Santa Claus came to town

Santa Claus came to visit our library so we had to make sure the kids got to tell them what they wanted for Christmas. My friend Jodie lent me Carter's santa suit, a little small, but well worth the picture!

Happy Number 5!

Wow, I can't believe that my baby boy is 5! It is crazy to think about him being 5. He is the coolest kid and I feel blessed to have him in my life. Everyday I feel like the luckiest mom. He is such an amazing boy and surprises me everyday by the things he does and says. I am amazed by his energy and love for life. I love watching him learn new things and grow into such an amazing boy. He is an excellent example to everyone around him and just makes people feel happy, what a gift!

He has been waiting for his birthday but now that he is 5, he is nervous about starting school. I think he thought he would start the day after his birthday, so I am trying to teach him that he still has another 9 months and by then he will almost be 6. We drove by the school, so that he won't be so scared, hopefully!
It makes me sad to think this is my last year with him home, even though somedays I can't wait! I will miss not having him home all of the time.

Brady's birthday.

Brady's first birthday

Brady almost 2 years old, building the shed to get ready for Leilani to join our family.

Thanksgiving 2007, almost 3.

Thanksgiving 2008, almost 4.

August 2009.

Brady, you are a great kid and I love being your mom. What an amazing 5 years it has been.
I love you 10 olives!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The Polar Express

The theme for Brady's party this year was The Polar Express. The invitations were tickets to come to the party and all of the kids wore pajama's and even some moms, I just wish I would have taken pictures of them! They sure were cute!
The party was a lot of fun and want to give big thanks to the mom's that were there to help! You are all wonderful! Thank you to Rorie for the cupcakes and directions for the cake, it was a lot of fun to make.

Pretty much a basic party, a little craft, storytime (had to read the book!), dinner (train shaped sandwiches and hot chocolate), cake and presents. Before the kids left their tickets were punched "S C" and they got to take home a bell. It was a fun night and Brady loved having his friends come over, thank you for all that were able to come.

Vacuuming

Obviously, as my recent posts these were taken a few months ago. Brady decided he wanted to learn how to vacuum and let me tell you, I was more than willing to teach him! He still loves to help me and I am still very grateful for his willingness.

A little Fall fun

Obviously I am working my way back through my missed months of blogging. Before Halloween we took a trip north to Staheli Farms. They have slides, rope swing (sorry no pics of this, even though I have a ton!), corn maze, tractor rides (no pics of this either), redneck trampoling, petting zoo and of course the pumpkin patch.
We had so much fun. We drove up there and picked up Ponka and Grandpa. It was a beautiful day in the southwest and a great day. We had so much fun and will probably make this an annual ritual.
Enjoy the pics, even though they are a little outdated. Maybe I will get to Thanksgiving before Christmas!

Redneck trampoline

Carter enjoying a little nap with our pumpkin. We searched long and hard for that thing!

A little family pic, I love the scenery, isn't it beautiful?

Brady guiding us through the corn maze. He had the map and he told us where to go, exactly what he loves to do!

Bryce with Brady and Leilani.

Maile with Brady and Leilani (Carter was with Ponka, sleeping)

A little tire swing! Bryce did all the work and the kids loved it! Ponka kept "getting" them as they pass her.

My favorite, Brady in the corn.

Leilani lovin' the corn too.

Enjoying the slide, both of them did, one of their favorites.

Sittin' and clappin'

The weekend of Thanksgiving Carter found a new skill, clapping. The only way to share this cute trick is by video. Unfortunately I don't have a good camera to video, so here it is via my cell phone.

He is growing up so fast, about a month away and he will be 1 year old! Yesterday I discovered a tooth, finally! I couldn't believe it, I thought for sure he would make it to 12 months without a tooth, but there is one coming in.

What a joy this little guy is in my life. He brings me such peace and comfort to my crazy life and don't you just want to kiss him back?? Too cute he is!

Halloween in December???

Okay, okay, I am a horrible blogger. I don't know what is going on with me, I have so many pictures and so many things to share, but for some reason I just don't blog anymore.

