Happy Anniversary to me

Jake and I recently celebrated our anniversary.

Last night he wasn't feeling too hot and was lying in bed miserable. I'm laying next to him in our dark room listening to the hum of the fan and the chirp of the night birds.

He rolls over, and in his best poppa bear voice asks me to tell him a story.

So I did.

By the time it was over I had sweet tears in my eyes. It was a lovely story, and I surprised myself in the telling of it.

Happy 8 years my love.

Few things are more satisfying

Few things are more satisfying in life than

To sing a quiet lullaby,

Then to tell your little ones in vivid detail all the sweet dreams they will have

Paul, you will be an artist in your dream. All the people will ask you to make pictures of their families and their homes. And you'll make beautiful pictures of flowers and animals, and your pictures will make people happy and they will put them in their homes. [And the boy smiled].

Nona, you will live in Zarahemla and hear the Prophet Samuel foretell of the birth of Christ, and you will be there with all your friends when you see him standing on the wall. [She giggles excitedly, because she is familiar with this story from just learning it].

Beau, you will be a grown up who rides his bike everywhere. You ride your shiny bike to school, to the store, to the park, to the Farmers Market. You have a bright red helmet to keep you safe and you ride your bike everywhere you want to go. [He smiles, because he has now mastered the training wheels of his little bike, and can't wait for the freedom a big boy bike brings.]

Then you kiss them all, some of them twice if they ask it. And then you turn on the cd of bedtime music, the same music you listened to when you were a little one, back when it was on a cassette that your Momma would have to come in and flip over half way through.

You kiss them all again and leave the room. You cross the hall and sit down to get some work done and hear one sigh happily, hear the other yawn big and wide, and hear your sweet baby ask his big brother "Can I snuggle with you?" and the big one says yes, and there is a rustling of blankets, and then another happy sigh and then all is quiet.

Few things are more satisfying. Especially sitting here now as I type this, I can hear them giggling and fighting those last bits of sleep, together, happily.

Bad, Good Enough, Awesome

My awesome sister Sara took a photography class and was practically begging for people to practice on. I washed the kids faces, put them in clean clothes and told her to meet us on the beautiful river trail.

Now, you know, when you have little kids there are three types of family pictures. There's the bad.

BAD= there is no way we will ever even remotely put that anywhere in the house.

There's the good enough.

GOOD ENOUGH= ohhh, we were so close to having a decent picture here. And maybe with a bit of fancy photo shopping we still could.

And there's the awesome.

AWESOME= I love it!!!! Print me four copies, stat!

So, without further ado, the bad, the good enough, and the awesome.

Awesome:


Good Enugh:


Awesome:


Good Enough:


Awesome:


Awesome:


Bad:


Awesome:


Good Enough: (and the best one of Beau Boy)



Awesome: she loved all the pictures, crazy girl


Awesome:


Good Enough:


Good Enough:


Good Enough:


Bad:


Awesome:



Good Enough: (with some photoshopping to get rid of mount vescuvious on my forehead, I'd categorize it as awesome)


Awesome:



Awesome: and sexy


I love them and can't wait to print them out and refill my frames with all these cute new prints. Didn't my novice sister do an awesome job? Thanks so much Shush!

Wall swap

We rearranged the kids room today. Nothing fantastic, just switched the bunkbeds and dressers to opposite walls. But you know what, it feels like a whole new place to the wee ones.

I love it when the simplest of things can make something old new again.

Meet Chuck

About two weeks ago, for some inexplicable reason, I was browsing the pets section in my local classifieds. I came across an ad that said

"One year old Shitzu to good home"

Once I opened the ad it explained that the dog had been living on his own in the backyard after his family had to move. I was compelled to call and set up a time to see this guy. We set up a time for the next evening. I got a call early the next day asking if we could reschedule, well, that wasn't possible for us, so I asked if we could just go to the vacant house alone and see him. That was fine with his owner, so we went by that afternoon.

We got to the empty house and went to the side gate. The first thing we saw was empty yard, and then very slowly, from around the corner of the house toddler a small white rug.

