picture pile

Lots of pics to share today from the last month or so.  

There once was a precious picture of these two delicately dipping chocolates together- their chocolate covered hands working side-by-side.  Somehow this was embarrassing to them.  That's why when I saw them loading the dehydrator with tiny pieces of sliced pineapple, I had to snap a picture.  

  

Me and my sweet baby.  We're usually in love.

Getting ready for the bedtime routine.  They all looked so cute and my camera was right there, so I wanted to capture what everyday life is like.  This is our every night.

Wayne joined the crowd for a few days and stayed with us.  Grandma was primarily responsible for him, but the kids sure liked having him around.  

Layla like Wayne alright, but not as much as she liked his carseat.  She spent probably a total of a few hours playing in it.  She'd awkwardly get in it, roll around in it, stand on it, put her babies in it, pretend to sleep in it, climb on it- she even got a huge bruise on her cheek by falling on it.  It was a great toy to have around.  

Brian and Darrell camped in the backyard with the boys and Elle.  How lucky are they?  I love how Elle can be just one of the boys.  Her and Silas have quite possibly the cutest friendship I've ever seen.  They love each other so much and have nothing in common.  It's the best.

One day Layla wore jeans and she turned into a seven year old.

One day Ellery found her pink, plastic glasses and she wore them all day.  Like she was really wearing them all day long.  Went to Lisa's, came home, watched a movie, played with McKay. . .I guess she took them off for dinner.

And look what this is!  It just might be our new kitchen!  Isn't it beautiful?  I love it.  We are in the thick of making things happen to buy this house in Pleasant Grove.  I hope it all goes through.  Fingers crossed!  

Next up?  Pictures from my phone. 

thoughts on a book

Itty bitty flowers picked on the way home from church by me and my little Ellie girl.  

There is so much to say, yet I can't really find the words.  My lack of writing has caused my mind to cloud over and the words, inspiration and energy to write don't come easily to me these days.  I have so many things I want to record here, but because of that cloud, I am very behind.

Thursday I was in a bookstore.  I noticed Stephanie Nielsen's (nienie's) new book was on display.  I picked it up out of curiosity and thumbed through the pages.  In the middle of the book I read about her explaining to her mom how she had been with her grandmother who had passed away when she was a little girl.  I found the few paragraphs I read fascinating, and for that little glimpse of the book alone, I decided to buy it and read it.

I have finished the book now.  Obviously I have been reading quite a bit.  I am not a huge fan of her blog.  It's okay, but it's never been my favorite.  I definitely am not a daily, or even weekly reader.  I initially wanted to read her book because I was curious about her accident, her recovery, her life.  I knew there would be interesting details.  And there was.  But I didn't expect to be so inspired by what I read. 

It has made me think a lot about trials.  We all have them.  Stephanie Nielsen had to endure such a horrendous and painful trial, both physically and emotionally.  The descriptions of that pain- in her body, in her guilt, in her lack of confidence as a mother, and in reconnecting with her children- was heartbreaking, amazing and inspiring to me.

It made me think of my trials.  How have I handled them?  Have I done it with maturity and grace?  Have I learned all that I was intended to learn from them?  How will I handle my future, which surely has various trials scattered along the way?  I think back to some of the difficult experiences I've had and I know that some have refined me and made me stronger, better, wiser.  Some, I am still working on gaining those attributes from, but I have a new resolve to do better.

It made me think about being a mother.  She revels in her role as a mother and it made me remember what a gift it is to take care of these children of mine, everyday.  There are many distractions that pull me away from that focus, but it is a role I truly cherish and something I need to remember daily, even when it's hard.  Especially when it's hard.  It made me want to really be present for my three.  I am so lucky to be their mother.  

Family is everything.  I know that always, but sometimes it feels good to know it a little bit stronger.  We are so blessed to belong to a family.  I am so lucky to have mine.  My whole, big family too.  All of them.

