Gym Cats

When my friend Karli was in town from Boise we went to Gym Cats one afternoon.  Miss Madison thought she was in heaven - able to crawl onto all sorts of levels, and mats, and soft surfaces to fall onto.  

Isn't she SO CUTE!!

This little girl was actually really timid and shy - which is very unlike her.  I think a new little personality is starting to emerge with her that isn't as "crazy" as we once thought.  She likes to stay close to me now - which is fine by me.

I hardly saw the boys - they ran, and jumped, and swung, and played the whole time without stopping.

Mason, Payton, and Brock about to jump.

Wrestling

Jason has now having to wrestle 4 kids at one time.  Madison now considers herself "one of the kids".  

I think he pulls it off pretty well.

Grandma Hanna's Summer Party

My mom hosted a swim party at her house with the Thomas' and their grand kids.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

This was the first year Brock could figure out how to get to the bottom of the slip and slide.  Noah was still struggling.  Megan would have none of it.  Which made me sad.  Last summer she was so fun and daring and loved water, (slip and slide last summer) this summer she seems to spend most of her time whining for me to "hold her" instead of playing.  Oh well, I complained when she was crazy and into everything and now I am complaining that she has mellowed out... if there is one thing I do know is that it is all a stage and everything will pass.

These are days never to be forgotten...

That might seem like a dramatic title to a post... after all I am not exactly hearing the Book of Mormon being translated by a prophet of God.  Nevertheless the quote still resonates with me and it was all I could think on my way home form our outing today.

I love temple square.  I have loved in since I was a teenager.  The summer I was 16 I was just starting to gain my testimony of the church - we had 9:00 am church and so in the afternoons, every Sunday, I would go to temple square and read my scriptures or write in my journal.  I specifically remember watching mothers bring their toddlers to temple square and making a goal to do that when I had my own children.  To me it is one of the most heavenly places on earth.

Now I absolutely love bringing my own children here.  It is one of my top 3 favorite outings (maybe number one). Sometimes I get overly concerned about what other people think of me and the behavior of my children.  Generally I am pretty laid back when it comes to them, but, sometimes I let other peoples judgment get the better of me and I get naggy with my children.  One day I was being particularly that way about them walking along the stone edges of the fountains and I had a thought come to my mind.  "How would I mother if the Savior were right here."  I think he would smile at my children just being children and exploring these beautiful grounds.  I would be ashamed if he heard me nagging and getting overly upset at simple childlike activities.  I try to ensure that their behavior is not crazy - but I believe that Jesus would want them to act like children.  

 Another thing I love about temple square is that I always seem to get the best "portrait" like pictures of my children here.  My top favorite pictures of my kids are almost all at temple square. Here and  Here and Here and Here

Most of those other pictures are of the boys so today I was focusing on the girls.  They are both at really hard stages to take pictures of.  I got a few good ones.  

The boys wanted a picture in front of the temple but I knew there was no way I was getting a cute-all-looking-all-smiling picture in front of the temple.  So I told them all to jump in the air - it got their attention.

Noah ran off and Brock and Megan really wanted to hug Mads. 

We rode the tracks around down town a few times.

While we were sitting on a bench along side one of the fountains Noah asked if we were in heaven.  We hadn't really talked about church stuff while we were there nor seen any of the statues - I think his question was purely from a peaceful feeling he felt.  I felt it too.  I hope heaven is half as good as our day was.

Air Conditioner

Disclaimer:  I have reread this post several times over the last week or so trying to decide if I wanted to post it.  Please know my intentions are completely innocent.  I recognize that this could come off as very self righteous and judgmental - but know that it is not in any way me feelings or intent.  However, these are truly my feelings and I am just so shocked at my own feelings, that for humorous purposes I wanted to post them - just because they are so bizarre.  But in no way do I think I am "right" - just a little insane :)

I mentioned this in my "confessions" area in my side bar - but I have decided that it deserves it's own post.  About a month ago we got central air in our house - nice right??  We have not had air conditioning our whole marriage.  In our first "white crumbly" house we had a very small window one in just one room; it was not even large enough to cool the room down - you had to stand directly in front of it and even then you could barley feel it.  Then in our THIRD story apartment in Provo we had a very very old and hardly effective wall unit that, again, only (and hardly) cooled down our front room.  I went through 3 pregnancies in that third story apartment - super hot.  Then in this house we inherited a broken swamp cooler - cool if we laid under it - but leaked constantly and produced HUGE utilities bills - so we hardly ran it.

