on it and those helped quite a bit. We also have had some really emotionally charged moments here at home one because of the lack of sleep and two we have had 2 weeks of quarantine--one before spring break then another 2 weeks later. During that time I reached out to the school counselor and she has met with Kylee a couple of times and it has seemed to help. She actually has only woken up 2 times in the last 4 nights which is amazing because we were easy doing 3x a night. I am hoping we are on the up swing of this sleep thing. I would love it. 

Among all of this, Tia was diagnosed with ADHD and we have been trying to figure out which medication is right for her and how to work it. We like the first medication we tried (Conserta) but it caused insomnia. So, yes at one point in all this we had a kid staying up until 10-11 at night, another waking up in the middle of the night, and then two more waking up super early in the morning. It was not fun. Anyway, we tried another medication (Aderyal) and it didn't cause sleep problems but it took all of her sweetness away. She was so bossy and edgy. I hated it. It only last two days and I was like nope and actually returned it. Then we tried a third one that was supposed to be a little short acting but of the same family as the first family. It did last less, so we didn't have sleep problems, but it almost didn't last long enough. It never really seemed to be in her system after school and definitely not at dinner, so that was a bummer. We tried doubling the dose to see if it would help her focus a little more and last a little longer and it just made her cry about everything. So, that wasn't it. Between the first two, I did a little bit of experimenting. My mom suggested waking her up and giving it to her and then having her go back to sleep. We found if we give the Conserta at 6:00 AM it works and she can sleep. So, that is what we are going with because seriously it helps her so much at school. She is so much more confident. She can string all of her amazing thoughts together and for the most part communicate them to those around her. She does better on her school work. Its great. For our at-home-learning Fridays it has been amazing. She can sit down and work on work without me. She can decide what she wants to do and get it done. She can get her homework done without constant badgering from me. The only real downside is I have to make sure I am up by six or suffer the consequences. Most times not a bad trade-off. It actually helps me get moving in the morning. 

So, yeah its been crazy here or at least it is for us. Things have been improving and I am so glad. Like I was tell Grandma today "I feel like I say "I never thought..." a lot more often than I use to. She said "just wait." I am sure that is probably the case but still I never thought this would be some of the struggles I would encounter with my kids, but it is and we are all learning and growing because of it. 

Kylee is 9

 Kylee had a birthday and it was so fun to celebrate her. I feel like sometimes she doesn't get enough stuff about her, so when her birthday comes it is so fun to celebrate her--guilt free. She is a great big sister. Her and Tia have a blast together and it is no coincidence that they are close in age. Abby and Kade love her to because she will play with them (most times) and she is big enough and understood enough to help them get almost everything they want whether or not I say it is okay. Honestly sometimes it annoys me, but you know that is why you have siblings and not just parents. Anyway, her birthday was on Wednesday which is kind of a terrible day of the week around here to have a birthday, so we celebrated then and later.

On her actual birthday, her siblings made her a birthday sign. She had a piano lesson which I tried to be really nice during. Then Gaupo, Tia and I made her some cards to open because she was waiting until Friday for presents.Then she had school where lots of people told her happy birthday. Plus, she had a substitute teacher and in her words said "she actually celebrates birthdays special." So, she got to choose a group game to play with her class. After school, she read with Oma and then we had swimming lessons. After swimming lessons, we had her second favorite dinner--biscuits and gravy. Then we had her cake of choice, pumpkin pie. I think she felt celebrated and she had a good day.

Kylee at swim lessons.

