Merry Christmas!

Christmas Adam

Taylor said that today is Christmas Adam, because tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Hmmmm. I am just gonna go with it.

Randomness:

The kids have been getting along so well, making homemade gifts for eachother and wrapping them. There hasn't been much that we could do this week with all the rain. The kids are rather stir crazy. Last night, Jim was nice enough to take a few of the girls to see "Tangled" while I took Lincoln to his 2 hour batting cage practice. The rain has stopped for today, and I am excited to get out with the kids. Although, the rain didn't seem to stop Lincoln. Two days ago, he decided he was going outside, even though it was raining. He changed his clothes 3 times that day and had 3 hot baths (afterwhich, he would get dressed and go out in the rain again). How can you resist when your friends are out there riding scooters and playing football?

This month has seemed to fly by. I am sad that the Christmas Season is almost over. We have done Secret Service this month at our house. We drew names once a week, and whoever the kids picked, they had to secretly serve. This has been AMAZING for our family. Our kids all get along really well, for the most part, but they have really taken this challenge to heart. There has been a lot of cleaning eachother's rooms, putting away eachother's laundry, clearing eachother's spots at the table. All in secret. I think it has helped me the most. It seems like, even though, they are serving eachother, they are really serving me. Our last FHE, I decided that's what we should talk about. "When you are in the service of your fellow men, you are only in the service of your God." It all tied together quite nicely.

Brookie has been playing Christmas songs on the piano and singing along. She has such a beautiful, sweet voice. I love to hear her sing. Music was such a big part of my family growing up, and that is what I wanted when I had kids. My kids love music. We always have an iPod on or the piano is playing, or someone is singing or dancing. I love it! Lincoln and Levi can't resist. They have to dance when music is playing. It's like a natural reflex. They can't help it :)

This post turned into a bunch of my random thoughts, when it was really supposed to be the piano recital post. My mind must be a little clearer with getting to sleep in this past week. My kids are late sleepers. Levi isn't even awake yet, and it's almost 10:30. I know it's probably not normal, but it's normal for us.

Waiting at the piano recital. They just look totally into it, don't they? Brooklyn was going to play 2 songs, but she only played one, because "I didn't feel like playing the other one" Hmmm. I will post the video as soon as Jim can load it.

This is the only decent shot that I got at Taylor's choir concert. I think Taylor is starting to like choir. It was her last choice as her elective. She did not want to do it, but I think she is realizing that it is an easy class for her. She can sing, and she knows music because she's been playing piano since she was 5. It's an easy "A" and a nice break outside of her advanced classes.

Merry Christmas everyone!

More baseball. Sorry.

Another baseball tournament. Lake Havasu, Parade of Lights. Fun tournament. We took 2nd, but gave those Envy a run for their money this time. We killed the other teams 15-0 and 21-0.

Taylor came with us to this tournament. I loved having her with us! She is such a sweetheart, and she is a huge baseball fan.

Um, somebody needs a haircut, Joey...and this picture was taken 2 weeks ago.

This was during the Parade of Lights. We could throw a rock at the London Bridge from our hotel balcany window. We had a great view.

Tuckered out! These boys play about 7-8 hours of baseball each day of every tournament. Sometimes, more, if we have 3 games on a day. Lincoln plays his little heart out and loves every minute of it.

Thankful

Today, I feel happy and thankful for lots of reasons...

• I found my old iPod with all my favorite Christmas music on it. Yay for Johnny Mathis!


• Lincoln woke up easily this morning thanks to the "Black Eyed Peas" and "Train". I think I will just turn his iPod on every morning :)
• Thankful for Ebay, for having the Christmas stocking I needed for Levi from Pottery Barn 4 seasons ago, when I bought the set.


• Jim left late, so I got to go to CityStop for a soda after the kids left for school.


• I'm thankful that Levi made it up the stairs without DYING. I turned my head for 5 minutes. He was too fast for me.


• Thankful that Dylan and Levi's colds are gone, and nobody else got sick!


• I'm thankful that Taylor could do Temple Baptisms for the first time last night, and that Jim & I could be there.


• Thankful for Judith, my cleaning lady, who we had to let go for 3 years, and now she's back!


• We have had dinner as a family every night this week so far. Tuesday night was pizza at 9:30pm, but hey, we did it.


• I have chosen a family photo to put on the Christmas Cards. One less thing.


• Thankful for Brownie Bites from Albertsons, and my husband's amazing cheeseballs. Seriously, who knew you could lose 2 lbs by snacking on a cheeseball & pepsi all day long?


• Excited for Lincoln's tournament in Havasu this weekend, and thankful for my sister who so willingly is staying with my other babies.


• Did I mention I'm thankful for my old iPod?


• Oh, and satellite radio.

BTW, I am so in love with him right now. He brightens my day!

