Moments in March

Joel and I have been able to help in Cub Scouts the last month or so.  It is fun to be with Josh and see his excitement and enthusiasm.  I really miss being in Cub Scouts.  I would trade callings in a flash if I could.  I'm much more comfortable with a bunch of boys than with a bunch of women!


We had another wonderful Upward Basketball Season. Spring, Sam, Josh, and Gideon all played this year.  Spring and Sam made some wonderful friends and actually ended up spending a lot of their Saturdays hanging out in between games and helping.  This is the 6th year we have played with this church program.  They have an end of the year celebration each year; however, it has always been on a Sunday so we don't attend.  We have had the opportunity to share why we don't attend.  This year they changed the celebration to a Saturday so our family could attend.  We are so grateful that they could do this.  They were excited to tell us too!  Blessings definitely come from living our standards and being willing to sacrifice to keep the Sabbath Day holy.  I hope our children always remember this lesson!

Mary is Rebekah's pal.  Rebekah is often found staring out the screen door at all the kids playing outside.

Wind Ensemble...Highest Band in the High School.  Thomas is in the middle back.

Midnight Snack for Spring...she must be growing....

Sam got contacts!  To say he loves them would be the understatement of the year!

Jacob benefited from Spring making frosting for her car project!!!

"Mom! Rebekah's eating poop!"

One afternoon I heard Sara gagging in the kitchen.  With the winter of sickness we have had in our family, my first thought was, "Oh no! She's sick AGAIN!"  I ran into the kitchen knowing I was going to find Sara throwing up.  I turned the corner to see this! Sara was next to Rebekah gagging. When Sara finally saw me she exclaimed, between gags, "Rebekah's eating poop!"

Fortunately, I saw a mushed up Oreo cookie in Rebekah's hand so my mind was quickly at ease.  I tried and tried to explain to Sara that it was NOT poop; it was only a cookie.  She did NOT believe me. Her gagging intensified as she ran off to the bathroom and began puking.

I began to take Rebekah's clothes off of her which had their fair share of mushed up cookies on it.  I was about to head upstairs to give her a bath when Sara came out of the bathroom.  I asked Sara if she would please wipe up the floor for me while I bathed Rebekah.  She took one look at the floor and ran back to the bathroom to throw up some more.  Luckily, Jacob had a strong enough stomach to clean the floor for me!

Sara still will not eat an Oreo cookie!

Learning to Decorate Cakes

Spring wanted to learn how to decorate cakes for a Genius Project at school.  Sister Ulrich, a YW leader in the ward, decorates cakes and has made cakes for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Studio C, and many others.  Spring asked her if she would teach her to decorate cakes in exchange for free babysitting.  Sister Ulrich gladly agreed and the two of them had a wonderful time working together.

They got together once a week for about 3 weeks to learn a new skill each week.  It was so fun to see the progress each week.  Spring loved spending time with Sister Ulrich as much as she did learning the new skill.  In fact, when her final project was over she was really sad because she wasn't going  to have the opportunities to hang out with Sister Ulrich as much.

Spring wanted her final project to reflect her life.  I think her design was absolutely perfect!  The bottom layer is Stow colors with Bulldog footprints to represent the city and schools she attends.  The middle layer is all about her love of music.  She even piped the notes from the High School fight song.  The BYU layer represents her college of choice, and the Goofy hat on top represents her love of Disney movies.

She loves designing and decorating cakes.  The funny thing is...she isn't too fond of eating cake!  She has volunteered to make all her siblings their birthday cakes this year and she is beginning to be asked to make cakes for people.  I have a feeling this new talent will become very profitable for her!

10 Months

Rebekah is now crawling all over the place very quickly.  She puts herself to a standing position but then gets stuck and can't get down.  This is super bad when she stands up in bed and then cries for someone to come help her lay back down.  Let's just say I make many, many trips up and down the stairs! She continues to be a Mama's girl.  She wants me to hold her ALL THE TIME!  She is super light and easy to carry around but it sure makes it difficult to get things accomplished.  I find myself sneaking around the house if  she is playing happily so she doesn't see me.  If she sees me then she immediately crawls over and hangs on my legs until I pick her up.

She is super cute and fun though.  I love how she scrunches up her nose when she smiles and her giggles make all the hard moments worth it.  We are so blessed to have her in our family.

One on One with Gideon

I am so grateful that we can still opt for 1/2 day Kindergarten.  I love my quiet afternoons with Gideon.  The other little ones are down for naps and he and I get to share lunch together, we read together, write stories, bake cookies, cuddle on the couch, and he tells me all about his day. I love 6 year old humor and hearing about his big events for the day.  I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom more than anything else.  I am so very grateful for a husband that shares in that vision and values my time with our children.  We are often asked how in the world we can afford to not have me work and to have so many children.  We explain that it is all a matter of priorities...there are many things in life that we can happily do without but we cannot and will not do without me being home each day when our children leave for school and when they return.