14 years

WHO WANTS TWO SAPPY POSTS IN A ROW?!?!? So I will TRY to keep this light. 

But on May 18th, Brooks and I celebrated our 14th Anniversary!!!

It's crazy, and fun, and it doesn't feel like we are old enough, yet I can't remember life without him very well. He's just too easy to be with and lean on and apparently I need him.

*shoot, it's getting sappy, must. change. focus.*

Our kids knew it was our anniversary, so they assumed we were going out that night. But after we had Family Home Evening and the kids were like, "Um, we haven't even had dinner yet" that's when we told them we were going out to eat as a family for our Anniversary (what I wanted was to have my house all clean and KEEP it clean by not having to cook. Win-win)

We went to Stevie-B's which is a pizza/pasta/salad buffet place that actually has my favorite Loaded Baked Potato Pizza. It's pretty amazing.

Well, it WAS until the DARN TV showed this commercial.....

So it's hard to see, but while I was eating, it was NOT hard to see. It was a 1/2 hour long infomercial on this machine that gets all the chappy stuff off people's heels. I stared at feet being "shaved", basically, and then stared at my pizza and couldn't eat another thing. Oh well, the kids ate plenty.

And outside there was a full arc rainbow. I love rainbows because they remind me of God's promises (Noah-story) and I smiled thinking of Brooks and I being married in the temple and how we were promised to be sealed for all eternity. 

Next we surprised the kids by pulling up to Gravitopia (trampoline place) because that's really where we wanted to go. Where ELSE would we be celebrating our Anniversary?!?!!? 

But don't think for a SECOND that picture was easy to get. It was kinda like marriage. Some moments are perfect and other times of marriage and life go like this.....

Or you are off rhythm .....

But overall still having fun regardless.....

Oh wait.......not ALL of us were having fun. Royce got stuck in the foam pit and had a hard time getting over it. hahaha

I LOVE watching the kids have fun though, plus I enjoy playing WITH them. (parents against kids won in dodgeball.....we killed them....and I was even the last one standing)

Aleeya is pretty talented on the ribbons too.

Mostly I just followed this man around and watched him.

I'm kinda lucky and plus, wherever he goes,  that's where the party is anyway.

A Treasure

I recently received a treasured picture to me.

You see, Brooks is the head coach of Camden and Emerson's minor league baseball team this spring (don't ask about their record). He FINALLY has a schedule that he is able to do that and he really has been so excited to do this for YEARS!!!!! We actually never order the overpriced sports pictures, but I guess the coaches get a free 5x7.

Here it is:

Did you notice anything unusal about this picture?

Yea, I know, Brooks, nor Camden NOR Emerson are even in the picture.

So why is it a visual treasure for me that I plan on keeping forever?

Because of what it stands for.

Commitment. Obedience. Priorites.

This picture is from Opening Day of the season (hence the pants that are still white). Opening day in this league is a HUGE deal. There's games being played because EVERY team plays that day, free things being handed out, booths set up, balloons, team pictures, etc. 

The boys were all looking forward to it since it was on a Saturday last March. Well, a huge rain storm came the Friday before and was supposed to continue that Saturday of Opening Day (which it did), so all the games were moved to Sunday.

I was touched that when the boys heard the games were moved that they just had comments like, "Guess we can't go",  "Too bad", "I don't think they can win without me, but they'll have to try" (Camden said that of course), etc. 

They. just. knew.

I find no fault in other people who participated in those games that day because they haven't made the covenants and promises my boys (and husband) made when they were baptized: to keep His commandments (including keeping the Sabbath Day holy), and always strive to live righteously to keep the Spirit with them.  

So when I look at this picture for many years to come, I will get teary-eyed (as I am now) knowing I'm pretty lucky to be married to a man and have awesome sons that try to put Heavenly Father first and that are PRACTICING being obedient to the commandments so when harder things are asked of them later in life that they will have the habit and the spirit of obedience already in practice. That's the best gift a mom could ask for.

Oh, and if you were wondering...... they lost by 2. When Camden heard that he said, "They would've won if I were there."

Aaaaaaaaaand, guess we need to start working on humilty next.........

Scout Camp

It's hard for me to believe I have a 12 year old who is old enough to go to overnight scout camps.....and it is even MORE hard for me to believe that my husband (who works with the youth young men in our church) actually GOES camping with them. Hilarious if you ask me.

But it IS nice because I have someone who can take pictures for me so I can get a sneak peek at all the fun he has.

These 12-14 year old boys were all given some cardboard and plastic things along with tape and were assigned to build a raft. Then were were going to race against the other 7 groups/wards from our church there. 

Here are the four boys with their raft.

And an upclose of the raft. If you are anything like me, then you would be thinking, "ummmmm, not sure if I could see that floating long enough to race!"

