Living in the Moment

When will I be stronger?

2021-09-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I went through some trials that just about consumed me. It started with a very sad year of having 3 miscarriages in a row. I then became pregnant with my 9th baby right around the same time that I became the chair of our home school commonwealth, a pretty big job. This turned out to be a really hard year being pregnant and the head of an organization, and mentoring classes. Almost everyone in our little group went through something big and hard that year which was a lot of extra navigating. I had my baby half way through the year and she ended up in the hospital with RSV at 3 months old. At the same time, a whole bunch of drama happened that could have easily destroyed our group. I was trying to care for my sick baby and deal with upset people at the same time. It was more acute stress than I had ever been through, and I thought I had done a lot of hard things in my life. A couple of months later I had mastitis so bad that I ran a dangerously high fever for a couple of days. All of that to add to running a household of 11. Moving on, I continued to get the brunt of people in our group who were not happy about this or that for another year. The following school year, I continued to serve as chair and our home life was not doing so well. I had over scheduled my kid's activities. My oldest was in his first year of high school and needed to be driven to seminary, sports, etc. My girls had dance, and there were lots of music lessons. I was probably averaging 6 activities a day. Having a nursing baby and a high school-er was the busiest time for me as a mother ever. Having a high school-er and a baby is about as crazy as it gets in motherhood. Meanwhile, my mental health was giving out. This description of this time of my life is just a glimpse of what was going on. I didn't have enough of me to hold everything together any more. I felt kind of numb, I think, just to survive. There was no peace and I felt like I might crumble all the time.

You know how the scriptures tell us that our trials will make us stronger? Well, for me, after 3 years of living in an extreme overwhelm, I was not feeling stronger. I was worn out and mentally in big trouble. My stress threshold became very very tiny. Any small thing would put me over the edge. I could no longer handle much at all. My homemaking and mothering had been affected by all of this too. I knew I was in trouble, but had no idea how to fix it. I wondered many times, if I would end up being institutionalized.

Then one day, the world stopped.

I never thought that a pandemic could be an answer for me, and I am not glad that it happened that way. But for me, suddenly it gave me the break that I desperately needed. Just about over night, everything was cancelled. There was nothing on my schedule. I knew that it was time for me to heal.

The first thing I did was start walking. I walked and walked and walked. Every single morning I would roll out of bed, put on my shoes and head out the door. I would walk for 2 or 3 hours sometimes. I would pray, listen to the spirit and clear my head. I listened to a lot of uplifting talks, books, and podcasts. I did this for months, never missing a day.

The healing was significant. I was able to be more present with my kids and get my home in order. I felt so much more peaceful and closer to the spirit. I was healing.

I was hoping I was healed, but that was not the case.

I wondered to Heavenly Father why I was doing all this healing, but my stress threshold hadn't changed. I felt like a fragile little baby. I couldn't handle much at all. I thought that maybe some people can be so damaged that they can't become stronger. And yet, that isn't the principle I was taught.

As the next school year started on Zoom I felt that I wasn't ready to get back to it yet. I wasn't there. Every little stress did me in and I cried so easily. I wondered if this was just what was left of me. I continued to serve my school in a slightly lesser capacity and knew that it was a good thing for me that life wasn't completely back to normal yet. After several months of healing, I still wasn't ready. I was at least out of the danger zone though, that place where my sanity was in question.

Around this time, I talked with my doctor about what I had been through and how frustrated I was at how fragile I still was. I didn't want to take anti-depressants at all as I do not like the side effects. But I wanted to feel better. I had done all that I could and it wasn't enough. At my request, she gave me some natural supplements that I could try. I continued to struggle and was growing tired of the fight to feel whole again. I fell into the worst depression of my life. It was a scary place where I no longer cared about getting better. It felt good to feel bad. I had hoped that the supplements would be the answer, but I was running out of patience. Just when I was thinking that after all this work and time, I was doomed to never be my old self again, it got better. It took a whole 2 months, but the supplements were helping! I was slowly starting to feel that I could manage my life again.

But there was still the fatigue. I was so tired all the time. This had slowly been getting worse over about 10 years. Even though my mental health was improving, my physical health was worse than ever. For about a year, I had been researching and trying every supplement I could get. Some were very expensive and left me still depleted. I went to a mom's retreat with all my best friends and found that every couple of hours I had to sneak off to my room at the beach house and rest or sleep.

At home, I was very diligent about giving my body a good night's rest and yet I would still have to take one or two naps each day. Sometimes I had a good hour of energy in the morning and spend the rest of the day on the couch.

Then one day the spirit spoke to me loud and clear. I was praying and studying things out in my mind and the thought came to me like a conversation. "Do you remember about a year ago when you found this certain iron supplement and you thought, I am going to try this other super expensive thing instead? Well, get back to that iron." I was prompted to look over all of my medical records from the last few years. Every time I had my blood work done, there would be the comment from my doctor, "Your iron is a low." I had supplemented iron many times, but nothing ever seemed to help so I had given up.

After replaying all of this in my mind, I ordered the iron that I was feeling inspired about. Boy was that a miracle in a bottle. Two days after starting on the iron, I started smelling pennies, or blood. I couldn't figure out what was going on and then I realized I am probably getting that iron in my bloodstream. Luckily that was just temporary and by the next day I got my miracle. I began to bounce out of bed early each morning and could go go go all day long. I felt super human. I felt better than I had felt maybe ever. This lasted about a month and then tapered off to what I think is my normal, a good even amount of energy.

Many months later, I am still feeling better. I work hard to take care of my body physically, spiritually, mentally and socially. This is super important. I love my early mornings with myself, renewing and growing closer to God. I take all my supplements and feel pretty good.

It has been about a year and a half since those first days of healing began. Just this morning I was studying and I suddenly realized how far I have come on my healing journey. Once again I am serving on the board for our home school group. Preparing for the school year, we have had one curve ball after another for the last couple of weeks. Its been a lot. Life is really starting to get busy again. On top of that, we have had the virus, which has been a crazy experience. But as I sat and pondered it all this morning I had a realization.

I am stronger now! Finally!

I have taken the stresses from the last few weeks and navigated it like a boss, probably better than I could have before all of this. My home is running more smoothly than I can remember. I am being the mother that I want to be. It's not all too much! All that work of healing and I am stronger on the other side after all.

God is good. His promises are real. It isn't always as quickly as I want, and it took really hard work, but I know He was with me all along. I was given what I was needed all along the way, like little assignements one at a time.

And now strength, and gratitude.

I'm just getting started.

World Wide Fast and Heaven on Earth

2020-03-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today as a country we finished President Trums 15 days to stop the spread. In his daily press conference, he extended the program for another 30 days. Our governer put us on quarentine a week ago. Through all of this, I have been enjoying being home so much with my kids. Home has truly been a refuge from the storm for us. I love that all my kids are home and we are all together as a family. I feel like I am finally free from distractions and can focus on my own family and our homeschool. We have been following our simple schedule and it is working great. We make and eat great meals together and my favorite part of the day is our family devotionals. Every day at 10:00 we gather together, sing our favorite primary songs, study Come Follow Me, and then something schooly like a read aloud. I find that when I share what is mine, I have a lot to teach them. We watch videos on YouTube a lot as well. We have been learning the Prophets and Apostles song with hand motions and it has been so cute to watch the kids sing it. Luke especially likes to sing it. Our Primary Chorister send us some beautiful newer songs that we love to sing every day called Believe and I will Be What I Believe. I love how strong we can feel the spirit when we sing. If worry a lot about the future of this world, but feel a great sense of peace at the same time.

Today was fast and testimony meeting at home. The boys prepared and passed the sacrament to us and we had a full meeting. Everyone shared their testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was powerful. We also watched a Marco Polo of Lori and Larry sharing their testimony. Then we knelt and Peter rededicated our home to the Lord. Then we played a primary game with songs. Our prophet asked us to join in a world wide day of fast and prayer. We started our fast last night at 5:00 and went to 5:00 today. We prayed many times for peace, comfort, guidance and relief in the world. Peter and Eden requested our favorite German Apple Pancakes for dinner so I prepared that and everyone happily broke their fast with that yummy dinner.

I have been particulary focused on strengthening my relationship with the Lord during the last few weeks. My spirit has yearned for more time at home and free from distraction. I have been living in a state of overwhelm for so long that I felt like I was fighting chronic depression all the time. I felt like I was going crazy. As I began to focus on prayer and scriptures and listening to the spirit. About that time the world turned upside down and suddently my calendar went from too full to empty. For me it was a dream come true, but in a very strange way. I have continued to strengthen the spiritual side with the goal of having a very personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. My mental health is so much better., all better really. I hope I never again get so overwhelmed that it is so hard to funtion on a basic level. The peace that comes from following the Savior and living the Gospel is overwhelming during this time of uncertainty. I keep thinking of the song, "Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth." Boy, it sure feels like it right now.

Having home church and daily devotional time has really helped Logan. He went from barely being in the room to being present with us most of the time. He likes to be with us. The other day we were watching a little video about the Allegory of the Olive Tree and Logan was having a hard time sitting still so I sat him facing me on my lap and rocked him and rubbed his back while we watched. I stopped rubbing his back for a second and he said, "Keep doing that, you have magic hands!" I sure did.

We are reading the book Gifted Hands about Ben Carson. I chose this book because it tells about how he raised himself out of poverty by reading lots of books. I am planning to move this into a challenge similar to what Ben's mom gave him which was to read a book a week and write 2 reports about what they learned about. I will roll that out this week. We are also listening to The Swiss Family Robinson on the house intercom system at nights together.

Tonight I called all the family to the living room to write in our journals together. The kids are writing great things about Covid19. I hope to make this a weekly tradition.

We assigned the kids jurisdictions on the house a few weeks ago. They are in charge of one area all the time and keeping it in working order. Tanner has dishes, Carter has the laundry, Eden the tables and counters, dalling the floors, lily the bathrooms. It is going well and helping things to stay somewhat in order around here. It still gets pretty backed up with so much happening at home all the time but it is getting better.

Now that we have been given another month of staying home, I hope to work on one small section of the house each day organizing. I look forward to having all the time to do it. We are starting up our HGC homeschool classes again this week. That means the kids will be back to doing homework and I will be preparing for teaching Dallin's Quest class again, which takes a lot of time as well. Amazing how busy life is.

Having baby Miriam in our home is the best. She is a magical cherub. Everyone loves her and she makes everyone happy. In my opinion, everyone should have a baby to play with while quarentined, it is the best!

Before Carona Virus:

After Carona Virus:

Eden Made Cute St. Patrick cupcakes:

Lily leading a Primary Singing time activity:

Video messaging with my silly family:

Corona, gardening, and personal revelation

2020-03-24T23:16:00.001-07:00

I have been feeling a need to get back to journaling. This seems like a good place to wipe off the dust and get my thoughts and experiences. Right now we are living in an unprecidented time. For me personally, despite the scary circumstances in our world, I am sitting in my little world within my home and feeling so content. The Corona virus started making the news a couple of months ago and as time has gone by and every country and state has been infiltrated we began a "war" to fight this unseen enemy. My heart is heavy for the elderly who are most vulnerable and for those who are not able to work because everyone is on lock down. Peter is fortunate because construction is permitted to continue, however things do seem to be slowing a little. My calendar has gone from overwhelmingly full to completely empty. As a mother, this is what I have been craving for quite some time. I just haven't had the guts to make the big change. No dance, no music class, dr. appointments, and on and on and on and on.

Being home has been bliss. I love having all my chicks gathered and all to myself. I have been feeling selfish with my family as I feel my older children slowly slipping away from childhood and toward adulthood. I want to savor these next couple of years. The timing of this "Shelter at Home" seems to just fine to me. It is my silver lining during this unsure and scary time in the world. President Nelson has put out a video that said that this will pass. I have faith that it will and that everything will be okay.

