optimism at it's best

max is the most optimistic kid i know.

at church on sunday, he was drawing a picture.  

my elbow bumped him while i was trying to contain vivian.  

he looked at me, smiled, then said, "mom, thank you for elbowing my pencil.  

that was actually helpful." 

 i must have looked at him strangely because he followed up with, "what?!  it was! it was exactly the way i needed the line i'm drawing to go."

i am admiring his example today as i am super frustrated with the major water leak in my roof....of our brand new house...which the builder says is not under warranty.  which does not surprise me at all considering our experience with them.

deep breaths.

maybe when it's all said and done, i will say thank you to them for helping me learn how to be more assertive and a better problem solver.

the thing is, i can't even worry about it today, because i have 30, yes, 30 thirteen year old boys coming over for a birthday party tonight. 

so, i'm thinking of max. 

wish me luck!

lucky thirteen

abe's thirteenth birthday took place in our car.  we drove the entire day.

abe was surprised...instead of a birthday table, we partied in the car!

 he gets super excited about peanut brittle.

 i love watching him, when he thinks something is funny.  

 we stopped in flagstaff at his restaurant of choice.  burgers and ice cream for brunch are the best.

 we also stopped at dave's favorite pizza place because he'd been craving this pizza ever since we moved from flagstaff.

 pizza party in the car about 15 minutes after we ate burgers....gross and happy all at the same time.

we tried to make birthday in the car as fun as possible and it was great to be all together.  more b-day celebrations still to come!  

happy thirteen abe!!!

(HUH!  i just noticed the green bottle of shampoo right behind sadie's head that the boys in the back must have been playing with...that just happen to be dumped out all over inside the suitcase when we got home....interesting!)

dance party

the reception was the most fun wedding reception i have ever been too. ever.

warm weather, palm trees, lights, great food....

and then the dancing began. 

lexi wanted dancing at her wedding.

traditional dances with the bride and groom...

abe loved this part:)

i think julia and abe were just waiting for their turn!

they started to cut the rug!!!  

just doing a little coffee grinder...

 

then the real dance party started.

 spotlights on

music pumped up 

EVERYONE hit the dance floor.

i had a blast dancing but even more fun watching all the cousins dance together...

abe LOVED the disco ball...true love. 

right before lexi and taylor left, lexi threw the bouquet to all the hopefuls...

sadie caught it.   

then taylor flipped the garter and abe caught that. 

i think all these basketball practices are paying off!  nice rebounding and boxing out skills. 

we sent them off to start their life together with sparklers (haha!  taylor and lexi, not abe and sadie)

wait... where's max?!  oh, in the photo booth just taking a few selfies!!

congrats taylor and lexi,  we love you!!!  

italian soda on the patio--a good thing.

the wedding festivities were all held at the wright house.  

it was a lovely little spot.  warm, green and romantic. 

we drank italian sodas on the patio while we waited for lunch to be served.  

vivian spent her time exploring the gazebos and fountains.  any little girl's dream!

i love this picture because i feel like she's letting me in on a secret.

  

and this one, because her blanket feels like the train of a wedding dress:)

the lunch was delicious.  

they had a few people speak and give counsel.  

my brother gave some amazingly simple, yet brilliant advice. 

haha, i asked for his notes!  he had two main points:

1- trust each other!

deserve the other's trust.

and

2- communicate!

make sure you communications are honest and charitable.
(profound!  really made me think about what charitable communication is and how
 i can do that better in my marriage.  good point rob!)

he elaborated on this by saying:

when you are communicating with each other, share and focus on the good and talk when stress or uncertainty comes.  

you will reap what you sow.  

plant positive words and nurture them long enough to grow. (what a good reminder!)

accept that differences in opinions occur even in the best marriages.

an eye for and eye, law of moses type communication vs turn the other cheek and forgive 70 x 7 communication.

build bridges, not walls with your communications and apply the golden rule.  do unto the other as you would have them do unto you.

  lexi looked simply elegant.  taylor was his super sharp, happy self, because that's the kind of kid he is.  

 waiting for the ring ceremony... 

vivs loved being on stage in front of everyone-

 my nephew, gavin, spoke and said that taylor was his rival as a kid, but as they grew up he watched taylor and he became his super hero.  then he told lexi all the reasons she was getting a super hero for a husband.  it was sincere and funny and i always love listening to gavin.

marriage!!  marriage is what brings us together today!-- name that movie?

really, i LOVED being all together celebrating something good and happy.  i have been thinking about the 13th article of faith lately... "if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."  i want to SEEK after these things and SOAK THEM UP!!! 

D&C 88:33-- For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.

i want to rejoice and notice the gifts i have all around me, seek the good and appreciate the happy.  then i can rejoice more in Him who is the giver of the gifts.
there is so much doom and gloom and hard in the world...my goal as of lately is to let my heart rejoice and choose the good.  i hope in the process that gratitude will bring the spirit and my kids will regularly feel it, so when they go somewhere or watch something that is not good, they will notice a difference.  i want it to be distinct enough that it makes them uncomfortable enough to leave and SEEK the good themselves.  so, there you have it:)
have a GOOD day!!!

mesa temple

we attended my nephew, taylor's, wedding ceremony in the mesa temple.  the kids waited outside and enjoyed the beautiful temple grounds and warm weather, while dave and i were inside.

i love going to weddings in the temple and listening to the counsel the couples receive 

partly because i hardly remember anything from my own...i was in la la land!!

the sealer talked so much about the importance of families, which makes sense with all the confusion about marriage and families as of lately.   he talked about how satan tries to distract us and wants us to focus on things that are not eternal, things that can't last forever. 

he also told them to kneel and pray every morning and night as a couple.  pray for each other and the kids out loud, with each other.  he told them this would help them remain close and it would help their children.

i know this is true.  

i remember in residency when dave was so busy and tired.  

it was hard.  

we went in for tithing settlement and our bishop, out of the blue, for some reason talked to us about having prayer everyday together as a couple.  we started doing that.  it has made a difference.  after the ceremony, dave showed me the screen on his phone and he had written some goals.  one was to say prayers together morning AND night.  we usually do it before he goes to work, but i'm grateful dave felt something and made a note of it.   

sometimes our kids walk in while we are praying together.  the other day, vivian squished herself right in the middle of us during the prayer and it made me so happy!!!

so...shout out to my nephew and his beautiful wife, lexi! i'm so happy we got to share their wedding with them and be in the temple with people we love.  

what an awesome feeling!

