Berkabile Family

World Series Time!

2012-01-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

Lincoln's team has qualified for the World Series in Colorado this summer! We really want to go, but it is a very expensive trip for our team. My brilliant hubby has created a website that anyone can go to and make a donation via paypal or credit card. Any small amount will help. We need to raise a lot of money by July. The website is http://vegasvenom9u.com/

MLK Champs!!!

2012-01-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

MLK Championship 9u from Vegas Venom Baseball on Vimeo.

One of the dads on the team tapes the games during the tournaments. He is in broadcasting and is really good at editing and makes the best videos. I am SO glad to have this video from last weekend. We were down by 2 the whole game. You have to watch and see what happens. Lincoln is #5!

PS We lost to this team last year in this same tournament 9-8. See here http://kirstenberkabile.blogspot.com/2011/01/robbedagain.html

Things I am loving right now

2012-01-12T12:25:00.000-08:00

I can't bring myself to take down all these cute cards. It's my favorite part of Christmas. Levi likes to look at them too. In fact, he has torn off he bottom two rows to keep for himself.

We got a huge new couch for upstairs. We can all fit. Not loving the laundry that's piling up.

Lincoln got a new Wii game called Skylanders for Christmas. Whoever came up with this is a genius. You can buy different characters for the game. You can switch characters in the middle of the game just by taking one off of the base and putting a new one on. Each character has a special skill that you need. Seriously, genius. Lincoln has a bunch, but it has been really hard to find them. The manufacturer can't keep up with the demand. We call Toys R Us practically everyday to ask if they got any in. If you have a boy around Lincoln's age, I highly recommend this game.

This was my Christmas present. I used to think Uggs were the ugliest boots ever, but I have been wanting these for a while. My feet FREEZE at Lincoln's baseball games, and I have been needing something warm. I can't wait to try these out at the tournament this weekend.

Blessing

2012-01-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

Finley was blessed yesterday by her dad. It was a beautiful blessing. She is the first baby of ours to have all 4 of the boys in Jim's family together in the blessing. It meant a lot, and it was a really good day. We had a fun lunch afterwards at our house, and I snapped a few pictures. Yes, you heard right. I took some pictures :) I think they turned out great, and totally capture her happy little personality.

PS. No offense to my other 4 daughters, but Finners had the cutest blessing dress! Thank you BabyGap for making this dress at the perfect time.

Braces

2012-01-04T08:34:00.001-08:00

Blake got braces a couple months ago. Isn't she cute? That means I have my two oldest in braces and my two youngest in diapers. I have been buying diapers nonstop for 13 years.

We had a lovely Christmas. We baked lots of treats, made lots of hot chocolate, stayed up late, slept in, and played with lots of friends. I have zero pictures to show for it. It is a lot of working keeping up with 7 kids and a husband. The baby is an angel. She is so low maintenance. We love her so much. I am hoping things will slow down during the next couple of weeks, so I can take Levi and Finley out and get some pictures to post.

I do have a new goal to blog more about the day to day(same as last year), and take the pressure off myself to always have pictures to post. It's better to journal our lives, then not do it because I don't have any pictures that day. Right? Let's see if I can keep up :)

Christmas

2011-12-26T16:43:00.001-08:00

I would blog more often, but...

2011-12-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

My husband has been working from home for months now. He has an office. He just rarely goes in unless he has to do the books, write checks, etc. So, he is in his home office all the time which is where the computer is.

I have loved having him home, though. It is very helpful. He is in charge of baseball which means: he takes Lincoln to practice, the cages, hitting/pitching lessons. It saves me a lot of time. I love that he's available to help out! Usually, he will leave right when Lincoln gets home from school and take him out to the field to work out even before practice starts.

A while ago, Jim went down to the City offices and sat for hours trying to reserve baseball fields. This is very hard to do, and it costs money to reserve them. Most people just give up. But, Jim has fields for 4 hours almost every night, and a couple hours on Saturday. So, our team has a place to practice. Or, him and Lincoln can go out to a field and have lights on whenever they want. Spoiled. We are loving Lincoln's new team and Coach. He is Venom now. We have won 3 out of our last 4 tournaments. We even won a 10 year old bracket and we are 9.

Little Finners is doing great! She is the best baby. Probably the easiest baby we've ever had. She sleeps great, and never fusses. She is 7 weeks old now. We all adore her. Levi LOVES her. Sometimes, he just randomly walks by her and gives her a kiss. How sweet is that? So glad she is in our family.

Finley Grace Berkabile

2011-11-14T08:06:00.000-08:00

Finley was born on October 22, 2011 at about 5:30am. She weighed in at 5lbs 11oz, and was 17 1/2 inches. It was the quickest, easiest delivery ever. I was at sitting at Lincoln's baseball game, having pretty regular contractions that night. Jim wasn't with us, he was at a Scout thing, so I took Lincoln home after the game and called Jim. I knew the contractions were regular enough for me to need to go to the hospital. So, we packed up and went. After I got there, they monitored me for a while, and since I had been 5cm dilated for the last month, and I was finally 37 weeks, Dr. Martin decided to keep me. After he got to the hospital, they gave me an epidural, broke my water, and I had the baby 20 minutes later. She was so small, that they told me not to push. They said to grunt or cough, and her head came out. It was so easy. She is healthy and strong, and the BEST baby. She may be our best baby yet.

My sister had her baby 5 days before I had Finley. She had a little boy, Emerson. These are a couple pictures of Finley & Emerson together.

18 days

2011-10-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

That's how long I have been on bedrest. I'm not gonna lie. It's been rough...on everybody. 4 more days, and the Dr will let me stop my medication and go into labor.

So, here's the story...

Friday night, a couple of weeks ago, Jim and I were going to go on a date night for our 14th anniversary. Well, I had been having contractions all day, but that is so common for me, we decided to go ahead with our plans. But, we decided to hit a restaurant close to the hospital, just in case. So, we are sitting in the parking lot of the restaurant, debating if we should go in, and we decide we better just head up to the hospital. So, we grab a quick bite at Taco Bell (Happy Anniversary)and head to labor & delivery.

I am always reluctant to go to the hospital, because I can never tell when I'm really in labor. I have contractions all the time, and I hate spending a couple hours in the hospital and then have them send me home with a false alarm.

So, I get all settled on the monitors and the nurse checks me and I'm dilated to 4cm. An hour later, she checks me and I am at 5cm. I just get tears in my eyes and think, "Why?" I am only 32 weeks pregnant. I do not want to have a 32 week baby. They decide to admit me and put me on magnesium and steroid shots. That might have been the worst experience of my life. The magnesium makes you feel so crappy, and what's worse is you have to be on it for 48 hours. Ugh. Glad that's over.

I ended up spending 4 days in the hospital. I could not wait to get out of there. I was tired of the IV's and my belly itched so bad from the monitors, that I just wanted to be free. So, the morning I'm supposed to be released, the specialist comes in and tells me he wants me to stay in the hospital for the next 2 weeks. Um, no. I practically begged my doctor to let me come home and I told him I would be sooooo good, and hardly ever get out of bed. So, he let me come home, and for the last two weeks, I have hardly been out of bed. No matter how hard it is on EVERYONE, I know that this is the best thing. We want our baby sister to come home with us and not have to stay in the hospital.

This is the 3rd pregnancy in a row that I have had to be on bedrest. I guess I was hoping that it would be different this time, but it was actually worse than all the rest of the pregnancies. I think this is the last time I can do this.

Jim and the kids have been amazing!They have really stepped up and taken care of things. They have all pitched in and kept up on the house and the laundry. My mom and Jim's mom have been over here trying to keep up on the laundry, too. We have a lot of laundry. I have the best friends, too. They have brough meals and helped with the kids. We feel really loved and blessed to have so many people who want to help us. Thank you to everyone!

Saturday, I will be 36 weeks and I will stop my medication and resume normal activity. I am counting down the hours. I never had a chance to "nest", and I need to get a few things done. I don't know how long I will last after Saturday. I am going to have to watch my contractions very closely, and head to the hospital at the first sign of labor since I'm already at 5cm. Because I've had so many kids, it doesn't take much to push me all the way to 10cm. Also, I will be VBAC-ing. Which means that I have previously had a C-section (Stinkin' Lincoln). I don't plan on having a c-section ever again, so my doctor legally has to hang out with me for my whole labor, in case of complications. I hope everyone is lucky enough to have such a great doctor. He has VBAC-ed me my last 3 babies. I love my doctor.

I know this is a long post, but I just wanted to give a little recap of what's happening at our house, since Mom's been down.

Jim gets 5 of the kids up at 6:30am and sends them off to school by 7:25. Gets a little bit of work done before Levi wakes up. He feeds Levi,puts in a couple loads of laundry (while texting and answering his phone for work stuff). Then Dylan gets home from Kindergarten and he feeds me and the kids lunch, more laundry, runs to the store (sometimes more than once a day). There is no shortage of fruit loops and cheese balls at my house. Makes sure Lincoln's uniform is washed for baseball. Kids get home, Jim gets Lincoln going on his homework before baseball (which he has almost everyday). The girls do their homework without being told. He chases Levi around pretty much all day long cleaning up his messes which include: throwing things in the toilet...every toilet, dumping the garbage can out, unscrewing spray bottles full of water, helping himself to hot cheetos and dumping them out everywhere, putting legos in his mouth, throwing all 100 of Lincoln's trophies onto the floor from his dresser, etc. You get the picture. On top of that, the girls have activity days, young womens, piano lessons, student council meetings, Jr. honor society meetings, volleyball, and the list goes on. So, basically it has been a struggle for Jim to actually get any work done the past couple weeks. Usually, there are two of us to split up the running around. But, Jim is doing it all on his own. I try to text friends, and arrange rides for the girls when I can, but Jim has been running ragged. I love him so much. He is really making me look bad with how well he is keeping up with things :)

Yesterday, Levi went to spend a few days with my sister-in-law. Usually, he is not that big of a pest. He and I hang out and spend a lot of time together during the day. He is not used to me being down, and I think he has just been bored to death. He is having fun with his cousins across town, but the kids miss him like crazy.

My mom has been a huge help. She washed my huge bin full of baby girl clothes and organized it for me, and then picked up a few things I needed which wasn't much at all. Turns out, we have a lot of girls stuff. Preemie stuff, too, since Brooklyn and Dylan were both under 6lbs when they were born. So, we are in good shape.

I am still in denial that I am having another baby. Even after all that we have been through. I don't think it has really hit me that we will be carrying around a car seat, diaper bag, bottles, formula, and a newborn. I don't know if it will really sink in until she gets here. We will love her, though. We still haven't decided on a name...the end.

Back to school

2011-09-22T09:41:00.001-07:00

Dylan was so excited to go to Kindergarten. I had to kiss her goodbye and send her in, because we weren't allowed inside the gates. Lame. When the day actually came, she was really nervous. She came home the first day and said,"School was good, but I didn't learn how to read." I guess she had big expectations for the first day :) Brooklyn walks her to class now in the mornings, and she goes in like a pro. She is still so small. Can't believe she is old enough to be in Kindergarten.

Lincoln is in 4th grade now. He is really liking school, but not the new schedule. School is an hour earlier this year. He is not a morning person. He wakes up at about 6:45am. Gets to school by 7:50. Right after school, he has about 4 hours of baseball. Homework. Shower. Bed. Repeat the next day. He is working so hard lately, and feels horribly guilty that he doesn't have time to play with his friends. We are not forcing this on him, though. He would rather be playing baseball. He is doing what he wants to do. But, he sacrifices a lot for it.

He is not on the Stealth anymore. Most of his team moved over to the Venom, and he has a former MLB player as his new coach. This guy played for the Mets (Lincoln's favorite team). But, this coach wants to practice all the time. This team is basically his job, so Lincoln gets a lot of practice. He is getting sooooo good, too. I have seen a difference in just a short time. We are excited for the change.

Brooklyn is in 2nd grade. She has lots of friends in her class at school, so she loves it. We also love her teacher. Blake and Lincoln both had this teacher, and she is great. Brooklyn is excited to go to school everyday. She keeps begging me to sign her up for cheerleading. Ugh. I keep avoiding it. Honestly, I would rather her do ANYTHING, but cheer. She is the child that worries me the most. She is already into hair, and clothes, and boys. I'm scared for when she is a teen-ager.
Ah. Middle School. Taylor is in 7th and Blake is in 6th. Both are doing great in all their accelerated classes. Blake has been really on top of her assignments and homework, and is really interested in getting involved in Student Council during the next few years. Taylor is in National Junior Honor Society, and is interested in stacking her resume so she can get into BYU Provo. I am so proud of these girls. They are so amazing! Sometimes I'm shocked that I borned them :) They have somehow avoided all the Middle School drama, too. Hopefully, they will lay low and glide right into High School without too much drama.

