8 Years!

 8 years ago Larry and I drove to the Oakland temple to get married. Looking back I hated almost everything about my wedding there was a lot of tension between my parents and I, and it sadly will always be associated with that time. But here we are 8 years later still married and still working towards goals we set so many years ago. We have earned 3 college degrees between the 2 of us and have had 3 kids. We have had a lot of great times and a lot of not so great times. Single life was so easy compared to married life, and married life without kids was SO much easier then life with kids but it is my life and I love the good of it all and I hate the challenges and trials that have come are way because we've had a doozy of them, BUT also certain things have made me a stronger person and I am sure Larry could say the same. If I could give my 20 year old self some advice it would be to remember that everyone changes it is inevitable the key is to not change so much that you don't recognize who you are or who your spouse is. Also your love with change. I am not that super excited 20 year old dying to get married anyone...in fact I am a very tired 28 year old who would much rather take a nap then go on a date at times but I am also 100% comfortable with who I am when I am with my husband. He loves me no matter what I do or say or look like. He has seen me have 3 children which can not be so pretty sometimes, he has seen me hit rock bottom as a mom and wife, he has seen me cry a lot or be scared or stressed and he takes it all in stride and in a loving way. It is sometimes hard to explain that level of commitment to people as well as the easy that comes with sitting in a room together and not feeling the need to talk..does that make sense? Before we got married he probably hadn't seen me in many other circumstances except for being happy and wearing makeup but that is the great thing about being married it all evolves and you accept each other for who you are because you made a commitment and you know that new love isn't the same as mature love. We still have a lot of things ahead of us but getting out of the college phase was a big check off our list. In some ways I hope our life looks a lot different in 8 years and in some ways I hope it stays the same! 

Happy 8th anniversary Larry! 

Joy School & Cows

Today was the official start of Joy school. This year Noah will be doing joy school with 6 of his friends and then next year when he turns 4 will go to LMNO preschool! I am teaching the first 2 weeks then have 10 weeks off while he goes to the other houses. He did great and I am so excited to see him learn to take directions from other people and hopefully learn a thing or two! After school we picked up Max and went to lunch to celebrate. We hit chickfila because it is our favorite spot really and everyone eats and plays it's perfect. Larry joined us and Noah told him all about his first day of preschool. Big moments in our lives! I love hearing him speak he is very articulate and can express himself really well. It is neat to hear things from his point of view, he might be crazy and wiggly but he is getting SO much better at taking direction and obeying and is in time out less and less. 

These 2 are just the best buddies! I love their little budding relationship. They are both protective of each other and think of each other when one isn't at a place...like at the dentist if one is there they want to get an extra price from the box to bring to their brother. I love getting pictures of them when they are cute together. And this baby below is just the cutest little sweet thing ever. I could eat her up with that tiny pony tail. She is becoming a good little eater and loves all the blueberries that come in the fruit cups that the boys think are awful! Ha! 

 

Creating Habits

Since school started and we are officially back into a routine, I am working hard on getting us all into good habits and routines that can hopefully become normal to us. I go in spurts where I am great for a month or I am great at a few of these things and slack on others. The goal is to be awesome on all of them all the time!  I've always been one to make beds, but later in the afternoon or get my kids dressed but maybe not till 10 am but now with 2 kids in school we are up and at them and have to leave the house by 7:45! Nice and early! Here are some things I'm trying hard to make habits in our lives...

*Making beds right in the morning
*Having playroom picked up before we leave house
*Teeth brushed, vitamins, and hair done before heading downstairs for breakfast
*Backpack and lunch done the night before
*A daily cleaning schedule...vacuum mondays, bathrooms tuesdays ect.
* Nightly scripture study with all 3 kids
*Homework and reading time 1 hour after school, get lunch, watch a show then homework no whinny, no complaining, hop to it or no one gets to play in the afternoon!