Basically what I am trying to say is that I learned to be hot.  It was just kind of a way of life.  Sure I complained about it ALL THE TIME, but I survived.  I had a system, a system of strategically positioned fans, timely opening and closing of windows throughout the day and night to get the perfect amount of air circulation.  My cooking was planned in increments throughout the day so my kitchen never got too hot.  I was intimately familiar with the outside temperature - I KNEW when it had been a hot day - our life revolved around it.

Well now that I have an air conditioner I feel... very uncomfortable.  Not temperature wise, but emotionally uncomfortable.  This is going to be hard to explain, but try to stay with me.

I feel like, "who am I to be comfortable all the time"?  No matter what I do in my home, no matter how hot it is outside my house will always be 78 degrees - does that really seem fair? Or even necessary?  I am outside playing with my kids or on a walk on a 95 degree day - hot and sweaty and we walk into our house and it is cool and breezy! - it seems... excessive and almost indulgent.  Even on top of that... if we are not going to be home all day I can program it so it stays warmer while we are gone (to save money) and have it come on so our house is cool when we come home and go to bed, now I am not telling you that because I think you don't know what a programmable thermostat is  - but to let you know how luxurious I think it is. And not luxurious in a good way, but in an impractical and overly gratifying way.  Really... why?

I think of people living a century ago - particularly women.  What would they think?  Would they be jealous or think we were glutinous.  And now an AC is not even a luxury anymore - it is what is expected.  Like how could we even LIVE with out one.  People have told me since we moved into this house, "you HAVE to get AC", but for thousands of years people didn't have an AC - were they stronger than us?  Less whiny?  Less entitled?

It was sad for me to realize last week we had a day that went above 100 and I had NO IDEA - I was shocked at how self absorbed I had been and how I had just stayed in my wonderfully cooled house, oblivious to the truth in the weather.  I felt... out of touch.

I know this should just be turned into gratitude.  And it has.  Before, I scoffed at the price of an AC... 3,000 dollars - on the low end - I thought it was way too much money for something that should be common place.  That is why it took us 2 years - but now I realize that it is such a luxury, and we should have to pay a lot for it.  And as for the added electricity bill...worth it.  If I find myself ever complaining at the "high cost of running our ac" I will realize how far I have fallen - because it truly is such a luxury and we should have to pay for luxury.

The Gateway

Jason works at Fidelity at The Gateway - so in the morning the kids and I went to Discovery Gateway and then met Jason for lunch down at the fountains.  (All wearing their matching orange - makes outings so much easier)

Madison is starting to notice what the older kids are doing and wants to be doing it too, and then gets SO EXCITED when she actually gets to do it.  We went to Chuck E Cheese a week ago and she HAD to ride the Merry Go Round every time Megan did - with the biggest smile the whole time.

I think I have said it before but I am finding out Megan has a talent for math (type things).  She really likes to construct and build and make things fit.  She spent almost the whole time at this building station and built all sorts of things - and if she couldn't get something to work right she wouldn't get too frustrated, she just would try something else.

The fountains were a nice cool off.

A Good Day

For all my posts about how hard my life is right now I thought I would record that we do have good days.  Today was one of those days.  A really good day.  We didn't "do" much - meaning we didn't leave the house or get dressed or anything really productive.  But we played.

I can't say exactly what was good about it - or what the formula was to ensure we have another good day tomorrow. Actually now that I am thinking about it I remember that it didn't start off wonderful - the boys woke up early - too early for Noah and he was really really whiny all morning.

