Happy Mother's Day!

Me and my mom at the airport

October 2005, 4 generations!

I think these are the 3 beautes! Sorry Diane and Marilynn

I love being a mom.  I am so grateful for my girls, and that I am their mom.  I love my mom, and I love John's mom (I have great in-laws!)  I love my grandmothers, and I was also lucky in life to know 2 of my great-grandmothers.  I have great examples of women and mothers all around me.
I have a great expectation of myself when it comes to my own way of mothering because of this long line of exceptional mothers, and also because I see my girls and I think they deserve the best and they also deserve so much better than me for a mom.  I am learning, and I love learning with my girls.

Now that I have my own family, I realize more of the sacrifices and the unseen details of motherhood. I am amazed at my own mother and all that she did.  I remember my mom as a pre-school teacher, piano teacher, going to college, relief society president, young women's president, young women's camp director, and bishop's wife to name a few.  All while doing this, she kept an immaculate home (this is one area where I fall way short), she cooked amazing dinners every night (my favorite is her spaghetti sauce), and helped us all keep up our grades, read books to us (I remember Chester, I Love You, most of all), family home evenings and always family prayer (oh, yes, and she ironed EVERYTHING!)  Now do you know why I have a high expectation of myself?  I think this is the way to succeed at motherhood (I don't do even HALF of these things).  The most important thing that I remember about my mom when I was growing up- was that I was loved.  Never a day went by without being told and shown.

My mom supported me in everything! She came to all the band concerts and marching band competitions, every track and cross-country meet (no matter the weather).  One of my fondest memories is when I was running at Weber State.  I went to an outdoor meet at BYU. I had just been injured and red-shirted indoor season, so this was my first race after returning. The weather was nice, but it was expected to storm.  I was running the 5,000 meter run on the track (that is 12 1/2 laps!)  When the starting gun went off, it was like it shot a hole in the clouds, and it POURED!!!  Before we even finished 1 lap, the officials had decided to cancel the men's 5,000 meter race (which was scheduled after the women's). Needless to say, I did not have a good race.  I was last, and I was lapped. During the 12 1/2 laps, people left the stadium, and as the runners finished the race they quickly left the stadium to get out of the pouring, freezing rain.  As I crossed the finish line, my mom was on the track (out of the bleachers) and at the finish line with my warm clothes and an umbrella.  She cheered the whole race.  I was so frozen I could not move, so she basically dressed me, and we make it back to the car. We were some of the last people there.  The best part of the day was stopping afterward at a restaurant to get some hot chocolate and driving home with my mom.

So this Mother's Day, my mom is off on her next great adventure on the other side of the world (serving others - of course).  I debated for a long time on what to get her. We are sending a card, but I still wanted to do more. So I learned how to make a picture video for her.  It is a bunch of random pictures, mostly of my girls, and some others I thought that she would like. It ended up being longer than what I expected, and bigger than what I could e-mail to her or even upload here.  So I had to upload it to You Tube.

Hope you enjoy it Mom.  Thanks for everything you have done for me, and for all of the opportunities you have given me throughout my life. Thank you for being an unbelievable grandmother to my girls. They miss you and love you. I Love You.

Thank you Marilyn for being a wonderful Mother and raising John to be a wonderful man.  Thank you for loving me as one of your own. Thank you for being a wonderful grandmother as well. I Love You.

I love my girls, and I am so grateful to be their mom. I Love you Summer and Whitney! Being a mom is a dream come true, and it is even better than the dream!

Here is the link for the You Tube video. It is about 15 min long, and probably not that interesting to a lot of you, sorry.  It was made for my mom!  Happy Mother's Day! I miss you and Love You!

Prayers, thoughts and love always.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqLCh52sad0&feature=youtu.be

Great Brains!

A couple of weeks ago, the girls came home with an assignment called the "Great Brain Assignment".  They were to pick a subject of their choice, research it to become an "expert", then make a presentation to the class.  I asked the girls what they wanted to present on.  Whitney chose sheep, and Summer chose Butterflies. Here are their projects.

They both did a FABULOUS job. For Whitney's project we called a family friend who has sheep on his farm, and asked if we could get pictures. We all went down to the farm to feed baby lambs.  There was even a baby lamb that was born that morning they got to hold! They loved it.

Feeding the lambs with bottles.

Summer holding the lamb born that morning with a nervous mama sheep making sure the baby was OK.

Whitney LOVES animals, so she was in heaven holding the baby lamb born that morning

I feel so lucky that my girls have Great Brains.  They are so smart and so loving.  They are so fun.

