Brother Jed gets Eagle Award during our trip to Utah

What a great day!! Jed, the final of the 6 boys, receives his Eagle award while we are visiting Utah to see family. What a fun night it was to have all of us boys, except Troy(who was in Hawaii), to sit in the Eagle's nest and welcome Jed in. My Dad was very proud to now have all 6 complete. It was fantastic, my parents had a real Bald Eagle there to be shown and the Handler gave a great talk about life and the flight of the Eagle.

CONGRATULATIONS JED!!!! Well done!

Our two little baseball stars! Kaden is playing Rookie and it is kid pitch and machine pitch combined. Emma is playing T-ball and loving being the only girl on the team and one of the only girls in the League. We love to watch them on the field. They do such a great job and Kaden is already making great plays and getting outs as well as hitting like a champ! Emma is learning that the ball comes at you pretty fast and that it is fun to chase the ball no matter where it goes on the field. :) I just love being the assistant coach for Kaden and a crazy fan for Emma!! The best part is just having fun and watching them have such a great time.

Need I say more!! What a kid!!

So this is my sweet Gracyn!! She is the light of our family and brings such joy and happiness to our little world. She can be the most fun and exciting kid ever to be around...
THEN...
You get this side of her and you can't help but laugh and smile. She knows exactly when you have annoyed her too much and she lets you know how she feels. PRICELESS!!

Arizona Winters make for the best Summers!!

We love the lake!!!!! Puts a smile on my face every time I see these four!!

Wow! I thought that I was so up to date with my blog and as I read and look at other blogs, I wonder if my life will ever be as exciting...

It seems like people go ALL out to make sure that their blog is so fantastic, that they lose track of real life. I know that in our family, we have lots of great times, but we have a lot of not so fun times too. Some of the best times of life come after the trials.

Anyway, life is good. I found out today that my little Emma has Pneumonia. What a tough trial. She has struggled with the idea that her body is that sick and the reactions to the medication aren't that fun. I feel for her sweet soul and know that in a week or so, she will be lighting up our home with her funny jokes and big smile.

Luckily, Kaden and Gracyn have yet to get any of it and we hope they won't. They are both doing great and Gracyn takes the cake right now for the funny things she says and the funny things she does. She really is on fire with making up songs about whatever she is doing. For example, a song about putting on her clothes. A song about eating dinner or picking up her toys. A song about playing in the dirt while at Kaden's baseball game. She can go on and on and it is so fantastic!! I could listen to it all day long and Jaime just laughs because she does listen to it all day long and wishes sometimes it would stop. :)

Jaime seems to take it all in stride. She is a great Mom and does such a fabulous job at keeping the house up, the kids in school, homework done, scouts and dance attended, and a million other great things to make life easy and fun for all of us. She even still manages to beat the kids at GO FISH every once in a while too!! Way to go Jaime!! You are the BEST!!!

These are some wonderful pictures from New Year's week up in Utah. What a great time we all had with Cousins and Grandparents!! Emma and Taitum on the sled.

This is our little family with a bunch of warm clothes! Even this Arizona family had a good time with all the right gear to keep the feet and hands warm.

Our sweet Emma! She is an animal in the snow!

Jaime, Kaden, and Gracyn up at Tibblefork Reservoir.

Love my Columbia coat from 1991!!

Still fits me like a glove, but I let Jaime wear it for the day.

The family on the frozen Tibblefork Reservoir with the beautiful Wasatch Mountains in the background. This is up American Fork Canyon. Utah

Here is the great horse and cow train. All the kids loved it!!

Trying to catch up with life!!

It has been several months since I last posted and it amazes me how fast time flies. In that time since the kids started school, we have have some birthdays, holidays, and especially the BIG ones, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years!!! What a wonderful time of the year it has been. Life has been good, the kids have been mostly healthy and happy to be back in school and playing with their friends. They learn so much every day and it excites me to get to see their growth!
We have spent many afternoons and Saturdays playing at the Lake. Since it is still so hot through October, the water stays warm as well and it makes for some wonderful after school trips to find seashells and all kinds of little trinkets and treasures on the beach. Glass, bottle caps, and garbage always make for good treasures. I always have to pack them on the boat and bring them back home. Then while the kids are sleeping I have to deposit all the junk/treasure into the circular Treasure box outside!! :) Then the next time at the Lake they get to do it allll over again. What a party!!

Thanksgiving was soooo much fun. We stayed here in Arizona, but got to spend Thanksgiving Day with our wonderful friends the Dana's. Matt and Nancy and their kids Rochelle and her husband Jimmy Lindblom, Kyndall and her husband Bryan, Rylus and his wife Molly, Zach and his girlfriend Lilly, and Alisha and her boyfriend Parker. What a great group of people. Along with that we were there with a lot of the Dana extended family. About 50 in all and what a blast it was. The kids love to be with their Arizona Grandma and Grandpa and Aunts and Uncle's. It is so fantastic to have such kind, generous friends to spend Thanksgiving with. One of the highlights was Grandpa Matt's horse and cow train. The kids could not get enough rides around the yard. The food, well, the food was FANTASTIC!!!
Pictures to follow!!