Fantastic Summer

I'm going to go backwards. :)

We bought a house this week! It's great. Just a cute, little thing here in Newcastle and it needs a little bit of work but it's ours and it was a steal (at least I think so). No pictures just yet but we're in the process of moving and I will hopefully post some soon. YAY! The boys are loving it so far and have been helping me pack and load/unload today. Seth is not too happy about the process, I think he feels lost in the house because he just wanders around and cries. Poor kid! We hope to be settled in by the end of the week.

We went on a 4 mile hike the other day. Brennen walked the whole way! Dean mostly rode Matt's shoulders and Seth was very content in the back pack.

A couple cuties after church last week. Dean made a mask in nursery and Seth is wearing his cute white shirt and tie given to us by our friend Kathleen!

A couple weeks ago I ran a half marathon! I had been training for a few months and it felt great to accomplish such a thing. I doubt if I'll ever do one again but I'm so glad (and can't believe) I did one! I beat my goal time by nearly 15 minutes, finishing in 2 hours and 16 minutes.

The first week of July my sister and her family came this way! They stayed with us on Monday night then we went to Devil's Tower with them then they were off to see the other sights. It was great to have visitors from such a great distance!

For the 4th of July we went camping the night before then just had fun shooting our own little fireworks and watching the big ones on Saturday. Seth was ticked camping and finally had to sleep in the car with Matt (after a long drive). He decided to start teething that night... but the other boys had a blast! We found a beautiful spot and had good food and went on a nice little hike.

In June Matt's brother Lane and his family came to visit, too! We went with them to Bear Country (I didn't get any pictures...) then they went and saw a bunch of stuff in the beautiful black hills. We had a little picnic at the park and the guys had a chance to go fishing. It was a great weekend!

Over Father's Day weekend we had a family reunion at Bear Lake. It was such a blast! The boys absolutely loved the tent, and playing on the boat and in the water with their cousins.

We loved seeing everyone!

 It was just perfect and nice.

We were away for about a week, we spent time in Lyman before and after the reunion and even got to go to the temple thanks to my dad and sister for watching the kids! On the way back we made a detour to see Ayer's Natural Bridge. 






On June 15th my little baby turned 5! He is such a good boy. He is SO smart, he's getting better every day at reading and math, he helps with his brothers, helps me around the house, loves to play outside and run around, is getting quite good at piano, and is excited to start kindergarten this fall!

At the very beginning of June we had even more visitors! My mom, dad, and brother Kasey came. We went to Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, through Custer Stake Park on the Needles highway and had a great dinner in Rapid City. They even got to see Brennen play a t-ball game. It was wonderful to have them and they'll have to come back so we can see even more!

We love exploring the outdoors, going on hikes, fishing, camping and picnics. Here are a few more pictures of such things we've done so far this summer!

Happy Summer! :)

A Little Bit of Updating!

My little baby is 7 months old today! I was holding him as he slept last night and I couldn't believe how big he was! Here are a few things about him.

• He sleeps through the night, most of the time. Sometimes he wakes up at 4 but then he'll go back to sleep for a few hours which is nice!
• He finally drinks bottles! So he's down to about 3 nursings a day and drinks a little formula and eats a few solid meals.
• He is SUCH a good, happy baby. So easy to please. He loves to smile and laugh and lately has taken to attacking his brothers.
• He has been able to sit on his own for about a month. He can also get from crawling/scooting back into a sitting position with ease.
• He absolutely LOVES baths! He goes crazy in there and my hands are always hovering just over him to make sure he won't bash his face or try to drink the water.
• He loves to crawl and gets all over the house. He can pull up on toys and the stairs and can even stand for a few seconds without holding on. He follows me everywhere!
• He is a crazy, wild boy but can also be such a cute cuddler. 
• He is starting to stop and pose for pictures. I love it!

We sure love him!

We have visited family in Laramie a few times lately, for Easter, a weekend visit, and this last weekend for Mary's graduation from high school. It was great to be able to see so many family members!