AS for me and Levi. He is barely waking up by the time Dylan gets home from school. She gets out at 10:30. Levi is a sleeper. He loves his bed. So, mornings are a nice quiet time for me. At least for now. Next month we will have a new baby...

Happenings

2011-09-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

I have no pictures for ya. Sorry. I don't have the patience to sit and upload and edit at the computer. Besides, my feet will start to swell up and then Taylor will make fun of me and say, "OH! My feet feel like bricks!" Apparently, I say that a lot.

I am almost 32 weeks pregnant. Baby girl looks great. She is a little over 3 lbs right now. So, we are happy. I am still in denial, and am nowhere close to nesting. I have a lot of little baby girls clothes that need to be washed and organized. But, that means organzing a couple of closets...and I'm not in the mood. We can't decide on a name.

I have been very tired this time around. I think it has something to do with having 6 kids. I was telling Jim that my "energy spurt" only lasted about 3 weeks this time. I keep apologizing to my family for being a lazy pregnant lady, but really, they don't seem to mind. They have been super helpful and everybody pitches in and helps out. I think my own guilt gets to me. Not being able to do what I normally do. But, seriously, I don't think my sweet little family even cares if I just lay around all the time. They are great :)

I am moving pretty slow. Levi even peed on the carpet upstairs today because I wasn't fast enough getting his diaper. It was actually kind of funny. I think he was as surprised as I was.

The kids are loving school. We are back in our routine. They all love their teachers and classes. The best thing about this year is that Lincoln has a weekly homework packet instead of daily homework. It works out so nice with baseball. On the nights he doesn't have baseball he can just bust it and get his whole packet done. Such a stress off of him.

I have some amazing friends that are helping bring Dylan home everyday from Kindergarten. I am so thankful to have them.

Here is a picture of my cute sister and her hubby. They are having a baby boy in less than 4 weeks. I couldn't be more excited for them!

Philmont Scout Camp

2011-09-01T11:41:00.001-07:00

Warning: This is a really long post...

This is what my family looks like after a week of camping.

We were lucky enough to get to go to Philmont this summer. It's a little Scout Camp in New Mexico. It's scout training for Stake Presidents and Stake Young Men's Presidents. Stake YM Presidents have to be invited by their Stake President to attend, and we were lucky enough to be invited by President Moody and his family. While the men go to leadership training all day, the wives and kids can play.

Each of the kids were divided into age groups and had their own counselors. They had a huge building for nursey age kids, too, so I was able hand off Levi for several hours every day. The kids never EVER wanted to leave their groups. They had so much fun and made so many new friends. After dinner, the kids would run off with their friends, and we didn't see them until lights out at 10pm.

On the grounds there is a huge villa which used to be used as a summer home. Now, it's a museum and you can do tours, but there is a huge villa lawn that the kids would play on for hours. They would play frisbee, football, baseball, or just lay on a blanket and hang out. There were deer roaming free on the lawn, too.

During the day, the kids did their thing, and at night there were skits, firesides, parades, and other activities. The kids cried when we left. They said it was better than Disneyland. I think a lot of it was the Spirit they felt there all week. It truly was a little heaven on earth.

So, I had only heard of Philmont from Pres. Moody and Pres. Lytle, and they always said that if we had the opportunity to go, we needed to go. When we arrived, we were greeted by Sis. Wixom, the General Primary President, and President Gibson of the General YM Presidency. The entire week at Philmont was planned and run by the General Primary Presidency, and General YM Presidency. Those were our speakers at church on Sunday, they were the speakers at firesides, classes, and trainings. It was a seriously amazing experience.

Taylor had the opportunity to have her testimony meeting and a Q&A that was filmed with President Beck. She bore her testimony and asked him questions. She also had a fireside with President Beck and his wife. The week after she had these experiences, she had her first year at Girl's Camp. I asked her how Girl's Camp was, and she said it was OK. Not like Philmont, though. Sad that her first year at camp had to follow this Philmont experience.

I was able to have classes from the General Leadership during the day with the other wives. In those classes, they basically just told us how amazing and wonderful we are, and thanked us all for having so many children and supporting our husbands.

Some other things we did were:

Hiking- the kids did some 7-8 milers. Even Brooklyn.
Crafts- there was a huge handicraft building with every craft you could possibly think of.
Fishing- we found a little reservoir, but didn't catch anything.
Horseback riding- they have a stable on the camp grounds. Even Levi rode a pony.

We ate every meal as a family in the mess hall. I didn't have to cook at all. It was like a huge cafeteria, and we would just go through the line. Sometimes the food was good, sometimes not.

Here are some pictures, in no particular order...

Taylor is inside the orange blanket. This was part of her skit.

This is Blake doing her part in the skit. I can't believe how much my girls loved doing their skits. I am not a skit person. That was always my least favorite part of camp, but my girls were so excited for it.

Dylan just finished her skit. She was VERY proud of herself.

Levi had the best seat in the house.

Levi was always trying to run off, and it was pretty exhausting trying to catch him all the time.

Dylan played in the mud every second she could. If you know her, you know that playing in the dirt is her most favorite thing EVER.

She offered President Moody a mud pie. He was a very good sport, and he made her day by playing along.

These were the buses that took the kids to their hikes. The kids hiked A LOT. They got patches for all the hikes they went on. They earned so many patches. I learned that Scouting is ALL about the patches. I sewed Taylor's on her camp sweatshirt, so she had a ton of patches for her first year at Girl's Camp.

Lincoln waiting for his bus to go on his hike. Hiking was his worst thing about Philmont. He hated it. It was really hot.

This is his hike buddy. It's the twins from his baseball team (two of his best friends) cousin. It's a small world.

Levi and Brooklyn having a conversation on Sunday after church.

Brooklyn is doing her counselor's hair, waiting for her bus to the hike.

Taylor and Blake were in the same group. They were waiting for their 8 mile hike. I was so glad I packed the Camelbacks.

Breakfast

This was our home for the week. Our family had 3 of these tents right next to eachother. Levi and the girls were hanging out during flag ceremony in the morning.

Lincoln is on the bottom, third from the left. Notice President Beck and Sister Wixom standing in the back. Lincoln had the opportunity to be involved in the flag ceremony on Wednesday. He was one of the lucky kids to raise the American Flag. They made us sign a media waver, because they took lots of pictures for the Ensign and took some film footage. Maybe we will see him in the Ensign or on LDS.org sometime soon :) Either way, what an amazing experience for him, and Jim was a proud dad watching his kid raise the American Flag in his Scout Uniform at Philmont in front of the General YM President. Once in a lifetime experience, no doubt.

So, that was our week at Philmont. I don't know if we will ever get to go again. Only if Jim is a Stake President someday, I guess. We were really grateful for the chance to go. It was a fun family vacation, and Spiritual experience for all of us. Something we will never forget.

This is my attempt to catch up

2011-08-09T19:03:00.001-07:00

Seriously, my kids are so cute. It's a shame that I don't post ALL of the cute things they do and say everyday. They keep me entertained.

As I am writing this post, I can hear Dylan in the other room telling Lincoln "I love you google plus google infiniti nonstoppable Lincoln." I love my kids. By the way, Jim forged my name on the above contract. Pretty sure that makes it null and void.

I have posted next to nothing about this pregnancy, and here I am about to enter my 3rd trimester in just a couple of days. We are having another girl. We can already tell she's cute, just by the picture :) We are getting excited about having another sister, even though, we thought for sure it would have to be a boy this time.

I have kind of been waiting to see the results of certain tests before I posted what is happening in this pregnancy. It's nothing major, but every pregnancy seems to have it's little speedbumps. I have had 4 or 5 ultrasounds this time, because the baby is measuring really small. We have been checking her growth, and doing tests. There are even more tests, because I'm OLD now. I finally went to the specialist, and he confirmed what we already thought. She is fine. She is just teeny-tiny. It is not a big surprise, since my last 3 babies have been under 6lbs. She will be small, too.

I have already been having some strong contractions, so I imagine I will have to take it easy for the next couple of months. I am really hoping to make it 10 or 11 more weeks. That will put me at 36-37 weeks, but I'm not sure. Levi was born at 35 weeks. I am just going to do all that I can to keep cooking her. It's not fun to have a NICU baby. We learned that with Brooklyn. But, they seem to come earlier and earlier everytime.

In other news:

Dylan turned 5 last week. She counted down all the way from 100 sleeps. We were so glad to get to 1 more sleep. She did a small family party. Since it was Monday, we took the kids to Flip n Out and went out to dinner. The kids were so tired afterwards, that they only had the energy to sing happy birthday and blow out candles. Nobody wanted to eat the cake, so we had it for lunch the next day :) We also ordered Press Dough with her birthday money, but it takes 6 weeks to get here. Lame.

We have had lots of baseball tournaments this summer, and have another one this weekend.

The kids have been swimming everyday. So glad we have a pool. It is TOO hot.

I think Blake will probably drag me around to every store until school starts looking for the perfect Vans. I really hope we find them soon.

I think my kids have lost half their brain cells this summer playing Mario Kart.

We have single-handedly depleted Costco of their Dino Chicken supply.

We have been having a great summer, though. Not ready for it to end. I still have lots to post...

Still here

2011-07-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

We are loving this summer break. We have been busy busy. We are not used to having 3 whole months of break for summer, and I thought I would be going crazy by now, ready to have the kids back in school. Not the case, though. I am actually dreading the end of summer. The kids have been awesome this summer!

I have not heard "I'm bored" once. The kids are happy to just sleep in, veg out, swim, and whatever else they can find to do. There are plenty of friends around, too, to keep them busy. I think they are enjoying the laziness as much as I am, so they are perfectly content to just hang out at home. They are all getting along, too, for the most part. It has been great.

We have been traveling alot this summer. Much more than we usually do. I have a lot to post:

Baseball tournaments in Utah

Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico (amazing!)

Hopefully, a trip to Disneyland soon, because we have passes that we have to use by September.

Taylor's 1st year at Girl's Camp.

I will leave you with this picture of Taylor just before she headed up to Camp. This is the first year in 5 years that I haven't been to camp. Bummer to miss Tate's 1st year :( I have pictures of these 3 girls on the left on their first day of Kindergarten together. Now, I have pictures of them on their 1st day of Camp. Where is the time going? They are getting to be so grown up.

So, a little recap of Camp. Trust me, if you know Taylor, I got very specific details of every minute of Camp. However, I will spare you the play-by-play. She loved Camp. She slept out under the stars the first night. It kind of surprises me how much of a camper she is. She is such the quiet reserved brainy type, but she really loves the outdoors. Camping, hiking, fishing. I love that about her.

Anyway, it was kind of a bummer that her 1st year at Camp came the week after Philmont. She said Philmont was way more fun, so she kept comparing Girls Camp to Philmont. Philmont was an amazing experience for her. She had Firesides and Testimony meetings with the General YM Presidency of the Church, and General Primary President. Talk about once in a lifetime. She loved both Camps, and I am so greatful for the experiences that all of my kids have had this summer. I will post all about Philmont soon.

Dodger Game

2011-06-27T20:34:00.001-07:00

When we went down to Lincoln's California tournament last month, we were able to take in a Dodger game with some of the families from his team. There's something about the feel of a Major League Stadium that is just plain fun. We caught a good game. The Dodgers won, and there was even a Pickle which the boys thought was the coolest thing ever. It's pretty rare to see a pickle in the Majors.

I think my favorite time is when the lights just come on, and it's just about to get dark.

Lincoln and some of his boys. These boys are all good friends. They have been together at least 3 days a week for the past year.

Yeah. How cute is he?!

After the game, everyone was allowed down on the field to watch fireworks. My kids are down there somewhere.

Watching the fireworks. Levi didn't seem to mind them at all. Going to the game was a fun family thing for us to do. Hopefully, we will see many more games together... maybe one day we will be watching Lincoln out there on the field.

Summer haircut

2011-06-21T11:14:00.001-07:00

For those of you who know Lincoln, you know that his hair is his claim to fame. He is all about the hair. That is why I am shocked he decided to buzz it off. I can't blame the kid. He has thicker hair than all of his sisters. He was majorly overheating at baseball practice. He is not sure of it. Doesn't think he looks as cute. He is quite concerned that it won't grow back before school starts. At the rate his hair grows, I don't think he needs to worry.

His baseball practices run 3 hours long sometimes. In 108 degrees. I think this haircut is a good thing.

