V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N........

when i say the word VACATION, i think of joseph and i sitting on the beach somewhere under an umbrella watching our six ashen white, 70 spf coated children frolicking in the sand....when i think of VACATION, i think of sleeping late in the morning, eating brunch out, sitting around and talking for hours, no plans, no agenda, watching movies, staying up late. my definition of VACATION: a break from the everyday...time to "enjoy" one another and the scenery around you.....lazy days!

we have been on VACATION since the end of july......we have driven hundreds of miles through at least five states (so far). we have been woken up at the crack of dawn.....i'm talking daybreak, since we left, and at least twice a night and not only by the twins. we have cleaned up throw up in every state we have been in, on every surface imaginable.....and lets not talk about the diarrhea that has accompanied that.....i am talking about every day since we pulled out of our driveway! i have sat in an urgent care and in the hospital, holding two of my girls down, trying to comfort them, as they got their first IV. i have heard my name called more in the past few weeks then i have two months at home. joseph has been traveling....that's all i have to say about that. i am sleep deprived, honory, strained!

did i mention we are on VACATION?

oh the memories we are making! one day we will all laugh about this......the upside is that i have been able to spend time with my family (parents and siblings). i was able to reconnect with one of my cousins. i have been able to see one of my dearest friends. our children are all here with us...they don't feel good, but they are here. we have seen and experienced yellowstone and saw old faithful blow!

it may not be ideal but it is our VACATION.....together!

fathers......

i couldn't let this day pass without writing about two very important men in my life. i have been blessed with two grandfathers, many uncles, cousins, brother in laws, one father in law, and a brother who have/are wonderful men. they have been a huge part of my life growing up and into my adulthood. my life has been blessed because these men, who have played different roles, are in it!

today i am grateful for my dad. when i think about my dad, there are many characteristics that come to my mind. my dad is a hard worker. he has always provided for his family. he has put us first and foremost in all instances. my dad is loyal, loving, shy when you first meet him, stubborn, considerate, prayerful, intimidating, jovial, thoughtful, straight forward, playful, happy. my dad is one of the most spiritual people i know. he sees no fault in others. he is a leader. he has supported me through my life changing events: college, mission, marriage. he is a comforter, a protector, a honorable priesthood holder. i have watched him become a "granddaddy". he is the senior patriarch in our family. he is my dad!

i am also grateful for joseph. he is my other half, the one that completes me, my eternal companion. i am in awe of his accomplishments. among them, the six children that we share together. he is so good to them. he celebrates every day that we are all together. he is their protector, playmate, provider, teacher, disciplinary, helpmate, best friend, tball coach, driver, lunch buddy, wii companion, movie night instigator, golfing teacher, wrestling partner, music loving, photographer. he feels their joy and their heartache. he is the sun in their sky and the light in their darkness. i think many days he underestimates his importance in their lives but without him they would be empty. their laughter and their joyful spirits are drawn to their daddy. i am so grateful for his example in their lives as well as mine. I'm grateful for his loyalty to our family, to his children. i am grateful for the righteous priesthood holder that he is......that he can call upon our Heavenly Father in our children's behalf. he is so special in so many ways!

today i celebrate my dad and my husband! i celebrate the men you are and the ones that you will become. i celebrate the stages of life we have shared together and that we will share together! i am glad that we our bound together through eternities! i love you both very much!

happy fathers day!

accident prone.....

today was not a very good day for gracie! i guess not only today, but the whole week! at jacksons tball game, gracie decided she wanted to go and play on the playground instead of watching jackson play......as any child would! she was playing on the monkey bars with another little boy who happened to have cleats on! long story short, he kicked her in the face and BUSTED her lip wide open, laid one of her front teeth straight back on her palate, chipped the tooth beside the front tooth, and bruised her chin pretty good. the child denied ever kicking her!! this past thursday at baseball practice, one of her team mates decided to throw the ball to gracie while she was trying to get her glove on her hand and hit her dead center in the chest and the ball bounced up and hit her in the neck/chin area! those two incidents are two of many! the child has bruises up and down her body! i feel so bad for her!

mothers.....

i am so grateful for all the mothers in my life! i have dear friends who are not yet mothers, but who are wonderful examples of how a woman should be in preparing to become a mom! i have friends who are exceptional mothers. they show me new and interesting was to parent and to "be" with my children. i've had 2 grandmothers who led the way in organizing and binding many families together to become one. i have 6 aunts who have been a constant in my life.......13 cousins (girls) who are raising 30 children between them all.......3 sister in laws, who teach me daily by their mistakes and accomplishments........my mother in law, who works so hard and loves so intently that she encompasses all who come in contact with her . missy, my sweet sister, who travels the road of motherhood with me.......and my mom!

there is not a day that goes by where i don't think about my mom. i talk to her almost everyday! growing up i remember my mom doing so much for me......i don't think i understood exactly what went into raising 3 children until i had children of my own. she was always the one who would tuck me in at night, comfort me when sick, buy the clothes that i had to have, take me for special outings. daily she gave 100% of herself to make sure that i was happy, safe, and loved! even through the teenage years where i pushed every button she had, she was diligent, prayerful, constant! my mom is kind, happy, loving, talented, soft spoken, funny, artistic, creative, gentle, caring, bright, honest, peaceful, compassionate, hardworking, selfless, fashionable, current, a wonderful cook, educated, fluent, vibrant, colorful, witty, spiritual, forgiving lady. there aren't enough words to describe my mom! she is a southern belle, daughter, sister, aunt, wife, gamma. she is my example, my sounding board, my motivator, my friend.........she is my mother! if i am half the mother that my mom is then i will have greatly succeeded!

