11-years-old

A post for Cailtyn:

I can't believe another year has passed and you are 11-years-old.  You are growing up into a wonderful young woman.  You have always been so caring and thoughtful and you continue to amaze me with how empathetic you are to those around you.  You go out of your way to make sure everyone has a friend.

I love your sense of humor.  You love to laugh and have fun.  You try so hard to always look at the positive. Now that your anxiety is under control (you still struggle, but it is in the background instead of ruling your life) you are back to your positive self.

You are the perfect first child.  You have a strong desire to do what is right and that makes things so much easier on dad and I.  You are also a wonderful big sister.  You have nurturing instincts that you use to comfort and help your brothers and sister.

We took these pictures at the Provo City Center temple after the bridal tour.  You had fun striking poses for me.   You are quite the actress, you love to perform!

You are such a beautiful girl.  

You are so friendly and you love to make new friends.  I'm still amazed at how far you have come from our shy little girl.  You can carry on a conversation with anyone and you go out of your way to compliment people.

You love animals, especially horses and dogs.  You love art, singing and playing piano.  

You love and care about everyone around you.  You will work hard to reach your goals and you are doing well at not getting discouraged and being more self confident.  You have an amazing testimony and you are not afraid to share it.  You have always been spiritual and had a strong Faith that is beyond your years.

Dad and I were so excited when you were born 11-years-ago.  We have loved every minute (some more than others) of being your parents.  Happy Birthday Caitlyn!

Party with the Ham's

Caitlyn was so excited to celebrate her birthday at my parents on Sunday.  She loves my parents so much and I'm so grateful that they are so loving to her.  

Wyatt and Hallee picked out this emoji pillow for Cait.  She loved it, that was one of the things she asked for.

Gifts is one of Caitlyn's love languages.  It doesn't have to be anything big, but the thought of someone picking something out for her means so much to her.

She was very happy with the horse from grandma and grandpa. 

She had fun opening her presents and got excited about each one.  I finally printed up her blog books and I gave her one of those on Sunday.  She had fun reading that in bed Sunday night.  I love hearing her reminisce about all of the fun things we have done while she looks through her book.

It was fun celebrating EJ and Caitlyn, they are both so great!

Easter fun at grandma's

We went to my parents house for Easter dinner.  They had an Easter egg hunt for the kids before dinner.  

Caitlyn adores her grandma.

Hallee was pretty happy with her loot!  Hallee talks about grandpa all the time and then plays shy when she sees him.

I love everything about this picture. 

Sunday was EJ's birthday.  I can't believe he is 16!  He is such a great kid.  I couldn't be happier that my kids have him to look up to.  He was making everyone laugh while he opened his present from my parents.  Love that boy!

Lagoon

Keith and I thought about taking a vacation during the kids spring break this year.  We decided to use the money to get Lagoon passes instead.  We love Lagoon and Jonah is crazy about it.  Caitlyn doesn't like roller coasters and I know my two little ones are scared of everything, so we went back and forth for a while.  We finally decided we would get enough use out of the passes between the rides and Lagoon-a-beach, so we went for it.  

We found rides that everyone enjoyed.  

Caitlyn realized that she liked a lot more rides than she thought she did.  Jonah and Caitlyn had fun going on rides together.

Keith and I took turns taking them on rides and staying with the little ones.

The train was a hit with everyone.  We were the last ones on so Keith and I had to sit on an empty bench near the front with Wyatt and these three sat in the back.

I think Wyatt and Hallee both agree that their favorite ride was the boats.  They were great sports about waiting patiently while the rest of us rode rides.  

Caitlyn and Jonah were good sports about going on the little rides with Wyatt and Hallee.

Hallee was excited for this ride until it started going "fast".  She started screaming so Caitlyn hugged her during the whole ride.

She must have felt safe in Caitlyn's arms because she calmed down.

We took the stroller and kept our cooler and snacks in there.  We stopped and ate lunch and the rest of the time the kids just snacked as we went along.  It was great to have somewhere for Hallee to sit and be contained!

Jonah went on some rides alone because the kids wouldn't go with him.  Jonah and I went on the colossus and spider together.  I almost got him on Wicked, but he got to scared.  Keith and I went on Wicked once.

Wyatt decided to try the sky ride.  Keith said he was nervous the whole time and he told us that he does not want to ride it again!

Caitlyn and Jonah love the sky ride.  Hallee wanted nothing to do with it, so we walked across the park and waited for them on the other side.

Hallee decided that she was a super hero so she wanted to go in the haunted house because super heroes aren't afraid of anything.  She got scared right off the bat and ducked down in the car with her eyes closed for the rest of the ride.  She is a funny girl!

Wyatt liked the haunted house.

Jonah decided he wanted to spend his money on a game to try and win a Pokemon stuffed animal.  It took him three tries, upgrading the prize each time, but he won it.  He was so excited.

