Lunch Time

On the way home from school, this little sweet pea fell asleep.  She looked so peaceful I wanted to snap a picture.

Amber had a great day at school and wanted to hang something on the fridge.  I love having her home for lunch time.

Evan and his nutella sandwich.  I got a choo choo train sandwich cutter on clearance at Kroger while Melissa was here.  Evan loves it!

And my good little sleeper.  She has been sleeping through the night the last few nights which is sooooo nice.  Today, she got herself to sleep in her pack-and-play!  The jury is still out, but it looks like I may have finally gotten a good baby!!!  :)

Katelynn and Weston

The second video of the day! :) Weston was playing with Katelynn this afternoon. He is so sweet with her. I had hoped she would smile, but she didn't. Still it is sweet. Scroll down to see another cute one of Evan.

Evan's favorite primary song

This was just too cute not to share. :) He walks around singing this all day long. He usually remembers the words to the verses, but I guess not today. Enjoy!

Around the house

 Our days are busy again with the start of school!  Katelynn is growing like a weed!!  She is 3 months old today.  Boy those 3 months have sure flown by!  She is a pretty good baby and lots of nights sleeps well too!  Last night she slept just about 10 hours on her own in her own bed!  Hooray for that!  She slept 9 hours straight 5 or 6 days ago.  It would be very nice if that became a regular thing!!  :)  I included this picture because it is one of the better pictures where her eyes are not all scrunched up!

 And here she is yesterday.  I moved her swing into a more upright position.  She is leaning forward in her swing and car seat, so I knew she wanted to be more upright.  She is loving it.  She has rolled over, though for the most part she just rolls from her back to her side and stays like that.

 What a happy group of boys!  Weston is enjoying all his classes in middle school including Spanish 1 for high school credit.  I think that it is interesting that it is taught from someone from Spain instead of Mexico.  :)  Brian loves changing classes and loves that his really good friend Mitch is in all of his classes but one.  Aaron has a great teacher this year and is making new friends.  He is happy every day when he gets home from school.  I think that it is funny that he wanted the pointer that Evan got at Dollar Tree to be in the picture too!  Crazy kids!

 Amber loves Kindergarten!!  She is making lots of new friends, but don't ask who they are because she "can't remember" most days.  That is the age though!  She always volunteers to get the walkie-talkies from the office when her class goes to recess.  She likes that special job!

 This is what I got from Evan when I asked him to smile for me.  I love having him around at home.  He is such a fun little guy!  We like to make pumpkin muffins!!  And then he eats like 4 before we even go to pick up Amber from morning kindergarten!  :)  He likes to go places just like me, so some days we get out and about.  It has been horribly humid here and the hottest it has been all summer this past week, so we have gone to a few stores and to the mall playground to play in the cool air conditioning.  We are counting down the days to his 4th birthday next week!

 Evan finally moved his hands but then gave me a pout!  Silly boy!

 Oh look!  Finally a smile!!  What a sweet boy he is these days!  I am enjoying doing "homework" with Evan (as he likes to call it) and practicing the alphabet.  We also do lots of reading books and playing trains!

And lastly, me too.  :)  We are happy, healthy, and chugging along!

Heaven is near

For the last 2 months, our family has been going every Sunday to see the Horne's at the VA hospital about 30 minutes from our home.  Sister Horne is an elderly sister who is on the hospice floor of the hospital.  Brother Horne was our home teacher when we first moved into this ward and house 6 years ago.  Sister Horne has been ill for quite some time, but was put in hospice around the time that Katelynn was born.  Barth went to see her in the hospital in June.  He said that she had really enjoyed having Weston, Brian, and Aaron visit her and wanted our whole family to go.  The next Sunday, we all went.  She loved seeing the children.  Especially Amber.  There is a very nice park right there by the hospital, so we began a tradition of going to see Sister Horne right after church was done.  After we saw her, we took our lunch to the park right there and had a picnic and then the children played.  All throughout the week, the children would ask if we were going to "Sister Horne's house" on Sunday.  They enjoy going.  They like to sit on her bed and hold her hand.  They like to see the birds in the cage on her hospital floor.  And they always enjoy singing her primary songs.  We love to sing with the Horne's.  Brother and Sister Horne may not always be able to hear exactly what we are saying, but they always sing along when we sing the primary songs.  The past few weeks, Sister Horne has not been as well as she has been in the past.  Two weeks ago, she was not as coherent as other times.  Last week she was better.  She told Amber that "she is my girl."  She loves Amber to sit next to her on the bed and hold her hand.  She tells Amber that she loves her pretty hair and would ask her if she was getting ready to start school.  Like I said, we have very much enjoyed getting to know Sister Horne.
The last few weeks have been very special and spiritual for me when we have gone to see her.  She loves the song, I am a child of God.  The last few weeks as we have sung this song to her, I could barely sing.  The spirit was so strong in her room.  The veil that separates Heaven and Earth has seemed especially thin as we have sung the hymns together.  As we sang this song, I received such a strong witness of the the truthfulness of this song, especially for me.  We sang:

