Fun with the cousins!

We had to close on our house while we were on our trip to the East coast, so as if packing for a two week trip with three kids isn't difficult enough, we also had to move out of our house! Jack's brother, Jimmy, and his wife were so gracious to let us live with them for a month before we moved to Colorado. While this wasn't always an easy situation with 6 kids in the house, it was a fun opportunity to let the kids play non-stop for a month! There was a lot of laughing, giggling, running, jumping, fighting bad guys, playing Ben 10, Bakugan, Pokemon, playing with Lego's, playing on the iPod and computer, plenty of Wii, playing outside....and a little bit of bickering here and there, but not too much. Now, get ready for an overload of pictures! (Pictures courtesy of Bekah....we always had to have one adult manning the kids and one with the camera so we didn't miss any fun memories!)

Clara loved Uncle Jack so much!

 

Tyler and Jacob love to wrestle

 

Show me some muscle!

All the kids wanted to join in on the fun with Katy

 

Oh I just love this little girl!



Getting the babies to sit still for this picture was no easy task

Bekah had asked Tyler to play with Katy so he put his head in her lap and let her slap the heck out of it. This is a common occurrence at our house, they have great fun letting her do this, and she does too.

Like I said, plenty of Wii....mostly Super Mario Brothers and a little Wii Party

Just before we left there were a few super hot days so we got to get the pools and water guns out!

These boys are the best of friends!

 

Here they are, at 6 months old, in the same pool...only in a small corner then, now filling the whole thing!

 



 It was fun to have all the kids at the table for meals, sometimes it would be a little frustrating with how silly they got, but all in all a fun time



Delaware- Spring trip part 2

After Jack and I met back up in D.C. we drove up to his parents house and visited with them for a few days.  

We enjoyed eating out with them a few times....I still dream about the Friendly's ice cream......

The kids had a lot of fun playing in his parents basement on the air hockey table and the basketball hoops.

While we were there Katy got her first two teeth!

 

Jack and his cousin Jack.

Katy with Jack's wife, Rebecca

 

We were able to spend some time with a few of Jack's extended family, this is the kids with their 2nd cousins, Kaitlyn, Brandon, and Angelica

We were able to stop by Jack and Rebecca's house to play with Angelica, get the mother load of girl hand-me-down clothes (THANKS!), and play a little in Jack's police car. Jack is a Delaware State Trooper.

Jacob wasn't so sure about being in the car, but Tyler and Angelica had a grand ol' time:)

We had such a wonderful time on our visit with them, hopefully we can make it back to the east coast more often than every 6 years!

One last thing we did was make a quick stop by the Washington D.C. LDS Temple and the visitors center on our way back to the hotel before we flew home. Such a beautiful place, even with the afternoon traffic in full fury not too far from here, you feel such a peaceful feeling visiting temple grounds.

We had so much fun on our trip and were glad to be able to visit with family and a few friends. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our life!

Don't be in a Hurry...

Excuse my ramblings, I had to put these down somewhere.....

This past Sunday there was a lesson given that really made me reflect on my life, and more specifically my role as a mother. The subject was "Don't be in a Hurry to...."(-fill your life with business, waste your time on nonsense activities, forget the first commandment, .....fill in the blank!) The one thing that I have been thinking about is that I am always trying to rush TIME. I complain that I don't have enough time to do things as a busy mom of three kids, but at the same time I sometimes find myself saying "Ugh, I can't wait until they are older!" I have three kids, but definitely feel like a new mom still. I am constantly trying to do better and not wishing the kids to be older, but wishing them to stay young longer!

I still haven't figured out how to have more good days than bad as a mom, but what I do know is that time is flying with these kids! Sometimes I still have a hard time coming to grips that I have 3, THREE kids already!? When did that happen? I thought I just graduated from high school last year? How is my little baby starting Kindergarten next year? How is my little girl crawling already?

So as time flies by I have so many things to work on....How do I gain more patience for the slow way my little ones get things done? How do I let my wish for perfection go and just let them scoop the cookie dough on the pan in their messy fashion splattered in whichever spot it lands? How do I teach them respect for others and themselves? How do I teach them what it means to work hard? How do I teach them to be who their Heavenly Father wants them to be and not what the world wants them to be?

