June Catch Up

I got my camera back from FL (after losing it there) so now I can catch you up on our month of June! Today is the first of August, our summer is 2/3 over and it has literally flown by for us. We have been so busy that we may even welcome being "stuck" in Sheridan for a few months when the snow comes. Maybe!! But for now, let me show you (pictures to follow) what we have been up to. A family vacation to Florida was the highlight of our month. We spent the first week and a half finishing up school and preparing to go. The trip was a blast although I don't advice visiting FL in the summer, it is VERY HOT!! When we got back from FL we were thrilled to have some of our friends from Optometry school come to visit. Trent and Brooke, your kids are so big now. We didn't realize how much we have missed you til you came! Thanks for taking the time to stop by and see us! We enjoyed it so much!!
Now for the pics, this is a sampling of our FL trip.

Waiting for our airplane in Denver, CO
First Day at SeaWorld

My computer is having difficulties so more pics will come later!

A Great Man Moves On!

My Grandpa Smith passed away on July 4th in the evening. He left us after visiting all his family that lived locally in the last 24 hours, left us on a Sunday, left us on the 4th of July, and left us while on a walk with his sweetheart! All of these things add up to make it one special departure. Grandpa loved his family more than anything, he honored the Sabbath Day and taught us to do the same, he loved God and his country, and he treated Grandma like a Queen. Truly words cannot express the feelings of respect, admiration, and love I have for my Grandpa. He was and is a great man. Upon contemplating his passing the past few days, I have found myself reflecting on the blessings of the Savior. What a marvelous gift to know that there is life after death. I know Jesus Christ was resurrected and know that we all will be. For that knowledge and the many marvleous gifts that came from amd through Jesus Christ I thank my Heavenly Father!! And that is why I say that a Great Man has moved on. He is now watching over me and my family! I know he is progressing and will be waiting for each of us!!

A picture of my girl cousins and grandpa at his 80th birthday!

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

To all my dear friends who may like me be struggling with being the mom they want to be... one who is patient and never yells, one who is fun and positive, one who disciplines her children with a soft and kind voice... the above video (click on link) was very hopeful for me! I am blessed to be able to stay home with my children. This has been my dream since I was a child. I have always wanted to be a mom!! But that doesn't mean it is always easy, I am grateful for the reminder that I am doing the work of God by raising these children with Joseph and how ever hard it is, it is WELL WORTH the effort!!

Back from Florida!!

We returned from our family trip to Florida last night and this morning I am so tired! I guess that is the sign that we had a great time, right!! So, before I dive into laundry and all that goes into settling back into life, I thought I would check out what you all have been up to while I have been gone.

We did have a wonderful trip and pics will come soon, but until then, the lesson learned yesterday is this...
If you are going to forget your camera at the house, make sure that your driver's license isn't in the camera bag. It makes it a little hard to board an airplane without it!!

Liv is ONE!!

Last Week of School!

I arrived home Sunday night so I could be here to spend the last week of school with the kids. Emma esp. was missing her fellow girls in the family! I loved the last week of school as a child and still do as an adult. Although I failed to charge my camera so I don't have pictures to show the moments, here is a list of what we did to celebrate!

-Playday at School: Filled with bounce houses, relay races, and dunk tank.
-Last Day Pizza Lunch
-End of School Party: with water balloons, Popsicle, and red rover
-Trip to library for summer reading material and 1st trip to outdoor swimming
pool(even Olivia loved it!)
-Date night for Joseph and I to celebrate our 10 year anniversary (can you believe
it has been 10 years!)
-Ended the week with Olivia's one year birthday (more about it in next post!)

so, Let SUMMER BEGIN!!

Leaving a Legacy

I made a spontaneous trip to Utah this past week. It was unexpected and emotional, and I am so very glad I had the ability to go. My Grandpa Smith fell and had emergency surgery last Monday morning! I don't care how old a person is, when things change it is always hard. After reading a beautiful blog post by my sister-in-law, I began to ponder the word "Legacy." What legacies have been left for me? Am I living up to them? What legacy will I leave for my children and grandchildren? My grandpa has left the most remarkable legacy for me and our family. I don't know two better people than my grandparents. They are the best examples of service, love, gratitude, compassion, and righteousness. I was able to share a few brief moments with Grandpa before I came home that I will never forget. I hope to live true to the legacy he left and leave a similar legacy for my future posterity! What a remarkable gift the relationships we have in this life are!!