Kade, Kylee, Me, Tia, Abby

Siblings and Pie

The family

Kylee

A couple weeks prior to her birthday, she decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday on the weekend and invited Kitt and Matthew to come celebrate with her. Bless their hearts. They left their place around 4ish trying to beat the rain and still had to travel in it. However, they got here safe. Matthew had work, and Kitt had a meeting and we had activity days, so we didn't really do much hanging out on Thursday, but that is okay because everyone was here for Friday. Friday was a fun day or at least mostly fun. We started off the morning with presents. She was so excited to finally get her presents. I think she like her presents too. Then we had breakfast and the started school work. It didn't turn out so good, but we finally got it done and we survived though sadly, not without some tears. Anyway, we got done with school and had lunch. Then Kitt and I prepped for dinner. Kitt made yummy homemade salsa and I got the crock-pot cake mixed up so that Matthew could throw it in on time for us. We pretty much went right from dinner prep to swimming. I feel so fortunate that we were able to get a reservation on Friday afternoon for open swim. Gaupo met us there and that made it even more fun. With 3 adults to five kids we could cover a lot of pool. The big girls did everything--diving boards, slides, lazy river, and leisure pool. The twins tried everything except the diving boards but only because I refused to let them. They probably would have tried it. Kade loved the slides and Gaupo took him down them countless times. I took Jay for a little while so Kitt could go on the slides and she convinced the girls to do the blue slide-its the faster scarier one with a lot more undertow after. They did great though. We had a blast and for the first time ever 1.5 hours was not long enough. It has been so long since we have been to a public pool and it was so fun to just play. Once home it was time for dinner. We cooked up greasy tacos. Matthew had gotten the cake in the crock and it was ready. Plus, Matthew didn't go back to work so Kylee got to introduce him to one of her favorite movies Descendants 1. It was a fun evening. After the movie us grown-ups just chatted and then went to bed pretty early. Swimming takes it out of you.

Kylee, Tia, Jay, Kade, and Abby

Kylee with her weighted blanket, and new scriptures.

Kylee trying out her new rocket.

Cake #2

The party group: Me, Abby, Jay, Matthew, Tia, Kitt, Kylee, and Gaupo

Saturday we didn't have any really big plans, so we decided in between naps we would go to the 'farm park'. The kids have been begging to go there for a long time, so we went. They had fun playing at the park, investigating the creek, and climbing on the toys. It was such a nice day outside. During naptime, I think we played a game. I am not really sure. However, that night we watched a show with the girls before we sent them to bed. Then us adults needed to unwind a little more, so we watched an episode or two more and then we played Castle Panic Wizards Tower. We actually won, which was amazing. We have only won one other time and we told Kitt and Matthew we probably couldn't win, but then we did. It was awesome. It made for a late night, but also very enjoyable one. 

 Playing on this metal tractor silhouette. Abby, Kade, Kylee, Tia, Jay

Isn't this so cute! Gaupo, Kade, Kylee, Jay and Kitt

Sunday the Blaylocks had to leave. No one wanted them to go. We never do, but they did and we had a normal day of church. 

I thought Kylee's birthday was great and I think she enjoyed it too. Kylee is a great kid. She loves reading with Oma. She still loves being read to her. Her current favorite thing to do is dance to music. She still loves her music and listens to the CD player often. She is also enjoying activity days and the girls there. School goes pretty well most days. She doesn't love that school is hard, but she does love being with the other kids. She has a pretty fun imagination. She set goals in January to learn to curl her hair and read her scriptures everyday. She is getting really good at the right side of her hair and she can do her left side it is just trickier. I have learned a TON while trying to teacher this skill. For example, I am not good at keeping my mouth shut and/or giving compliments without correction too. Also, I am learning not everyone is like me and tries things all or nothing. Some people need to take small steps at a time. They still get there just not the same way I do. However, we are learning and growing and she is doing really well. She has also done great with reading her scriptures and I don't really have to fight her on it anymore. That is answered prayer for sure. She is quite a stubborn little girl. When she puts her mind to it she can do, but if she doesn't want to she doesn't. Even though sometimes I don't know what to do with her except love her, I am so glad she is here. She really bring so much joy and happiness to my life. Becuase of her, I am partly who I am. She has helped me be a mom and a better mom. She has helped me realize that not everyone is like me. She understands truth and really tries hard to be good and do what she is suppose to. She doesn't have it easy at our house. Things are crazy here, sometimes school is hard, sometimes swimming and and piano are hard and she doesn't love hard things. However, she continues to work at all these things and has grown so much in her abilities. I am impressed by this little girl. I love her to pieces. 

