This blog is actually really, really important to me. Yet I have not made the time to update it, not ever printed anything out into a book like was my plan all along, and so I’m hoping to do better. Just look ahead and try and do better, right? I have not been keeping up on my sewing blog either lately near as much as I was for a bit, and so I thought I’d have more time to do this blog, but it seems that being YW President and having four kids, all while trying to keep my house and yard up, is proving to be quite the task and I feel like I’m running around filling my life with good things, and that is wonderful, but I also miss having a little more down time to do anything extra. I don’t remember the last time I read a book. When I did Project Sewn, I was up sewing late late late because I didn’t want to have it take away from my kids. I feel like I did pretty well spending time with them and not letting the contest take up my time with them. But my house was another story ;). It was so messy and a bit chaotic so I was busy catching up on household stuff for a few weeks afterwards.
Dillon is working at least 70 hours a week. This week I saw him once Monday night for an hour and then I saw him last night at 3 am because I fell asleep on the couch and woke up when he got home. It has been insane! We are so thankful he has work though (he’s on the Ogden temple right now). I would be lying if I told you it was easy, or that having to take care of the yard and the house and the kids and do church stuff isn’t completely overwhelming a good portion of the time. It’s even harder when things break, like the mower, or the faucet, or parts of the sprinkler system, etc. BUT, life it so good. So very good. I am so happy. I am so blessed. I am really, truly happy. I was telling my roommate, that as hard as life feels sometimes, I feel so blessed because I am doing what I want to do! So many people are not where they hoped to be right now. I know I take that for granted so often because this is where I wanted to be—everything I wanted in life, I have. I get to stay home and I get to raise children and have happy marriage. Sure, life isn’t perfect and we all have our moments of feeling very ungrateful or discontent. But if I stop for a few moments and think, I realize just a little how good I have it. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about how truly blessed I am.
So here is my little update on my sweet family now :). And you bet I plan on updating so much in the coming months. I really want to catch up. I know I always say that but like I said, it’s so important to me to document my family. It helps me remember how blessed I am.
So let’s start with the hero of our family, Dillon.
This man of mine is the hardest worker around. I am amazed at how many hours he puts in and he rarely, rarely complains. And coming from a person who loves to have fun, for how little fun he gets, he handles life so amazingly well. Our family went through something a little while ago that was really hard and shocking. I won’t go into details but he had so much faith and just said, “I don’t know why it’s happening to us, but all we can do is learn what we are supposed to and do all we can.” He is such a blessing to me and to our kids. I love him so much. And you know what? Our marriage isn’t perfect , but we are trying and moving towards the same goals, and I think it’s better now than it ever has been. I’m thankful for his patience with me. And I’m super thankful that despite how busy he is, he still spends his time hanging out with the kids whenever he can. Last weekend for the fourth (the fourth was wonderful, by the way—the best one yet!), we all went canoeing up in the Uintahs. It was heavenly. So pretty and so peaceful and just what our family needed. I headed out with the girls and he took the boys backpacking for the rest of the weekend. They had so much fun. SO much fun and he was so proud of them for how much they hiked! I’ll have to post about that in another post. :) Anyways, great guy, this one.
Carson is going to be turning 11 in a couple months. I can’t believe how tall he is getting, and how old. He is still so very obsessed with legos. I love it though. He also still loves to read very much. He is growing up way too fast. It makes me sad sometimes. I feel like our relationship is getting better. So often I worry about pushing him away because he can be challenging, but I am so proud of him and his choices he is making more often. I love when he purposely does something and is proud of himself as well. I hope and pray he has confidence. Out of all my children I worry about him the most :). His church teachers are always telling me what a good kid he is. I hope he continues to make good choices and I want nothing more than for him to be happy and gain a strong testimony. We were talking late late the other night (Carson, Devon, Bailey, and I were) and we were talking about the Spirit and I was telling stories about them all and he cried with me a couple times. I love when he feels the Spirit! He’s silly and loves gross potty humor and stuff (not horrible, but still blah ;). When we went to get Bailey’s cast on, the doctor said to me as he was listening to Devon and Carson talk about “boy” stuff, “By the way, that might drive you crazy now. But if your husband was to watch a video of himself at that age he would have been the same way. And they all turn out good in the end.” I thought it was funny. Carson also loves to make people laugh. He’s a fun kid. I like this picture of him above because even though he is showing signs of being more grown-up than before, he is still a kid. He still plays silly games and still loves to just be a kid. This is him playing a policeman giving out tickets to Devon and the neighbor kids for riding their bikes too fast. I hope he acts like a kid for a while longer. Fourth grade was a little harder for him as he saw the kids he knew that go to church doing things he knows aren’t right. I think it’s confusing to him. So it will be interesting in 5th grade. It’s a little hard watching your kids lose any bit of their innocence. Oh, and he and all the other kids can probably quote the entire Lego movie (including Bailey ;).
