kiddos at the temple

When the kids were little they used to get really grumpy with me when I'd try to take lots of photos of them, but I guess they've resigned themselves to the fact that that's just what mother's do becuase they/ve cooperated quite nicely the last few years, even in the St. George heat!

My Family

Right after school got out we headed to St. George for a family reunion. My Grandma lives there so we all gathered. All my sibs and their families were there and all my Dad's sibs were too with some of their spouses and kids. There were over 50 of us all together. It was so wonderful to see everyone. I wish I could have had some one on one time with each of my nieces and nephews. They are all such terrific kids and adorable wee babes. The first picture is my Grandma, parents, and all my sibs with their families. The next one is my parents and my 5 sibs who I love dearly and wished they all lived on our culdesac.

last day of school

Well we are half way through the summer. It's going too fast. Here are a few pics of the last day of school. It was Ethan's last day of Elementary School...sniff sniff. I can't believe how fast my babies are growing up. We did the girls hair in curlers the night before just for fun and it turned out awesome! And Orion had been asking to have a mohawk for awhile so I told him on the last day of school he could. His mohawk turned out not quite as strong as we hoped. oh well. On the last day Meri's class did a play and she was the toucan and Orion with his friend did their talent show act for me again because I didn't get any pictures of them at the actual talent show. It was a good year.

Jess turns 6

Jessi is now 6 years old! She got a couple outfits for her AG doll - she LOVES the rollerskates for Julie! Arent' they adorable? She also got a pair of pink sparkly shoes. She has been wearing those kind of shoes since she was two - they are her faves. This is her 4th pair. I think these pink ones are the last ones I will buy her because they are the biggest size they come in. :( But it is so much fun to watch Jess grow up. She is smart as a whip and I love hearing her giggle. What a giggly girl she is! We love our Jessi!

Ethan turns 11

Our Ethan turned 11 this month. He has such a calm happy spirit. He is so much like his dad. For his birthday he has been dying for "space police" legos. And he has been wanting to learn how to play clarinet. He started clarinet lessons last week and his teacher said he caught on really fast. Last Saturday we had our piano recital and Ethan played "Across the Stars". It was so beautiful it made me cry. He worked so hard on it. We just love our Ethan. We are so proud of the young man he is becoming. Notice his t-shirt (he got that for his birthday. he's a big fan of the wimpy kid series) :) - of course we also try to teach our kids to be humble. :)

Little Drummer Boy

Well, here he is. Orion the drummer hopeful. He's been wanting to play the drums for quite awhile now. Lately we've really been feeling that he needs his own thing. Something he does that no one else in the family does. Something he doesn't have to compete with any of his sibs. Something he can enjoy and also be a stress release for him. So we found a drumset for him on craigslist for a good deal and he and Shawn picked them up today. And oh, the noise! They are in the garage, but still! It is going to take some getting used to, but he was in heaven. He even made his own sign next to the drums: "Do Not Enter this area. If you want to play the drums, ask Orion." He starts his lessons first week of May. Hopefully he'll stick with it for awhile and have some fun with it. par-uppapumpum

Zacky- noo turns one year old!

The day after Easter, Zac had his first birthday. We have called him Zacky-noo since he was born. Not really sure why except that maybe he was so new we called him "new". Since then, it has turned into "noodle". So around the house he is either Zacky, Zacky-noo, Noo Noo, or Noodle.

So when Grandpa came home from work for his lunch break we had cake and ice cream and a couple presents. Then went to Yogurtland with cousins - yum! He dug into the cake right away and then after a few minutes realized he didn't like all the sticky stuff on him! He got a car seat and some Hotwheels.
Every since he was born he fits right in with the rest of our boys - like it was just meant to be. Often after school I will find him in the boys room playing with legos while they are doing homework, playing, or Brayton practicing his sax. He just wants to be with them. And we always say he has 3 mommas because the girls can't get enough of him either. We are so glad he came to our family. He's still not walking yet, but he'll get there! On his birthday I also finally took him to get his pictures taken - yay, I finally did it! He looks so cute up on our wall now!

Easter

We went up to see Grandpa and our Larson cousins for Easter. The kids had tons of fun with cousins and we ate lots of yummy food made by Amanda and Ish of course. The kids did eggs with Grandpa and a big egg hunt in Amanda and Matthew's backyard. It was so much fun the kids didn't want to come home!

a girl and her bike

Yesterday Jess learned to ride a two wheeler. We've been trying to get her on it for awhile now and she has always been to afraid to try. Finally she did yesterday. At first she was getting nervous and fell over a few times, then had some tears, then refused to get back on. After awhile she got back on herself when no one was looking and she just started riding like crazy. She rode all day. It was such a nice day out. She even rode to the park with Shawn, Meri, and Ri. When they got back she rode some more. All today(Sunday) she has been talking about going out to ride first thing in the morning. I love that all our kids have learned to ride on this bike that was a hand-me-down from a friend in New York. We'll keep it forever. Hooray for Jessi!