4 days ago we decided to pull the trigger on building our dream garden on the north side of our yard. This is a rather large area that we have never put to any use. It is a hill and has mostly been home to overgrown blackberries or a favorite grassy area for the dog to do his business on.

First of all, we rented a rotatiller and tilled the ground and dug and dug until our hill was flat on top. We made 2 huge piles of dirt off to the side. Peter and I and our older 5 kids worked hard to till and dig and dig some more. We had to shape the little hill out a little farther to make enough room for everything. Then we built 4 large 4x12 boxes that were 12 inches high. We also had a old 4x4 box that we will use for strawberries and in the very corner of we have loose soil for a pumpkin patch. After laying weed clothe we filled the boxes half full each with the left over dirt from all the digging. We then purchased 5 yards of topsoil and finished filling the boxes. That was so much work to wheel the dirt push it up the little hill and dump it. We sprinkles some fertilizer on top to make it healthy for growing. My upper body is so sore! Today we purchased pea gravel and Peter and the kids spread that all around the garden. Carter and I made square foot grids on the large boxes with nylon string and a staple gun. Peter and Dallin got started on making a fence to keep the dog and little ones out. They are hoping to finish it tomorrow so that we can plant.

Everyone has been involved in this huge untertaking. It has been hard work and a good family project. It has also kept us busy and happy. The kids are so eager to get to planting. They are all feeling a great amount of pride and ownership.

I lost Peter's new work truck keys, or so I thought. I had driven his truck home yesterday when we borrowed a friend's truck for moving dirt. Out of habit I put the keys on the piano. A while later, I realized I had set them there and moved them to the hook next to the front door so that Peter would easily find them. I didn't think about it much after that until Peter needed to go to work this morning. They were gone gone gone. We scoured the house and Peter put out a 5 dollar reward to recruit the kid's help. After a while we said a prayer and continued the search. I started to feel that I wasn't listening for an answer. I went into the garage to see if I could find them and took the opportunity to pray again. This time I kept praying and LISTENING, instead of moving on. I instantly felt the warmth of the Holy Ghost enter my heart. I went through every room in my mind and felt a stuper of thought each time. Then the thought came to check the cars. I thought Peter had done that, but immediatly stopped praying and went outside. I first checked the truck that we had borrowed and our gray van that I was sure we hadn't driven in a couple of days. Then I realized the work truck that had missing keys had been moved to the street parking along with Dallin's car to make room for the truck full of dirt. I immediatley knew that someone had taken the keys from the hook and used them to move that truck. I walked toward the cars and looked into Dallin's car. Sure enough, Peter's keys were sitting right there in the cup holder. Dallin had used them to move Peter's truck and then moved his car, leaving the truck keys there. What a powerful lesson in seeking answers to prayer. I have been praying more diligently and reading the scriptures more lately. I have been seeking to keep the spirit with me and learning to listen to promptings. That warm feeling is so real and so comforting. that stupor of thought is also real and a powerful tool.

At the start of this year, Peter and I expressed a desire to begin traveling more as a family. I came up with a whole page of options and full intentions to do many of them. Each time we talked about a trip, we couldn't come to any decisions. It just never felt right. I became very frustrated that I could just set some dates or begin the process of planning anything at all. Not even a small trip. Well, here we are 3 months later and the whole world is shut down. There is no flying or even driving anywhere unless necessary. We never could have imagined that we would be having such a strange time. One for the history books. This was a powerful lesson to me of a stupor of thought. What a blessing.

This also happened last week. I started feeling anxious for the kids to have a schedule, being home all the time now. Every time I sat down to create one, I drew a complete blank. It was so weird. I even sat down with a blank page and absolutely nothing came. I finally realized that the spirit was teaching me to just be. Life is organic, and more enjoyable and full of creative learning just as we were. It wasn't until this reminder came that I was finally able to receive somewhat of a "schedule" It turned out to really be more of a core phase habit training schedule, with most of the day unscheduled. What a gift! It is so freeing.

Test

2016-03-04T15:38:00.001-08:00

April - June 2015

2015-12-18T14:47:00.001-08:00

Our awesome home school group hosted a family outdoor school. We went to our favorite campground and stayed while the kids went to all kinds of science and craft classes organized by the youth. We are so lucky to be able to participate in our LDS Commonwealth!

Eden and Lily went to an all girls chess tournament!

Scout activity for Dallin.

Next up was the Dickinson Family Reunion! This was a big affair with most of the sibling's families (11 of the 13) in town. What a huge weeklong party! The timing was just right for Grandpa Hedmans 100th birthday as well. The kids had a blast playing pool with cousins all week. We spent the night at Peter's parents most nights just so we could continuously play. That worked great with all the people who were in town visiting. It was like we were away on vacation too.

Just a few of Lucy's many, many laptop warp pictures:

Roller skating at our usual place.

The whole group head to Stub Steward campground where we stayed for 2 or 3 nights and also rented the big hall to hang out and eat in. It was such great bonding time. My kids grew so close to all their cousins that live so far away and even closer to the locals. There was lots of laughing, games and food.

We had a little bridal shower for Cassie, Luke's fiance!

Peter and Will hosted a sing a long one night that turned more into a dance off.

Easter Sunday, the Easter bunny came to our cabin, then a bunch of us went to watch General Conference at a near by church, then we had an Easter egg hunt and also did a lesson where we opened eggs to learn about all kinds of symbols about the Resurrection of Christ.

I brought a big bag of favorite children's books to the cabins and the kids loved gathering around to listen.

This was our dance off and the boys all got in the middle and did "the worm".

Egg Hunt. This silly Easter Bunny even showed.

Family Pictures.

We love how Luke is in a total plank trying to get out of the grandkid pictures!

Grandpa's 100th birthday bash was a huge event. The cultural hall dinner was crammed full to the brim with people

Preggo buddies. This is only 4 of the 6 pregnant sisters at the time.

All these little Arave cousins gathered for Clare's birthday. These girls love each other so.

We performed in a little variety show at homeschool group. It was a narration/acting out of the book "The Bag I'm Taking To Grandma's House" that we had prepared for our moms for Mother's Day.

Peter's brother Luke got married. We had a great week with lots of wedding festivities!

Eden's spring dance recital was a huge hit with our kids. The theme was "Let's go to the movies" so all those fun theme songs were entertaining!

Dallin needed to practice his life saving skills for his swimming merit badge so he got to practice on Eden and friend Arwen.

Carter turned 7. Somehow I can't find a single picture of the big event, but we sure do love our Cart Cart!

Dallin turned 12. Oh my, I could write a whole post on what that was like! In our church, this is a big deal because he received the priesthood and entered the Young Men's program. It was an awesome experience to watch him pass the sacrament for the first time. He is the littlest deacon and just so cute. He takes the priesthood very seriously passing the sacrament, collecting fast offerings and going to church early every week to prepare the chapel. He matured by leaps and bounds very suddenly and was very ready for this transition to young adulthood. Here are a few pictures from his birthday.

Tanner also turned 9 in June. We had a Pokemon party for him with family and friends. He is so happy all the time so it is always fun to celebrate him!

We went on the boat to celebrate on his actual birthday.

My mom and dad were in town for a quick visit too!

Chuck E Cheese for dinner after boating.

Lily was pregnant like mommy one day.

Pregnant buddies.

Double diapers??? Don't ask me. I don't even...

Drive in movie fun with friends and family. We saw the new minion movie.

I had so much fun cuddling with Heidi's tiny little baby and looking forward to having my own soon!

We made this fun fathers day poster for Peter.

It says, "Dad, we were going to give you a whopping 100 grand for Fathers day, but the money slipped through our butterfingers. We didn't thing a trip to the Milky Way would be appropriate either, but we do want to thank you for being such a sweetheart and a real life saver. Plus, mom thinks you are a chunky hunky! We hope this candy doesn't make you rollo-ver and get sick. If it does we promise not to snicker. We love you Daddy! Love your baby ruth and all your favorite air heads."

We had a nice long Sunday afternoon picnic with my family while my parents were here. We sat around at a park with our camping chairs and ate and laughed and bonded for a very long while. The girls and boys were having some fun doing hand games.

Dallin earned several scout awards after scout camp.

Carter, Lily and Luke took swim lessons this year. Here are some of Luke.

Dallin took a bunch of friends out on the boat for a friend birthday party.

Reading books. I love it when they all end up gathering around a good book!

February and March 2015

2015-06-20T14:39:00.002-07:00

I realized looking back through my calendar that January through March were pretty slow months for us. This was because I was pretty bed ridden with morning sickness. We didn't accomplish much of anything unless Peter was in charge. It was a rough go and I was feeling a lot of cramping a lot so I just took that as my body telling me to slow down. It turned out later, that I found out at week 11 that I had a hemorrhage between the placenta and uterus which was causing a lot of discomfort. They had to stop the ultrasound because the pressure on my belly was causing too much pain. I was so glad that I had rested a lot more than usual because that is a common cause for miscarriage. I believe the spirit helped me to know to be more still.

By mid March I was functioning again, but even then it took a few weeks to get over the intense few weeks. I think it was in April some time that I started to really feel good again.

There are lots of random pictures here but here we go!

I have so many pictures of this guy's creations. He always wants me to take a picture and video and then he lets Logan destroy them.

We took the kids for the same hike that we went on when we told the kids we were going to have Logan. We found the same bench and sat them all down. They immediately started reminiscing about the last announcemennt. We talked about it for a while and then started hinting that we had new announcement. They were so Excited!!!

Reading to the kids one day, I just had the realization that they were everywhere!

Dallin, Eden and Tanner joined a winter swim team. It was 3 nights a week and they worked super hard! They were exhausted by the end every time.

Tanner having some pancake with his butter.

I went grocery shopping one week and decided to prepare our meals as much as possible. I spent a couple of hours chopping, making fresh salsa, boiling eggs, and preparing sandwich toppings, etc. Wow, that made the week of meals so much quicker and healthier. I have the problem of produce going bad because I forgo using it in lieu of a easy non healthy meal. We used everything this time. Our system has changed a bit since this, but I still love the idea.

Sleeping beauty.

OMSI passes rock! We have used ours a lot this year.

Peter grew another head.

Larry's chess tournament.

One of the kids came to me and said "Mom, there is a zombie in the washer." Huh? Sure enough!

Eden was getting frustrated trying to thread her first needle. I took this right at the moment she finally got it.

We made popcorn for a snack one day and Luke decided to make ketchup popcorn out of it. He liked it. No one else did!

We had some cousins over for a movie night.

Tanner and Eden learned some chess notation and wrote the 4 move check mate.

Studying history.

Lily "Working like Dad".

Eden and Dallin went to regionals and both did so great! Dallin had 4 wins and Eden had 3 wins and just about got a 4th.

Dallin went to state and got 3 wins!

Last day of chess team at Butternut.

I went away for a weekend with my sisters for our annual trip and Peter took the kids to the zoo with Jimmy, Daniel, and Lucy.

Baby morning cuddles.

January 2015

2015-06-20T13:36:00.001-07:00

We ended the year with a little camping trip to our favorite cabins.

Bunches of cousins.

Lots of laughing.

The kids gave Peter and ice cream maker for Christmas. Peter loves ice cream! He tried it a few times and we loved the results.

Lily likes to dress herself in very interesting outfits. This one was full of layers.

We took a field trip to the fire station.

The kids practice crawling for fire safety.

The fireman who talked to the kids told them that the number one way to be a super hero is to be honest all the time. Dallin really took that to heart. He was always honest, but he took it to a new level after that.

Eden turned 10! I can't believe she is in the double digets. She had a fun birthday week. First off we had a family lunch at Benihana. That seems to be her tradition.