Awards and end of school stuff

2011-06-10T10:34:00.001-07:00

This year, all the kids had separate awards ceremonies on separate days. I was at the school pretty much all week between Blake and Lincoln's birthdays and all the awards ceremonies. I'm so proud of the kids. They did great this year!

Blake got her Great American Award. This is an award only offered to 5th graders. They have to memorize all these crazy things like the Gettysburg Address, all the Presidents, the Preamble to the Constitution, and much more. I am so impressed that she got it. Only 27 5th Graders finished everything. Way to go Blake! I wish I could've gotten a picture of her with the trophy they gave her. We had to leave right after she got her award. Levi was OVER the awards ceremonies, so we took him home, and he immediately threw up :( Poor kid wasn't feeling well.

Making sure that mom is watching!

Future trouble makers, right there.

Mom, Seriously, are we done yet?

Dylan finished her last year of preschool.

She looks so tiny next to all those boys.

Ms. Heather has been an amazing teacher to my kids the last few years. We love her!

Woohoooo! I'm going to Kindergarten! Mom, how many more sleeps until Kindergarten? I will hear this every single day until summer is over :)

This is how we roll

2011-06-02T13:46:00.001-07:00

This is my ride. It seats 15. Never in my life thought I would drive one of these. But, I quite like it. We took a trip to California this past weekend, and the kids were so far back that I couldn't even hear them. It was quite nice. It will be nicer once we install the DVD system. Dylan asks me all the time if we need to go anywhere, just so she can ride in it. The kids say it's better than a limo. Lincoln especially likes it when he is the only one in the car and gets the whole back to himself. I don't mind driving it, and I'm not even embarassed when I drive up to the school and 10 kids get out :) We are making memories in this thing everyday.

Remodel and everyday life

2011-05-20T10:34:00.001-07:00

These pictures are SOOC, so don't judge. I'm not in the mood to edit. Our house is finally put back together. Our downstairs was completely remodeled. New hardwood floors, carpet, and paint. Yay! It feels so clean. The floors are actually darker and more brown than they appear in the photos. Still trying to figure out my new flash, and like I said, not in the mood to edit.

So, here's everyday life for us. Levi walks around all day long with a ball and a glove in his hands. Doesn't really matter what kind of ball. He just throws it, runs after it, throws it again. All.Day.Long. What a good boy. Wish you could see the smile on his face playing catch with his dad. He is thrilled!

Everyday life.

Lincoln and dad watching the game.

Taylor got straight A's and O's this year.

And made it into National Junior Honor Society. She said she wanted to join because it would look good on her college applications. Uh, I wasn't thinking about college in 6th grade, but I'm glad she is.

Blake left for SeaCamp this morning, finally, after waiting the entire school year. There she goes! I hope she has a blast! Life is good :)

Highlights from Disneyland

2011-05-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Last month we went to Disneyland with our good friends the Robinson's. Their kids are the same age as our kids, so everyone had a friend. Since they have twins, Lincoln had two friends. Lucky. The kids ran us ragged nonstop for two days between Disney and California Adventure. Dylan was a good sport while the big kids exhausted all the rollercoasters. She got whatever treats she wanted. I felt like I was just handing out $20's all day long. It was painful.

It had been a while since our last Disneyland trip, because of having Levi, and now with a new baby on the way, it will be a while before our next trip. So, we pretty much pigged out on whatever snacks we wanted, and went on rides until we couldn't stand up anymore. The second night, we didn't even get back to our rooms until 1am. The kids had a blast! It was a really fun trip. My favorite part was watching Levi on Small World. He loved that ride. He was so cute. We went on Pirate's so many times, that he would tense up as soon as he saw the talking skull, because he knew we were going downhill after that. It was definitely fun going with friends. Thanks Robinsons!

Under construction

2011-05-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

Even though it's just the house that's under construction, I feel like it is our whole life. This flood has disrupted the order in the house, and has left me feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated. I am just staying positive, knowing that it is totally temporary, and knowing that we are getting our downstairs completely remodeled with no expense from us.

The painters came this week, and it is a huge relief to have a fresh coat of paint. We went with a lighter color, and I really love it. We are going with a darker hardwood floor and a brown shag carpet for the familyroom and livingroom. We should be completely back to normal in two weeks.

Jim and I flew out to Florida last week to pick up our new van. I will post some pictures as soon as I can find the motivation to not be so lazy. We drove 40 hours and only stopped to sleep 10 hours. We had to make it home for Blake's school play. We barely made it. As we passed Disneyworld in Florida, I thought, what a shame we are not stopping!

We went through Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in 3 days. It was the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. We spent the night in Biloxi, Mississippi, and left just hours before the tornados hit. Seems like we were just barely ahead of them in MS and Alabama. I'm devestated for those families.

We made it home safe with our new family vehicle, and the kids couldn't be more thrilled. They love it. There is so much room, and I really like driving it. It feels like I'm driving an SUV; not much different than what I'm used to.

The pregnancy is going well. I'm 13 weeks. Finally out of the 1st trimester. It was a rough one, but I'm feeling better. Still tired, but I know that it doesn't last forever. Just hope my family can endure it. We are all excited for the new edition to the bunch. I will try to post some pictures soon.

Spring break is flying by

2011-04-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

There has been so much happening these last couple weeks, and Spring Break is going way too fast. I need one more week with the kids home. Then, I will be ready to send them back. But, I am not ready yet. So, here are the happenings...

1. Our hot water heater sprung a leak, and all the water made it into the house and ruined my hardwood floors. Good news...our insurance is giving us a ton of money to replace all the hardwood downstairs, and we will probably have enough for a new coat of paint and new carpet in the family room.

2. Our new giant sized hot water heater will be awesome, once it actually works. Apparently, we picked up a bad one, and we haven't had hot water for a week. We are anxiously awaiting the GE man this morning to tell us what's wrong with it. I have had 2 cold showers, and I just can't do it anymore. We have been taking the kids over to Grandma's to shower, since we have been swimming nonstop, and the girls just HAVE to take a shower every.time.they.get.out.of.the.pool.

3. We bought a 15 passenger van. Yes, we did. It is black and basically looks like a mafia van (with windows). It is being delivered from Florida sometime soon, so I have will have pictures very soon. The kids are DYING, they are so excited, and we are trying to come up with a good mafia name for the new van. Any suggestions? The things we mothers do for our children...like drive a HUGE van everywhere for the next 10 years. Nice.

4. We have had cousins from all sides of the family sleeping over every night so far this Spring Break. We have been swimming nonstop. Lincoln has made huge sacrifices this week, and has had baseball practice, batting cages, or hitting lessons, every single day. He works so hard.

5. We have a tournament the next 2 days. We had a rough start, and lost both of our games yesterday. We have to win both games today, to even play on Saturday. We will see. We are tired and sunburned from yesterday's games. Yet, we are all excited to go back today and see Lincoln play!

6. I will leave you with this picture of Jim & Levi in Disneyland. I love when Levi gives kisses. How old are they, usually, when they stop using the tongue? I can't remember.

The reason for my lack of blogging...

2011-04-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

...or lack of anything, for that manner. I am 9 weeks pregnant with baby number 7. I figured I might as well just get it out there. It explains my lack of blogging, and well, being seen anywhere. This baby is kicking my butt. I am exhausted and nauseous all the time. I breezed through my last 4 pregnancies, so I guess I expected this one to be easy. I am just trying to take it one day at a time, and one anti-nausea pill at a time.

Apparently, my hormone levels are really high, and my Dr. suspected twins. He ordered an ultrasound, and there was only one baby. Phew. Dodged that bullet. But, he said that I will probably be sick due to my crazy hormones. So, I figure we just need to endure the next couple months, and I will be back to normal. Jim and the kids have been very understanding and patient. I keep telling the kids, that this sickness will be gone soon.

Some things about this pregnancy:

It was planned
My sense of smell is extremely hightened.
I can smell the dog coming from a mile away.
I snack on pepperoncini's straight from the jar all day long.
The middle of the day is good. Morning and evenings...not so much.
I'm sure there will be more weird things, the further along I get.

We are waiting to see what the sex of the baby will be so we can figure out sleeping arrangements, and we are trying to decide what to do about a car, since my car only has 8 seats, and there will be 9 of us. So, the kids are trying to convince us to get one of these...

I can't believe we are actually considering it. As much as I would hate to drive it around everywhere, it would be pretty fun for the kids to have so much room. Traveling is soooo cramped right now, and it makes me feel bad for the kids every time we have to go on a trip. It would also be nice for the kids to actually be able to bring friends with us every once in a while (which we can't do right now). Is this van idea just crazy? What do you think?

So, there's the update. I have other things to post, and hopefully, I will get around to them soon. Starting this week, Lincoln has double-headers up in St. George every Saturday for a little while. They asked us to be on a league there, so we will be traveling a lot. There is a big tournament coming up here during Spring Break. Jim's birthday is tomorrow, and I found some cute things in Brooklyn's backpack that I want to share. There. I just made myself accountable to you all. I will post again soon :)

Nonstoppable

2011-03-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

Dylan always tells me she loves me Infiniti Nonstoppable. Hence the title. Is that even a real word? Anyway, the Stealth have been totally Nonstoppable lately. We are on a serious winning streak. We took home our first Championship last weekend at the St. George Spring Fling tournament. We entered in the 9U bracket (we are 8U), went undefeated, and won the whole thing! We are starting to get superstitious and have retired the black uniform for a while. It's all about "Lucky Red" :)

Then, Monday night we started our "Club League" which is like Little League, but with a bunch of club teams. We beat the Bomb Squad, our nemesis. Not really, but we've never been able to beat them, and they even took a couple of our players. Dirty. But we whooped them 14-3. We went on to beat the 9U Lightning next, because it was a double-header. We are loving this baseball! These kids are so exciting to watch. Lincoln is one of the fastest on the team, and he steals bases constantly, like it's nothin'.

Jim enters all the plays and stats on his iPad every game, so we can all log on and see the batting averages, strikes, stolen bases, percentages, etc. I am putting the button on my blog for anyone who is interested. When we go to tournaments, it will allow you to follow the game play by play. This is mostly for family :) I'm sure ya'll have better things to do than constantly follow baseball. As for me...I am ALWAYS on the website looking at stats. It's hilarious.

Can't wait for the March Madness Tournament next week. Go Stealth!!!

Brooklyn's 7th

2011-03-08T14:07:00.001-08:00

Last week, Brooklyn had her 7th birthday. The day after Levi's birthday. We celebrated by going to St. George for Lincoln's tournament. She was a good sport, and we tried to make it special for her. She actually loves going to the tournaments, because she gets to play all day long at the field with her friend, Kate. In between games, she chose Olive Garden for lunch, and we invited Kate to go along with us. She does get to have a party this week, too. Lucky.

Happy birthday Brookie! Right now...

You love school.
Are slightly boy crazy
Have hair like Jennifer Aniston (according to lots of people)
Are very smart, and a good reader.
Love to play with friends after school.
Are one of the first to volunteer to help me all the time.
Give great footrubs.
When you get tired, you just want to go to bed.
You will only wear skinny jeans.
You love clothes and shoes.
You are really good at playing the piano, and an excellent sight-reader.
You give the best kisses.
You can sing! REALLY WELL! Yay!

We love you Brookie. We hope you love being 7!

Happy birthday little man

2011-03-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

Today is Levi's 1st birthday. The time has flown way too fast. I can't remember life without him. We all love him so much. He is the center of our world right now. The other kids can't get enough of him.

Here are a few things to remember...

You love to dance. Anytime music is on, you just have to dance. You can't help it. You are just like Lincoln.
You like to crawl around with socks in your mouth. You have to be chewing on something. Every morning when I get you out of your crib, you have your blanket in your mouth.
You can stand up, and take a few steps before you sit back down. Then, you clap your hands and you look at us, because you know that we are all gonna clap too.
You LOVE your front facing carseat even if it has pink flowers on it.
You like to watch Despicable Me in the car all day long while we run our errands, and you never fuss or complain.
You smile at anyone who looks at you. You are the happiest baby.
You rarely cry. Even if you need your diaper changed and are starving.
You are 22lbs, and counting. You love to eat. It just might be your favorite thing.
You love to chase Indiana Jones around, and he lets you play with him.
You can say "mama". But, only when you are upset about something :)
You are a gentleman. You came just in the nick of time on March 3rd, so Brooklyn could have her own birthday on March 4th. What a nice brother!
Your nickname right now is Fatty Jahmiss. You don't even answer to Levi.
You have brown eyes. Not sure how that happened.