A Deacon

Brayton passed the sacrament for the first time today. I was sad to miss it - Zac was home sick. But Shawn said he did a great job and I'll get to see him next week. It's amazing how fast he is growing up.

The 12 Year Old

Yes, it's true. We now have a 12 year old. Bring on the teenage years! He celebrated by eating soupapillas and cold cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and no that's not a laptop, but it's close. It relaly does have an important purpose in his life! I also had dentist appointments scheduled and he was SUPER annoyed with me about that. I tried to tell him that I thought he'd like getting out of school early, but he said he'd rather be in school! Anyway, once that was over we got to do the fun stuff and I think it turned out to be a fun day for him. Anyway, I better run. So much for a peaceful afternoon. The rain has turned to snow and there was just a giant boom of thunder and Shawn just called and I guess they have dismissed school so I better run! Happy Birthday Brayton!

Having a little one around again is a lot of fun...and a lot of work

Our little Zac is such a blessing and such a little monster! I feel like the last few years watching our kids grow into big kids has been kind of liberating for me. Actually very liberating. When I think back on those years when we had our kids so close together and I'm sure everyone thought we were completely nuts. But we were actually kind of nuts and also very happy to have so many healthy kids. It's so interesting to look back on your life and wonder how things would be different if you had chosen to do things differently. And I honestly wouldn't change how close in age our kids are. Even with the sibling rivalry and annoying each other they really are good friends and Zac is like the cherry on top of our big sundae - that's what the kids call him. They say his hair just HAS to stay red so he can be the cherry.

With everything Zac gets into now I wonder how on earth we made it through those years when the other 5 were so little. But we did and here we are. And we survived. Now that Zac is on the go constantly and hurting himself almost constantly I feel like I'm going back in time. He is napping right now and all the others are at school and I am LOVING the peace in the house. oh sacred naptime. Just hearing the rain outside and myself breathing. so peaceful. Lately I feel like I just can't keep up with life, but it's quiet moments like these that allow me time to ponder and realize that it all is worth it and that it really is so much fun to raise a family despite all the messes and noise and challenges that kids come with.

Science Man

We had the annual science fair at school this week and Ethan earned a 2nd place for 5th grade. His project was pretty quick (we did it in one day - he really didn't want to do one and it wasn't required for 5th grade, but we "made" him do one anyway) And it turned out really cool. My idea for the project won out. I have always loved rainbows and thought it would be fun to learn about how they work. Shawn wanted to see if video games make you dumber or smarter or no effect. I convinced him that you can't get accurate results about that in one day. AND everyone knows that video games make you dumber anyway -lol. I love writing lol. It makes me lol! I feel very computer savvy when I write that. Anyway, Ethan did great. Got some pretty pictures too! Love the rainbows Ethan!

Orion, with a chance of being 9 years old

Orion is 9!

Welcome the New Year with a hole in the head

No New Years Eve is complete without a trip to the emergency room. Or at least the urgent care office. In this case, Jessi took a face-first dive off of a stool on to the tile floor before 8:45 PM when the Kaiser urgent care office was closed for the day. It's not entirely clear what exactly happened as nobody nearby saw it happen. Jessi was sitting on a stool facing away from the counter. We suspect she had her feet wrapped around the stool and she lost her balance and SMACK - head first onto the tile. There actually was a sickening SMACK sound. Ylfelynn got to her first and picked her up. As soon as I saw her head, I knew we were making a trip to the doctor. Sometimes there is some question about whether stitches may be required but there was no doubt this time. We did not take a picture of the injury but that is probably just as well since posting it would mean this blog would no longer be family-rated. Just picture that slit on her head a wide, gaping hole. For some reason, the wound did not bleed as much as a head wound like that tends to - I think it may have been the blunt-force trauma of the injury that precluded much blood.

When I took a close look at it, I started to get woozy and had to sit down (something that affects me when I have an empty stomach. I stopped watching the needle when I give blood due to a similar incident when giving blood on my mission). Due to my wooziness, Ylfelynn took her to the urgent care (as members of Kaiser we get to drive 45 minutes to Lancaster for service). Now Jessi can compare notes with her cousin Jaidyn on the relative merits of use of the papoose - a curiously-named child restraint device.

Treatment was successful and with six stitches, Jessi and Ylfelynn returned home in time for the silly string portion of our New Years Eve celebration. Jessi stayed awake until about 11 PM. Everyone else (except Zac, of course) was able to stay up until midnight and welcome the New Year (a first for the children of the family).