It is so hard, the nicer dad is, the more I miss him.

Jonah is doing a lot better, but he is still stressing about Keith going to work every day.  One night he was upset and he told me, "It is hard, the nicer dad is, the more I miss him and I don't want him to go to work.  It doesn't matter how nice or mean you are because I always see you."  If only Keith weren't so nice!

Keith helped Jonah with his community project.  They had to build a business from the community.  Jonah wanted to do Discover Card.  He says he wants to work there when he gets older.  I am amazed how much it really looked like Keith's building.  Keith has been trying to spend extra time with Jonah lately, since he seems to really need it.  One night they went to Nickel Cade and had a great time.

We got to go and look at all of the 2nd graders projects last week.  They were pretty impressive.  We walked around a little and then Hallee started to freak out because it was so crowded.  Wyatt went and sat with Jonah and Hallee and I went on the stage where it wasn't crowded. 

The kids have all liked playing with play dough lately. 

These two girls are so cute!  We have had fun meeting up with Tiff at McDonalds.

Wyatt and Hallee have a picnic or a party pretty much every day.

Caitlyn was excited that Amarie invited her over for a sleep over last weekend.  She ended up spending all day Saturday at their house too.  She didn't want to come home!

We have been having fun watching Jonah's basketball games.  He is a good player.  The coach drives me crazy because he doesn't work with them at all, but Jonah still has fun.  Jonah and Gaven are funny during the game, they try to only pass to each other.  I think it is because they are friends, but also because they are the only ones with ball handling skills!  Gaven came with us to watch EJ and Elijah's game last weekend after their game.  I love watching basketball so it is fun to go watch my nephews play, especially because they are so good!

Caitlyn and Jonah got their report cards last week. They both got perfect report cards.  Caitlyn's teacher wrote some really nice stuff about how she depends on her academically and socially.  She has Caitlyn help the other kids with division.  Ms. Jenn is great and really makes Caitlyn feel special.   Caitlyn and I went to Café Rio after activity days to celebrate her hard work.  She is so funny.  She talks and talks and tells me every little thing that happened during the day. I'm so grateful she will talk and tell me when she is having a hard time. 

We have started having Caitlyn and Jonah take turns reading a scripture story after scripture reading every night.  Wyatt and Hallee usually like it!

Caitlyn and Jonah had fun giving Wyatt and Hallee piggy backs the other day.

Hallee loves to get in dress up.  She had fun dancing around the room while Wyatt played the piano.

We worked on a family home evening packet at activity days this week.  Caitlyn was excited to give us the lesson yesterday.  There were fun activities in there for the kids.

These kids are growing up so fast.  They keep getting cuter and more fun. 

Sledding

My mom invited us to go sledding up in the canyons today.  I was hesitant because Keith had to work today and I knew it would be a lot of stress and hard work for me to do it on my own.  In the end we decided to go and I'm glad we did.  It was a lot of stress and hard work, but it was a lot of fun.  The kids were all happy until the end so I think it was definitely worth it!

It was worth it just to see my mom laughing all the way down the hill.  She is such a fun grandma.  I hope I will be as fun as she is with my grand kids.

It was nice that the four older kids were independent so mom could help me with Hallee and Wyatt. I really appreciated her help.  I love how Hallee is waving in this picture.

I think Alexys and Caitlyn had the most fun.  They laughed the whole time and just kept going down over and over.

Caitlyn fell out and hurt herself once, but she got over it quick and went right back to it.

The boys had fun too.  Jonah can drive me crazy sometimes.  He was constantly in the way when other people were trying to come down.  The boys finally found some good tracks and had a lot of fun.

I love watching kids laugh and have fun.  Those big, carefree smiles are the best!

I thought Wyatt might be a little nervous with the bigger hills, but he wasn't.  He had a great time.

He thought it was pretty funny when he fell out of his sled.

I only went down a couple of times.  I took pictures most of the time.