"I am a child of God,
And He has sent me here."

I realized as I sang these words that they were so true.  Not only has God sent me here to earth, but to this specific place.  I know my dream had always been to live by my family and my mom.  But the Lord knew that I was capable to so much.  He knew that I had to go somewhere else and get out of my own comfort zone so that I could grow and develop.  He knew that if I were to live right there by my family, that I would have been happy to talk to my mom all the time and do things only with her.  I would not have ventured out to do things for others.  I would not have learned to rely on the Lord and on my good husband.  I would never have known the value of visiting teaching and reaching out to help those around me. There is so much more that I can do.  Perhaps some day I will be able to live by my family, but for the time being, God has sent me here, to this place.  And I am happy to be here.

"Has given me an earthly home,
With parents kind and dear."

The Lord has dearly blessed me with good, kind and dear parents.  I am thankful and lucky to have them.  I am blessed that my mom is my best friend.  I am thankful for her good advice.  We always have such fun together.  She has always set such a good example to me of service.  She always thinks of others.  My dad is a good Daddy.  He always helps too.  He is a very hard worker and has such a happy disposition.  My parents are indeed, kind and dear.

"Lead me, guide me.
Walk beside me.
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do,
To live with Him someday."

The Lord is always there beside us.  Always.  He leads and guides us.  He sends others to help us along our way.  He helps us find our way back to Him.  Help is always near if we ask.  Not only help here on earth, but I am sure that there are angels watching over us.  Helping us.  Protecting us.  Cheering us on.  This is one major thing that I have felt the last few weeks.  Heaven is right there in that hospital room with Sister Horne.  There are angels there beside her.  Helping her through whatever time she has left on this earth.  I have felt their presence near these last few weeks.  It was reaffirmed today as I went.  Barth had meetings and so I took the children and went.  Katelynn was in the stroller but began to fuss after just a few minutes.  I got her out and Sister Horne wanted to see her.  Sister Horne was so very tired today, so I brought Katelynn over to her bed so she could get a closer look.  One thing about Katelynn is that she doesn't really like to be held by others.  And she doesn't like to be held down lower.  She likes to be up high on my shoulder and looking around.  So, as I brought her down, cradled in my arm to see Sister Horne, I fully expected her to cry like she always does.  Instead, to my surprise, Katelynn had the biggest smile ever on her face!  She doesn't often smile for strangers, but she didn't fuss a bit as I held her close by this dear sister.  She smiled and cooed.  It was like she was in a room full of her favorite people.  I am sure that she was seeing the angels that were among us.  There is really no other way I can describe it.  I knew, in that moment, that she was indeed seeing angels.  I have no doubt.  Heaven is so near.
As we turned to go this afternoon, I leaned down to tell Sister Horne goodbye.  She grabbed hold of my hand and told me she was so glad that I was in her family. I leaned down, gave her a kiss, and told her that I loved her and was glad that we were able to come and see her.  I know that even though I am not really a member of her family, that we are all members of a heavenly family, and that she is indeed my sister.  I am so thankful to Barth for suggesting that we go and visit the Horne's all those weeks ago.  I have been blessed by knowing them both a little better.  I am thankful for the spirit that I always feel when I go to see them.  I know that the Lord is teaching me some good lessons every time I go.  I am thankful for the gospel and the knowledge that I have that heaven is indeed near.  Much nearer than we think.