We love you so much. You are the cutest, sweetes thing ever! Happy birthday little man!

Ok, here's the latest

2011-02-16T18:01:00.000-08:00

Taylor got braces last week. She hates them, obviously. It's going to be a long 2 years. At least she will have them off before High School. A year from now, Blake will most likely have braces, too. Ugh. It's really expensive.

This week, Blake, Brooklyn, and Dylan got hit with a horrible case of the flu. Two nights in a row, Brooklyn has had hallucinations, and last night she had a 105.5 fever. Scary. The first night, she was screaming, because the water was rushing toward her and she was going to drown, and last night she was screaming because the chainsaw was going to chop her up in little pieces. She looked terrified, and kept pointing like she really saw something there. This is the first time that we have dealt with hallucinations. I finally got her to calm down, and she trusted me that her mind was playing tricks on her.

Levi is getting close to walking. I am dying to get some pictures of him, but he's had a runny nose. He will be 1 in 2 weeks. Time has flown by. His nose cleared up, just before all the girls got sick. Hopefully, next week, I can get some good pictures to post on the blog. He is the cutest thing ever.

Lincoln has the President's Day Tournament coming up this weekend. We are all excited for that, except he has really early morning games. Blah. Just realized today that the bag that had his cleats, cup, and practice uniform in it probably got thrown away. Nice.

Valentine's Day was awesome! Jim got me new floor mats for my car. It might not sound very romantic, but I have been wanting them really bad. It looks so much cleaner now. I also decided that Valentine's Day is my worst holiday for snacking. I have had so many Reese's Hearts, and chocolate covered strawberries this week. Plus, I have baked two cakes already this week, and those are totally my weakness. I could eat frosting by the spoonfuls. Especially homemade frosting. Yum. Plus, 2 of Blake's friends have brought over brownies this week as a "get well" gift. I am trying to practice some self control. It works about half the time.

Our favorite thing to do, lately, is turn on Lincoln's iPod and just sing and dance. He has a pretty good playlist, and even Dylan knows all the words to the songs. My kids LOVE music. It makes me happy. Lincoln can't hear music without starting to dance. It's like a natural reflex. It doesn't matter where he is, he has to dance. Levi is the same way. I love my boys.

Lately, I am also loving shower time, hearing my girls sing Train and Bruno Mars to the top of their lungs. It echos throughout the whole house. It makes me smile.

I just feel happy. I really love my life. Yes, I am sooooo busy all the time. I work really hard. I start laundry first thing in the morning, and put my last load in the dryer at about 10pm, and there are always dishes to be done. The minute I think I have a break, the phone rings, or the baby needs to be changed. But, this is what I always wanted. This is all really rewarding to me. I feel sad for women who aren't fulfilled by being a wife, mom, homemaker. It's the best job in the world. I feel blessed to be so content; never needing something more. I have all I need.

Oldie, but a goodie

2011-02-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn singing Twinkle n ABC

2011-02-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

Down & Derby- I know. Cheesy Title

2011-01-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

I keep forgetting that this was Lincoln's first, official, Pinewood Derby. He's been going to all the races with Jim for years. We have a race track, so they always call Jim to run the race. But, this year, Lincoln actually got to enter a car. His is the orange skinny one below.

Getting set up.

Here we go.

Lincoln's car came in 1st that heat.

Lincoln ended up taking 5th overall. I can't lie, he was a little bummed. He wanted a medal. I think he learned a good lesson about keeping it fair. Jim has some really fast Pinewood Derby cars. He knows how to make a 1st place car, for sure. But, it's not really that much fun when one car whoops everyone in every race. This race was fun. There were lots of boys who got to be 1st place in their heats. So, it was fun for everyone.

Robbed...again!

2011-01-17T20:03:00.000-08:00

This weekend was the MLK Tournament. Here are some highlights. We breezed through the 1st 4 games. Like, crushed everybody. We had the Championship game today, and STINKIN' LOST! We have never won first place. We always take 2nd. We thought, maybe, today would be our day. It just did not go our way. I was really impressed with our little team, though. The Wildcats scored 5 runs on us in one of the innings. Normally, this would've psyched our boys out, but they fought back and we tied the game 8 to 8. We went to extra innings and lost 9-8. It was a HARD loss. The boys fought til the end. Lincoln had a good tournament, and got to pitch in two of the games. He had some really sweet plays at 2nd base, too.

Here is a stressful situation for a mom. It's the bottom of the 6th, the bases are loaded, and your kid goes up to bat with 2 outs, and the game is tied. COME ON!!!! I thought I was gonna have a heart attack! Lincoln has the potential to win the whole game in a walk-off. I know that he is freaking out in his mind. He gets a piece of the ball, and hits it foul to the right. Guess what? The kid on the other team runs over and catches it! Lucky. Anyway, we lost in the next inning. And I left the field with a sore neck and back, and a big head-ache. This baseball is very stressful.

Notice, all the cute little fans in the above pictures. The girls even made Levi a "Stealth" shirt. And Lincoln in his "Championship Black" uniform- only to be worn in the championships. Hopefully, we will have many more opportunities to wear it :) Our next tourney is in 2 weeks in St. George. The girls are excited. We had to book 2 rooms for our over-sized family. All of the upcoming tournaments are traveling, too. This is getting expensive. But, it gives us a reason to take the whole family away for a weekend. You can't put a price on creating memories, right?

Silly

2011-01-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

Jim took this picture. This is what the kids wear when they want to slide around on the wood floor and not get floor burns. Silly. Pay no attention to the mess. This is the room where we throw all our extra crap :)

PS. I am going to be a better blogger this year, because my kids are cute, and I should be recording more of the cute things that they do. The end.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

This is the one and only picture that I took this Christmas season. Sad and pathetic. After getting my new camera and everything. Oh well. I guess I was too busy being "in the moment" to actually capture "the moment".

Isn't that a beautiful ham, though? Jim got a Traeger Smoker for Christmas. I have to say that it was the yummiest, juiciest ham that I have ever eaten. We spent Christmas Eve with my family this year. We missed Kelly & Brandon, though. Brandon had a gig on a Cruise Ship.

We had a really great Christmas. The best part was just hanging out with family and friends. To quote Brooklyn, "Christmas isn't about presents, it's about family and cousins." Hopefully, the kids are learning that. They did get quite a lot of presents, though. I wish I had a picture of the tree before we opened everything. We have a tradition with opening presents, and it actually takes us about 2 hours to finish opening everything. We don't let the kids just tear into everything all at once. One of the kids picks a gift for someone, and then we all watch as that person opens their present. Then that person chooses a gift for someone else, and so forth. We have done it like this ever since I can remember, and it just makes Christmas last a little bit longer. I love watching the kids get excited for eachother as we all watch that person open their present. Just a fun little tradition.

Anyway, the kids had a great Christmas. I'm almost embarrassed at how good it was. Santa was really nice this year. We are blessed.

I got another lens to add to my collection. I'm still in shock over my new camera equipment. I'm totally in love with it. My newest lens:

Things are getting back to normal. The decorations are slowly coming down, and we are getting back into the busy-ness of life and school. Laundry is slowly getting caught up. Taylor & Brooklyn have been sick this week. How convenient for them to get sick the week school starts back up. Hmmm. I guess it is pretty hard to fake the stomach flu, though.

I find myself with a lot less stress, and a lot more time having been released from my calling. It's kinda nice to not always have to worry about planning the next activity or the next big event. No more juggling between my calling and Jim's calling. It will be a nice break for our family.

I hope all of your Christmas's were as great as ours. I feel like our family served each other more this season than in the past. I'm really hoping that it carries over. I could tell a difference in the Spirit of our home, and it felt good.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T18:03:00.001-08:00

Christmas Adam

2010-12-23T10:09:00.001-08:00

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.

2010-12-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-30T12:28:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-11-15T15:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-10-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-04T15:36:00.001-07:00

"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

2010-09-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-17T13:18:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-10T16:19:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-02T18:16:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Lincoln's First Raingutter Regatta

2010-08-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Lincoln had his first Raingutter Regatta at Scouts last night. How cute is that boat! He painted and sanded that thing all by himself. I was at Taylor's middle school open house, but we showed up just in time to see him win FIRST PLACE!!! Yay! Congrats to my Brotha Dude!

While I'm on the ole blog, I might as well post the happenings:

We have spent the week getting ready for school to start. We are all set, thankfully, because my car broke down on the way home from getting the girls at Activity Days. Ugh! Thankfully, my Bro in Law has an awesome off-road truck shop. So, my car is awaiting to be fixed. Most likely, the fuel pump. It really bugs me when things break.

The kids are soooooo ready to be back to school, and so.am.I. They have been pretty good this summer about arguing and fighting, but I can tell they are really starting to get on eachother's nerves. They need time apart :) I think school is just what the Dr. ordered. I am not ready to give up my sleeping in days, though. I am not a morning person.

Levi is crawling. Yep. Not even 6 months old. Why can't he just stay a baby? He has moved in with Lincoln in his big crib, and LOVES it. He has started sleeping through the night. Yay! He wakes up around 7:30am to eat, and then back to bed til about 10:30am. I can't complain about that. He practically holds his own bottle anyway.

Things have been so crazy busy lately. Jim has been slammed at work, and I have been helping him a lot. That has put me behind on some things, but I've been behind on everything since I had Dylan. So, whatev. We've got another Youth Conference coming up, and that has occupied a lot of Jim's time, too.

Lincoln is playing on 2 baseball teams right now. His Club team and Little League. That makes for 4 games a week and tournaments for us. Not including all the Scrimmages that his coach puts together for the Club team. Lincoln is happy, though, because he's playing lots of baseball. He got an expensive new bat ( I don't want to talk about it) and he has had some hitting lessons. This boy has so much heart. He is the kid that has 5 hours of practice, but still wants to stay late and catch some more grounders and pop flies with his dad. I'm proud of his dedication.

Sometimes I think back on the days when I only had one or two kids. I honestly don't remember them all that well, but I know I had more spare time. This Saturday, alone, we have 2 baseball games, 1 baseball practice, the UFC fight party, and I promised Brooklyn I would take her to the movies. Somehow, we always seem to get everything done :)

Lazy Summer Days

2010-08-17T14:01:00.000-07:00

Levi fell asleep today while I was feeding him. I sat there watching him for about ten minutes. He had the head-bob going on and his little eyes were rolling into the back of his head. It was hard not to laugh out loud, but I didn't want to wake him because I had to get a picture.

Dylan plays Playdough every single day. When my other kids were little, I used to cringe when they asked me to play Playdough. Notice the collection of Playdough Diddy has. This is because she ALWAYS cleans it up right away. What 4 year old does that?! She has a TON of Playdough, because she takes such good care of it. She doesn't want it to dry out.

The kids like to play Cake Boss. I have had the pleasure of receiving many a cake covered with fondant playdough. Good times. Jim and I love pretending to eat playdough food every 5 minutes. It's our favorite thing.

She also has a bath everyday (sometimes 2 or 3 baths), and she ALWAYS puts her huge collection of bath toys back into her little bin. I love that girl!

Speaking of lazy...

That just about sums it up.

Catching up a little

2010-08-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

I saw on a friend's blog that kids are free at the Spring's Preserve all of August, and guess what? It's true! My sister, my dad, and I went with our 8 kids, and every.single.kid was free :) That makes me happy, because I am a cheapskate. So, if you want your kids to think you ROCK, you should take them.

In other news...

Levi had his first taste of real food. OK, maybe not his first :) Jim feeds him little bites of random goodies all the time. He is not really digging the baby food. He likes the instant gratification of his bottle, and baby food just takes too long. He starts getting frustrated with the process.

And...

Jim took the kids camping. I had a few days home alone with baby Levi. It was a DREAM! I got all excited because I had nobody to interrupt me, so I cleaned the whole house and did all the laundry. It felt good to be caught up. The kids had a blast camping. They went to Pine Valley, and said it was beautiful. I'm glad my kids have an awesome dad! Really, what kind of man takes 5 kids camping by.him.self ?

Where is that orphan child's mother? Oh, yeah. Home... chillaxin.

Lincoln is so sweet to his baby sister

Notice the grill trailor in the back. This is the real reason Jim likes to go camping. 4 propane tanks, 2 burners, and a huge grilling skillet. They ate like kings. I think they even had steaks one night. It will store that huge white cooler, and all our camping gear. It makes it nice, because we don't have to put anything in the car.

Jim took all these pictures. I thought this one was funny. Diddy got stuck on the grill trailor.

I had to post this picture. This look is so typical of Taylor. "Seriously, dad?"

