I'll go inside some day!

Jonah was excited to go to the temple for the first time.  We went back and forth about taking him alone or taking Caitlyn with us. 

We ended up leaving Caitlyn home to babysit and Keith and I went with Jonah.  He was a good sport about letting me take pictures.

Kyle gave us some family names so we were able to do baptisms with Jonah.

Jonah was nervous and asked a lot of questions.  He was glad Keith was there to show him around the locker room and he was glad that Keith was the one to baptize him.

It was so special to be with Jonah in the temple and see him experience it for the first time.  Jonah really enjoyed it and was anxious to go again.

He was excited that the deacons went during Fall break.  He was a little nervous to go without Keith, but he was excited to go with his friends. 

A couple days later I took Caitlyn and Jonah to the Provo City Center Temple.  It was so fun to be in there with both of them.  We had more family names so I got to do baptisms with them again.  One of the temple workers asked if Jonah was a priest because they needed someone to perform the baptisms, Jonah loved that!   I'm so glad that Caitlyn and Jonah love to go to the temple. The temple is such a source of peace and strength for me and I love being able to share that with them.

Fall Break

The kids got Thursday through Tuesday off for Fall break this year.  We started of with an orthodontist appointment Thursday morning.  Caitlyn was disappointed that she found out she had to wait a few more weeks to get her braces off, but Jonah got his off that morning.  He will have to go back for phase 2, but he is happy to have them off for now.  He sure is a good looking kid. 

Keith was nice enough to drive Caitlyn down to Beck's that night so the girls could have a sleepover.  The girls have been begging for years for a sleepover and they finally got one.  Caitlyn had a blast.  We went over on Friday to pick her up.  We stayed for a little while so Wyatt and Hallee could play and I could visit with Emilee.  It's always fun to spend time with the Becks.

After that we went to Mel's house.  Amarie had her wisdom teeth out on Thursday so we went over to bring her a treat.  She was doing great so Caitlyn stayed over night there.  She loved having that time with Amarie. 

Elijah was so nice to play games with Wyatt. 

Hallee wanted to play too.  I had to snap a picture of her sitting on Elijah's lap, so sweet!

On Monday we went to South Fork with Tiff.  It was so much fun!  The kids were so glad when pictures were out of the way so they could play.

Such cute kids!

Caitlyn loves to spend time with aunt Tiff.

Wyatt is so happy when he is around Rockwell, that is definitely his happy place.

The kids had fun climbing trees.

I had so much fun playing baseball with the kids.  Tiff was so great to play with the little ones so that I could play.  It was Jonah and I against Caitlyn, Rockwell and Wyatt.  Damon joined in a couple of times. 

Wyatt and Rockwell had fun playing soccer.  Tiff and I played Spikeball with Caitlyn and Jonah.  It was a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

Say Cheese

I decided to try and get a few pictures of the kids together since I was taking Jonah's anyway and the canyon would be so pretty with Fall colors.  The girls are always pretty cooperative about pictures.  They are so cute. 

Hallee posed for a quick picture.  She did great until she noticed bees flying around, then she was done with pictures.

I started off asking the kids to hold hands for a picture.  Wyatt hated that idea and lost it, which pretty much made pictures impossible.  It takes Wyatt a long time to calm down after he gets upset.

He tried to give me a fake smile, but he can't fake it when he's mad!  Oh well, they look cute anyway!

Caitlyn is looking so grown up.  She is such a great girl.  She is wise, kind, out going, inclusive, hard working, honest and very selfless.  Sometimes I forget she is still a child and I'm too hard on her.  I've been listening to a podcast about parenting teenagers and it has helped a lot.  My biggest problem is over reacting.  I'm working on that and Caitlyn has noticed and said she appreciates me working on being better (I told you she is great).

We went to the canyon right after lunch and it was a terrible time for pictures because it was so sunny.

Tiff and the kids met us there so she took a couple pictures of me with the kids.

I hate pictures of me, but I don't want that to stop me from having pictures with my kids.

Wyatt perked up when Rockwell got there so we got a few pictures with a real smile.

I can't believe how much these kids grow and change from year to year.  I drive them crazy by telling them all how cute they are all of the time.  I can't help it, they are all so cute!

Twelve Years Old

We went up to the canyon on Monday so I took Jonah's pictures.  Unfortunately I bombed on the lighting so he has sun spots on his face.  Oh well, I still like the pictures and I don't want to make Jonah do it again so I'll use them anyway!

I have always wanted a son.  Don't get me wrong, I love my girls, but I have always wanted to have a son.  Jonah was the only pregnancy where I knew the gender from day one.  I leaned one way or the other on the other kids, but with Jonah, I was confident from day one that he was a boy.  I remember getting a strong impression that it was time for another baby even though Caitlyn was very young and I just knew it was going to be a boy.

 Jonah has exceeded my expectations on how fun it is to have a son.  He has always been very energetic and that brings with it a lot of physical exhaustion as his mom, but I love his endless energy. 

When Jonah was a toddler I spent my days following him around to make sure he didn't hurt himself.  As the years have gone by I have become better at relaxing and not trying to protect him from everything.  I learned early on, thanks to Keith, that Jonah needed to be able to have some freedom and be allowed to explore and push himself even when I thought it looked dangerous.

I love that Jonah naturally takes on the role of the protector in our family.  He likes to tease his siblings, but he is very defensive of them and hates to see them sad.  He is also my protector and hates to see me sad.  He is always sharing and helping out when he can see that one of us needs a little extra help.

