Birthday Collages

I have now made a birthday collage for each of the kids. I started with Joseph last July and Susan was the last to go. I enjoyed making them, especially as it is fun to see their growth. But I probably won't do this again for a few more years as they won't be that different every year.

But anyway, here are a year's worth of birthday collages and they are all of those same ages today, but that will start to change again on July 20th.

Happy Birthday, Susan!!

It's always a little sad when your baby turns 2! Little Suzy is 2 and still just as cute as ever. She is very opinionated, knows how to get what she wants and wails when she doesn't. She will definitely be a terrible 2, but that is alright, we have had 9 terrible toddlers before her. She is the most like Kate in looks and strength of will. She loves to play outside, play in water and play with the doll house and babies.  She is a joy everyday!

Happy Fathers Day John

These kids are lucky!! John is one really good, attentive, caring, playful, interested Dad!He is constantly teaching our kids about the gospel, and government, and math. He takes the little kids on walks while telling them stories from the scriptures. He plays board games, card games, video games, soccer, or capture the flag with the kids pretty much everyday.  He keeps our family safe from some of the plagues of our day such as pornography and he does so mainly by teaching doctrine. He's had a really rough 3 years being able to support our family but he has continued to do what work he can, what work is necessary to get a job, and mostly he has never once despaired and is always reminding the rest of us to be faithful. As a result, we have good kids who know the scriptures better than many adults. They know the threats to the constitution. They know the signs of Christ's coming. They are really good at math, and they are happy, faithful, and well behaved.

This Week at Our House # 23

1. One job thing I think has fallen through due to money of the company and another is on hold while the hr person working with John is on vacation. We had an incredibly busy week. Ruth easily passed the written drivers exam on Monday, so we went to the beach after that. It rained, but it was lovely. The water was warm and swimming in the rain was kind of fun. On Tuesday, John and I celebrated 19 years of marriage. John and I drove up to the Raleigh Temple and did an endowment and then had a McDonald's dinner on the drive home. On Wednesday my parents came into town and we had them over in the evening and that was nice. Early Thursday morning was Ruth's graduation ceremony, and then we went with my parents to the beach. It was a perfect beach day with the sun shining, a cool breeze and nice warm water. We got to see dolphins swimming. Friday my parents spent the day with us and then drove home. Saturday was the ACT for Kate in the morning and the rest of us cleaned the house. In the afternoon, I finally had a chance to take Ruth driving in our 15 passenger van on the back roads and John mowed the lawn during the hottest part of the day. In the evening the kids were jumping on our tramp and jumped straight through, so our beloved trampoline is dead. Sunday, things got back to normal.
2. I enjoyed my time in the Temple. It brings such peace during this time. I also loved our two trips to the beach. They're a nice escape from the heat. It is always cooler and windier at the beach. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with my parents and chatting with my mom. It was a quick and busy visit, but very relaxing at the same time.
3. Ruth graduated high school, got her drivers permit, finally drove our van, and moved on to the singles ward. I think the local singles ward will be just what she has been missing socially since we moved from Utah. I am so glad they have that here. 
4. Kate took the ACT on Saturday. She had meant to spend the whole week studying, but we had so much going on that she really only had Friday afternoon free. When she came out of the ACT, I noticed her skip toward the car and knew that things had gone well for her this time. She said she finished more sections that ever before including her practice exams. If she does well, this will be her last try. But she can take it one more time in September before she applies to BYU and BYU-I. 
5. Johnny was a big help all week. He babysat a lot and took care of dinners and clean ups and a lot of other things. He loved our two trips to the beach. He swam pretty much the whole time we were there. He also caught a little minnow that he wanted to bring home, but it did not make it. Johnny enjoyed visiting with his grandparents.
6. Adam loved the beach too. He pretty much stayed in the water the whole time we were there on Monday and Thursday. He caught a bunch of mini-frogs and tadpoles that had arms and legs in the yard. There are a ton of cute little baby frogs in this yard, which makes mowing very sad at times.
7. Rachel loved visiting her grandparents and her trips to the beach. She had fun walking up and down the beach with Grandpa. Rachel spends almost all day everyday outside collecting frogs, swinging, climbing trees, and playing pretend. When inside, Rachel likes to play games. She really loved playing skipo with her grandparents this week.
8. Anya had a great time collecting mini-frogs in the yard. She also loved the beach. On Thursday, I took her out beyond the break so she could enjoy riding the gentle waves. We also saw some dolphins playing in the waves and she enjoyed catching minnows in the shore.
9. Joseph loved the beach too. Joseph also spends a lot of time reading on his own. and playing outside. He loved wrestling my dad. I think it is pretty amazing that my dad still wrestles with little kids.
10. Joshua was the most heart broken about the trampoline. We are taking it to the dump and he is pretty distressed about losing it-- poor guy. Josh mostly plays in the sand at the beach, but he is so good and stays where it is shallow in the water or plays near our little beach setup on the sand. I never have to worry about Josh being outside or at the beach. He always follows the rules about staying in the yard at home and close by at the beach.
11. Arwen loved seeing her grandparents and going to the beach. She has become a bit of an oppressor to Susan, so we have to watch out for that, but other than that she still is her sweet quiet little self that loves to cuddle, play, and look at books.
12. Susan is such a joy. I was thinking about how hard these last two years have been for us,but how Susan has always been this bright shining light making the dark days much more tolerable and happier. We are so glad we have our magical little Susan. We do have to keep a close eye on her now-- at the beach and at home. She likes to run away outside and she always heads to the road or the ditch that is usually filled with rain water. At the beach, she will either run carelessly into the water or escape to a different part of the beach. Inside she waits for a bathroom door to open in hopes of getting into the toilet. So she is a bit of a handful right now, but a joyous one. 