Traditions

I love Christmas traditions. I do not like change, so I guess it would make sense that I like traditions. Every year we put the tree up on FHE, and the kids decorate it. And every year our tree looks the same. The same ribbons, the same bows, the same ornaments, the same star. I think the kids actually depend on that. I love our tree. Every ornament has a story. Every year, we add about 10 new ornaments that the kids make various places, so our tree is jam packed. However, this year, because of Levi, our tree is only decorated on the top half :) I love everything about Christmas. The music, the baking, the hot chocolate, the serving and giving gifts, and of course the Savior. I hope everyone enjoys their Holidays, they go too fast.

Taylor turned 12

Taylor had her 12th birthday. Finally. She has been waiting for this birthday for a long time. She has been dying to go into Young Womens. I never thought that I would be in YW's long enough to see her turn 12. I was put in YW's when she was 7 1/2, and here we are.

Taylor is beautiful inside and out. She is so responsible, obedient, and helpful. She never procrastinates homework or a project. She already has 4 Value Experiences done in Personal Progress, and Sunday was her first day in YW's.

Taylor loves to talk your ear off. If you want the play-by-play, just ask her and she will be happy to oblige :) She is so gentle and loving to her younger siblings, too. Ever since she was a baby, she was content to just play on her own. She has always been very independent, and loves just to sit in the peace and quiet and read a book or watch TV.

She has been playing the piano since she was 5, and she is REALLY good! She has many talents, and is SUPER smart. She is very observant, too. She notices everything. We are so blessed to have her in our family. We love you Tate. Happy Birthday!

Gearing up...

for another busy week. I cherish the time I have when the kids are at school, because when they get home, things get crazy!

• Monday-Batting lesson at the cages
• Tuesday-2 piano lessons, baseball practice, and Taylor's 12th Bday
• Wednesday-Scouts, baseball practice, and Young Womens
• Thursday-Activity Days, Pitching Lesson at the cages
• Friday-Celebrate Tate's Birthday!
• Saturday-Baseball practice, yet again. Oh, and I think we are hosting a UFC fight??

This week is going to fly by. Then Thanksgiving next week. Where is the time going? It does make me happy that Satelite Radio has started their Christmas stations, though.

In other news...had another baseball tournament over the Holiday weekend. We didn't do so well. However, the team that we beat 15-0 ended up winning the whole tournament. Funny how it happens that way.



Lincoln, warming up his arm with a Circle Change-up.

Happy to be doing what he loves. That smile makes all the hard work and long hours worth it.

And...just because he's so CUTE!!!

It probably seems like I post a lot about Lincoln, but it's baseball season, and that's what we've got goin' on. The girls love going to his tournaments, and have made lots of new friends with siblings on the team. It's a fun family thing for us, lately. Even though, Jim thinks we look like total dorks at the games because all 8 of us show up wearing "Stealth" t-shirts and we all match. I think it's fun! Can't wait for the Cranberry Classic next weekend.

Tomorrow, Taylor is turning 12. I can't believe it. A birthday post is coming soon :)

34

That's how old I am now. It's weird getting older. Like, I keep aging, but I still feel like I'm in my 20's. I really think I'm gonna have a hard time when I hit 40. I don't think it will seem real. Anyway, my birthday was AWESOME!!! Thanks to my amazing husband. I have to give a little disclaimer, because I am a bit embarrassed by what he got me for my birthday.

2 years ago he bought me a Canon Rebel, and I was thrilled. I took a couple of Photography classes at UNLV, and read a few books. I even read my manual at least twice. So, I'm not completely retarded, and I can shoot fully manual. However, my amateur skills are soooooo not worthy of the camera equipment he bought me this year for my birthday.

First came this...

I wanted a nice telephoto to shoot Lincoln's baseball games. My kit lens just was not doing it for me. So, I am soooooo excited to have this lens. EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM for those who care.

Then he showed me the receipt for this...which will be here on Wednesday.

I know. I'm totally not worthy, but my husband always tends to go BIG. So excited to learn about this camera. It does HD Video, too, which means we can sell our HD Video camera. That makes me feel better. We can off-set the cost a little. I secretly always wanted this camera, too, but I never even said anything to him, because I thought there was no way. He knows me too well.

It gets better, people. Jim called our cleaning lady that we had to let go a couple years ago, and she is coming back twice a month! If you know me, then you know that I don 't buy things for myself, and I don't expect a whole lot. This birthday is huge for me. I don't care if I get another birthday present or Christmas present EVER.

