{ Happy Valentine’s to My Sweetheart }

17 years ago today,  I said “yes” to the best question ever asked me-“Will you marry me”? So glad I said yes! I love this guy more and more each day. He puts up with all my hard to live with qualities, and still loves me all the more for them. Thank you for 17 years of LOVE! I love you sweetheart!

{ Valentine’s Letters to Our New Baby }

For Family Home Evening on Monday we talked about love, and told some stories of the prophet Joseph Fielding Smith and how he loved his family, then we wrote love letters to the new baby. The night before when Aaron said the family prayer he called the baby Ethan. All of the kids (especially Brianna) were all excited the rest of the prayer. He has been the last one to agree for sure on a name and usually just asks for the “baby” to be healthy and strong, so they were happy to have his approval, and write their little love letters to “Ethan” instead of just baby #8.

I guess we are pretty locked in with a name at this point-though Ryan and Scott still think that his name will be Jack Attack. They also think that he will come out with a cape and his arm will be up out straight like he is ready to fly into the sky. They have a little bit of super hero mania going on right now.

Ryan’s picture to the new baby

It was cute to see him color his heart (the left one) so intensely, and then the rest of his paper. He was very adamant about using “turquoise” his new favorite color I guess, and then would also grab his other colors in just the right order. He insisted that I color the other two hearts because, “I am too tired”.

 Scott’s Valentine to the new baby

He is super excited for Valentine’s Day on Friday, and even more excited that he learned how to draw a heart at preschool last week. He has been drawing hearts on every picture he has made since then (which is a lot), and after seeing Brooke cut out a heart, he insisted that he add a few to his picture too. It’s hard to see but he REALLY taped down those hearts good. He is one of my “tape thieves” around here-he really loves to tape up anything he can. He made sure that I wrote down exactly what he said on the paper too, “I love you baby. Happy Valentine’s Day”.

Abby’s letter to Ethan

Abby was a bit in a mood tonight and didn’t feel like writing too much. She made sure to tell him the most important thing she felt though-how much she loves him.

Erika’s letter to Ethan

Erika’s letter made me smile-it’s funny to see the kids different perspectives about how life is around here. She is so excited for this little guy to get here that she can hardly contain herself some days. She is going to be such a great big sister for him.

Brooke’s letter to baby Ethan

We had just read one of the hymns as part of the lesson-it was one that President Smith had wrote as a poem to his wife when he was away and feeling the loneliness and hardships she may have had to endure. Brooke decided she wanted to write a clever little poem in her Valentine’s letter to the baby too.

Austin’s letter to Ethan

Austin gets right to the point. He was the first one done, and as well had to put in his plea to the baby that he will be the “favorite” one.

Brianna’s letter to Ethan

Her letter kind of cracks me up-she is pretty confident that she will be the favorite too, and lists lots of great reasons for that. Makes me laugh!

Aaron’s letter to Ethan

My Letter to Ethan

And where is my handwritten letter? Unfortunately I got as far as Dear baby Ethan, and then was swiftly sidetracked helping the little boys with their letters and that’s about all I could muster by the end of FHE, so a typed version will have to due.
Dear Baby Ethan,
It’s hard to believe that 9 months have come and gone and it is almost time for you to be here. My heart is full this Valentine’s Day as I think of all the happiness and love you will bring to our family. It would be hard to pick who is the most excited to see you, everyone has been preparing in their own little way, and the wave of excitement hits them at different times. We wonder what you will look like, how you will act, how big you will be, and how sweet you will be to hold. We love you so much already!
I feel you kick all the time and can’t wait to see those tiny little feet in person. Your big brothers are helping me get everything ready for your arrival. They think those little diapers you will wear are as cute as I do. Ryan is very excited for you to have you new binkies that we bought you. We bought you a few new outfits and we all just squeal in delight at how little and cute they are. I know getting to see you in them will only bring more smiles on our faces.
I know since you are baby #8 that you must be patient, and one that will need lots of love. The abundance of love you will feel around here is by far the sweetest thing to see and for us to look forward to. I wonder how old you will be before you are actually put down for any period of time and not being held, there are so many arms just waiting to cuddle with you.
I hope when we bring you home you will be able to feel that love in our home, and every day after that. I hope you will grow with a strong knowledge of how much you are loved-both by us and by your Heavenly Father. I know that your sweet little spirit will bless our home everyday. I love you so much, and am so grateful to get to be your mom, and feel of your love too. We can’t wait to see you soon!!!
Love, Mom

