Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Matthew Chapter 7 verse 20 ~Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them~

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

I have such a full heart when it comes to people who support our family and our cause.  By their fruits ye shall know them...I am grateful to be surrounded by good  people who I know are followers of Christ by their good works.  It was suppose to be horrible weather for the walk.  We had about 10 people cancel for whatever reasons, and they missed out on the miracle.  It was pouring rain when we left our home, it was pouring when we got to the parking garage in Tacoma.  But the moment we stepped out of our car ...the rain stopped.  Not a drop.  We walked and the sun even came out.  As soon as we got back to the parking garage after the walk the heavens opened and the rain began again.  I cannot thank enough the people who donated and supported us.  We will have more pictures to come, I forgot my camera fortunately one of Jensen's friends brought her's we are waiting on a  picture of our entire group!  Hugs! 
Check out her awsome tshirt...Spencer's Amigos!
The family and a few friends


Cancer Relay for Life

I am also fortunate to have children who understand their responsibility as Christians.  The following weekend Spencer, Kylee and Jensen all went to our local Relay for Life, which is a 24 hour walk.  They were each there for different teams.  I stalked FB and found some pictures of Jensen...notice the bag of puppy chow in his tightly gripped hand.
( He's not letting  that out of his sight )

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Spencer turns 22!

A mei mei wrapped up for his birthday!
A new laptop for college
a creative poster from Kylee
Mud Pie for dessert
The kids had no school on his birthday so we went to the Family Fun Center
love her Levis
Kylee always helping Faith
The big ticket win!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Mother's Day Hooray!

I am a little behind on the ol'blog.  But I did capture a few pictures from our busy events that I will get around to...eventually. 
I just love being a mom.  Over the last few weeks I have been in full mom mode, with two birthdays ( Dallin and Spencer), Mother's Day, six gifts to buy, volunteering and root beer float making, planning Kylee's high school graduation day and party, doctors' and dentist appointments, spring cleaning, two photoshoots, enrolling Faith in pre-school, getting Spencer to Utah for a funeral, along with helping him job hunt, coaching Kylee's church basketball team , going to regionals and taking 1st place ( yes I am proud of that ) etc. etc. etc.  Those are all the extra things I do besides the normal cooking, shopping and cleaning for 7.
I was talking to a friend the other day about family life and I realized that I have 5 children in 5 different schools.  Talk about a scheduling nightmare?  And yet...I love it!  I love being busy, I love being involved and I love having a life. 

I called my mom last week when I literally had 10 minutes to talk.  She told me the story of when I was born.  She said , I was so eager to be alive,  I didn't cry but just took everything in.  Looked at the lights, the doctor, her , the nurses.  I was ready to be here and live my life! 
Thank you mom for sacrificing so much to bring me into the world, thank you mom for always telling me I could do anything I set my mind to, for allowing me to dream big.  Growing up my mom always believed in me and encouraged me.  I really felt I could conquer the world when I graduated high school.  I obviously didn't, but her early confidence in me helped me weather my failures and press forward with a can do attitude.

I am also blessed with a wonderful mother in law who constantly shows support and encouragement to us.  She is fun to be around and has a wonderful laugh.  She is talented and crafty.  If you want to learn a homemaking skill she's your gal.  She is easygoing, a good listener and slow to anger.  She is amazing.  I see many of these same wonderful qualities in my dear husband Jeff and I thank her for raising a responsible and righteous son.

Being a daughter was effortless, I didn't really have anything to do with it, but becoming a mom is a different story.  Motherhood to me is amazing, rewarding, exhausting, heartbreaking, intimidating and quite the roller coaster ride.  I don't think I can even effectively put into words the emotions attached to motherhood.  If someone had told me before I was a mother that every success and failure experienced by my children would equally effect me I wouldn't have believed it possible.  When they have a success my heart sores, and when they hurt or have a failure my heart aches. 

Each one of our children have brought joy and a unique personality.  Spencer for his trust and obedience, Kylee for her attention to detail and her awareness, Jensen for his quick wit and his easy going ways, Dallin for his hard work ethic and his curiosity, and Faith for her imagination and her pure heart.   As a parent I knew how much joy another child would bring to us.  What I didn't realize is that our older children would experience that same joy when we adopted Faith.  They just surround her with love and affection.
My sweet children when they were younger...
Faith bringing joy and laughter to our home by putting both her feet in Dallin's one shoe and hopping around the house as a baby mermaid.
I am blessed.

Monday, May 2, 2011

More Pics of Dallin's Birthday

Dallin's birthday was on a Sunday this year, so this is our quick "before church celebration" 
Kylee made him a candybar poster...you wouldn't think we were church going people from the content, but Dallin had a robust belly laugh!
Dallin picked out his own present at the fair a few weeks ago...he was begging me for a remote helicopter.  How could I make him wait another two weeks to open and play with?  I did end up getting him a little something for his actual birthday, so he would have one present to open.
A 3 D Starwars kite.  We are planning a beach day.  I have already bought skim boards and this kite will make for a fun afternoon in the sun clouds.
After church we came home and had a birthday feast.  Steak,baked potatoes, salad, rolls and fresh corn on the cob. 
And for dessert, a pudding cake with homemade cookies and cream ice cream. 

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Dallin turns 13! Happy Birthday Son~

My youngest son is now a teenager!  Where did the time go?  Dallin wanted to keep his birthday simple by spending the day with his family.  How sweet is he?  His church basketball team played Saturday for the regional championship and won!  After the game we decided to go bowling and have lunch.  Dallin invited his long time friend Hunter along to celebrate.  He and Hunter have never NOT known each other.  They were babies together.  We had a great time, and ate way to much junk food!  Happy Birthday Dilly Dally!  We love you and are so grateful you are part of our family!   
Dallin and Hunter