We thought this looked awefully familiar! Lucy has a similar picture with noodles when she was little.

We had a little cake when we got home.

Eden had spotted this giant googly eye at the craft store and dreamed up all kinds of ideas for it so we got that for her.

Then we had a Dickinson family dinner and party. It was a cupcake/mustache party. For the activity, everyone wore a mustache and decorated their own cupcakes.

Eden has the sweetest cousins. They always make our kids feel loved on their birthday with lots of little gifts and cards.

Tanner loves cub scouts.

We did a little shopping with our tax return. New couches were embarrassingly overdue.

Eden also had a little friend bowling party with her best friends.

Dallin received his scout badge, his first for Boy Scouts.

More chess tournaments.

December 2014 Part 2

2015-06-20T12:14:00.001-07:00

This is mostly Christmas Morning Pictures. The kids anticipated for months and finally, the day came. We took the morning nice and slow and everyone enjoyed giving as much as receiving.

After Santa dropped by with a few more gifts.

Cookies for Santa

Dallin got this giant sock monkey a couple of months before Christmas so he was anxious to finally give it to Eden.

Eden made a personalized spiral notebook for Tanner by printing and glueing a picture from last Christmas. He thought that was pretty awesome.

Luke's favorite thing was a whole bag of used little cars we found somewhere. He was in heaven.

My mom sent a stocking full of hand made goodies and candy including knitted ties!

Carters sweet primary teacher gave him a personalized mug. He loves his Carter cup, as we call it.

I so looked forward to giving this violin to Eden. She loves it.

Citiblocs are amazing! Dallin has built with them almost daily since Christmas! (now its June)

Stocking fun

Tanner got a little robot dog that everyone enjoyed. They like giving him commands and watching his tricks. That's as close to a dog we are going to get around her for now.

A little throwback to Thanksgiving!
We took a family walk to a park.

We had a family dinner AND wedding for Peter's cousin at the Magnis Tree Farm.

One day our elf built a fort and used someone's underwear for a sleeping bag!

Peter took this picture at the kid's concert that they got to perform in.

December 2014 Part 1

2015-01-03T22:39:00.002-08:00

The holidays are always so full of adventure. We started off with my niece Clare's baptism. She was so cute!

Lily is always busy. This girl, who is sandwiched between 2 older and 2 younger brothers plays with cars more than dolls.

I found this beautiful half size violin for Eden for Christmas and couldn't hardly wait to give it to her. I plan to teach her all I know, which isn't too much, but a start.

The kids stepped right up to help me get the Christmas cards stuffed and stamped and labeled. It was a pretty cute work party.

We picked out our tree.

Just want to say, I don't usually wear pink and red together! It just kinda happened that day when I grabbed my coat. I didn't think about it being eternalized with a picture!

Peter was proud of his electric skills as he set up the lights. Looks safe to me!

Eden taught Lily her old trick with the stuffed animals on the stairs. She has done this since she was a tiny one.

For family night, we rode the Maxx train to the Zoo Lights.

Peter and Logan waited in the zoo train line that was forever long so that the other kids and I could walk around and see the lights. We saw a lot, and spent a lot of time getting separated and trying to find each other.

And finally, we got to right the zoo train.

It was crazy busy the night we went because it was great weather. I think next time we will go when it rains!

I smelled smoke one day and ran into the kitchen filled with smoke. It took a minute to find the source, but when I opened the microwave to a huge cloud of smoke, this is what I found! Not sure how long they were in there, but there was pretty much only charcoal left.

Our Elf was a bit lazy this year, but he did to a few funny things, like play chess with Woody.

I pulled this quilt out and announced to the kids my plans for turning it into stockings. A couple of them had a huge fit about it. It would surprise you who it was! It took several days to talk them into reluctantly letting me go for it.

Eden's dance recital was adorable, as usual.

Peter helped host our school's chess tournament. It went well. Lily is playing Cara here.

Eden had a really intense game with this guy but pulled through for the win.

Tanner and Eden had the amazing opportunity to perform with the Portland Ensign Choir(kinda like a mini MoTab). They did 2 shows and it was quite a production. They did a great job. This was the program and their names in it.

(Dallin didn't actually perform, but his name got printed by mistake)

I looked out the window one gray foggy morning and thought how beautiful Oregon is. I love the gray winters here.

We surprised Peter's mom with dinner after church one day for her birthday. It was fun being sneaky. For dessert we made sugar cookies. They were very creative that's for sure!

We didn't see any santa this year, but this friend of Larry and Lori stopped by after dinner. He usually does the Santa gig, but didn't this year because of health issues. He was more than happy to have a nice long visit with each kid and let them tug on his beard to make sure it was real. It was so cute.

Dominion is a big game in this family. Even Lori is way into it. Dallin and Peter can never get enough.

Grandpa read to Lily.

Dallin, Eden and Tanner had their Christmas piano recital. This was their first one and they all did great and memorized their songs.

Elfie hid in the advent one day.

I loved how Eden decorated her room for Christmas.

I felt like I had way to many things going on in my head so I decided to get organized again. I sat down with my Mind Organization for Moms program training from the Power of Moms and got things in order and did a "brain dump". I felt so much better once it was all out!

Dallin and Eden really helped with the tree this year.

We had some fun with this gold stuff.

We started a new tradition this year that I am so excited about. My sisters and I have this thing where we get together and make a nice quiet dinner together and exchange home made or heart felt gifts each year. There are 6 little girl cousins (the oldest one lives in Idaho) on my side so we decided to start the same tradition for them. They were all so cute and made the sweetest things for each other. Scarfs, jewelry, lip gloss, monograms, it was just perfect for them. They were all so excited to give their little hand made things. This was a big hit so I think it will be happening from now on. Eden is already at work for next year.

After the little girls were done exchanging gifts, we sent them upstairs to play so that we could exchange our gifts. It is truly more exciting to give what you put so much thought into than to receive.

I stayed up late one night making these with that quilt. I love them so much! I always wanted quilted stockings and I love color! This really made my Christmas. Plus itt is always fun to have a reason to sew.

Another favorite part for me is the Christmas cards. I love seeing everyone and their families. It is like a present every time I go to the mailbox.

We found this Art for Kids Hub channel on YouTube and figured out how to stream though the T.V. so the kids could do all of the Christmas ones. They spent hours drawing and coloring these amazing pictures. Free art lessons, yes please!

Eden and I decided that our Advent calendar was past due for a tune up. It had lost so many of its decorations to curious fingers. We went to the craft store and found some great holiday sales to help us out. We spent a long time arranging and glueing together one afternoon. We decided it was better than new!

I am having some trouble getting Peter's pictures off of his phone so I will add those and Christmas in the next post...

Journal

2014-12-17T23:08:00.000-08:00

I have been mostly silent on this blog for a few month for several reasons. I think the biggest one is that I have been more than a bit overwhelmed with life. Even when I have time, I just can't get my thoughts together nor have I even wanted to. Although, now I wish that I had journaled my journey. Also, life is more busy than ever! Mostly because of the homeschooling undertaking.

Home schooling was not a decision that I made lightly. I know that the seed has been in my heart my whole life pretty much, just as having a large family has been. Realizing this dream was something that took years to have the guts and just the right push to do so.

Homeschooling our whole family as opposed to just one kid like last year is a whole different ball game. The weight is heavy, I am not going to lie. That is a lot of ages and stages to worry and think about all the time. Just the mental stress has just about done me in. And that is not referring to the actual homeschooling we are doing, just the crazy in my head.

For some reason, I thought since we tested the waters last year, that we would get into a great routine within the first few week and spread our wings and fly. Um. No. There has been a lot of trial and error. We have done a lot of good. This has been an amazing journey so far. But being a newbie is so much more of a learning curve (ha, get it?) than I thought it would be. I think because there is so much out there for home schoolers and so many opportunities, it is hard to see clearly, even if I try to focus on the simple. There is so much to compare to.

On the other hand, I truly love being with my kids all the time. I love that the world is our classroom. I love watching them learn and develop and be creative. It is such a treat. They are amazing little people! I love that I am a mom who is not missing out on their development.

It gives me a deeper purpose. It makes me want to be better. It makes me feel passion about what I am doing. It makes me love more. It stretches me more.

It is good.

One thing that has been hard for me is WHY we are doing this. There are a million reasons one may choose to home school. I have read many lists of them and articles about them. But mostly, they weren't totally resonating with me. I am not really anti-public school. I think my kids would be okay there. We can instill values in our home and our kids can stand strong, just like Peter and I did. I think there are good people who public school just like there are good people who choose to home school. There are some great opportunities in public school. But there are some really wonderful advantages to home schooling. I can see both sides of it.

I read one woman's blog post series that finally resonated with me. I finally felt something hit me just right. I felt my heart saying , yes, Yes, YES the whole time I read it. I love it when someone finds just the right words that I wasn't able to find, and inspires me. Just about every point she made is how I feel, or hope to feel. She is 4 years into it, so I have a ways to go. If you want to understand why I do home school, read this. I think there are other reasons for me, and maybe some day I will be able to write it all as well, but for now I will just say, my sentiments exactly.

November 2014

2014-12-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

In November, it occurred to me that since we are home schooled, we should celebrate that freedom. Plus I really needed to get away so I reserved a local cabin at a campground. I was going to just go with the kids because I thought Peter would have to work, but he was able to come so that was a bonus! A fellow homeschooling friend joined us in the cabin next door, so the kids loved having some extra playmates.

The roomy little cabin had electricity and heat so it was very comfortable even though it was rainy. My main goal was to relax, let the kids explore and read aloud a whole book. We read the Boxcar Children and the kids loved it! We also did a 500 piece puzzle, played chess and at lots of treats. I had brought some dominoes and Dallin ended up building with them a lot of the time.

Here are the boys building a "shelter".

He always let Logan crash into the towers after he built them.

When we got home, we watched the cartoon version on Netflix. It was very close to the book so they liked it!

Dallin and Eden are taking an entrepreneur class, so he had a big idea to start a leaf raking business. He had me take some pictures of him in action for his fliers.

He ended up getting hired right away by a neighbor.

I think anticipation is partly what makes family traditions so special. Our annual trip to Great Wolf Lodge is a perfect example. The kids ask about it for months and it builds and builds as they wait for the day to finally come.

This was a great year. The kids had a blast with their cousins. I was so happy to not be 8 1/2 months pregnant this time too! Every year seems to get a bit easier as our kids get old enough to not need as much supervision. They are all pretty comfortable in the water. We held Logan the whole time and mostly looked after Lily and Luke while the other kids rode a lot of slides and such.

Peter's parents and Lucy came this year too, so they were super helpful with everyone too. Here's Logan with aunt lucy. He is ready to swim!

Morning cuddles.

Eden loves painting her nails for every holiday. This is her Thanksgiving theme.

We read the second Boxcar Children book and Tanner was really into it. He colored away while I read. I think he is the biggest fan of the series. This is a great character building series. I love how the children are so kind to each other and look after on another. I could tell that after reading these books, my kids were being nicer to each other.

Sweet Lily made herself busy too. She kept looking at the cover while I read so she could spell it.

And Carter drew his lego sword that he built.

Logan started to think about walking.

And our amazing Lily turned 5! We had a little birthday party at Grandma's house.

She opened some gifts. For an activity we dipped things in chocolate, like pretzels and ritz cracker peanut butter sandwiches and such.

For FHE Lily got to pick a restaurant so she picked Papa's Pizza. The kids had a great time playing in the play structure. Logan had fun loving on daddy.

Another OMSI field trip. We sure do love that place. This time, one of the young women from church came along to help out. It was great!

Dallin used every last block in the place.

Slime!

