Perfection

Today was almost perfect. Almost, because unfortunately Tyler has been at work all day, Tyler would have made it perfect. But it was close. To someone else looking in on my "stay-at-home mom" life, today wouldn't have seemed much different from any other day. But to me it was special. I had one of those moments mothers rave about with each one of my kiddos. The moments we try to explain to people who don't have children but it's just impossible to explain. You have to feel it to understand it. 

My day went like this:

Woke up and started my day with a conversation with my Heavenly Father.

Woke up the kids. Ate breakfast with them.

Dropped Parker off at school, got an extra hug and kiss before he ran off to the playground.

Came home and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with Rylan. She loved every second of it. 

Fed Noel several chocolate chips.

Watched Rylan lick the mixing paddle clean.

Sat on the couch with my girls. Sang songs with them as Noel sat on my lap. After a few songs she grabbed my hands, moved them aside and put her head on my chest, wrapping her arms around me for several minutes.

Picked Parker up and listened to him tell me about his walk-a-thon and new library book.

After lunch, the kids rode their bikes around the neighborhood while I pushed Noel in the stroller and attempted to control my parents puppy Nika on her leash. 

Along our way we collected pretty Fall leaves off the ground.

Made homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner.

Watched my kids devour it!

Spent 1/2 hour working on Parker's " family homework project". We all had so much fun.

Gave the kids a bath.

Climbed in bed with my fresh little babies and read books.  

Said our nighttime prayers.

Cuddled with all three at the same time. 

Talked to Parker about moving to our new house and about being a big boy. Got an extra hug and kiss.

And I even got to watch my show... Parenthood... After all my babies were asleep. 

For many, that was a very long list of nothing extraordinary. But to me, it was several little moments reminding me that I have the best job in the world.

Five years ago

Five years ago, my whole life changed. I met this beautiful little baby boy and as I held him for the first time, I felt his little soul next to mine and I knew I was different. Since then I have learned the joys and miseries of motherhood. I am still learning. Little things I never thought would bring so much happiness have become my favorite moments. On the other hand, little things that I never expected to hurt so badly have brought me to my knees. But only when we experience those lows can we truly appreciate the heights of the mountains of blessings on which we stand. 

Thank you Parker, for changing my life. I'm not so sure I'm ready to send you off into this big scary world just yet. I know the next five years will be filled with just as many adventures as the last five. 

Temples

A couple weeks ago, on a Monday night, I was sulking after a long, stressful disappointing and frustrating day. I had planned a little Family Home Evening trip to the temple and, after plucking several thousand corn kernels I had spilled all over the carpeted dining room at dinner, I was not sure I was still up for the 30 minute drive over to the Boise Temple. But we went. Our kids were encouraged in primary to ask their parents to take them to touch the temple. My kids were very excited.

We got there and suddenly I was reminded of the fact that the temple is closed Mondays. The big beautiful gates that surrounded the grounds were closed and locked. I shrunk down even more into my depressed state and thought of what a fail this day was shaping up to be. Tyler found a parking spot at the stake center next door and I pulled myself together, slumped out if the car, turned to face my family and bam. There they were. The most beautiful little family I had ever wished for, standing in front of the beautiful backdrop of the temple. And then I remembered that all of this was mine. All mine. Forever. And ever. And no bad day could take this treasure from me.

Tyler and I were married in that temple. And we know that no matter what this life brings, we will be together, with our children, for eternity. That is power that no person, distance, disappointment, tragedy, Supreme Court decision, or any other obstacle can take away from me. That is the power of God.

I was sure glad we got out of that car and took pictures, even if it was outside the grounds. There is no other place on Earth that serves such high purposes. You should come find out for yourself.

Forever.

108*

Today was 108*.....

108*!

So what do we do in 108* weather?

Snow cones and fountains obviously!

These three are little bottles of sunshine. Love them.

Where I Live

For the last several months we have been battling with the very long process of finding the perfect house for our family to call home. The only thing we knew was that this quaint,  two bedroom condo was not it. We have a long list of of evidence to back that statement with as well. But what a struggle it has been. We would start down one path just long enough to get excited and start to make plans only to hit a dead end and have to go back to the beginning. It was stressful to say the least. But for me it was a little heart wrenching at times. I've been wishing for that perfect home. The one with toys littering the grassy backyard. The kitchen that was actually big enough for the kids and I to be able to stand around the mixer together and watch it swirl around the chocolate chip cookie dough. The house that had room for visitors who didn't want to spend money on hotels. The one with lots of neighborhood kids helping themselves to your front yard and your food and even your bathroom. You know, that house! Not this one! Not this tiny, cramped, boring box we've been counting the days to leave.

