Cruising with Papa

The day after Aspen's birthday, Papa (my dad) called to see if he could pick up Aspen from school in his mustang to "go cruising". I love that he goes out of his way to make memories with him. Here are the pictures he took (and the commentary) of their time together.

Sooo I asked Aspen if he was full after eating his Happy Meal at what we call the happiest place on earth, to my surprise he said he could eat another one. In my weakness I could not resist to grant his wish as he told me he eats 9 sandwiches for lunch! The fact that he would get another happy meal toy probably did not come into play... Hmmmm what do you think?? I hope I was not scammed.. LOL

Aspen's haul after two Happy Meals.

Two cool dudes at the airport (watching planes).

As per Aspen "My Mom never takes me to McDonalds, she thinks it's junk" LOL .... ;)

Happy 6th Birthday Aspen!

Aspen, this is a couple days late, but this has been a busy birthday week for you!

I love you more than words can express. You seem to have grown up and matured so much just in the last month. I am SO proud of how you learn from your mistakes, take responsibility for your actions and move on. I have no doubt in my mind that no matter what you face or what mistakes you make in life, you will succeed.

I never imagined how much I would love having an oldest son. You are incredibly helpful, compassionate and protective with your sisters and Peyton and Lilly. You are great with giving them the attention they want from you, even when they bug you.

I love you so much. Love Mommy

Dinner Time

I have a confession to make. I don't like family dinner time. THERE. I said it.

While I feel it is very important and we actually have a family dinner every night unless we go out, at this point, I really don't enjoy it.

Let's take tonight as an example. We had blackened tuna tacos with mango salsa, black beans on the side and quesadillas for the kids. I love this dinner and it takes a lot of prep work to make the mango salsa from scratch, prepare the tuna, etc. Which means I started dinner during nap time.

Around 4:45, Willow woke up from her 3rd nap and Aspen and Journey started asking me when dinner would be ready. I took a quick break to attempt to feed Willow (not going so well since she's teething), and then work hard to finish dinner. With Willow on one hip most of the time. We sit down for dinner around 5:30. Everything is looking good. Willow is at a stage where she wants to be where I am at all times. I usually eat dinner with her in one arm, but tonight I pulled the high chair up to the table with hopes that I could eat in semi peace. Ugh, you don't get peace with an almost 6 year old who brings the conversation around to "poop or pee" every chance he gets and talks non-stop about minute details of Star Wars. Or with Journey who also talks non-stop over the top of Aspen, and Willow screeching, grabbing at her bowl of applesauce, and being generally frustrated and fussy.

I ALWAYS END UP INHALING MY FOOD. I really hate that. Especially after working so hard on the dinner! So that's my confession. I hate family dinners right now. I know they won't always be like this. I fact, I'm counting on that, and looking forward to that day.

I am blessed

It's amazing how you can look backwards in life and see how there were definite crossroads, forks in the road, decisions made that directly affect life today. As I look through pictures I've taken of our normal life, I can't help but be reminded of just how blessed I am.

Yes, life with three young kids isn't always easy. It's hard to keep the house as clean as I'd like. The noise level and bickering gets to me by dinner time and I'm often short and stressed out with them. There are days where I'd like to just be able to go shopping without having to schedule it around nap times or worry about each call I get on the phone while I'm out. But the truth is, this is the life I chose and would choose again. I love it, as hectic and crazy as it is.

Celebrating Valentines Day at school. It was a very exciting day, and Aspen brought home tons of cards and candy. Also, just last week, the girl that Aspen has liked at school (I think I've talked about her before?) sent home a picture she drew for him of a heart. I found it when I was going through his backpack, and he was beyond embarrassed when I asked him about it. Being the awesome mom that I am, I got the whole thing on video, haha! Let me tell ya, it's priceless. I'm so happy with myself for recording it, and I know he will be too.....someday :)

Beyond the bickering that is now standard here, they truely love each other. Both Aspen and Journey tell Willow multiple times a day that they love her, and every day that we drop Aspen off at school, Journey will remind him not to "have problems today". When we pick him up, she will check in with him and say, "did you have problems today?". Taking over my job! Way to go, Journey!

Yep, I love him. Almost 11 years of marriage now. It's hard to believe!

Journey. My little sweetheart. She's got a sneaky side to her, is pretty much impossible to completely potty train, but she makes me smile every day.

My little bright eyes. She's happy, sweet and laid back. Except for the last four days. Teething is torture.

Spring Break at the Beach

Spring Break couldn't have come at a better time for us this year. Aspen was having some problems at school in the days before the break, and I was happy for life to slow down a bit for a week. We were able to end the week at the beach with our friends Bryce and Amy and their kids.

It was a blast. The kids played so well together, slept great and we had some awesome weather. Pretty amazing for Spring Break :) Getting away from home and spending time with friends was just what I was needing too. I'm not sure why, but I was feeling stressed and bogged down with daily life. Aspen and Journey have been fighting and bickering a lot lately, and honestly, it's been driving me crazy. Journey has figured out that she is able to annoy Aspen. Now they go out of their way to annoy and argue with each other. Fun times. Never realized I would miss the days when Aspen was the only one doing that...