I also got to be a part of wedding dress shopping with my sister while I was there! It was so much fun! I am so happy for her. She has chosen a wonderful man to marry and I know they will be very happy! Ash, thanks for sharing the fun with me!! You looked beautiful!!! The circle of life!

In other news, School let out today. We had an end of school party that I forgot to take my camera to, but we had a lot of fun.
-RED ROVER
-OBSTACLE COURSE
-WATER BALLOON FIGHT
-POPSICLE
YEAH SUMMER!! We are so excited to have you here!!

Orchestra Concert!

How would you like to teach this many 1st and 2nd graders how to play the violin?
Although we are not exactly sure how they sounded individually, the group sounded great! At least it looks like they know what they are doing!

Learning to Walk!

Snowy Walk to School?!

Can You Guess the Date of this Picture?!

For Grandma Pendleton

Liv: "Grandma, I love my dress you made!! Don't I look pretty?!"
Liv: "Hey wait, I think I can do something fun with this!"
Liv: "Yep, sure enough!"
Liv: "It makes a great peek-a-boo dress! Thanks Grandma!!"

For Grandma Katschke!

Karen has always told me that giving a child a chicken bone is the best teether they can have. Having an aversion to meat on bones myself, the thought always grossed me out and I never tried it. Joseph took charge this time and gave her a bone. Well, guess what Grandma?! You were right!
SHE LOVED IT!!
REALLY SHE COULDN'T GET ENOUGH!!
Even Taylor and Emma got in on the fun!

So, I will admit it worked and was a good teether as well as play toy, I just couldn't look at her while she did it. Even now the pictures make me a little queasy!

Marathon Blogging!

So sorry for my marathon blogging habits! I am really bad about getting my pics from my camera to my computer and then getting them in a post is another few weeks. Hence many times I end up with many posts at once. As my sister in law put it, "we love it when Amy posts because we know we are going to get a lot!" I am sure this is frustrating to have feast and famine, esp. for the Grandparents who need updates, but bare with me. I will try to catch us up over the next couple days!

Back to Running!

I have heard the phrase, "Well, I guess you may just have to give up running," from a lot of well meaning family and friends over the past 2 years as I have had some rough health, but I am happy to say my doctor has given me the go ahead and I am able to run again. Although not very fast, I love it and am hoping to do a fair amount of running this summer while the weather is nice! Here is a pic with two of my friends right before we ran the 5K at the Beaver Creek Slide.

Spring Soccer!

Spring Soccer is always unpredictable in Wyoming. We play in rain, snow, and sunshine. This year we had a number of 40 degree days so Olivia and I watched from the car. Madi didn't want to be left out of the fun this year and she did itty bitty soccer. Between the three it has been a crazy month and this mom is grateful that our last game is today!

Engagement Announced!

I have a lot of things I want to blog about and hope to update you on some of our comings and goings this week, but for the moment I am going to be self-indulgent!

My little sister announced her engagement on Saturday!! She is getting married in August and I am so happy for her! Eight years apart in age has left us going through nearly every life experience at vastly different times. However, I couldn't ask for a closer sister! When we are together we laugh because we frequently say the same thing at exactly the same time. She is one of my dearest friends and loves my children like they are her own, (although she really hates when people tell her how cute her kids are when she has them in a store! She definitely doesn't look old enough to have 4 kids, but neither do I, right? don't answer that!) So, to my wonderfully talented sister! CONGRATULATIONS! I am so very happy for you!!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of you women who have impacted my life, you truly are the hero's I look up to and have learned so much from!
(Most Especially you Mom! You will always be my greatest hero!)