 But I have realized something. In addition to the long list of negatives we've made up while living here, there is a much longer list of things I love about this tiny, cramped, boring box. I love that we can't escape each other. You can hear each other from opposite ends of the house. I love that when I'm in bed I can hear my kids breathing in their room next door. I love blowing bubbles and eating Popsicles on the balcony. I love my kids scooting chairs up to the kitchen counters to sneak treats out of the cupboards. I love dancing in the living room after family home evening. I love that my kids ask to go outside every time they hear our neighbor step outside for a smoke, just so they can visit with him and tell him all about their day. I love that he loves to listen and says it makes his day every day. I love movie nights where we all pile on the living room floor. I love movie nights where we all pile in mommy and daddy's bed. I love when my kids press their little noses on the window to watch the garbage truck every Tuesday. I love that Tyler's office is a three minute drive away and we can visit whenever we feel like it and he can do the same. I love that we can walk to downtown and play in the fountains and eat snow cones.

See, there are a lot of things to like about this silly condo. Because it's not really the house that makes a home. It's the people inside and the memories you make with them. The feelings you share and the Spirit that envelopes you every time you walk in. I might just miss it. But I'm sure glad that no matter where I live, I will always have my home with me.

Twenty Seven

I am a little embarrassed that I just had to do the math again in my head and on my fingers to make sure that I am, in fact, turning twenty seven tomorrow. And I am. What a great blessing it has been to be on this Earth for 27 years! If you had asked me when I was younger where I thought I would be on the eve of my 27th birthday, I'd imagine it would be quite similar to where I am right this second. It probably would have sounded kind of like this:

At 27 I imagine myself very happily married. The kind of happy that is there even on my worst days, just because I have him. Most likely with some kids, who knows how many, as many as God feels I am capable of taking care if at 27 years old. I'd probably spend my days loving, teaching, encouraging, scolding, playing with, comforting and cuddling these tiny monsters who look up at me with big blue eyes and their daddy's smile. At night, before crawling into bed with my very favorite person in the world and laughing about the day's little moments with him, I would probably have to put the monsters to bed. Which entails laying in their room, listening to their made up jokes, tucking them in and kissing them to pieces, and holding their chubby little hands while they whisper, "Mom, I love you with all my heart." 

Yep. 27. Sounds pretty scary.

Yikes!

Wow, almost five months have come and gone since the last time I even laid eyes upon my own blog. Sad, isn't it? Not really because I have been busy, and busy is good because it means I'm living, right? And I have four extremely time-consuming blessings to thank for that.

There have been numerous times I have thought to myself, " I need to put that on the blog." But somehow those thoughts are quickly overturned by something important. I think blogging is important, especially as it is my journal, however blogging does not even rank on an importance scale to a child who really wants to go to the park or needs a band-aid or really, really needs some chocolate milk, right now, or they might die of thirst! My kids are kind of dramatic like that.

Another reason for the lack of blogging is that I have been a little worried about privacy issues. I've been getting a lot of random comments from strange names and thought maybe going private is the way to go. But I really like the fact that strangers can read about my faith on here, I feel like its a simple way to be a missionary. Any thoughts? Besides, I'm pretty sure no one would read my blog if it was private. Not sure anyone does anyway :)

I have a lot to say but it's a little hard to play catch up at this point, so for now I will just say that life goes on and it is great! And I hope to be back much sooner this time around!

On being a Mom

Since about the day after Thanksgiving, each member of our family has taken a turn being sick with some form of ailment or another. And because of that, the people in this house are straight up going crazy. We are all wearing thin on patience, emotions are haywire and the house looks like it belongs on the East Coast post Hurricane Sandy. We rarely go anywhere, so we have an extreme case of cabin fever to top it all off. I've heard, "You're a mean mom!" and "Mom, why are you so evil?" (yeah where did he learn that?)

I'm not proud of that... I am just trying to get some order back in this house and no one wants to help me out.

So I was feeling like a failure as I climbed into bed with sick little Rylan last night in the same clothes I had worn all day... Thinking of all the things that didn't get done and all the tricks to get my kids to clean, get dressed, brush their teeth, etc. that failed miserably, and just as I was about to close my eyes in shame, I heard Parker's little voice from his bed across the room. 

"Mommy, did you know that Jesus was born on Christmas?"

"Yeah... That is why we celebrate Christmas, huh Parker?"