Devon. Oh sweet boy. He’s 9 1/2 and just a great kid. I bet he would watch Ruby the entire day if I let him. Always telling her she’s the sweetest baby alive, etc. He seriously could never get tired of her. When I ask if he’ll watch her he always says, “Of course I’ll watch her! I just love her so much!” Thankfully Ruby loves him too. This boy thrives on family together time. He thrives on being with people. And he is such an optimistic kid with rarely anything negative to say about anyone (other than his siblings when they aren’t being nice ;). He still loves crafts and is getting more into reading. He has loved reading the book Little Britches with me and the other kids at night. He was telling Ruby how cute she was and how much he loved her and said, “Do you know how much I love you? Do you know how cute you are?” Then he answered his own question by saying, “Of course you do! I tell you like a million times a day!” I think he could ride his bike all day. He’s anxious to play with friends and do fun things. And he’s very much obsessed with baseball. It is pretty cute. He and Carson will get all decked out in their baseball gear and practice baseball at the field behind our house. He’s also very sensitive to the spirit and bore his testimony in church recently. So sweet, no promptings from us at all. This kid is just a good one. I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up the other day. His answer is STILL to be a dad and have lots of kids, and be the prophet. Love it.
Bailey Railey…she is so brave and so beautiful and so wildly free. I love this age so very much! I don’t know what I would do without this girl at home for so long. I am SO happy that she just missed the cut-off and had an extra year at home with me. Makes me think I might want to hold Ruby back so we have an extra year with her also sine she has a June birthday. Kindergarten is starting soon and I’m going to miss her being home! Thank heavens it is only for half a day and I am used to her being gone a while three days a week already from preschool. She is silly and she is just so beautifully her. I don’t know how else to put it. It is just a precious time when they are free from the worries they start to have when they get in school and get older. I look back and treasure those times with my boys as well. And still do with them all, because they are all changing so quickly and I know I will look back and miss the times we had, when life was so simple and there were fewer things to worry about. They are all still pretty sheltered and I just love it. :) Bailey is kind and funny and just full of joy. She also has some quite amazing poses for the camera and is always making us laugh. And she has a contagious laugh. One of my favorite things is to listen to her and Devon laugh and laugh when they get in a silly mood together. It’s so refreshing to hear. Ruby is partial to Bailey. Ruby is in love with all her siblings, which is so great because they all love her so much. But when she sees Bailey first thing in the morning, their is a difference in how she acts with her. I love watching their bond. Bailey is excited to start kindergarten and ballet this fall. She’s just a fun girl :).
Ruby is SO friendly. She LOVES people and loves to say hi to anyone and everyone. She is not afraid of anything. She crawls towards the vacuum or blow dryer and laughs, she loves large animals and loud animals, she crawls up to strangers, she is just a super duper people person, a bit like Devon is now. Dev was shy though and such a momma’s boy when he was her age, so it is strange to have a baby who just loves people. I remember Carson was all over but not for the people, more just curiosity and learning, Dev was super clingy, Bailey was super clingy and you couldn’t get her to smile at anyone, and Ruby is just out there loud, friendly, and unless she is tired she will let anyone hold her. And I love EACH if them JUST how they were and are. It’s just fun to see the different personalities. She is always crawling up to you, then lays her head on your leg or whatever and give you loves. She kisses people a lot as well. A favorite memory of mine will always be when she kept giving my Grandpa kisses over and over and over. My grandparents talk about that often :). She is a bit spicy, loud and knows what she wants. She is just barely starting to throw little tantrums (which is more comical than not because thank heavens those aren’t loud yet-it’s more just a little rolling on the floor with a funny whiny face). She is super funny and super fun. We are all head over heels for her.
One thing I also want to remember is how sweet all of their prayers are. They are getting so much more thoughtful and specific and it always melts my heart when I hear them pray like they have been. Goodness I am so blessed.
So I guess that’s all the updates for now! There is soooo much I want to catch up on and sooooo much I am missing. I don’t know why my drive to preserve every detail is so strong. I just wish I was better at fulfilling that desire!