Jonah is hilarious.  He loves to laugh and have fun.  He is very social and loves to interact with other people.  He loves spending time with his friends.  He is constantly playing with friends.  We have given him a lot of freedom because he is very good at checking in and being home on time. Jonah and his friends always find things to do; they go to the school to play sports, go from house to house, play scooter tag around the neighborhood, ride to Wendy's for lunch or dinner and of course play video games. 

Jonah loves to play Fortnite.  He plays a few other games, but that it his favorite video game.  I don't love the game, but he is a well balanced kid so I figure it's okay if he plays video games.  I drive him crazy by telling him not to play too much and make sure he stays safe online.

Jonah not only looks out for his family, but he looks out for people who might need a friend.  Jen Stemmons texted me one morning to tell me that she saw Jonah and his friends trying to cheer up a Kindergarten girl by letting her play basketball with them and cheering her on while she played.  I was happy that she told me so I could praise Jonah for it.  He loves to play with little kids and make them laugh.

Jonah likes to play dumb sometimes.  I can usually tell by the look on his face if he is faking or he really has no idea what I am talking about.  Jonah is extremely intelligent.  He learns new concepts and facts easily and has a fantastic memory.  Although he is very book smart, sometimes his common sense is lacking.  This does seem to be getting better with age.  This face makes me laugh because Jonah makes this face a lot when he doesn't like what I'm saying!

Jonah still loves sports.  He is very athletic and plays most sports really well.  He loves basketball and soccer the most.  He has developed a lot this year in soccer.  His coach has taught him a lot and he has worked hard to develop as a mid fielder.  He loves basketball, that is his favorite sport.  He just had basketball tryouts and did a great job.  He is on the B team with the same coach as last year.  He is excited to start basketball again this week.

Jonah has a desire to do what is right.  Sometimes I worry about him because he will be sneaky or lie, but I'm noticing more and more that he really wants to do the right thing.  He seems more thoughtful and inquisitive about spiritual things lately.  I think he takes his priesthood duties seriously.  He did a great job passing the Sacrament this week for the first time and he was very concerned about getting it just right.

Jonah is a hard worker.  He is a boy after my own heart, work hard so you can play hard! He is always the first one to get his jobs and homework finished.  He doesn't always love to work, but I think he takes pride in a job well done. 

Jonah and I love to play and watch sports together.  I love that he knows all of the players in the NBA and their stats.  He can rattle of sports statistics with the best of them.  He said if he doesn't play in the NBA when he grows up he wants to be a sportscaster.  He would be awesome at that with his fantastic memory and enthusiasm for sports.

We love having Jonah in our family.  It truly is a pleasure to be his mom.  I love watching him learn and grow.  He is at a great age.  I'm really enjoying this stage with him.

Deacon

Jonah received the priesthood on Sunday and was ordained to the office of a Deacon.  He is excited to have the priesthood and go to Young Mens. 

Grandpa and Kyle stood in with Keith while he ordained Jonah.  He loved having them there.

I sure love this cute family of mine.  We got a new bishopric on Sunday.  Travis Blevins is our new bishop.  He will be great!  He had all of us give Jonah some advice.  It was nice to have that few minutes to talk to Jonah and make this important event more special.

I love that my parents want to be involved in all of our special events.

Kyle was going to ride his bike over, what a nice guy! He got a ride with grandma and grandpa instead, but I thought that was so sweet that he would do that.  He is such a great guy.  We had him and a girl he has dated a few times over for dinner on Saturday.  It was fun.  I love that Kyle wanted to bring her over and that we get to see him so much.

Happenings

Hallee was the star student for the week a couple of weeks ago.  All of the star students get to eat lunch with the principal on Friday.  I got this picture off of Facebook.  What a cutie!

Hailey taught the other beehives how to crochet last week for mutual.  Hailey has had a hard time since their family moved into our neighborhood so this was good for her.  Caitlyn is a great Beehive President.  She goes over to invite Hailey to activities every week and went and invited her to church one Sunday.  We had decided to go visit her after our presidency meeting and Caitlyn told me that she didn't want the leaders to go, she said it should just be the girls so that it didn't seem like we were making them go.  I'm so impressed with Caitlyn.  She is so much more courageous and confident than I was at her age, actually she is more courageous and confident than I am now!

Caitlyn had her first band concert of the year.  She is getting private oboe lessons again this year and that has really helped.  She did great. She is the only oboe player so we could pick her out a lot of the time. 

Grandma was so nice and drove down for the concert.  We love having grandma join us!

On Saturday grandma and grandpa took Jonah out to dinner for his twelfth birthday.  He chose to go to Chuck-a-rama.  He had a great time and felt very loved and special.  He also got to go to the BYU football game that night with Ky.  That's a pretty great day for Jonah!

Yesterday Jonah had a soccer game and both of my sisters and my mom came.  They were such good sports because it was freezing!  The kids ran around and dog piled each other to stay warm.

They had so much fun together.

Amarie and Ataiya came too.  It meant so much to me and Jonah that they all came.

Today I got to hang out with this cool kid.  Damon is so cute and so much fun.  He has always had a calming presence about him, even from day one you could feel it.  Now as he gets older he just exudes joy.  He always has the biggest smile on his face and he has a great sense of humor.  He loves to laugh and have fun.  It made my day to spend time with him.  He loved taking Jackson for a walk.