Lily's favorite thing turned out to be the imaginary play chipmunk area. She collected acorns for a long long time.

Luke joined in too. It was such a treat to just watch them. I love watching their childhood.

My baby turned 1! I can't believe that has happened so quick. Take note that he is the first of our babies to not really enjoy destroying his cake! He kind a played in it for a minute, but then kept looking at us like "Please clean me up!" He didn't like how his hands were so messy so he kept wiping them on his head and belly.

He kept raising his arms hoping to be saved. So we cleaned him up. This is certainly new for us!

He loves this little toy piano that Grandma gave him.

Sometimes I forget how hard Peter works. He showed me this picture of a crawlspace that he was working in for a few hours. I sure do love that guy for doing this kind of stuff to support us.

Lily played in her very first Chess Tournament! The kids all did well.

Go little girl! She didn't win any games, but she sure has a golden attitude about life that doesn't ever let anything get her down.

Our only group ribbon shot was photobombed by Spencer.

Peter and Larry took the girls to a Blazer game. they all had so much fun together.

And they won!

Grandpa is always in on the fun too.

He is a very proud builder.

October 2014

2014-12-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Before I get into October, I found a few more September pictures!

I just love this picture of Logan. I think this little treasure came from Lori's phone from our family beach trip.

Peter left for work early on my birthday, but I woke up to this on my night stand. That boy always makes sure that I have plenty of flowers in my life. I love him!

I ran my first half marathon! I joined Michelle and her stake. This is documented proof that ladies who birth 7 babies can still do hard things :)

Luke got a pirate costume for his birthday from Grandma. ARRRRRRR!

October was a great month! It was still warm and so we got to play a lot still, the kids did soccer twice a week, and we got our homeschool groove on.

We love the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies. The comedic timing is so funny. When we are on the boat, it is just so nice to be together all in one confined space. There is lots of cuddling and visiting and good feelings when we are together like that. For example, here are Peter and Lily practicing the Cloudy with a Chance kiss.

The kids always take care of decorating for every holiday. I don't really need to worry about doing too much else. Here are some friendly ghosts that popped up.

Conference was spectacular. We used our conference bucks again so the kids could earn one for being reverent and one for taking a note on each talk. We paused after each talk and shared their note and taped it on the wall, then they would quickly do a little "shopping" at the conference store and we would start again. We love conference and it just keeps getting better and better.

Peter is a real softy about the ice cream man coming. Actually, ours is a lady and she loves seeing our kids. She will always stay for a long while and talk to them. If we are short on change, she has been known to fill in the ice cream gaps. She is a sweetheart. We probably go for it 2 or 3 times in the summer.

Sunday Morning Conference breakfast with Larry and Michelle is always fun. This is where I got the idea for a quote wall.

Logan enjoys real food!

We had an afternoon dinner at Larry and Lori's as well this conference. Luke just LOVES his cousin Miranda. They are great little friends. He fell asleep on the floor so when he woke up, I was afraid he would cry for half an hour, as he sometimes does. Instead, he woke up and climbed right up to Miranda and cuddled with here.

This girls and her puzzles, oh yes!

This is just a random picture of the wall by my bed. A mother's treasures...

My sister turned 40, which is a big deal! I wouldn't know, because that is still so so so so far away for me, ha ha.. Anyway, we decided to celebrate with a weekend trip to Seattle. We rode the train, which I had never done before. It took 4 or 5 hours, so we visited and giggled the whole way.

The train station there is beautiful!

We decided to find a hotel close with a concierge so that we would not need to rent a car. The hotel turned out to be about a mile or so away up some big city hills through some scary neighborhoods! That was and adventure dragging our suitecases through. We checked in, and quickly decided that the space needle was first on our to do list. So off we went. Now, along side the space needle there is a museum completely dedicated to one artist. His name is Chihuly and he is a glass blower. It was amazing. The pictures can speak for themselves, although not to the degree of justice that it deserves.It took my breath away again and again. It really inspired me to see what can happen when a person pursues their passion.

Then we went up to the top of the needle where it was full of wind and spacious views. It was fun to learn the history of the Space Needle.

We all had our phones out snapping pictures the whole time.

How's this for timing!

There was so much to see downtown. While we waited to be picked up, we found this posh clothing store with the whole front filled with vintage sewing machines.

We spent the next morning perusing Pike's Market. I love that place. It brought back memories of going there a couple of times before. The people are fun, so many artists, the flowers were amazing and so much food.

And it is also where the first Sarbucks is, complete with an amazing hillbilly band. They were just incredible. I love Starbucks hot chocolate.

Then we found a fancy restaraunt with great big windows that viewed the busy streets below.

This was our hotel. It is very vintage! We had a great time staying up late and laughing together. The elevator was tiny and rickety and had days of the week rugs that they switched out every day. It was a very cool place.

The next night we went and saw the Meet the Mormons movie, which was wonderful and ate at the Cheesecake factory. Oh my, we ate a lot of delicious food that weekend. It was a great trip.

Life was busy back at the ranch while I was gone too. The kids had a great time with Daddy. They went to OMSI.

Then they rode the air tram in Portland.

And piled in Dad's bed.

And had cousins over for a fireside scripture study.

Oh man, I was so happy to get back home to these guys! I picked out a Seattle postcard for each of them, that I thought they would like. They were all excited to see the Chihuly pictures on my phone.

Here we are back in the swing at home. The kids like to keep busy with their hands while I read aloud to them. This is pretty typical. This was my view one day. Dallin is a builder, so he is doing something with popsicle sticks. Tanner and Carter often collaborate as they draw, Eden loves to draw by herself, and Lily loves wipe off cards and books. Luke is usually on the ground playing with manipulatives.

Carter got to go the the pumpkin patch with his class at our home school group!

Dallin and Eden are taking some additional project classes this year. In October their unit was called "Domestic Whiz Kids." They got to learn to finger knit, make pillow cases, and cook some fun halloween food.

Eden has really taken to the finger knitting. She has gone on to make about 15 more scarfs to give as Christmas gifts.

Our dishwasher kicked the bucket so we had to get a new one. When we remodeled our kitchen 10 years ago we debated whether or not to get 2 dishwashers. We only had one kid at the time, so we decided to instead put in one diswasher and a cabinet next to it just the right size to swap out for a second dishwasher, some day! Well, I did not think that some day would come, but when the dishwasher died, Peter decided that since we were getting one new one, now would be the time to get a matching set! Peter pulled that cabinet out and set us right up. He called his plumber grandfather for some advice, who is just shy of 100 now, and to our surprise grandpa decided to head right over to help with the job! Grandpa and Peter had a great time working out all the kinks. Grandpa never ceases to amaze us! This was really neat to witness.

While Peter made a Home Depot run to get a part, the kids had a great time with Grandpa:

Oh, this is such a beautiful sight! It has been amazing!!! I need more exclamation points!!!

We had a little fun with our Halloween costumes this year. We have used this lobster costume before, but not quite in this way!

We got a ton of laughs.

At our ward party, they had the kids decorate their own goody bags. Tanner wrote "This guy is watching you!" just to make sure no one would take his goodies I guess. He is so funny.

Lily was a ballerina because she couldn't find her fairy wings. Later on, she found them and was a fairy again. She couldn't decide which tutu to wear, so she wore three!

Luke was the cutest pirate ever!

Carter decided piece together his own Superman costume with stuff we had at home. Dallin was a skeleton.

Eden found a new witch costume at the thrift store. She has been a witch several times before.

Enjoying a cupcake at the cake walk...

The gym was filled with booths for the kids to play games at and collect prizes. It was a big hit of course. Sadly I don't have a picture of Tanners costume, which was a Woody costume that he pulled from our Halloween box and was way too small and worn out.

Peter and I had a good time co-coaching Eden and Tanner's soccer team. Although there were a couple of days when Peter had to work late and I ended up coaching, wearing Logan on my back and Luke insisting on being held in the front the whole time! That was a bit intense. We love the church soccer league. It is something we can all do together as a family which makes it more special, I think. No Saturday games is a huge plus too. This was the last day where the kids got to challenge the parents.

Luke found this muddy puddle in the back yard and had a great time playing with his cars in it. It made me cringe, but I decided to let him go for it. You can't say no to this kind of sensory play! He played out here for hours and hours on a couple of different days. Lily joined him a bit too.

Oye! Good thing mud cleans up easily.

The kids spent all of October drawing Halloween pictures. This was a fun one by Tanner. Ghosts, Zombies, Pumpkin, Sea Monsters, Guy with a Beard... I mean, this kids quirky humor. I love it!

The kids often ask me to take a picture with their building creations. It is fun.

For our homeschool group, we read The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White for Eden's girl club. The kids loved it. So did I! Eden's class made a life size trumpeter swan nest as an activity.

One night we hosted a little cousin movie party. They watched Earnest Scared Stupid. Those movies are so silly. I didn't watch them much as a kid, but my kids sure like them! They ate lots of popcorn and chocolate. Peter's dad happened to drop by and stayed for the party too!

We went to Larry and Michelle's ward party because they had a haunted house. I didn't know how my little kids would handle it, but everyone loved it. They did a lights on version with no jumpy surprises for the little kids. Luke did not like that as much. To our surprise, he went through the darker scarier version several times and loved it. He would come out and get right back in line to do it again!

We managed to finally go pick out our pumpkins a couple days before Halloween (for $1 each!). They eventually got carved, after Halloween! I just wasn't feeling all the festivities this year. No one seemed to notice that we never made it to the pumpkin patch as a family. Although we did go to 2 parties and trick or treat so I don't feel too sorry for anyone.

Another sample of the kids' decorations. I love them. Just imagine this, all over!

The kids had a blast Trick or Treating with their Houghtelling cousins. Grandma and Grandpa Dickinson came and joined in for a while too. They are so awesome! They came home and sorted their loot and we watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Hotel Transylvania until we fell asleep. Some kids ate and gave away all their candy within a day. Others kept it all and ate it over a week. Eden STILL as a drawer full of candy several weeks later!

September 2014

2014-11-13T21:14:00.001-08:00

We had an indian summer here. Every time we went out on the water we thought, this is probably the last time this year....

Lucy.

Our first day of homeschool! We took it pretty easy since we had no curriculum yet. Peter helped set up this little room in the basement just for school. I love being able to get away from any distractions when we are in here. We usually have a song/prayer/pledge to start things off. Then we have "mommy school" where I read church articles or we memorize things and read a chapter of a manners book, etc. Then the kids do their workbooks. My favorite is read aloud hour. The kids make their hands busy with coloring or legos while I read aloud to them. I try to commit myself to spending at least 2 hours a day in here with the kids. We all stay in here together.

Dallin wanted to go to the temple for family night so we headed over after soccer one night. It was a nice warm evening as we walked around and took in the beauty. Then we spent a lot of time at the visitors center. It is amazing how much there is to do in such a small space.

I really love this picture.

There amusement park in Portland was having a "Not Back to School" day for home schoolers, so we were all over that!

You can't not play in the bendy mirrors near the entrance. This is our whole family.

They were so excited about waiting, can you tell?

11 year old scout camp, which meant the first overnighter! Dallin got to be with best friend and cousin Derek! Dallin loves everything about scouting. They had competitions at the end with a partner and Dallin and his partner won just about every challenge!

lashing

Fires

Obstacle course

Our little Lukey turned 3! That is just amazing how fast this kind of stuff happens. We tried out a new Pirate Pizza place/arcade. I don't know why, but I don't have pictures of his family party/gifts.

Mini golf

Dressing little brother in a dress!

Father son campout was at a fort this year!

The girls and I all slept in my bed and then went out to breakfast while the boys were gone.

Reading time.

Totally asleep!

We bought an OMSI pass which we have already used quite a bit for field trips. There is so much to do, see, learn, touch, and make!