Kade and Abby Are 2

More than two years ago we had our family of four joined my the cutest twins my eyes ever did see. Last year their birthday took me totally off-guard. I have siblings with birthday's after Christmas, but in the last 7 years I haven't had to worry about anything post Christmas. Anyway, this year I was more prepared although it honestly was still a little bit last minute. I made there sign and wrapped their presents around 11:30 on New Year's Eve. We did have their presents and they were ready to go. I also decided on the meals, so everything was pretty set.

They woke up and got to open presents. They received camp chairs from the girls and bikes from Gaupo and I. The bike are big for them, but hoping by summer or end of summer it will be perfect. They actually opened a few gifts and were content to play with just those. The girls were going bananas because they wanted the twins to go downstairs to see the bikes, but we told the girls they don't want to they aren't ready. So the played with the toys from Grandma and Grandpa and their camp chairs. Then we had breakfast, which was pancakes because Kade LOVES pancakes. Then we ran to the store because the helmet I had so perfectly picked out for him in November was too small. He has a big head (96%). So, we took it back then brought them inside to see their bikes and ride them. As I said, the bikes were too big but all of us 'big' people took turn pushing them around on their bikes and they loved that. Now that it is almost March they are kind of trying to pedal, but still haven't quite gotten it, but they will.

After shopping and riding bikes we baked the cake because it needed to cool and delivered some bread to neighbors. We had lunch which was simple fare of sandwiches. Then it was nap time for the twins. I think during naps I finished making their cake. We call the cake Aunt Shara's wedding cake. I thought they would love it but they were like meh. So, I guess they get 2nd birthday tradition like everyone else of not liking their birthday cake. Oh well. We all liked it, and hopefully next year they can tell me what they want. We had pizza for dinner and then cake and then bed. It was a fun day. Really simple, but I love that on January 1st our family is together, and that makes it seem extra special.

So, the twins are two. Normally I would update all about what they could do by their birthday, but I am a couple months behind and can't remember clearly all the detail of then, so I will update you with the now.

Kade opening his gifts.

Abby in her camp chair.

Kade with his cake beater

Abby with hers.

Kade and Abby and their cake.

Kylee, Kade, Tia, and Abby.

All of us. Me, Kylee, Tia, Kade, Abby, Gaupo

Abby

Kade

Kade-Kade still has the brightest smile and the most contagious laugh. He loves to chase his sisters around, dance to good music, help me cook in the kitchen, and build with blocks. He makes some pretty creative Duplo creations, but boy does he have major issues when they break or fall over. He also loves his trucks and trains. I love hearing his car noises when they drive. I also love when he links things to make a train. He is a great brother to all of his sisters. His favorite foods are pancakes, cheese, and candy. He is kind of stuck in a rut on his speech but can say mom, dad, potty (pa-pa-pa),  cracker, fish, more, no (sound like mo), more, jacket, shoes, socks, truck, car, choo-choo, and then he makes a lot of noise for a lot of other things. I think he still gets frustrated at how little I understand, but compared to 6months ago I will take it. Kade is also getting pretty good at his scooter. He is a hard sleeper and his hair sticks up pretty crazy when he wakes up. I love that he likes to sit right next to me when we read books. He has done super good with potty training. This week we are going to try out overnight and see how that goes. We think he can do it, it just might take some mistakes first. However, he is pretty much a champ during the day. 

Kade on his bike.

Looking sharp in his Sunday Suit.

Jumping on the tramp in the snow.

His truck train.

