Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Boys Life

Caleb won 1 st place in his troop pinewood derby! He barely turned 8 in time to participate, but he had been talking about it for months! Naturally, Jason got a little carried away with the car plans. In the end, Caleb wanted the most simple and plain car shape. We bought some cool flame stickers to put on it, Caleb refused. He wanted to use the colored electrical tape that had been sitting in the junk drawer for the past year. He went to race at district, and placed 4th. Not bad for his 1st year! He was thrilled to get a trophy, and has drawn out what the car design should be for next year.


Porter, just being Porter. He is such a cutie!!!!!





Wyatt being, well....I'll just say being himself. Which is a whole bunch of words, wrapped into one!








Caleb did little league again. By the second game he was saying that he hated it, never wanted to play baseball again. I'm all for "not" making your kids do something they don't like, but I'm also for finishing what you started. We told him he had to finish the season because a.) we paid money for it and b.) you don't abandon your team and c.) when you say you're going to do something, you stick to your word!

In the end, I think he still enjoyed it. However, it's safe to say that this was his last year in little league!


Dance Recital

The annual dance recital is 2 nights. For the first time, Grandma and Grandpa Glen came to watch. They enjoyed it so much, they came to the second night's performance, too. They treated the girl's to a late night trip to Denny's afterwards!




Grandma Johnson has made it to all of Brooklyn's recitals. This was the first year that Emily was performing too. Emily LOVED all of the attention!
















Brooklyn thinks that being on stage is the coolest! Usually, at the end of the jazz or hiphop routines, when the dancers are walking off stage, Brooklyn will turn and do a jump/blowing kiss thing to the applauding audience. It's hilarious! I love my girls!











Sunday, June 12, 2011

Dance 2011

 Dance recital time is always a little crazy. Expensive costumes, tickets, pictures and mandatory rehearsals all lead up to their special performances. Jason's mom has driven up every year to watch Brooklyn's performances, and now we get to watch Emily too! My mom came to watch this year and absolutely loved it. Brooklyn was in 5 numbers this year, and is the tallest dancer in most of the groups. I think she loves the attention, because that girl sure works it once she's on stage!


Sunday, May 15, 2011

Girl Stuff

Emily is officially done with preschool!
She is so excited for kindergarden. Me, not so much! Emily has been such a happy, joyful, sweet-as-can-be little girl, that sending her off to school just makes me sad...........


Brooklyn is playing the violin in the school orchestra. She really enjoys it, even though she rarely practices. I want to convince her to be in choir instead. Afterall, I played the cello for seven years. How often to you see me playing it? Your singing voice is an instrument you'll use your entire life! I guess we'll see if I can convert her!

Her aunts were violinists and she really admires that. Brooklyn wants to play until she can learn how to fiddle. I admire the ambition and do hope she'll get to that point.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Porter's Blessing

Baby Porter was blessed on Sunday, October 10th, 2010. It was a beautiful day, everything went really well. We had almost the entire family from both sides here. The only people who were missing was my mom and her husband Glenn, they were still serving their mission in SLC, so it was a pretty good excuse, and my brother Andy and his two kids. He never gave me his excuse.
I cannot put into words what it felt like to have all that love and support from our families. Having all those people come to our tiny home in the mountains was such a blessing and a reminder that we are not alone. It's chaotic, loud,and occasionally weird when we bring the two families together, but it's all worth it! I'm so glad that my kids get to have relationships with their aunts, uncles, and cousins!
Porter's blessing was so sweet and unique! I've cried harder with each baby. He was blessed with many things, especially regarding his future as a missionary and leader. It sure makes me feel honored to be a steward for this special little spirit.


Isn't he precious?!!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

8 1/2 months....

