The Past 7 Years

I actually had a conversation with Kaia yesterday where I tried to argue with her that boogers do not taste like frosting. I did not win that argument.




It was crazy hot today, but Kaia still wanted to wear dad's hat. I'm glad she's in a helpful mood lately. Here she is cleaning the sliding glass door. I wish I would have captured a video of a few moments later when Tristan was standing inside and she was doing everything she could to make him laugh. It was hilarious.


The kids were playing happily for a few moments today while I was mopping floors. Kaia ran out of her room so excited to show me that she'd made the number 4. Smart as a whip, this kid.

Sierra took a shower all by herself today. She insisted that she could do it and I had so much cleaning to do I was more than happy to let her. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up.

Tristan added another scar to his face today. Remember this post where Sierra scratched him with a pipe cleaner? Well now he has a bruise and scratch on the other cheek where Kaia ran him into a sharp corner while driving the kid car. I have a feeling I'm going to have to slather that boy in Neosporin on a daily basis.


We had a great YW activity last night, a car wash. Here I am with Melissa Vigil. I'm soaked, she's only slightly wet. This is the girl who threw me into the lake back at girl's camp. I thought last night I'd be able to get her back. Before I could even think about my revenge, I turned my back on her for a moment and before I knew it I was drenched. I wrested her down, but next to her super-human-determination I didn't stand a chance. She is amazing. If all goes as planned, last night will be my last YW activity and on Sunday I'll be released as YW President in the Denver 2nd Ward. I remember way back in 2004 when I was pregnant with Kaia the YW President called me and told me how much she wanted me to join her in serving the YW. I was in the Primary Presidency at the time, but was happy to take on both callings (there are not very many kids or youth in the ward). I know the Lord has blessed me to be able to do what He would want me to do while serving the youth. I have learned so much and have grown to deeply love so many. My faith in my Savior has been strengthened and my desire to share my testimony has increased. I've felt lately that I need to remind the girls that we need to be in tune to the Spirit so that we know what we need to be praying for. There are blessings our Heavenly Father desires to give us, if we will but ask. The Spirit is here to tell us what to ask for, if we will but listen. I love D&C 109 because it is a prayer that the Prophet Joseph Smith says was given to him by revelation. I also love D&C 111:11 (and not just because there are five ones in a row). Blessings will be sent to us as fast as we can receive them! That is how I've felt while serving in the Denver 2nd Ward for the past 7 years. We truly found ourselves embraced into a Ward Family and we will always treasure those relationships. I remember being in the temple with a group of ward members a few years ago and thinking "This must be a taste of Heaven. Being in a room with so many people I love, doing the Lord's work, I couldn't be happier." My friend, Brenda Snyder, put it best when she said good by to me: "We'll have plenty of time to visit again when we get to the other side." But for now, I just want to say that I know we were guided by the Lord's hand to be in the D2 ward and I'm full of gratitude for that blessed experience.

HIHSTHoGBoF

I've listened to Elder Eyring's conference talk entitled "O Remember, Remember" several times since last October. The following statement has really impressed me: "I was supposed to record for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family". I've been meaning to add at the end of each blog how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family or HIHSTHoGBoF (I've decided this acronym is too long and will use ORR for "O Remember, Remember", instead).

I want to post a few pictures from yesterday and say that I see that God has guided us to move closer to family for a wise purpose. My mom came to pick us up yesterday morning to go with her, Jay and Grace to the Adams County Fair. Turns out the fair wasn't quite open but we still got to see chickens, turkeys, and rabbits.
Kaia thought this rabbit looked like a dog. I don't think the 4-H girl standing nearby liked her comment much.
This young lady had a beauty queen sash on that read "Colorado Rabbit Queen" or something like that. I don't know how you become a Rabbit Queen, but I'm sure Sierra and Kaia want to be join that royal train.
After the fair we went to the mall. While my mom shopped the kids and I enjoyed the giant sandbox. Adam was only a few minutes away so he dropped in and joined us for lunch.
There are endless blessings of living closer to family. Not only days like these that we get to spend time with one another, but opportunities to serve and to cherish. The other day I needed to deposit the earnest money check with the title company at a moments notice and Gram let me leave the three kids with her. Right now Kaia is next door learning how to carefully water Gram's beautiful flowers while I bathe the kids and clean up the breakfast mess. I am so grateful that the Lord has guided us to this home and that we have such a loving, generous family.

Green

We've entered a world of Green. Our deck is surrounded by beautiful, green aspen trees. We have a big, green lawn for the first time in our children's lives. And the best part about said lawn? Pop mows for us! Up over Pop's shoulder is Tristan, then beyond him there lies the tennis courts and playground.

