happy moments

forty

dave turned the big 4-0

(that's a lot of candles!!)

abe leading everyone in his own rendition of 'happy birthday'...

we had his family for dinner the night before, and of course, cake....even though dave doesn't like cake.   it was a happy way to celebrate.

we woke up on his birthday to a little birthday table.  

vivian picked out a "captain hook" for him because every awesome dad needs one.

it had been such a busy month, that i asked dave's mom to come stay with the kids for 24 hours.  she happily did it.  we went to a movie, and dinner, and stayed in park city.  it was great to spend the day together.

i can't believe i've known dave since he was fourteen.  crazy.

junior prom

one of the highlights of the school year for sadie was junior prom. 

here is an overload of pictures to help her remember her magical day.

i really loved helping sadie prepare for this day!  i searched for the perfect dress and she LOVED it.  she really wanted something modest, simple, elegant and beautiful.   it was such a fun day for her.   

i think it totally lived up to her hopes of the day.

(my favorite part of her dress was how her skirt flowed when she walked...dreamy)

vivian also was looking forward to this day!  

she wore her finest gown and couldn't wait to go to the ball!

 sadie's date, her good friend carson, was a perfect gentleman and really wanted it to be a great night.

when they left, vivian made kai stand next to her and wanted her picture taken too.

kai was the perfect prince charming and did it out of pure love for his sister....

until.... 

(look at that little sneaky look on viv's face!)

 she leaned over to give him a big smackaroo on the cheek!

haha!!  when she tried to kiss him, kai was out!  

she was relentless.  she kept trying and kai was laughing pretty hard.

a big tradition at our high school is the promenade.  it's been happening for fifty years and sadie has watched it every year since we moved here.  

the juniors go for weeks before school, and learn a choreographed dance.  the evening of prom, the community comes to the high school gym and watches as each couple is introduced then do their dance.  sadie was sooooooo excited about the promenade!!

after, they turn the lights down and have the dads and moms dance with their students.

i think dave was secretly dying, realizing that his little sadie is all grown up and lovely.

some family came to watch and it made the night even more meaningful for her.

 (sadie with her cousin lily)

my two princesses in their gowns.

cute that abe wanted in the action.

 vivian's excitement being at "the ball" was darling.

look at her face!

sadie and some of her friends.

 i happily took this picture of sadie and her dear friend amber, and was even happier when they were hugging so tight that they both slipped on the their high heels and completely tumbled to the ground.

perfect happy ending!

(besides the very end, when dave accidentally caught her date kissing her on our porch....haha!  

that was embarrassingly even better;)

all in a row

(sunday morning line-up.)

yesterday i was feeding the kids before church and i wanted to take a snap shot of time and make it stop for a minute.  

these kids keep growing up. 

so here is a little glimpse of these cute kids on our sunday...

abe- got ready and left for a meeting.  he looked sharp in his new suit and i love watching him pass the sacrament.  he made faces at a baby sitting behind us in church.  even though i told him to stop because everyone except the baby noticed, it made my heart happy to see him interact with her.   dave said that they had the general young men's president in priesthood.  abe was assigned to lead the music.  i have had people tell me about his leading before.  he gets really into it.  abe told me he started to lead and then caught dave's eye, and dave gave abe the sign to keep it calm:)  abe said he did, but at the end just had to end with throwing both hands into the air, kind of grand finale-ish.  just picturing it made me laugh!   he also told me, as we were driving home, that he noticed the general young men's president had a light about him.  looking  in his eyes,  abe could tell he was a good, happy person.  i'm grateful that my fourteen year old noticed this man's countenance and that it had an effect on him.

kai- woke up exhausted from the late family party the night before.  he got ready so responsibly.  he does every week.  i can always count on kai to quietly go about doing what he should be doing.  he is always watching out for vivian too.  buckling her in her seat, helping her with shoes.  i can hear his cute voice in my mind, saying, "vivi...vivi...."  and i know he is helping her with something.  he sits on the back row in primary.  today i watched him and noticed how old he is getting.  he looks more grown up lately.  his warts on his knee were itching at church.  he doesn't complain.  his teacher at school said, "what is there not to like about kai.  i wish they were all kai's!"

max- woke up early and headed for the tv.  he has figured out that he can get a few episodes of pokemon in before i notice or get ready for the day and lately, he is taking full advantage of it.  he got himself completely ready for church yesterday and even likes to comb his hair just right.  yesterday was the first day i felt like i have "big kids".  they got ready and i didn't do much.  i have always had a baby or little kids that need lots of help on sunday mornings.  it was so calm.  max fell asleep on dave's lap during sacrament meeting, but woke up for primary.  today in primary we talked about following Christ.  a lot of his miracles were shared.  i told the primary that they probably wouldn't heal anyone this week or raise anyone from the dead.  then, i told them about the picture i have hanging in our mudroom of max tying vivian's shoe.  it says "leave it better than you found it" and asked if they could leave someone better than they found them.  i really love the little, humble smile that max gets when people say something good about him.  it is my favorite. 