I am hoping as my mornings get even busier these next few years when all of the kids are going to school, or preschool, that this is all normal and there is no dragging of the feet or whining. My kids do great with routine and knowing the plan and I am trying to be the best mom for them and instead of putting out fires all day we can be productive and have smooth days! I don't believe that your day or morning for that fact has to be the crazy hectic mornings that sometimes having a bunch of kids can be portrayed as!

Locking Noah In The Car...

I don't really want to remember this, but it is also one of those memories that I hope I can look back on in 10 years and laugh, or cry either way it needs to be documented. The other day I took Noah to a birthday party in the morning while scout napped at home and Max was at school. I was feeling out of it, and kinda hazy, so when I pulled up to the house I wasn't probably really thinking about anything. I parked the car, opened the door, locked the door and slammed it shut. 2 seconds later I realized I had left my bag in there, with the keys next to it and poor Noah buckled into his car seat in the back seat. Now Noah has no clue how to unbuckle is 5 point harness carseat (thank goodness most of the time) I quickly realized what had happened as he started to cry asking me to get him out. OH my goodness I was so out of it anyways I called my mom and luckily she found the spair key (which is missing a lot of the time) I had to wait about 10 minutes for her to get over to the house and in the mean time I was trying to calm poor Noah down who had been crying and screaming and kicking and getting nice and sweaty in there. I kept trying to get him to try to unbuckle his seat, because I know from there he would have been able to unlock the door. It was so sad and I felt SO SO bad and also SO grateful it wasn't 110 degrees yet and that Scout wasn't with us. My mom arrived and saved the day. I got Noah out and the poor guy was so worked up it took him awhile to calm down and take some breaths. It is moments like that, that make me realize just what a little guy he really is, that he was so scared and helpless. I kept saying sorry and explaining what had happened he finally took his binki out and said "its okay mom" oh poor boy. Anyways I hope that it never happens again, and in some ways I am surprised it took this long to happen but boy am I glad I didn't have to break a window or anything!

Max First Day Of School!

Max set off on his first day of school this week! He is doing transitional Kindergarden at Brooks school, the same elementary school I attended when I was little. He was super excited to go to his new big kid school and meet all his new friends. We went back and forth on sending him to regular kindergarden or doing a 2 year program that our school now offers. We decided to give him that extra year to really learn and transition and I think it will be great fit for him. He is learning to read slowly and is excellent at numbers and there are a million reasons why we chose to do TK but one is that we hope instead of being in the middle of the pack he will be at the top academically as well as have more leadership opportunities as he grows. We were concerned with him being a boy and one of the youngest, and now after he has been there a few days I think it was  a perfect choice. There are some other boys who are newly 5 as well and he has made some great friends. As you can tell it has been a choice that has weighed heavily on our minds, Larry and I both know how important school is and what a difference a year can make in a young kids life.

Anyways enough of that...Max was amazing his first day. He gave me a hug and walked right into his room. He is a pro now after preschool really and I felt happy and proud of him. I wasn't sad or worried for him, I know he is in a safe school and that his teacher is wonderful. Plus it is only half way so he wasn't gone to long. Noah did miss him a lot though and acted up like crazy. He gets to start preschool in a few weeks so I am hoping he will be excited to have his own thing. One thing I am excited about is joining the PTA and getting involved at the school. I loved going to Brooks as a Kid and I am so excited to have my kids experience it now. I also am super lucky that my mom offered to watch the other kids every Friday so I can volunteer in Max's class. Sometimes I miss working but I wouldn't be able to do half of these things If I worked so I am really excited to embrace the stay at home, PTA mom, it was what I wanted for so long and what I longed for as I studied my life away in college so it's here this new phase of motherhood and I'm happy to enter into it!

Let's check this cute little guy out! OH I love him so much and am loving the little kid he is turning into! I don't feel like time is flying by, but I do feel like these next few years will fly by because of how fast he is learning, developing, and growing. He is so smart and thinks way out of the box but yet he still cries when he gets hurt, or nervous and he still wants you to lay by him and hold him. I love that little kindergarden face and am so excited to see what he becomes! Get ready for 20 something years of school buddy, buckle in it is a long and wild ride! 

THE BAR!!