Too busy for blogging

2010-08-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Isn't it supposed to slow down during the summertime? I am finding it hard to keep up with everything. I have taken some pictures, but I just don't have the time to sit down at the computer. I literally can sit down for about 5 minutes before someone needs me for something. So, someday I will post all the pictures of the camping trips and the birthday parties this summer.

Dylan turned 4 on Sunday. This old photo will have to suffice for now...

Diddy is the cutest thing EVER!

I love that she says the most hillarious things. Some examples: "Mom, I can't find my opportunity" or "Mom, I never want to stay at the 'Hotel California' because it's haunted and you can never leave" or "Come on, seriously?" She always uses big words like, "it's your responsibility" or "that's inappropriate".

She always has a smile on her face.

She loves to play with PlayDough and take baths.

She is my buddy when the kids are at school and she always brightens my day. Happy birthday Dylan!!!

LEVI is 5 MONTHS OLD TODAY! He is getting so big and FAT! He can roll all over the place, and we can't put him in his swing anymore, because he's too big and he wiggles out of it. He laughs and giggles, and he cries at loud noises. He is content to roll around and play with his toys on the floor. The only time he fusses is when he is hungry, and he eats A LOT. He is a little fatty. I know I have a recent picture of him somewhere on my camera. We will have to save it for the 6 month post. Sorry.

I am out of time. The kids are swarming, Brooklyn needs help with piano, Diddy wants juice, and the laundry needs to be switched. It was nice while it lasted...

Back

2010-07-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

I am back from Girl's Camp. We all had a great time. Lots of giggling and silly songs. I am a true mountain woman. We leaders decided we were not showering the entire week, and we even took our tents down and slept outside the last night. Several of the girls even joined the "No Shower Club" and slept outside with us. Good times!

I came home to a spotless house, and 6 little kids who were missing me. Their dad took great care of them, and they had a great week. I missed Levi soooo much, and couldn't wait to kiss his little face off.

Now reality is setting in, and this week has quickly filled up already! Ugh! Sleepovers, plans with friends, immunizations, auditions for Sounds of Music, scouts, piano lessons, shopping with sisters, and 2 birthday parties. Oh, and Lincoln just got picked up on another club team, so we can add a couple of baseball practices to that.

I did a ton of laundry today, so I am getting caught up on that. It's amazing how it gets piled up when you don't do it for 6 days. I decided to go to Cafe Rio today for lunch with friends instead of going to the grocery store. My kids are asking me what's for dinner, and I don't know what to tell them. Pancakes, I guess.

Jim cleaned the carpet in the family room while I was gone. It looks so much better. We have never lived in a house long enough that we needed to start repainting, and replacing furniture and carpet. I really want my house repainted, but I just don't want to do it myself. There's only so much you can clean up on the walls with Clorox wipes. Ya know? If Jim took the kids away for a few days, I bet I could paint the whole house. I love my babies, but it is nearly impossible to accomplish anything when you are constantly being interrupted to fulfill their little needs. Someday we will get to it :)

Enough of my randomness. I will have a real post coming soon....with pictures.

8 is great

2010-07-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Lincoln's big day. We are so proud that he made the choice to be baptized.

He has been waiting for so long for his own scriptures. It was almost painful for me to make him wait so long. He has been so patient taking his plain jane missionary Book of Mormon to church with him. Now he has his very own scriptures with his name on them.

At his request, the whole family headed over to Cici's after the baptism. I mean WHOLE family. Cousins and all. Even his good friend Rylan convinced his mom to take their family. Thanks Julie :) Then we headed over to our house for cake and swimming. It was a fun, fun day. Congratulations to my little man!

Lately

2010-07-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

So, here are the happenings...

The kids finally finished school. Hallelujiah! It is just too hot to be in school. We will now LIVE in the swimming pool until the fall.

All of the kids got straight "A" Honor Roll. I was surprised this year at how few kids got it. There were a lot of "A-B"'s this year. Blake barely skinned by. The morning of the assembly she said, "Mom, I don't think I did it." I started crying when she got "A" HR, because she worked so hard this year. I am so proud of her.

Taylor got her Great American Award.

Blake got her Nevada Citizenship Award. Both really difficult awards to get. So proud of their hard work.

Lincoln got the Awesome Gladiator Award for his hard work on his writing this year. Ms. Vela started talking about a little boy who started out hating writing, and then by the end of the year was writing pages. She caught me off guard. Right away I knew she was talking about Lincoln, and I started crying. I am so proud of him. He used to just scribble all over the page, because he hated writing so much.

Brooklyn graduated Kindergarten, and Taylor is moving on to Middle School. This was the last year that I will have 4 kids at the same school together. Taylor is sooooo ready to move on. Next step will be Young Women's.

Dylan has one more year of Preschool and then Kindergarten.

Levi is just barely 4 months old. He is rolling over already, and can do an army crawl and get to whatever toy he wants. I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING!!! Hello! Who told him he could move so fast! Slow down!!

Lincoln got baptized. That's a huge one. So proud of my little man.

So, Jim took the kids camping this weekend, and I am enjoying the peace and quiet. It's amazing what you can do when there are not 100 interruptions during the day. They only left yesterday, and already the laundry is done, folded and put away, and the house is clean. I am free to veg.

I have been training really hard since Levi was a month old, because I knew that I had the Mt. Charleston Hike coming up. 18 miles. Ugh. I have been running a lot, and doing a lot of pre-hikes to prepare. We did a 5 miler, a 7 miler, and we did Griffith Peak (10 miles).

So, the big hike is tomorrow, and why do I not feel prepared!!! Is it because I am not quite back to my old self, yet, after having Levi? Is it because I have not quite yet forgotten how HARD it was last year?? Is it because I don't think my new hiking shoes are quite broken in enough? Maybe. I am terrified. I have been thinking of a million excuses not to go. Levi is teething. That's a good excuse, right? I'M GOING, OK?! Wish me luck.

My next post will have lots of pictures. Lincoln's baptism and the camping trip. Jim took my camera, so I have no pictures to post this time :)

Also, if you are a MOM and you have not seen this, you MUST watch it. It is inspiring, and a good reminder of why we do what we do.

Kindergarten Graduation

2010-06-29T10:12:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn is just about done with Kindergarten. She had her graduation program, and it was so cute. They all dressed as what they wanted to be when they grow up. She, of course, wanted to be a ballerina. She and I had a confrontation earlier that morning, because I told her she had to wear a leotard with sleeves under that tutu, so that she would be modest. Well, she was not happy. The leotard was not "comfortable". Brooklyn has issues with clothes. If it doesn't feel perfect, she will refuse to wear it. Anyway, that little stinker came onto the stage with NO LEOTARD under her ballet outfit! She totally took that leotard off in class before the program. She won the battle in the end, I guess.

Her teacher is one of my good friends, Lisa. She is an amazing teacher, and I have loved having her teach Blake, Lincoln, and Brooklyn. I will be sad that she won't be able to teach Dylan! Wish I could've been more help this year, Lisa!

Brooklyn is reciting her little poem about being a ballerina with one of her best friends.

These are Brookie's very best friends. I am praying they will all be in the same class next year!

My boys

2010-06-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Father's Day was so fun. I hope my sweet husband had a good day. I made all my boys matching ties, and they were so excited to wear them to church. I am so mad that they are blurry in this picture! We were fighting with a palm tree that kept moving in front of them, and I guess the palm tree won :( Oh well, they're still handsome.

Oooooh, i LOVE this boy. He is the cutest thing EVER! I just want to kiss his face all day long.

Swimming, Smores, and Scouts

2010-06-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

Levi's first swim...he's not sure what to think. Taylor was having a blast dumping water all over his head.

Blake thought it would be a great idea if we did Smores in the firepit for FHE. They were yummy. We will definitely have to use that thing more often. I'm thinking Dutch Oven...

This isn't really the most flattering picture of Levi, but I thought the kids would want to see it. He really wanted that marshmallow.

Lincoln had his first day of Scouts. Of course, Jim, being the scouter that he is, had him all decked out in full uniform. Lincoln will probably be the only one in full uniform each week, but Jim won't have it any other way, and I'm glad :) Lincoln is stoked to be in Scouts. I'm excited for him.

Birthdays

2010-06-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

Blake is 10!

She wanted everybody to come in their PJ's

She wanted this cake

Which looks like this inside

She wanted to play "Minute to Win It" games which somehow turned into a HUGE marshmallow fight

Even Dad and Uncle Robby couldn't resist

Lincoln is 8!

We had a little swim BBQ for Lincoln's birthday. That's the best thing about summer birthdays. The parties are so easy. His cake says Happy Birthday K-Rod. K-Rod is the pitcher from the Mets that they always call in to finish the game. Lincoln always says he closes it down like K-Rod, so that's what we put on his cake. He thought it was pretty funny.

Levi is 3 months!

Look at our big boy! Don't you want to eat him up? I do everyday. We love this boy. He sleeps through the night, and practically all day. When he's awake, he is happy and smiling. He loves his Bumbo and his swing. He gets A LOT of hugs and kisses from his brother and sisters. He gets all the attention, and Diddy doesn't even care. She is so proud to be a big sister. Everyday she says, "Mom, I'm a big sister." We all love our little man. Can't believe it's already been 3 months.

Preschool Graduation

2010-06-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am overwhelmed with all of the things that I have to post, so I am going to just take it one at a time, even though, I'm so far behind. The last month has been very busy for us.

Dylan had her little Preschool graduation (even though she still has one more year of Preschool) I was taking pictures of her, and she said, "Mom, now let's do a silly face."

"Mom, now let's do a mad face."

Really. Is there a cuter 3 year old in the world? I don't think so.

Fun Stuff

2010-05-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

I never got around to posting about Mother's Day, which I've decided is pretty much my favorite day of the year. My family HOOKS ME UP! I don't have to lift a finger. LOVE it! This cute little card is from none other than Lincoln (of course). That boy is hillarious! I think we need to have an FHE on humility.

My little Blake-arella has been dying to make these.

They were yummy. Just a little tip. Bakerella says to use waterballoons, but our waterballoons kept popping in the chocolate. We tried regular balloons, and just barely blew them up. Worked like a charm. We filled them with a couple different kinds of pudding and topped it with homemade whipped cream and strawberries. Yum!

Do you recognize him? This is Glen Lerner. He has those commercials...you all know the song and have the phone number memorized. Well, my kids are obsessed with him. They make up plays about him, and powerpoints. It is so funny. Even Diddy knows the song. Anyway, we have some relatives that are friends with him. They snapped this picture one night and sent it to Jim. The kids thought it was hillarious!

Quick Post

2010-05-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post before I go work out. My baby is asleep so I have to hurry. I haven't been posting as often as I like, because Jim has been working from home a lot. It's nice to have him home, but he dominates the computer. I don't have any pics of my kids to give ya, so here are some of Westley that I took at his baseball game...since my sister never posts anything on her blog...

A few things that have been going on here:

Taylor:

Is in the middle of reading "The Hunger Games" series. She can't get enough of it. She has started using my flat iron on her hair, and she just asked me when she can start shaving her legs. Oh, man. I told her the same thing that my mom told me...once you start, you can't EVER stop.
She came home from school nearly in tears yesterday, because her Music teacher told the class who won "Survivor". I was FURIOUS. We wouldn't let her watch the finale, because it was Sunday. I felt so bad for her :(

Blake:

Also started "The Hunger Games", and is also reading the Book of Mormon in 100 days with me. She is all caught up, which is really impressive because it's a lot of reading everyday. She is a good girl. Still wants to go on a mission.

Lincoln:

Kicking butt at baseball. They put him in to "close" (pitching) a couple games ago, and he struck the kid out really fast. The coaches were calling him "K-Rod". You have to know baseball to know what that means. Lincoln kept saying, "I closed it down, mom." He still pitches at a target on the wall in the house everyday (with a nerf ball), and he does 300 arm stretches a day with my pilates bands. He is getting ready for the "big leagues" he says.

Brooklyn:

Is constantly helping me...cleaning up, rubbing my feet & shoulders, calming Levi down. She is a sweetie. All girl. Loves dresses & make-up. I'm scared for when she's a teen-ager.

Dylan:

Is always saying the cutest things. She says "That's inappropriate" a lot. She takes 3-4 baths a day. Not exaggerating. She calls Levi, "Levi Jonas". She is always asking me what day it is, like she's got something on the calendar. She is ALWAYS smiling. I don't think she's ever had a bad day in her little life.

