Chris's Birthday Party

About a week before Chris's birthday I was talking to Krissy about what their plans were and she mentioned she would like to do something but they don't have the space for everyone. I happy offered our house..after all that's why we built this house. I always wanted a gathering place where I could have my whole family under one roof...its a little crazy but at times my favorite. Krissy brought everything and got here about 30 minutes before everyone else. She decided to do cake mix waffles which is basically a cake shaped like a waffle. I asked if she wanted to make it into a waffle bar or something more "food" like  but she wanted to do simple and just do waffles so I just fed our family before everyone else got here. I thought the kids might find they didn't feel well if they just had cake for dinner. I made some waffle batter for me so I didn't have to just watch everyone eat...it worked well. The waffles were a hit

Of coarse there was some dress up that occured

Im grateful for this girl and our friendship in navigating life with in laws

Matt loves his drone and couldn't wait to show anyone interested at the party. 

They took it for a spin outside and then when it was time for everyone to leave instead of our usual selfie stick we used the drone it was pretty awesome.

I like to check in with Chris and Krissy quite a bit with everything going on with their fertility stuff just to see how their doing. Just thru that Krissy and I have found a pretty great friendship. Something this family I married into is lacking realizing how important it is to be part of each others daily lives. To truly have a relationship outside of just the couple of times we see each other a year we really need to make an effort, In Matt's family they seem to view success as how busy they are. When we get together I feel like we are on the clock and just going thru the motions. I found out during the party that the Brower girls have been planning a girls weekend away and have been including everyone but me and although my feeling were hurt momentarily I then realized that I probably wouldn't make the arrangements to go anyways. The older I have gotten I have realized that life is to short to do things you don't want to. I have moved past the point where I don't do things because I'm expected to but because I want to and I feel like it will help and up lift me then I don't do it. I prefer to spend my time with up lifting a positive people that take a true interest in my life and my families lives. With that being said I'm so blessed to have many of those people in my life.

Hang Out Days

My friend Ashley has had hard time lately. Her marriage is really struggling. They are trying to work things out but they have years of things that they need to work with plus all the "baggage" they brought into the relationship. Along with that her washer broke and the part was over a week out so for the last couple of weeks she has been coming over once a week to do her laundry. So she came over with the kids and they just play while we get the laundry done. She does about 11-12 loads a week which seems crazy to me since I do 4-5 and she only has one more kids than we do. But needless to say its a full day. We visit and eat lunch and just kinda do our own stuff. She had to run and clean a vacation rental so I kept the kids. She asked if I would tear Cy's car seat apart so we could wash it and Em decided it was the best place to hang out. 

I love to watch Em at this age interact with other babies. She loves them and gets so excited when she sees them. She especially loves Cy and he is getting more and more interactive with her all the time. He hasn't learned to be soft by any means so she isn't quite sure what to think about that but its cute to watch them interact for sure. Gracie and Morgan are usually to busy playing to care about pictures. They usually play really well together for 4-5 hours and then need some sort of break from each other. Im glad my girls have found good friends that they enjoy spending time with. 

On another side note. I have always had a really hard time making real friends. My personality has a tendency to want to care for people so I regularly check in on people but I find that often if I need something I have to ask for and seek out friends in order to get the help that I need. I have found this to be even more true lately. I have felt so alone and isolated. I have also found that many people more to where I live to be alone and get away from everything and everyone. With Ashley so busy with trying to situate her life it has just magnified how alone I feel. I wonder sometimes why we felt we were supposed to move where we did knowing that Matt would be gone alot. At times I really need/wish I had more community support and resources. That is one of the reasons we are thinking about relocating after our 2 years here are done. Only time will tell it would be nice if Matt got a new job where he didn't travel as much but to be honest Im getting used to it and it seems weird the weeks he is actually home. Its funny how life twists and turns. Two years ago I would have told you we would live in this house forever and this is where our grand kids would come to play but now Im not so sure. But I'm going to do mu best to put myself out there to be involved with others because I know that Im not alone in feeling this way.

We are Building an Ark

With all of the snow and the now unseasonable warm weather water has become a real issue more for others than for us but I noticed this morning that our trampoline hole now looks like an in ground swimming pool. Which was fine and kinda funny until it melt more and overflowed the hole heading towards the house. I was then worried we would have more problems with the window wells but that didn't seem to be the case. Once the hole started over flowing I pulled s couple pumps from window wells that weren't having issues and put them on the trampoline. The frame of the tramp was 7/5 in under water and the grass was 5 inches. The middle of the tramp was 12 inches under water. I have never seen so much water in my life. Luckily we have the pumps and know how to use them so after 12 hours of pumping there is only about 2 inches of water left on the tramp. It was probably a really good thing that I followed the prompting I had to put the pumps out there prematurely because about 4 pm it started pouring rain and then 3 hours later turned to snow and now everything is covered in snow again. Would the water have been fine probably but who knows. What I have learned is when you have a prompting even inf you think its just a thought you just do it. Now at least when it warms up again we will have more space for the water in the hole since we pumped out quite a bit of it. My mom called and asked if we are building an ark yet. Although the water issues are annoying Tremonton is having some devastating flooding that is over taking homes and making so they can't live a normal life. Right now they are unable to do laundry, flush a toilet, or really put anything down the drain. For now we will take it and deal with it as it comes but I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy it had snowed again becuase now all the water is frozen...at least for now.

