The Past Few Months

So I had a baby and stopped doing everything that wasn't absolutely necessary. Truth be told I even stopped doing some of the necessary stuff. I have heard this a lot during the past few months, "Mom I don't have any clean (insert any article of clothing you like here)!" I'll never be able to use the excuse, "I just had a baby" ever again so I figured I had better make the best of it.

But I am determined to climb back on the wagon that is my life so now we'll have regular meals, clean laundry more often and a whole bunch of posts in a row. :)

This fall our family watched or played a lot of soccer. During that time I mostly stayed home and lactated or slept with Henry. But I did make it to a few games late in the season.

We went to Disney on Ice for Free! I love free! The first half was fabulous, the second half, not so much.

We celebrated Halloween with cousins. Oh how we love the cousins!!

Henry was blessed on a gorgeous November day. Thanks to all the family who joined us!

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving in Boise, ID with my family. Here's my Mom and Dad enjoying the meal. Does my Dad look like he might not be happy that the next day he turned 59 (again)? Happy Birthday Dad!

Kate and Ethan played in their winter piano recital. Here they are with their teacher, Shirley Ransom.

Jason turned 38! Wowza. You go babe! This picture tells me two things. #1. You are one awesome Dad and husband since you held our sweet little bundle for many nights in the wee hours so I could sleep just a little longer. Thank you so much! #2. Staying up half the night with a newborn in our late 30's is WAY harder than it was in our 20's! I do believe this picture was actually taken just after 8 pm. :)

I have struggled like crazy to keep up with life and at the same time slow down and enjoy every single second of my time with little Henry. Knowing he is our last has made me want to stop the clock. Seeing how Ethan has grown up so fast reminds me that I won't be holding Henry in my arms for long and I want to savor it. I have done as little as possible around here and Jason has been extra nice about it. Besides feeding kids and changing babies and sort of keeping up on the house I managed to get out of the house for a super fun Christmas party dressed as an elf named Beaker Sparkly Toes.

Ethan had his first ever orchestra concert and he had a short violin solo. He was very, very nervous but did wonderfully. He's loving music right now. He also made a very cool hatchet for a school project.

Kate turned nine! She had a cupcake party with her friends at a little bakery downtown and then we made this cake at home for her. She loved putting on and eating the terrible sugar cube candies that spelled out her name. This girl has a terrible sweet tooth. My mother would say she inherited that from me.

Nathanael turned 7 and had a crazy boy birthday party and lost his two front teeth. Sadly his permanent teeth were already coming in pretty well before the primary ones fell out so he never had a toothless grin.

Elijah has become uber naughty and extra cute. Bad combo for me, good for him.

And finally our wonderful bundle of joy has gone from this. . .

to this. . .

to this. . .

to this. . .

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! I have the greatest mom in the whole world. I love you Mom! I had a great Mother's Day today. The kids were sweet as could be and Jason and the kids cooked a delicious meal and cleaned it all up. I got a nap and visited with Tania (she and the boys joined us for dinner). The best kinds of gifts involve removing some of the "mother load", if for just a short while. Today was a great gift!

Our garden is slowly getting started. Jason built grow boxes, hauled in dirt and on Monday we finally planted a few things. I took pictures and they are all bad. I am not a photographer! I don't have a steady hand so I rarely take the pictures. Because Jason is always hogging the camera I haven't taken the time to really learn about settings, lighting, etc. When Jason saw how dark the pictures are he looked at me and nicely said,"The first thing you need to do when you turn on the camera is turn the dial to A for Auto!" I will try to remember that.



Jason: "This week Lisa got some boneless ribs to BBQ. They were really thick and taking such a long time that I got preoccupied with something else. When I did remember, it was too late, oh, was it too late. There were flames 10 ft high coming off the grill and so much smoke and I couldn't see the stove. Maybe not 10 ft, but when you see your dinner going up in flames, 10 ft actually seems small. The BBQ had caught fire and seared the outside. Which makes me wonder if the sauce is so flammable, why is my wife cooking with it. I trimmed off the edges and the insides were actually really good. It was good they were so thick. That wasn't the end of it. First she immortalized it with a picture and second she told one of the Priest quorum advisors who is a BBQ King. He has already trademarked the name "Fat Dave's BBQ". Oh and all the priests were there as well."

I think the priests could use something to tease him about; heaven knows he teases them incessantly. Notice how much meat is on that board. There wasn't a lot left for eating! Again, the camera was NOT on auto, oops. We can't all be perfect at all things can we??


Friday Ethan had his piano recital. He had three songs and did great. When we got home he was mad because he messed up a little on the the third one. He is a perfectionist and was pretty hard on himself. I told him that we all have good days and bad days and sometimes we are just a little off. That's life, he did great and just let it go. He was having none of it. I wish he could learn to let go of the things he can't change and focus on improving things he can change. Wow, listen to me. I sound like my own parents.