Kylie's Baptism Pictures

My friend Stacey took these pictures of Kylie in her baptism dress. She also designed the invitation above. Stacey is a great photographer and very talented at doing digital
scrapbooking. I'm not trying to brag, but I think these photos of Kylie are absolutely adorable. She is such a cute girl and looks like a little angel. I felt so blessed to have found her dress at Sears on clearance. The store I bought Courtney's and Katelyn's dresses from no longer carried them. We searched at about five different stores before we found this one. It was perfect and definitely a tender mercy from the Lord.

Cameron Turns Five

Cameron is five years old! It's really hard to believe. We had a family barbecue and pool party for his birthday. It was a ton of fun for everyone...

Cameron loved playing with all his friends and opening his presents. After the birthday party, Cameron and Courtney opened all their presents together. Cameron's big gift was an 18 inch bike with training wheels. He loves it!

We love our very unique, energetic, morning-loving, boy.

A few days after Cameron's birthday,he took yogurt parfaits to his preschool class. He loves preschool. His junior Kindergarten class has eight boys in it. Bless his teacher's heart.

Courtney's 14th Birthday

Courtney had yet another pool party for her 14th birthday. Having a pool is a lot of work, but it's great for parties. Courtney is so lucky to have so many girls her age. She really has some wonderful friends. They had a blast swimming, eating pizza,and being girls...

Several of the girls went in on Courtney's gift and actually bought her a turtle! She has a thing for loving turtles and now she has a real one! She was more than thrilled with the gift. And Lloyd is more than thrilled to help her keep its tank clean.

We can't believe Courtney is 14 now. She's entering a whole new world of high school, early morning seminary, youth dances, etc. She'll be in college in four years! We're trying to enjoy each moment we have with her. She's a wonderful girl in every way. Courtney and Cameron had another fun birthday together. I call them my "birthday twins."

Bye Bye, Nigh Night

We told Cameron when he turned 5 he would have to say good-bye to his beloved "nigh night." I kinda bad making him get rid of it on his birthday. I would ask him if he was excited his birthday was coming up,and he would say, "I don't want to be five because then I have to give up my nigh night." It was sad, but the time had come to say good-bye. His "nigh night" actually started out as his crib comforter when he was a baby. He really grew attached to it and needed it before he would fall asleep. His other favorite thing is drinking milk. He insisted on drinking his milk with one hand and holding his night night with the other. Nigh night + milk = complete heaven for Cameron. He used to love to rub the tag on his nigh night until he eventually rubbed it off. Then there was the time we accidentally left it at the child care at the gym and Cameron was so relieved when we got it back. It was almost impossible for me to wash it too. I would have to sneak it away and throw it in the washing machine before he noticed. He would wait by the dryer for it to be dry. Needless to say, after five years of lots of love, Cameron's nigh night is ripped, tattered, and falling apart. How could something that looks like that be loved so much? Here are a few pictures of Cameron saying good-bye to nigh night. He was sad to say good-bye to nigh night, but luckily his Aunt Chareen made him a new blanket with trains on it! He is warming up to his new blanket. He loves the trains and the satin edging he can rub. What a sweet and tender boy Cameron is. We love him!

Back to School

It's that time of the year again - Back to School. This is such a bittersweet time. I love having my kids home for the summer. I love sleeping in with them and being lazy in the morning. I love having no homework to remind them about and no extra activities in the evening. However, there seems to be a lot more fighting in the summertime. I can never get the house clean. And Cameron, especially, seems to get into more trouble. So it's with mixed feelings, we begin a new school year. This is a year full of changes especially for the older girls. Katelyn is beginning middle school. Courtney is starting high school and early morning seminary. I'll have four kids at four different schools; that's a lot of schedules to keep track of. I am so glad that Lloyd was able to give each of the kids a father's blessing before going back to school. Cameron was old enough to start kindergarten this year, but I decided with his August 29 birthday I'd have him do one more year of preschool. He's in a five day a week program and he eats lunch at school every day. It's just what he needs! CAMERON

St. Paul's Preschool

Junior Kindergarten

Mrs. Linda

August 28, 2009

KYLIE

Orchard Elementary

Third Grade

Ms. Bryan

August 3, 2009

KATELYN

Savage Middle School

Sixth Grade

Mrs. Kim

August 24, 2009

COURTNEY

Enochs High School

Ninth Grade

August 24, 2009

Motherhood: A Challenge and A Joy

PATIENCE

Give me patience when little hands,

Tug at me with small demands,

Give me gentle words and smiling eyes

And keep my lips from sharp replies,

So in years to come when my house is still

Beautiful memories it's rooms may fill.