Anyways, here are some pictures from our weekend. Wish I would have taken more, but at least there are a few!

Charity and Justin were at the other beach house, so we met up with them on the beach one day. Lilly's crawling everywhere now and enjoyed eating sand. She's such a cutie.

Journey and Liza playing in the sand. Their imaginations crack me up.

Justin dug Liza, Journey and Peyton their own holes in the sand. What a hit! They were like little gophers in their holes. So cute.

Willow (7 mo.) is just starting to sit on her own. She's wobbly still, but getting better every day. She liked sitting by the window with Journey to watch Baker pace back and forth - missing Bryce :)

The guys pretty much spent the weekend obsessing about fishing. Yep, we're heading back into that time of year...

Aspen and Isaac watching an Indian Jones movie for the first time. I just enjoyed watching them watch if for the first time. They were so into it - especially the action scenes.

Little Memories

I've accumulated quite a few random pictures in my email box, taken on Mark's i-phone that I couldn't bring myself to delete, but wouldn't turn out if I printed them. Each of them have a little story or memory behind them that I don't want to forget. And since that's the point behind this blog, to remember the little moments, I've decided to post them here so I can get them out of my email!

Willow 3 days old

Just days after Willow's birth, Willow and I joined the rest of the family at the beach for a couple days. Grammi and Papa had taken Aspen and Journey down with them after we had Willow, and Mark was getting back to fishing after having to put it on hold for the month of August.

Journey (3) and I on a coffee date. Celebrating her memorizing Gal. 5:22-23.


Aspen (4) touring a Navy ship with Mark and Dan during the Rose Festival 2008. He had so much fun seeing the inside of the ship and hanging out with the guys.

Aspen & Sofia (both 4)

Up until Aspen started Kindergarten, they often had play dates once a week.

Celebrating Aspen's 5th birthday on the boat with Daddy. Having a can of pop is a definite treat around here :)

We had some beautiful weather for his 5th birthday.

Troy's expecting! haha

(5 mo. pregnant w/ Willow)

Journey (2 1/2) hanging out with daddy in the backyard. In the summer (2009) we made a lot of fires and roasted marshmellows together before the kids bedtime. I love those chunky legs :)

Quick Kids Update

Aspen has grown up a lot this past year. He loves school. His best friend at school is Nash, and every single day I pick Aspen up at school, Nash runs to my window to say hi to me. It's pretty cute. Today he had a new nickname for Aspen. Aspen is now "Asp". Haha. I thought I'd given him a name that couldn't be shortened, but he found a way :)

Aspen has also been talking a lot about "brown people" (we've been watching the news a lot about the earthquake in Haiti). He's quite curious about why people are different colors. The other day we were driving and he asked me if people from Haiti could live here. I was a little confused and said, that some people have been able to adopt kids from Haiti that didn't have parents anymore, and then asked him why he was wondering. He said he saw a lady in the car next to us driving and was thinking she was from Haiti. :) No buddy, not all people who are black are from Haiti.

He's also been talking a lot about marriage and who he can marry. I've told him that I want him to find a girl who loves Jesus, loves him and who will be a good mommy to the kids they have someday. The other day at dinner he blurted out that he wants to marry Ari when he grows up (girl in his class). I've known for a while that she liked him, then more recently he very carefully admitted to me that he liked her too. We were completely taken by surprise when he admitted it because he had been so embarrassed about it before. Now he likes to say that he wants to kiss her (it's the Mark in him trying to get me riled up!). I told him that I understand he likes her, but he can't kiss her or any other girl until he's 16. He thought about that a minute, and then said in a very serious voice, "I sure hope she goes to my school when we're 16."

See that look on Journey's face? That's her "I love my sister so much I can't contain it" look.

I can hardly believe Journey just turned 3. If only I could slow time down. She is now halfway potty trained. Completely with potty, but so far Number 2 is "too scawy". Even Aspen has tried to reason with her, but she is convinced it's just too scary.

Right now Journey is loving Tinkerbell and is playing with her dolls and legos a lot. Her best friends are Ava and Eliza. She starts every day playing with Aspen in her room while they wait for us to wake up, and plays a lot on her own while Aspen is in school. I don't really know how to describe it, but she has the kind of personality where people are naturally drawn to her. She has a sweetness and innocence about her, I think.


Aww Willow. She's 5 1/2 months old now and such a joy. See the smile on her face? Yep, pretty much lasts all day unless she's tired or left alone. I think she will be a social one. She loves to be around Aspen and Journey or her cousins, and doesn't like to be left alone.

Aspen and Journey love having her around and regularly fight over who gets to sit by her in the car. So far, I generally let Aspen sit next to her since he is able to help with entertaining her, giving her a binky or wiping her face if she spits up. Plus Journey has a hard time keeping her hands out of Willow's face. Her love is 2, well actually 3 year old style - in the face and a little rough!

She just cut her first tooth, and has mostly grown out of the reflux. I've been slowly weaning her off her meds. She's slept through the night twice now. Not in a row, but hopefully we are moving in that direction! Willow is also growing super fast and is now in 12 month size clothing. She weighs 18 or 19 lbs., and let me tell ya, my neck and back are really feeling it. But she's worth it. Love that baby girl!