What on earth have you been up to?

  Hey there!  So, rather than post a super-long list of all the crazy stuff we've been up to lately, I thought I'd just add a few highlights from each month.  (Sorry if this sort-of sounds like a holiday letter.:) Here goes:
July
Isaiah turned 6--I can't believe how big this kid is!  Plus, he has the energy of about 3 6-year-olds.  I hope he keeps that zest for life later, but right now, sometimes I wish he'd just calm down for 2 seconds!  (Such is the life of a mom.)  He was really excited this year because we went to Draper Days on his birthday, which means he had his very own fireworks!  How cool is that?  (I have pictures of this, but I'm not exactly sure where the CD is at the moment.  I'll post them later if I find it.:)
Swimming lessons--My kids are seriously little fish.  I've never seen anybody who loves the water so much.  Normally teachers will have to talk kids into putting their heads under the water, but with my kids, they have to be reminded to stay ABOVE water.  Savannah was even brave enough to go off the high dive, which is something her mom still gets nervous about.  Sometimes I wonder if they have gills...:)

August
Missing a husband--For a lot of the month, Jason was out of town on work, either in Fillmore or somewhere in South Dakota. (I know.  What fabulous locations.:)  I had to get creative to figure out stuff for the kids to do during summer break that didn't involve spending money, but we sure had fun.  We even managed to finish a few projects around the house!  All the same, everyone was sure glad when Daddy came home!
Fun at Lagoon and the cabin--One of the best things about summer for me is that we all go to Lagoon together as a family.  I didn't get to go a lot as a kid, and I'm so glad that we've made it a yearly tradition.  It always makes for such great memories.  Plus, this year we went up to the family cabin in Lava Hot Springs right after and relaxed for a few days.  Now that's my kind of vacation!

September
School starts again!--You mean I don't have to entertain my kids all day every day anymore?  That's fantastic!  Why didn't somebody think of that sooner?:)
Singing in a FABULOUS choir--I was very fortunate to be asked to sing in the choir for the Relief Sociey session of General Conference.  What an amazing experience!  The music was beautiful, and the spirituality of the practices and performance was something I'll never forget.  I feel so blessed to have been a part of something so spectacular.  (Even if we did spend a LONG time down on Temple Square the day of the broadcast.:)  And for those of you who've been asking, yes, that was me in the close-up on camera.  (Actually, the camera was pretty much right in my face.  Let me tell you, it was really difficult to pretend it wasn't there.:)
Isaac leaving on his mission--Jason ended up having two brothers as missionaries at the same time!  His youngest brother, Isaac, left in September to the Seattle Washington mission.  He's doing a fantastic job, and I hope he's not getting too soggy in all that rain...

October
Happy Halloween--I love that my kids still like to pick cute costumes out as oppossed to the scary ones.  It's so much more fun!  This year we had a Mario and Luigi, as well as Alice and 2 Mad Hatters (one old movie and one new).  The best part by far though was that Jason grew out his hair just so he could be a fantasic Johnny Depp Mad Hatter for Savannah's Alice.  He looked absolutely amazing.  (He even did his makeup by himself.  I had no idea I married such a talented man.:)

Yes, that's his real hair.  We got a spray hair dye for the night.:)

Family pictures--Jason's sister Toni was nice enough to take some new family pictures for us up at the cabin.  We have current pictures of the kids thanks to school, but it dawned on me that in our last family picture Mary was 1.  (Oops.:)  They turned out wonderfully, thanks to Toni being aware that you must take MANY pictures in every pose in order to get ones where everyone is actually looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.  (Who new that was such a complicated idea?)

I love my family!

Don't you just love this picture?  It's one of my favorites.

This looks kind-of like an engagement photo to me, and I love it!  Who says we can't still love each other after almost 10 years?:)

Savannah's program--Each year the kids get to do a program at school, and for Savannah's grade that means Halloween.  It was super cute, and I love how you can always hear my kids singing, even in a big group.  They love it, and so does their mom.  Savannah did such a fantastic job on her speaking part as well.  (She could even reach the microphone this time.:)

That's my girl!

November
Remembering gratitude--We had a small medical scare thanks in part to my fabulous blood clotting genes.  I had gone of my medication for a couple of days in order to have an endoscopy (lucky me) and my legs were quite sore for a couple of weeks after.  I went to have an ultrasound and discovered what looked like more clots.  I thought, "Oh, great.  I seriously have to do this again?  Really?"  But during the procedure, the doctor let me know that it was actually more scar tissue from when they treated me a couple of times over the summer.  I was sore, but I'd be okay, and I got to go home.  The neat thing was that it was almost exactly a year after I first was fighting the clots, and right before Thanksgiving.  It was as if Heavenly Father was saying, "You remember what you learned about gratitude last year?  Yeah, don't forget that."  It was most definately a very good reminder.

December
Programs--Savannah's school program was for Halloween, Isaiah's was for Christmas.  Remember what I said about being able to hear my kids no matter what?  That's especially true for Isaiah.  He has such a love for music, and can't wait to sing it at the top of his lungs. (Mary's that way too.) He did such a fantastic job.  Mary had her preschool program and a dance showcase as well, and I just had to smile at how excited she was to sing, and more especially to dance.  She would focus long enough to do the steps her teacher asked, but she would jump up and down between each section.  Super cute!:)  She did a really good job, too.

Ta-da!

Christmas--Christmas was awesome, fantastic, and completely crazy.  We have tons of family to visit anyway, but adding in the concept of it being on Sunday and working around everyone's meetings, trying to plan to be at Jason's parents' house when his missionary brothers called, and my brother Tony and his wife having a new baby 2 days before (yay for Braden!:), things were just nuts.  It was all enjoyable, but I did feel bad for my kids.  About halfway through the day, Mary asked if we could go home yet so she could play with her new toys.  Too bad we still had 2 more places to go that day...:)  I was really proud of my kids this year too.  Normally their gifts to each other consist of whatever they think would be okay at Wal-Mart.  But this year, each of them really thought about things the others had said they wanted and got those instead.  Let me tell you, it is such a fantastic feeling as a parent to see the smiles not only from the one receiving the gift, but from the one giving it as well when they know they really picked something the other would want.  And they all even waited until after church to open their presents, since our meeting was at 9:00.  The true meaning of Christmas was most definately in focus this year, despite all the craziness, and I LOVED IT!

I had to put in this picture of Isaiah with his bomb Angry Bird from Santa.  All the kids got a bird and a pig in their stockings, but he was by far the most excited.  Love that smile!

January
Taz's homecoming--The missionaries are back down to one!  Jason's brother Taz returned from Monterey, Mexico and is just as awesome as ever.  I would say even more so than when he left.  (Missions tend to do that.:)  We're all super excited he's home, but I don't think anyone is more so than my husband.  I've never seen him that happy before, and I've seen him at some pretty happy times.  I can only imagine how it will be when Isaac comes home as well.
Going back to school--So I decided to be nuts and go back to college.  (As if I don't already have enough to do.)  My kids are getting to the age where it's a possibility, and I've always wanted to.  I will eventually be persuing a degree in music education, but at the moment, I'm finishing some general classes online that never got finished at the Y.  It's going pretty well, but it's really interesting to try and figure out college-level math when I haven't had to think that way in about a decade.  I'm reaching into parts of my brain that I forgot existed, which causes a few headaches. Here's hoping it keeps going as well as it has been.:)
  So, that's what on earth we've been up to lately.  Here's hoping I get a little more time to update things on this blog more frequently, but I'm not making any promises.:)