It was sure fun to go down though.  I love going down with Hallee.  She laughs and screams, "this is fun" the whole way down.  It is so cute.

There were a lot of bumps.  Luckily I didn't tip over with the two little ones!

Jonah was excited to go down with grandma. 

They really caught some air a few times.

Caitlyn and grandma picked a hill that wasn't so bumpy.

It was a lot of fun!  I'm really glad we went.  We will have to go again when Keith can go.

A New Year

Every year I make new years resolutions.  Some years I'm successful at keeping them and some I'm not.  I decided to make them more specific this year and report how I am doing on my blog.  This blog is turning into more of a journal for me and I don't think many people read it anyway, but I think I am going to make it completely private. I want to write about things that are private and just for our family journal and family history.  If you still read this, please don't be offended when you can't read it anymore.  I try to keep up on my journal, but I just don't so I need to make this into more of a journal.

One of my goals this year is to spend more quality time with my kids.  It is so easy to let them watch too much TV while I take time for myself or get things done.  I am going to stay off my phone while they are up and look for ways to interact with them.  I am off to a pretty good start.  I have had fun having tea parties with Wyatt and Hallee.  They love the new food and dishes they got for Christmas.  Wyatt's favorite thing is when I let him fill up the little pitcher and he gets to pour water for all of us. 

Dress up is also a favorite.  Wyatt and Hallee love to make parties for me.  They decorate Hallee's room and they get in dress up and sing happy birthday to me.  It is really cute.

While Hallee was napping Wyatt and I had fun playing with his new tinker toys.  I think he was impressed with the car and bridge I made!  Another day I pulled out our foam stickers and Wyatt and Hallee had fun making a picture with all of the stickers.  Hallee was so proud.  She took her papers everywhere and told everyone that she did them by herself.

The kids love to help me bake.  We tired some healthy cookies one day.  No one really likes them except for me and Hallee, but I am thrilled I found something Hallee will eat and it is even good for her.  She is one picky eater!

Keith has set the same goal.  We are both putting our phones away more and focusing on the people in front of us.  The kids love to rough house with dad!

We had a fun family afternoon/evening on Friday.  We went to the gym to play racquetball.  We had a couple of courts so Keith and I would take turns playing one-on-one games with the kids, while the other one was playing with the rest of the kids.

The kids all loved it.  I realized how much I miss playing racquetball.  It is such a fun sport.

After that we went to Del Taco because we had a gift card.  We let all of the kids get a kids meal, which is a big thrill to them because they get a soda and a toy!  After that the kids had a blast playing in the play land.  Caitlyn and Hallee even made a "best sisters ever" handshake.  It was so cute.  It was a great night.  There were a few times during the night where I wondered why we were going to so much trouble when there was fighting, complaining and crying.  After a while I realized that I need to adjust the picture I have in my head.  Sometimes I think things aren't successful unless they are prefect.  I realized that there will always be bumps in everything we do as a family, but the good always outweighs the bad.  We all had fun together even though that fun was mixed in with crying and fighting.   I need to remember that with our family home evenings and scripture reading.  I'm pretty sure most of the time the kids aren't listening and most nights the kids either can't stop laughing or can't stop crying, but every once in a while I get a glimpse of something they have learned and I know it is all worth it.

Caitlyn is sure looking grown up these days.  On Saturday Caitlyn was at Katelyn's birthday party for most of the day.  After that she ended up going to a family party with them.  Katelyn has sure been a good friend for Caitlyn.  They had a rough patch last year, but it is great for Caitlyn to have such a good friend close by.  They have so much fun together and Jenna is so good to Caitlyn. 

Jonah also had a birthday party on Saturday.  When it was over we brought his friend, Gaven home with us.  They had a great time playing all afternoon.  I was so happy that they let Wyatt play.  Hallee was napping and Keith and I were able to get some projects done around the house.  That evening we took Jonah and Gaven to their basketball game.  It was another rough game, but Jonah did great.  He had a lot of steals, rebounds and quite a few baskets. 

