whaaat????

a blog post with pictures?

I know, pretty awesome right!

I looove these kids! I am trying to make time to "just love them" every day.

We have started a new thing around here.

3 hugs and a kiss...with something great about them with each hug.

Morgan just eats it up. He loves the praise.

Chloe mostly loves giving the kiss just like whatever princess she happens to be that day...

I think she has seen too many princess movies!

I am finding that I love the cuddles and I love the positive time telling each child that

I love them to pieces.

Anyway...

here is my great big 5 year old birthday boy!

He is just a delight! He says the funniest things and does the silliest things and is just bubbling over with personality lately. I love how he tells secrets and covers his mouth to giggle. I love how he gets sippy cups for himself and his sisters. I love how he remembers everything.

Could this picture not be right out of a magazine?

"bunnies for sale"

She is so adoreable...and she loves Grandma's bunnies!

We have been relishing our time with daddy now that the sun stays up a little longer so the kids can too! These kids just can't get enough of their daddy-o!

This little one had an appointment with the ENT today. At her 15 month check up last week we found out that one of her tubes is clogged and that it is affecting her hearing (which is not much of a surprise considering how loud she jabbers away). So, it looks like another ear surgery is in the very near future to get her adenoids removed and her tubes replaced. We are not a bit worried, though. Just looking forward to a happier, healthier litte missy B! 

funny things

At Sunday dinner with my fam a few weeks ago, we were talking about Shrek 4 coming out.

everyone was quiet for a minute and out of the blue,

Chloe says,

"Everyone put your hand in the air and say, 'SHREK 4'!"

If you know me and Seth, you know that she didn't learn that phrase from us...

I was co-oping in preschool a few weeks ago with one of the other moms and she told me,

"When Sylvie tells me about preschool she says, 'Morgan...you know, the funny one...'"

Earlier this week we were talking about Morgan's birthday and who would be coming to his family party,

"No ticklers are allowed at my party!"

And, just in case you are confused...a tickler is anyone who tickles him.

Pretty much all of his uncles are uninvited if that is the case!

Yesterday we were driving along and Morgan said,

"The only tickler who can come to my party is Dad, because I might want to play his iPod."

I am feeling totally overwhelmed with life right now.

The kids had colds last week and I have one this week that has knocked me flat.

I am editing a bunch of graduation pictures and dealing with birthday mayhem.

I now have 2 little girls who are highly overdramatic and have mastered the art of shrieking.

blah, blah, blah, complain, complain...

but these little pieces of humor coming from the mouths of my children get me through the day.

Sadly, I forget most of them before I get a chance to write them down,

so this is just a snippet of the ones I can remember.

I love them and I love their smart little minds and I love their sweet little faces.

Pictures are Updated

Sooo behind on blogging...never gonna catch up...

but the picture blog is up to date!

Mother's Day Mini-Sessions

Check out the smileabunch photography blog for more info...
and make sure you do it fast because there is an added bonus if you book before Saturday night!

And, don't forget...
you get $5 off your next session or print order for everyone you refer who books a session.

You can grab a button for your blog here or blog/facebook/tweet about the mini-sessions.
Make sure you let them know to tell me you sent them.

a happy easter

more to come...

feeling uplifted

Yep, it's general conference weekend and time for my bi-annual "spiritually fed" post. If you don't know what General Conference is, it is 4 sessions of music and talks by the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is uplifting and inspiring and motivating and I look forward to it and block every session out in my schedule to watch and listen and learn! You can hear the messages online (streamed live tomorrow or later in audio or written form) here.  

From the second Elder Uchtdorf stood to welcome the congregation at the first session until the closing prayer, my eyes welled with tears. I needed to be fed. I needed the messages that were shared. I was so grateful for the messages of the importance of family and the hope and guidance to parents, particularly mothers.

I loved Julie Beck's call to mother to "persist in faith through difficult days and mundane tasks," "to nurture our children as Christ nurtured," and the reminder that losing our temper distances us from the spirit.

I loved Elder Ballard's call to teach our daughters to find joy in loving and nurturing children.

I loved President Eyring's message about the importance of teaching faith to our children early in their life and his accolades for those who serve in the primary. It made me miss my sweet primary class so much!

I loved the talk (which I heard in the car and don't know who it was by) about learning from the scriptures and their importance. That we need the scriptures more now than in any other time on this earth.

I loved Elder Bednar's call to read and talk of the Book of Mormon with children of all ages and of sharing our testimony of true principles with them each day.

Most of all, I loved Elder Holland's statement that "true love must include the idea of PERMANENCE," that when you feel true love for someone you want to shout it from the rooftops, even in general conference, and that we need to respect and honor that kind of love. Today is Seth's birthday...the big 30...and he is working 12 hour shift after a long week of class and training and certification. I can tell you that I love him with that same love that Elder Holland talked about. Almost 7 years later, I still want to shout it from the rooftops that I am married to the most wonderful man in the world! I still get butterflies when I think about him and he is my very best friend in the world. Not a single day of our marriage have I thought that we may not make it to our 5,10, 25, 50th anniversary, because I cannot imagine my life, or eternity, without him! I am so grateful every day that I am lucky enought to have found that kind of love so early in my life.

I love General Conference and I look forward to the messages tomorrow. I feel a renewed conviction to devote my time and energies to improving myself so that I can better build, teach and love this...

my family, for this life, and for eternity!

(Picture taken with the self timer last week at the Great Salt Lake...4 of 5 looking is pretty good right?)