Headboard Project

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good quick project. What other might not know is that I can be extremely handy. I feel like I was raised to be that way to some extent because my sisters are like that as well. So doing a project with one of them just makes for a double bonus so when Nic mentioned wanting to make some headboards I was quick to offer my services. So Friday while Hallie was out of school we headed to Kaysville to do some building. Nic had already bought the wood and had it precut (since Kyle doesn't like her running the saw) so allw e had to do was assemble them. They went together pretty quickly and I thought we did a pretty great job.

The kids were really good! They jumped, played, and ultimately watched a movie as the day got later and they all got tired. Em was even really good until about the last hour and then she was so tired and just wanted to be held. We brought in the slide from outside and she loved it so Nic said we could bring it home until she needed it back for the baby...which wont be for a while.

After we put them together we got to painting. First 2 coats of primer then 2 coats of white paint. I loved how they looked after 1 coat of primer. They had like a white washed look but it wasn't the look she was going for so we got them all painted. They looked really good but the pictured don't pick up the definition very well.

The last little bit Em was our helper but she was good about not touching the paint and just watching youtube videos...lol mostly Moana videos. The love this girl has for music is adorable and the song how far I'll go is a definite fav

Friday Night Entertainment

Matt ordered a drown to use for work and to say he loves it would be an understatement. He spent most of the weekend playing with it and flying it around. Friday when it arrived by the time he got it up and going it was dark so he flew it in the house...lol The kids thought it was hilarious and he even streamed what the drown was seeing on the tv. He's going to be able to do some really fun things with it and it is now on the list of things he really wants to buy for us. He has so many talents and just when I think I've seen all of them he comes up with something else he is amazing at.

Valentine's Day Week

I think Valentine's Day is so fun. I remember growing up my mom always had a little gift for us and we usually made sugar cookies in the shape of hearts and took them to our neighbors. Although I think the idea of Valentine's Day is kinda silly considering that you spend one day showing love to people you care about...which is something I think that should be done on a daily basis. Having kids for Valentine's day I think makes it the most fun. My mom has been good about sending the girls a Valentine's package and every year they are so excited. They got socks, hair bows, and some treats.

Friday Ashley came over to do her laundry since her washer has been broke for over a week. We ended up doing 11 loads of laundry and it took closed to 12 hours! The kids all had a great time playing and we even did pizza all together for dinner. With Matt out of town it made the time pass quicker than being home alone for sure. I sent Matt this picture and said...this is why we built an island this big. Seven kids 10 and under. After dinner we watched trolls and all of the kids loved it. We went thru 6 bags of popcorn!

Saturday Matt and I went out to dinner and ran some errands including buying new garments. Its so nice to have shiny white garments now mine were getting pretty gray looking. The kids had a fun little Valentine's party with their babysitter while we were gone. Tuesday(being Valentine's Day) both Hallie and Gracie had school and got to make Valentine's for their class. We did Hershey kiss roses that I learned to make when I was a kid. They came together really quick and the girls were great to help. They both did it all by themselves. Gracie is getting so good at writing letters and didn't even                                                                        have to ask for help.

While the girls did Valentines Emery entertained herself in the box...can you see her black socks out the window they cut out.

On Sunday I dressed all the girls in pink and red...because its fun. They looked so cute

Valentine's morning I worked so Matt got up and got the kids off to their activities. Luckily we were prepares so Matt got up and got the cinnamon rolls(his request) ready to have their special breakfast. I'm grateful he's willing to help me out with the traditions I like even when I'm not around

 After preschool Matt and Gracie had a cookies and milk party just the two of them while Em was napping

She got this box, that her teacher had made her, for her valentine's .

Gracie is loving her Elaina figurines...they are getting played with a lot. Hallie got a book and a jewelry box and Em got some trolls figures and a color wonder book

Love Day spans more of a week for us and lets be honest it really lasts the whole year. I love Matt and the girls and can't imagine my life without them. Im grateful for the gospel and the fact that we can always be together no matter what 

Daddy Daughter Valentines Dance

When I heard about his and how much fun everyone had last year I knew I wanted to talk to Matt about it. He was excited and bought the tickets to take the girls and invited his dad to join them. I think the girls will remember this dance for a long time. They had a professional photographer at the dance that took pictures of them as well. I think they turned out so cute.

The girls were excited to get all dressed up but didn't know where they were going. They both got flowers as well

Matt took them to Arbys as always their favorite place to eat

Then they headed for Tremonton and the dance. There were quite a few people there. They had refreshments and a treat table for the kids to make treat bags to take home. 

They had cute photo booth props too

Of coarse there was princesses. Matt said the girls were so excited they got to dance and interact with them

Gracie enjoyed some cuddle time and Im sure grandpa enjoyed the break from dancing

I love this picture and how she is dancing on grandpas feet I guess she did this most of the night

Towards the end of the dance they dropped a bunch of balloons from the ceiling and Hallie of coarse had to bring some home

Im so glad when the girls get to make memories that they will always remember with some of the most important men in their lives. Im so grateful they have them and their example to follow