Brennen played soccer this spring and also finished up preschool! It was crazy for me when I picked him up. I said, "This was your last day of preschool ever!" and he said, "Alright! Time for kindergarten! And you don't drop me off. I'll just ride the bus." Excuse me?? When did he get so big and independent??

He's easy to spot in this one because he has the goofiest face.

Dean is just a cute kid. There's nothing too new to report about him. :) His cutest antic of late is that he says, "Mom, I love you!" whenever he thinks he's about to get in trouble. Or whenever Seth is crying...

We had some wet snow so we finally got to make a little Dean-sized snowman!

My boys were so cute on Mother's Day. They gave me flowers and candy and helped Matt make me breakfast.

We survived soccer season and now Matt is almost done with the school year. The kids have their last day today then he has two days of staff development next week.

We have been house hunting! It's been a little stressful but fun and I just have been panicking that we aren't making the best choices and this is a huge decision! But we are pretty sure we've found the house for us. It isn't what I first envisioned when buying a house but it is not the house we will live in forever. I think we're getting a good deal and it will be great for us for awhile! I'm excited to make improvements and have a little more space for our family!

Sacrifices

Recently there were two really great job opportunities presented to me. They would have been full time music teaching positions, both of which would have been a dream job for me, and I think I had a really good chance at getting either one of them. 

I filled out the applications but before I submitted them I prayed and prayed about what it would mean for our family if I accepted a full time job. I felt very strongly in my heart that I was not supposed to do it. 

I cried and felt frustrated and here is why. 

-I love teaching music and I feel like I am wasting my degree and my talents by not doing it. 

-I get so stir crazy here at home. There is very little adult interaction and very little time for me to do anything for myself. If I were working I could continue to develop my talents.

-Both jobs were in a location where we'd really like to settle down with our family.

-Me working would add much needed income to our growing family. 

But in the days when I was praying about this I was also reading through a book filled with teachings from a leader in the LDS church, a former prophet, Ezra Taft Benson. There is so much good material about the roles of mother and father but these two things were probably my favorites: 

A child needs a mother more than all the things money can buy. Spending time with your children is the greatest gift of all.

Do you know one reason why righteous mothers love their children so much? Because they sacrifice so much for them. We love what we sacrifice for and we sacrifice for what we love.

I do make some sacrifices. I am bored. I have very few good friends. I sacrifice countless material possessions. I have put my professional aspirations aside. 

There are times when I feel like I am NOT doing a good job being a mother. But I've realized the truth of it. We do NOT need extra income at the expense of childcare. It is much more valuable for me personally to be at home with my children. We can make the sacrifice to live with a single income while the children are little until it makes more sense for me to be working. And we can get by just fine that way. We just have to continue to sacrifice excess. 

It is SO HARD sometimes to be at home by myself with 3 little boys and to live on not a lot of money but I know that this is where I am supposed to be and we DO get by with what Matt makes. 

I cannot imagine how working mothers do everything and I admire them so much! I know I couldn't possibly make the time to do a good job at work and be able to grocery shop, prepare meals, clean the home, and make things run smoothly. The house is never clean as it is despite my many daily attempts. :)

My days are filled with monotony. Dishes, laundry, cleaning up messes, getting drinks, fixing meals. I never get a break or a day off (and neither do working mothers, good grief!). But my days are also filled with more joy than I ever could have imagined before I became a mother. They are filled with kisses and hugs, reading stories, car races, sword fights, blowing bubbles outside, drawings just for me, new insights to the world seen through the eyes of my children, and a lot of love! My little boys count on me and I know that they feel secure and safe because of the time I spend with them.

I know that not all mothers feel that they are able to stay at home or they choose to work outside the home. But for me, through a lot of prayer and sacrifice, I know that this is best for me and my family. At least for now!

I didn't write this to praise my sacrifices or myself, I just needed to justify my decision and this kind of thing helps me. :) I also hope that maybe someone else who reads it can find answers to their prayers about similar situations and decisions!

And just for fun, here are the boys with their Easter baskets. :)