Father & Son campout!

I forgot to get a picture of Hubs and Mac together before or after the trip. And Hubs didn't even think about it while they were there. Hubs said they had alot of fun and Mac did great!

Last day of soccer!

At the very end of Mac's last day of soccer they had every kid line up to make a goal and then the girls who helped coach gave each of them a medal. As you can see Mac was so proud. Mac did pretty good in soccer. It was hard for him, and every other three year old, to play for a whole hour. But Mac actually learned some soccer skills, and was happy to see that when we were playing soccer in Grandma W's back yard the other day.

It just doesn't get better than this...

Mother's Day

I am so late in posting about Mother's Day, but oh well!

Mother's Day was good! Although I love my Mother and am so grateful for her and this was my 4th official Mother's Day, I still have such a hard time with it. I tried to push away the sad thoughts I had and just think of the good ones.

We were able to spend the weekend with my parents. They watched the kids for us on Saturday and we were able to go up to the Temple and do a session. Then Sunday Hubs made my mom and I breakfast and we went to church at my parents Ward. Hubs left in the middle of it and went to help set apart his brother (who lives in the same Stake as my parents) as the new and first Elders Quorum President in his branch, very cool! He was back before church was over. Then we ate dinner and went home to make sure we were able to visit Hub's Mom before the day was over.

I am so grateful for such an awesome Mother! I love that we live so close to her and that she gets to be an active role in my kids' lives. I am grateful for all that she does for us! When ever she comes to visit us she will play and play with the kids, change diapers and do my dishes. And she doesn't do it because I ask her, she does it because she wants to and loves to.

I am grateful for an wonderful Mother-in-law. She is such a great grandmother and we love everything she does for us. She is a very strong woman who is a great example of faith.

I LOVE being a Mother! It is also the hardest, most stressful job ever!! I am constantly worrying about whether they are ok. I wonder everyday if I am doing something or not doing something everyday to negatively affect them and their future. I am pretty sure the fact that my son is three is going to kill me, it is such a hard age! But on the other hand I think numerous times a day, what a joy it is to be the Mother of my children. And how much I REALLY do love being a mom. I love everything about it!

The hard part of Mother's day for me is thinking about the Birth Mothers of my children. I wonder and worry about whether the day is extra hard on them. I wonder if I have showed them enough how truly grateful I am for them and how much I love them and adore them. It is hard sometimes to get all the joy of Motherhood when it is what has caused them so much pain.

And then I think about those who are still waiting to be Mother's and I remember those days all too well and I hurt for them too. How I wish I could take their pain away!

In all

I AM SO BLESSED TO BE THEIR MOTHER!!!

A first!

On Saturday, Oak pulled herself up to the couch for the first time. She has been doing this on lower surfaces but had yet to do achieve the couch. She has been doing it alot today and it is so cute!!

Love this girl!!

Sunday Gratitude...

Daddy made Mac a chef's hat before they started cooking.

I am grateful...

~To live near my parents and my in-laws. I love that I can pack my family up and go spend the weekend at my parents house if I want to. And also that my in-laws live just 5 miles away on such beautiful property and we can go at a moments notice and spend time with them.

~For an awesome Visiting Teaching partner. She is a convert to the church and was baptised less than a year ago. She is such a great example to me and is also so fun and spunky.

~That my husband is willing to clean up puke, because I can't do it with out puking myself. After church today, Mac had too much applesauce in his mouth and gagged and then threw up his entire lunch. He isn't sick, he just has sensitive gag reflexes just like me!

~That Mac has been such a good boy the last couple of days. He has been a pretty rough customer lately and sometimes it is hard to just enjoy the cute and fun kid he is. But the last couple of days have been so much better.

~That Hubs and Mac got to go to their first Father & Son Campout together. It is a day we have been waiting for for more than 9 years. And I was just so excited for them. They had fun and Mac loved it!

~That we have been able to spend so much time with Hubs now that busy season is over. Mac is very attached to his Daddy right now and want to do everything with him. It is so cute!

~For Eternal Families!!! It has been 7 years since we lost our sister and I am comforted knowing that we will see her again.

~That Hubs and I were able to get to the Temple this month.

~That we had some awesome weather this last week and we were able to play outside, work on getting our back yard fixed up, pull weeds, and planted our garden.

~that Hubs didn't cut his finger off when he was using his saw. He just cut it really bad (not bad enough for stitches) and has a very bruised up finger.

The Butte

Last week my friend B and I decided to go on a hike with our kids because the weather was supposed to be beautiful. We ended up at The Butte. It is a bit more than one mile to the top, and the hardest part is at the top where the trail is mostly climbing rocks. The three boys (ages 5, 3.5, 2.5) were walking the whole way, so we started thinking it was a possibilty that we wouldn't make it to the top, although it was our goal to go all the way. I was pretty worried that Mac wouldn't make it because he hates going on walks. But he did AWESOME! He made it to the top with out much complaining and complained quite a bit on the way down about his feet and stomach hurting. Which to be honest I didn't blame him, because I was in pain too with Oak on my back. But with alot of encouragment and promise of ice cream he kept going. It definately seemed like it took much longer to get down, which seems opposite of the usual. But it was so much fun and every ache and pain I felt during and after was so totally worth it. And now that I know Mac is a pretty good hiker, I am excited to do more hikes this summer.