This poor guy was matted with months of ungroomed fur. It took over 4 hours just to clip him down. He had sores from his dirty hair and couldn't see out of one eye because it was matted over. He had no food and a large bowl of dirty that was floating with dead bugs and the sides were green with what I can only describe as pond scum.

I knew that even if Chuck wasn't supposed to be with our family, he couldn't stay at this house anymore. Once I made sure he was friendly towards the kids, we loaded him up in the van and brought him home.



After a couple of hours of clipping and shaving, we finally had him hair free. We got I'm a little collar and leash, and he's having a great time hanging out with us. Him and Rooster are fast friends.

If anyone has a need for a super cute pup, let me know. But in the meantime, we don't mind letting him hang out. Who knows, he might just fit in here after all.

Recently my awesome older sister Sara ran her first 5K, and on her 30th birthday, too!

The whole family came out to cheer her on. We were supposed to rendezvous with everyone else and spread out along the race course so that she could have cheering sections all throughout the race, but you know how it is with kids. We wound up being totally late and just snagged a spot somewhere and hoped she hadn't passed us yet.

Thankfully though she was right on time and we were able to cheer her on with enthusiasm and love. My brother Owen ran with her and helped to pace her and give her encouragement on all those uphill slopes.

After she passed us we all piled in the car and tried to find a parking spot near the finish line but we didn't get here in time to sing happy birthday as she crossed. Everyone else did though, and we're happy for that.

At the finish line they had a fabulous gathering place. There were bouncy houses, live music, and a face paint artist! Beau was a tiger, Paul got an eagle and Nona had an abstract fairy design. The kids were in heaven.

All in all it was a wonderful day for Aunt Shush, and we're so proud of her! Great job Sara!

Life, as we know it

I always thought I'd have a home that could only be described as 'Cottage Chic'. I imagined my children running around in the waning twilight wearing cotton and lace. They'd have brushed hair and clean little feet in the perfect lawn. I'd have a dog that never pooped and sat happily watching his family from the deep porch.

We'd eat rounded meals from matching dishes from an antique table lit by soft lights every night. Everyone would enjoy the meal and would smile and hold silly conversation while taking dainty yet hearty bites of their savory meat and fresh vegetables.

Then they'd happily clear their plates and the whole family would have a deep, philosophical discussion as we washed and dried all the dishes together. The children would give me sleepy smiles as they walked up the winding oak staircase to put on their matching pajamas. Jake and I would read them a classic bedtime story, just after we'd said beautiful and simple family prayers together. We'd tuck them into their beds under homemade quilts and give them a quiet goodnight kiss and close the door softly, because their room would have the beautiful light of the stars to keep away bad dreams.

At least that's how I always pictured it.

But reality is so much sweeter.

Nona dresses herself in pink polka dots and orange stripes. She wears yesterday's messy pigtails with pride, and frequently sports a mysterious blue eyeshadow.

Paul wears black socks and yellow converse. He always has paint or markers or glue stuck to his little grubby hands. He has a nasty old sweater that he wears with everything. It's been left out in the sun and bleached in the best tie-dye pattern, a motley red/orange.

Beau always has the remnants of a sandwich on his cheeks. Even if he hasn't had a sandwich for days, the jam and peanut butter just seem to stay on his face permanently. He likes to dress himself these days, which means Pauls pants on backwards, and they're always sliding down, and one of his shirts on inside out. He has one pair of shoes that he likes to wear, and they're 2 sizes too big.

My kids lives are sustained by ramen noodles and frosted flakes. They frequently sneak apples into bed because they didn't like/eat what we have for dinner.

Kamikaze Lagos live in my carpet. The dog sleeps on my bed. Jake brought me in a lilac clipping from the yard, just because. I find the kids all huddled in one bed like puppies because that's where they all wound up after I sang them a lullaby. Nona loves to set the table with ikea dishes, because they're all different colors. Beau likes to play cowboy with the dog, and together they round up cows and bad guys both. I have my own personal collection of custom artwork, and it all hangs on my fridge.

I frequently wake up with more people in my bed than I started with.

And you know what they say, the more the merrier.