Blessed

Buckle up. This is a long one too! I have to write this stuff down before I forget though. And share some pictures that I am way behind on. I have been so grateful to have such amazing kids lately. They have their moments (some on a regular basis) but each and every one of them are so special and inherently good. The other morning Weston came upstairs for the morning and told me he had made his bed before he even came upstairs for the day. I was blown away. What kind of five year old boy makes his bed before doing anything else? Without even being told?! A day or so after that Saydi went downstairs to get dressed and while she was down there she decided to make her bed without being asked also. Pretty impressive for a three year old! And she actually does a pretty decent job of it considering her age.

My kids have been helping me around the house a lot lately too. I just feel like if I don't make them responsible and a part of the family now then they won't all of a sudden jump in when they are older. So they unload the dishwasher every day (except the things that go up high) and they are responsible for their own messes, particularly toys. Some days go smoother than others but for the most part they are so responsible and such great helpers. It is pretty hilarious to see my 22 month old grabbing pots and pans and tupperware and walking right to the correct cupboard and putting them exactly where they go. He is a copy cat and has been since he was a baby so I'm grateful that he has such a great big brother and sister showing him the right things to be copying.

The other thing I'm really grateful for is how much my kids love each other. They really are best friends. They play all day and they have great imaginations. Weston is always coming up with different characters they can be and doing all kinds of active things. Saydi has taken to nurturing even more than she always has. She has a white stuffed dog that Mark gave me years ago that has become her own little baby. She puts it to bed (in her backpack) every night and in the morning she'll go get him and bring him to me and say, "Look who's awake!" She carries him around in her backpack literally all. the. time. And tells me all kinds of stories about things her dog did, or if he gets the barfs, or when he's tired. Jonas just tags right along and fits in with whatever antics the older two are up to. He loves them so much and tries to do everything that they do.

They are growing up so fast and I know this whole stage of my life will be over in the blink of an eye, although it certainly doesn't feel that way from day to day. But when I look at Weston and the big boy he is now and then look at Jonas and remember when he used to be that small I can hardly believe how quickly it's gone. Just last week he came home from a friend's house and said that he had ridden his friend's bike without training wheels. This surprised me since he can't ride a bike yet. So the next day he begged me to take the training wheels off his own bike. I decided, why not? So I took them off, and Weston took off! It was that simple. I think maybe he just needed to watch his friend do it first to trust himself to be able to do it also. Here is a little clip of his very first bike ride. I couldn't get it to rotate so I apologize. And ignore my annoying-ness. I thought it was hilarious to see him just take off like that!

I will be quiet now and post the pictures that have been sitting on my phone forever. Daddy fell asleep for the last little bit of a conference session and Weston climbed up there and joined him. Adorable.

 This guy lost his second tooth while we were staying at a hotel in Utah for Sean and Crystal's baby blessing. Luckily, the Tooth Fairy found us without incident.

 I took a little nap the other day and Saydi came to join me. Not as herself though.

 New sunglasses! Must be warn at all times. Even before having breakfast.

 Or perhaps, while having breakfast.

 Everything stops when daddy comes home or wakes up. These kids are addicted to their daddy!

 No wonder this girls' nickname is Precious, right?

 Whatever it takes to get Saydi's hair done and keep everyone happy. I will 'fess up though and admit that shortly after this Jonas squirmed away from Saydi and took a tumble. Our arrangement was adjusted after that.

It's no wonder I love this kiddos so incredibly much. They are the best things that ever happened to me. And I am so excited to add one more this year. Two weeks from today and we will know if we are adding another boy or girl to the family!

Young Women's General Broadcast

I am so behind. And this is going to be a long post so bear with me. On March 30th we took a group of our Young Women to Salt Lake for the General Broadcast. We walked around Temple Square and did some shopping and ate. It was so fun. And the broadcast was great of course.

 (For my own sake so that I don't forget from left to right is Mercedes Staley, Sister Tomlinson, Kaela Mecham, me, Whitney Laing, Megan Stephenson, Courtnee Barbierie, Taylor Barbierie, Sister Newman, and kneeling is Makayla Squires)

This is the third year I've gotten to go on this trip with the young women, the first year as an actual leader. Mark and I have always looked forward to the tiny break. This year we almost didn't get to go together though. The night before Jonas came down with a fever. I hoped it was a fluke but he woke up and was hot the morning we were supposed to leave too. I was beside myself and had no idea what to do because he had zero other symptoms. I talked to my sisters, Becky and Miss, who were going to be taking our kids for the day and long story short, they decided that since he had no other symptoms I should still go with Mark and they would just take care of him for me. It was the hardest thing to leave him! But before we left his medicine kicked in and he didn't have a fever, he ate two pancakes for breakfast and was acting totally normal.

