Perspective.....

I have been feeling very reflective these last couple of weeks. Only 1 year ago it seemed that I couldn't look past the moments that I was living in. Each day seemed like 3 and every time I stepped into the NICU I wondered when I would be able to bring my little boy home. Those days were long and grueling. It was an experience that brought me closer to my husband, my 5 kids at home, my new little guy and my Heavenly Father. I learned a lot about patience and about, how in fact, we can only control our own lives to a certain degree. I am thankful for my experience, I have more empathy for others in the same situation and am so grateful for the absolutely perfect boy I have now.

J.D. bore his testimony on Sunday, it was all about 'perspective' - look at our lives now....

Jiles has learned how to open all the doors in our house (those darn levers). For some reason the ones that he is the most interested in are the ones that lead to the pantry (the garbage cans, eeewww!), the laundry room and the toilets.....he also really likes to go into Ella and Jensens rooms also because they have lots and lots of little toys - the perfect size for his little hands. Lego's and random coins, Petshops and Polly Pockets. All of them fun, but unfortunately the perfect size for choking. I need to be on my 'A' game at all times, constantly chasing down my 1 year old keeping him safe from stairs, poisons, falling off beds, and like I said, choking hazards.

As I post this blog, he also ripped apart one of my hanging plants that I brought inside so it wouldn't freeze last night. I could read his round little face "but Mom, the purple and red and yellow flowers were calling my name!!"

Why are boys so much more curious than girls?? Ella never ever opened up my kitchen cupboards just to see what was behind them.....Jiles on the other hand opens all of them and leaves them that way. He tips over picture frames and rips all of his diapers out of the basket in my bedroom - he loves wet wipes, and pulls as many out as he can before I can stop him.

Dishwashing tablets, oh my!! What fun!

His smile and the pats on the back that we get from him, along with his kisses on our shoulders when we get him out of bed, his blue eyes and faux-hawk hair do, his babbling "mamamamama", blowing bubbles and loving the bathtub, his waving both 'hi' and 'bye', eating everything in sight and learning to walk, knowing how to crawl not only up the stairs, but down also....all of these things in only one year. From being so fragile and dependent to becoming a little boy with his own mind. He puts a smile on my face and makes me laugh every day.

Birthday Boy.....

Our little guy turned 1 last week while we were out of town....

What a difference a year makes! I had Morgan take a picture of us, because we didn't have a party that day and I wanted to remember exactly what his beautiful little face looked like the morning of his birthday. He is such a blessing in our lives.

My cute group of kids - what an adorable family I am blessed with!

I am almost positive they get sick of me taking their picture - Luckily they are all good sports and allow their sometimes crazy mother to take 'just one more picture'...

Present time! He got into the action and ripped all the tissue out of the gift bags. Ji got lots of good stuff from all his cousins and a brand new wagon from mom and dad.

Birthday cupcakes! Holding his hands back long enough to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out his candle....

He knew exactly what to do when it came time to eat his cake, this little boy knows how to put the food away. He loves nearly everything we give him. This was one of my favorite pictures. Look at his eyes, they are almost as big as the cupcake that he is trying so hard to stuff in his mouth:)

First birthdays are a milestone. They are filled with happiness, but also for me a little sadness of the year that has sped by at record speed. I hope and pray to remember the times with my little family as they all grow. I thank my Heavenly Father each and every day for the blessing it is for me to be a mom, to have 6 amazing, healthy, and happy children. I cannon imagine a life without each one of them. I am so blessed.

Too tired to play.....

I am kindof a sucker for pictures of my kids when they are sleeping. I love it, they are so peaceful and darling. I looked over the other day in the middle of the afternoon while Ella, aka 'the princess' was laying in my bed, playing a computer game and was sound asleep!! She didn't move for an hour or more, the hand stayed on the mouse the entire time - I thought it was picture and blog worthy. What a cutie.....

Alta Cheer.....

Yes, it's true.....I have a daughter that made Alta Cheer.

Brenna will be on the Sophomore squad next year with one of her best friends Lindsay Dixson. She flew home last week early from our family vacation so that she could try-out, and with only 1 day to learn the cheer and dance she pulled it off and found her name on the list for 2010-2011!! I am so proud of her!! She needed me to take a picture of the list with her name on it, because she still can't quite believe it herself. What a darling thing.
Way to go Brenna-girl!

Easter (cold and grey!!) weekend.....

Warning!! Loads and loads of pictures in this post, usually pictures say it better than words though.....

When I think of Spring Break or Easter weekend I usually don't think of cold and gray, but each time I looked out the window this weekend it was either snowing, raining or threatening to snow or rain.....it made it a little hard to get into the spirit of spring.We tried to look past it and have a good weekend, but to be honest, it put a damper on all of our moods.

We started our weekend with our neighborhood annual Easter egg hunt which turned out to be a "Put your coat on and go find your dozen candy-filled eggs and run back in the house to get warm!" - maybe the kids didn't notice as much as I did, but I was freezing!! We then all got together after the Priesthood session of conference to dye our Easter eggs. All of the kids were there, which is rare for a Saturday night at our house, usually someone has a date or a party, but all of them decorated their eggs and had a good time. I enjoyed the family time and we all watched Aladdin afterwards-one of our favorites.

