Temple Trips

Our youth in the ward go to the temple about twice a month and I usually get a text with a picture.

This was the first trip of 2023.  They had their biggest turn out, AND they got all the new 11 year olds (including Madison)!

A day trip with Eve and Dane

My temple attendance as been at an all time low - even worse than the years I had the babies.  It is ok though - it was intentional and I have no plans to up it.  Balancing the needs of my family and my own spirituality is tough.  The truth is, I am very spiritual and most of my "holy habits and righteous routines" are wants because I just LOVE it and could spend my whole day doing it - when I do so I am being a "hearer of the word and not a doer of the word".  2023 has been the year of pulling back on my spiritual habits and just doing what is necessary and giving the rest of that time to my family. 

We made a quick trip after church one day.  I was making a temple book for the kids to look at during sacrament meeting and realized we didn't have a whole family picture at the Denver Temple since Eve was born.  So I convinced them to all stop by - even in the cold.  They are so good to me!  (Well... Dane was awful and all but refused to get in the picture or look at the camera)

The babies and I went to the temple one evening to drop off, wait, and bring home some of the youth for a temple trip.  Whilst waiting Dane fell in the fountain. 

During another time while waiting we played around in the sun roof.

And we are still taking our monthly family temple nights.  They are usually Wednesday nights at 8:00.  It is becoming harder and harder to keep those appointments, it seems we are always too busy or can't find a babysitter, or not in the mood.  Once we are there though it seems to all melt away and it is heavenly and we wonder why we don't do it more.

Last Day of Sixth Grade

It was Madison's (I  guess since I am talking about school I should call her "Maddie").... It was Maddie's last day of sixth grade/elementary school.  She had such a great year.  She will be the first to tell you it could have been better.  She did not like her teacher and all of her friends were in the other class.  Regardless, for the first time in her life she was doing something on her own.  She was the only Herbert at the school.  She was alone in her room when she woke up, got the bathroom to herself, ate breakfast by herself (well... me and the babies are there and the rarely eats breakfast.... but you get the idea).  She got to leave for school when SHE wanted to and come home when she wanted to and what ever "way" she wanted.  Unlike previous years she wanted us to drive her (mostly because she was always running late).  She still wanted to be early so she could talk with her friends in the front of the school.  And, as usual, she stayed late after school, typically going over to a friends house and hanging out.  All of her friends live right by the school and she is the odd one out being across the open space.  

On the last day they do a "clap out" and hand out flowers and cards to their favorite teachers.  Maddie gave hers to ______.

Then the next day we went to her graduation ceremony.  She picked out this dress on Shein.com.  Maddie discovered online shopping a few months ago and hasn't looked back (haha).  She has gotten quite the adorable wardrobe of dresses, tees, and shorts and many swim suits for the summer.  She cares a lot about fashion but not as much about the babysitting jobs it takes to maintain her fashion life style.  haha.  That is a little unfair.  Madison is a great babysitter, she enjoys it, and the kids who she babysits love her; she just likes hanging out with her friends more - I can't empathize at all ;)

Getting her certificate

Yay!

Devyn, Mads, Brailynn, Mia, and Brooke

The girls with their moms

The girls with their dads.

After wards all the moms took the girls to lunch.  It was the first time all the moms have gotten together with the girls (I was the one to arrange it) and it was a lot of fun.  

 

Concerts and other School awards

Spring is the season for all sorts of school stuff.  In the last 2 years or so people are referring to May as "May-cember" or "May-hem".  This is accurate.  However, I would say May is way worse than December, at least this year.  This may be for another post for another day, but starting in about March of this year I started drowning with all of my "stuff" and I am still drowning.  Now, I am being a LITTLE dramatic with drowning because I know women/families who are really drowning and we are not that.  I am actually doing quite well on paper.  I hit all the needs, most of the wants, and many of the "sprinkles".  I also follow the promptings of the spirit everyday.  So I can see that we are actually fine.  But I could not have imagined how busy being a mom of 6 would be.  I am not sure it having six of them that is hard, having teens and toddlers that is hard, or having 4 teenagers at the same time.  AND I recognize that I am just in year 1 of about a 6 year BUSIEST time of our lives.  This is just the FIRST year and it killed me!  I honestly was not prepared for how hard this was.  I could 100%, no hyperbole sit at my computer for 30 hours a week doing things for my kids.  Signing up for stuff, replying to emails (I was getting over 40 emails every day with actionable items all about my kids) ordering things, filling out sign-up genius's, emailing teachers, filling out forms, coordinating activities/rides, making appointments, filling prescriptions etc.   Then I could spend another 30 hours sitting in a chair and talking to each one of my children like a secretary asking questions and taking notes about their "stuff" and  then another 20 hours fulfilling the things they just gave me.  And I haven't even made dinner, cleaned the house, did grocery shopping, or even look at the toddlers, let alone brushed my own teeth.  And this isn't like "If I just do this this week then I will be caught up" (I thought that from March-May) and then I realized this was just my new normal.  Wow - didn't mean to do all of that... but basically, we had a lot of performances in May.  ha

 

Noah sang in his choir.  He is on the first row from the left.   

Noah had the best group of choir friends!  

Noah, Ryan, Riley, Derek, Evan, Dallin

Megan sang with her middle school choir

Brock played in his last orchestra concert.  I am SO SO sad he isn't taking violin anymore.  It was one of my favorite things about him.

His cute orchestra buddies (also ward buddies)

Brock, Cameron, Nathan

Noah got an award for "most checked out books in the library"  

Madison got moose of the month

The girls YW went to some of the girls performances

Megan and Madison sang the national anthem at a rockies game

Madison also had a choir concert.  But I didn't go and Jason didn't take pictures!

 

Our new favorite thing: Fishing!!

We discovered that fishing at flying b park is an easy, quick, and fun activity.  We went several times this spring.  We never caught anything.  Well... I never actually put any bate on the hooks.  I didn't want to catch anything, I wouldn't really know what to do if we did.  They didn't mind.  They just like casting and reeling it in anyways, and we had other fisherman around us catching stuff, so it didn't matter.