Photo Shoot

It has been a busy week. I can't believe it's Thursday already. A couple of days ago, my kids had a photo shoot with my sister-in-law's sister Rachel. Does that make her my SIL? I think so. Anyway, she needed to fill up her portfolio with some more kiddos, and since I have a whole bunch of them, we decided she could kill 6 birds with one stone. If you want to see a few, you can click here http://rachelreneephoto.blogspot.com/. I like her photos, because they are very natural, and photoshopped very little. She has been taking pictures since the film days, so she knows what she is doing. And, I can check my Christmas cards off the list...one less thing.

Fall Extravaganza

We are back from Lincoln's Fall Extravaganza tournament in St. George. It was so crazy, intense, and exciting that I took ZERO pictures. I could barely eat or drink because of my nerves for Lincoln, let alone take pictures, too. There is a possibility that Jim may have snagged a few on his phone. We came in 2nd out of 7 teams. Not to mention, we beat Utah's #1 undefeated 8u team, the Marshalls. That game almost gave me a heart attack. They brought Lincoln in to close it down, and the boys on the other team were crying, because they had never lost before :( Anyway, I am going to have Jim post about the tournament, for journaling purposes, because he remembers the details. Or, maybe I should have Lincoln do it, because he always remembers every detail of every game. Anyway, we had a blast! The girls are officially hooked on baseball, and Lincoln's biggest fans. We have 3 more tournaments in the next 5 weeks...craziness.

Princess

We are not doing much in the way of Halloween this year. We will miss our Trunk or Treat, because of Lincoln's baseball tournament, and we won't be Trick or Treating on Sunday. My kids are wearing recycled costumes to the school parade which I wasn't even going to attend except Blake called me about 2 minutes ago to ask if I could just pop by and bring 3 boxes of CapriSuns to school, because nobody brought drinks to the party...so I guess I'm going. Anyway, when I asked Dylan what she wanted to be for her Preschool Halloween Party, she said Snow White. How convenient! Taylor was Snow White when she was 3. Perfect. So, to make a long story short, here's our beautiful princess wearing her oldest sister's 9 year old costume :)

Scary Monsters

Here's our cute, I mean, SCARY little Frankenstein. Nobody even recognized her at the School Carnival. I love this girl so much. She just does whatever she wants, without a thought of what other people think. We could all learn some things from her, I think. I'm so proud of you Blakey :) Her costume came about 2 hours before we needed it, too. Talk about cutting it close.

Here are the brothers. I love the sound of that. Levi was too interested in Lincoln, so this is the best I got. ARRRRGGGGHHHH!

Random Happenings

I found this in Blake's lunchbox a while back. This is just typical Blake, so I didn't even ask. Blake is the quirkiest little thing. She marches to the beat of her own drum. This week she has been busy with "Frankenstein rehearsals". She is Frankenstein for her upcoming school carnival. Yes, she had to audition and she has to go to rehearsal. I love that girl. Pictures of our little Frankenstein to be posted later...

Lincoln had another tournament a couple weeks ago. We didn't have to travel, thankfully. It was at Big League Dreams, which I LOVE! We played on a miniature replica of Fenway Park. I like it because they have real bleacher chairs and a sweet snack bar. I can get my fountain soda :) Anyway, he pitched like a champ, and the Envy didn't kill them too bad this time. One day we will beat that team. They are the best in town...for now :)

Lincoln has been working so hard. He loves this game, and is definitely not afraid to get dirty. He dives and slides. He purposely puts the red dirt on his hands, so they won't be slippery. I hope Levi likes baseball, because I am definitely a baseball mom. And... it would be nice to hand down all the expensive equipment.

Trouble

This little man is always getting himself into trouble. I can tell that he's gonna keep me busy. He gets himself into the stickiest situations, and then cries for mama to come get him. I love him, though. I get to kiss that cute little face all day long.

Is it too much to ask?

Did anyone see this dress on Glee last night? She was wearing a cardigan with it. I have decided that Emma's clothes are modest and adoreable, so I thought I would get online and see what I could find. Apparently, there are blogs devoted to her wardrobe. The only problem is, this dress is $458 in real life. Come on, people! Is it too much to ask to make modest dresses at modest prices?

Speaking of Glee...I have to screen each episode for Taylor and Blake, and they haven't been able to watch the last few episodes. Last night was inappropriate and offensive, and I probably shouldn't have even watched it. I think I may just start downloading the songs, and not watching the show. Rachel's "Papa, can you hear me?" was awesome.

But, seriously, I need a stylist to come dress me like Emma.

There. The end.

200th POST! Swiss Days Tournament

"Dad, did you see the line-up?" I love this expression. Complete surprise. Lincoln has never batted under 5th in the line-up, but they put him first in this tournament. He's not a super big hitter, but he can get base hits and he's a really fast runner. He was in shock when he saw the line-up.

Mom, seriously, enough pictures.



Lincoln pitched a really good game right before the tournament, and the coach told him he earned starting Pitcher in the tournament. Lincoln's favorite thing is to pitch. He did really well, too. He pitched 8 innings, total, that weekend, and only walked 3.

