Easter Fashions

The kids were excited to wear their new Easter outfits to church today. There's something about feeling pretty to a girl. The girls both looked beautiful. Morgan was very "springy" in her yellow. (Now if the weather would just follow her lead.)

Taia is not a little girl anymore and it's hard to see her grow up. But like it or not, it's happening. She looked pretty in her new blue and white dress.

I love to watch these two get along and have fun together. They really love each other!

MmmMmmm.....I love these boys. I tell Chad and Kace they look like little missionaries. I love to see them in their little suits each Sunday. So handsome! (Just like their dad!)

These four kids are the reason I do everything I do! They make me so happy and I have been so blessed with great kids!

Mother Nature put on a little show of her own today. It was still a little chilly, but very nice compared to what we have been dealing with and compared to what the 10-day forecast has in store for us. We were in awe at that big yellow ball in the sky. We had to remind ourselves of what it is. We love the sun and are ready for it to make a daily appearance! Life IS Good!

Tiger Grizz

Mataia competed at the Tiger-Grizz Track Meet on Friday and Saturday this weekend. Friday was a cold, windy and miserable day. She did high jump, long jump and the Freshman Open 100. She didn't qualify for the final in the high jump and pole vault. But she qualified 2nd in the Freshman Open 100. Saturday she ran in the final and got 3rd place. She was excited and did well. The picture below is of Taia getting her medal.

She also competed with her team on Saturday in the Freshman 4 X 100 relay. They did awesome! They not only got first place, they broke the Tiger Grizz record. They were excited and celebrated with dinner and a shopping trip in Idaho Falls after the meet with one of the other mom's. We were proud of her! Next weekend she competes in a track meet in Boise and Morgan also has a volleyball tourney in Boise. It's going to be a daddy-daughter weekend.

This picture is of Taia and her relay team getting their medals.

Cowboy Up!

Chad and Kace are on Spring Break this weekend. They wanted to go help my dad brand, tag and vaccinate his cows. They were so excited! They love to work with Grandpa. Chad finally got to wear the chaps he got for his birthday in August. It was a chilly day, so they had to dress warm. I dropped them off in the morning and then I brought lunch back around noon. I fully expected Kace to want to come home with me at that time. Boy, was I wrong. There was no leaving for that kid until all the work was done. I'm thankful my dad has the patience to let my boys come and learn to work. Chad and Kace both got a whip to prod the cows through the chute to meet their fate. They loved it!

Here's my two little cowboys. Cutest cowboys I've ever seen!

These calves were waiting for their turn in the chute. After they got through with all the cows, they branded the new calves. Sad. There's nothing like the smell of branding cows - and it's not a pleasant smell.

These two pictures show how a cow gets a pedicure. Hmm...Not my idea of pampering. I guess you do what ya gotta do.

He Is Risen!

I'm so grateful for this Easter Day. I don't know if I can comprehend all that this day means for our eternal progression. I'm so thankful that Jesus willingly gave His life for me and for each of us. I cannot imagine the feelings his loved ones had when they discovered the empty tomb and realized he had been resurrected. How blessed we are to have this same blessing awaiting us after our mortal death. I love my family so much and am so thankful that we have the opportunity to be able to be an eternal family. I cannot imagine life without them and I find great comfort in knowing that our Father in Heaven has provided a way for us to live together forever. I love my brother, Jesus Christ and His gospel. I enjoyed this short message below. Hopefully you will, too.

Spring Sports in Idaho....ugh!

Don't get me wrong, I love watching my kids in their activities. But this darn weather has GOT to turn around. I don't know how many track meets and ball games I can endure in this cold, windy and wet weather. Blankets and winter coats are constantly in our car the past few weeks.

This is a pic of Mataia high jumping at her meet last week. She would bundle up in between every jump just to stay warm. We were sitting on the grass huddled in blankets watching.
This is the only picture, I could bring myself to take of Chad's first baseball game on Tuesday. I was too cold to leave the warm of my chair and blanket. He did pretty good. He hit a triple on his second at bat and ran with lightning speed! He is such a mini-Jeff. It cracks me up. I just love that kid. Mataia spent most of the game sitting in the car because it was so cold. She emerged when the Jamba guy (in the banana suit) showed up, in the hopes that he was going to be giving out samples. Jamba Juice is Chad's team sponsor.

I love nothing more than watching a baseball or softball game while soaking up some rays. So we are hoping the 10 day forecast turns around shortly! Chad's game got cancelled tonight due to rain, wind and lightning. Morgan started practicing softball this week. Kace doesn't start t-ball until June. But he is the cutest little bat boy you've ever seen! This weekend is my mom's Easter Egg Hunt for the boys, volleyball for Morgan and the Tiger Grizz Track Meet for Mataia. Never a dull moment. In spite of the weather, life is good.