i honor my mom and all the wonderful woman in my life who buoy me up and who have gone before me and walk with me in this journey of motherhood!

i am so grateful to be a mom! it is one of the hardest, most exhilarating, trying experiences that i have ever had! 4 of the kids have been sick today but they all did their best to make me feel very special. i was treated to wonderful handmade gifts, white roses, a scrumptious dinner with dessert, a long nap, and lots of hugs and kisses!

i feel very humbled to be given such a wonderful responsibility of being a mom!

jacksons preschool mothers day program!

today was an exciting day for jackson and i! it is not very often that i get to go and be with one of the children by themselves. joseph came home late last night so that i could attend jacksons preschool mothers day program. standing back and watching him helps me to remember just how little he really is! in our home, he is the second oldest and so sometimes i forget that he is only 5 and a young 5 at that! there are 16 children in his class.......each one had a special part! jackson was a rooster in one song and said "cock-a-doodle-doo" and then he held up a picture of monkeys and said, "little monkeys have a mom to show them monkey shines" (that was part of a rhyme)! they danced and sang and recited poems! i think that my favorite part of the program was when 6 of the children held up the letters M-O-T-H-E-R and sang a song that went with each letter.......the words were something like this:

M is for the money you spend on me
O is for the open doors i leave
T is for the time you give to me
H is for the hand prints on the wall
E is for the early morning rises
R is for the runny nose you wipe
put them all together, they spell MOTHER!
Mother is the one i truly love!

they each frosted two flower shaped cookies and gave us a personally painted pot with a plant (jackson proudly reminds me that the plant is a marigold.....for all of those who are like me who have no clue about plants) with a homemade card in it! it was great! my only regret is that my camera/recorder ran out of juice!

jackson has grown so much! he is such a little man......so kind and considerate of others! he gets excited about everything and when he looks at you with those big baby blues, all i want to do is melt! he is in a wonderful place right now! his preschool teacher is fantastic and so are all of his friends and their families! it is good to be a mom today! thanks jackson for such a sweet gift!

ice breaker sours

i took the kids to the Y yesterday for swimming classes. as i was trying to get jackson checked into the nursery so i could get ela to her mommy and me class and gracie to her class, i heard this high pitched, fingernails down the chalkboard, blood curling scream. i quickly realized that it was ela! she was standing two inches from this poor, innocent 2 year old tiny little boy who's mother was trying to get him into the nursery as well. so my thought is, maybe he bit her or pulled her hair or threw her against the wall (not really) or something to get such a terrifying scream to rip from her mouth like she did! no, no, no......it's not that logical! ela had a tiny ice breaker sour in each one of her hands that i had given her before we got in the car to come to the Y. she held out her hand to show the tiny little "friend" and he took it from her and put it in his mouth! when she started screaming, he opened his mouth, the sour went tumbling to the floor, and he was climbing his mothers leg before you could blink an eye! ela was so upset! the little boy cried for quit sometime, even after he was in the nursery and i am sure that ela has scared him for at least a month or two! sad thing is, we see this little boy and his mom almost every day we go to the Y! talking about trauma!

i would like to thank....

first of all, let me begin by telling you that we do have 5 other children besides ela and i do love them all equally and unconditionally. i know that in the future there will be many things to say and share about them all at any given time, but i need to pay homage to our ela! she's earned it!

so.....it seems like forever ago (it's been about 8 months now), we started talking potty training with ela. we talked and we demonstrated and we begged and pleaded and bribed and scolded and gave high fives and flushed just to watch the water go down and chanted her name while she sat on the potty and cleaned up accidents all over the house and reminded her that she gets to go to pre-school when she pees in the potty and begged and pleaded some more! now i can say, by gosh i think she has it! i didn't want to say anything before now but the child has gone 5 whole days with no accidents AND has worn her big girl panties everywhere, even out of the house, AND has even been frustrated with herself when she has woken up in the morning and peed in her pull up!!!! IT IS TRULY A MIRACLE!!!

i don't think that you can possibly understand where all of this is coming from unless you know our history. ela is the first child that joseph and i have actually potty trained! my mother-in-law, aka ma-maw to the kids, watched gracie and jackson most of the time while i worked in north carolina and therefor took care of the nitty gritty details of potty training for us.......did we ever say thank you for that wonderful gift? living across the country now, she couldn't do that for us......SOOOOOOO,


i would like to thank the academy for this nomination for the "first time potty training and actually succeeding" award. it was many days and nights of crawling around on the floor with a bottle of resolve in one hand and a scrub brush in the other trying to find the latest accident that miss ela did "last year". i would like to thank first and foremost, joseph, for his constant reminding that one day she will get it......that is what you call faith! i would also like to thank, ma-maw and gamma (my mom) for the many weeks that they spent one on four and then one on six while i was on bedrest and recovering from our latest additions! if it weren't for the two of you ela would have no one else as equally excited as she is to share her fun news with! last but not least, i would like to thank ela for actually doing it!

ela was paid in full the other day with the bribe of all bribes for a 3 year old in training. she picked out her very own surprise dora baby doll and a pack of 7 pairs of brand new dora panties! hey, we do what we have to do! desperate times call for desperate measures!

3 down, 3 to go!