So throughout the day I was checking with my sisters and the poor guy got really lethargic and wasn't being himself after all. I felt bad because it was a done deal and I couldn't really come back but they took such good care of him. And Weston and Saydi had the GREATEST time with their aunties and cousins! They sent me some pictures while we were away that I absolutely must share. First they had a blast at Aunt Miss' jumping on the trampoline.

 It looks worse than it is. =)

 I had no idea this kid had such mad skills but he is Mr. Unafraid when it comes to trying new things. Apparently we need a trampoline of our own.

 Then Aunt Bea came to our house with her boys and Maylee and she let the kids make their own pizzas.

 They were so proud and snarfed them down since they had made them themselves. Maybe I need to have them make dinner every night so they will eat it!

 This girl and her faces. Cracks me right up.

 Then Aunt Bea helped them plant jelly beans that grew into suckers over night. They were thrilled!

Words can not express the gratitude I felt for my sisters this day. I needed to be where I was and my sisters didn't just make that happen, they took care of my kids as good (or better, more likely) than I would have. They made such great memories for my kids and that is so important to me. I was so appreciative.

On the way home from Utah Miss called to tell me that my dad was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He had passed out after going to bed and my mom and Becky couldn't get him to wake up. I was so worried but again, there was nothing I could do so I just waited and waited for more information. It was a long night. What ended up happening was that my dad wasn't using his oxygen machine at night for his sleep apnea. His low oxygen levels mixed with the medicines he was taking made his blood acidic. He told Becky later that he felt himself slipping away and all he could do was hope that my mom and Becky would find him but he was worried he was going to die there in his bed. 

I was so overwhelmed by this whole ordeal. My dad has had health problems since he was six weeks old and he has fought a good fight but I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I was relieved that it was something that could be fixed. Mark and I were supposed to speak on the Resurrection the next day in church and it really got me thinking about what I really believe. If I had to say goodbye to my dad the night before, could I really go to church and share with people that we would all get to live again? Did I really believe that? Ultimately I discovered that with all my heart, yes, I do believe that. I would have been devastated to say goodbye to my dad for the rest of my earthly life, but it would have just been "see ya later" not really "goodbye". I'm grateful for that knowledge.

It was a whirlwind of a day and I was so emotionally drained from worrying about Jonas all day and then my dad all night that I had to have a mental health day on Monday but we made it! It was a great weekend and I made great memories. Both with the people I was with and with the people who were with my children.

Easter

Better late than never, right? We had a good Easter. We got back from a trip to Salt Lake (details coming soon) the night before around 11:30 so we were pretty tired but still had a good holiday. I always keep Easter simple as far as gifts but this year was especially meager because it was so chaotic the week before and I felt a little bad about that. The kids of course didn't mind though.

  Excited about their kites. Which didn't work and were destroyed 30 minutes after being opened. Oh well.

 Cute kids ready for church. Mark and I had to speak so that was a little chaotic too but Mark gave the best talk I've ever heard and it was a great Sunday. Saydi fell  asleep in sacrament which she never does and Jonas had been sick the day before so we left after that. 

 Last year Aunt Bea put together an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos and they loved it so much that she did it again this year. They adore her and had so much fun at Grandma and Grandpa's looking for eggs and having a yummy dinner.

And the week before Easter a few of us got together and dyed eggs. We used Kool-Aid and I will never go back! It was awesome.

We had a really great day. And I feel like my kids understood this year that Easter was about Jesus. Although there was a little confusion as to how the Easter bunny played into the whole thing. I had the following conversation with Weston on Easter morning:
Me: Who is Easter about?
Wes: Jesus
Me: That's right. We have Easter because Jesus died and was resurrected.
Wes: And then He turned into the Easter bunny?
Hilarious. I love that boy. He is always thinking. I will post soon with details about the day before and that will be a big one because I have lots of good pictures, thanks to my sisters.

Miscellaneous

I really need to do a post of Easter and our trip to Salt Lake for the Young Women's General Broadcast but I am still collecting pictures. So here is some miscellaneous stuff that I don't want to forget about.

After 7 months in our area Elder Clegg got transferred. We love this guy!

 Some of Weston's recent school work. Side note: I don't think I ever mentioned on the blog that we took Saydi out of preschool in January. She started really making a fuss about going and said she didn't want to. I wasn't about to force her and make school become something she hates already so we took her out and will try again this coming year. She says she wants to so we will see!

 Playing in the leaves while daddy cleaned out the flower beds.

  

Jonas has become quite attached to stuffed animals lately. He prefers this bear or the bunny in next picture. That one is especially his favorite.

 And his other favorite thing, watching shows on mommy's kindle in the morning while I try to wake myself up. He assumed this position on his own and it made me giggle. Cute boy.

I love the way my kids will randomly assign themselves seats right next to each other.

 Or on top of each other. They are the best of friends and I am so grateful for that.