So, um, I guess what I'm saying is it's a good book.  

It's funny, I had absolutely no intention to write about this.  I was going to talk about how we are house hunting (and put in an offer tonight!) and how Brian started his new job this week.  But this post just kind of happened.  So there you go.

thoughts on my family

I feel like I have not really captured who my family is on my blog lately, so that's what this is.

Layla:

• Loves being outside and would "jump, jump" on the tramp all the time if we let her.  
• Has a knack for collecting rocks while outside and holds them in her fists just like Elle does with her princesses.  Tonight she fell apart because she wanted to sleep with two she had collected.
• Has a vocabulary and understanding that truly amazes me.  She not only says new words almost daily, but shocks me with how she can communicate feelings and her comprehension.  I kind of feel like she will be the genius of the fam.
• Sleeps upstairs in a huge room alone while we listen to her through the monitor.
• Definitely has a girly preference all the sudden.  Last week she wore a white dress to church and I could tell she felt gorgeous in it.  Today she saw the dress, grabbed it, and with a smile said, "dress!".  Of course I let her wear it again.  
• Loves baths so much.

Ellery

• Snuggles
• Softest skin in the fam
• Talks about her family to every one
• Is in a new preschool group with our new neighbors- the Bakers.
• If you give her affection/attention, you are her best friend.
• Loves playing with her cousin Ash.
• Is not as into skirts and dresses lately.
• Favorite movie right now is green eggs and ham.
• Has struggled going to primary lately
• Is into playing with the boys

McKay

• Loves playing outside.  
• Is way into playing Grandma's old school Nintendo and tries to recruit anyone who will play.
• Is hardly watching any tv now that there is so much attention to go around at Grandma's.
• Has completely abandoned any little skill he built playing by himself.
• Finally grew out of his brown shoes- we all are sad, they were the best.
• Never wants to go to school in the morning, but is happy as can be when he comes home.
• Is having the hardest time with daylight savings.
• Is really dirty lately.
• I love reading what he writes in school.
• Might never want to leave this neighborhood.

thoughts on a sunday

Miss Layla's handy work

• We've had a fun week.  Brian and I looked at homes almost every day this week with our realtor.  This has been quite an interesting experience.  We found one that we like and are still discussing if we want to move forward with it.  

• Buying a house is a pretty major decision.  

• On Friday Ellery went to her cousin Ashlyn's 5th birthday party.  It was princessed themed and she loved every second of it.  My favorite part was when she was recounting every detail to McKay on the way home.  The best part?  He was totally into hearing all about it.  She was a little shy at first with the other girls since she didn't know them, but you would have thought they were best friends the way she talked about them on the way home.  She remembered all of their names.  

• Another conversation I loved hearing this week was when Ellery was trying to make some kind of a deal about McKay giving her money for her fruit snacks and she kept trying to talk him into it.  Finally he said in frustration, "Elle, I'm so confused.  Just stop.  You can have your fruit snacks back."  

• McKay got to go to Matt's half birthday party and it was a "late night".   They played outside, then watched the Phineaus and Ferb movie.  We kind of crashed the party I think, because the whole family came and McKay kept asking us when we were going to leave.  Now that I think about it, I kind of feel bad that we stayed when he wanted to be all grown up at a late night.  It's just not the same when your baby sister gets to stay up just as late.  Oops.

• At this very late night, we were playing Bananagrams and Ellery and Layla were supposed to be watching a movie right behind us.  Layla came over to the table and we all gasped.  She had found Krista's mascara and had painted both of her hands and one eye.  Black was everywhere.  It was quite a shock.

• She is quite sneaky, that girl.  She can open things that I would never expect her to be able to open. Also, so is talking so much.  She's getting so big.

• We enjoyed a weekend full of General Conference and treats.  A good combination, if  you ask me.  