So it's been almost 9 months since I last posted on the blog. Honestly, there hasn't been a spare moment since then. Even as I type, there are piles of laundry, errands, phone calls, dishes, food, and probably something that involves bodily fluids that need my attention right now.
For this time of our life, I find comfort in these words from Pres. Monson:
"We should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future. If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will — to your surprise — miss them profoundly."
I had only been home from the hospital a couple of days when I was called to serve as the Young Womens president of our ward. I was at home, and people were texting me from sacrament meeting! Yes, I knew the call would be coming. Jason and I had told the bishop to wait until after we had the baby, we just kinda sorta meant wait more than 5 days.
Life has been crazy. Good, busy crazy. Adjusting to a family of seven has been a little more overwhelming than expected, but we're dealing, and trying to keep our heads above water.
The family pic was taken in my sister's backyard last November. It turned out beautifully, after lots of yelling. The smiles ultimately came after I yelled out "Look at the giant green booger hanging out of Aunt Sherry's nose!" Crude, yes. But we did capture genuine smiles on everyone's faces!!!

Porter is growing up so fast, the time just speeds by. He has sweet, soft long baby hair, which I just can't bring myself to cut yet. He has 6 sharp teeth, and rolls like a pro!
There's so much I could say, and about 900 photos I could post, but I'll sum it up with a list of things I have really appreciated and learned over the last several months.
1. I have overcome feeling ashamed when my house is messy and someone stops by.
2. The crockpot is awesome. It rarely even gets put back in the cabinet.
3. I treasure the dear friends that you can go months without speaking too, and pick up right where you left off.
4. I'm grateful for breastfeeding. Life is so busy that without nursing, I don't think I would actually take the twenty minutes to sit down, be still, and just give him mommy time.
5. My natural hair color is very dark brown. I have the 4 inch roots to prove it.
6. People are pretty predictable.
7. It's perfectly fine to take too many pictures.
8. It's 10 x's harder watching your children go through social hardships in school, than it was for yourself.
Well, there's lots more, but I've exceeded my computer time limit. Duty calls.......hopefully they're not injured.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Road Trip! ~ Southern AZ



I'm a little behind on my blogging, so I'm trying to catch up. *Warning* photo intensive post!


























We went on this trip on the last weekend in February. The weather was beautiful, and being some place warm was great therapy for us!


We started our trip with Kartchner Caverns. They had a picnic area where we ate our food we had brought from home. Caleb and Brooklyn really enjoyed it. The caverns were pretty cool! I thought it was a little overpriced, and definitely NOT kid friendly! I would never go again with younger children.


We stayed in Sierra Vista, it was kind of in the middle of all of the places we would be visiting. It worked out very well! The kids loved being able to swim outside when we had just been in freezing temperatures at home!
The next day we drove to Bisbee. My Grandma and Grandpa Schern lived there when I was little, I didn't recognize anything! We did the Queen Mine tour and loved it! This was one of the kids best things on the trip! I recommend it for anyone! Driving our Suburban around some of the streets in Bisbee was an adventure in itself! We found a hole in the wall ice cream shop and got some treats. It was great!







After Bisbee, we drove to Tombstone. I knew we wouldn't need to spend too much time there. I went to buy our tickets for the gun show, but they had trouble with their debit card machine, and after waiting to pay for almost 10 minutes, I was ready to pay the stupid ATM fees and pull cash out. I was about to turn to do so when the handsomely dressed cowboy said we could just go in for free. Score! It saved us $40! I love it when stuff like that happens! We bought walmart cowboy hats for the kids to wear, they loved it!
























































































































On the final day of our trip we went to the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. My friend Heather had given me some extra tips on activities there, which paid off! I'm glad the weather was great, this would not be fun in mid-summer. Emily loved seeing the birds, and everyone thought the otter exhibit was really cool! Wyatt ran off. That was scary! When I finally got to him, someone had taken him up front to the ticket counter, he was crying hysterically. They had tried to give him water and crackers and he wouldn't take it. When I was able to ask Wyatt where he thought he was going, he told me he was hungry. He wanted to go buy some snacks!










We had a great time, and just enjoyed seeing different things together as a family!