 They came up with a plan to have the two lightest boys (Bronson and Liam) be the ones to race it, so here they are putting it into the water (you can see another group's raft behind). They came in all shapes and sizes!

And they are off!!!!! (apparently it had rained the night before and through the night so it was a murky day)

They had to go over to the island thing and back and here they are coming back........neck and neck with one other raft (that looks more like a canoe!)

AND THEY WOOOOOOOON!!!!!!

Bronson's smile in this picture is PRICELESS!!!!

And what do you do to celebrate your group's win? Well you push the rower in the water, of course!!!!

Testosterone.......sheesh.

Aaaaaaand there he goes.

Is this bad that I giggle whenever I look at the picture Brooks took of the other group's boat that didn't make it ?.... hahaha

Aaaaaaaaaaand they are going camping again this weekend. They go once or twice a month so Bronson is in heaven, obviously.

E²

As impersonal as this is, I'm combining both Emerson and Everly's birthday celebrations into one post.......that's what happens when you share a birthday month with a sibling.

Emerson's actual birthday we had a double-header baseball game night. Emerson asked that I bring the baseball doughnuts from Krispy Kreme for his team to celebrate. And celebration was DEFINITELY in order. Emerson got his first hit during that game....a bunt (he loves bunting).......that turned out being a TRIPLE due to the other team's over-throws. Emerson's smile was SO big.

We came home late and had the family presents......I can't believe I didin't take any pictures. In summary he got a Skylanders/Lego castle thing and a junk box which pretty much only consisted on orange-flavored things and rootbeer. He said I got EVERYTHING perfect. haha

For his party, the only day I could do it happened to be a Saturday Brooks was working. It ALSO happened to be the day Aleeya's soccer game got cancelled (rainout). She was NONE too pleased (understatement).....this is her face after I told her.

For Emerson's piñata, he wanted a "Zane 2015 Ninjago guy" that looks like this:

Thank goodness for my recycling bin full of boxes and applesauce containers to get the right shapes I needed. (the arm)

Here he is getting ready to cover........Kool-aid anyone?

I finished painting it literally 2 hours before the party started, but Emerson's face was SO priceless to me. He said, "Moooooom, that's like the BEST piñata you've ever done!"

I have the BEST friend that took my younger FIVE kids to her house so I could attempt to pull off this party. I really can do any age group of kids parties by myself.....except Emerson's friends. I LOVE them so much, but they are crazy and there's always some war, wrestling, weaponry stuff going on. It was SO insane (and when I say something is insane, you realize that's a WHOOOOOLE new level of insanity, right?) but Emerson was having a blast.

Emerson said for his birthday he really wanted to sit around the table with his friends and eat spaghetti with them. It's the little things I guess.....

Presents....... This happens to be the Smithsonian grow-prehistoric-fish kit that he was super excited about.

It grows things that look like this.....

which right when they started hatching, I accidentally dumped the blasted container and it landed on top of my head in my hair. Just thinking of those things in my hair makes me itch. Whatever. Soooo, I "get" to go buy him a new one.

Then ice cream sundaes while watching some Ninjago (the only 10 ten minutes there was calmness).

And there you have it..... Emerosn's 9th birthday.

The VERY next day was my sweet Everly's first birthday!!!!!!

DEFINITELY a reason to show off her clapping skills!

The night before her birthday I said to Brooks, "Tomorrow is a BIG day."

Brooks: "What do we have?"

Me: (giving him the DUH-look) "You know full well what is tomorrow. I can't believe it."

Brooks: *blank stare*

I finally realized he had ZERO clue she was turning one and he thought her birthday was in June. 

W-O-W.

It's funny how an experience (her birth) can be the MOST memorable experience/day ever for me, since I was the one going through it and Brooks was clueless. Thankfully he wasn't clueless her actual birth-day since he was the one who delivered her at home. But you would think THAT would at least be memorable for him because HE HAD TO CLEAN IT UP!!!!

Sunday, the 19th was her birthday and by the time we cleaned up from dinner and I made the cupcakes she was so sleepy that I just put her to bed......while the REST of the kids celebrated her birthday with cupcakes and icecream. #8thchildprobs

We DID give her her birthday cupcake the next day after the kids got home from school to watch. They made me wait. 

This is her face while they were all singing to her.

(this shows her feelings for her older brothers and sisters!)

After I gave her the cupcake....

Trying it out and deciding if she liked it....

Aaaaaaand, that would be a DEFINITE "YES"!!!!!

Everly is such a joy in our family. At a year she crawls, stands up, slides along things, does NOT walk, squeals REALLY loud, imitates any funny noise from your mouth and according to my kids is "the cutest baby ever".

She LOVES watching her siblings take baths.

She sticks her hand in and then eats the bubbles and laughs when everyone says, "YUUUUUCKY!!!!"