This Week's Pictures

Grandma and Suzy have the same birthday (June 19th) so they celebrated together while grandma was here

Ruth Graduates High School

Ruth's high school graduation was Thursday. My parents drove the 4 plus hours for the special event and spent a couple of days with us. I think we were all a little sad that Ruth did not get to graduate with her friends from Bountiful High. We are proud of her nonetheless. Ruth had a 3.9 accumulative high school gpa. She only ever had 2 b's in all of those 4 years. She thought those two b's made her stupid, but we think she actually is very smart. She learned to work hard and get along with other people and live through stressful life events like changing high schools twice in her senior year. She heads to BYU-I in the fall. Move in day is Sept 9th. She is ready to fly. I look forward to seeing how she grows these next four years.

This Week at Our House # 22

1. We had an ordinary week with nothing special to report. Things may be coming up on the job horizon, but it is just a maybe. 
2. Ruth needed to exchange a dress my mother bought her for graduation and I needed to get to the Temple. John was originally going to come along, but he was sick the night before. So, I had a lovely drive, quick shopping trip, and time at the Temple with Ruth and Kate while John took care of things at home. 
3. Ruth finished all of her finals this weeks. She is graduating with high honors and a total gpa of 3.9. The silly girl thinks she is stupid. She is terrified to take the written drivers test tomorrow morning. It has been months of me trying to convince her that this needs to do this. The next step will be to force her to learn to drive on a 15 passenger van and then get her licence before college. I thought kids were excited to learn to drive and gain that independence but that has not at all been the case for Ruth.
4. Kate is trying to prepare for the ACT, but we have been really busy. She got to babysit a little 2 month old baby boy and loved that so much. She also came along to Raleigh with Ruth and I. But she has been reading a ton, even staying up most of the night to do so. Since her difficulty is not accuracy, but speed, I think her abundant reading will probably be just what she needs. The ACT is next Saturday. She will get one more try at it before she has to apply for college next fall.
5. Johnny takes care of the little kids a lot these days when I am busy or tired. He never complains, though, He just does what needs to be done.
6. Adam didn't spend so much time on the computer this week, but with him off everyone else did, so my rules had to change for all anyway. His computer time this week was building his own levels on portal (a computer game) which I feel differently about because he is learning and creating.
7. Rachel told me this week that she thought when she turned 10 she would just automatically become responsible, and this week she realized it didn't just happen, so now she is trying hard and doing things to become responsible. I thought that was adorable!
8. Anya was one of the reasons the free media was changed. She just wanted to wake up, get her stuff done and then play computer games and wii the rest of the day. So on Tuesday, I changed the rule to no media except between the hours of 1 and 5 and only after they got their chores and reading done. On Thursday, Anya was sitting by me and I asked her what she was doing, and she said that she was just waiting for 1 o'clock. 
9. I told Joseph if he read one whole book on Friday, I would buy him a box of popsicles. He read a Magic Tree House book in just one hour. I kind of think that is how long it would take me to read one of those books, but I have not tried. 
10. Josh loves to build. He builds with legos and wood blocks mainly, We have a box of big wooden blocks that we just keep in the living room and Josh is pretty much constantly dumping them out and building things with them. Sometimes he builds buildings and other times he builds armies.
11. Arwen is anxiously awaiting her birthday. She has asked me nearly everyday if it is her birthday yet. Her birthday is July 27th, so it is coming for sure. I think it is cute how excited she is for it.
12. Suzy is talking a lot now. It has been this way with most of my kids. They pretty much say nothing until they turn 2 and then they just start in with a lot to say. Today I walked in the kitchen and she was sitting on the counter with her feet in a sink full of cold water. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "washing." Sure enough, she had the hand soap right there and was rubbing it up and down her legs and then rinsing them in the water.

This Week's Pictures

Just Some Thoughts

I like these two scriptures written by brothers who were both prophets.

2Ne 5:27 "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness."
and
Jacob 7:26 "...the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our days."

When I was young, I worried that there was something wrong with me because I did not feel happy and never had been. About the age of 21, I took notice of this scripture in Jacob, and it changed things for me. If a prophet of God who had seen the Savior while still a child could mourn out his day, then it was ok if I was mourning mine and all of my worry went away.

Another 20-ish years later, I have learned to live after the manner of happiness, but it is not what I thought it would be when I was a teen. I thought happiness was glamour, popularity, and a problem free life. I have learned that "living after the manner of happiness" is living a Godly life. It is seeking for God and getting to know who He is. It's learning to keep the commandments. It's continual repentance. It's continually growing in gospel knowledge. It's accepting that life is difficult and there will often be reasons to mourn. It's living and associating with others who are also "living after the manner of happiness." And mostly it is a confirmation from the Holy Ghost that how you are living is right.

I feel power in both of these scriptures. I need both of these scriptures. I needed to know that living after the manner of happiness didn't exclude mourning and sorrow and difficulties, and that it is a state that can be claimed by anyone who wants it.