"Yep. Did you know that he was born in a barn because there were no hotel rooms for his mommy and daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"And Mommy, did you know that the animals in the barn knew Jesus was coming?"

"They did? How did they know?"

"Because they were smart."

"Ha ha."

"And mommy, then Jesus got big and the bad guys killed him but don't worry he got resurrected. And when we die, we will get resurrected too. But I don't want to die."

"You are a good boy Parker. I love you."

"I love you too.... and I love Jesus."

It turns out that you don't have to be a perfect mom. You don't have to do everything right every hour of every day. All you have to do is your best and your kids will take what they learn form you and turn it into something wonderful. 

Things My Kids are Thankful For

I tried to ask Parker and Rylan what they were thankful for each day of November leading to Thanksgiving. Here is a list of some of the things they answered with:

Jesus

Horsies

Baby Noel 

My Sisters

"Parkee"

Daddy

Mommy

Candy

Trees

Playing with my Sister

Doggies

Grandmas and Grandpas

Blankets

Milk

Football

Preschool

Horsies

Horsies

Horsies

Kids, they are a good example of being thankful for just about everything...

Except bedtime :)

Pumpkin Palooza

I love Fall. I love all of the wonderful foods of Fall. I especially love all the delicious pumpkin treats of Fall. So far I have made:

Pumpkin Donut Holes

Pumpkin Cream Cheese

Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Carmel Apples

And I have bought:

Dreyer's Pumpkin Ice Cream

Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice Donuts

I plan to make:

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Oreo Cheese Cake

Pumpkin Pie (obviously, right?)

Conclusion: Fall is a terrible time to be trying to lose weight after having a baby. At this rate I am pretty sure I will weigh the same amount as I did when I was 9 months prego by the end of December.

Worth It!

If you want any of these yummy recipes you can find me on Pinterest- they are on my "Halloween Fun" board. They are worth trying!

Blessing Day

On Sunday, September 30, we enjoyed the wonderful experience of blessing Noel at church with our family and friends. I know how much Tyler loves the day he gets to bless each of his babies, as a matter of fact, he has told me those days rival our wedding day for the greatest day of his life.... and honestly, I'm ok with that. As a mother, it is very special to hear your husband talk to your children though the Spirit and tell them the things their Heavenly Father wants them to know. I can only imagine how wonderful it is for Tyler and I am really glad he enjoys it so much.

I have said this a lot about Noel, but when I try to describe her, what always comes to mind is that she has a very sweet and "soft" Spirit. I'm not sure where the "soft" comes from but she is like a teddy bear to me. She is the world's best cuddler, she has big beautiful eyes and an adorable grin that gets closer and closer to a full on smile every day. She is always content and loves to be close to people. When I lay her down next to me to free my hands for something while I'm sitting on the couch or in bed, she wiggles her little body until she is right up next to me. I love it. I love her. We are happy to have her in our family and we know she has a special mission here on Earth and will be blessed with special talents to achieve that.

Daddy and his little girl. 

Happy Family

I am very grateful for the blessings the priesthood brings to our family. I love the gospel and I love my family!

Noel Abigail

Welcome to our family little Noel!

We have a new addition to our family. We were blessed with our little Noel Abigail on August 25th. We are so happy to have her. She has such a soft and sweet little spirit and she has eased right in with our crazy little family. Her siblings adore her, contrary to some of their expressions in our hospital pictures. They love to show her off, even to complete strangers. They love and kiss on her and hold her every chance they get. Especially Rylan. We are very excited to watch our kids grow together as siblings.

Noel, much like Rylan, was in a hurry to get here. I was induced Saturday morning, got all hooked up to the pitocin by about 7:30 am and Noel arrived by 10:52 am. We had a little joke running with my doctor that he needed to beat my last laboring time with Rylan which was about 2 hours and 57 minutes. Noel was not about to make things a competition though... as I got closer and closer to a 10, she decided to come down a little crooked, slowing the process just enough to make this labor a little longer at about 3 hours and 22 minutes. She was also, by over a pound, my biggest baby which also slowed things down. She required a little more pushing than I'm used to, and I'll be honest, it was also quite a bit more painful getting her out of there! But everything still went smoothly and flawlessly and I was so happy to have that baby girl in my arms when it was over. 

Our first, slimy cuddle:

My 8lb 3 oz baby:

Daddy, with another little girl who's finger he will be wrapped around:

 Rylan loving on her new little sister:

A few shots on her first day home:

So far she has been a very easy-going baby. She eats well and sleeps so much better than Parker and Rylan did at first, so let's hope that is a good sign for my future! 

