Family Pictures and Family update

In the beginning of November we had a photographer take pictures of our family out By the Superstition mountains. It was a beautiful day and we got dressed up for the occasion. I am so grateful for each one of my family members and it is so important to me to capture moments in time with us all together. I feel like the time just flies by once I got married and started having kids and I want to make sure I try to soak up every minute. Somedays I fail terribly and I am a grouch but I hope my family the knows the countless hours I spend taking care of their needs and working with them on homework, cartwheels, sports, dance, singing, or whatever it may be... I do it because I love them all so incredibly much. I am not perfect though and I feel like most days I yell for things to get accomplished. I hope to work on that and pray that one day I can encourage lovingly and softly without the loud voice. Back to why I did this post. I wanted to give a complete update on where everyone is at. Jon: I am so impressed with the diligence, hard work, patience, and kindness in which Jon owns and operates his business Green Home Pest Control. He pays attention to every detail, is hands on, makes sure his employees are trained well, and he does it all without complaining. I know he has stressful days and situations with work but I admire the calm way in which he deals with the problems that arise. I am grateful for his help at home and with the children. He loves to stop by and watch them in their activities, he spends time coaching them and encouraging them, and he takes them to do fun things. Jon is good at reminding me to slow down and to hug it out every now and again. He is the optimistic one and I am sure grateful for his out look on life. I sure love him and am so grateful to be his for eternity. Christi: Me. Currently I spend my days running the household of 7 people and one old dog. At times I feel myself letting satan in and feeling like all I do is slave away and take care of everyone else. However, I know better when the still small voice and quiet urging of the holy ghost reminds me that I am doing the greatest work I can be. It is not easy and I want to throw in the towel a lot. I am grateful for a loving Savior who showed me the way. He loved and served selflessly his whole life. I know that I can do better and be more positive. I do enjoy taking care of everyones needs and I think I do a dang good job at it, but I need to slow down and enjoy life more and soak up these sweet children while I can. They are growing so fast. I also need to soak up the moments I get with Jon and I feel like my motto is Quality vs. Quantity since it is hard to find the time with so many schedules to live by. I am Happy most when I am eating dinner with my family visiting about the days events, riding bikes with my family, praying and reading scriptures, listening to good music, reading, baking, and taking pictures. I love a good restaurant too. Bentley: Bentley will be 10 soon. He is one of the tallest of his friends. He is a lot like me and we get along quite well. He still likes to snuggle with his mom and his favorite is visiting and staying up late with mom and dad. He does great in school, sports, and the piano. We love watching him play whether it is sports or the piano. He is a good friend, and he has quite a large group of boys his age in the neighborhood so there is never a shortage of friends coming over or invitations to come play. He is silly and likes to make up dances or songs. He and I like to pretend to rap. He loves riding his bike and exploring. Bailey: Bailey is almost 8. She is excited to get baptized and has been ask all sorts of questions about it that I have enjoyed talking with her about. I consider her my free spirit because she doesn't seem to be phased by anything. She likes to be given a task and is so proud when she completes it or when she can help me out. She is a good baby sitter and helps me quite a bit with Olivia. She loves animals, being outside riding her bike, rollerblading, or just playing with friends. She is great at performing and has really enjoyed singing. She is a good friend although the girl drama with friends has already begun. All her leaders and teachers love her and think she is so sweet. I try to remind her just to always be kind and include everyone and she will never go wrong. She is beautiful and has a light in her eyes when she is doing whats right. She loves playing soccer with her friend Taylor and is really quite good. Wyatt: Wyatt is my knight in shining armor. He loves to serve me and help me without being asked. He is so diligent in school and was even awarded the scholar award for all the hard work he has given in school. It doesn't come easy to him but he is succeeding and doing amazing. Wyatt is a show off and we have to remind him to rein it in sometimes when he is around others. It worries me for when he is a teenager. I think it is because he is always around Bentley and his friends so he thinks he has something to prove. He is an awesome basketball player, he loves to ride skateboards and scooters with his friends. He says and does sweet things for me. He has a heart of Gold. Sophia: Sophia has grown so much this year. Her speech is really coming along, she has learned all her letters and numbers, and she is starting to write. She is super active and can ride a bike better than any older kid can. She jumps curbs and rides with no feet or hands sometimes to show off. The thing that most surprises me is that she likes to tell jokes and play pranks. She is my buddy and plays with Olivia when she is not at school. She loves to dance, dress up, wear pretty things, and put on makeup. She is my blonde little diva. She is super tall and people always think she is a year old than she is. She is very independent which can be a good or bad thing depending on the activity or time of day. She is her primary teachers favorite and seems wise beyond her years. Olivia: Our sweet Boss baby, Livvy, Bunders, libby, Livvy Lou, Dolly, and all the other fun names we call her. She is everyones favorite. She understands most of what we say now even though she still doesn't talk. We can ask her to do something or mention something and she will do it or look. For example if I say bike she will go get her shoes and walk to the garage open the door and go get on her bike. She is barely one and she can move pretty fast on that thing. She is round, beautiful, spunky, and so much fun. She loves to vacuum with me and help me clean. She can say Up, Down, dad, and sign more please. Every now and then she will say mom. We are so grateful to have her in our family and enjoy watching her copy us and try to keep up.