AND

  i'm also grateful no one fell in the thinking pool while we were inside!!!

pheuf!!!

alpha & omega

(***spoiler--really long and lots of pics!!)

there are so many things i want to document about our little weekend road trip...where to start?!  

so i chose the beginning AND the end for today.

we began and ended our trip in flagstaff!

first off, i love road trips!

i love being in the car with dave and our kids for an extended amount of time!

i like watching my kids work things out, like who gets the DS on what part of the drive. 

i love finishing sentences with dave about important things and also not so important things, like taking turns thinking of hobbies we someday might want to do together.

i loved on this long drive, singing songs from the movie, frozen, with sadie and abe encouraging vivian to perform.  she sang and sang and it was so fun!  she was an awesome traveler!!!

it has been exactly three years since we moved, so we were all excited to revisit flagstaff.

we arrived around 11pm.  sadie slept at a friends house while the rest of us were happy to crash at Little America hotel.  the boys wanted to all sleep in the same bed for old times sake.  i walked by and could hear them talking together.  it was wonderful.  

we played at our favorite park...

visited old schools....

max didn't remember a lot and started to get a little discouraged.  he wanted so much to remember something...he was thrilled when we drove to our old house and he remembered it!!!!  

we explored our old backyard while reminiscing about huts we built, peeing off the patio, exploding volcanoes, playing baseball and where our dear 'azul' the moth was buried.

we spent time with good friends, hung out downtown, and ate at the kids' favorite pizza place.

we ended up going to a few of our friends houses and to a soccer game.  we walked around down town, shopped and met our good friends for dinner.  it was a fun filled day!  i felt grateful as we drove away...

   the middle of the trip is a post for another day.

the last day of our road trip began in flagstaff.  i really wanted a picture of the kids in the ponderosa pines.  one thing led to another and we found ourselves on the other side of town, headed home, with the trees slowly disappearing behind us.  dave looked over at me and sensed my disappointment.  we had a long ways to go, but the next thing i knew he was driving down a long dirt road to a patch of ponderosa pines so we could get a few pictures.  

here are a few...ok way too many, but honestly, i loved this spontaneious family photo shoot!!!! 

i felt dave's love for me on that little dirt road as he drove to the trees and then helped everyone out of the car "so mom can take some pictures".   i loved the kids' willingness and watching them help each other and laugh together.  vivian was wearing the dress from the day before, that she slept in and insisted on wearing again.  i hadn't showered and had yesterday's makeup on.  nobody's hair is combed and nobody matches....but these pictures remind me that we spent the weekend laughing together, playing together and taking care of each other.  it is so real and i love it!!!  

dave let one of the kids take a few pics of us....

had to take the classic utah engagement photo...haha!

the kids started to get grossed out about here....

which led to the big dip....awkward....

love dave's face....

kids were really grossed out by now, so i tried to make it more awkward....haha!!!  who was taking these anyway?  i can't even remember which child snapped these shots!

i'm glad they know dave and i like each other:)

i wanted one with my kids, because i seriously more and more realize what a privilege it is to be their mom.  i love being a mom and a wife--it's what i enjoy.  there is so much purpose in it and it is the most amazing thing i have ever done.

started leaning.....a little too far....

these kids make me smile....

"ok mom, we're done" :)

dave told me when, "when you're old you will want a picture of when you were young and pretty..." haha!  he quickly tried to correct himself... 

vivian missed out on our flagstaff phase, so i was happy to get a few pics of this little girl in this amazing place.

max came over to be in the picture and she got so excited!  my favorite-- the loving look on both their faces!

it was abe's birthday, so of course, we needed a big thirteen year old, teenage picture.  mature boy with all these mature trees and majestic mountains!

i love the next two photos because of abe's face.  at this point, he was tolerating his picture taken....

then i think i told him to smile, so he looked excited....

i will always love Flagstaff.  i felt like Heavenly Father led us there and it was an answer to my prayers.  read a little about our experience here.  it was a place where we grew together as a family and our testimonies grew stronger.  we enjoyed living in arizona.  i will forever be grateful for the experiences that brought us to that point in our lives and for how much we learned.  i consider it a sacred place.  here is what the visitors guide says about the peaks surrounding flagstaff...there were a few times that i really did feel close to heaven in flagstaff!

Sacred Mountains. Once the fiery center of one of Arizona's most explosive volcanoes, the summits surrounding the now dormant inner core stand guard, protecting land that the native people of Arizona consider to be so sacred it is where earth meets heaven. The Navajo consider them to be the most sacred in all the West and their medicine men use the herbs collected from the mountaintop in healing ceremonies. They view the rising peaks as a holy landmark directing others to this sacred place. The Hopi believe the Kachina spirits live at the top of the mountain, gracefully moving through the clouds from summit to summit. The Kachinas are honored and revered here, in hopes that they will bless the crops below with a quiet rain that will ensure strong growth and healthy lives. The Zuni, Havasupai and Yavapai-Apache also consider these graceful remnants of the volcanic highlands to be sacred and return regularly to pray and honor the spirits that dwell there.