February 2018

When it come to busy months I would say February, April, May, and December take the cake. They are so busy with so many holidays and birthdays that they just seem to fly by. The kids had their school fun run where they were squirted with dyed water as they went around the track. They all had a blast and even Sophia kept up with the kindergarten class. Why am I not surprised. That girl climbs everything and has great upper body strength. People always comment to me and act concerned and I just tell them she is just fine and does just fine climbing, swinging, and playing on her own. She always gets mistaken for being a year older than she is. She is so active but her delay in speech always gives away how young she really is. She is growing quickly and I realizing I don;t have much time with her left as a toddler. I will one day miss her little toy messes, books everywhere, dolls in random places, and her telling me she loves me 50 times a day. Wyatt is equal parts sweet and a tease. He will stay behind and pick up a mess when I haven't even asked him too. He will wrestle anyone even if it's kids twice his size. Much to Bailey's dismay she gets roped into being his sparing partner often. He loves the color orange, playing football with neighbor kids, learning sports, and drawing. Bailey is really such a beautiful little girl. She is already singing and dancing her way through life. She is a free spirt that loves her free time and she takes some convincing to get her to get things like homework, or piano practiced. She is starting to talk about boys and I am praying this boy crazy stage doesn't last long. She loves to write in her journal. Her best friends right now are Norah and Taylor. She is strong and can sometimes beat her brothers in a bike race up the hills in the retention basin by our house. Bentley has a funny side I see come out more and more especially around his friends. He and Bailey like to crack jokes and make each other laugh even if I am trying to put a stop to it for dinner or other quieter moments. I love watching him excel. He is great at sports and I try to remind him that if he will practice combined with natural talent he could really be great at whatever he sets his mind too. Olivia is so sweet. I could stare into her big blue eyes and kiss her big full lips all day. She babbles to herself more and more and she loves to play with toys. She still hasn't rolled over but is trying to sit up more and more. She started eating rice cereal and watches the rest of us eat with great curiosity. Jon is getting his business ready for the busy season. He has hired more employees and bounces his ideas off me on the regular. I am not always the best sounding board but I hope that he knows he can always have a listening ear in me. I have been stretched further than I ever knew possible. With kids activities,normal day to day laundry, cleaning, and raising children I am so tired by the end of the day. I need to rely on prayer a lot to get me through some of the tougher days but overall we are doing well! This month we also honored Kevin by going to the temple with all of my family and doing Kevins temple work. I had many discussions with Kevin on his desire to go to the temple one day and he was never able to get there in this earthly life. Well now he has every opportunity to grow and receive the blessings the lord has for him. I could feel his presence there and know that he was close by. There were so many tender mercies that night and we had several people that were working in the temple that night that knew our family and gives all hugs. I will always remember the special feelings I had in the prayer circle and also in the celestial room. Those are sacred places in the LDS temples. I miss Kevin so much, but I am confident that one day I will get to see him again! Bentley turned 9 this month. I can't believe our oldest is 9. He is growing into such a wonderful, kind boy. He is obedient, he can have in depth conversations with Jon and I, he is a helper, he loves to play sports, the piano, and the x box. I can't wait to see what he does the next 9 years! This month we celebrated Valentines day as a family. It was fun sitting around the table telling each other nice compliments, and talking about love.