Abby- Abby is so fun. She can be very mischievous and know it. She will play with the big girls and her brother sometimes, but is also very content to do her own thing at other times. Her favorite spot to be read a book is in my lap. Her favorite spot to look at a book is next to or on Dad. Her speech has improved a ton in the last couple of months. She says more, mom, dad, potty, cracker, fish, bear, peebud (peanut butter), cheese, done, down, slide, come, up, book, chair, Kylee (it can mean either Kylee or Tia), me, juice, milk, treat, purple, ice, toast and I feel like a lot of other things to that I can't remember right now. Anyway, she is learning, and imitating sounds all the time. She loves to push her brothers buttons still. She continually challenges us especially as she hit 2 year-old sleep regression hard core and has been up early for about the last month, month and a half. This little girl lets me do her hair, loves fancy dresses and shoes. Her navy blue socks are not hers they are Kade's and she will move them to his drawer every week. She loves to be picked up or set on the counter so she can see and be in everything. Abby is doing good with potty training. She can make it most nights, and pee almost every time, but man does she hate to poop. She will get there, but she is a fighter so it might take some time. Abby is always making sure we don't leave anyone behind. She loves her dad fiercely and is one of my only kids who will ask him for help instead of me. She is not a huge fan of chocolate and she loves her fruit snacks.

She loves her baby, camping chair, and helmet.

Abby and her bike.

This girls can and does jump all the time. 

Playing dress-up in her sisters soccer stuff.

Both these kiddos love the outside, the snow, the sunshine. They have recently discovered drawing with sidewalk chalk and love to do that. They are always looking out for each other. They are good at dividing mom and conquering. They are probably the best at catching me eating chocolate chips. They are game for almost any adventure that I want to go on. They love the park. They both smile a ton and are really a joy to have around. I honestly hoped my friend Anne would be right when she said it has been a non-stop party since she had twins (almost 42 years ago). I wont say it is always a party, but it is always busy and the joy that these two souls have brought our family is incredible. They have tested us in so many ways, but they have also shown us the importance of loving hard, playing hard, seizing the moment, that its okay to be different and the same. They have taught us to keep trying, to relax, and enjoy the ups and the downs and the all arounds. Life is wild sometimes, but I love that these two joined our crazy family.  

Me, Kade, and Abby

Gaupo helping Kade ride the skateboard.

Daddy helping Kade with the bow.

Snow play!

Family Letter For 2020

 I usually try to write a family letter for the end of the year even though I never send it out. I  think its a good way to sum up the year and where everyone is at that point in time.

2020 was quite the year for our family. We started off the year by moving to a new house. We are still in Longmont, but we bought a home that gave us more space to be together. We have gotten to know some of our neighbors and fellow church members even though it is/was a bit tricky with COVID. However, those we know are so great and we love where we are at. We enjoyed some much desired family time. We didn't travel quite as much as usual although we still made one trip to Idaho in the summer and another in October. I also travel to Arizona with the kids in the summer and we went as a family in November. We have had family visit a few times this year and those were wonderful occasions. Over the course of 2020 we have done fully online, hybrid, and 4-days on and Friday asynchronous learning for school. It has been quite the roller coaster and there were ups and downs through all the different school types. Even though it has been so crazy having the Spirit help us with our decisions brought so much peace to the turmoil of the year. As a family, we have grown closer to each other, become better at being consistent with "Come Follow Me", learned a little of our family history, and lived. 2020 wasn't a perfect year, but I feel we have been blessed through it all. Here is a little person by person update.

Gaupo-Gaupo is still working at the Longmont Library. He never really got to stay home during shut down because being an IT guy he thought it was the perfect time to run the updates he needed to and change software and stuff like that. However, he only worked about 20 hours a week for about 6 weeks. It was so great. He would go to the office and then be home to play. I could get use to that. Alas, it didn't stick forever which is really how it should be and now he works his normal 40ish hours at the library. He loves what he does and enjoys the people he works with. He currently serves as Elder's Quorum Secretary and coordinates the moves in the ward. He really likes working with those brethren. He rides his bike quite a lot, still loves computers and videos games, he always makes the kids laugh, and everyone looks forward to when he is home from work.