The weather was pretty dramatic that day.  It was a little cold and then it got hot and then it started snowing, all within a few hours.  We decided to go home early when it was snowing pretty good.  It is so nice to have the passes and not feel like we have to stay from opening to closing.  I think we are going to have a lot of fun at Lagoon this summer.

Easter Baskets

The Easter bunny is pretty inconsistent at our house.  Sometimes, he just brings candy and other times he brings extra stuff.  This year he brought the kids some extra stuff.  Jonah was thrilled with his Pokemon and Caitlyn loved her adult coloring book and crayons and colored pencils.

Hallee and Wyatt found their baskets while Keith and I were still in bed, stinkers!  They were thrilled with their new toys and treats.  Wyatt was especially excited about his new scripture case. He has been wanting one for a long time!

We did our Easter celebrations on Friday and Saturday so we could focus on Christ on Sunday.  Katie gave me that idea a couple of years ago and I love it.  We had a great Sacrament Meeting on Easter.  The choir sang a lot of songs and it was great!  After church we had a family home evening lesson on Easter.  It was one of those nice times when everyone was engaged and listening.  I'm so grateful for my Savior.  I know I don't comprehend everything He went through for us, but I am so grateful for His sacrifice.  I think everyone feels alone and like no one understands them sometimes.  I have always found comfort and strength in the fact that I have a Savior who understands me perfectly and knows exactly how I feel.  He knows I am trying even when I feel like I am failing miserably.  Christ really is the Prince of Peace and a source of Hope that I can't find anywhere else.

Easter Egg Hunt

After we colored eggs Friday night we had our Easter egg hunt.  We have started putting quarters in the eggs instead of candy.  We decided to do it different this year and have one kid look for eggs at a time.  They took turns waiting in our room while the rest of us hid their eggs. 

Hallee was so excited with each egg she found.  She was really excited to have some money!

I was impressed that the kids didn't tell each other where the eggs were.  We played hot and cold when they were stuck.

Wyatt was just a little excited!  

We tried to make them really hard for Jonah.  He was happy to have an excuse to climb up the wall.

These two, they have a special bond.  The have similar personalities and Hallee looks up to Jonah and is always seeking his approval and making him listen to everything she has to say.  Jonah is extra protective of Hallee, it is really cute.

The kids had to get a little creative to reach some of the eggs!

It was really nice to be able to just watch one child at a time.  The kids had a lot of fun hiding the eggs and finding them.  It was so nice to just spend the evening having fun together.

Happenings

Caitlyn is loving horseback riding. She was pretty nervous for a while after she was bucked off, but she seems to be over her fear and progressing again.  She looks forward to her lessons every week.  She has also started taking piano lessons again.  Her new teacher seems really good, Caitlyn is progressing really quickly.  

Last week I tagged along with Tiff to Costco.  I have never seen a Costco so packed, Tiff said it is always like that.  It was a little tricky to get around with two carts and five kids, but the kids loved it. Shopping with someone is definitely more fun!

Our poor dog!  No wonder he makes a run for it anytime he is in the front yard!  Yesterday he ran out the door while I had it open.  We had a bunch of kids from the neighborhood playing in our front yard and they all started chasing him up the street.  Jonah finally caught him and brought him back.  It was really cute to see all of the kids chasing Jackson around and so excited when they caught him.  The kids are making a lot of friends and I love it, especially when they can play outside!

I got to go help in Caitlyn's class on Friday.  They have been working on a money unit where they were taught to budget and run businesses.  Her teacher, Mr Arny, had a lunch for them on Friday.  They had to pay for their lunch, they could chose from pizza or top ramen.  The pizza lunch cost more, so they had to have enough money left over.  I was happy to see that Caitlyn was wise with her money.  I have been impressed with Caitlyn's teacher each time I've interacted with him and I was even more impressed this time.  You can tell he really loves the kids and he goes out of his way to teach them life lessons along with academics.  He worked so hard on this lunch and I'm sure he spent a lot of money on it.  I went in to help serve.  I really need to go into the school more often.  Before I left Mr. Arny took Caitlyn and I into the hall and said he wanted to have a quick parent teacher conference.  He turned to Caitlyn and told her how wonderful she is, that she is a hard worker and that she cares about other people and that she is great.  He said his only concern is that she worries too much and apologizes for everything!  I think he was surprised when I told him that she worries so much less than she ever has.  He turned to her and said, "You are wonderful, you need to know that and not worry about everything."  He also told me how kind she is and that she helps everyone, but he is worried that she is getting taken advantage of.  I love how protective he is of her.  It was good for Caitlyn to hear that because that is a concern I have, she would do anything for anyone, which is great, but there are people who take advantage of her.  I just love that her teacher understands Caitlyn and he wants her to succeed.  I'm am so grateful for good teachers.  I know they are over worked and underpaid, but they are so important!  I hope some day our society will recognize how important they are and how hard they work and compensate them for that!

We had fun coloring Easter eggs on Friday.  

The whisk is a lifesaver with the little ones.