Here we go, a month and a half late. . . Halloween.

We had a fun party, which I don't have pics of. Leilani was Tinkerbell, Brady Mickey Mouse and Carter was a scarecrow.

For trick-or-treating, the boys were the same but Lani got a new costume from her wonderful Auntie, that was delivered right after the party finished, so she was Minnie Mouse, the whole costume down to the sparkly shoes. They are too cute not to let her wear them to church on occasion, much to the dismay of my hubby!
We had a fun day all around and we love our valley. So much fun with the kids during the day and a great chili bonfire at night with our friends. The best, is that it was perfect weather, gotta love the desert!

Finding joy

I feel that I need to post something that is happier than my previous post! Yes, I am still sad, but you have to move on and find the positives in your life. Well, my positives are by far my family. The newest spirit to bless our family makes me smile and laugh so much. He brings me so much joy, so I thought I would share that joy with you! As my sister says, "We thought he would be the mellow one, but it looks like he is Montierth after all!" I guess she means that my kids are loud??? Okay, they can be!

Also, this week, Carter started to make his first moves to crawling. He hasn't taken off yet, but he gets where he want too, slowly but surely! He will be off and crawling in no time!

Today was also my nephew DJ's birthday, so we recorded the first video for him. I thought he would enjoy birthday wishes from this happy little guy that we have. Happy numba 9, DJ! We love you and miss you!

Feeling Sad

Well, this isn't really a big deal, I am just feeling sad tonight. I started thinking a day or so that Carter is showing signs of weaning and sure enough, a whole day of not wanting too.

This is so hard for me. I am grateful to be able to nurse my babies, and I know it is a blessing. I just have a hard time when they choose to be done, I guess it is part of my controlling personality!
I was able to nurse Brady until 13 months and I weaned him, Leilani weaned at 6 months and it broke my heart. I was hoping that Carter would continue, until his birthday, just under 3 months away. This isn't very far away, right???

In my world, it seems like forever. I just feel hurt by it, even though I know it is unintentional.

He got sick a little while ago and couldn't breathe to nurse, so I am guessing that this is what triggered it, so how do I get him back? I tried pumping to keep the flow going but he won't even latch on for longer then 5 seconds to even get the let-down. When he even gets in the nursing postition, he thrashes about and will not have anything to do with it. He sounds like I am torturing him! Any suggestions from my nursing friends out there?
I feel that it is done. I don't think that I can get him back, but hey I made it 9 months! That is good, right??

Sorry, I really try not to vent too much, because most of you probably don't care anyway, I just feel like writing and sharing how I feel. I feel that he is still too young and I will miss this bond greatly! It is one of my favorite things with babies, it is a conneciton that is wonderful and I just hate to think that he is done. Oh well, such is life and I will get through it. Life actually gets easier when you don't have to nurse all the time, but I am not quite ready for it! Off to cry a little more!

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Pictures, because

Wow, two posts in a week??? I have been a little out of it lately. Just to update on our lives. Bryce started a new job back home, so we are all here and happy! It was kind of crazy, we had job offers from a couple of places, so we felt very blessed to have options. We choose where we wanted to be, but made sure it was where we should be. We love our little valley and are so excited to be back.

I haven't taken very many pictures of our activities, because it seems we haven't done very much. We have, but there is no proof! I have some random pictures, and mostly of Carter, since he is the one that grows so fast!

He is my sitter now. He hates to be laying downand just wants to be apart of everything! Our latest adventure has been homeade baby food, thank you Courtney! I love it, I can make all sorts of different flavors and he loves it! He doesn't like the other stuff very much, but that's okay.

He doesn't have any teeth yet, which is crazy, since my others got theirs around 6, and is almost 8, yup 8! They grow so fast!

Okay, here are some pictures, with no captions necessary.

Coconut Mango

My mom has decided to take up Thai cooking, which she is really good at. She is always trying to get me to staty longer when I visit and when she says Thai, I am there! One of the recipes that she makes is similar to our favorite dessert from a resturant up there. It is so good and so easy, and for my health food friends and family I am sure that if you used brown rice instead, it would be awesome!