Larry finished taking the California State BAR today! WHOOT WHOOT!!!

 4 years of law school

12 weeks non stop studying 

1 massive test

3 days

27 hours of testing

HE IS DONE!! 

Now we have to wait...4 long months 

 I met up with him just as he finished and summited his work for the day and we celebrated at our favorite place. He felt good, he worked and studied hard and he hopes he never has to take the test again. We prayed hard and we hope that those prayers were heard. I sent about 50 emails out to all our family and friends asking them to keep Larry in their thoughts and prayers as he took the test. 

I kept reading him the responses we got back all from people who support and love our family. It made my heart swell thinking of what a great support system we have. I know he felt those prayers as he was able to stay calm and recall all he had studied. This test is nasty and the pass rate is low, even if he felt super confident he could not pass so we are being cautiously optimistic. I am practicing the principle of faith probably more then I ever have in my life. But for now we wait, and move on with our lives. He started back to work and is busy as ever putting countless hours in, almost no different then school :) We hope we get to recreate this picture come November! 

Scout Turns ONE!!!

My perfect baby girl turned one year old today. My heart aches for the fact that this has been the fasted year of my life. I mean seriously I blinked and she turned one. I love her so much, my heart can't handle it sometimes, if feels like it will burst with pride when she smiles or does something cute. We had a rough start those first 4 months with the colic and the constant crying but then suddenly she changed and this sweet beautiful calm baby appeared. She is so sweet and loving, she has the best little spirit and she is loved and adored by all. I am sad to see her grow out of babyhood and into toddlerhood but the days pass by and I have to embrace it!

She is now walking everywhere with a funny little buddha stance with wide legs it's the best. She claps her hands and cheers for everything. She can say mama, dada, hi, bye, baby, and uh-oh! She waves her little hand when she says hi, makes me want to die it's so cute. She loves babies, and to poke their eyes...why do they always do that? She climbs up stairs but now down and she climbs everything!! The other day I put her on the couch turned my back and she climbed up onto the table behind the couch, she thought it was the best thing ever. She sleeps like a champ taking 2 naps a day and sleeps all night long still with her beloved boppy pillow! She gets super excited in the morning when you come to grab her, screaming, kicking and laughing. She loves playing with her brothers, or being in the room with them and she loves to eat legos. She loves to put things in something then pull them out again, over and over again.

Her favorite thing to do is be held :) She loves to cuddle and put her head on my shoulder. Every time she gets a blanket she pulls it closer to her face and sighs, I love it. She eats vanilla yogurt everyday and loves yogurt bites. She also loves licking peanut butter off a spoon and when she is done eating she throws all her food off her tray.

We threw a sweet ice cream party for her to celebrate her mile stone. It was a fun party to plan and I love having people come over who love her just as much. It takes a village to raise a family and I have such a good village!

Loved all the little ice cream things around the table, made it feel just like summer and her pink cake! It was tiny but I love getting to decorate with pink now! 

We did ice cream sundaes with lots of toppings and cones for those like Max who like nice plain things! It was simple but very festive! 

 

 

My favorite part of the whole thing was putting her gold S on this wall and then decorating it with pictures from the last year. It brought back lots of memories and made my heart swell seeing her grow over the year. She was the most beautiful newborn baby ever! Those cheeks of hers have been kissed a million times. 

Her classic and new tradition of taking their picture with the Birthday sign! Love her outfit with ice cream cones all over it and that little profile of hers is just the best thing ever!! 

 

We had lots of friends over and at the end sang to her and let her go at her cake. She was timid but slowly she started to eat the frosting and got to the cake. Max was concerned she would get burned with the flame but he protected her...good brother. 

She really started to go at it, love that fat little fist stuffed into her mouth. Oh I just lover her so much!So much sugar! 

 

 

Happy Birthday dear girl. You are so special and so loved! You have made our family so much better and have brought a lot of love too. You make everyday better with your bright smile and I feel so blessed and privileged to be your mom. I hope you have the best life and I want so much for you! My baby Scout I love you so!