I made everyone breakfast - 2 dunk eggs (fried eggs) and toast for Brock. 1 dunk egg, toast, and pancake with peanut butter and honey for Megan. 4 pancakes with peanut butter and syrup for Noah, and scrambled eggs and peaches for Madison.  Peaches and orange juice for everyone.  Everyone was happy and eat really well.  After I put Madison to bed we did a great activity that was very purposeful and had different developmental purposes for each child (I love those).  Then we went in the back yard and got out tools and "fixed" the kid's bikes.  Then, once Madison woke up we put on our swim suits and had an intense backyard water day.  I invited about 5 different families to come over - but as luck would have it NO ONE could come - it was just us.  Initially I was pretty bummed - but then I decided to get involved.  I put on my swimming suit and got soaked right along with the kids.  We chased each other with the hose, I went down the slide into the pool, ran through sprinklers, did the slip and slide, and played with water balloons. It kind of seemed like the world stopped spinning for a while, it was pure bliss.

We had lunch and all four napped - out of pure exhaustion.  During their nap I had time to clean up and had some time to do some studying.  I have started a journey to try and come closer to Christ and to understand and utilize the atonement in my daily life, not just for repentance, but to find a way to use it in my current stage of life.  I felt I had a good grasp of this at one point in my life - but currently it has become too abstract and distant to feel relevant.  I deeply desire to change that and gain more sure footing in my relationship with Christ.  I spent a good hour in the scriptures and reviewing my old journals, and writing in my current one.  I had a lot of inspirations and revelations.  It was a nap time well spent.

Brock woke up first.  I got to spend some precious one on one time with him.  Then Noah and Megan.  We made sugar cookies then got out all our play dough and tools and played some intense play dough.  Everyone was really creative and happy.  Once Madison woke up the older kids wanted to play the computer, so I played just with Madison.  This was particularly great because I have started weaning her and have cut two of her feedings, this has been emotionally hard for me - so getting one on one time with her during the day is a great bonus.  We mostly played with blocks, balls, and pretended to talk on the telephone (her new favorite thing - she says "hello").

I made dinner, everyone ate everything (perfect!), frosted the sugar cookies, had a family talent show when Jason got home, played back yard family games like "Red Rover, Red Rover" and" Red Light, Green Light", and all went to bed with out much of a fight.

It sounds like we did a lot, and we did.  But it was all pretty spontaneous and the mood throughout the day was just peaceful, fun, and stress free.  I wish I could put today in a bottle and keep it.   It was a good day.

Playing outside with Mads

Madison loves to play in our backyard.  She moslty loves it in the heat of the day.  I try to put her in shade - but she always moves her toys out into the sun.  She could spend hours out there going in and out of her car and pushing her stroller around (well pushing anything around that will move: pool, bikes, chairs, etc).  If I am holding her and walk out side to put something away and walk back inside she starts screaming and trys to push herself off of me.  

She is a lot like Brock in that she puts everything in her mouth - I know most babies do - but her and Brock did it a lot more than Megan and Noah.  Brock still does.  These two pictures look a lot like me when I was a baby, right mom? - she is the first child of mine to look anything like me.  I hoped at least one would.

This is how she pushes her stroller - from the front. I swear she has walked a mile pushing this thing. 


 Then one day she stood up.

She stood for about a month or so.  Now she is stepping.  She is up to about 6 steps.   

Sometimes when Madison and Megan are playing in the back yard or around the house I think about how differently their baby-hood/childhood is form Brock and Noah - having this house, backyard, and all the toys.  Brock and Noah could not just go outside and crawl around on grass when ever they wanted too.  I had to take them down three flights of stairs - and even then it was mostly just a parking lot to play on.  Their  most of their outside time was standing on the windowsill looking out the window or playing on our dirty dirty balcony.  Their "play" area in our apartment was about 6 feet by 6 feet.  And that was it.  These girls are living the high life compared to the "sacrifices" their brothers went through to get us here.  I hope they appreciate it!