From the other angle there is the open space park and a great trail through the old Cottonwood Trees.
Here are Sierra and Kaia climbing a pine tree today. Also shown is one of the triplets we met. I guess there are several sets of triplets in this neighborhood. Something in the water they say. I assure you we are not next.
Kaia cracks me up. I was trying to get a shot of the three of them on our little walk to the ditch while looking for crawdads. Kaia held this facial expression for several minutes while I tried to get everyone to look at me.

The Big Move

It is nap time. Since the rooms that really need unpacked all have sleeping children in them I'm forced to spend some time blogging. Here's a few photos from the past couple of days.

The Tillemann-Dick family was kind enough to throw a "going away" party for me on Wednesday night. Here is Annette and I. If you look really close you can see their gorgeous home in the background.
Here are Marisol and Hama Wharemate. Mari watched all my kids all day on Thursday so that I could pack up my house (with tons of help from the Tillemann-Dick's and the sister missionaries).
These are my wonderful friends whom I love, love, love: Marisa, Liesl, and Brittany.

Here's Kaia standing in front of nearly everything we own.

Tristan's 2nd birthday almost got lost in the hustle and bustle of moving day, but lucky for him Gram lives next door and is always prepared. The girls are holding back his hands while we sing. Sierra didn't even give him a chance to blow out his candles, maybe next year he'll be big enough to defend himself.
Here is the house we'll be renting for the next 6 months. I know, I know, the turquoise trim is the eyesore of the neighborhood. Nevertheless, it is right next door to Gram and Pop's, it backs up to a park and open space, it has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, and a dishwasher!

Our new address. If you want the whole thing you're going to have to email me :).

Home Again

So here are a few pics from our family reunion adventures. If you are in no mood to look at a plethora of pictures, you probably want to skip this post.

Our drive through Wyoming was beautiful, once we got to the beautiful part. This is near Teton National Park.
Happy travelers. "Don't bug us, we are watching a movie."
In Yellowstone this here buffalo was just walking up the road like he owned the place.
Tristan's face of terror. Adam's sister, Ellynn, gets this response from Tristan every time she tries to hold him. By the end of the trip I think he warmed up to her a bit, if she had candy.
Here is Tristan with one of Aunt Brooke's Yorkie puppies.

All of us watching Old Faithful and eating lunch. It was quite a feat to feed 30 people and even more difficult to separate the "kid cheese" eaters from the "adult cheese" eaters while making sandwiches.
Sierra, Sadie and Cole.
The "Hot Pots".

There was plenty for Sierra to keep herself entertained at the reunion. Here she is making beautiful art with whipping cream and shaving cream.
Sawyer, Aunt Meagan, and Jane.


Direct line of cousins on Adam's Dad's side (not all are pictured).

The whole Bennett gang.

Our little trip to the river. Much colder than it looks.

Tristan and Kennedy.

Kaia brought me these flowers, which I thought were just beautiful. The camera decided to focus on Darla's swim wrap and Chacos, which are also beautiful.

Aquatic scientists.

Poor Dayne took a dive from the swing into a puddle.

Beautiful sunset during the reunion.

Ahh, this is the 15 passenger van that the family from WA drove down with 14 men, women and children and a whole lotta stuff.

Jackson Hole Park.

There are 30 of us here, we were quite a site.

After Jackson Hole we drove to Kaysville for Adam's Mom's side's reunion. In between we crashed for the night at the Ross'. Thanks again for letting 30 of us storm your house! Here is Jessica and I, snappin' shots for our blogs.

Kaia and her good buddy Tony.

Tristan and his could-be-twin-second-cousin, Beck.

Hazel and Kaia gathered these beautiful bouquets of flags from the soccer field.

Whew! We had too much fun and now we are frantically trying to get ready for the big move on Saturday. When you live in a house for 7 years, you kind of collect a lot of stuff (I'm discovering). Peace out, team.

Family Reunion

We leave for a week of family reunion adventures tomorrow and for some reason I think I can't go to sleep unless I blog one last time.

On Monday night we had another party with our friends for Kaia's birthday. Old Town Arvada has this fun little water attraction:

Tonight we had the honor of doing some of the grocery shopping for the family reunion. I've always wanted to buy so much food that I had to use one of the orange carts at Costco. Tonight my dream came true and then some.

Sierra is an exelent helper. At this point, Kaia had unbuckled herself and was swinging around a nearby light pole and climbing on carts.