I almost forgot Levi:

He is an angel baby. He is sleeping 8 hours at night, and a ton during the day. We figured out that he LOVES his crib. We can put him down wide awake in his crib and he will fall asleep on his own. He is a lot nicer, now, when he is awake, as long as he has someone visiting with him. He likes to smile. I think his eyes are turning green, and his hair is turning blonde. He is going to look just like Lincoln :)

Brothers

2010-05-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day. What?? This was too cute not to share. Levi mysteriously disappeared from his swing this afternoon. I went to look for him and found this. To me, there is nothing sweeter.

Life

2010-05-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

We are starting to settle into a routine now, I guess, if you can call it that. Things are a little crazy. Here's how it is with 6 kids:

Up at 7am, because the baby wants to eat.

7:30am- try to drag the kids out of bed for school. This is no easy task. My kids are not

early risers.

8:15- The 3 oldest leave on their bikes.

8:35- I take Brooklyn to school, because she can't ride a bike yet.

9:00-City Stop for a Pepsi, if I'm lucky enough to have Jim stay home with the 2 little ones.

9:30- Dylan's ride for school is here, and now maybe I can eat something. Oh, wait...nope, the baby is hungry again.

10:00- I get breakfast and hurry and put a load of laundry in and do the dishes. That will leave me just enough time to work-out before I have to go pick up Brooklyn & Dylan from school.

12:00pm- get home from the Kindergarten/Preschool carpool. Lunchtime. Try to do some more laundry, but probably just hold Levi because he's fussy. Try to dust and vacuum and clean up one-handed...sometimes we have piano lessons or errands to run.

3:45- where did the afternoon go? Did I get anything done around the house? The older kids get home from school and the madness really starts.

Everyone's starving. They all need a snack. "What's for dinner?" (I will get asked that question 5 times, at least). Now starts the homework, reading, piano practicing, dinner, showers, scriptures, prayer, bedtime ( by 9pm if we are lucky).

Phew, I get some time to myself. Oh, wait...we have a newborn. I have to hold fussy Levi some more. I really don't mind that much, though, as long as I can just veg on the couch. By this time, I can't move anymore. I try to account for what I ate during the day, because I need to lose the baby weight, but I'm not really sure exactly what I ate. It's all a blur.

Think about the agenda for tomorrow. Try to figure out how I am going to be 3 places at once AGAIN! I need a couple of clones.

10:30-11-Levi finally falls asleep. He will sleep til about 4 or 5am. I know, I'm lucky. Tender mercy. I get in bed and start reading my scriptures, because I am reading the Book of Mormon in 100 days. Why does everything always have to be so rushed and hurried all the time?

Do this all by myself for the next 4 days, because Jim is at Woodbadge again.

Last night, I went up to the mountain and saw my hubby receive his Woodbadge Beads. This is a BIG DEAL for Scout people. Last year, he went up and was trained at Woodbadge. During the year, he "worked his tickets" and earned his beads at the Stake Court of Honor.

Shortly after Woodbadge, last year, they called him and asked him to be on Staff this year. This is a HUGE honor. He was humbled and a little embarrassed, because people wait for YEARS to be on Woodbadge Staff, and he got called right away. He wouldn't even let me tell anyone for a long time. That's my boy! Anyway, they had a special Court of Honor last night for the Staffers and he received his Staff Beads. Yay! I am so proud of him. He is up there training the leaders of our youth, and teaching them how to mold and shape our YM & YW. I love it. He is the troop leader for the Ravens, but he was trained as a Bear, and he will always be a bear. The guy actually said, "Let the BEADING begin!" I had to chuckle to myself, because it sounded like,"Let the BEATING begin." Jim always laughs at my nerdy sense of humor. I think I just may be the funniest person in the world :)

I used to wonder why the Lord only sent us one boy and four girls, when Jim has always been so involved in Scouting and Young Mens. He has impacted so many lives. Why, on earth, do we have so many girls? I'm grateful we have another boy for him, though. I am proud of you, Jimmers, and all your hard work. I support you %100.

PS- that picture was taken with my phone, so don't judge.

Speaking of my husband, who totally ROCKS! My kids have been obsessed with these little "Mighty Beans" lately. If your boys don't have them, you must get some. Jim, being the genius that he is, decided to build the kids a Might Beans Track. Think miniature Pinewood Derby...seriously, they are the cutest little things, though.

This track has occupied my kids for hours lately. How nice to have a husband that can just whip up something like this in, like, 10 minutes. I will never be able to park in my garage because of the tools, but look at the bright side...he is building memories out there, right?

Preschool Days

2010-04-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

Dylan makes the cutest stuff in Preschool, thanks to Ms. Heather. Diddy LOVES Thursdays at school. Every Thursday when I'm getting her ready, she says, "Mom. We are going to make something downstairs today," which means they are going to fix some type of super cute food item in the kitchen. Diddy's favorite day. I had to snap a picture of this butterfly, yesterday, before she ate it...

I love driving the preschool carpool with Diddy and Jack. They are sooooo funny the things they say. Yesterday, "Hey Soul Sista" came on the radio (Dylan's fav. song).

She said, "Jack. You know my Uncle Brandon sings this song?"

Jack said," I don't like this song 'cause a boy sings it. I only like girl songs."

The next song on the radio was a song by Pink. Jack said that was his favorite song.

How lucky that they both got to listen to their favorite song on the way home :)

I also LOVE picking up Kade & Brooklyn everyday. They either scream the whole way home, or Brooklyn pretends to kiss Kade while he screams, "NO!!! You're freaking me out!!!" Hillarious!

I love that my kids have such good little friends...

The everyday...

2010-04-20T10:01:00.000-07:00

We are up to our eyeballs in baseball again, as usual. I don't know what Lincoln would do if he couldn't play baseball. He likes Little League as opposed to his Club Team, because he gets to pitch and play Short Stop. He strengthens his pitching arm by doing 300 arm stretches on my pilates bands everyday. He is starting to throw pretty hard, and he puts a target on the wall at home and throws at it everyday. His accuracy is pretty good. He is allowed to throw 39 pitches per game. His last game, he threw 21 strikes and had 2 strike-outs. Not bad :) I love how excited he is about baseball, and I love watching his games.

Last night Brooklyn & Lincoln prepared FHE for us, and the lesson was on "dares". Lincoln said you have to be careful what kind of "dares" you do. Like, if someone dares you to run in the middle of the street while a car is coming, you shouldn't do it. But, if someone dares you to do some service, you should do it. It was a cute little lesson. After the lesson, we always have to have an activity. They hid little pieces of paper with numbers on them. After we found them, we added up the numbers and whoever had the most, won. We sang "Twinkle, Twinkle" for the opening song, and "Let's Go Met's" for the closing song.

Last week, I was picking Brooklyn up from school, and she called "shot-gun". I told her she can't have shot gun, because she's not old enough. She said, "I'm not a child, mom!" Huh?

Just trying to record the everyday...

PS- I decided I like my pictures giant like this :D

6 weeks old

2010-04-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

This is how our photo shoot went today. Levi does not have a promising future in modeling. For your viewing pleasure...

He was tuckered out by the end of the torture.
We are LOVING this little guy. Some of his nicknames are:
Fatty Levi- He weighs 10 POUNDS! He has doubled his weight in 6 weeks.Scratchy Levi- because he always has scratch marks on his face.The Baby Brother- This is what Diddy always calls himLevi Jonas- because he is one of the Jonas brothers, I guess??Gotta love the nicknames that the kids come up with.
He is sooooo much more enjoyable now that we got him figured out. He was a miserable baby for the first 5 weeks of his life. He just seemed like he had a stomach ache constantly, and he was up every 2 hours to eat (which is not normal for my babies). My babies are usually sleeping all night within the first few weeks. So, we tried every kind of formula there is and finally settled on Emphamil A.R. acid reflux. He is now a new baby. I am soooo glad he is finally comfortable. He is only waking up once now at night. Yay! Happy birthday Scratchy Levi!

And I know these photos are HUGE! I was trying out Photobucket, and I'm not smart enough to figure out how to do a collage or resize them? Any tips?

Easter

2010-04-09T17:39:00.001-07:00

Easter was so nice this year. I loved that it was on Conference weekend. Can we do that every year? The good ole Easter Bunny didn't disappoint this year. We have sooooooo much candy, and we had a darn good easter egg hunt. If we could just find that last egg...

Conference was amazing. I thought it was beautiful how there were so many talks about the Savior on Easter Sunday. There were so many talks about mothers, too. I loved it. The kids had a blast playing Conference Bingo. They actually look forward to Conference because of the bingo. We gathered later for a family dinner at Jim's brother's house. It was a lovely day. Hope you all had a good one, too :)

Fun weekend

2010-04-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

Friday we took a trip out to Town Square. The kids were bugging me all week to go, but hello, the weather was so crappy during Spring Break. Finally, Friday we got some decent weather. Carol & I took all the kids and my mom, dad, and Christy ended up meeting us there. We played for a long time and had lunch at Claim Jumper. Yum. They have my favorite salad :)

Sisters...this picture makes me smile.

On Saturday, we went to a really fun birthday party for our little twin baby cousins. This party was the "My Sweet 16" for 2 year olds.

Elmo came to visit...

There was a bouncy house...

Face painting and balloon making...

The kids went swimming in their clothes. They couldn't resist. The pool was heated. There was also an easter egg hung with golden eggs hidden with money in them. Lincoln and Hailey were lucky enough to find golden eggs.

Our cute cousin Sadie Faith :)

Taylor with her cousin, Brandon. Seriously, one day I will sit down and count how many cousins my kids have. It has to be in the 30's. Most of them live close by and are the same ages as my kids. It's so fun to have so many cousins the same age, and to be such good friends. I didn't have that, but I'm glad my kids do.

I had to post this picture. Cuteness :)

On my mind

2010-03-31T14:42:00.000-07:00

I managed to catch a couple pictures before Church on Sunday. They are not the greatest, but we were running late (which is usually the case these days). I love how Lincoln is poking his head up behind Levi in this picture. It captures, perfectly, how where Levi is, Lincoln is close by :) Lincoln just kisses his little face off all day long. I love it.

Jim gave Levi a beautiful blessing on Sunday. The Spirit in the meeting was so strong. Jim, me, Taylor, Blake, and Juddy all bore our testimonies. It was a perfect meeting and a great day. We all gathered for lunch at Granny's afterwards for chicken alfredo. Yum.

After much debate, Levi ended up wearing Lincoln's blessing outfit. We had a different one for him to wear, but Lincoln insisted that Levi wear his.

I love how Diddy is more interested in her waffle than taking pictures. Everyday she says, "Mom, can I have a waffle in my hand?" That means she wants it "to go" and doesn't want to bother with sitting down and eating it with syrup.

I haven't had 2 minutes to myself to sit down and post on the blog, but I have still been catching up on all your cute blogs via iphone while feeding the baby :)

So, catching up...

This is how you will find Diddy all day long. In her underwear playing Wii. I had to cover her up with a blanket for the picture. She is obsessed with Super Mario Bros., and she is really good at it.

Lincoln listens to music on the computer all day, dressed like a "gangsta" as he calls it. This "gangsta" pose was his idea. He sings along and plays air guitar to his favorite songs for hours. Somehow, he manages to squeeze in playing Wii, teasing his sisters, and loving his baby brother of course.

Taylor and Blake rearranged the furniture in their room. I just let them do it. Frankly, I am too tired to protest

I don't know how someone who gets to lay around and nap all day can look so mad all the time :) This is what Levi does all day, and then he likes to eat every 2 hours in the middle of the night. Nice. The second little man makes a peep, he has 5 older siblings rushing over to feed him or change him or give him his binky.

Kelly & Brandon moved to LA, because Brandon got cast as Buddy Holly in California. It's an amazing opportunity for him, but we will miss them both. After his run with this show, they are moving to New York :( Brandon is off to be a big star...you can check out his website here:
http://www.brandonalbright.com/fr_index.cfm

My husband has been up all night waaaayyyy too many times working on this http://www.allmyshortsales.com/ Seriously, he is a genius. Now he's a web programmer??? Anyway, if you are a realtor and you do a lot of shortsales, you need to buy a subscription to this website. Please, please, please. I could really use a cleaning lady :)

On my mind...

My family room carpet and furniture are really gross. When your dog is eating stuff out of the cracks in your ottoman, it's time for new furniture.

I need to find the motivation to go back to the gym. I am tired of wearing the same 2 pairs of jeans...Plus side- I weight 10 lbs less right now than I did when Brooklyn was 6 months old. I don't have far to go. I just don't have anything to wear.

