Great Quote

I found this quote today by Marjorie Hinckley. What a wonderful woman she was, and put my own life in perspective. I hope you like it......

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk’s lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.” Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Ballet

After taking soccer last summer, Kayla has wanted to take Ballet. So we finally signed her up. She is loving it. She had a lesson on her irthday, and Joe was able to take her. Kayla was SO excited.

Time to Tell........

It is about time that I come out of undercover and spread the news more widely. If you have seen me lately, yes I am gaining weight, no I haven't been working out, and yes I am pregnant. I am in the awkward stage where I am sure people are thinking "..is she pregnant, or just putting on a few extra pounds?" We are so excited to add another little one to our family. We feel so blessed to be parents of our children, and can't wait for more crazy adventures ahead. So coming in July, we will be adding another little one. I am just as excited as if it were my very first baby. I can't wait to meet my new precious one!

Goodbye Dolly..........

When we took the kids to sit on Santa's lap before Christmas, Kayla asked Santa for a Dolly. Being the creative man that Santa is, he brought Kayla a fish named "Dolly". Kayla has loved this fish so much and has spent many hours staring at it. Just yesterday, we found Dolly on the bottom of the bowl barely breathing. Kayla was sure Dolly was going to make it, she even said many many prayers asking Heavenly Father to save her. I woke up really early this morning to get some cleaning done. I checked the fish, and sure enough Dolly had died. I knew Kayla's little 4 year old heart would be broken. When she woke up, she ran to Dolly's bowl, to see if she had made it through the night. Joe explained to Kayla that Dolly had died. She was not convinced. She moved the fish bowl around and said "See Daddy, Dolly is moving!" When Kayla realized that Dolly had really died, she broke down in tears. I can honestly say, I have never ever seen Kayla so sad. All day today, she keeps crying and wanting Dolly to come back. She now says in her prayers, "Heavenly Father, Please take care of my Dolly. I love her so much!" Kayla has been learning all about one of lifes hardest parts: Death. Thankfully her first experience with it, is a little fish, but that fish meant the world to her.

Some serious lack of blogging

Ever since we moved into our new house, I have done some serious slacking on this blog. I am determined to get caught up. Life just seems to get busier and busier, and it just won't slow down. But, don't despair, I have a big goal to update more frequently on here. Here a few pictures as of recent.

Backyard pictures

First, I have to say that I have the most AMAZING husband. Starting August 25th, and finishing September 22nd (in other words in 28 days), he built a porch out of flagstone rock, leveled and landscaped the yard with many different kinds of tractors, built a HUGE retaining rock wall, put in a sprinkling system, filled in trenches, leveled, spread topsoil, and laid sod. It was an amazing process to watch, and now, I know that he is the strongest man alive. You should have seen him lift those rocks as if they were nothing, and I couldn't even budge them.

Here's the beginnings of the flagstone porch:

It really was difficult to puzzle piece them together

Porter loved eating the sand


And, I must say, that Joe did an excellent job puzzle piecing the rocks together.



Next, Joe leveled and trenched the yard to get it all ready for sprinklers.




Isaiah was in heaven with all the tractors around.

And Kayla joined in on the fun too.



And next, the huge retaining wall. He lifted each and every one of these rocks by hand. Talk about strong.

For some reason, I didn't get any pictures of Joe trenching and putting in the sprinkling system, but believe me, this was a HUGE project, and of course, Joe passed it with flying colors.

After he finished the sprinkling system, leveled out the dirt again, he spread top soil all over the yard.



Then, the crowning moment. Joe gave me the honors to lay the first piece of sod. It was like carpeting the ground, and was so fun. My dad, Joe's parents, and Tim spent many hours with us laying the sod. Thank you so so much!!


Kayla had a fun time sitting on top of the big stacks of sod and directing us where to put them.


I can't even begin to explain what an awesome job Joe did in the yard. These pictures don't even do it justice. But, here is just a glimpse of what my amazing husband has been up to. Thanks for all your hard work Joe!!!

First Snow

Winter seemed to have come a little too early this year. After living in Michigan, I have found that I am definitely a warm-weather-kinda-girl. But it is always exciting to see the kids eyes light up when the first few snowflakes fall from the sky. When Kayla spotted the first few snow flakes, she found a bucket and went outside to catch the snowflakes. She was disappointed when she couldn't catch them, but I told her to leave her bucket on the back porch and eventually her bucket would fill with snow.

When there was a blanket of snow on the grass, the kids wasted no time and made snow angels, snowmen, and even sled down our hill in the backyard. Winter really is more exciting with kids around.




Welcome winter, but warm weather, please don't stay too far away.