If there is one thing that I have learned in this past year (and has been on my mind every single day) is that our time with our loved ones is precious and our time is not our own. We just don't know when we will hear the last "I love you", give the last kiss, or hear the last giggle. I know we can't live our lives in constant fear, and keep our loved ones locked up all day, but we can be thankful for each day we have with each other. I can be thankful and savor the good and the bad moments of motherhood. I can savor the giggles, the silly imaginations, the snuggles, the sweet potato stained smiles, and even the 12, 3 and 5am night wakings, the toothpaste smeared sinks, and the stinky diapers. I can use each day as it is meant for, to learn and progress. Though motherhood/life doesn't come with a manual, thank goodness I don't have to figure it all out on my own. I have amazing parents, sisters, grandparents, friends, scriptures, prayer, apostles, and prophets to learn from. I have my husband to take the journey with.

Carolina on my Mind

We FINALLY made it back east the first two weeks in April and had so much fun visiting friends and family. We left April 1, and were scheduled to close on the house while we were gone so things were really really crazy leading up to our long trip because we had to be moved out before we left. We were moving stuff up to the night before we left. Once we got on that airplane it was nice to know that we FINALLY had a chance to just relax, away from the moving circus.



Jacob and Katy's first time on a big airplane! They all did great, everyone around us were

so surprised how good and quiet they were, whew!

Jack had some work training in D.C., so we all flew there together and spent a couple days with our friends that we knew from Tucson. It is so nice to have such wonderful friends that even though you haven't seen them in years, things just seem to pick up right where you left off when you do see them again. When we last saw them they had two kids and we had one, now we both have 3....each 2 boys and a baby girl.


Tyler, Tyler H., Jacob, and Rob H.

After a couple days I drove to Charlotte with the kids and Jack stayed in D.C. for his training session. I had not been to Charlotte in 6 years, so it was about time! It was SO nice to spend time with my family and to be able to see a few friends while I was there. There were many more friends I wanted to see but I just didn't have time. My sister Nicole and her daughter Anna came up from Atlanta to spend a few days with us. It was nice to see them, Anna is such a cutie and is FULL of energy! I wish we could see them more often. It was so nice outside while we were visiting so we tried to spend a lot of time outside. We went to the park and played in my parents backyard. The boys loved seeing my moms chickens and getting the eggs from them. 

 

It was so nice to spend a few days with my sister Nicole and her daughter Anna-

thanks for coming up to visit!

 

Katy hanging with her Uncle Dennis-Michael.

We went to IHOP one night and the hostess said to me "I'm trying to decide who your kids look like more" to which I quickly responded, "Ummm....me, because that's my brother, not their dad"



I absolutely love this picture of Katy and Grandpa.

 

I was also able to meet up with my friend Jessica for lunch one day. Jessica and I (along with our friends Katy and Maurine) were nearly inseparable while in our high school years. I have so many great memories with those girls! It seems crazy to me that we are all married with multiple kids, crazy how life goes on isn't it?

When I was in high school I spent A LOT of time at my friend, Katy's, house. We called her mom and dad Mama and Papa Sigg. They really were like my second parents. Sadly, once I moved away to college I did a horrible job staying in touch with them. As it is with family, even though I had not seen them in 6 years, it didn't feel like it. It was SO nice to spend an evening at their home and let them meet my kids. I have missed hanging out with their fun family so much. They taught me a lot growing up and I will always be thankful for that. We were so busy catching up I forgot to take some pictures until Pam was helping me get my wild kids in the car, so this is the only one I got.

My mom's beautiful chickens- she had about twice as many as she does now until the neighbor dog attacked them, it was very sad:(

We met my friend Jessica at the mega-mall, Concord Mills, so while we were there I took the kids over to Bass Pro Shops to plan on some of the big kid toys and to see the big fish tank.

They got a little tired walking the mile around mall so we had to make a makeshift double stroller.

 (She wasn't even stinky, oh the life of a Bachelor)

All in all it was a fun trip and went by way too fast! Hopefully it will not be another 6 years before I make it back to Charlotte!