cleaning the church

I love taking my kids to help clean the church on Saturday mornings.  One of the most important things I hope to teach them, it that when there is an opportunity to serve, you take it.  Cleaning the church is perfect for this.  There is something they can all do, even little May.  They have gotten very good at emptying garbages, dusting chalkboards and railings, and holding doors for vacuums.  They have a great time seeing ward members, and getting a little play time in too.

And just to make sure it was a positive experience, we usually top off the morning with a Bill's doughnut!

mothers day

For me, Mother's Day is a time of reflection.  As I look at my life, and people in it, I often wonder why I have been so blessed.  My blessings far outweigh my worthiness for them.  The only thing that I can figure is that I need the sweet spirits the Lord has sent me, to drag me into heaven.  I need their examples.  I need to learn to from my struggles in teaching them.  And along the way, I get to feel the joy of it all with my sweetheart by side!  

This year when Chad made his traditional Mother's Day cake, he let the kids put the finishing touches on it!  It was a masterpiece! It was also a blast sharing this day with another mother who I love!

And of course, I wouldn't even get to enjoy this time in my life without the mothers that shaped me into the mom I am, and try to be.  Truly, I have it all!

soccer season

Last Spring we decided it was time to give our kiddos a chance to play some organized sports.  Since our next door neighbor is a soccer guru, it was the obvious choice.  She even hooked us up with all of the shin guards, balls and shorts all three kids would need.  With Mike having such a flexible schedule, he volunteered to be the coach for the boys team, and Chad was the assistant coach (when he could be there).  Porter, Pratt and Carter all got to be on the same team.  Aimee was in the age division above them.

It started out so cute!  Mike had done his homework on coaching soccer for little kids.  He also is one of the most patient people I know, so he was perfect.  He had them all running drills and smiling.  It was adorable!  

All three of the kids had practice on the same night, and games on Saturdays.  Being nice and pregnant, plus wrestling my almost almost two year old, plus which ever kid(s) that were waiting for their game or practice, it was a long season!  Chad often had to work, and I was mostly on my own.  I was so ready to be done by the end!

We learned several lessons from our first soccer season.  1.  Watching 3-5 year olds play soccer on a mini field is hilarious! 2.  Making sure everyone gets a turn being the goalie is essential to maintaining peace in the team.  3. Having two kids share the same pair of soccer cleats only works when they don't have games at the same time.  4. Porter is fast and has the best victory dance I've ever seen.  5.  Just because it is your first time playing soccer (Aimee) doesn't mean you can't be one of the best players on the team!

Next year I think the boys want to try out baseball.  Aimee wants to give soccer another go.  I am prepping myself to make it happen with an almost three year old and an infant.  Bring it on!

a las vegas

When Chad suggested that I go with him to the orthopedic conference his residency was sending him to, I said no way!  There was no way I was going to spend the days in a hotel while Chad was in conference, spend the money to get there to do it, and leave my babies back in Ohio for that kind of time!  Chad had the rebuttal to my every argument.  My brother lived in Vegas and I could hang out with them, especially since I hadn't seen them for three years.  We had the sky miles to pay for my ticket.  He was covered by the residency, and would even have a daily food allowance we could use (they give them ample money for three meals a day, and cover the alcohol most of them drink as well).  And my brother and sister in law know everything we do and could take care of our babies.  I still said no.  I felt guilty!  How could I?  Then he reminded me that we have never gone anywhere, just the two of us, since our honeymoon 9 1/2 years ago, and that even though we would go stay with family, it would be a fun get away.  He nailed me!

So we were off!  Flying with no kids was so...easy!  I even brought a book for myself!  Chad was able to rent a car for us to drive courtesy of his residency, in place of him staying in a hotel.  It was so much fun to see my brother, his sweet wife and his kiddos, one of which I had never met!  

Mostly we just visited and caught up on each others lives.  Two days in, my brother Jake traveled down to hang out with us as well!  It was his birthday that week so we got to celebrate with him!

 

Chad and I took an afternoon after he was done to do a little sight seeing.  We started by having our first In N' Out Burgers.  It really is great! 

We walked the strip and found that it mostly consists of stores for spending money.  Shopping, especially at tourist prices, isn't really our thing.  We did manage to find the M&M's store and see a free 15 minute 3D show.

We also met up that night with my family to see the Knights of the Round Table at the Excalibur hotel.  We did a lousy job taking pictures, but we had a ton of fun eating Cornish Game Hen with our hands while cheering "ha-zah!" for our Irish knight.  He didn't win the tournament, but he took a close second!  I spent that night knowing my kids would have loved that show, and wishing they could have been there.