Adventure Girl (Me)-I am still a stay-at-home mom and couldn't be more grateful for that opportunity. I currently serve as the Girls Activity Day leader in our ward, and I actually really like it. I was honestly afraid I would hate it. However, it is really fun. I love going to the park, taking walks, biking, going to the river or other water place, and all other kind of activities. I still run for exercise and enjoyed having my kids around all summer to work out with me. 

Kylee-Kylee turned 8 this year and was baptized in March right before the world shut down. She is learning to love to read and still loves being read to. Her and her Oma read every day together. She played soccer this fall and really had a good time. Kylee loves crafting. She loves to make things out of paper. She has had quite a few challenges to overcome with school but she keeps moving along and improving. She also really enjoys music and dancing. Music is almost always on at our house if she is home.

Tia-Tia turned 7 right at the end of the year. This little girl loves school and playing with her friends there. She is trying to hard to learn to read and do math and is continually trying her best. She did swimming this fall and enjoyed it quite a lot. Back-stroke is her favorite because she doesn't have to worry about breathing. She is a great big sister to the twins. She always tries hard to make sure they are okay and have everything they could possibly need. Tia is still a mover and a goer.

Kade-Is so smiley. He thinks all of his sisters are great and doesn't want to miss out on anything. He loves to build with Duplos, play in the cuddle swing, play chase, and help me cook. He is learning to talk although most of it is still with single sounds. He loves to be outside even when it is hot or cold. He is constantly trying to keep up with the big girls and doesn't know what he would do with out Abby.

Abby- Is quite the little girl. She does things when she wants to. She is the biggest tease to her brother, but also his biggest fan. She is always looking out for him. She loves her big sisters and loves to play pretend with them. She has really grown in her speech this year and is getting pretty good. She loves her dad and isn't afraid to go ask him for anything. She is quite the little gal.

Its kind of short, but we have all grown this year in ways that are hard to write down. We sure love one another and feel blessed to be together. 2020 isn't what we would have chosen, but it has given us everything that was really important to us. Well, on to 2021.

Abby, Kylee, Tia, Kade, Me, and Jason
Photo credit: Jessica Ajeman photography

The End of 2020

 It is almost the end of January 2021 and I have yet to finish the year of 2020. I totally expected with my big girls back in school four days I week I would be able to get stuff done like I use. However, all that their 4 days are showing me is that Heavenly Father was working overtime in my life to give me time, strength, energy, patience, and abilities far beyond my own. As crazy, hard, and overwhelming as it was I was so blessed to be able to do what I did because with more time now, I don't seem to be able to accomplish that much more. It was a blessing I didn't realize I was receiving until now. I was and still am so blessed.

So, the end of 2020. December was a lot crazy. The big girls were doing all online school from Thanksgiving to Christmas break which means all that normal Christmas prep time I have to keep surprises was gone. We weren't able to do our Christmas shopping date together because the one weekend we had Abby come down with a cough--nothing else just a cough, but didn't feel like I should ask anyone. So, for the first time since we have had kids we divided up the presents we needed to get and did it separate. It worked out well, it was just different. A fun adventure that we had is when we took all the kids to Wal-Mart to do their shopping. It resulted in about 2 hours worth of shopping that included a lot of playing in the toy isle especially by Kade and Abby. It was really fun. Crazy but fun.

Now it is February 7th and I haven't finished this post. I wanted to give a play by play of Christmas and New Years, but if I don't get 2020 finished out I will miss too much of 2021.