vivian- is truly a delight.  at dinner, sadie asked if we could imagine what our family would be like without vivian.  everyone thought that was a sad thought but laughed that it would be so calm:)  

vivian talks and sings and dances and tells stories.  she is very imaginative and expressive.  she loves nursery!  actually, she loves any interaction with other kids.  she will make friends wherever we go.  lately, i will tell her to go get dressed or get your shoes and it's strange because she does, all big kid-like.  yesterday, she picked these blue shoes with a huge heart on the toe for church.  she was so proud to show me that she got them on, that i said they were perfect and we left.  we have been talking a lot about choosing good choices and she will tell me that she is making good choices.  usually, she will run up to me after she has been somewhere and with a huge smile, she will say, "i didn't hit mom!" my favorite though, was when i picked her up from a cute little princess camp run by some tween girls in the neighborhood.  "i didn't hit at princess camp!"

sadie- she wasn't around yesterday morning because she had four missionary farewells to attend.  a lot of her friends are leaving for missions and it's hitting her that they are leaving.  it was a good and sad day for her.  she sat with her friends during our sacramament meeting because so many of them came to hear their good friend speak.  i watched her and once again, was so grateful for her desire to be happy and good.  also, so glad that we moved here.  it has been a good place for sadie.  i loved seeing her sitting there with really good friends.  good kids.  what a blessing!

anyway, that's a little snapshot of our sunday line-up.  love them so much!!

vivi at two

vivian is acting so grown up these days.

she is in the 90% for height and she is very verbal, so i forget that she is only two.

she says that she is a princess about 100 times a day and truly believes it.

she sings and dances, plays and "reads" books.

the highlight of her day is when someone will play with her.  

i love to hear her cute little voice.

(editor note:  this was a draft from a long time ago. fun to see how much she has grown since then.)

back at it

i haven't blogged forever.  

i miss it.  

i miss recording the good things in my life, highlighting the milestones and struggles, watching my kids grow, but most of all noticing God's hand in my life. 

that's what blogging does for me. 

 i have been pushing it to the back of my to do list, which is a REALLY long list these

 days, because it takes time.  

but the most important things do take time.  

my kids keep asking me why i haven't updated the blog.  i was a little surprised they noticed.  today in sacrament meeting there was a great talk about recording the important things in our lives and most importantly our spiritual promptings.  it hit me that now is the time to push blogging to a higher point on my priority list.  i want my kids to know that family life is what brings me joy.  a lot of times i get asked what i enjoy.  what are my hobbies.  i realize my favorite thing is being a mom.  does that mean it's always easy?  not at all.  i have felt more overwhelmed lately than in a really long time.  but my family is where it's at.   i started this blog entitling it, "and they lived..." because i love the pattern in the scriptures of the people that looked to God...and they lived.  they were blessed and helped, and i also have felt that.  i want my family to know about it.

so here we go. 

i am behind...haha!!!  with most everything... but that's ok.  my mom says, "begun is half done."

dave bought me a new computer.  encouragement to keep going.

today, i have felt really grateful for him.  we make a good team.  we both work hard and i'm glad about that.  

he is a giver, not a taker.

i admire that.

thanks dave! 

I love you and want to record the things we have created together with Heaven's help.

(the other day, i really wanted a picture in front of the temple...haha!  we are not good at selfies and kept getting part of our heads or a tiny bit of the oquirrh mountain temple that was right next to us.  we finally decided it would be easier to get us and the jordan river temple.    haha!  can you find it's tiny white steeple?  really, where is a selfie stick when you need one?!)

let's boogie

abe turned 

FOURTEEN!!

 we had birthday party/table before school since he had 

basketball practice and a soccer game after school.  

we decided to go with a "lets boogie" theme because turning fourteen means...

you can go to stake dances!! 

i'm not sure how ecstatic he is to go to dances, but he did laugh at the dancing dude on his cake and thought the disco ball he received was a pretty awesome gift.

(my parents booked a trip to california with abe and his cousin this weekend.  they gave him some spending money for the trip.  he really was soooo excited to go to california!)

we met up at the end of the day for birthday dinner.  abe chose to go to SIZZLER!  what?!  his choice was a little unexpected, but then i realized he was trying to find a place where he could get king crab legs-- his kind of birthday treat!

i really am grateful to have abe in our family.  it's fun to watch him get all teenager-ish.  i had a neighbor tell me the other day that he is going to do something important.  she said she just feels it when she is around him.  he has a way of being himself and confident about it.  she told her son to "just do what abe does and you will be fine."  i thought that was a pretty big compliment.

happy birthday to abe-y baby big boy!