Mothers

A big thank you to these three for making me the most wonderful thing in the world-a mother!

from Garen-

from Maddie, she even made a stand for her card all on her own-
From Sophie, she made it in nursery-

Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mother!

She is who I try each day to become; patient, kind, helpful, knowledgeable, good at any task set before her, pleasant, enduring, unselfish, motivated, happy, spiritual, and always laughing! Thanks for all the fun late nights watching blind date and other silly shows while I sat and you worked on projects intended for me. Thanks for making our home a place where I could always feel safe and happy and where me friends felt comfortable being. Thanks for being such a fun Young Women's leader and for taking us TPing. Thanks for teaching me how to choose the right but letting me get away with more than dad would. Thanks for having a great answer every time I call for preschool ideas, church talk ideas, and everything in between!

As I spent my Mother's day up at 5AM with Sophie, taking 3 kids to church by myself, running crazy doing sharing time with 70 primary kids, followed by getting home with a grumpy baby, hungry kids and a messy house, I could only think how many of my mom's Mothers Days were spent not doing one thing for herself. Hope you had a great Mother's day mom, you deserve it!!!

And I can't forget all the other wonderful mothers in my life that teach me so much and make me feel blessed everyday!

My mother-in-law who raised an amazing son and who treats my children like precious treasures-

Grandma Margaret who shows us how to be young even when your not-

Grandma Dora who can name all 90 something great grandchildren and always makes time to read a book and throw the ball with my kids every time we come -

Grandma Janene who is fun and exciting and always lets us take over her home even for a week at a time-

Grandma Vonnie who sang us songs while playing her guitar and who we miss dearly-

Great Grandma Pug who has great stories to tell and endured loosing two of her sons and her husband very early on.-

My sister-in-law that has always been extremely helpful with my kids and fun to raise our kids together-

My sisters, who I talk to daily as we go through this journey of motherhood together.

Spring Break- Day 1

We headed toward Utah Wednesday after Andy got off work. The roads were an awful slushy mess and every time we went by a semi our windshield would get splattered and ice would freeze around our wipers.
As we neared Bear Lake it was almost 10:30pm so we decided to stay with Andy's grandparents instead of trying to make it through Logan canyon. On our way into Bear Lake we noticed a truck in the middle of the road with it's hazards on, we slowed and asked if they needed help. Their truck had broke down, they couldn't get cell phone service in the canyon and it was freezing out. We squished the kids together and drove the two guys into town. Don't worry, we don't make a habit of picking up strangers.
The kids were excited to stay with great grandma Janene and grandpa Roger. They were so kind to let us come in so late and take over their house. Unfortunately, we didn't bring Sophie's playpen because Andy's parents have one in Logan, so Sophie slept in the bed with me, Andy choose to get some real sleep and go sleep in a different room, and Maddie and Garen kept each other awake giggling in another bed.
We woke up Thursday morning to bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, biscuits, and homemade raspberry jam! His grandparents are wonderful, I'm glad we got to spend that time with them- just a few weeks ago his grandpa was diagnosed with Lou Gehring's disease! We stayed and played awhile before heading to Logan. The kids love their talking deer head, the little trampoline, and the bear that copies everything you say.

I thought this was so funny, judging by this picture Garen needs to lay off the food!-

bad lighting, but cute grandpa and Garen

The only way I could get Sophie to stop crying in the car was to let her pretend to talk on my cell phone-

Flashback Friday-Minnesota Grandparents

Listening to Grandma Vonnie's Cd of her singing this morning and missing her. Wishing we could go out to Minnesota to visit Grandpa Mel. It's been to long.

Visit from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Paul

My parents came Tuesday -Thursday this week and we loved having them. Our time with them included:
-playing the Wii
-lots of help with the kids
-my laundry all washed and put away
-my dishes done
-playing games with the kids
-My mom helping with the preschool
-bedtime stories with the kids
-mom joining me at lunch group
-ice skating (in the next post)
Thanks for coming out here mom and dad and for all the help!

Grandpa Ira

Andy's grandpa Ira passed away last night. He is one of the people that Andy looked up to the most in his life. He lived next door to Andy practically his whole life and taught him so much. He always had big hugs for the kids and he will be missed so much!

Bear Lake Vacation: Staying with Grandma and Grandpa

Andy's Grandparents were nice enough to let us take over their house for 5 days in Bear Lake. We truly enjoyed our time there. If we weren't at one of the places listed in my other posts we were relaxing and having fun with the grandparents.
The kids loved all the wind chimes hanging everywhere, the talking stuffed animals-mainly the talking deer head, the humming bird feeder that brought plenty of humming birds right up to the window to watch, throwing sticks in the creek that runs through their yard, playing croquette, making long roads out of grandma's blocks. Andy and I enjoyed the late night chats with grandma Janene, watching a movie with them, and looking through grandpa's old history books and baby pictures of Andy.
We also enjoyed seeing Grandma Jann, Grandpa Boyd, Amber, Zeb and Levi on Saturday.

Andy, grandma Janene, grandpa Roger-

Sophie loved the singing deer until I put her foot in its mouth, in which she full out screamed, not cried, screamed like a girl-

Everything was so beautiful as the sun was going down, I would make the kids go around the yard with to the barns, the grass field, and the creek so I could take their pictures. They were good sports and I love the pictures I got. I didn't get any of Sophie because she was always to tiered by 8pm from her lack of naps-

thumbs up-

I even got Andy in the picture action-

Andy and the kids found a dragonfly that was barely alive and freezing so they tried to save it. Maddie was cute and would go check on it every few minutes-

playing in Grandpa Boyd's truck with cousin Levi-

Sophie and Dad just chill'en-

Garen loved driving this Tractor around-

One cool baby-

Why do we buy toys when they could just play all day with a stick?-

play Croquette-

A little video recap of our trip-

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com