Enjoying a little Pizza!

And boating again!

I had a nice birthday too. My mother in law took the kids out and bought me several little gifts. She also got me some rain boots that I have been wanting for years. Peter gave me a diamond tennis bracelet! We forgot to make a cake so we made a watermelon cake since I LOVE watermelon. It just watermelon with yogurt for frosting.

The kids gave me plenty of jewelry, and someone gave me a baby!

Father daughter campout

A family dinner with lots of brothers in town! They had to play pool with Grandpa H.

I got to co-coach with Peter for Eden and Tanner's soccer team this year. We were the Fireballs! This was a first for me and sometimes a challenge with juggling little ones. But we had a great time!

August 2014

2014-11-13T10:23:00.001-08:00

Oh boy, this is one chilly November day. School was cancelled due to an impending snow storm, so when I revisited these pictures it left me wanting for summer! To me, it doesn't get more summery than playing in a creek! My parents visited for a few days, so we spent one afternoon picnicking near Hagg lake with them and my sister.

Okay, these two little cousins are the best of friends. When one strips, they both do. They were definitely one with nature. I got a whole series of this cuteness, but I tried to pick a couple that wouldn't be too revealing.

Oh how I love Oregon. I just really really do.

And I love kids exploring in nature. I really love that too.

Oh, I can't even. The problem with written language, at least at my level of literacy is that words can never be enough to describe how I feel about the good things in life like little one's bum cheeks and how much I love how much Luke and Wyatt love each other.

Moving on, my nephew, the oldest grandchild on my side got married! They are a great couple.

More on the lake. We tried to go as much as possible this summer. I would guess we went around 10 times. Dallin learned how to cross the wake like it is nothing! We took my parents and brother and niece out while they were here.

My dad surprised us all by getting out on the tube.

And so my brother had to as well.

Surviving a hurricane.

A little tractor ride with my sisters Mother in law.

Playing in the bay with grandpa and cousins.

Next up was a Dickinson family trip to the beach. We stayed in a beach house, I think in Rockaway. We played at the beach and went crabbing,

Kissing the fish goodbye

This little sand bar was COVERED in sea otters.

Or maybe they are sea lions? I don't know the difference.

On our way home we stopped for a picnic and at the Tillamook forestry center, which is a really neat place.

This is a plastic display, not real. Except for the boys, they are real.

She stared at this fox for a long long time trying to figure out if he was real or not.

After our trip I found this little art display of water with the shells we brought home. I don't know who the artist was.

The last swim meet of the summer.

This guy is such a goof I tell you. Talk about a class clown if there ever was. I love his personality so much.

Dum Dums for getting first place!

A lost tooth.

Dallin had been asking our old bishop for over a year to take him salmon fishing. Peter caught a 6 pounder, and Dallin caught a 25 pounder! What an adventure!

It was quite a chore to clean, since Peter is not too experienced with that. Boy our house smelled gamey! I ended up leaving with the other kids for a while so they could get it done.

Playing around with a empty spool from daddy's electrical wire. Dallin came up with all kinds of uses for it.

Eden still really loves her puzzles. Lately she is into this one brand that has 100 piece puzzles of animals from the dollar store. She has a little collection.

My sisters and I headed to the beach with all of our kids. My sister Cami was staying at her in-laws beach house so we spent the day there. We played at the beach for hours with the kids. There are 19 kids between the four of us. It was a pretty awesome sight. I can never describe how grateful I am to have these ladies for best friends.

Major sand projects going on here. I can see 14 of the kids just in this picture.

And finally, just a little park day here.

All summer long, I had a dreaded feeling in my body that would not go away. I had home schooled Dallin last year and the more I thought about it and the closer to September it got the more I dreaded sending the kids back to school. I learned so much about home schooling with Dallin and he wanted to keep going with it, and I began to see that there could be a lot of benefits to having them all home. He and I had blazed the trail.

I didn't let myself really consider it until about mid way through August. I couldn't shake the dread until one morning I sat down on the couch in a total stupor of thought. Suddenly the thought came to me and for the first time let myself think, what if I just kept them ALL home? The seed had been growing in me for a couple of years or more, but I had always thought that in some distant unforeseen future I would know when the time was right. Well, to my surprise, the time was right!

As soon as I thought it, I felt and instant peace. All the dread and questions of whether I could do it were gone. Any thoughts of what they would be missing out on were replaced with not being able to think of one single reason to send them away. I called Peter right away, and totally caught him off guard. He was comfortable with homeschooling Dallin but this was a whole different thing. He needed time to process. I was so completely and suddenly sure that he didn't quite know what to do with me. As I prayed, I felt that the spirit had given me such a strong answer that I couldn't really ask for a confirmation, it was more like gratitude for the answer that had already come. It was a powerful experience.

Peter came around to same thinking pretty quickly and I frantically began to make plans for the year. I spent about a week completely engrossed in curriculum choices and outside activity planning. I was so grateful to have had that year with Dallin under my belt going into this! We already had a great commonwealth homeschool group and a lot of trial and error to go from.

More on the home school journey in the September post next...

July 2014 in Pictures

2014-10-18T01:09:00.000-07:00

Summer nights around a fire are just about my favorite:

Yay! We got another Fourth of July on the lake! We enjoyed ou morning sleeping in and did a few little crafts before heading over to Grandpa's house.

I just love this face:

We made some edible flags:

And some tee shirts:

Then we got down to business:

Lucy, our pro skiier:

Oh the faces this girl makes:

Setting off a few fireworks:

Luke was asleep during our little photo shoot. He eventually came around. I always seem to love the silly candids the best. Even Logan does it!

Trying out the water. He loved it:

2 Lukes:

Eden is Logan's favorite person. Even over Peter and I.

If you look close you can see Lily's mustache. Yes she drew it on with marker, and yes, she did it on purpose. Sometimes, you just need a little 'stache.

Ready for fireworks: This is the dingy full. There were over 20 people in the boat this year. It was snug!

Then we had a very special baptism for a very silly boy. He was the only baptism for the stake that month so we had a nice, small group. Lori gave a great talk about Super Heros and how getting the Holy Ghost is kind of like having a super power. Very fitting for this guy:

The kids sang "I Like to Look for Rainbows" as a special number. It was so so so so cute! Tanner sang the last line of the last verse as a solo and it just made it that much sweeter. It was awesome. We sang it as a family a couple weeks later in Sacrament Meeting by the bishops request.

Not in the mood for a family picture:

That's a bit better:

Eden is quite a puzzle lover. She always has been but has recently been collecting these certain 100 piece animal ones from the dollar store. She will do several of them in one sitting.

One day we had cousins over so we went to see the ducks:

Cousin babies Logan and Emmet. This was their first official "hang out".

We managed to get to the drive in again to see Maleficent. This is still one of my favorite summer past times. We had a big group with family from both sides and friends.

I brought goodies to make edible necklaces for the kids to snack on during the movie. It was a big hit. We even had a lot of random kids we didn't know come and make some.

This was a perk of tagging along with Dad to work one day. He thought it was very Minecraftesque:

We had many swim meets this summer. I was especially proud of Tanner for joining the swim team so bravely and improving very quickly. He was one of the smallest kids.

Eden is such an athlete. She works hard at any sport she does. Nice arms!

Sherry and Mark came into town, so we did a lot of fun Dickinson activities in one week. We did this back yard movie/s'mores one night. We watched a Scooby Doo cartoon movie about wrestling that was...entertaining.

Us girls went on a run one night. We had to take a picture when we realized we were all in blue!

Dallin thinks dominos only have one real purpose:

Logan going for some real food. Green beans were not his bag. He was doing that cute baby gag thing:

Michelle hosted a cousin water party complete with snow cones:

Baby cousins. Logan will have plenty of playmates!

The kids went to the school park with Grandma:

We went on a ward campout with our old ward:

Big bonfire:

I found some LED balloons so we surprised the kids with them in the tent. It was so fun, except we had to be quiet because it was getting late. These things are so cool though:

Dallin got a little pup tent for his birthday, so he and Tanner tried it out. They slept great all night. Kind of sad for me to have kids old enough to not sleep with us. But also, very nice!

We packed up our stuff and met up with the family, including Sherrie and Heidi's families! We played at the beach for a long time and then went to the cheese factory for lunch.

Then we hiked to a light house. The hike was really fun and the light house was pretty, but we were too late to go inside.

Hmmmm:

We had a big family dinner on Sunday so we decided to get a picture since there were siblings in town:

Dallin will build with anything he can get his hands on I tell you!

Sherry, Lucy, and I went for an adventure one day to Silver Falls with all our kids. We hiked for hours and explored as we went:

We maxed out our van with 10 kids in the benches. This was one happy bunch:

We spent quite a while counting up those rings:

Dallin learned at cub camp that these giant clovers are edible. Sure enough, they taste like a very tart strawberry! We had a lot of fun collecting and eating them.

I think the kids were more interested in exploring the caves under the waterfall than the actuall waterfall. The trail down was super steep with a double stroller to boot, but was worth it. We ate Hershey bars and played around for a long long time.

Dirty bum and ripped pants in the end:

After we got home, exhausted we decided to rush off to the county fair since it was Sherrie's last night there:

We didn't do rides, we mostly walked around and looked at tons of animals:

We had a very busy saturday in August when we had a 5k race and 3 picnics all in one day. It was kind of fun just going from one party to the next all day. We started off with the Hillsboro Stake run. They had a stroller division and I got first place! I was very surprised, but hey I'll take it!

Lily joined this group because she was matching their tutus.

First picnic/carnival with the Larry's stake. There were tons of games and booths for the kids and some yummy food, including bbq and about a hundred pies.

Lily, wet from the slip'n slice waited quite a while to do this fishing game. We watched carefully as people were rewarded with all kinds of candy.

I loved this moment when all she got was a rubber band bracelet. She didn't know what it was, just that it was not candy. She said "thank you" in the saddest little disappointed voice ever. She was a good sport though so we decided that she should get back in line and go another round.

At a park:

Our second picnic was the Hedman family reunion. It was fun and we got lots more food. I am pretty sure Lily ate one of everything from the dessert table.

Then we went to our ward pioneer party. Once again, lots of food and fun activities for the kids. There favorite was this leather stamping and throwing pennies into glass vases, etc, to which they would get to keep if they got in.

Boy that was one long, fun day. We just couldn't decide which one to do so for crazy people like us, all three worked out just fine.

Tanner, being 8 now got to go to his first cub camp. He loved every second of it!

He somehow picked up on archery quickly and got 5 bulleseys! I guess he takes after his older brother.

The other things that kept us busy in July were more swim lessons, swim team and taekwondo that we got a Groupon for. Dallin, Eden and Tanner got to do try it out 3 times a week for 8 weeks. They enjoyed it, but no one really took enough interest to pursue it.

June 2014

2014-07-08T22:37:00.001-07:00

June did not have as many high picture events, but we still have a very full month of adventures.

First up, Mr. Dallin boy turned 11. 11!!!! I was filled with love, amazement and a touch of sadness about my oldest growing up too fast.

Here is my gushy Facebook post that day reflecting on motherhood:
Spent the day loving on my sweet birthday boy. My oldest son Dallin is 11! Also, much self reflection on being a mom these past 11 years. Wow, what a ride it has been. I can't imagine how boring my life would be without my little people. They sure do make life good. I love being a mom, it is all I ever wanted, and I have been so blessed by each sweet child that has come into my open arms. The longer I am a mom, the more I am able to put aside the things that are less important and enjoy life as it is. I see my life in bright vivid color, just dripping with texture and purpose. Hardest, but best job ever! Peter and I have been trying to come up with future goals, but have had a hard time because we are right where we would like to be forever. Even with all its imperfections, I really think life is just right. Sure I could tell you all of the negatives that happen in reality, but for this moment, I feel totally encompassed with gratitude for this wonder we call mortality.