I'm married to an old man....

Haha! Poor Jeff! He was teased relentlessly yesterday on his birthday. What a good sport. For the record, I was the most kind to him. I can see my 40th off in the not too distant future, so I knew I would pay for anything I did. I was nothing but nice. We started the morning out with one of his favorite breakfasts and then we watched a little video I had put together for him. He opened a few gifts from and the kids and I and then he headed off to work. When he got to work, he was greeted by this hearse parked in the parking lot. The road that runs in front of our office, is a state Hwy and the main street of Rexburg. So there were lots of people that knew it was Jeff's birthday!
Once inside the office, he was welcomed by a bunch of decorations. The girls at the office had hung streamers from the ceiling. They had black balloons and this RIP coffin decorating the reception area. They had also blown up a picture of Jeff from Halloween a few years back when we dressed up as an old man and woman. (I made sure they cropped me out!) He didn't notice the pictures until after lunch because they were hanging on the patient's side of the check in counter.

Here are the culprits! Notice they are all dressed in black. Jeff didn't notice this until after lunch when they pointed that out to him. I think he was flustered by all the "old man" gifts he kept getting throughout the day.....things such as prune juice, a magnifying glass, a cane with a rear view mirror, a "prescription" for Viagra, etc.

Since the hearse was parked in his normal spot, he parked his car on the side. He didn't know that they had put these signs on the side of his car that said, "HONK, It's my birthday." He kept commenting about how people kept honking as they drove by and he thought they were honking for the hearse. He actually didn't notice the signs on his car until he walked out of a store this morning on his way to work. Too funny!

I can't figure out why the license plate on the hearse said, "REPENT." Hmmm.....

They made this "Old Fart" t-shirt for him and made him wear it around for a while. He was a good sport all day.

All in all, we had a nice day. We took the kids to Jaker's in Idaho Falls for dinner last night. My parents and little brother, Braxton came, too. It was yummy, as usual. I'm so thankful for Jeff. He is such a good dad. He is my best friend and I love him so much! I can't wait to spend the next 40+ years with him!

My baby is 6!

Kace turned 6 last week. Yes, it was a National Holiday around here. He wanted to have his whole class come to a "friend" party, where we would go to two arcades, play laser tag and go bowling. Needless to say, it did not happen. I told him I'd try and take him and one or two friends to go bowling, but that's all he's going to get. (I haven't done it yet.) We did go to dinner as a family at Gringo's and they sang Happy Birthday to him and brought him a fried ice cream. Then the kids went to Fat Cats and played in the arcade for a little while. He got a new bike for his birthday and he's been riding that around like an old pro. He says, "It's fast!"

He wanted to stick his whole face in his "Tron" decorated birthday cake. We didn't let him ruin the whole thing, but he did eat his piece without his hands. What a crazy, fun kid!

Here is getting his fried ice cream and birthday song at Gringos.

This seems to be turning into a family tradition!

Yesterday, I had five minutes to chill and I went in and laid down on my bed to try and relax. Pretty soon, Kace comes in and climbs up on the bed with me and says he wants to snuggle. That was my favorite moment of the last few weeks! He laid down by me and put his arm under my neck and started rubbing my hair. Then he patted my back with his cute little hand. Every once in a while he'd turn and kiss my cheek. I know those moments are not going to last forever and I treasure them. A kid in one of my classes was asking me about my family and how many boys and girls I had. When I told them two of each, they wanted to know which one was more fun. My answer was that they are all fun in their own ways and I love them all equally. The difference is that I love them all, but my boys really love me back. I know the girls love me, too. But the boys - they still want to hug me and kiss me and sit by me when we watch a movie and hug me when they get home from school. Maybe it has something to do with age, too. I don't know, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. I keep telling the boys, "You're never too old to kiss your mom!" They believe me. Life is good.

The battle goes on....

We have some good news.....my grandparents were able to start moving back into their home. The restoration company returned all of their belongings to their home with the smell of smoke removed. The repairs have been finished and most of the house repainted. The restoration company accidentally broke a water line in the kitchen and it was unnoticed while the house was closed up for a time to detox. So when the water line was finally discovered, the whole kitchen was flooded and the floor ruined. So they ended up replacing the sub floor and put a new floor in the kitchen. Now the grueling task of unloading what was quickly thrown in boxes, is at hand. This will take them some time. For now, we can be glad they are able to get back to some sense of normalcy and back into their own home and place of comfort.

