Ryder turned 5

My baby is now 5. I am happy and sad all at the same time!

Gratitude

I have so many wonderful things to be thankful for in my life. I have awesome parents whom I admire and adore, I have the greatest brothers and sisters who are my most cherrished friends, I have the greatest and most patient husband on the planet; I am in awe that he loves me every day, I have 3 amazing kids who teach me things about life and myself constantly. I am thankful for the happy times in life; riding space mountain at disney land with my brothers and sisters, sitting in the sun in my backyard, lying with my head on the comfy spot on Eric's shoulder, when all my boys and the dog want to sit with me on the couch, when my mom covers her mouth and giggles, the expression on my dad's face when he looks at my mom, the moments when I get it, listening to inspiration and actually following it. I am also so thankful for the tough times in life; losing loved ones but knowing that they are still with you, watching loved ones hurt and knowing there is nothing you can do for them, watching my mom's condition deteriorate, learning the hard way that everybody is human and makes mistakes, knowing that I don't treat people the way they deserve to be treated; life changing events that make you evaluate everything. It sounds narcissistic but I am most grateful for the hard times, its during these times that I am the very closest to my Heavenly Father and when I am most willing to accept His counsel. During difficult times I depend on his love and comfort and the power of the Atonement. How else can we really understand what our Heavenly Father and our Saviour have done for us if our lives are easy? It takes struggle and angst to learn and grow from terrible situations and after the storm there is always peace, until the next storm comes our way. From every storm I learn and grow and am more capable to deal with the aftermath. I realize there are more wonderful and terrible times ahead and I am ok with that. I will find joy in the wonderful times and learn valuable lessons from the terrible times.

Ryder graduated preschool

My baby is done with preschool. It is really bitter sweet, I'm sad that he is growing up so fast but I'm so proud of all that he has learned this year. He started the school year being really shy and careful and now he walks into school all by himself. I cried like a baby the very last time I dropped him off at school. He is very excited to go to kindergarten and be in the same school as his two older brothers. I'm sure I will cry again when I drop him off on his first day of school.

2 months...really??

I have gotten so bad at updating the blog!! Life has been busy! We went to Disneyland, most of the pictures are on my phone but here are a few that I took the new old fashion way.

Goings On

Holy Cow! It's been a while since I updated this thing! I tend to forget I have it. Lots has happened since the first of the year. Archer turned 8 and was baptized, I turned 34 and Ethan turned 11. I am a horrible mother and I don't have any pictures of my boys or my birthdays..Grandma Jane and Grandpa Ron came to visit the weekend of Archer's baptism. It was so great to see them!
Eric and I have been busy updating out kitchen. We painted the cabinets and most everything else. Tons of work but worth it! We love it!




We are gearing up for Spring Break.. We are taking my mom to DisneyLand.

"It is so good!"

Christmas and New Year's Eve 2011

Notice that the fire is on the TV not in the fireplace? Darn fireplace is on the fritz.. oh well..



We had a wild New Year's Eve, lots of fun! Only Eric, Ethan and I made it to midnight, everyone else pooped out. 2011 was a good year. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure 2012 is a better one!




This is Eric's "I'm sexy and I know it" face.