Yejin

We finally got to meet my new baby niece today! Sweet little Yejin is just two months old and she is so sweet. We all fought over who could hold her. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins!

Brad was at his dental conference all day but when he did make it home we all went out to dinner and then to Top Golf to play. The kids have been wanting to go there since they heard about the fun Brad and I had there in Arizona over a year ago. They loved it and it was fun to enjoy that time with everyone. Grandpa bought the kids ice cream sundaes and they were delicious!

My Parent's House

We road tripped to Utah this afternoon! I checked the kids out of school early so we could all get packed up and be ready to leave when Brad got home from work. He was home earlier than we thought and we made good time to my parents house! It’s so good to be here!

The kids were great in the truck. We played musical chairs a lot and I eventually ended up in the back with Luke and Ryder. They are party animals! But happy, so it wasn’t too bad. We’re excited to spend time with family!

Tuesday

Tuesday is Ryder’s favorite day of the whole week. He goes to gymnastics class and then right after that he has a play date with all his little friends. And then right after that we get to go pick up his siblings from school. He is always so happy, fun, cute, smiley, and funny on these days. It makes me love Tuesday almost as much as I love Thursday!

Sometimes I don’t feel like I get enough accomplished in a day. But on days like today when Ryder and I do preschool together and he gets out and has fun playtime, I know he feels loved and he loves life. And that makes me feel accomplished.

Toddlers

We finally had great fall weather for Kade’s flag football game! We were loving it until the sun went behind the clouds and then we were super cold again.

Luke is a super busy boy but he can be super cute as well. I sometimes wish away these toddler days but there are things about it that I know I’ll miss. The new things he learns each day, the way he played peek a boo with the cashier, the big random hugs he’ll give us with his sweet “Aww!” noise, and his innocent sweetness and curiosity. We love him.

Missionaries

I have two nephews and two nieces serving missions right now. My nephews are both in the MTC in Provo and it was so fun to see a picture of them together! They both seem to be doing well which is so good to hear!

Tenley

We had quite the busy, fun day celebrating our sweet Tenley girl! Kade’s football game was this morning and then she and I spent the afternoon together. We went to Brush Crazy and painted ceramics. Tenley loved it but I definitely felt out of place. I’m not much of an artist! But it was so much fun to have one on one time with her. The weather was beautiful so we walked around down town for a little bit and shopped. Then we picked up pizza, watched a movie, opened presents, and ate cake! We love our sweet funny girl!

Birthday Weekends

Tenley is celebrating her 8th birthday tomorrow so we had to start the party today! Well, maybe we technically started the party yesterday. She had donuts in her classroom and we took her out to dinner a restaurant of her choice. She got a special dessert and loved being sung to. She’s a special girl and we’re lucky to have her!

Family Promise

This afternoon was a bit crazier than normal. Tenley had activity days, Kade had football practice, and I had a church meeting. I dropped Tenley off with a friend who took her to the church, then I dropped Ryder and Luke off with Brad at his office, then I dropped Kade off at football practice and headed to my meeting. My meeting was all about taking care of the homeless families in our community. It was with a number of different church congregations in town. It's neat to be a part of a community doing so much good for those with less. I came home feeling even more grateful for my children, our warm home, our opportunities, my husband who earns all the money around here, and chances like this to help others.

Hot Chocolate

I’m beginning to think that Montana only has two season; spring and winter. I think we had fall weather for one week and since then we’ve been getting hit with winter storms. This morning was 60 degrees and then right around noon the temperature plummeted to 40 and then a few hours later it was snowing. If nothing else, it makes me laugh. I wonder how many years of this it will take before I stop laughing.

After picking up the kids from school they begged for some hot chocolate at home. It was the perfect after school snack for today.

Life and Feelings

That sounds like a really deep title. But I’m not about to get deep on here. Not today anyway. I’m just grateful that Ryder and I were able to play the game of Life today. He was adamant all morning that we play it so I finally got it out after lunch.

I’m also grateful for our feelings chart. Ryder often changes it to what he’s feeling. He’ll even come and show me what he changed it to so I can know how he’s feeling. Like he did this morning when I wasn’t playing Life with him. He came and showed me that he was sad. But after we played life he was happy! Our days are filled with different emotions and I’m glad my kids don’t feel like they have to be happy all of the time. The sad times make the happy times more meaningful.