I need a landscaper. My yard is waaayyyy out of control. I have 17 palm trees in the back yard that need to be trimmed. It looks like a jungle back there, and it is too overwhelming for me.

My car could use a good detail, too. But, my house looks great despite track break with all 6 kids home!

When I was pregnant, I didn't care and was totally unmotivated to do anything. Now, at least, I can recognize that things need to be done. That doesn't mean that I have the energy to do any of it just yet :)

I don't know if I'm ready for the kids to go back to school. It is so nice being able to sleep in a couple of extra hours in the morning while my girls are taking care of the baby. They are so good with him.

We have this creepy crippled bird stalking our house. He sits on our doorstep in the corner, and freaks us out everytime we get home. The kids even found him in the garage yesterday. Seriously, creepy. I can do bugs, but I birds and mice freak me out.

Lately, I have been craving In-n-Out Burger. It's the only thing that sounds good. Usually, I crave Taco Bell, but I could care less if I go to Taco Bell. I just want a Double Double from In-n-Out.

I think we are single-handedly keeping Red Box in business.

We are obsessed with "Cake Boss" at our house. We all gather around to watch it. Blake wants to be a pastry chef when she grows up. Thank heavens she doesn't want to be a Ventriliquist anymore. But our little "Blake-arella" can't stop baking. She is begging me to help her make fondant. But, frankly, I'm exhausted. We have made cake pops, brownies with mint chocolate chips, chocolate covered strawberries, all thanks to this website (which Blake is obsessed with)http://www.bakerella.com/

Taylor is obsessed with clothes. All she will wear are skinny jeans from H&M. I think I've

created a monster.

Lincoln has grown about 4 inches in the last 5 months. He is looking so tall and grown up. He won't be the smallest one on the baseball team for long. He is about to pass Blake up.

What else...I guess that's it. Enough random thoughts for today. Hope I didn't bore you all to death. Or maybe you just stopped reading... :)

3 weeks old

2010-03-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

I couldn't decide which ones to post, so here are some of my favorites :) It's my blog.

Levi is a doll baby. He is a good baby. He has had a few bad nights, but we can't complain. He would probably sleep longer if he wasn't starving all the time. He is already drinking 4oz at a time, and he is at 6 1/2 lbs. He is still in premie clothes, though. I hope he stays little for a while. He is slightly OCD. He does not like to be poopy, naked, or pretty much bothered at all. We are trying to get back to normal, slowly. We (Jim & I) are very tired :) but I know from experience that it doesn't last forever and we just take it one day at a time. We love our little man.

Pause

2010-03-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

This is the only picture I have for today. I have not had my camera out much, and have not really even been on my computer all that much. This picture was taken the day after Levi was born...on Brooklyn's birthday, actually. I love this shot. It just captures what we have all been doing for the last 11 days.

A couple nights ago, I was thinking how I wish I could just push pause on life for a while. I want to keep my kids this age. I was looking around the family room, and Taylor was doing her homework, Blake was reading a book, Lincoln was holding the baby, and Brooklyn & Dylan were watching cartoons. It was quiet. I was grateful for that moment.

I feel blessed to have a supportive husband, who I am crazy in love with, and I know he feels the same about me. I am blessed to have 6 beautiful, amazing, helpful, loving children who bring me more joy than I could ever have thought possible. It feels good to be happy. I just want to push pause.

I have a hard time with change, and it seems like I have had alot of it lately. I don't ever change my hairstyle, I always order the same things at restaurants, I don't like trying new brands of food at the grocery store.

We had some changes in Young Womens recently that I am so sad about. 3 of my leaders are leaving to go be the new Primary Presidency. I am sad to lose them. That shows you the calibur of leaders I was able to work with in the YW. So, once again, we are changing things, and I will soooooo miss my friends :(

We had a successful dinner/auction fundraiser for YW's over the weekend. Although, I didn't do much to help, I am glad to check it off the list and move on. I am so thankful to the leaders who worked so hard to pull it off.

Speaking of change....I am going to try to change my license plate this week :)

I am soooo glad we are finally on track break. My kids are a HUGE help with the baby. I feel like we have all been pulling together lately to try to keep up with things. I have to say, though, having 6 kids is not much different from having 5. If you have 5 kids, you can definitely handle 6. I am quickly falling behind on cleaning on laundry. That darn never ending laundry. It seems like all I do is laundry, yet nobody ever has clean socks. Why is that???

I decided that I am giving myself permission to slack off. I am lowering my expectations. HA! There...I said it. Even though, I don't think Jim will believe me. I am giving myself time before everything has to be perfect again. I may even wait the whole 6 weeks before I start going back to the gym. That is my little gift to myself. Is there really anything wrong with laying around watching Dr. Phil, Oprah, and TLC shows all day long???

Life goes on. We are back in Spring season of Little league. The girls had Junior Festival yesterday. They both did really well, but we didn't stick around for their scores. We will find out tomorrow at piano lessons. Brooklyn had a really fun birthday party, despite her baby brother trying to steal her thunder. She will get her own birthday post soon.

I didn't really know what this post was going to be about, but I guess it is just random thoughts from a crazy mom :)

Levi James Berkabile

2010-03-07T20:01:00.001-08:00

This is baby Levi, just minutes old. We are in love with him already. It didn't take me long to go into labor after being off my medication. He was born at 36 weeks & 5 days. I'm glad we were able to hold off my labor for as long as we did. He is very healthy, and we got to take him home with us. He is an angel. Such a good baby :) He was born 3/3/10 at 11:40pm. 20 more minutes and he would've been born on Brooklyn's birthday. He was 5 lbs 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. He is a teeny tiny thing. We are so happy he's here. I have a ton of pictures I could post, but I am just.too. tired :) More to come later...

Just waiting

2010-02-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

I've been in the hospital 3 times already with pre-term labor. I've had about all the shots I can handle, and I am on medication to tame the contractions. I am contracting right through the medication, though. I had an amnio yesterday to see if his lungs are ready, and I was sad for the results. "Not even close" were my doctor's exact words. We were scheduled to induce last night, if the amnio looked good. I am not sad that we didn't have the baby last night. I am more worried that I will go into labor and he's not ready. As of last week, I was more than 3 cm dilated, and I keep having contractions. I am doing all I can to keep this baby in. When I was pregnant with Brooklyn, my water broke at 36 weeks. She had to stay in the hospital for a week. I need to cook this baby a little longer.

On another note...turns out that this baby is CRAZY!!! I have been so worried about him being breech, but it turns out that he is breech, then his head is down, then he's sideways, then he's flipped again. The nurse at the perinatologist had to chase him down for 20 minutes to try to get the heart monitor on him. She said that in all her years she has NEVER seen movement like that, and she has seen thousands of patients. And, during the ultrasound, he flipped right from head down to breech right before our eyes!! They asked me if he always moves that much, and I said "Yeah". I just thought it was normal. All my babies have been crazy like that. They said that he moves waaaaaay more than most babies. So, my sweet doctor calls me last night to break the news that we can't induce, and tells me that he is a little worried about all that movement from the baby. Not to mention, I have a TON of fluid. There is a potential for the cord getting wrapped around him. So, now I'm all paranoid about that. He said that he is definitely taking him at 38 weeks, if he hasn't come already. I can't stand the thought of being pregnant for 2 more weeks. Let me re-phraise that. I can't stand the thought of being in labor for 2 more weeks. The sitting around timing contractions, not knowing if I should go to the hospital or wait it out to see if they stop. The anxiety is taking it's toll on me.

The kids are DYING! They want to meet him sooooo bad. They rushed home from school yesterday to hear bad news. Lincoln cried and moped around all afternoon :( It doesn't help that our house all of a sudden looks like Babies R Us. I have such amazing, talented friends. I should post some of the cute stuff that we've received for our baby boy. Dylan asks me everyday, "When is the baby brother coming out?" We are all just waiting....

The everyday...

2010-02-18T16:56:00.001-08:00

Everyday at 3:40pm, my phone starts ringing off the hook. Every.single.day. 90% of the calls are for Blake. She takes her phone calls and then she's out the door to play with friends.

I love, love, LOVE it when Taylor plays the piano just for the fun of it. Today she came home and started playing songs out of her "Wicked" (the musical) songbook. She is an amazing sight-reader. I love to hear her music playing through the house. She reminds me of myself when I was her age. When I was 11, my dad bought me that piano. Now my 11 year old plays on it. It gets me a little choked up...I'm sure my mom is crying right now as she reads this :)

Brooklyn has been doing really well at her piano lessons. She's been working really hard on her songs for Junior Festival next month. She even marked her music. She circled the mp and wrote cwiit (quiet) next to it. I love it!!!

Lincoln had a baseball tournament last weekend. They did really well. They made it to the semifinals, and only lost by 1. They are getting really good. Lincoln plays in the outfield (which he is not happy about). He is by far the youngest on the team, though, so he understands. He is only 7 and all the other kids are 9 or turning 9. He is really good at his position, and never lets the ball get by. He is very reliable, and gets the balls in quick. He definitely does his job out there. We are really proud of him. He saved at least 4 runs this weekend.

His tournament was at the Big League Dreams fields. They are smaller-scaled replicas of big league stadiums. They are the coolest fields EVER. We played at Angel Stadium. It is so nice. I love going to his games there.

Another Baby Update

2010-02-16T10:10:00.000-08:00

Tired of the baby updates yet? Hey, if this is my last baby, I want to make sure I journal this pregnancy. I was contracting all weekend. Like, 10 an hour. This is actually pretty normal for me, so I always hesitate going to the hospital 'cause I know they're just gonna send me home. My doctor always tells me if I have more than 4 an hour, to go to the hospital. Yeah, right. I'd have a permanent residence there if I did that. Anyway, we finally gave in, and went to the hospital on Sunday night. Happy Valentine's Day to us. Totally ruined my candlelight dinner that I had planned with Jim, mom, dad & the kids. Oh, well. Sure enough, the nurse said I was having lots of contractions, and they gave me a few shots to settle them down. That helped temporarily, but I am still having way too many contractions. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday, and I am dreading it. I just know he's gonna order bedrest. Uggg! What a pain!

I don't know why my body does this every time. My babies are always early. Brooklyn was born a whole month early, and had to stay in the hospital. Diddy tried to come early, but they put me on bedrest, and that helped. I think my babies hate my uterus.

Baby Update

2010-02-07T23:17:00.000-08:00

33 weeks pregnant and feeling really great, actually. I don't feel huge and uncomfortable. Usually at this point, I feel like I would rather die than go one more month with a baby inside me. Not the case this time, though. This baby boy has been so sweet to his mama :) Other than being butt down which is "Frank" position. Praying really hard that he will turn, because honestly, I would rather deliver him butt first than have another c-section. But, considering the fact that I am V-backing, and my last labor and delivery (Dylan) was only about 45 minutes total, if he doesn't turn, I will be having a c-section. My worst nightmare. But, I know he will turn, 'cause he loves his mama.

I had a doctor's appointment last week, and my sweet doctor told me that he would do an amnio at 37 weeks, and take the baby if I want. Huh? My doctor ROCKS!!! That is only 3 1/2 weeks away! However, that is not going to work with my schedule, 'cause Brookie's birthday is that weekend, and I have a huge YW fundraiser the following week, and the girls have Junior Festival for piano that weekend, and Lincoln has a baseball tournament in St. George. So, this little baby is just going to have to wait until it is convenient for us to have him. We are expecting to have him no later than March 16th, though. The kids will be on track break. I've been weighing the pros and cons of that one.

I can't believe it's almost time. What in the world am I gonna do with 6 kids??? That's 3 for me and 3 for Jim. We are seriously out numbered. Not to mention, that will fill every seat in our car. So, carpooling is out! And...I have to change my license plate...

A haircut for Lincoln and a few tears from his mama

2010-01-31T20:34:00.000-08:00

I knew eventually the day would come when we would have to cut Lincoln's hair. I've dreaded it. He's had long hair ever since I can remember. We decided to trim it up at first. Shoulder length is just waaaayyyy too long. So, we trimmed it up, and it ended up being really poofy. He has so much new curl in the back. It didn't look right; not like it usually does when we trim it up. So, after a lot of thought (seriously, A LOT), we decided to hack it off. He LOVES it! I am so glad. I was worried about him not liking it. I shed a few tears, but I'm getting used to it. I don't know what it is. I could change my girls' hair in a second, but I'm so sentimental about my boy. I cried his first day of Kindergarten, and it never even phased me dropping my girls off for Kindergarten. I can't imagine how it will be when he goes on his mission and gets married.

