My Girls

I just had to share these thoughts before they escape me. Last night Gracie was sleeping in my bed. I could feel her warm little body next to mine and I had to breath the  moment in. Ryan will be home from Mongolia on December 18th. He has been traveling back and forth to Mongolia for 4 years. FOUR YEARS! Reflecting back on the four years I see good and bad times. Just like any other four years in anybody's life. I have definitely been challenged with Ryan away and I have looked forward to the times he is home. 

Having said that, me and my girls have had SO much time to get to know each other better. With Dad not here in the evenings, and the boys in bed, we have had some fantastic times together! We have read together, watched our favorite Netflix programs, ran to the gas station for goodies (don't worry I leave them home to make sure the boys are ok), ran to Subway for dinner, played board games, jumped on the tramp, etc.. etc... One of their favorite things to do is take turns sleeping on dad's side of the bed. Not every night. Some nights I need my space. But enough that I count it as a great memory. 

I talk with my girls SO MUCH. I hope this benefits them. With them being homeschooled I hope that their family will have a bigger influence on them than their peers. Although friends are important, and they have a great group of friends that are wonderful girls! 

I pray that God will bless these girls, keep them in his sights and bless them to love their family as much as we love them!

Happy 5th Birthday Jesse!

It seems like yesterday we were welcoming Jesse into the world. Sounds cliche' but I seriously don't know where the time goes. The last 5 years have just flown by! Jesse has such a funny personality. He is always telling me he is "hungry" which is his way of saying "Do you have any candy in the house or can we stop by Macey's for some donuts?" He loves to watch Ninjago and play Lego Marvel on Xbox. He is a flip master on the trampoline. He LOVES skin! He loves to rub my arms, neck, belly and any other skin he can get ahold of. Weird fetish that I think is cute now but hope he grows out of by the time he starts dating!

Right after we celebrated Jesse's 1st birthday Ryan headed to Mongolia for the first time. It seems like life has flown by for us since that time. Jesse, and all of our kids, have changed so much the past 5 years. We've added Tegan to the family. We've moved. We've began homeschooling. I thank the Lord for all of my blessings and all of His guidance. I wonder what the next 5 years will bring?

Jesse and neighbor friend Gib.

Back: Breck, Gib, Gavin
Front: Tegan, Oakley, Jesse, Lex

Stewart Falls

Our cute Japanese exchange student Ayano came back this summer and brought her friend Asumi with her. They stayed for 3 weeks. It was A LOT of work for me to have 7 kids and Ryan in Mongolia, but we survived. 

We went to Bridal Veil Falls the second day they were here and got rained out almost immediately. So about 2 weeks later we decided to hike to Stewart Falls with Tina and her kids and Jackie and her kids (plus one of Ava and one of Oakley's friends). It was so much fun. Tegan had just had surgery again and was not able to join us. I was worried about taking Jesse but I could barely keep up with him. The two oldest girls were about the only ones that stayed close by us, hence all the pics of them.

Why the fuzzy head Gracie? Dirty camera?

Gavin, Tana (Oakley's friend), Megan, Amber, Jesse, Gracie, Breck and Oakley

Palisade State Park

We went to Palisade State Park, down by Manti, over the weekend with Jackie's family and Tina's family. Eleven kids and five adults made for quite the lively adventure. It would have been nice if it was 20 degrees cooler at night, but we had a fantastic time chatting, stuffing ourselves and playing for hours at the lake. We spent about 4 hours out on a floating dock in the middle of the lake jumping off and pedaling our boats around. It was fantastic! I love family!

Frog anyone?!

Amber, Megan, Gracie, Tyler and Tina waiting to set sail.

All aboard the Mary Poppins express. I was SO grateful for my umbrella.
Ava, Jesse, Breck, Tegan, Ryan and Rachel

I'm assuming the face is for the wedgie he is receiving from the life jacket. ;-)

Tyler, and Gavin with Lex at the helm. 

We celebrated my niece Amber's 13th birthday on the 28th and my nephew Oakley's 6th bithday on the 29th.

Cutest cousins around: Back bench (Lex, Breck, Tyler, Megan, Oakley, and Gavin)
Front bench (Gracie, Amber, Ava, Tegan, and Jesse)

Gary, Jackie and kids

Zoo Bear (i,e Lex) is unsure about this new adventure

Gracie and Amber catching some air! Love the pose Amber. 

We had to really talk Oakley into his first jump! He loved it!

Gary and Ryan jumping through tubes. This was clearly before Ryan's horrible sunburn surfaced.

After eating dinner we went back to the lake. We were only there about 15 minutes and it got
 really stormy, so we decided to pack all 11 kids into the back of the truck and head back to camp.

Bike Ride x2

Tegan did have a helmet but it seems to be MIA in these pictures ;-)

We rode from Vivian Park to The Riverwoods 2 times last week. It was SO fun and refreshing to get out and just have fun together. We were up in the canyon by 8 am both days and enjoyed most of the area to ourselves. We survived 2 bike malfunctions and a huge Breck biff, but those are things we can laugh about later right?  Imagine my dismay when I was ripped out of sleep this morning at 5:20 am to take Ryan back to the airport. Good times fly....

Bridal Veil Falls