{ Seven For Sunday }

 

1. Tonight we were all sitting in the front room and Ryan came in from the bathroom and asked for me to button his jeans. I asked “"Did you go poop or pee in the potty?”- a little surprised because he still officially wears diapers. He looked at me and said, “No, it didn’t work out”. Poor kid, bless his heart for trying so hard with the deadbeat potty training mom he has.
2. A few weeks ago we were at church and Erika was on one side of me and Scott was sitting on the other, both with their hands on my belly just waiting for the baby to move. I felt the baby move and looked at Scott and said, “Did you feel that?” He got excited and said, “Yes” A few minutes later the baby kicked again and Scott got really excited. He said,” Last time I just said I felt it, but this time I REALLY did.”
3. Aaron is such a good dad and husband. He and the kids are up to some surprise they are doing. There is lots of whispering and planning and lots of happy helping out. I don’t know what it is, and at this point I am too tired to be sneaky and find out.  I am just so grateful for a loving husband and loving kids who love me so much. I feel very taken care of.
4. Yesterday Aaron took it upon himself to be in charge of Saturday work. He is just SO patient. He made out the lists for the kids and helped the little boys clean. He is just so fun. They would clean up a few things and then they would get to play a cleaning “game” and he would use one of their light saber swords and point to something and they would have to pick it up. This guy is definitely the better half of us when it comes to fun. I wish I would take better notes from him sometimes-I need a little help in the fun department.
5. Ryan is still in love with saying the prayer. He insists on saying it every time, and I love to see how in the last few months it has grown from “thank you for the food” to a whole list of things. Since my brother and sister in-law stayed with us for a few weeks back in September he always says, “Thank you that Mitch and Michelli came to our house.” For awhile he would just say Michelli (I think he has a secret crush on her) and then say, “..and what’s his name? Oh, Mitch” Now he has both of their names down good, but since around Thanksgiving his prayers have gotten even longer. We talked about trying to say three things in his prayers so now he says he loves Jesus, thanks for the food, and thanks for Mitch and Michelli. When my parents left after Christmas he has added in a new part, it goes something like this, “Dear Heavenly Father, I love Jesus, I love Mitch and Michelli, I’m thankful that Grandpa and Grandma came to our house, and for Granddad and that other Granny, bless the food, Jesus Christ, Amen. Most times there are some giggles after the “other granny” part from other people, so he occasionally says, “those two other granny’s” and then breaks out in giggles.
6. Austin thought it would be fun to try and sleep with our dog Simon tonight instead of Simon being in his crate.. Since there is a no dog in the bedroom rule, he asked if he could sleep in the front room on the floor and put on Simon’s leash so he wouldn’t wander around in the night. I agreed and by the time that bedtime rituals were finished we ended up with Austin, Brooke, Erika, and Abby all on the floor getting cozy. I went upstairs to get Ryan put to bed, and then went out into the hallway to sit for awhile to make sure he wouldn’t wander out until he was fully asleep. I could hear the kids downstairs begging Simon to lay down and go to sleep. After about twenty more minutes I heard the crate down shut and Austin come up stairs. I asked how it was going? He smiled and said kind of exasperated, “He wouldn’t just lay down and go to sleep. He kept wanting to wander around and play.” “Kind of like a little 3 year old?” I asked smiling. Yes, he agreed. The three girls soon followed up the stairs telling of their trying to get the dog to go to sleep stories as well. At the end Erika, said, “I’m tired, I gotta get some sleep” . Sometimes this dog teaches some good lessons to my kids I don’t even ask him to teach.
7. Brianna has her driving permit now, and so is always begging us to take her driving. A few weeks ago Aaron asked who wanted to come with them, and everyone was super excited and yelling and scrambling to get on their shoes and get in the van to go with them. Aaron looked at me and said, “I’ve never seen kids so excited to go 25 mph.” It made me laugh.