I know this little girl came to our family with lots of blessings in tote. She is such a warm spirit to have in our home. And she is such a cuddly little thing. As a matter of fact, one of the night nurses who brought her in to me told me that she was one of the cuddliest babies she had ever held. I love holding her... which is a problem because I don't get much else done. We are feeling very blessed to have another beautiful and healthy child in our family. We love you baby Noel!

Summer Pre School Show

If you don't already know, my mom, in addition to being an awesome grandma, also owns an awesome preschool, and we feel very blessed to be able to take our kids there two mornings a week. I actually had the opportunity to work there for about six months as well and I am so impressed by what my mom has accomplished with her school. It is a wonderful environment and she really works so hard to make every student and their family feel special and loved. Plus, my kids are practically geniuses thanks to her curriculum :) 

At the end of every summer, the whole school puts on a show where each class comes up with a couple of skits and dances. This year both Parker and Rylan were in it and had so much fun! I was a little worried that, being my children, they might come down with a case of stage fright once they got up there. Nope. They obviously inherited their father's love to show-off.

Playing before the show:

Parker's class in "The Circle Dance":

 Rylan's class making shapes in the air to a cute little song:

Parker as a dog in one of his skits:

Parker with his surfboard after dancing to "Surfin' USA":

Rylan was very into her dancing!:

It is really fun to get to watch these kids work on something and have a chance to perform it for their families. We are very lucky to have this opportunity for our kids and love watching them learn and grow while making friends and having fun!

Thanks Grandma Kerry for all you do!

Your Preschool Rocks!

Rylan Takes on the Two's!

My little baby girl is no longer a baby. She moved up into the toddler world yesterday. It is really amazing how quickly she turned into this little toddler person. It seems like six months ago she was still just a little baby and now she is a big girl, determined to do EVERYTHING (putting on clothes, shoes, unwrapping food, going potty, opening and closing doors, buckling her car seat) by HERSELF! You get quite the earful from her if you try to help. 

Her personality is blooming as well. She is not in the least bit shy. She loves to make friends, she loves to show off for the camera and she is not afraid to talk to anyone who will listen. Especially if there is a phone involved. She loves her brother and insists on doing everything with him. Her favorite response to my questions such as: "do you want a popsicle?" or "do you want to play at the park?", etc... is "Parkee (Parker) too?"

Oh... and her giggle! I have never heard such a joyous little sound. She has such a fun giggle! And 90% of the time her giggling accompanies running around with her brother. Whatever mischief they are getting into, she is usually the give-away with that giggle. I want to bottle it up and save it forever!

Happy birthday to our little princess. She woke up Saturday morning asking to see "worsies" (horsies) so we thought and thought of a way to grant that birthday wish. Lucky for us, the fair is in town and what do they have at fairs? Horses!

 Rylan got to ride a pony, watch a riding competition, and pet and kiss all the 4H horses and mules. She was in Horsey Heaven! 

We love you Ry Ry and can't wait to watch you grow some more! But feel free to slow down... like I said with Parker's birthday post... my kids are growing up way too fast!

Four Years Old!

My little blue-eyed boy is now four years old. Sloooow down Mr! I can't believe how fast you're growing up! Should we look back on the past four years?

Here's Parker's first day at home. Getting a little too comfortable on Mom and Dad's bed... still his favorite place to sleep. Parker loves to cuddle when he is sleepy. And we have a hard time resisting his cuddles.

On his first birthday... still in Mom and Dad's hotel bed... hmmm. 

 On the day of his 2nd birthday party. Sweaty from running around at the park with his balloon and water gun. All a two year old needs in life.

 My little pirate last year at his 3rd birthday party. Such a little character. 

And this year at his fourth birthday party. He has grown so much from that first picture. And his personality has gotten bigger too. He is a caring and personable little boy. He loves people, really loves them and loves to meet new friends, play with good friends, take care of his little sister, and have a conversation with anyone willing to chat. I love having him around. 

On his actual birthday he got to spend some "Daddy Time" with Tyler in the morning, they went and got birthday donuts, got their hair cut, and did some other "manly" things. Then we went to a fun little water park with our friends. As if that wasn't enough fun... we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Milligan's for pizza and cake and then we raced off to the Rodeo (Parker is a big fan of the rodeo lately). It was a very busy day but I think he really enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday Sonny.... I have loved every single day I've shared with you. You are very special to your whole family and we love watching you grow up!