Sunny the Pony

In May of 2010 John found a pony for the girls.  He is a little, white, Shetland pony. The girls wanted to name him Sunshine, so we shortened it to Sunny.  I didn't know what I thought of getting the girls a pony, but it has actually turned out really good. He stays down in the Diamond Ranch pastures and eats the grass with the cows.  We don't have to pay to stable or feed him because he is able to be down on the ranch.  It has turned out to be a good bribery tool with the girls.  If they don't clean their room, if they are fighting, or if there is something we want them to do then we threaten to get rid of the pony.  They get things done so much faster when there is a little motivation!

During the spring, summer and fall we go down at least twice a week to ride the pony. Whitney is our Little Miss Independent and Miss "I do it myself!", so this last year she likes it when John lets her go around by herself.  She shows that pony where she wants to go and makes sure he gets there.  Summer loves Sunny too, but likes being led around with the lead rope. 

When we first got him, John wanted to try him out and make sure he was broke.  This is the video of that trial.

You can't tell by the look of that video, but he was broke (to kids, not 6 foot men!)  Right after the video we carefully put Whitney and Summer on and he was fine.  He has never acted up, and is a good little Sunny.

I am in the process of switching computers, and I can't find some of my pictures. These are not the pictures I wanted to post, but until I find the others, these will have to do.

Partners in Crime

During the summer last year I was inside doing some housework when I noticed that it was a little too quiet in the house.  Mothers know this is not a good sign.  I looked out the window and saw the girls playing outside.  I love to just watch them sometimes when they don't know that I am.

This day, they wanted to look over the fence into the neighbor's backyard.  Our fence is about 6 feet tall, so they were getting a little creative.  Whitney would have all fours on the ground and Summer would stand on her back.  They were still a little too short for the top of the fence, so Whitney would then raise up to almost standing to lift Summer on her back to the top of the fence. Summer would reach the top of the fence and pull herself up so she could see over.  After Summer watched over the fence for a while, she would come down and they would switch places.  I watched them do this a couple of times before I thought to get my camera, so the first part of the video is of them working together, and then the last part is Summer watching over the fence.



This is a picture after they noticed me watching them. Summer front, Whitney back

 They are so creative, and are usually best buddies.  It has been so fun watching them grow together and play and learn together.  I love to candidly watch and listen to them. They are definitely the sunshines of my life! 

Ski Racers!!

It is well known how enthusiastic and talented John is when it comes to outdoors.  John is an amazing skier, and he used to teach skiing at Snowbasin when we were in college.  So, of course, he started early teaching the girls how to ski.  This is their 4th winter skiing (they started when they were 3 years old).  This year John signed them up to be on the ski team, and they LOVE IT!!

They ski every Saturday.  When it is time to wake up and get ready to go skiing, there is no lingering in bed and they get ready so fast! I'm happy they like it so much, I just wish they could get up and get ready that fast for school.

They had their first ski race at Wolf Mtn a few weeks ago and another race last Saturday at Snowbasin.  They compete against other racers that are older, have more years experience, and who also ski more days during the week. We are trying to make it fun and pressure free.

I can't believe the difference in their abilities from last year to this year.  They are talented girls.  They have an awesome coach who is so great with them and they love her.  They named their group the "Hello Kitty team".  In their group there is one other girl their age, so for 3 six year old girls it is a perfect name, and just makes it just that much more fun.  Their coach is so sweet and brings them little Hello Kitty gifts.

It is so fun to watch them grow and participate in different things.  They are busy with everything they do, but we have fun!



Whitney (#23) and Summer (#39) ready to race!




Whitney racing at Snowbasin 2/25/2012





Summer racing at Snowbasin 2/25/2012

Summer and Whitney crack me up! :)

Today we were getting ready for school, and just as we were about to walk out the door I noticed the mess in the corner with their toy box. They think cleaning up means to just put everything in the corner and on top of the toy box.  I told them that they could not play with friends today after school until they cleaned up their toys and put them away the right way.  Summer looks at me and says "Mom, you can see HALF the floor!" I guess that should be good enough huh?

Then Whitney asks me if it was warm or cold.  I told her it was snowing, so it is cold today.  The girls both left to get hats and gloves for recess.  Pretty soon I hear Summer "Those are mine Whitney!" Then Whitney in reply  "I found them first!"  I go down to help the situation and Whitney is putting on Summer's gloves.  I asked her where she found the gloves, Whitney replies "In Summer's backpack."  I then proceeded to tell her she can't take Summer's gloves from her backpack when Summer put them away there and now she can't find her gloves because she didn't put them away.  Whitney had to give the gloves back and is now crying "But I found them first!!"