"Somebody's Hero"

She's never pulled anyone from a burning building
She's never rocked Central Park to a half a million fans, screaming out her name
She's never hit a shot to win the game
She's never left her footprints on the moon
She's never made a solo hot air balloon ride, around the world,
No, she's just your everyday average girl (but)

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her baby with a skinned up knee
A little kiss is all she needs
The keeper of the cheerios
The voice that brings Snow White to life
Bedtime stories every night
And that smile lets her know
She's somebody's hero

She didn't get a check every week like a nine-to fiver
But she's been a waiter, and a cook and a taxi driver
For twenty years, there at home, until the day her girl was grown
Giving all her love to her was her life's ambition
But now her baby's movin' on, and she'll soon be missin' her
But not today, those are tears of joy runnin' down her face

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her daughter in her wedding dress
She gave her wings to leave the nest
It hurts to let her baby go down the aisle she walks right by
Looks back into her mother's eyes
And that smile lets her know
She's somebody's hero

Thirty years have flown right past
Her daughters' starin' at all the photographs
Of her mother, and she wishes she could be like that
Oh, but she already is

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her mother in a rockin' chair
She runs a brush through her silver hair
The envy of the nursing home
She drops by every afternoon
Feeds her mama with a spoon
And that smile lets her know
Her mother's smile lets her know
She's somebody's hero

Tongue River Caves!

What is there to do in Dayton, WY you may ask, well we have lived here for 3 years before we discovered that there is something really cool! The Tongue River Caves. Our new friends invited us to join them to check them out and have a hot dog roast! It was a blast! So, now if any of you want to come in good weather conditions we have somewhere cool to take you!

The kids were too little to do much in the cave, but the river and small hike to get to the cave provided ample entertainment. Joseph and I plan to head back soon to explore the cave in more detail!!
(Thanks to Andrea for the pics since mine ran out of batteries right when we got there!)(Olivia tried watermelon for the first time and loved it! She chewed on the rind for 20 min. I think we found our newest teether for her!!)

Why Wyoming?

After having a debate with a close family member over why we have chosen to live in Wyoming, I have been reflecting on that question a lot myself and here is what I have come up with.
I firmly believe that there are good and bad things about every where. Here are the big 4 negative's to living in Wyoming for me,
1-Distance from Family (although it could be worse)
2-Travel (esp. when trying to see family!!)
3-Weather(really who likes snow 9 months a year)
4-Lack of Shopping (pathetic I know, but I really love a good mall!!)

So those are my reasons why I would leave, but here are the positives. (In no particular order of importance!!)
1-Strong Family Oriented Community
2-Ward family that would and has given much to us
3-Wonderful school system
4-Beautiful scenery
5-safe environment for my children to grow up in
6-good friends
7-Awesome YMCA program
8-Career that not only pays the bills and allows me to be a stay at home mom for my children, but also one that fulfills my husband and will help meet all the goals my husband has regarding a career
*mind you I realize that many places also offer these positives, but for what ever reason the Lord directed us here*

So, for those who I have given a negative image of Wyoming, I ask you to look past my past struggles with living here. It has not been easy to adjust to a new community, but we have been received with more than open arms. Although I have gone through varying degrees of like and dislike regarding our settling arrangements, I am now determined to focus on the list of positives and not negatives. For those of you that this personally affects by not having us closer, I am sorry. For the family distance alone I many times wish it could be different. We miss so much by being away and we love you all so much, but this is where we are supposed to be. It has taken my nearly 3 years to know this for myself, but now I do. Coming into town this past trip home, I finally felt like I was coming home. I do love it here and although I don't know why, I know this is where the Lord wants my family right now.
So, for those that care or just needed something to do for 5 min. this is why Wyoming is the right place for us. I am glad to have this realization come since, it looks like this will be our home for a long time to come!

Violin Lessons at School!

The kids chose to do violin for their block rotation this year, I was leary of it at first because I don't play so I can't help them and they are already taking private piano lessons. The had their first performance this last month and did really well. They both seem to enjoy it and if they want to pursue it down the road I would be on board!
(PS. Thanks Uncle Jeff and Aunt Carly for the BYU jersey! He loves it, even though his friends give him slack for it because they are WY fans!)