• Brian starts his new job tomorrow!!!  I cannot believe it's finally here!  You all know I love my husband, but I am super excited for him to be working.  It's just time!  He will be happier, I know.  These last few months of no responsibility have been great, but I am ready to get back to reality. . .or I guess I'm ready for him to get back to reality.  Anyway, he is going to work tomorrow and I am excited for him to get settled.  

• This morning, as an April Fools joke, Adele was explaining to McKay that his school burned down in the night.  Guess who believed her and was about to freak out?  Me.

• I volunteered in McKay's class on Wednesday.  I'm so glad I get to go in, even though it's only for a half hour.  It's so fun to see him interact with the kids in his class, and I kind of feel like a celebrity from all the attention I get from those kids.  I'm sure that will wear off the more I go in.

• McKay and Elle are still loving the neighborhood.  They have never been so social and I almost don't know what to do when they are out playing all afternoon.  It's a really good thing they have going on, especially for McKay.

• That makes me think about the weather we've been having lately.  So beautiful.  It is a spring like this that makes me glad I am in Utah right now and not Oregon.  Spring is rough for me in Oregon. I am quite enjoying going on walks with the girls, and although Ellery does not like it, I am hoping to make a morning walk a regular thing.  

• Okay, happy I did my thoughts this week.  It's actually not too hard once I just sit down to do it.  

Happy Sunday!

disneyland

Ah, so here's the thing.  I am trying to do some blogging here, and going back to December does not feel great.  It feels blah.  So because of that blah-ness, I am not able to be any sort of creative when it comes to my post titles.  Sorry.

Here's the other thing.  We went to Disneyland in December, and I have already made a photo book of that exact Disneyland trip.  So, since my blog will one day be turned into photo books (how have I not started that?) I am not really caring about this trip being well represented on the blog.

Here are just a few highlights.  My favorite pictures, I guess.  I know there are like fifteen, but just think about how many pictures you take at Disneyland and you will understand that fifteen is not very many.  :)

 

nine

On March 21st we celebrated nine years together.  Nine years since I became Sarah Matthews.  Nine years seems like a long time.

Brian wrote me a very sweet note celebrating the new beginning we are embarking on.  New in so many ways.  I am happy to be starting this new beginning with him.  He's a good man.

I love him.

Happy nine.

spent my anniversary in a yurt

Brian has been dying to go backpacking, or camping, or really anything outside while he's had so much time off.  The trouble is, it's winter (I guess spring now), and we have a baby, and I am not too interested in camping in the cold with a baby.

On Sunday night he came and told me that there was a yurt available in Goblin Valley for two nights.  We decided to head down and give the yurt a try.  The fact that it was heated with a gas fireplace didn't hurt.

Here are a million pictures of our trip.  It was really fun.  The weather was great, the yurt was warm and our kids loved running around all the goblins.

Valley of the Goblins

In a cave.  This girl surprised us and was right up there with her brother.  Sometimes she can be so. . .um. . . feminine, that it gets in the way of any athleticism she might have.  But she showed us that she is a tough girl as she climbed around Goblin Valley.  (or as she kept calling it on accident, Alien Valley)

 Those neon pink shoes served her well.  But we used laces from McKay's cleats and had to triple knot them.  They were a PAIN to get on and off.  It's okay though, because I smiled every time I looked at them on her feet.

Picking up dirt chunks from the ground like a puzzle and throwing them at goblins.  I particularly enjoyed this activity.

Little Wild Horse Canyon.  We had to make a potty stop (#2) for one of the children, then the other was so jealous and wanted to go in a hole too.  We had to do some major bribing with oreos to get them to hold it in.

   

Right after this picture Elle fell and scraped her elbow and you would have thought she was dying.  But a little wipe with a rubber band around it did just the trick and she survived.

Layla didn't mind her backpack too much, and as long as we kept giving her rocks to chew on, she was pretty happy.

 After our hike.  