When we got home from the game we put Wyatt to bed and Caitlyn was still gone.  Hallee was watching a show so Keith and I watched "Napoleon Dynamite" with Jonah.  He laughed so hard and loved it.  It was great to have that time with Jonah.  He really needed it.  He has been having a lot of nightmares that involve Keith and I getting hurt.  He also had a nightmare that Keith went to work and never came back.  He has been crying every night because he doesn't want Keith to go to work the next day.  He also wakes up when Keith leaves and cries.  Poor kid he is terrified at night.  I feel so bad for him, but I'm frustrated at the same time.  While we watched the movie he laid on Keith and held onto his arm.  I guess he just needs a little reassurance right now.  I never knew how much worry came along with being a mother.  I'm sure I still have no idea, but I sure worry about my kids a lot!

Fun in the Snow

It was such a warm winter before Christmas.  We finally got some snow on Christmas, but then we left for Arizona the next day.  I guess we escaped a lot of snow and freezing temperatures.  We were happy that there was still some snow on the ground when we got home.

Wyatt and Hallee wanted to go out and play in the snow Monday morning.  There wasn't a lot left, but they had fun.  It is hard to see, but Wyatt made a little dog out of snow.

They wanted me to help them make a snowman. Keith is much better at that than I am, but we had fun!

I think it turned out pretty good.  I love this picture of Wyatt.  He looks so grown up and handsome.

We have been dying to go sledding.  Our options were limited since the snow was melting.  We decided we better go right after Caitlyn got home from piano on Monday.  It was dark and there wasn't a ton of snow, but we had a blast.  Wyatt was fearless.  He ran right up and came down on his own.  It was a huge change from last  year.

Hallee was surprisingly fearless as well.  She liked being pulled around in this sled, but she liked going down the hill too.  She would laugh and scream the whole way down, it was so cute!

Jonah loved every minute of it.  He was sad there wasn't more snow so he could make a jump.

Caitlyn had her usual nerves, but had a great time.

I loved going down with the kids.  It is so fun to laugh and scream with them on the way down.

I took a few pictures and then we put the camera away and just had fun.  After a while Hallee and Jonah went over to the play ground to play and we all joined them.  We were starting to get cold and everyone was excited to get home for hot chocolate!   We sure hope we get some more snow soon!

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was so fun.  Matt and Lori have some fun traditions that they shared with us.  Lori made a lot of yummy food! 

Lori had some glow stick glasses and rings for the kids. 

They have a tradition of blowing up balloons and putting money and a joke or something they have to do inside the balloon.  The kids loved it!

I was surprised how brave Wyatt and Hallee were popping the balloons.

I think we will steal this tradition, it was so fun!

Hallee became obsessed with money this trip.  She wanted to take her dollars everywhere.  She also took Elena's money and said it was hers.  Sometimes I worry about this girl!

After that we had a little talent show.  Caitlyn did some gymnastics and sang.  Matt did some gymnastics too, I wish I had a picture of that!  Cody played a song on the piano.  Hallee sang too and kept her eyes closed the whole time!  After that we put Hallee and Wyatt to bed and we played Apples to Apples Junior with the older kids.  It was so funny!  The explanations that the kids came up with were so funny!  That was the first time I have played that game and I loved it.

There was a lot of excitement when we realized it was snowing outside.  These three ran out to check it out.

At midnight these four jumped into the new year.  It was such a fun night.  I'm so glad we got to spend this time in Arizona.  It was so fun.  I'm so glad that I'm so close to my siblings and that Keith loves them too.  We all have so much fun together.  Matt and Lori are so fun to be around and they are so laid back. I'm always worried that our family will drive people crazy.  Six people is a lot!  They are so generous and we appreciate it so much.  We are already counting down to our next trip to Arizona!