I heard that I should write down the things they say or else I will forget - well, I have forgotten some of their things they said because I was sure I would remember and now regret not writing them down.  So I am going to write a couple here. They both call magazines "mazagines".  I don't correct them right now because I think it is so cute, maybe when they are 20 and still calling them mazagines, then I will correct them.  I just think they are growing so fast, so why change some things sooner than they need to be. Right?

Also, Whitney calls mosquitoes, "spgitos".  She is getting it more right now than not, so I am not going to correct her because it is coming, but it is so cute the things they say.

I posted a couple of years ago about some funny things they say, so I read them again the other day.  I laughed as I remembered those moments, they are so cute!  (Have I said that before? )

I can't believe how fast time is flying as I am getting older, but I feel like time is flying at mach 9 when it comes to my girls.  I tell them to push their stop button to stop growing, but they keep telling me they can't find it.

I love my girls, I love being a mom and I love my family.  I am so blessed in so many ways!

Couple Missionaries Are So Cute!!

They are going to the island of Borneo for a service mission.

My parents are wonderful parents and great examples to everyone of love and service. They have always lived this way and have been an example as long as I can remember.  I grew up watching both of them perform Random Acts of Kindness EVERYDAY!  

I am very lucky to have them as my parents and all that they have done for me throughout my life.  I am going to miss them terribly.  I am excited (yes, and jealous) for the people of Borneo and the kindness and love that is coming to that part of the world.  My goal is to remember them by giving Random Acts of Kindness everyday for my family and my community to hopefully bring something positive and happiness into someone's day. Oh, and my other goal is to save enough money to visit!  :)

Glacier Park August 2009

Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere! It was beautiful.

Sorry for the leave of absence from the blog. I'll continue where I left off.

For summer vacation this year, the girls and I tagged along with my family up to Glacier Park in Montana. This is one of my most favorite places on earth. SO BEAUTIFUL!

Of course vacation wouldn't be vacation without some mishaps! While caravaning up, my parents and I stopped in Idaho Falls to refuel, but Mark missed the message to stop and kept going. We started again and didn't see him, so we turned around to retrace our tracks before we tracked him down ahead of us about 60 miles.

We drove as far as Great Falls the first day to pick up Amber and her kids. While there that night, my parents discovered they left a suitcase at home. After a quick run to wal-mart for some clothes we settled down into a room at Amber's house for the night. About 1:30 in the am, her smoke alarm started beeping because of the low battery. This smoke detector must have a short or something because they are replacing the battery every month. Anyway, they didn't have a battery to replace it, and it was also hooked up to the electrical system in the house, so there was nothing they could do. Finally, Amber got up and drove to an all-night convienence store to buy a battery. After replacing it and going back to bed, my alarm went off 10 minutes later. I was going into the park early to save some caming spots while my dad and family drove in slower behind us with the trailer. Once there, me and my mom put up my tent and took a nap while we waited for the others to join us. So after a rough start, we got 0ur act together.

Glacier is a hiking vacation and the whole family (14 all together, 8 kids, 6 of the kids are 5 years old and younger) hiked 15 miles during the week. We hiked to Avalance Gorge, up to Avalance Lake, Logan Pass, Sun Point Trail to Baring Falls, Sunrift Gorge. We also played in Lake McDonald, and then rented a sit-on-top kayak and motor boat. We saw lots of Mountain Goats and Big Horn Sheep. We even saw a Black Bear.

The first part of the week was fabulous weather, not too hot and sunny. By the end of the week it was raining and cold. But we still got to see everything.

Whitney loved to have "photo shoots". She would stop along the trail, pose and say, "Take my picture here!"

Summer at Logan Pass

All 8 kids on the trail to Avalance Lake (they hiked 15 miles during the week!)

Me and Amber at the Hidden Lake lookout

Me, Mark and Amber at Lake McDonald

I have been to Glacier a few times and everytime I go back I am amazed at the beauty there! Waterfalls everywhere, wildflowers always in bloom, and wildlife everywhere. It is all so incredible.

One of my favorite sites - Avalanche Gorge

Me and the girls at Baring Falls

July 24th

For Pioneer Day we went to the Ogden 24th parade, had a BBQ at my mom's house with a water slide and the annual "cul-de-sac of fire" after the kids lit all of their sparklers.

While at the parade a cameraman from Fox 13 news came and interviewed all of the cousins. Here is Cade saying he likes the floats and horses in the parade. Notice all the cousins lined up to give their interviews as well.

Happy Birthday Whitney and Summer!

These last 4 years have rushed by! I can't believe that my tiny babies are now 4: going to preschool, dance, running races, and now riding bikes! They are busy girls and growing too fast.

Before:

After:

It's like Christmas!

They both wanted a Princess Barbie cake, but after a couple of failed attempts, this is what they got. They were still happy with it.