This boy was in heaven.  He was climbing all over the place and couldn't wait to hear what was next.  He was kind of exhausting, as he usually is when he is anticipating something, but it was still cute.  He loved being the leader and running ahead of everyone, and was a skilled cave-spotter.  I am really glad that Brian and he have each other to love the outdoors together.  

Home sweet home.  This little yurt was nestled up in the beautiful red rocks.   

 This is the inside.  Pretty nice, huh?  I think I'm converted to yurt-ing.  Even though we weren't cold, Layla still woke up several times at night, and the second night McKay and Ellery both woke up with ear aches.  Sleep wasn't very restful for us, but I was so happy not to be cold and worried about Layla, that it didn't matter.

Speaking of Layla, she acted like she owned this place.  We just let her wander around and eat dirt and chew on rocks and climb where she could.  I think it was liberating for her to have so much freedom and chose where she went on her own.  She loved it.

 We played sardines, kick-the-can, and just climbed all over the rocks by our yurt.  (Are you sick of the word yurt?  Me too.)  It was very fun and the kids loved it.   Brian and I did too.  

It was a fun little spur-of-the-moment trip and I think Brian got his fix.  He's actually been trying to find a way to take McKay somewhere else this week, but at least we got one trip in before he starts work next week.  I love traveling with my family- even though it's a lot of work with little kids.  The memories that come from trips like these are priceless.    

thoughts on a sunday

• After a bath, I was about to lotion McKay with the regular Jergen's lotion I use for the kids.  He asked if he could use dad's "man lotion" and I agreed.  I put it on him and we all admired the manly smell.  Then Ellery said, "McKay- you look like a man and you smell like a man!"

• Nonnie unexpectedly gathered the whole family together on Monday night for dinner at Chuck-A-Rama.    The kids were in heaven.  It was so fun for them to get whatever they wanted for dinner with no limits.  McKay reported on the way home that he had water, apple beer, green slush, banana slush, chocolate milk and root beer.  That was just the liquids he consumed.  Aunt Lisa was amazed as she watched Ellery clean her chicken leg clean to the bone.  As we discussed this on the way home, McKay admitted to having some pretty big regrets.  "I wish I would have saved my chicken bone and brought it home.  Then I would have tied it in mom's hair." 

• Ellery's hair hadn't been brushed in two days, and we were about to go out so I quickly put it in my favorite style- a messy, top bun.  She was playing with her girls as I did it and when I was finished she was quite upset- she does not often like to wear a bun.  I asked her to just look in the mirror and see how it looked as she threatened to take it out in her angriest voice.  She stood on the stool in front of the mirror and slowly I saw her expression change.  "I do look beautiful in this bun," she declared.  At dinner she noticed that her and Aunt Marilyn both had buns.  She announced loudly, to the whole table, "Marilyn!  We have the same bun!" except we all thought she said bum.  

• One of our new favorite things to have Layla repeat is "I'm sweet" but she says it like, "I'm fweet" and it's precious.  Another thing she can do, but I just haven't recorded is count to ten. . .except she just starts from whatever number she wants.  Whenever anyone says a number, she will start counting up from that number.  This is especially funny when Brian or I are counting to three when we're trying to discipline one of the kids.  It looses some of it's effect when Layla is right there saying, "...three, four, five..."

• Like most of Utah County, we got ourselves some Passes of all Passes.  We went to the Lehi Trafalga for the first time this week.  McKay and Sharp loved laser tag, Elle chose not to mini-golf but loved the frog hopper ride, Layla and I got lost inside the slide thingy(terrifying), and all of them (Mack, Elle, Sharp, Silas) climbed up the rock wall.  They loved it.

• While driving home in the car today Layla was tired and hungry.  She was crying and being loud and Brian shared a trick with me that he says has been working on her for weeks.  He started singing the night-night Layla song and she immediately stopped crying.  He said it scares her into being good because she doesn't want to go to bed.  I was shocked that it worked, but even more shocked when she took it even farther and began to say "Happy, happy."  She really did not want to go to bed.