The Easter bunny brought baskets this year that were filled with things for the kids that they could use on the cruise. For the girls it was sunglasses and swimsuit cover-ups and for the boys it was goggles and flip-flops. Little bits of candy too, because what better way to spend your Conference/Easter Sunday that eating chocolate and jellybeans in your p.j.'s while watching the prophet speak!!

Cute Ella didn't wait to open several of her treats just to take a taste of all of them - she continued to nibble on them like that all day. If it would have been me they would have each been gone in 2 bites.

Ji's first Easter morning. It was a little bitter-sweet today because last Easter I was still pregnant with him. He will be turning 1 on the 17th and it has been one of the fastest years of my life. I wonder where the time has gone. We started out with such a rough beginning and to look at him now it is just a distant memory of the time spent in the NICU. He is an amazing blessing in our lives. A very happy and healthy boy. I thank my Heavenly Father for him and each one of my children daily.

Brenna took these pictures of us. He was so funny because every time she would go to snap the picture he would turn and look at me. I don't know what it was, he would be smiling and looking at the camera and then she would take the picture and he would turn his head. It truly took about 7 or 8 tries to get him to face forward. I will pretend it is just because he loves his momma so much that he wanted to watch me instead of the camera!

I loved this picture. Ella is waiting in line for to get her dinner and I looked over, don't know where the fingerless gloves came from, but whe just looks so happy. All is right with the world. Her cousins are over and she is surrounded by all the people she loves most in the world. What a great moment for me to be a witness to....not to mention the missing teeth on the bottom!! Love my girl!

I rarely get a picture of the boys at family parties because they tend to disappear. Besides, look at the ham and cheesy potatoes....and what would a family party be without every kind of soda imaginable!! This is for sure one of our worst habits!!

Cousins eating in the dining room, a rare occasion that they all sit in one room together!

Big girls at the big kid table.....

My little brother Brad and his cute wife Christina

Getting ready for the very cold and wet Easter egg hunt (notice the snow on the ground and coats on the kids)

Ella and Jensen in the backyard with all the rest of the cousins. It was hard to get a picture of all the cousins going for it because it was over really fast!

-All my best girls-

Christina, Mom, Jana, Janeen, Julie, Jenn, Jill

love love, love my sisters!!

So all in all it was a safe and happy Easter weekend. Not the sunny warm weather with tulips and green grass that we all dream of, but hopefully that will be the case next week when we leave for our cruise to Cabo!! Hallelujah!

Special Needs Roadshow.....

At the beginning of this last school year Morgan was called to be a Youth Counselor in the Special Needs Young Women's program. This is a calling you get from the Stake President and it is a year long commitment. She goes every Thursday night and has been assigned her 'buddy' - Jenny is her name and it has not only been a blessing in Morgans life, but it has been a blessing to all of us. She looks forward each week to going to Special Needs and comes home with not only pretty funny stories, but also some inspiring ones.
J.D. and I went and watched the entire group put on their annual Roadshow.....the girls did lots of singing - simple songs like 'Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree' and 'Once their was a Snowman' all the way to 'I know that my Redeemer Lives', Morgans group sang 'I feel my Saviors Love'....the boys really liked doing skits, dressing up like Nephi and swinging swords carrying "CTR" shields. The whole night was emotional for me, not only seeing these special spirits get up and perform, but seeing the youth that have been called be so tender and loving to their new friends. I am so proud of Morgan that she has embraced this calling and made every moment of it count.
This has been a fun year for her, and one that I am sure she will remember for a lifetime.

Is the marriage strong enough??.....

J.D. and I generally don't fight. We may disagree, may argue about different things, but overall we do not fight. Not saying it to brag, it's just the way it is. I am not sure what happened one Sunday a few years back, but on a walk in the early spring we had one of our knock-down, drag-outs!! It got heated enough that we had certain neighbors who heard the yelling and when I got home I actually got in the car and drove away. Enough about that, because obviously, we got better.....but it has made us eerily aware of Sunday afternoon walks and what it can do to us as a couple. Kids getting too tired to finish riding the bikes that they brought along, wanting drinks or the kids whining because we stop and talk with too many neighbors. So this last Sunday when I suggested such a walk, J.D. quickly responded "is the marriage strong enough?"

I laughed at him and off we went..... One thing about my boys, Jensen who used to be an absolute FREAK about what he wore, how his hair looked and if he matched okay has now gone completely opposite since having to wear uniforms to school every day. It makes me a little to sad to have my little fashionista gone. Now he just takes whatever is on top of the pile and puts it on. Drew has always been a little bit that way, now I just have 2 boys who look like they have a mother that doesn't bother to care what they go out in public looking like. Sad.

We luckily came upon some of our best friends that also were out on their porch on this yummy spring day! They got a new swing set in the fall and we were able to let the kids run and play at their house for a while - not to mention homemade chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven...we love you Ostheds!!

Little Ji-man loved the swing!! He is just the happiest, smiliest baby we have had -

Coming to the end of our Sunday stroll Jensen thought it would be funny to lift his shorts up high and do a power walk down the sidewalk - the comic relief we have in that little boy is awesome!! He is always thinking up things to do to make us laugh, he and Brenna are a lot alike in that regard. I am so thankful for funny kids, my mom used to always say to me that if a person could make me laugh I wanted to be their friend - so luckily for me I have silly kids.

Our Sunday walk was a huge success!! Thank heaven. Hopefully there will be many more this Spring after being cooped up all Winter long....