My Silly Little Monkey

Amber got this cute little outfit from Uncle Michael and Aunt Heather when she was born!  She grew so fast that it was the wrong season when it fit her.  Thankfully, Katelynn has grown fast as well, and so now it fits her at the right time of year!!!  She looked so cute in it yesterday that I had to take some pictures of her!

Deep dimples and bubbles!  That's my girl!

Look at that sweet smile.

Brian took my camera and took some pictures of me trying to make Katelynn smile.  I like them even though they are kind of blurry.

I was trying to get one with my phone camera too.

I love this one that he got!

Hope these pictures made you smile!!  :)

Getting so big

 My sweet baby girl is getting so big!  She and I were having fun yesterday and she was smiling a lot for me, so I had Weston come in and snap a few pictures of her!  She LOVES to smile these days.  It warms my heart that she gives the biggest smiles to me!  :)

 She still wants to turn her head always to her right, but we are working on that.

 Most of the time she is a happy girl!  I am really enjoying her!

 It is easy to tell here that her right eye is smaller than her left.  Oh well, no one is perfectly symmetrical.  :)

 She is losing her hair fast!!  There is still way more in the back than there is on the top!  I think that her hair is going to be light.  Barth thinks that it will be dark.  Time will tell!!

 She loves to blow us baby bubbles lately.  She still isn't all the fond of the flash though!

Can't believe that she is almost 3 months old!!  Where has the time flown to?

Anniversary Roses

This last week was our 15th anniversary!!  Barth came home from work that day with 4 dozen roses!!!  They were so beautiful!!  They have made my house smell good all week long!  They are soooo fragrant.  :)  I have really enjoyed them!  Here is a picture that I took of them today.  They are starting to wilt, but they opened up so beautifully!!!  I have really enjoyed them!  It is hard to believe that we have been married now for 15 years!  We have had our share of ups and downs.  We have had our trials and our fun times.  We have had 5 jobs and lived in 5 states!  We have had 6 kids and 3 houses!  But through it all, I can't think of anyone that I would rather being sharing this adventure of life with!!!  I am thankful to Barth for all that he does for our family!  He is a good dad.  I am thankful that we works hard to provide for us!  He is my prince charming!!  I am thankful for these last 15 wonderful years and am looking forward to many, many more wonderful years!!!

And this has nothing to do with our anniversary, but here is some of the harvest of our garden this year.  We finally got some tomatoes!!!  The deer have loved our garden this year.  They ate 3 of my tomato plants till they were no more.  They ate the bean plants.  They ate half of our cucumber plants.  And then the bunnies keep eating our cantaloupe as soon as they start growing any sort of melons!  It looks like next year we may have to put a fence up if we want our garden to thrive.  :)  Oh well, I am happy with my few tomatoes and lots of peppers that we have had this year!

You can see that the big tomatoes are actually quite large.  I like to plant the big boy tomatoes.  They are always so yummy!  We have had quite a few peppers this last week too.  I think I will have to make some of Amber's pasta salad with tomatoes and peppers for our dinner tomorrow night!  :)

Uncle Aaron Fish-out

 This afternoon, right after the kids got out of school, we headed over to the pond for some fun fishing in honor of Uncle Aaron's birthday!  And our Aaron caught the very first fish!  How fitting.  :)  We love to have this tradition every year.  It is always fun to fish, and I love talking about Aaron and making sure that my kids know who my brother was!!  Aaron commented that he was sure that he caught the 1st fish because Uncle Aaron would have wanted it that way.

Weston and Evan were not far behind with catching a fish.  They shared a pole and Weston helped Evan to fish.  It looks like it may be time to get my Evan a pole.  Perhaps for his birthday here in 2 weeks!  :)

Aaron and Amber shared a pole too.  The kids were pulling up fish left and right.  Thankfully, Katelynn slept for part of the time we were there!

I love this one of Evan holding the pole and helping his brother fish.  Weston is always so sweet with the younger kids.  He is a great big brother!

Check out my fish Mommy!

Weston took all his fish off the hook.  And once Katelynn woke up, he helped me take fish off of Aaron and Amber's line too.