Dallin really likes Minecraft so we had a family party with lots of minecraft inspired food.

Creeper cake.

For the game, I printed off a whole ton of mining cards like in the game and made a crafting table. We hid them all over the yard easter egg style and the kids ran and collected or "mined" as much as they could. The kids had to follow "recipes" to make and get certain prizes. There were about a million minecraft stickers, notebooks, papercrafts, pictures, card games, pretend gold, ore, diamond, pick axes, swords, etc. This picture just shows what was left of the prize store at the end. I made most all the prizes from pritables found on Pinterest. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of all the loot, it was a lot! If this whole paragraph made no sense to you, that's okay, I know more about Minecraft than I care to now.

The game was a huge it with the kids! I think it was one of the most fun birthday games we have played. The excitement level was about as high as could be.

Peter got to do a job for some friends who's little boy is good friends with Carter so Peter took him along and they played the whole time. You know, boy stuff.

Dallin chose Benihana for his birthday dinner. Thanks buddy, good choice! It was delicious.

Dallin got a metal detector and a bunch of stuff for his boy scouting years coming up. This was a digging set just for fun with a bunch of gems inside.

Peter ran the Intel 10k with his brothers. Luke won first place for his age group!

Dallin had a little birthday bowling outing with a couple of friends. It was fun being the observer with these silly guys.

We went on a big group date with Larry D, Andy, Larry, Lucy, and Dwight on the boat to the restaurant. I love going on dates, especially really grown up ones.

Logan/Daddy time. Too precious!

First day hot enough to play in the water outside. Eden and Luke have such a special relationship. She mothers him and he loves the attention. I often see him on her back.

Oh, Luke took a toy car to the face, hence the black eye. He also fell and bruised his back on a skateboard and fell on the cement at the pool and got a huge goose egg on his forehead all around the same time. He was looking pretty beat up.

Dallin was very proud of this watercolor and had me text a picture to Grandma Arave for him. It is very sweet that he feels connectected to her through art.

First time out on the boat this summer with the kids. The had a blast fishing and swimming.

Grandpa is such a fun water playing guy.

The closet project coming along. This isn't the finished product, but I do want to show off Peter's mad shelf making skills. He totally rebuilt the existing closet and made those nice deep shelves for more storage inside there. Imagine a cute rug, scarf rod, jewelry display along the wall, a tufted ottoman and huge framed mirror and tada! Getting dressed is pretty fun these days. So this is one side of the room. The other side is a sewing/project area and there is a large dormer area with Logan's crib. Feeling pretty dang spoiled.

I ran to Target to run an errand one day with just Luke so we had a little snack bar date. I really love one on one time with my kids. It makes me soak up their cuteness all the more.

Larry D. organized a drive in movie night and it was so fun. Perhaps the best part of going is just hanging out in the front field playing with friends and cousins for a couple of hours before hand. I brought some yarn, fruit loops, pretzels and chocolate covered pretzels for the kids to make necklaces to snack on during the movie. I will for sure make this a drive in tradition forever more. Lori brought a bunch of food to share and we visited and played games as well. I brought a hot potato game and the kids laughed so hard. We watched How to Train Your Dragon 2. This is the first time I can remember going and being able to watch the whole movie without retreating to the car with tired babies/toddlers. I had a wiggly guy on my lap, but still, I saw the whole show.

The next morning was Father's day AND Tanner's birthday. With so much going on, Peter didn't get a proper breakfast in bed. We made s'mores in the oven the night before to take to the drive in and then forgot them, so that was what the kids gave Peter for his breakfast! Uh, yum! And apparently a Starburst as well.

We had a Pokemon dinner party for Tanner at Grandma and Grandpas. For an activity, I pulled out a whole bunch of dollar store play doh, googly eyes and pipe cleaners and told the kids to make their own Pokemon pets. I don't really get Pokemon, but they seemed to know what to do. It was simple (much simpler than the Minecraft game!) but a hit nonetheless.

The Pokemon ball cake. I don't really know what it is, but Tanner thought it was great. I put some trick candles on the cake for him and had fun blowing them out again and again.

The older 3 kids started swim team, and these younger 3 started swim lessons. This is Luke's first year and oh my, he was so excited to be a big boy and get in the pool instead of watching.

He got right to the blowing bubbles.

These guys love it too.

For Tanner's birthday dinner we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory and used our free meal coupons that we got for running the Starlight run. We got to eat in the train and we sang to him when he got his ice cream.

More swim lessons.

We implented a pretty fun reading program at our house so the kids have been reading like crazy (finally!). Tanner can't keep his nose out of Pokemon comics.

This is our version of an "I'm bored" jar. There are lots of ideas and a few chores that they get to grab if they get a little whiney about what to do. I spent the first couple weeks of summer break explaining that it is not mom's job to entertain them all the time. They have since barely needed to consult the jar.

Eden loves these books and we scored 4 new ones at Goodwill one day.

We went to visit my sister so that Peter could help with some electrical as they are getting their house ready to sell. Low and behold when she opened the door, we were twins! Our shoes were even the same color! Gotta love sisters.

The kids played with their cousins at the school behind their house.

Then they settled in for a movie. I thought this was so cute that Carter was sitting on Nic's lap. They stayed that way for most of the movie. Oh, the cousin love!

Our friend invited us to go swimming one day so we did...for 3 hours! It was so fun. The kids are becoming great little swimmers and are quite confident in the water. Baby Logan loved it too. His chubby little feet got so wrinkly!

He is just such a happy baby. When he smiles he sticks his tongue. I didn't quite capture it, but he usually sticks it out to one side and curls it upward. It is so cute I could just die and go to heaven. He really is a perfect little baby. The sweetest disposition. It reminds me a bit of how Tanner was as a baby.

Dallin's first Boy Scout court of honor. He received his first badge as well.

Trying out this fiber mascara I keep hearing about. I have extremely short lashes so I need all the help I can get. Left is my regular mascara and right is the new one. Pretty impressive. It has its drawbacks too, but overall I like it. Hello eyes, does it look like I can see you through your screen?

I love being in Young Women's. Well, that's the understatement of the year. Anyway, I had Logan with me one night and they were all over him. They even had their phone cameras taking pictures and videos with him. It was fun to watch.

We had a raingutter regatta picnic with the Cub Scouts. Tanner is such a fun loving, silly scout.

Peter and Dallin went white water rafting with Peter's family and had a great time. Dallin has the Dickinson adventure gene for sure. They didn't get any pictures, but I took this when they got home. This doesn't really show how tired and run down looking they were. Dallin's eyes were so bloodshot and he passed out within a minute of taking this. It was a good day for this father and son.

Peter and I took Tanner on a date to a yummy italian restaurant. Turning 8 is a special age so we ate yummy food and got to talk about a very special secret (where babies come from). I really enjoy doing this with each of our kids because they are too young to be embarrased and we can incorporate our values before they hear it from anyone else. It starts an ongoing flow of communication and openness that has been a blessing in our family so far. Tanner got Pizzaghetti which we couldn't stop stealing bites from.

Dallin, Eden and Tanner had their first swim meet of the year. Dallin did swim team last year, but this is a whole new experience for the other two. They did great and swam their best. I was proud of them.

Eden was nervous about joining the team, but once she started, she gained confidence quickly.

Dallin ended up with a second place ribbon for one of the events!

I was on the fence about whether or not Tanner needed one more summer of lessons or not, but putting him on the team has been awesome. The kids improve so quickly since they swim an hour every day. Within the first few days, he was doing just fine!

May 2014

2014-07-06T00:53:00.001-07:00

Note: This is a huge post. Not for the faint of heart.

Tanner and Eden were in their first play this year! They got to be Oompa Loompa's in a play called Willie Wonka Jr. They worked hard for a couple of months memorizing all the songs and going to practices every week. Then finally the big day was there and they were up on the stage at our local High School! They did a great job and had a great experience. They are interested in doing more Theater in the future.

We decided to take our summer vacation a little early this year, to avoid crowds and it was awesome! We really wanted to go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom because we love it. We used to get season passes when we lived there, but it had been 4 years and the kids couldn't remember much. This was a good alternative to Disney for a fraction of the cost. And going so early in the season payed off big time! We only ever had to wait in line at a couple of the big coasters. They have plenty to do for all ages which worked out splendidly!

On our way we made a quick stop in Elk Grove, where we used to live to catch up with our cherished loved ones. We went to this surfing place that we had been to a couple times before. The kids had no memory of it so they were pretty excited to give it a try.

My camera card filled up right as we got going so I did my best with blurry cell phone pictures.

Eden.

Dallin.

Tanner.

Lily.

As we were surfing our friends Amber and Stacie showed up. They have both had children since the last time we saw them so it was fun to meet them. They were excited to meet Logan as well.

Pizza feast after a long time jumping in the trampoline room.

Air hockey with Eden and Tanner.

Luke couldn't stay away from the trampolines. After being in the car all day traveling, this was perfect.

Our beloved Amber and Stacie.

Afterward we made the hour drive to Vallejo to our hotel. This is what we found in the back when we got there!

The next morning we were off to Six Flags.

First thing first, we met Bugs. Not that my kids would really know him.

This was our whole group. It was our family, Peter's parents and 3 siblings, and my niece Hanna. It was fun running around in fluorescent tee shirts and oh so easy to find each other.

Watching the Dolphin show.

Carter's favorite person in the world might be his Uncle Andy.

A splash park next to an elephant ride was a match made in heaven. We spent lots of time in this area of the park.

Logan hanging out with Grandpa.

I don't know something about these two with their backs to me was just super cute.

Train ride.

Group picture!

These two have such a fun sibling relationship. They are so silly.

Lucy and Hanna getting some Lily loves.

Penguins. There are a lot of animals there. It is like a ride park/zoo.

Ready for a big coaster.

More water play followed by elephant riding.

Lily was happy to go hug Bugs when we met again. I love how you can see her excitement even from behind.

Bringing little bro to get in on the action.

Overseeing the proper meet and greet.

Now those are some happy faces!

Grandpas are just the best!

The rafting rides were a top favorite. Peter had to put Lily in some really tall shoes to get her on them, but they had a blast getting wet.

Playing games while waiting for a coaster with Uncle Andy.

Logan using Hanna for a little nap time.

Checking out another raft ride.

I found great pleasure in watching our bright group together.

The butterfly garden.

Andy got a turkey leg.

We went to every animal show and exhibit there. The elephant was my favorite (other than the dolphins).

Sometimes when you're 2, your little body just can't go any more.

Eden's spring dance recital was movie themed. This was for sure my favorite one yet. The costumes were awesome and the music was fun. They danced to a variety of songs from, Lets go to the Movies to Pirates of the Caribean, to Rio!

Lily ready to start her dance career!

Dallin is super into scouting. He loves everything about it. He wasn't too happy this week though because he burned his face with a hot dog stick! Luckily he is a fast healer. His poor leaders were beside themselves, but he got over it in no time.

Peter felt that Carter needed some one on one time so he kept him home from school one day to go to work with him on a house remodel. It was quite a treat and he felt special.

Larry coached an intro to water polo workshop for a few weeks and invited Dallin to join. Even though he was a bit younger, he held his own and had a blast.

Our little Carter turned 6! We had a family party and played a bunch of Star Wars games (pretty much copied a party we did for Dallin several years ago). If you look closely you can see a couple of action figures on the cake.

Lots of chanting along with present opening results in holding the gift reveal high in the air.

Light saber training.

Walking on a balance beam with an egg. Tricky stuff I tell you!

Jabba the Hut before they took him out with water balloons.

