COURAGE

There are so many ways that moms have courage..........

But here is the latest, most poignant for me.

COURAGE is a mother who will bury her 3 year old son this week.  Her courage strengthens me as she continues to wake up each morning and face a new day with FAITH in her eyes.  Courage is continuing to hug and comfort her other four children, giving them hope that she is trying to hold onto herself.  

COURAGE is grasping to know there REALLY IS life after death.  She has always believed it to be true, but now she must KNOW for herself, for her children, for everyone that she will strengthen through this trial.

COURAGE is letting the tears flow, but moving forward each new day.  Everyone can feel the peace she has in her heart even though the pain is overwhelming.  She gives us all hope that we can face any trial that this life will bring, always trusting God as she always does.

COURAGE is never easy.  I love you Crystal!  As you face the hardest days of your life, may you know that you are a light to all of us.  Your courage lifts many, and your FAITH will strengthen many.  You are truly amazing..................

Happy Birthday to my cute little boy!

I just love this little boy!  Happy 4th birthday to him today!  He has grown up so fast.  He LOVED having a "friends" party today.  We had his four friends from his church class come.  It was a great time!

I can hardly believe he is this big and he used to be this small.

A jog down memory lane........here he is at one day above, and one week below, look at those skinny legs!

5 months old here..........looking a little like a current 6 month old little sister.

There is something about corn dogs and boys----they just love them!

We had a slipping slide party, but the muscle flexing was the funnest part to take pictures of!

Check out those abs!

The first 5K

I ran in my first 5K today with a group of friends.

It was so much fun. Most of us have just been running for 6 weeks together and a few weeks back in the training, it was mostly walking! But we did it today!

Side note---most (almost all) of us have had babies in the last 5-24 months, some two within that time! And here we are, taking on running!

Let me tell you..........I have the best friends ever. I am so lucky to be surrounded by such good friends who push me to reach my goals, help me become better, try new things with me!

I would never have kept running all the way today without Nichole running along with me.

All of you are the best! All of you inspire me, and I just love having so many AMAZING friends!

Love you guys...................

Hope you love your pictures!!!!! Thanks to Ryan......

The anxious fans....
And the race begins.....

Heading off around the first bend!

Waving for the camera on our first mile....

starting 2nd mile coming around, still looking good.......feeling pretty good

Nicole and Starlie

Brittney and Jamie

An unidentified person of our group!! : )

Kim and Becky

Here we come around finishing our 2nd mile, heading onto the third--not feeling as FULL of energy!

We did it!!!!

Love our pink shirts????? We will be styling them everywhere from here on out!

Note to self...

Lap-top cords CAN short out when the little end is slobbered on by a smiley 6 month old. Creates much havoc in the life of a blogging mother when her laptop can no longer be charged, pictures can no longer be loaded, and MUCH valuable data cannot be accessed on THAT computer!!!!!

It also costs 1/5 of the price of a computer to buy a silly charger cord separately!!!!!!!!!!

Just wanted to share that information!

10 years today

Well, we made it to our tenth anniversary! I guess we are pretty ambitious, because we already have a house, 6 kids, 2 cats, a dog, 2 geckos, and a bird. I just noticed that we have as many animals as children....yikes!

Now no comments about how much thinner we looked back then!!!!!

And for Ryan-----if you read this! These have been the best ten years of my life. Life just gets better with each year. I look forward to every decade to come!

This is us in front of the Portland Temple, where we were married.

If you are wondering about the HIGH quality of pictures, these were scanned from negatives and saved on my computer. YES, we did get married back in the days when there were no digital cameras. WEIRD........

Here is our family back then.......it is so much bigger now! We were the first to be married for both families. We still had so many little siblings!!! Now we have kids that age!

I love all of you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A New Blog

I started a new blog tonight. This BLOG here is still my regular family blog for all of you friends and fam. But I wanted to start another blog where I could just write and write and write---without boring those of you that would just rather look at pictures and keep up with the family. My new blog is a place I just want to share all kinds of things associated with being a mom--the good, bad, and the ugly. So stop on by! It is still under construction : )

Still Enjoying Summer

We aren't quite ready to let go of summer yet.  We are enjoying every day!

5 months old already

We finished off our first season of swim team, and it was a great time.  I dragged my feet about letting Matthew join this year, but it was well worth it.  He had a great time, and his swimming ability has quadrupled.  Next year, a few brothers will join him!

Here is his first HEAT winner ribbon!  He won the freestyle heat, and then ended up with 4th place that day!

Some smiles for Grandma and Grandpa!

Grocery Garden

Okay, so maybe I haven't got the hang of coupon shopping yet-----like everyone is doing so awesomely lately-----but I did have a great shopping day out in my garden!

5 Zucchini, 5 summer squash, cherry tomatoes, peas, piles of lettuce, and mounds of beans

TOTAL SPENT-- FREE  (okay, I admit--a little sweat weeding and two hours of labor, but no travelling to town with 6 kids!)

And these pictures are for you mom!  Pics of the garden, which turned into a jungle this week with the 100 degree heat.  Maybe if I would come out here more than once a week, I might gain control of it!  The big tomatoes are just filling out, and turning color.  I can't wait to eat them!
And hoorrrrrayyy!!!  We found this pumpkin growing nicely under everything.  He has 3 or 4 friends too.  We are so excited for our own pumpkin patch
Vines are even growing up and over my bushes!  I am growing these bird house gourds for the fun of it!  (And to replace Tricia's that my lovely son crushed this last May--that's a whole other story!)

We love the water park!

I just LOVE summer!  I love it.  I love it.  I love it.  I love sitting out in the sun by the pool.  At least once a summer we head over to the water park about an hour from home with a bunch of friends.  We sit out in the sun and soak up the fun for hours.  We went to the water park on 

Thursday with some friends.  It was 100+, and perfect for sitting poolside for 5 hours.  I haven't personally experienced all of the slides and entertainment there, because I always have a baby to play with.  But for me, the kids having fun makes it all worth it.  And the zero depth entry makes it fun for me to sit in with friends and our babies!

30 more days of summer!!!!!!!

We have to enjoy every minute of it!