Trip to the Zoo.

 

 

A fun day atthe zoo.  I sure love this family!

Random

Yesterday was a great day.  I love Conference Weekend, and this Conference was amazing.  I love to listen to the speakers and it's amazing how strong you can feel the spirit, even with your kids running and playing in the background.  I am so thankful for the Prophet and the leaders of our Church.  They are inspirational to me in the way that they serve, giving all that they have and not complaining.  It is such an example, I know that I need to be better in my service and in giving my all to my Heavenly Father. 

Easter was so fun.  I think my kids liked it more than Christmas this year.  I can't beleive how excited they were, especially Claire.  I realized this morning that I did not take any pictures of Easter, that's horrible of me!  Oh well, the kids had a blast and played all day with their new toys.  I loved that it was the same day as General Conference.  It was so relaxing.  Even after Easter dinner, by 7:00 we were all sitting down and relaxing for the night, it was lovely.

This month is so busy and I feel really anxious about getting things ready and taken care of.  Trav and I are going on a cruise in 2 weeks, we are really excited.  We really need some time away, especially Trav.  I feel so unprepared.  Not that I travel a lot, but I do a decent amount (especially for work), that I don't get as prepared as I used to.  I feel like I need to start getting things ready, that's what I'll be doing this week.  Traveling without kids is much easier than with kids but then you need to worry about what's going on with your kids at home.  A big huge THANK YOU to Trav's parents and sisters and my parents for helping out while we're gone.  I'm so greatful to them (especially since I'll only be home for 2 days and then off to Quebec for work and needing more help).  What would I do without my family?  I have no idea!

I'm really greatful for Ivie.  She is such a great kid.  She helps me so much.  She's getting older, almost 9 and I know she gets a lot of responsibility placed on her.  I've added a new chore to her weekly list, she now dusts every week.  It is so nice to get some extra help.  Ivie is a really sweet girl and a great example to her brother and sister.  Ivie is having fun with her friends and is getting to do more and more as she gets older.  The other two are a bit jealous.

Claire is such a cutie.  Claire keeps us laughing all of the time.  She talks a million-miles a minute.  A few weeks ago, we were driving somewhere and she was talking.  Trav said, "Claire, you need to learn to breathe."  She replied in her cute, laughing, smiling way, "I know, I've been thinking about that lately."  She is always exctied and happy about everything.

Bo is crazy.  We love him and he keeps us laughing too.  He's a wild boy, but so hard to get mad at.  He looks at me with his cute smile and face and it melts my heart.  He's such a boy, and I'm glad.  He loves anything he can get his hands on and usually turns it into something to hit his sisters with or a gun.

Trav is doing well, he's busy with being the Bishop.  But, he is a great husband, I couldn't ask for a better one.  He is always worried about me and the kids.  He takes great care of us.

No pictures for this post, just a couple of random thoughts.

A lot to share

I went through a "HATE MY BLOG" phase for a while. My sidebar items were showing on the bottom and it was driving me CRAZY. I know, that sounds stupid, but it made me not want to even post anything. Well, I finally figured it out, yeah me! So, here's a LOT (probably way more than you want to know/see) of info .....

Of course, December is crazy busy. This year, the girls didn't have a Christmas dance concert, instead they just did a little concert in their studio. I actually like it better, we can see them better and I don't have to buy a $60 costume for them to wear once. The girls both did an awesome job and enoyed themselves so much.

Next came the Ward Christmas Party.  I am on the committee, so it was a lot of work.  It was a lot of fun.  Everyone loved it.  Amy Hall (a lot of you know her), is the chairman,so of course it was awesome.  We had games for the kids and adults and the highlight for the kids was sitting on Santa's lap. I was shocked that Bo didn't cry!

Now, it's off to Temple Square to see the lights.  It was cold.  But, I got a couple great pictures of the Temple.

Isn't it beautiful.  You certainly can't deny that.  Below is a cute picture of Parker and Claire. Bo was mad that he wasn't sitting with them.  He wants to do everything Parker does.

I wanted to get a picture of Great Grandma Lever. What a sweetie she is, I love her so much.  This is a cute picture of her with Ivie, Jamie, Grandpa Rex and Great Grandma Lever.

The Sunday before Christmas, my kids always get to wear their new Church Christmas outfits.  The girls' dresses are gorgeous, I wish my picture did them justice, but for some reason the kids weren't cooperating that day, but here's the best I got.

Cute picture of Dad and Bo, handsome boys!

In true Sarah form, I didn't get a ton of pictures on Christmas.  I much more enjoy watching my kids, then taking pictures.  I may regret it someday, but I'm doing better than I ever have, so here's a couple.  This is Bo with his new Tool Set.  He LOVES it and it's so cool, all the men love it and with they would have had one when they were kids.

I'll never understand why, but both Ivie and Claire wanted a Snuggie so bad, but don't they look cute sporting them?

I know you're all thinking, "okay Sarah, enough", well I'm done.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a great 2010.  I'm looking forward to another fun year, full of wonderful memories and blessing.  Thanks to all of you for your friendship.

Exciting Things...

Well, I'm really excited about a few things. First of all, Bo is pretty much potty trained. In the last 4 days, he's only had one accident (which was probably mostly my fault). Even at church yesterday and going to both grandparents, no accidents. I'm so proud of him. For some reason I was so scared to potty train him. My girls were so easy and I was scared to do a boy because everyone says how hard they are. However, he's done great. He's such a cutie. We bought him a Spiderman bike about 5 or 6 months ago, he wanted a big bike like Claire's. However, we told him he couldn't have it until he went potty. We strategically placed it in the kitchen where he could always see it as enticement. But, he would just ride Claire's instead. We brought it in the house a few days ago becuase he had been doing so well to let him ride it on the wood flooring (since it was snowing) and now he's in love with it.

Second, Trav and I booked a cruise for next April last night. I'm so excited to get away with him for a week. And neither of us have been to the locations we're going to so it will be a first for both of us.

Everything else is pretty much the same. The girls are doing good. We are all excited for Christmas and need to get busy getting ready for that!

Stop the madness

Okay, this has been a crazy few weeks. It all started about three weeks ago when I got a call from Trav in the morning telling me he had been in an accident (he's okay, just a banged up Truck that's already been fixed). Then a week after that the battery in the van died. Luckily I was on my street so it wasn't a huge deal and Trav fixed it that night. It was a crazy day for that to happen. It was, what I like to call, Dance Day. Dance Day is Thursday's because both of the girls have dance and it's a lot of driving back and forth. This particular day was Watch Day which meant I needed to stay and watch, which also meant I couldn't take the van so I borrowed my mother-in-law's car. I also needed to take Shayla (my babysitter)to the airport. This made for a crazy day, and quite frankly, I was glad when it was over. Then last week, we had our family vacation to Disneyland. We had a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much easier it's seeming to be as the kids grow a bit (lots of pics on Facebook if you want to see them). We got home from Disneyland on Friday and had to buy a water heater that very night. Then, on Saturday, we had to go buy a new fridge. Craziness. I really hope we're done and don't have any major expenses for a few months (please, I need a break). Okay, so that was a bit of a vent session. Hope you don't mind....