It was a warm and muggy kind of afternoon, but it was better in the shade.  But still, I can't complain, because mid-80's is nothing compared to upper 90's or 100!!

Brian had a great time too.  Although I think that Aaron caught the most fish, Brian ran a close 2nd!  He took all his fish off the line too!

What a fun afternoon!

I sure do love these kiddos!  And I love that they enjoy fishing.  Fishing reminds me of my childhood.  I have lots of happy memories of fishing with my family.  And I have lots of good memories of Aaron.  I am thankful that I got to be his big sister!!  :)  There are lots of things that I learned from him.  I am a better person by having known him.

Look, 2 fish at once!!  It was such a fun afternoon.  I am thankful for this family tradition that we have!  I love having a set day to talk about Aaron and to remember him.  Rather than be sad that he is gone, this day is a happy one for me.  I love to think of all the things that I loved about Aaron.  I love remembering him and fishing.  I love the knowledge that I have that I will see him again and that our family will be together forever.  I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the plan of salvation that makes it possible for families to be together forever.  I am thankful to my parents for joining the church and raising us so well.  For teaching us correct principles, and sacrificing for us!!  For giving us a nice childhood and for sealing our family together in the temple!  Happy Birthday Aaron.  I am sure you are looking down on us from Heaven.  We love you!  God be with you till we meet again!

One final hurrah

 Monday was a warm-ish day, so we set out in the afternoon for our last good swim of the season.  We haven't gone swimming nearly as much this summer as we usually do, but that was just because we have a new baby.  There were 3 other kids there when we first got there, but they soon left and we had  the place to ourselves.  The kids all had a great time swimming.  I fed Katelynn right before we left, so we were able to stay almost 2 hours.  The kids swam, and I sat in the shade and held the baby.  :)  Here they are all playing together.

Amber and Evan love to play together.  Amber doesn't swim with her floaties on anymore unless she wants to go in the deep and I am on the side with Katelynn.  She is an excellent little swimmer!  Evan is good and doesn't mind wearing his floaties.  If I had been in the pool with them more this summer, he would have been swimming too.  Next summer we will tackle that for sure!

The bigger boys always come up with fun games to play together.  Aaron's goggles were a bit crazy here.  I fixed them not too long after this picture was taken!

Evan has a big torpedo that he likes to play with.  He calls it his "rocket."  It really is Aaron's but Evan has claimed it as his!  He plays with it almost the entire time at the pool.  Sometimes he drops it too deep for him to get to and so Amber will dive underwater and get it for him.

More of the boys playing.

Oh look, his goggles are all fixed now!  Much better!

My little mermaid girl!!

Evan is a regular fish!!  He can swim all over that pool with his floaties on.  He has no fear!  He loves the water!

Splashing Weston always seems like a good idea!  :)

Katelynn and I hung out in the shade.  It was in the upper 80's on this day and very, very humid and muggy!!  

The boys lined up to race across the pool.

Look at them go!  Even Evan!!  Evan swam and swam.  Even after the bigger kids had already made it clear across the pool, Evan was still swimming his hardest with a huge smile trying his best to finish that race like his brothers!

Now it was time for Weston, Aaron, and Amber to race.  This time, to make it more fair of a race, they each had to swim to a different spot.  Amber's finish line was closest, then came Aaron's.  Weston had to make it all the way to the steps.

Brian and Evan were the judges on who got to their finish line first!

Here you can see where each finish line was.  As I recall, they each got to their respective finish line at about the same time.  It looks like they made it pretty fair.

Katelynn had not been having the best of days.  She was pretty fussy on this day.  She had been kind of sick for most of the past week with a cold and congestion.  I actually thought that she may have had an ear infection, but she didn't.  She just had a red sore throat and was congested when I took her in.  The longest she slept on this day was about 10 minutes.  I wanted to take some pictures of her in the stroller so you can see how much she is growing.

Look how she practically fills the stroller up now!!  She is growing by leaps and bounds!  Today she wore a 6-9 month outfit because she is just too darn long for some of her 3-6 month size things.  

All in all, it was a nice day and a nice end to the summer time!  It is hard to believe that school is back in and that our 12 weeks of summer has come to a close.  It sure did fly by quickly this summer!!