She's my thumb-sucking snuggler. Everly is SO playful, but for some reason when she is by Camden all she wants to do is snuggle him and she just leans into him. It's the sweetest thing.

Even while standing up!!!!!

(this might be one of my favorite pictures ever!!!!)

Brothers and sisters are the best.

I guess with my two E-named children having their birthdays within a week of each other I can say, 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

34

So apparently I turned 34 last week. I still feel 30 (probably will permanently feel that for a decade) and 34 sounds a TON older then 33 because I'm now in my "mid-30s"....... but that's okay with me. Because I'm married to a 37 year old....and he's getting gray hairs.......so I guess I have to age with him, right?

To explain about my actual birthday, I have to start on the evening before. We had a double header baseball game.....with some light sprinkling which made it nice for me since I didn't bring any water for my kids to drink.

By the time the 7:15 game starts Kellyn has her friend (that she basically glues her hiney to for the whole game).....any guesses why Kellyn loves her so much? haha

(Kellyn could definitely pass as her child)

Some lady on the team made signs to display for the first game (Camden and Emerson's team that Brooks coaches)......my girls loved holding them up but Kellyn REFUSED to point it towards the team, because SHE wanted it facing her. Aaaaaaand I don't need to point out the obvious, but here I go anyway......you do NOT want to mess with Kellyn when it's a meaningless battle like this.

Here's Aleeya, I just like this picture because of her outfit.....plaids, crazy striped pants. I'm sure her teachers smile every day she walks into their class.

The reason I brought up the baseball games is because we got home about 9:30......young kids in bed by 10. A HUGE lack of sleep for the youngest ones which made the 7:15 a.m. dentist appointment on my birthday morning brutal. And I mean BRU-TAL!

Royce's face says it all.....

I take it back, Everly was happy there......but while we waited for Bronson's teeth to get cleaned Royce and Kellyn were basically in a permanent puddle on the floor.

As we walked out to the car, all I could think about was getting them in, buckled and leaving!!!!!

The problem with THAT is I left the lights on and my car was dead.

We "only" had to wait 30 minutes but that was kinda 30 minutes longer then Royce and Kellyn could handle, so Bronson and I buckled them in their seats and sat outside the car waiting for jumper cables to arrive. Neither of us wanted to be with the younger kids any longer.

All this to say, my birthday didn't EXACTLY start how I wanted....... 

THANK GOODNESS for my close friend Laura who came and saved me when I got home.

Laura is one of those friends who loves my kids (sometimes more then me) and my kids love her. She comes from a family with 7 kids and can tolerate and even laughs at ANYTHING my kids throw at her. 

(Two of the prettiest faces)

She understands sleeping in swimsuits. dirty bathrooms, loud dinner tables, and a whole lot of action and love packed into small spaces. She also sends random texts saying, "Can I come hang with your kids so you can run errands?" or when I tell her all embarrassed-like that we had to deal with lice with the girls she said, "Wow, all SEVEN of us kids would get it every year. They are the absolute WORST!" She just gets it. 

And she comes to my boys baseball games. Look at her all cute-like, pregnant with her first.

All this to say, she came and picked me, Royce, Kellyn and Everly up and took us to Chick-Fil-A for lunch on my birthday. And Laura MENTIONED to the lady that it was my birthday so she gave me a free cookie (they have the best chocolate cookies EVER!!!). 

Can you see how excited we are over the cookie?!?!?! It made me forget Everly was just losing it a moment before!!!!

The outing turned around my whole day!

When I got home I checked my email to see my sister gives me a gift card for Domino's pizza!!!! Which means I didn't have to make DINNER THAT DAY!!!! To celebrate this amazing news, I took a "Birthday nap" while the younger kids slept.

For my birthday Everly gave me the gift of standing up by herself. She really is so proud of herself.

And not only THAT but for my birthday she gave me my body back too!!!!!

I know this doesn't sound like a big deal to anyone but it's been 13 years straight that I've been either nursing or pregnant. There was only one month in those 13 years that I haven't had someone dependent on my body! haha. I stopped nursing Everly a few days before my birthday and I feel like it was my birthday present to me!!!!!! YAY.

After pizza we had my favorite (non-chocolate) dessert of angel food cake, strawberries and whipped cream.

Every year I ask Brooks for two things and one of them is always a junk box. He knows me TOO well!!!

Brooks, Camden and Emerson had baseball practice and I ran Bronson to the church for scouts. While we were driving we were HAMMERED by this huge rainstorm. 

One of the HUGE advantages of being Aleeya and always dressed in a swimsuit, is you are constantly ready to go run and play in the rain. It's probably one of her favorite things to do.

Seeing her so happy and smiling like that could've very well been the highlight of my birthday.