A death star pinata. Don't ask about my mad pinata skills. Uh, yeah.

Peter showed up as Darth Vader and the kids had a great time battling him with their sabers. No pictures? That's just wrong. I will have to find a video to put up.

On Carter's actual birthday, he chose to go to Johns Incredible Pizza. We stuffed ourselves and had fun playing games and even riding some rides there.

Here's Lily playing on a structure.

This was a lazer beam obstacle coarse that they had to manouver through.

Lily loves ski ball.

Carter begged to go on bumper cars and we thought he was too short. The worker let him go anyway because it was his birthday. Yay Carter, it made his day!

That is, until he spun the big wheel there behind Dallin and won 100 tickets!!! Then that made his day!

A couple days later he was off to the children's hospital with Peter to get some ear tubes put in. He had some thick fluid build up in his ears that was causing some significant hearing loss. He did great and they were in and out fast. Afterward, they told Peter there was a whole lot of old stuff in there. Carter hears great now.

Dallin received his Arrow of light just in time to head to boy scouts! He worked dutifully to earn this award. Since changing wards in January, I had a whole stack of awards that Dallin had earned and just kept forgetting to figure out who to tell, so he ended up getting like 16 or 17 things this night that he had earned over the previous several months. Dallin was just beaming the whole time as they had him come up for one thing after another and was honored with his Webelos and Arrow of light award. I think this might go in his top moments of his life for sure. I will have to find a video of this too.

Dallin's final pack meeting was Tanner's first. No break in Cub Scouting for us! Time to get to work on Tanner's Bobcat!

Although she is not a scout, she is a loyal pack meeting participant. And super cute at that.

We love our Logan. He is adored by all.

We got to go to Lucy's 17th birthday party at Skateworld. The kids had a blast. Lily isn't so much into the skating for more than a few minutes, but loved to mosy around and visit with strangers the whole time. She spent a lot of time here too, giving high fives to those passerbyers.

In other news, we solved a little issue that we were having with our house. Let me explain quickly. The "master" bedroom, if you could call it that, is on the main level connected to the only bathroom on that floor. There is also another bedroom across from it that we have always used as an office. The upstairs consists of 2 more bedrooms and an bathroom where the kids live. We were growing so tired of sharing the main floor with everyone and not having much privacy. Mostly nobody would leave our room alone. Kids were alway running in there and jumping on the bed and messing up our closet just for fun. The downstairs bathroom is used 90% of the time as well, so we struggle to keep any of our stuff out of little hands. Very frustrating over the last ten years. Seriously, I was ready to mo/ve.

Then we realized that if we moved upstairs out of the way of all the every day traffice we could have a bathroom to ourselves and keep our room out of sight and hopefully out of mind. We decided to use the other bedroom upstairs for me to use as a closet area/sewing/project/baby nursery room. It has been heaven to be up out of the way of things! Oh my, I can't even find words. Now we have a renewed love of our home as it works so much better for us.

Here is the project/closet room after it was painted (mint green!). Peter build a long closet rod along that wall with 2 shelves above it for shoes as you can see going up in the next picture. It is done now and I love being able to see all my clothes! I don't have to search for anything. It is all right there and visible.

I do love shoes and clothes and accesories so please don't judge. If you know me this will come as no surprise. I can't show the finished product because you will think I am a clothes hoarder, which is kind of true. At least I am a thrifty fashionista!

Eden is our most studious scriptorian. She wants to understand everything as we read and is very focused.

And our final adventure was the Starlight parade 5k run. We wore our Six Flags shirts and super hero capes. This was a fun year for sure. The kids all partnered up with an adult (Larry, Luke, Andy, Lucy, Larry and his kids, and some friends). Peter and I kept Logan in this stroller and Lily and Luke in a double jogger.

Lily got out and ran about half way through the run and immediately picked up on the high fiving of the thousands that were lined up along the sides of the roads for the parade. Like she had to high five every single person and if she missed one, she would go back and do it! She high fived people who weren't really high fiving. She stopped to pet puppies, check out toys, and yes, to our horror, grab a Cheeto from this ladies bag! It was so funny and unexpected that everyone who saw just laughed and laughed. This girl is a social animal. I am thinking she will be a very busy teenage butterfly someday.

This was hands down the best run ever because of Lily. She is such a firework and brings so much joy to everyone around her, including us. The other kids did great too. Everyone had a good time and finished the run just fine.

Afterward we kind of watched the parade from a horrible spot and then took our tired group home.

April 2014

2014-06-17T01:59:00.003-07:00

In April, Grandpa H. turned 99! He had a pretty rough year health wise but we are so glad he is doing much better and still playing pool!

Peter, Dallin and Eden went to celebrate at Grandpa's favorite Chinese restaurant

General Conference is a favorite weekend around here. Lots of family time, uplifting spiritual boost and of course this. The kids earn conference bucks and we open the store in between each talk. It is amazing how much they sit and listen now. The older ones even take notes! It is a fun new tradition that they look forward to. We found ourselves pausing a lot to discuss what was being taught. It was like a FHE marathon. My favorite conference with kids yet.

Sunday morning conference breakfast with the family. Michelle always puts on a great spread. She also had everyone write down one quote from each talk on a little paper and paused between each talk and everyone would read their quote and put it on the wall. It was a great way to review and enhance our listening skills. I might have to incorporate that at home next time.

Baby Logan had a little nap time with dad.

Post conference disaster. It was kind of like our post Christmas this year. I just let it go until it was all over. Conference is like rock stars in a hotel room at our house. I guess when you spend 2 days straight all in one room it is to be expected.

Luke found the peanut butter! All I could say was, why?

Eden got to play the zylophones in her class music production. She is right there in the middle with the brown shirt.

I came home from Young Women's one night and found this cute scene. It warmed my heart. Poor daddy looks beat.

Lily had her first filling:

We had some warm sunny days, which doesn't always happen in April! So we headed out to the trampoline to get some much needed Vitamin D. Even baby Logan enjoyed it.

What's all the excitement about?

Ah, a Roley poly!

Oh man, I love this little guy!

I stocked up on Cheerious because they were on sale, so they were immediately used as blocks.

We went to a fun easter egg hunt. It ended up being rainy, but we are Oregonians so we didn't let it get us down.

We got there really early so the kids played on the playground for a while.

Eden and Lukey are quite a buddy team.

There was a fire practice trailer there so the kids learned all about what to do in a fire.

Crawing out the window to safety:

Our moral support:

We went to another easty party at a friends house! We ate yummy food and the kids got bunny ears. Then they had an egg hunt.

To finish off the day we dyed a whole lot of eggs!

And then Luke needed a bath!!!

Of course the Easter Bunny came:

We had a lovely Easter feast at Peter's parents. I found the girls some matching Easter dresses months ago at Goodwill so they were just hanging there building the anticipation for all that time. They were so excited for the debut.

Eden loves her friend Sarah. She is probably her favorite person.

Sidewalk chalk is so fun when you live in a cul de sac. We spent hours out here one day. This road system was just the beginning. By the end, there was a whole city.

Too many bed buddies! 4 on this lovely morning.

Where's Lily? Oh, in asleep in a bucket bed!

March 2014

2014-05-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Regional Tournament!

Eden's dance group performed for a group of senior womenls luncheon.

End of the year trophy awards ceremony for the chess team. These kids had to work really hard and pass off many requirements to earn their trophy.

There are no words to say how amazing our homeschool group is. It is stellar and the women who are involved are so inspirational. I feel so blessed and it even meets just down the street from where we live! They have an annual mom's retreat so I was eager to go and soak up as much awesomeness from them that I could. We went stayed at a huge beach house and had a nice relaxing time together.

We went to a ward St. Patrick's Day party and one of the activities was to make a leprechaun center piece with the materials at our table. The kids were very proud of their work, so we took it home to see if we could catch one.

Instead of catching a leprechaun we caught Elfie!

Meeting new cousin Noah! That's when I knew Logan wasn't my little baby anymore.

St. Patrick's Day parade with cousins.

Such a goof!

Things were getting a little too relaxed at home so we had a family meeting to brainstorm some rules. We let everyone throw out ideas and some were definitely more silly than others.

On St. Patrick's Day the kids woke up to a note and some candy!

Peter even made green pancakes.

Lily's lip were hurting so she insisted that she put some band-aids on.

My sisters and I had our annual sisters weekend in Rockaway. We dubbed it "Sisterpalooza".

I took the chance to get some crafting done while I was there.

Daddy sent me lots of pictures of the happenings at home. The kids all got their zones clean:

Then they had some healthy green smoothie (Eden told me they had ice cream for breakfast too, ha!)

Then they went to feed the ducks:

When Mom's not around to say no!

Peter is a such a great dad. He keeps everyone happy and holds down the fort well. Thanks babe!

February 2014

2014-05-24T23:35:00.001-07:00

In February, we were able to bless baby Logan in our new ward. All of our local family came which was 6 families. We took over the front three rows in the chapel and with so many kids there, it was quite a lively meeting. I wondered what all the people that barely knew us must have been thinking! Here are a few pictures from afterward.

I came across this paper one day and we got a huge kick out of it. I think I was pregnant with Dallin and we were passing time on a road trip dreaming about our future family. We knew that we wanted at least 6 children as you can see with "option 1". In reality it was 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009, and 2011 but that was a pretty good guess. I don't think we are going for "option 2", but number 7 was in 2013 so we are already behind, LOL! I think the bakers dozen option was if we were to match Peter's family. I am so glad this paper somehow made it into a file because it was quite a treat to remember the daydreaming from way back. Glad it worked out! Too funny how much thought we put into this.

Mr. no nap can fall asleep at any moment in the early evening hours.

I spy with my little eye, a tiny little baby foot!

Baby Spider-man.

Another office find. This is baby Eden and Peter's cousin's baby with Peter's Grandma Hedman shortly before she passed away. She looks so happy. It reminded me of how much she loved being a great grandma. She always knew the count of them and all of their names.

We had 1 fun snow storm this year. It lasted a couple of days which was just enough time to sled and build a snowman and have school cancelled.

I made dental appointments for everyone in February and some had returning appointments so I felt like February was the month of the Dentist!

Eden's valentines hair.

More dentist. Carter's appointment was last and he was so excited when it was finally his turn!

On valentine's day Carter got some stickers and decorated me. It was so cute!

We had a fancy dinner together complete with sparking cider and stemware.

Heart chicken noodle soup tasted great after so much sugar all day.

The kids got to participate in Larry D's tournament. It was HUGE and so well organized.

This is Peter's club.

My little champs!

Peter and I went to a western themed Sweethearts Ball with Larry and Michelle for our Valentine's date

We also had exchanged valentines at our family dinner at Grandma's house.

We played a bunch of silly games too.

Dallin had fun with the dominoes at grandmas house to. He made sure I took a picture. The biggest one is a temple.

Luke was trying to go play one day and thought he was just fine (in february) since he had boots on.

Carter wasn't as excited when he ended up going back for a filling.

They had a mother son dance at the school and was was so lucky to have 3 dates! Tanner was really into the dancing and even won a dance contest. Dallin was really into the musical chairs game and won that. Carter was really into the balloons and had quite a collection by the time we went home.

My sister turned 30 so we went for mani/pedis to celebrate. Shellac is awesome! This lasted more than 3 weeks.

I was trying to get a picture of this scowl that Luke makes. This doesn't quite get it, but I at least want to document that he has a great scowl.

Luke has an aversion to clothes. We had been duct taping his diaper on to keep that on as well. I found that I could get it in white so at least it doesn't look quite so silly. So here he is again passed out with his duct taped diaper. He is sooooooo 2!

January 2014

2014-05-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

I don't have pictures from new years, but we celebrated with a big bash at Peter's parents house with all the cousins.