So here goes:
2 cups cooked sticky rice

While rice is cooking:
Take 2 cups of coconut milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Bring to a boil and then let cool.

Once your rice is done, transfer it to a metal bowl (why?? I don't really know, this is what my mom does).

Add your coconut mixture to the rice, cover and let cool about an hour. I put my in the fridge.

When your hour is almost up make your topping:
1/2 c. coconut milk
dash of salt (this is optional, I think it is too salty if you add salt to both)
1 T. sugar
Optional: 1 tsp. tapioca starch (to make it thicker)

Warm this on the stove, until almost boiling, not too hot.
Cut up about 3 ripe mangoes

Serve with rice on the bottom, sliced mangoes and then the sauce on top.

Yummay! Enjoy!

Numba 10!

Today is mine and Bryce's 10 year anniversary! I can't believe that it has been 10 years, and at the same time, I can't believe it hasn't been longer then that, if that makes any sort of sense????

Going to Preference 1998, couldn't find a wedding pic.

Most recent family pic.

Today was a great day to celebrate our anniversary. Some may say, why Sunday? You can't go out and do things, but we went to something that doesn't happen very often. We were able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication today. It is always so neat to be apart of something like that and to hear the words of the prophet and apostles, what is better then that?

It was a great day and I felt blessed to have my husband by my side! Thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law for watching my kids.

I am very humble to know that the choice that we made 10 years ago, to be sealed in the temple, is what is what helps us through these trying times. I know the spirit continually blesses our lives and things will work out as they should, wherever we are called.

Thank you Bryce for being a wonderful husband and father. I can't wait for many more years and eternity to come! Love ya Babe!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!
Today is Bryce's birthday and I am so happy to be able to celebrate with him. It has been a long past month but we are together, for at least another few weeks.
To my hubby:
He is an amazing father and husband.
He is constantly trying to make our family better and is a great example of service.
There is never a time when he doesn't drop whatever he is doing and help someone who needs him.
His family comes first above anything else.
When he is given a calling, he does it and doesn't complain about it.
Whenever I just need a to laugh, he is there.
He just brings a smile to my face.

There is so much more but we have an anniversary coming up, so I shall save it for later!

Happy Birthday babe! May you have a wonderful day!

Changes

This past week was very difficult for our family, quite a roller coaster! Last Monday, Bryce lost his job for the Nevada division of his company and then on Wednesday he was hired to relocate to Salt Lake for the same company. Craziness!

Well, since there were no other prospects, then we felt that we needed to go where the job is. He left on Sunday to live with his parents in Ogden and I am staying here to hold down the fort. We will hopefully see each other at least every other weekend and we have no end in sight right now.

We aren't going to make any final decisions for at least a few months. So, our family is separated for now. It has only been a couple of days but we are starting to feel it!

Brady really has started to notice that daddy isn't around. I knew that it would only be a matter of time. We have had him around since Christmas and he has been working out of the house so this is a huge change for us.

We miss him but are grateful for him and the sacrifice he is making for our family.

Okay, off to take care of the kidlets!

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

We have had a lot of rollin' around lately! About a week or so ago, my sister was here with her daughter Analei and while she was here the older kids got into a little bit of mud! They turned the water and we have a lot of dirt in our yard and we all know how that turns out!
Here are some pictures of them playing in the mud and an updated picturs of the three.

Lani covering her self as much as possible!

The 3 covering! I guess it was too hot so they needed to cool off? Not even 115 yet!

My 3, chillin' together!

Along with the mud rolling, the most exciting news of all is Carter and his new skill of rolling. You can't put him down without him rolling onto his stomach. He can't quite roll back so there is a constant rolling him back on our part. We put pillows so he can't but somehow he gets around them! I can't believe how fast he is growing! I know this is how it is but I just want to keep him little! He is so much fun!

Check out his rolling debut!