This is pretty much true to how steep the top, rocky part of the trail was.

I was so scared that I would fall backwards at this part of the trail. And it didn't help that Oak kept on pulling my hair, which would pull me backwards. When we took her out of the pack at the top she had a huge wad of my hair in her hands. In this picture I put my hood up, but she kept pulling that off too and it was too hot to have on.

part of our view while we ate lunch at the top, so beautiful!l

My cute, goofy boy!

The whole gang!!

Thanks B, C & D

Oak's 9 Months Stats...

Are you all on Oak overload?

Sorry, but she is cute and adorable and beautiful and fun and happy and we love her and I love to show her off a bit.

Plus I needed to get down her 9 month stats!

Weight: 23 lbs (95%)

Height: 26 in (95%)

I don't remember her head circum but it was also 95%

Her awesome doctor, Dr. K, was asking all the milestone questions  (Oak hadn't done much babbling since we had gotten there) and I was standing towards the Doctor holding Oak facing towards the Doctor too and Dr. K asks if she talks and babbles and Oak instantly points at her and starts talking away. We were all laughing so hard! It was so cute!

Oak {9 months old}

She has just started doing so much this week:

*She has learned how to shake her head (along with her body) no.

*She can pull herself up to standing on lower surfaces, although she still isn't very sturdy while doing so.

*She is crawling on her hands and knees more and more

*She is getting her 3rd tooth (her top, front, right: It looks like it hurts but she has been pretty happy and you wouldn't be able to tell she is teething) and she is now grinding her teeth together.

*She is SO busy and getting into everything. I have to constantly sweep the dining room floor all day long because she is a little vacuum and will pick anything up off the floor and eat it.

*She loves to eat, and even when she doesn't really like something she will eat it.

*She waves hi and bye

*signs "more" (clapping)

*sometimes will sign "all done"

*She sleeps from 7pm to 6 or 6:30am

*She is now taking two consistent naps at 9am and 1pm

*She is eating 3 solid meals: a 6oz bottle (before or after she eats) a jar of baby food or oatmeal and cut up food.

*She will eat diced carrots, peas, pieces of bread, mashed potatoes, rice and her little snacks.

Oak lately...

Oak is NINE months old today! Time is speeding by way too fast, what?! 3 months until she turns ONE?

I won't be taking her pictures today because I have a million other things that need to get done.

But a pictures and a real update of our Missy Mae will be coming tomorrow or Saturday.

But for now here are some randomly cute pics of her lately...

I went in to check on Oak before bed and found her like this with her teddy bear. I thought that it was the cutest thing ever! Since I don't like giving her blankets while she sleeps yet I started giving this to her a couple of months ago to hold on to while she sucked her thumb to fall asleep. She sleeps with it for every nap and every night.

So Oaklee has become quite the silly girl lately. Her little personality is really showing and it is so cute! I was feeding her and she was making these faces. And honestly these were the actual faces she was making, not in the middle of a blink or anything. I was lucky enough to catch the actual silly face when she made it. I was cracking up!

And then of course her famous thumb sucking pose.

She went and sat herself by her toy box and she just looked so cute and big.

She would much rather play with Mac's cars and trains. He is getting much better about sharing with her.

She successfully climbed up this step by herself. She is getting way to big.

Outside watching Daddy and brother try to fly a kite.

She was being so wiggly!

Mother's Day post will hopefully come soon!

Sunday Gratitude...

I am grateful...

*that we are able to help ourselves become more self reliant by doing some dry pack canning and buying food in bulk to prepare for the upcoming price increase in groceries.

*that I had the opportunity to go to the Broadway WICKED this weekend. Uummmm....AMAZING!

*For the nice weather this weekend.

*For awesome neighbors (minus the one mean guy on the street).

*For the cute blankets a member of our Ward made and brought over for our kids today. So thoughtful!

*That Hubs is taking the day off tomorrow and that he said to me today, "I want you to take something to help you sleep really good tonight and I will get up and check on the kids in the night and get up with them in the morning."

*That our front  lawn in finally green and thick again, thanks to some very hard work from Hubs. (Now if only we could get a lawn growing in our backyard).

*for the sweetest and thoughtful email I got from Mac's birth grandmother. We are so blessed that both of our children have the most amazing birth families!!

*that after watching the Royal wedding this week, that I feel even more blessed to have my very own Prince and that we were married in the most beautiful "Castle" (Temple) and that it wasn't just "till death do us part" but FOREVER!

*to be me, to have the life I have, to be where I am, and to have what I have! Life really is good!!