Spelling Bee

Every year grades 1-5 have a class spelling bee and then the top boy and top girl go on to compete against each other in front of the whole school and all the parents. Jaxson won (for the second year in a row) in his class and Grace was the 1st runner up for her class. (Her prayer the few days before the spelling bee were that her good friend Megan would get sick so she could take her place...I'm glad some prayers aren't answered;)!!) Jaxson passed the practice round but then messed up on his first real word which was Remember. He went too fast and forgot the second 'em'. It's a little nerve racking with all the people watching you and having to spell out loud. Then after the spelling bee, this is how the conversation went Jaxson: If I would have gotten that word right, I would have gone far... Mom: I know, you would have done great Jaxson: Actually, I think I would have won Mom: You're probably right;) I love his optimistic out view and I was just proud of him for making it that far and Grace for almost making it! I'm so glad our kids are smarter than we were!!

Tax season

This time of year keeps me busy as I am having to enter in all the details of the business into our Quick books. After everyone(but Brock)left for school, I took an hour to get busy. Brock stayed pretty content to run around and play coming around only twice to ask for a snack. Other than that he was really good....or at least I thought. After I finished, I found him pushing around Grace's baby stroller with the toilet brush instead of a baby inside and he some how got into the garbage and had pulled out an orange that had gone bad and after ripping it open, he must have realized it didn't taste good because it was ALL OVER my bedroom floor. He also dumped a bag of pretzels onto our bed, colored blue marker on his face and emptied my bottle of wrinkle cream(I'm still not sure where?)!!! And this was ALL while I was sitting RIGHT here and admiring how well behaved he was! Let's just say, the next hour we were even busier cleaning up! After the internal screaming all I have to do is look at his cute little smiley face and I forgive him and I'm so happy(after it's clean) to have these little moments in my life!

My sisters

I hope my openness in sharing my feelings is not too personal, but I am overcome with emotions and wanted to share.
I am such a lucky girl. I have been blessed with a really large family, mostly sisters. I have 4 older sisters who have played the sisterly as well as motherly role often in my life and a younger sister and younger sister-in-law. I also married into a family with 5 more sister-in-laws!
I have been reflecting lately on life and the struggles we face while down on earth. I have been inspired by my sisters and how they have handled life's challenges and lead their lives with courage and strength!
I sometimes feel as though I suffer through my challenges in silence because I'm not always sure how to deal with difficulties that I don't know how to change and so I try to just move on and hope to pass them by. So many of our trials can be so inward and therefore we aren't forced to face them and overcome with.
However, as I have watched my sister's face more outward challenges in life, I have been in awe at how they have dealt with their situations. They truly are an inspiration to me and I often go through each sister and think of how they have inspired me in my life and help me to have a desire to be better.
In no particular order, I would like to share some of the inspirational moments I have seen in their lives.
-Selflessness by serving others even when it's not convenient or easy
-Obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serving in demanding callings
-Putting family first
-Patience in trials and while waiting for answers and their rewards
-Determination to fight hard for what they want and/or know is right
-Accepting challenges that have come their way even if it was brought on by someone else's choice.
-Holding their lives together on the outside even if they feel things crumbling on the inside
-Not having self pity and learning to find the joy even in sorrow
-Forgiveness...
In one way or another I have seen all of these wonderful traits in each of my sisters. We all lead very different lives yet really have so many similarities and that is what keeps us close. I'm sure if you asked them how they are such amazing girls, the answer would be the same. We have great parents who have loved us and taught us well and been great examples. They each know who they are and that our purpose on earth is bigger than our short time spent here. They all know they are daughters of God and have divine potential!
I will forever be grateful for the examples they show, the love they share and the openness in their trials. Although I know it's hard to share their trials with others and be so vulnerable, it shows a great sign of humility and allows others, like me, to be inspired by them!
Even in life's difficulties, we have found NUMEROUS times to laugh and play and have great times too! I love you all, even the sister-in-laws not pictured and brother and brother-in-laws!

Great Plains Nature Center Trails with the Popes

I have a great neighbor, Denine, who is in the process of adopting 5 kids and already has 2 of her own. 3 of the 5 already live with them and they are trying to get the other two. Her and her husband are great parents and an inspiration to us. Today she called to see if we were interested in going on a Wichita hike to the nature trails and lunch at a park. She brought the older 3 kids and I had all 5 of mine. Brock was happy to sit in the jogging stroller and the rest of the kids loved the trails. It was a little windy but not too bad until later on at the park. Sophi stayed busy using her photography skills with my camera so we got some great shots!

Sophi's sick

Sophi got sick right before I left for Vegas and the poor girl was still in bed when I go back. She hates seeing doctors and needles, but I made her go to the instacare. She atleast had enough energy at this point to get out of bed and to the hospital bed. They took a strep culture, found nothing, took a urine test, found nothing and her biggest fear, they took blood. She had to get poked 2 times because her veins are so small. They did find a high count of white blood cells and said she was on the verge of mono. They gave her an antibiotic for whatever virus she has and a nose drop for a sinus infection. Although the experience wasn't fun and it cost a lot, she was feeling better within 24 hours! Hope it's her last time there! Bella came with us and got really bored with all the waiting. We occcupied her with my camera taking pictures and my cell phone to text, to help her pass the time.

Las Vegas!!

Allegiant Airlines was offering $29 each way to Las Vegas, so we planned a date and all my sisters but Stacie and Jenny(we missed you:() and mom were able to meet us out there. We even got to see Amy's kids and Haleigh and Amy Marie! We stayed at our timeshare on the strip and after a little adventure getting myself from the airport to the timeshare, we spent the first night at Amy's inlaws hanging out with her family and DA and AM. Then the rest of the gang joined us on day 2. We spent the afternoon sitting out by the pool while the kids swam. The weather was a little shillly but the sun felt really good. That night we went to California Pizza Kitchen and shared some great pizzas and salads! They also had Carnigie Deli and we picked up some cheesecakes to share! Then we split and DA and AM went to see Blue Man Group and Torrey Sleight got the rest of us free tickets to see Jersey Boys! Other than some language, it was a really fun show with great music and we sat on the 7th row. We saw Nicholas Cage on the way, who was really nice and took pictures with us ;p and after the show, we were hanging out and the 2 main characters(Frankie Vallins and his friend) came out and took pictures with us too. Fun night!!Day 3 we went to the temple(without Jibby, who got sick and dehydrated) with Stacie in mind... it was really pretty and nice! That afternoon we walked around the strip in the newer hotels and did some window shopping and then ate at Cheesecake Factory. We saw some Bellagio water shows, The Volcano, the Gardens, Venice, Paris etc. Then I flew home the next morning. It was a quick vacation, but fun to be with sisters and have a girls week! We really missed you Stacie and Jenny but thought of you and talked about you plenty! Hope we can do another girls trip with all of us soon!

Grace's birthday party!

Friday night was Grace's camping birthday party. We set up a tent in the living room for them to play in. Then we went on a scavenger hunt leading them to a big basket full of teddy bears, so they had something to snuggle with in the tent. We had to have a pretzel eating contest to go along with the song from her invitations. Then, we had bought a little fire pit and built a fire in it on the deck and roasted marshmallows and had smores instead of cake. They also jumped on the tramp and went down the deck slide for a while. After opening presents we took some pictures and then played sardines in the dark with glow sticks! It was a lot of fun and Gracie has such cute friends who are such good girls! I am proud of her choice of friends! The only thing that would have made this party better is if she had Sam, Emma and Gentry, her little cousins there with her to celebrate!