SEVEN

Seven years ago today, I became a mother!

I never would have guessed that I could love someone so much as I love you!

Happy Birthday, Alexis!

 May all your dreams come true!

Spring is a funny thing

I am beginning to wonder if there is really such a thing as "Spring" in Utah or if it just skips from Winter to Summer. One day, the girls will be running wild in the yard in t-shirts and shorts and the next, it snows! What happened to a season of blissfully perfect weather...sunny skies, moderate temperatures, flowers blooming, song birds singing...(oh, how I miss the sunshine!)? We seem to only be able to get "teaser days" where the weather goes from bad to great and right back to bad again. We try and soak in all the sun whenever we can grasp some. As wonderful as having a yard has been (on the few fair weather days we've had), there is a drawback; my girls seem to think that if they come in for a potty break, it might start to snow again before they get back out to play, and so instead, they don't. Inevitably, accidents occur; about half a dozen times in the past few weeks (Alexis excluded)! We take a lot of baths, and do a lot of laundry, and ruin a lot of clothes. In spite of all that, we have really tried to make the best of what fair weather days come our way and here is what we've been up to this past week:

A walk in the woods...

Our "backyard", or rather, a view of our frontyard taken from our backyard.

There is a trailhead for some great hikes just a short walk away from our house. We decided to do some exploring one night after grilling some burgers for dinner. We found a lot of animal tracks, a river, a bridge and a waterfall.

Race day...

Our family participated in a 5K race sponsored by local law firms. Luckily, the weather was perfect that morning (and by afternoon it was raining again!). Adam and Alexis ran the race and finished in great time. Alexis was one of the first in her age group to cross the finish line. I helped bring in the latter half of the race with our other three little racers. Aubrey and Allie were wiped out about 1/3 of the way through and both hopped on the stroller with Bria, so I pushed the three of them as I jogged along (would have been easier without the hills!). I couldn't decide which part of me got the better workout, my legs or my arms! 

They were all so proud of themselves and we had a really good time doing it. As a treat, we got to stop by the zoo on the way home and say hello to Zuri (Allie's favorite elephant). We had been missing her during the winter months and were happy to see her back outside. Alexis had quite a full schedule that day. After the early morning race, she had a choir concert at the University that included a two-hour rehearsal prior to the two-hour concert. She and I were exhausted that night!

The very definition of cute:

Really, could she be any cuter? She is sitting up on her own now and is quite proud. It is becoming very evident that she wants mobility though I am strongly opposed. She loves the grass, the outdoors, and splashing in the tub. I think tonight we really wore her out. I was reading stories with the girls before bed and she was sitting on the floor in front of me when we started to notice her head bobbing around. She had fallen asleep sitting up! I didn't know babies could do the head-bob thing. I thought that was reserved for parents at church and toddlers in car seats! Guess that's what happens to a fourth child who doesn't get the type of nap schedule a first child is blessed with; they have to be able to sleep anytime, anywhere.

Sweet dreams, my little ones; I'll be dreaming of sunny weather for you!

Take me out to the ballgame...

Alexis's choir sang the National Anthem at a baseball game this past weekend. They sounded awesome! The weather was perfect; we all enjoyed sitting outside in the sunshine and eating more than our share of kettle corn.

Ambria quite possibly loved being outside more than any of the rest of us. She was so happy throughout the whole game. She "watched" most of it sitting up in her carseat that we had propped up on a stadium seat.

A few updates...

Aubrey continues to love to hang on, swing from and dance around, anything and everything. She is getting excited to start school this fall. She is gearing up for her Spring dance recital next weekend.

Ambria is 5 1/2 months old!!! She is changing so fast. I feel grateful she stayed a "baby" until we got into our new home but now she is trying to grow up. She is sitting on her own now and grabbing onto toys (and anything else she can grasp onto...hair, paper, etc.) She babbles all the time (da and ba sounds) and started solid food yesterday. We gave her some mashed up bananas and she made the most disgusted face any of my girls have made with their "first food" experience. Surprising since I started all the others on vegetables first! She seemed more impressed with them today. Stinky diapers, here we come!

Allie turned three last month. We had a big celebration with all the relatives in our new home. She was very happy to receive a tricycle this year. She and Aubrey have enjoyed riding their bikes around together in the basement while we wait for more Spring weather to come.



Home Sweet Home

We are in our home at last! We moved in at the beginning of April. My love for it increases every day as it begins to feel more and more our own. The move itself was filled with plenty of stress and ups and downs, as anyone should expect, no matter how many sleepless nights were spent planning and preparing for it. We are here now and "settled," yet somehow life keeps racing by so fast. I had hoped our pace would slow a bit once we got here and I'd find some of the time I've been missing since we left California to keep up on my blog and a myriad of other projects, and especially to sit back and enjoy my kids, but that hasn't happened to the degree I wished just yet. The two hours a day we spend commuting Alexis back and forth to school combined with the absence of naptime has a lot to do with that. Only twenty-four days of commuting left and maybe then I will reclaim some of that lost life. Because time is scarce, I will not attempt to give a full account of the past two months and will start instead with today...when I threw my "to -do" list in the trash and went out to watch the kids play. They spent hours running out in the yard, jumping on the trampoline and swinging on the swingset with the neighbor kids. It was so fun to watch them play with friends and enjoy being kids; having a yard with plenty of room to wiggle is wonderful! (They were all in shorts since it was a whopping 60 degrees today!) We have found ourselves amidst wonderful neighbors again. Just now, the doorbell rang and new friends were there with a plate of cookies. :) We have received, breads and cupcakes, dinner invites and babysitting offers, and best of all, warm greetings. We are happy to be, home sweet home.



Allie loves to pick "flowers." I told my dad that is an example of why kids are so happy. They see flowers where adults see weeds.