Here we go with highlights. Christmas was a lot of work, but it was so fun. This year Oma and Papa came on Christmas Eve. We tried a couple new things this year. One was a new sweet potato dish that I think is my new favorite one. We also had broccoli salad and oatmeal fudgies which are not new dishes, but new to Christmas dinner. It was a really good dinner. I wasn't going to fuss with the table this year, but my girls were like aren't we going to set it fancy. Well, I don't have really fancy stuff, but we had them use some fancy plates from my Grandma, and the rest of us had all white dishes. Then we had some fake candles, and a light-up snowflake necklace on a red charger for the center piece. I know it doesn't sound like it, but it look really nice and way fancier than any other meal we ever do. After dinner, we gave the kids there new PJ's which weren't a surprise this year, because I let them choose the fabric for them. Then they also got new pillows. Then we set-up the projector and watched The Christ Child and sang a couple of primary Christmas songs. It was simple and perfect for that night. My parents were pretty tired so they headed to bed after we watch The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Gaupo and I stayed up a little longer, but then went to bed. It had been a long but good day.

Getting PJ's and pillows.

Watching the movie.

Christmas morning we made the big girls wait until the twins were awake and then we did stockings and Santa had brought breakfast. He thought of everyone. There were fruit pies, mini-muffins, bagels, and cinnamon bread no raisins. Oma made us Cocoa which I felt like was perfect. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I am like meh, but this year it was good and I am so glad she made a whole gallon of it. After breakfast we opened presents. It was so fun to watch the twins get into the present opening. I was a little worried we may have gone a bit overboard with presents this year, but really once it was all opened, I thought it was great. They each had there own 'big' gift. Kylee got a bow, Tia a skateboard, and Abby and Kade got scooters. Then they got a bunch of wooden tracks and some trains to share. One of my favorite parts of Christmas was when we went outside and setup some wetboard and targets and shot paintballs with Papa's slingshot. While we took turns with that there was skateboarding and some scootering and just enjoyment of perfect weather. I choose not to cook on Christmas so breakfast from Santa, and leftovers and sandwiches for lunch and dinner. It was great. I believe we watched a movie that night and then sent the kids to bed while us adults talked out the night.

Kylee, Tia, Kade, Abby and their stockings

Oma and Papa and their stockings.

Kade

Abby

Oma and Papa

Tia

Kylee

Tia

Kade and Abby

Oma, Papa, Gaupo, Kade, Kylee

Gaupo and Kylee with their bows

Kylee and her bow

After Christmas, Papa and Oma stayed until late on Sunday. The Saturday after Christmas we rode bikes to the park where we scootered, skateboarded, and played outside. We had gorgeous weather. We enjoyed being together. I can't remember specifics,  but we just played and enjoyed a day with no plans. Sunday was Church, games, and visiting. It is always kind of hard to say good-bye to Oma and Papa, but we sent them on there way. It actually turned out good because the next day it did snow here. It was so fun to have them here. Family at Christmas is fun.

Papa getting ready to follow Tia down the slide.

The week between Christmas and New Years I took a mom stay-cation. I read a book, planned simple meals, made and ate delicious treats and probably overate on treats and real food. I didn't cook, project, or help kids read. I just took a week to enjoy not having anything. It was great. New Years is pretty low key, but for maybe the first time ever Midnight came way to soon. We started off the night with mini-hotdogs and mac and cheese. Then we went and saw this house that has its light programmed to a radio station. Then we came home and used some hot chocolate bombs that a friend made me and toasted in the New Year with the twins. After we got them to bed, we played Forbidden Island with the big girls and then we had Martinelli's to toast in the New Year with them. Then Gaupo and I pulled out Fall of Rome Pandemic and learned and played that. By then, it was about 11:30 and so we made a birthday sign, wrapped presents for the twins, and blew-up balloons. By then it was time to toast in the New Year. 

Tia learned to climb the tree.

Abby

Kade

Kylee

Sledding on Skyline Hill. Tia, Kade, Abby, Kylee.

Tia and Kade getting warm after sledding.

Abby goofing in snow wear.

It brief, but sometimes that is the way it has to be. The holidays were very fun and a much needed break from school.