{ Youth Conference 2013 }

 

{ Austin Boy Scout Camp }

I sure am thankful for iPhones and all the technology that we have these days. If it weren’t for Aaron phone and his emails every few days I feel like I would have completely missed out on this week of his and Austin’s life. Most years Aaron takes some vacation days to get to go with Austin to camp, and being the bishop that responsibility translate into him getting to go have some fun for a week with Austin. I know it bums out Brianna for him to be gone for her birthday each year, but with the beauty of technology again we were able to Facetime with our boys for her birthday too.

The camp that they have gone to the last few years is Camp Rainey Mountain which is a few hours drive away. Here are some of the highlights according to Aaron’s emails and an interview with Austin afterwards.

June 10, 2013

“True to form Rainey MTN has lived up to its name. We arrive in perfect weather had a wonderful cool night sleep and sacrament service with another stake and went for a nice leisurely walk Sunday afternoon. We got poured on...DRENCHED. It continued to rain all day and night and is still raining. The boys are in good spirits. Before they all got soaked I had convinced them all to go for an early swim this morning (actually it would have been a few laps in prep for the 1 mile lake swim). Well we got wet enough last night to last us our whole life so needless to say we did not go swimming in the cold rain this morning.
Everyone is in good spirits. You all have fine optimistic boys you can be proud off.”

Who were your bunk mates this year? Josh, Taylor, Jonas, Alan, Will, and myself

June 12, 2013

“After about 4 days of rainy weather, the sun finally peaked out.”

What was your favorite merit badge at camp? Kayaking

Why? Because we got to play in the lake and annoy the swim class and tip each other over in our kayaks

     

Lining up for morning and evening flag ceremony

What was the best part about camp? The food

What was your favorite food there? Breakfast

What was the worst part about camp? The rain

What is one thing that you learned while there? That archery is a lot harder than it looks.

Aaron trying out skeet shooting

Kayak race at the end of the week. One of the requirements for the Kayaking merit badge was to be able to row the length of the lake. Austin earned the kayaking, rifle, and archery merit badge while there, as well as part of his communications and geocaching merit badges.

Campfire with all of the scouts attending there that week

{ Santa Shuffle 5K }

Right before Thanksgiving Aaron and I planned out all the way through December all the activities we wanted to do over the holidays. Running the 5K Santa Shuffle at the kids Middle School was one of our first activities. Aaron and Austin were the two that signed up, and the rest of us came as their cheering section. Austin had never run a 5K before, but was sure he could do it. He is a great runner-I think since the time he could walk this kid has never walked anywhere. He is always running! The race was to start at 9am-and we were right on time. By the time we got there though all the racers were lining up. Austin and Aaron ran to sign in, grab their numbers and bags with goodies in it and headed to the starting line. I unloaded kids, and went to meet them at the start when we realized they hadn’t grabbed any pins to pin on their numbers. I ran (my 5K for the day) back to the gym for some, but by the time I was back out front, the racers had already left. Needless to say my 5K time wasn’t quite fast enough.

They had the road blocked off almost all the way back to our house, where they would then turn around and come back. We tried to keep ourselves warm since it was a bit chilly out, and figured out our plan for cheering them at the end and taking pictures. The road the school on had  some trees in the front area that are in front of the parking lot where the finish line was set up.

Brianna and the girls were going to stand out by the road until they saw them coming then come running through the trees for a short cut to meet us at the finish line. That would be our cue they were coming. Me and the little boys decided to hang out by the finish line as a few fast runners started coming in. All of a sudden we see the girls running through the woods. We figured that they were bored of waiting out there and decided to join us. We look up the hill though and here come Aaron and Austin! They had rushed off to run they didn’t even have their numbers on..they came in running and shouting their numbers. They ended up being the 6th and 7th place overall and both won for their age divisions!

We were so proud of them. We were hugging and jumping up and down. Poor Austin was hurting pretty bad. He was amazing! Aaron pushed him so hard and loving just like the awesome dad he is.  We were so happy for them, and this lady to the side was smiling and I could hear her say, “That must be his mama”, in her best southern voice. I am his mama, and proud as could be!

We waited for the rest of the group to slowly trickle in, cheering on the runners as they would come by. They had music going for the kids to dance and snacks for the runners. At the end they each got a trophy and a gift certificate for a running store in town.

We are so proud of our runners!!!!