My mind and heart have been heavy the past few days. I am so grateful for the love that our Father in Heaven has for each of us. He knows our pains and has already suffered for each of us, if we can turn it over to him. This is hard to do sometimes and I have to admit that I struggle with it. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the atonement and His love for each of us individually. Sometimes he may not love our actions, but he ALWAYS loves us. Satan is real and he is working hard each day to try and deceive us. He wants nothing less than to catch each of us in one of his many snares. He wants us to think of ourselves as worthless and unworthy. Self doubt is one of his greatest tools. Unfortunately, he knows each of us, too. He knows our weaknesses and he plays on them trying to destroy families and individuals. I refuse to lay down and let Satan win. I will continue to fight this earthly battle on the Lord's side. This video below was inspiring to me this morning. Hopefully someone else will get something from it, too.

Sister Cook's talk to the Young Women

Last night for Family Home Evening we listened to this talk from Sister Cook that she gave during the Young Women's broadcast. It has such a good message. The church has 13 Articles of Faith that we strive to live by. The 13th Article says, "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous and in doing good to all men; indeed we may say we follow the admonition of Paul- We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy we seek after these things." This is kind of a long one and it has taken a long time for me to fully understand what it means. This year, that is the theme for our youth in the church and so we have heard a lot about it and studied it.

I've always wondered what the word "benevolent" meant for sure. This talk by Sister Cook explains it well. I wanted my kids to look outside of their little world a little and reach out to someone who might need a friend. We talked about the kids at school who always eat lunch alone, or have no one to play with at recess. I thought it was interesting when Mataia said she knew exactly how hard that must be. Even though she is a social butterfly and has lots of friends now, it wasn't like that her first day of school at Madison. I remember leaving her at school that day and she had tears running down her face because she was so nervous. She didn't know anyone in the school. She had met a few girls at volleyball, but she was on the JV and she was the only freshman on that team. Since the freshman are still in the Junior High at Madison, that meant all of her teammates and the girls she knew were at the High School. It was a very rough first couple of days for her and hard for me as a mom to see her struggle like that. It only took about a week and she had some new friends. Now she has LOTS of friends and is loving school - except for maybe Geometry. So anyway, we talked about some things they could do to reach out to those kids who might need a friend. They are supposed to come home ready to share what they did today. We'll see if it works or not.

I felt like this talk was something I needed to work on. I get so wrapped up in my own little world that I forget to think about other people. I also like in her talk where she talks about wanting the best for others. Sometimes that can be hard, but I'm going to work on that, too. If you have an extra 10 minutes, this talk is a really good one! Here's the link:

http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/remember-this-kindness-begins-with-me?lang=eng&format=general-conference&view=sessions&media=

I Love General Conference!

I love General Conference. We got to listen to our great prophet and other church leaders this weekend. As always, they had timely messages that I needed to hear. We started the day off today, with our traditional sticky buns for breakfast...(that was after we slept in until 8:00.) The kids are all getting along so good and it was a great day! Then we had a nice lunch, a quick nap and then the afternoon session. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

One of my favorite talks today was from Elder Richard G. Scott. I love him because he was here when they put my dad in the Stake Presidency. He talked about his wife, who he obviously loved very much. She passed away several years ago. He told about how they would always right little love notes to each other. He talked about her support and love that she always had for him. He talked about how grateful he was to know that he was going to see her again when his life on earth was over. How thankful I am for the knowledge of eternity and for temples where we can make eternal covenants and be sealed together forever. I love my family and my husband so much and look forward to eternity with them!

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf talked about seeking Christ in our lives. He encouraged us to turn down the "noise of life" and listen for the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes the promptings that we hear are not only for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others. Usually our needs are met through the actions of others. How true!

Elder Bednar talked about personal revelation. He compared it to light. Sometimes it happens fast, as if a light switch was being turned on. More often it happens like a sunrise. Over time we can feel promptings inside guiding our lives in a certain direction. He reminded us that if we will ask for inspiration in faith, with an honest heart, believing that we will receive then we will be blessed to know what is right for our lives. God expects us to act, not to be acted upon. I'm looking forward to hearing from Elder Bednar again at the end of this month at Women's Conference. He's always such a good speaker!

That was a great way to start a new week! As always, we have a crazy week ahead filled with school, practices and music lessons. It's finals week for me. Two tests to take and two essays to write. It will be nice to be done and have a little break. The girls have spring break Thursday and Friday, so no school for them those days.

Taia is finishing up the online part of driver's ed this week. She finishes driving next week and then you all better look out - she'll be behind the wheel most of the time when you see our car coming down the road. She is supposed to get 100 hours of driving in with another adult. Then she'll have her license shortly after her birthday in August.

Speaking of birthdays - Kace will be 6 on Thursday! Cute little guy. Wish I could just bottle him and keep him at this age. He's so fun and he's my little man. I love him....and the beauty of that is that he loves me, too! Our kids are all at such fun stages right now for different reasons. I've been so blessed!