Late Friday night, some of my awesome friends from our medical school, Village Green days arrived to visit.  They had traveled all the way from Salt Lake with babies to come and visit me while I was semi-close. The following day we roamed the strip with them again and caught up on how each others lives.  We walked all the way from the Hard Rock Hotel to the Venetian to explore the hotel Chad's conference had been in all week

While we were there I found the perfect job for my sister and sister-in-law.  They are both voice major graduates.  They could both move to Vegas and be street performers in that hotel!  Neither one thought it was a very good idea, but I think I may have planted a seed. 

That day Chad headed back to Ohio while I stayed one more night with my friends and caught church and a quick visit with my Uncles family who had come to Hotel King (my brothers house) for Spring break.
By that time I wasn't just itching to get home, but craving it!  I missed my little family like crazy!  It had been so much to see family and friends, but my morning sickness kicked in a day or two into the trip, and I really struggled to adjust to the three hour time difference.  It was a fun trip, and I was grateful I got to go, but so grateful to come home.

family easter

The stars aligned and every one's spring break from Ohio and Alabama were at the same time!  Not only were our vacations the same, it was General Conference and Easter weekend!  I can't think of three better reasons for three brothers and their families to get together!

We had such a great trip!  My pictures are all out of order and don't show things as well as I would like, but I can't think of a thing what wasn't great!  We did everything from helping 11 kids dye Easter eggs, to the adults playing games and eating fancy gelato!  We worked together to combine all of our conference and Easter traditions.  We enjoyed wonderful weather and the beauty of the South.  Oh, and as far as I know/can remember, there were no major kid evens in which they destroyed property!

One of the major highlights was dying eggs.  It was hilarious how many eggs we had to boil to satisfy their creativity!  I made my kids wear plastic bags over their cloths since I didn't bring cloths they could ruin (since someone always does).  They had so much fun comparing their eggs with one another.

We visited a fun park called Nacalula Falls.  I didn't actually take a photo of the falls, but is was a fun waterfall that just sort of appeared in the middle of the landscape, with a neat history.  We had a great picnic and waded in the water.  Then we went and saw some fun old settlement buildings that had been restored, as well as a mini petting zoo.  We rounded it out with a hike down to the falls.  It was so fun seeing all of the cousins exploring together, and three brothers all toting their babies up and down boulders!

Steve and Em also let us have a taste of their Southern home by taking us to an Easter Egg hunt at the local library.  It was fun to let the kids try something new.  They got all kinds of trinkets that kept them busy in the car.  One of the kids also found the coveted golden egg.  The best part was that organizers hyped it up so much, and we found out that the grand prize was a quarter!

May did take the opportunity to enjoy her climbing skills.  While she was supposed to be napping she had a hay day emptying the suitcases!

We had an absolute blast!  It was one of those trips that just make you thankful for the chance to be a part of such an amazing family!

williams baby #5

Chad and I were excited when we decided we were once again ready to add to our crew.  This time, I had promised myself that I would find some really fun way to let him know when we were expecting.  I knew that the ideas I had to share the news would all require some preparation, and him not being too busy to actually receive the news.  As it turned out I found out in the middle of a busy work week.  I decided to wait until Sunday so I could have everything ready.  On Saturday morning, as one by one our babies all made their way down to our bed for a morning snuggle with daddy home, Chad made the comment that life just couldn't get any better.  As much as I wanted to agree with him, I just couldn't hold it in, and told him, that indeed it could, and would in October when Williams baby #5 would join us!We are just so in love with our life and the family have created together!

date night

Aimee has been looking forward to her Daddy/daughter dance since she went last year!  She loved everything from getting to dress up, to the special attention she got, to the ice cream at the end of the evening.  It was magical!  And she expected nothing less for this date night.  Of course this one one entitlement that Chad and I were happy to feed in to.

Porter was also excited for mother/son date night this year that he would be old enough to go to.  Sadly, the school does that one on a Sunday evening.  He was so bummed that we wouldn't get to go have dinner and bowl.  We decided that we just couldn't let him miss out on his special night because of not everyone understands and shares our desire to keep the Sabbath day holy.  Since Chad and Aimee would already be out, we sent May to Mike and Saundra's for a couple of hours while Porter, Pratt and this lucky mom got dinner (with school freebie coupons) and went bowling!  We had a blast!  I wish I could post the videos I took of them bowling, because it was easy to see that we also made the night of the people that had lanes on either side of us!  Both boys were so excited for their turns that they would just about go crazy waiting to throw their second ball.  Because the went so slow down the lane they probably could have two balls rolling at the same time and been fine.

At the end of the evening, everyone was feeling about 10 feet tall! This included Chad and I, who thought we had helped make some pretty great little people to take "out!"