The Little Things...

I thought I would continue on the little things that I am grateful for this past week.  These are just little positive things I have noticed not the big obvious things like how much I love my family and my Savior and that kind of thing.

1.  Porter often wants Tanner to read him books before his nap and Tanner is always willing to do it.  It is a very sweet thing to watch them get into the books.  Tanner is good at using different voices and Porter enjoys hearing it.  I took a picture one afternoon.

2.  We had Vance's parent/teacher conference today.  He is doing well in school.  He is doing well in math, in fact he is doing well enough that last week his teacher sent home a stack of 2nd grade math worksheets for him to do when as he wants. He is doing well in all areas as well.  He does need to work on slowing down when he reads to make sure he reads and comprehends things more accurately which I already know from reading with him in the evenings.  I am glad that he is doing well in school and that he loves it.

3.  I wasn't worried about Porter memorizing the Articles of Faith seeing that he is only 2, but the boy was determined to have the first one memorized just like his older brothers so he now has it memorized.   It is really cute to watch him say it too. Who knows if he will be able to memorize any of the rest.  I am not going to pressure him to that's for sure.

4.  Tanner is constantly making me laugh (whether I should be laughing or not) when he talks because he uses words like "pathetic" and "oblivious". The kid hasn't even started kindergarten yet.

Defeating the Defeated

Even though I am not taking a daily picture I thought I would try to blog once a week still. I guess I didn't quite make it last week, but I will try.  I suppose one reason I didn't blog last week was because I have just been stressed out with various things in life.  I think a good word to use would be "defeated".  I feel defeated in a lot of ways.  Do you ever feel like life is hitting you in many different areas of your life?  It can be discouraging.  Life is full of trials and tests and I know Heavenly Father gives us these things to help us learn and grow.  Still, it can be frustrating while you are going through hard times.  I don't want my blog to seem negative or a place to moan and groan so I thought I would share some positive things that have happened recently.

1.  I suppose the first positive thing is a result of a negative thing.  I was a pound away from my weight loss goal last June and I hit a wall and shut down and got back into my bad eating habits and quit exercising.  As a result I gained all the weight I had worked hard to get off back.  Two weeks ago I started eating healthy and exercising again and I've lost 3 pounds so far.  

2.  This January we got a new set of 11 year olds in our primary class and so far we have been enjoying the class a lot more than the one we had last year.  There were some great kids in our class last year, but on a whole we kind of had a rough time with them.  I think this year will flow much easier.

3. For FHE on Sunday (we do it then because of Stephen's work schedule) I taught the boys about the 1st Article of Faith- what it meant and then they memorized it.  Well, the older two did.  Porter wants to have it memorized.  The videos are of them reciting it.  I am wanting to teach them a new one each month and it's meaning.  

Enjoy the videos!

Snow Day!

First of all I don't like snow.  I don't like cold either.  I have lived in some wrong places for those dislikes.  Oh well, at least the kids enjoy it.  School was canceled because we got quite the snow storm and so what else should you do, but play in the snow, right?  I took a ton of picture even more than this believe it or not so I will probably add them to facebook.

 I let Vance play outside without his glasses on mostly because I was afraid he would lose or break them, but  I am a meanie and made him keep his eye patch on.  Check out that snow!

 Stephen went out to and had some fun throwing some snowballs.  Notice it hitting Tanner's shoulder.  Vance thought that was hilarious.

Vance's turn to get a snow ball.  

 Tanner asked if he could plop in the snow and apparently this is what he meant.

 The other two had to see what it was like.

 Vance and Tanner having fun.  They were running around everywhere.  We don't have snow pants so I don't know how they were not freezing, I was.

 Porter thought this was funny, but he couldn't move so he hung out on the patio with me mostly.

 Except when his nice Daddy took him into the yard.  Tanner told Stephen he looked like a Ninja.  Haha.

 Porter bracing himself for an incoming snow ball.

 Tanner enjoying the snow and yes, it was snowing while we were out there and there was a lovely wind too.

Vance dug through the snow until he found grass.

Cousin Birthdays!

I decided not to do a photo every single day this year.  It was fun and challenging, but I think I need a little break from it.  This week we had a nephew and a niece celebrate their birthdays.  We currently live fairly close to all of our nieces and nephews (that will change in May when Eric and Tami have a baby).  We were able to attend both of their birthday parties.  The boys had a great time at both.  Thanks for having us over.

Mandy's youngest turned 2.  Doesn't he look cute in his hard hat?

 All the kids got to decorate hard hats.

Porter in his hard hat.

The party goers at my niece's 5th birthday party.  Minus Porter who stepped out of the picture as I was taking it.  Go figure.

 My sister made this cute cake that was rainbow colored inside.

 Blowing out the candles!

Between Stephen and I's families all of our birthday are clumped together.  We do get a break now until Porter's birthday in March when a whole bunch more are clumped together!

Sickness, Birthdays, Christmas, Vacation...

I was pretty sick one day so I only managed to get a picture of Porter in his pajamas at the end of the day.  

 Tanner and I had a Samuel the Lamanite preschool lesson.  He made this little craft.

 Stephen has been folding lots of stars lately.  He used some wrapping paper to do these.  I really like them.

 The Friday before Vance's birthday was pajama day at school.  He also had a class party and got a book from school for his birthday.  He shared candy canes with his class.

 We had a birthday party for Vance on his 7th birthday.  He wanted a Legend of Zelda birthday party so I did my best to make him happy with that.  My mother-in-law made the boys link hats and the girls Zelda crowns.  He is excited to be 7.

 On Sunday we heading to my parents place for Christmas.  It's such a long drive especially for the kids, but they did good.  So glad we have a dvd player in the car.  Porter was sleeping and making funny faces with his lips.

 Porter and Glen spending some quality time together.  Porter on Stephen's phone and Glen on his.... :)

 Christmas morning!  Eric actually took this picture.  I have one similar, but Eric's looks way better than mine. We had a fun Christmas.

 Vance loves Eric.  They even wore similar shirts one day.  Vance says they are "doubles" and finds ways that they are the same.

 Stephen playing on the Wii U.

 The kids keeping themselves entertained with electronics.  Jillian must have been entertained watching Tanner.

 These two try coconut milk.  They were not really fans of it.

 In the middle of our vacation we were all still trying to get over being sick.  My little sister was really sick.  Vance got pink eye on Monday.  By Thursday Porter got it and he was doing pretty poorly come Sunday on our way home.  Poor boy.  I took him to the doctor and he also has bronchitis.  I feel  bad for him.

 Yesterday was our first day back in town and we were busy running around for stuff and ended up hitting a can on the freeway and it some damage to one of our tires.  Crazy, but we were all okay.  Stephen got a spare on and we found a Les Schwab near by.

That wraps up our year!  I am not sure if I am going to do a picture a day for 2013 yet.  We will see.