We had quite an unexpected change this year. The last Sunday in December it was announced that a small portion of our ward was being split and added into a smaller ward in our stake. We were in that small portion! It was such a shock. After nine years our ward truly did feel like family to us. I walked around during that 3 hour block feeling absolutely numb. By the time we got home, I could not stop the tears and they just kept coming the rest of the day.

After a lot of prayer and frankly, working through some angry feelings, we decided that we would accept this as the Lord's will. We embraced the change and opened our hearts to the new adventure. We were immediately welcomed with open arms into a great ward that we have already come to love. Plus we still get to see lots of old friends in the hallways at church. This has been a great growing experience for all of us.

January is a special month for a special girl. Our sweet Eden turned 9! I can't comprehend her being 9 but it is true.

She got some stickers for her calendar.

She also got 2 sets of matching dresses for her and Lily.

Miss Lily.

Our little Lukey.

Logan baby.

Swimming fun. We love meeting up with the family at the local Rec center pool. Especially because of the slide.

Dallin loves his Citiblocks that he got for Christmas.

And his circuit board kit.

We don't go to restaurants much, but we do let the birthday person pick their favorite place and go on their birthday week.

So I cooked up this crazy idea for Eden's birthday and somehow we pulled it off. We decided to give her (and Lily) a girl bedroom. We haven't done anything like this before so it was very exciting. First we sent Eden away for the day. She got to go to Miranda's house and Grandma's house and they had a great time.

I did almost all the shopping with Amazon Prime. It made it so easy to pick things out and find inexpensive items. So everything was all ready to go on makeover day.

Peter and I got to work and spent most of the day painting the room pink. Peter installed a real chandelier and I added the tree decals, curtains, bedding, and glittery night light! We also put a pink chair and rug that aren't pictured. There is also another window with matching curtains.

When Eden came home we had her come in and she was totally surprised. She LOVES her girl room so much. It was fun to watch her look around as she noticed all the details. Some of us climbed in bed and just enjoyed the newness of it all. I so love having girls!

Birthday Pancakes.

Pink glitter cake!

A relative Party.

Our kids love Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. They talked about the second movie coming out for about a year and then we never managed to go to the theater for it. I looked around and found that it was playing at the cheap theater for literally one more day as it was about to come out on DVD. We surprised the kids and went. They didn't know what we were doing at all until they saw this poster. It was very exciting! We ate lots of orange soda and popcorn and laughed through the movie.

Pinewood Derby time came again. Tanner was invited to participate since he was getting close to scout age. Peter and the boys spend many hours on their cars.

Second Place!

Spider-man car!

December 2013

2014-05-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

December was a magical month of new baby enjoyment and family time for the holidays. I mostly remember never wanting to set Logan down. I spent many nights on the couch with him asleep on my chest because I couldn't bear to set him down. I love that brand new baby time and I know very well how fast those first few weeks go and I didn't want to miss a moment.

We did go to some family parties as too, but I tried to be home as much as possible.Eden's dance recital was a wonderful exception. I love her recitals.

Dallin gave her flowers.

Her beloved teacher, Miss Heidi.

Christmas morning:

Eden got a huge snowglobe for her collection.

This is the first time I relaxed for the whole gift opening and didn't worry about cleaning up every 30 seconds. It was actually really nice to enjoy the moments and just clean it all up at the end.

Dallin wrapped a Book of Mormon and gave it to his friend that lives on our street. If you look close he wrote: "This present should last forever".

Backing up a bit, this is when we went and cut down our tree. Don't let the sun fool you. This day was so cold and windy we could barely think straight let along pick out a tree very well. Brrrrr!

Another night, we made gingerbread houses at Larry and Michelle's.

Aunt Lucy enjoying new baby sweetness.

We went through a "What Does the Fox Say" craze causing weeks of spontanious sing and dance alongs.

We hosted my family for a party and played several "Minute to Win it" games. In this one we made my teenage nephews swing a red pom pom with vaseline on it from their mouth and try to get it to stick to their nose like Ruldolph. We had so much fun laughing during all the games. We had the married couples move oranges from one side of the room to the other with no hands only using their mouths, and we had all the kids lay on the floor face up and move a cookie from their forehead to their mouths too. So funny to watch everyone contorting their faces to move the cookies.

One day we were getting ready to go out and I was laying out everyone's shoes, and I just had a "Wow, I have 7 kids" moment. That is a lot of shoes!

Early on Christmas Eve we decided to go see Frozen. We had a great time and everyone loved it.

November 2013

2014-05-20T14:32:00.001-07:00

I found a couple more fun pictures from October real quick. These are Tanner's decorations. He put masks over all of our faces in the pictures around the house!

Organizing their candy haul and making trades. Eden is one of those kids that keeps their candy for months. Everyone who ate theirs within a day was jealous.

Now on to November:

Don't you hate it when your leg gets caught in the neck hole of your outfit?

Peter and Larry took all of the older kids o a blazer game. They all got face paint done.

We also had our annual Great Wolf Lodge trip. Our kids so look forward to this tradition. There were lots of Dickinson and Houghtelling cousins to play with as well as other friends from church who came on the group deal. We got there in the afternoon and they played and swam their hearts out until they passed out. This year we got a larger family suite so there was plenty of room for everyone to sleep. The next day we played until we were too exhausted to move and headed home.

We spent some time in the arcade getting lots of tickets.

And then picking out the prizes.

Since it was near the holidays, they were getting ready for Christmas festivities and there were all these Santas there! They were hilarious with their real beards and santa swimwear.

Lily turned 4 on November 16th. Oh, she makes a great 4 year old. She is so smart and cute and SOCIAL! She literally talkes to everyone! So she was very specific about her cake that she wanted. It needed to have M&Ms, gummy worms, and chocolate chips. We aim to please so that's just what she got. We had the party at Grandmas house and somehow it got pretty squished by party time though. She didn't mind.

Pretty new church dress from Grandma.

More presents. She got little pink Leapfrog "laptop" and a singing tea pot that she still walks around singing along to it!

On her actual day, Peter made her a special birthday breakfast.

I got to go to Time Out for Women again this year. I went with some friends and we stayed in a hotel overnight. It was a nice little break. Especially since I was very tired and uncomfortable at this point. My sisters were all there too so we managed to sit together as much as possible. I love these beautiful women.

For FHE one night we made a gratitude tree and wrote things we were thankful for on the leaves. We do some variation of this each year. This time it was a foam kit I picked up at Target.

November was also the month that I joined Amazon Prime and I will never look back!!! I was able to do all my new baby shopping right from home and didn't have to worry about shipping. I also did all my Christmas shopping from home while I was nursing the new baby. I still use it all the time and it saves me so many trips for just that "one thing"! Plus, who doesn't love getting packages in the mail?

Peter headed up the chess club again this year and the kids did great. These pictures are from their home tournament:

One day I was totally uncomfortable and needed a distraction so we walked over to the school for a family outing. I wanted to be in labor so badly this day (I think I had the baby the next day or the day after that).

Heading to the Triage to see what this was all about...

So happy to find out it was the real deal!

Baby Logan!

Random picture of how Luke fell asleep mid Goldfish.

Welcome home baby! We had a little birthday cake party and everyone wanted to get their hands on him. Lily walked around with her own little baby doll for days. It was a bald doll so she took a pencil and scribbled some dark hair on it to match baby Logan. She referred to it as the baby that came out of her tummy! Too cute.

I was home from the hospital for Thanksgiving and so we went to the Dickinson's for a great feast.

October 2014

2014-05-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

October is always so exciting with the change of season, and the start of the holiday season. We had a wonderful fall.

Luke went through this phase where every time we knelt for family prayer, he thought we were playing Duck, Duck, Goose! It was so funny. Here is a series of pictures from one night.

Tanner trying to join in:

Lily gave in too!

We love soccer in the fall. It is something we can do all together as a family with a church league and it is so great to get out and enjoy the last warm evenings of the year. We got rained on too, but we are Oregonians, so it is all good. Lily was my buddy most of the time while we watched the other kids play.

Eden was a great player on her team.

Peter's cousin got married and had a western barn reception. My cousin got married at the exact same time so we split up and each took a few kids to each place. Who says you can't be in two places at one time?

The amazingly sprite almost 99 year old Grandpa!

Eden is such a girly girl. In fact the only girl I've met that even wears her pearls to soccer!

We did our traditional Halloween count down calendar and I put activities or little treats in each pocket. This day, the kids got a Halloween bingo game, which they played for days.

Another day we did this game that Tanner brought home from school. You roll the dice and the number tells you which body part to draw for each column. After 4 rolls, you have drawn your own unique monster.

I believe we threw a halloween family dinner party and this was one of the activities. They also played the bingo, guessed the weight of a big pumpkin and played pictionary. The kids rotated through the stations and got a candy at each one.

The biggest hit at the party was homemade root beer! The kids LOVED watching all the fog from the dry ice.

Leaves were raked up only long enough to play in. If fact, a few times, I think we inherited leaves from neighbors as well.

I found a bag of spiderwebs and let the kids do the decorating...sounds good to me!

Tanner made all kinds of masks.

We decided not to buy the insanely overpriced pumpkins at the pumpkin patch this year. A friend told me about a place that sells them for $1.99 no matter the size! We got the biggest pumpkins we have ever gotten! It was exciting for everyone.

We were given a whole bunch of halloween decorations so we set up all this graveyard, skeleton, ghost stuff. I must say, I am more of a cutsie halloween decor kind of person. This was not for me. But the kids had fun helping dad set it all up and pretending to be graveyard zombies.

One day the Halloween countdown had mustaches. Our kids are crazy for mustaches.

They also got some halloween stampers.

We went to the same pumpkin patch that we loved last year. Well, not we. I was home with some pretty sick little ones this time. But the older 4 had a great time with dad.

Tanner got his first bee sting. At least we know he isn't allergic!

Carter started a fruit sticker collection on one of our kitchen cabinets. It is still there...

This was also the month of the cough syrup incident, which I wrote about already.

More playing in leaves. Oh, the magic of childhood.

The kids school did not allow costumes on Halloween, so they had crazy hair day instead. We spray painted Eden's hair gold and put this cool spider in it. We found some festive clothes in our holiday tub and had some fun with those too.

For Halloween we were all going to be Avengers, but Dallin decided to bring back an Angry Bird and Tanner decided to bring some Spidey in as well. It turned out great. We conveniently had all the costumes from Tanner's superhero birthday a while back.

Trick or Treating with Jimmy and Abby and the Houghtelling cousins.

Our decorations at night. We had some light up spiders crawling up the pillars and some black cats with moving tails. You can kind of see our pumpkins. So, I guess we did carve them, but without pictures, I don't remember too much.

I think there was a ward party in there somewhere too, but man, this seems like ages ago and my memory is not so good these days.

September 2013

2014-04-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

In September Dallin joined his cousin Derek's troop for a train ride to a train museum.

Much the disappointment of Eden, the father daughter campout was cancelled this year due to a bad weather forcast. So, the dads rallied together for some father-daughter bowling instead! Afterward, peter invited everyone over to have a backyard firepit party with s'mores (it didn't end up raining). Those little girls ran around like it was the best time of their lives and ate until midnight! We were glad they were still able to have a great time despite a change in plans.

(Jimmy had his first father-daughter campout activity too!)

This Septemer Eden started 3rd grade, Tanner 2nd and Carter Kindergarten. They walk to school and home together, a 2 block walk. Dallin got to start homeschooling for his 4th grade year!

I spent most of September(and October and November) feeling pretty uncomfortable from pregnancy most of the time while trying to keep up and figure out this whole homeschooling thing. It was pretty intense.

And a Lily quote from September:
"I'm a big girl, cause I see my legs have hair!"