Jaycee's Birthday and Family Pictures

Jaycee turned 9 on the 15th! 

This week has been girls camp for me. Since I have been taking Vivian with me I have been coming home every night. So I was home for Jaycee's birthday morning. Mike made her breakfast burritos per her request. We also gave her the present we got for her.

Her old bike was looking a little small for her.

Then I headed back up to camp for a little while.

While I was at camp Mike took the kids to The Rush in Syracuse to swim. They had a lot of fun. For lunch they went to Chick-fil-a. Then they came home to give Bensen a little nap.

When I got home we went back to The Rush for some more fun.  We bowled, they played mini golf.  It was a little too scary for Bensen so we hung out at the arcade games. They also did the Go Karts. After 3 hours of fun Jaycee chose Cafe Rio for dinner.

She was definitely spoiled this year.

 Girls camp this year was at the Mantua Home for Girls, in Mantua.

 

 Jaime was the camp director, so I was excited to go.  It was fun to see all the things she had planned and how they worked out. It really was a fun camp. It was nice that it wasn't that far away, so I could drive up everyday.

 When we lived in Hooper our girls went there twice for camp, so I knew there was a beautiful poppy field on the way up to the home.

 I was able to talk Mike into bringing the kids up to try and take some family pictures. They turned out pretty cute.  For some reason Jaycee, the 9 year old, was rebelling against us.  Bensen wasn't happy about it either, until we did individual pictures, then he was all smiles.

 This boy loves flowers. In the last picture of him the plant behind him makes him look like a turkey. He posed himself and everything.

 It is so pretty up there. A little piece of heaven.

Vivian's Blessed

Sweet Viv was blessed on June 5, 2016.

 I thought I would try to take a couple of pictures the day before her blessing, because the day of the blessing is always a little hectic.

 She was so good for me.

 I even got a few smiles from her.

I haven't edited them yet but I didn't want to fall too far behind on the blog.

 Mike was a great help.  What a good dad!

She was blessed with Kollin Whitear, who lives a couple houses down from us.  He is one month older then her. 

Aren't they the cutest?

 We had a lot of support from our families. I am so grateful for them.

 It was a great blessing and I am excited to see the blessings in her life.

 These kids sure love their baby sister.

If I say "Hows my girl?" Bensen says "No! She's my girl." Or "She's my sweet Viv". I was a little worried he might not be that nice to her, but he is so sweet and gentle with her. 

 After the blessing we had our families over for crepes and breakfast casseroles. It was all so delicious!

We are so blessed to have her in our family. She completes us....I hope.

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so grateful to be a mom.  All I ever wanted to do was be a mom.

  I can remember my basketball coach in high school asking me what I was going to do after graduating and I said "I just want to be a mom." It was not the answer she was looking for. But it was the only answer I had.

 I love my kids more then anything in the world.  I can't imagine my life without them. 

 In my patriarchal blessing it tells me to put my roll as a wife and mother first and everything will work out for good. I can truly see the blessing we have received for following this counsel.

I'm grateful for Mike and how hard he works so that I am able to stay home with the kids and be a stay at home mom.  I am so lucky.  

Don't get me wrong, sometimes it can be a struggle, but I know I am exactly where the Lord wants me to be.  I have days where I just want to run and hide. But the good far outweigh the bad.

 I am so grateful to my mom and Mikes mom.  They are the best examples of what good mothers should be.   

I know they would do anything for any of their children or grandchildren. 

  I know that they both have strong testimonies and a love for their Savior, and they teach us by their example.  

 We are blessed to have them.

 I love how different my kids are! I love seeing me and Mike in them. Jaycee has my love of the water, Wesley has Mikes work ethic, Bensen loves to sing which I think comes from both of us. I can't wait to see what Vivian gets from us.

They really are amazing and I am so blessed to call them mine. I feel that they are my purpose in life and I just hope I can teach them all that is good. That they will grow up and have strong testimonies of the Gospel, love our Savior, Jesus Christ, and be able to recognize the Holy Ghost. I know that they were saved for this time on earth, because they are special and they are strong. I am lucky to be their mom.

Coming Home

Mike, Wesley and Bensen came to the hospital to pick us up. Wes was excited, Bensen wanted nothing to do with us.

I was anxious the whole way home, because everyone was coughing.

Everyone was really good about washing there hand and keeping a mask on while holding her.

Jaycee was the only one who didn't get sick. 

We've had fun staying home, we watched a couple movies and just hung out together.

Bensen has done so good.  We were pretty worried about how he would react to not being the baby any more, he doesn't seem to mind at all.

While we've been home we gave Vivian her first bath.

She didn't seem to mind it.

She is such a cutie.

We have loved dressing her up and taking pictures.

The kids had their last soccer games. It has been a fun season.

Both Jaycee and Wesley are really starting to pick things up, and they both liked playing.

After Vivian's cord finally fell off, she graduated to the big bath tub. She liked it better then the sponge bath!

I love to see how much the kids love Vivian.  Wesley always likes to have a hand on her. Bensen likes to see her, in order to see her he needs to be right in her face! 

Bensen has also started to sing a lot. He sings Twinkle Twinkle, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Blue Blue Sky (My Heavenly Father Loves Me), Hello (Adele), ABC's, Sisters (I went Down To The River To Pray). It is so cute. He love to sing to Vivian.