David Wright on the Mets is #5, so that is the number Lincoln wanted.

The boys ended up taking 2nd place. Not bad for their first tournament. They were all happy to get a trophy. We have 4 more tournaments lined up in the next few months. I am really excited. I'm totally addicted.

Crazy busy

I have had no time for a new post. My blogging is pathetic, and I love to blog. I don't like being this busy. I keep telling Jim, something's gotta give. But, what??? We can't think of how we could possibly cut something :) I guess the best I can hope for is not to take anything else on. Someone asked me yesterday if I was singing in the Stake Conference Choir. I said, "Nope, something's gotta give" :)

Last week, Lincoln had 7 baseball games. He had a tournament over the weekend, and took 2nd place. I have pictures to post later. I really worry that the girls will starting resenting all this baseball, or start feeling neglected. They never want to go to the games, because they are "boring", so they just end up staying home. a lot. We have decided that I am going to take the girls away somewhere, soon, for a girl's weekend.

My dad taught Brooklyn how to ride a bike! Yay! The kids have, finally, started riding to school. Perfect timing, because the transmission went out in the truck, and we are down to one car for a bit. I hate dealing with the after school traffic, so I am glad they are riding now.

I feel tired. I am tired of working so hard everyday. From the second I get up in the morning, it's non-stop. I'm tired of cleaning all the time. I've worked out a laundry system, that has kept me caught up, but it seems like the house is never ending. I feel like if I slack, even one day, I get too far behind. My whole week is planned out by Sunday night, and if I don't stick to the schedule I have in my head, I start getting behind on things. And if something, not on the schedule, comes up, it throws me off in my head. I think maybe I'm going crazy :) Oh, wait, we don't say "crazy"

I am happy that it's starting to feel like Fall. I love this time of year, and I am looking forward to Conference this weekend. I just need to find time to get over to Macayo's to get some chips and salsa. Can't watch Conference without it.

Happy 13th Anniversary

We are in Newport today, without the babies. Yay! We are on the golf course, but I am just riding along today. Fun fact- I am left handed and didn't feel like bringing my clubs. I'm not very good anyway :) We are enjoying our time alone. Eating yummy food and going to the movies. And SHOPPING. Thanks to my family for holding down the fort so we can get away!

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6 months

Levi is 6 months old now. He has two teeth, and the fastest army crawl you have ever seen. He has really strong arms, because he does about 100 push-ups a day. It is hillarious to watch. He always has his tongue out. He is the sweetest thing. He always smiles when you look at him, and he loves attention (which he gets a lot of). He hardly ever fusses, either. We are so glad that we decided to add him to our family. I wish he wasn't growing up so fast, though.

Jim built me a new table for our upcoming anniversary. We have been needing one really bad. He copied a picture from West Elm, and basically, made it waaaaaaay bigger. i LOVE it!!!! And, I love my talented hubby :) Thanks for all your hard work, Jimmers!

Texting Queen

So I'm hijacking the blog again. My wife and I are trying to have some dinner. I start a new conversation with her and ask something. She doesn't respond. I look up and see this.

I thought women could multitask??

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First Day of School

I LOVE TODAY!!! First day of school.

Taylor- 6th-First day of Middle School

Blake-5th-Ruling the school

Lincoln- 3rd

Brooklyn-1st

Taylor walked to school today with her friends. No moms allowed at Middle School, I guess :) I wasn't excited about dealing with the crowds anyway. She leaves a full hour before the other kids. I like it. I feel like I'm pacing myself a little bit more, getting them ready at different times. BTW she has to wear a uniform. Hence, the polo shirt. We got them in every color of the rainbow. I checked my watch at about 11:40am and smiled to myself. I didn't have to wake up Levi to go get a Kindergartener. It's going to be a great year!

We were ready early, so we could take a few pictures. I started to pose Brooklyn when she said, "No, mom, we have to go to our "first day of school spot". Apparently, there is a spot where we always take pictures on the first day of school. Next year, I will be more prepared, and move my car, so that when we take pictures in the "spot" my car won't be in the way. AND I will make sure my ISO is not on 1600 outside. We were in such a rush, I didn't even check it until we pulled up to school. Oh, well. Next year, we will have the "spot" prepared, and the camera prepared.

Friends

Brooklyn is stoked to be on the big playground. She showed me how she could already do the monkey bars.

Lincoln would not cooperate for pictures.


The three musketeers. I love these boys. We had to track them down to get a picture. They were already in the grass chasing girls.


5th grade. Ruling the school.

"Seriously, mom?! No more pictures!" Just for that, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "BYE LINCOLN, HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!!" As he was walking in to class. Ha Ha. I wish I had a picture of his reaction to that :)