Cinnamon Rolls, Kade's Lessons

I am the worst at making cinnamon rolls. Brad's mom always made delicious homemade cinnamon rolls and I have tried so hard to do the same so Brad can have them on weekends like this. It's general conference and also the 6 year anniversary of her passing. I knew I needed cinnamon rolls. But I've tried several recipes and have failed time and time again. So I bought frozen ones from the store... Brad saw them in the freezer and was pretty disappointed. He even commented that he might make them himself! So I decided to scour the web for a new, hopefully amazing, recipe. I am so happy to say that I found one! Thank you Mel, you are a life saver for sharing such an amazing recipe that even I couldn't mess up it's deliciousness! They turned out so yummy and I am so relieved. Now I have a go-to cinnamon roll recipe. Yay!

We had a great day as a family. It was sunny outside with no snow to be seen. It was technically my night to lead Family Home Evening, but Kade asked me if he could switch me night instead because he had a great lesson idea in mind. He never told me what it was and I was excited to see what he had come up with. He started his lesson with the newest Book of Mormon video and then he told us of an analogy he had come up with while we were moving rock this past weekend-side note, we got 4 yards of rock delivered to our driveway for our backyard garden area. We had to shovel it into a wheelbarrow and drag it to the backyard. The rock needed to go on either side of our sidewalk. He told us that the sidewalk is like the covenant path that we need to follow, and if we fall off, we'll slip away in the rocks and it will be hard work to get back on the path so we need to try hard to stay on the path. This actually happened a time or two while he was pulling the wheel barrow, so he was speaking from experience about the hard work that it takes to get back on the path!
It was the most simple and beautiful message from my smart and deep thinking 10 year old. He is a wise boy and he is exactly right. I loved what he shared. It was a great message.

He then asked us all what our favorite talks from conference were. Brad loved Elder Bednar's talk, Tenley loved hearing the prophet, Ryder loved the "every day, every day, every day" talk, I loved Elder Holland's talk, and Kade loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk (the reference to The Hobbit helped I think!). It was a great conference and I'm looking forward to reading and re-listening to the talks.

Conference Weekend

We had a great start to the conference weekend. Kade had two football games which Brad was nice enough to take him to. It was way too cold and windy to take Luke out in so I stayed home with him. It was a bummer to miss Kade’s games. But he did a great job! He had a few good runs and was able to okay quarterback as well.

Tenley and I watched the General Women’s session of Conference tonight together while we ate Cafe a Rio and ice cream. It was fun and she was very talkative. I think she enjoyed the girl time.

Everything!

I found so much to love today! The sunshine, puddles (you really had to hear Luke's giggle and Ryder jumped in the puddles! Watching him see things for the first time is amazing!), lunch with Kade, the hot wheels cars track, happy kids, short work days, breakthroughs on research, and neighborhood walks. It was such a great day.
Each night when I ask my kids what their favorite part of the day was I usually have to list out everything that happened that day so they can remember and then choose their favorite. But more often then not they end up saying that they loved everything. I agree with them on that today. I loved everything!

October

It actually feels like fall again! I hope winter doesn't come for a few more months. Tenley finished decorating our calendar and I can tell it's going to be great month! She is SO excited for her birthday and for her baptism. It is definitely a very special month for her!

My Budding Artist, Gratitude

Tenley’s new favorite way to relax when she gets home from school is to draw. I love that she’s choosing to do something other than electronics and I really love her artwork! This sweet girl is pretty talented to me.

Kade had a pretty tough day today. His class was loud, obnoxious, and not listening to their teacher. Disappointing adults really affects Kade and even though he was trying hard to be good, his whole class was punished. This is the third day this week that he’s been so overwhelmed with school. He seems unhappy and it breaks my mom heart to see him so distressed. All I want to do is keep him home from school and away from the things causing him pain, but I do not want to teach him to runaway from his problems. So we let him talk it out, I made his favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for dessert, and we watched a shark show because he loves sharks. Things may not be so fun outside of our home, but I’m committed to making our home a happy, loving safe place.
I gave Kade a notebook tonight that said:
“To: Kade
Find something to be grateful for everyday and know that I love you so much!
Love, Mom”
I hope he starts his own little gratitude journal and is able to find and see the joy around him every day.

Luke's Giggles

Luke was laughing like crazy this morning! He loves to tease and so he was teasing Ryder in the bathtub and gigging about it. It was so funny! His favorite way to tease me is to yell, "Dada!" To which I'll say, "Mama!" And then he says "Dada!" again and laughs. He is the biggest tease.

The sun came out today and it warmed up! Beside seeing snow on the ground it felt like a real fall day. I think fall may return for a little bit!