We had our Stake Conference on August 15-16. It was a wonderful conference! It focused a lot on families and marriage. I left the conference feeling so inspired and motivated to be a better wife and mother.

Motherhood is definitely the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. Yes, it's even more challenging that running a marathon. Ironically though, sometimes motherhood does feel like I'm running an endless marathon. Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a mother. I had so many expectations. I thought my kids would be so cute and I would be the most fun, understanding, compassionate, and amazing mother. I was always such a fun babysitter. I would take the kids to the park and always had plenty of energy to play along with them. I thought I'd be the same when I became a mother. Well, I have to admit I have fallen short of my expectations.

I have been a mother now for almost fourteen years. In the past fourteen years I have learned that motherhood is hard. It can be painful, messy, stinky, exhausting, and mundane. As a mother, I often feel guilty and inadequate. I find myself thinking I wish I was more fun, creative, sensitive, nurturing, or patient. I wonder if I am devoting my time and energy to the right things. Should I clean less and play more? Should I be more tolerant or more strict? Are my kids doing too many extra activities? Am I teaching them enough about the gospel? I honestly feel so conflicted at times. I do look forward to the day when I can clean my house and it stays clean. Or when little hands aren't getting into my personal things like my makeup, my jewelry, my gum, etc. Maybe some day we won't have a million stains on our carpet, sticky jam on the furniture, or sharpie marker all over the walls. Then I feel guilty for these thoughts. I know my kids will be grown up all too soon. I must enjoy them while they are little.

As I reflect on motherhood, I have a few different thoughts. First, I think, like most things in life, motherhood requires balance. I need to balance my time between play and work. I need to pick my battles. I need to correct inappropriate behavior, while demonstrating unconditional love. Second, I need to rely on the Lord. Heavenly Father has given me stewardship over these five precious spirits. He wants me to be successful in teaching them the gospel and raising them to be happy and loving people. I need to listen daily to the Holy Ghost for inspiration on how to spend my time and energy. Finally, I need to try not to be discouraged. I reminded my friend about a quote I heard on motherhood by Jill Churchill: “There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.” As a mother, I may have different strengths and weaknesses then my friends do. I just have to remember that I can only do the best I can do with the children I have.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been blessed with to be a mother. I'm trying to enjoy each moment I have with my precious children. I try to find joy in the little things - Conner yelling "Mommy" and hugging me when I walk in through the door, Cameron saying, "I love you, Mommy," Kylie writing me sweet notes, Katelyn retelling me every detail of her day, and Courtney explaining how much she loves her family when she bears her testimony at church. I recall a church commercial from the 70's that showed a mom teaching her daughter how to ride a bike. Then the announcer said, "Hey Mom, you're probably doing better than you think" Well this is probably true with me. I am probably doing better than I think as a mother. Yes, there are lots of things I could improve on, but I also need to focus on what I am doing well on. I included pictures of my two little boys with this post. These boys ages 2 and 4 are a daily challenge for me. They are always into something! I came into their room to check on them before bed and they had put Conner's toddler bed right next to Cameron's bed. I was actually relieved this is all they had done. Sometimes they take the entire mattress off of their beds. There really is never a dull moment with these two around. And they really love each other. There are many mornings that I find them in the same bed. As I said earlier, I am trying to soak up every moment I have with these precious children. Motherhood is the toughest job I'll ever love. It is my biggest challenge and my greatest joy.

My Third Triathlon

I did my third triathlon on August 15. I was excited to do it with my friends, Ann Seymour and Cindy Decker. It was their first one. It was Tami Dixon's second one. This triathlon was the Tri for Fun in Plesanton. It was the same one as the first one I did on June 20. My goal was to beat my time by at least 5 minutes. I had improved a lot on the swim and the bike. At least, I had a new derailleur and knew my chain wouldn't come off this time. I knew the run would be a challenge because I was having heel or plantar fasciitis pain. I ran a half marathon the week before this triathlon and was in a lot of pain during and after that race. Some friends and family tried to tell me not to do the triathlon because of my heels, but I really wanted to do it. I figured I could make it through 3.1 miles of running. It was very crowded at the event. They estimated almost 1000 people participated in it. I tried to stay away from the large group during the swim. I swam on the outskirts of the pack, but it was still very crowded and I did get hit a couple times. I made most of my improvements on the bike. My chain didn't come off at all and my shoelace didn't wrap around my pedal. My run was about the same as last time. My heels didn't hurt too much. I ended up bettering my time by just less than five minutes - 4:46 to be exact. Not too bad. I still don't have my road bike, but my birthday is just around the corner. I am looking forward to improving even more. My friends did awesome. Ann finished in 1 hour 9 minutes. Cindy did it in 1 hour 19 minutes. Tami bettered her time by 8 minutes! We really had a blast!