Some favorites from Cancun 2009

2010-01-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

3 weeks of laziness is my kind of vacation...We went to Wet n Wild. Hence, the wristbands. The kids had a contest to see who could wear their shredded, torn up wristband the longest. Of course, Blake won. She had hers on until after Christmas, I think.

Diddy wore her favorite Hello Kitty floaties EVERYWHERE. Nana had to buy her another set of beach toys, 'cause Papa let the wave take her watering can. The watering can is most important, and she was very upset. Bad Papa :) and then at the end of the trip, he confessed that he used her new watering can to unclog the toilet so he wouldn't have to call hotel maintenance??? PAPA!!! Sick.

We had some HUGE waves this time. It's hard to tell, but they are pretty far out in the ocean. My kids are all really strong swimmers, but even Lincoln wouldn't go out without a life jacket.

Lincoln had that "beach hair" surfer look the whole time. Loved it.

The kids spent lots of time on the laptop playing Club Penguin by the pool.

Papa always got stuck being the equipment manager, but he didn't mind.

We had the WORST layover EVER in Mexico City. 12 hours, and that is not the cleanest airport. I felt like soaking everything in Purel by the time we got out of there.

Robby refused to go to sleep. He felt like he had to protect us all. Awe. He said he was worried something would happen to one of the kids. He stayed awake the whole time. Carol brought 2 air mattresses and we laid them out in the food court. The kids slept a little, but security kicked us out in the middle of the night :( The stores were all closed, and there was nobody around. We weren't hurting anything. The poor kids were soooo tired.

I can't believe the trip we've been planning for 2 years is already over. It will be a while before we can vacation again. The baby will be here in about 6 weeks or so. And who really wants to take 5 kids and a newborn on vacation??? Only crazy people, I think.

Another proud parenting moment

2010-01-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I wonder what my kid's primary teachers think we teach them at home. Lincoln brought this little book mark home on Sunday. It's hard to read. It says, "I like to play Wii. I like big butts and I cannot lie." Nice.

Oh, I have lots to post...

2010-01-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

...but every time I log onto my downstairs computer (where all my pics are), my husband is logged on remotely from his office. He is working on two major computer programs. Grrrrrr! So, no pictures, yet again.

I have the same New Year's resolution as all the other moms in the blogging world. Take more pictures of everyday life. I am not going to put the pressure on myself to do 365 pictures, but I am definitely going to get my camera out more often.

So, here's what's been happening this week. We have all had the stinkin' stomach flu!!!! Some break. I had at least 3 kids home at once everyday this week, when they were all supposed to go back to school. We are feeling much better now, and settling into our old routine. After having 7 weeks off school, I thought it would be really hard to get back into the flow, but we seemed to fall right back into everything really easily. Thank heavens. Time for some structure.

On another note, the baby is now the size of a butternut squash, in case you were wondering :)

The placenta moved. No more previa. Thank goodness. I was stressing about having another C-section; the worst experience of my whole life. Glad we are out of the woods on that one. I am not nearly as big as I usually am, so I am still feeling pretty comfortable. Hope that lasts until the end. I have the worst heartburn EVER though. I swear my stomach is in my esophagus. I dread eating, and I have to sleep sitting up. Lovely. Other than that, I feel really good. The kids have been so helpful, and I think we have finally agreed on a name (except Lincoln & Taylor hate it). Can't please everybody. I am going to wait until he's born to post his name. Sorry. What if we change our minds?

Oh, and can someone please tell my husband to let me have the computer, so I can finally start editing some pictures? Love you, honey!

Brainwashed

2010-01-01T21:42:00.000-08:00

Jim has totally brainwashed our kids. If you ask them why they're so cute, they say, "'Cause of my dad." If you asked them who "borned" them, they'll say, "My dad." He was helping Brooklyn with a talk in Primary a couple of months ago, and he snuck in, "I love my dad the most." Lincoln made this card for Jim & me at church a couple weeks ago. I had to laugh, because that was not the message I expected when I opened it. So not fair. Moms get no love :)

Cuteness

2009-12-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

We cannot wait for this cutie to come into our family! I'm OK to let him cook for a while longer, but the kids are DYING!!! They want to meet their baby brother :)

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T20:18:00.000-08:00

3rd Trimester Belly

2009-12-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

In a few days I will officially be in my third trimester. I knew this pregnancy would go fast, but geeze! Thought I better capture the moment, since this will be our last baby, right? Probably, maybe...

We're home!!!

2009-12-14T08:05:00.001-08:00

No pictures today -sorry! In fact, it may be a while before I have time to post our vacation. My week is already jam-packed, and it doesn't even include any Christmas shopping. Yikes!!! We had a lovely time in Cancun, and we all have much better tans than I expected we would. It was sunny and warm. What a shock to come home to the cold weather! We turned our heater off in our house before we left, so it was 50 degrees inside when we got home. Brrrrr! We could see our breath in our house. We all decided that 3 weeks was slightly too long of a vacay, but we weren't quite ready to come home after 2 weeks either.

We are SO back to reality now. Busy, busy. Here's the agenda:

Presidency meeting
Doctor's appointment
I guess the Dentist since Brooklyn lost a filling
Piano lessons (twice)
Violin lessons
Baseball (twice)
Finish the Christmas tree (almost done)
Christmas cards-printed, but not addressed- coming to a mailbox near you
Put the lights on the house (mostly for Jim :)
4 huge suitcases full of dirty laundry
Shopping for some maternity clothes. Yes, I am showing. At 6 1/2 months, it is impossible to squeeze into regular clothes any longer.
Grocery shopping & Costco
Big YW's activity on Wednesday night
Ward Christmas Party
Brooklyn has a birthday party to go to
Try to scrub down my stale house that has been sitting for 3 weeks
Squeeze in something fun to do since it's track break
Organize my NEW CUSTOM CLOSET that my hubby built while I was gone! Yes, my husband can build stuff. Anything I want, and I LOVE IT!

I think that about does it for this week! I don't even care that I have so much to do. It puts a smile on my face to be able to do all the things that I love...taking care of my husband and my babies. It feels good to be home.

Why I love Cancun

2009-12-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

Sleeping in

Lazy days building sandcastles on the beach and jumping waves

White sand and clear blue Caribbean water

5 brown babies

Quality brother/sister time playing Uno

5 star resort and a room that will comfortably fit the WHOLE family

Tableside guacamole & bananas flambe

Happy hour by the pool with half price virgin daquiris and chips and salsa

Hearing my kids try to speak Spanish to the natives

A husband who has fed the kids and done the dishes everyday since he got here :)

No meltdowns (except for when Diddy did a face plant off the sidewalk into the grass)

Walmart

A family who is content to just do whatever, and they don't have to be entertained constantly.

$4 movies & taking the girls to "Luna Nueva" (New Moon).

We are LOVING our vacation. It's paradise here. The resort is totally decorated for Christmas. The kids are excited about that. Be back in a couple of weeks!!!

Photo shoot of the kiddos

2009-11-18T17:28:00.001-08:00

Our little outing up to the mountains was fun. The kids were more interested in exploring than taking pictures. Kids will be kids. I got what I could without having to spoil their fun. A few of my favorites...

This is my last post before we head off to Cancun for 3 weeks. I may post while I'm there and I may not :)

Sneak Peek

2009-11-12T22:08:00.000-08:00

There was no school yesterday, so I thought I would take the opportunity to haul the kids up to Mt. Charleston for a little photo shoot. Trying to get those Christmas cards out of the way before we head to Cancun next week. Jim said that I can't pay any of my really talented photographer friends to take family pictures. He thinks I can do it myself. I think he over-estimates my skills. Taylor and Blake are always complaining that I don't post enough about them...that it's always the little kids. So, here's a little peek at my grown up girls.

More to come...

Take me out to the ball game

2009-11-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

Lincoln started his first season playing club ball this week. He was a little nervous. I only took a few pictures, 'cause I didn't want to embarrass him in front of his new teammates. I am excited for club ball. It means long practices, and hard work for Lincoln. He fell asleep in the car after practice today. From Seastrand Park to our house! He LOVES it, though. He said, "Mom, I love this team! All the players can throw. And when I throw it to them, they actually catch it!" It is sooooo different from Little League. They are running serious plays, and Lincoln is learning so much. I'm excited for him to have this opportunity to get better, and play in tournaments. He eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. It's all he cares about, so I'm glad he gets to play.

Trick or Treat 2009

2009-11-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

Trick or Treating is always fun in our neighborhood. The streets are packed with people, and most of the homes hand out candy. Kinda reminds me of the old days when I was a kid trick or treating. We got so many trick or treaters that Jim just sat with the door open and handed out candy for 2 hours straight.

Tinkerbell

Elpheba

One of the houses ran out of candy right as Brooklyn got up there, so the guy gave her a dollar. She gave it to Diddy. She said, "Diddy, I already have a dollar at home, do you want it?" It was cute.

These two girls are growing up way too fast. They are too cool for school. "Twenty-fi Cent" and our little hippie. My dad kept calling Blake "Two dimes and a Nickel" :)

Our little Travelocity Gnome was miserable all night. Taylor is so sick right now. She lasted as long as she could trick or treating, but Nana ended up walking home with her.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! I have to get busy putting up Christmas now. We are spending Thanksgiving and the first 2 weeks in December in Cancun. Can't wait, but that means Christmas needs to be done before I go. The kids can't wait to get the tree up...

Up to our eyeballs in Halloween madness

2009-10-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had the school carnival and the trunk or treat. It was so nice just to let the kids run off with their friends. Jim & I got to hang out and have some quality time. Next year we will be pushing a stroller :) I am enjoying the freedom this year.

Halloween week is always a little crazy for us. I usually get the kids costumes waaaayyy in advance, because my attention is quickly turned to all the different activities that they each have. 5 different school parties means alot of baking, sending in goodies, and "parent-helping" at school for me. I love this time of year, though. My kids never disappoint in the costumes they choose. It's always fun to see what they decide to be. Their little personalities crack me up!

Have you ever seen a cuter Tinkerbell? Thanks to my mom for buying this costume for her for Christmas. I had people stopping me and asking if they could take Diddy's picture, just because the costume was so pretty. Of course, Dylan loves all the attention.

Brookie was a witch for the school carnival. She changed her mind for the trunk or treat, though. I guess that's one benefit of having a ton of kids. I have a bin full of a hundred costumes to choose from if they change their mind at the last minute. You name it, we probably have it.

This is about as scary as I would let Lincoln get. He wanted something scary this year, and some of those costumes are just plain evil looking. He was fine with this, though.

Trunk or Treat. Brooklyn is a farmer riding a chicken and Blake is a rapper. It cracked me up to see all Blake's friends in those cute little witch, pirate, and bumblebee costumes. Then there's my child who wants to be a rapper. She called herself "Twenty-fi Cent"

Taylor is on the right. She is the Travelocity Gnome if you could not tell. I'm pretty sure that she will be the only Travelocity Gnome out trick-or-treating this year. Her goal every year is to make sure that nobody else has the same costume as her. She has been Elvis, she has been Abraham Lincoln. I love her random costume choices.

After the trunk or treat, the kids organized all their candy on the kitchen table. They spent 2 hours bartering and trading their candy with eachother. It was really cute.

Diddy tried a Warhead. She didn't really like it. You have to at least give your kid one Warhead when they're little, right? The faces they make are priceless.

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope we see you out Trick or Treating!

I am loving...

2009-10-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

spending the mornings with this little girl. She is so sweet and cute, I just want to eat her up! We get to hang out every morning while Brooklyn's at school. We do all kinds of fun things, like go to City Stop and Target. She helps me with the laundry, and we watch cartoons. I love the time I get to spend with her.

Homework is very serious business :)

Today, we were at the store and I put Diddy in the shopping cart, and she looked at me with a mad face and said, "Why do I always have to sit in the BABY SEAT?!" I told her so I could reach her to give her lots of kisses. She seemed OK with that.

Keeping it real

2009-10-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

Remember how I'm trying to keep it real? Well, this is as real as it gets. Jim has officially moved out of the bedroom. He has a really soft, cushy air mattress in the loft. He waited as long as he possibly could to move out, but it is impossible to sleep when you have a pregnant wife that snores so loud. We have been married long enough and had enough kids to where it's just not that big of a deal. Even though, it makes me feel awful for him. I calculate that with 6 pregnancies, he's probably spent at least 3 years of our marriage sleeping on the couch. Poor guy! So, here's the conversation with the kids...

Kids: Hey Dad, how come you are sleeping on that air mattress?

Mom: 'Cause your mom snores like a lumberjack.

Dad: No, 'cause your mom snores like a lumberjack being attacked by a bear!

Ha, ha very funny.