• Something exciting happened to McKay this week.  He came home with the Star Student of the Month award from his kindergarten class.  He and another kindergartner from the other class got to have cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk with the principal during class.  He said his name was announced over the intercom.  He was pretty proud and kept telling us that he was NOT hungry because of the goodies he had eaten at school.  It was a good day for him.

• The other morning McKay and Ellery found themselves up in Grandma's sewing room.  Before I knew it, McKay came running down the stairs with a homemade BYU pillow that they had sewn together, and Ellery soon followed with a soft, white teddy bear.  I'm pretty sure they think Grandma can do anything.  I think they're right.

• Brian is enjoying his life of leisure.  His enjoyment will be cut short though, because everything is on track for him to start earlier than expected- next week maybe!  This is really good news, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from Brian.  He was looking forward to having freedom until the end of April.  I am looking forward to a paycheck.  

• I think I've mentioned how Brian is running with his dad.  They are about as happy as can be with this arrangement, and run nearly every day.  I'm happy that he finally has the time to put into this hobby.  From what I hear from his dad, he is in the best shape of his life.  

• Last night we were awakened at three in the morning to the sweet sound of Layla singing twinkle, twinkle litlte star.  I didn't know if I felt mad or totally in love with her as I changed her diaper in the middle of the night.  It was pretty precious, but also, who poops at three in the morning, Layla?
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Happy Sunday, and more posts below!

v-day

My mom always had a little something for us on Valentines day, and I remember loving it, so I've done the same with my kids.  They woke up to a little treat on the table, alone with their own valentines balloon.  Nothing like candy for breakfast.  How do you feel that three of Layla's most common food words are candy, cake, and cookie?  McKay was expecting a "chocolate sculpture" of an animal because that's what they've gotten the last couple years, but wouldn't you know it, when you go to get treats on the 13th of February, it's slim pickin's.  

This is our first year making a Valentines box.  This boy takes all the credit for this monster/alien/zombie, which is exactly what it's called.  It was fun making it with him and seeing his little creative mind at work. 

The glow stick lightsaber Valentine's were a big hit.  Such a big hit, that two other kids in his class gave them out.  Oh well.  At the end of the day on Valentines day I was so annoyed at the amount of candy and sugar that had come into our lives.  I contributed, yes, but I don't ever remember it being this out of hand.  That's why I didn't mind that he got two extra light saber's in his valentine's box.  Two less pieces of candy. 

Ash joined us for a special Valentine's day party at preschool.  They did lots of things with hearts and Elle and I were glad to have another student joining us for our big party.  Except, I guess I failed as a teacher because during preschool Elle kept asking me when the party was going to start.  "This is  the party, sweetie."  

nursery girl

This little child went to nursery today for the second time.  She marched right up to the table and started doing puzzles just like the older kids.  She stayed in there the whole time and didn't cry a bit.  When I picked her up, they told me that she would ask for me, but they could easily distract her.  She was happy to see me, and sad to put the baby she had been holding the whole time down.  She recovered quickly when we went to show Elle what she had made in nursery.  She was proud when Ellery got so excited.

Brian and I are amazed that she did so well.  But, I suppose after McKay and Ellery each having months of tears and parental accompaniment with their nursery experiences, we deserve a low key entrance this time.  I guess next week will be quite telling.  Her first week she was happy for awhile, then started crying for me.  I don't know what she'll do on week three.  Either way, she's the cutest little nursery goer I've ever seen.

How did my baby get this big?

goodbye sweet thompson's

About a week before we left Portland, our favorite family had us over for dinner.  I made sure we took one last round of pictures with our twin family. . .except Brian and Scotty- I thought they might feel awkward.  

We love the Thompson's and miss them SO much.

Layla and Sagey

Ellery and Kenna

(this two would NOT give me a good picture)

McKay and Talan

Me and Starr