Blessing Day

Although this happened on Oct. 8, it's too special to forget...

What a great day when a mother gets to watch her husband give her new baby a name and a blessing! It's always such a spiritual high for me (which is a good pick-me-up when you hit that 6 week mark and the sleepless nights are starting to pull you down)

What proud parents!
This is a few of the men that were in the circleAnd the whole group
How thankful I am for husband who is a worthy priesthood holder!

Arches

 We spent Fall Break in Arches National Park, near Moab Utah.

The weather was perfect.

The children hiked like champs.

 The baby slept soundly on the mama

 And the grandparents came along

 (How cute are they? Hiking holding hands- Do you love it Tim and Shel?)

 Smiles all around

 With a little silliness

Perfect quick trip!

Carmel Apples

 One of the traditions I'm trying to create for the ladies of the family is a carmel apple afternoon. We made an assembly line of washing, inserting sticks, dipping (first in carmel, then in chocolate- HELLO!), decorating, and bagging. Not only is it a blast to be with my sisters (and when I say sisters, can you all just know that includes my mom and sister-in-law. I won't even tell you who's who in the picture because they are all sisters to me)

It's also so invigorating to create something

(I find that using twigs instead of popsicle sticks makes them much more halloweeny. Keep your eyes open around town and you will find an empty lot with a fallen tree or a neighbor trimming one back and take all the twigs you can get!)

And at the end of the day we have yummy treats for our families and neighbors

(a hole punch and some ribbon transformed my boring paper plate into something much more fun to give. My homemade tag topped it off nicely, right?)

Another tradition I'd like to keep is the glitter pumpkins. Not pictured this year, but it did happen and I learned that glitter still makes me happy.

Oh so happy!

Moving Forward, Looking Back:Starting with Halloween

 I'm seriously going to catch up on my blog and become a regular again. So I've decided to start with the most recent and move back.

Happy Halloween!

This year was my very favorite Halloween of all time!
Check out my very own cast of WIZARD OF OZ:

 Adeline as The Wicked Witch of the West (or Elphaba)

 Bailey as Glinda the Good Witch (so popular!)

 Lila as Dorothy

 Complete with ruby slippers

Austin wouldn't play along with our theme, but was so thrilled to be a BYU football player with REAL football pads

 Even the newlyweds got dressed up!

BEST. HALLOWEEN. EVER!

Oh Pintrest!

How I love you, but how you keep me from blogging when the house is quiet at last. But I so like to look at craft and recipe ideas I will probably never make. I also like to have those ideas safely tucked away in my very own cyberspace.

The wonderful glory of my life really should be blogged because it really is wonderful and glorious! My baby is heaven on earth, literally. Not figuratively, LITERALLY! She sleeps up to 13 hours at night (I'm talking consecutive hours here!), naps 3 times a day and spends her awake time smiling and laughing. HEAVEN, I tell you!

I had a harder week with the older 3. They think it's fun to make mom ask so many times it turns to a yell. Then I feel like a bad mom because I yell. Then I feel like a bad mom because I haven't raised my children well enough to obey quickly and nicely. Then I feel like a bad mom because I'm down on myself and I desperately want my children to have high self-esteem- teach by example!

In the weeks that followed the birth of my first child, I realized I had found my true calling in life. I GET IT! This is why I'm here- to be a mother. And how I love to be a mother! Oh! I love it.

Then I feel like a bad mom because I can't even be good at what I love so much...


Back to Pintrest. I found this there tonight and HAD to share because it echoes my prayers day and night

(if you can't read it, it says)
Oh give me patience when wee hands tug at me with their small demands.
And give me gentle and smiling eyes
Keep my lips from hasty replies
And let not weariness, confusion or noise obscure my vision of life's fleeting joys
So when, in years to come, my house is still-
No bitter memories its room may fill.

I feel their young lives slipping through my fingers so quickly. Will my house really be still one day? Tell me NO! Let me keep them.

Thanks Pintrest for bringing me back to earth- or should I say, HEAVEN!

Let Me Finish

 As a last HURRAH of summer, we met up with all of John's family in Las Vegas for a little reunion. John's dad rented a home for everyone. It was so fun to reconnect.
We swam (Amie and I got to judge a cannonball contest) and ate pretty much all weekend. My kind of vacation!

The home was right across the street from the temple

Where we did some family pictures

Grandpa Jonas with ALL of his grandchildren!

The next week John took Austin backpacking in the Uintas

 They had such STRONG bonding time!

 They even found snow!

Finally, school started again! I LOVE having my kids home in the summer, but I also love routine and order.
Austin Michael as a 3rd grader

Adeline April as a first grader

 Riding the bus together!

 (Have I already posted these back-to-school pictures? I seriously can't remember!)

And that was our summer! This doesn't mean I'm caught up, but I'll get there...