applause

 kai shared the "worst" part of his school day with me.  

he gets pulled out of his regular class a few times a week and today was one of those times.  when he walked back into to his regular class, the teacher and the whole class, started clapping for him.  embarrassed, and probably a little confused, he realized his teacher had a test answer of his blown up and projected on the smart board in front of the class and she had just read it, explaining to the class what an awesome job kai did answering the question.  kai happened to walk in at the perfect time so she had everyone applaud.  he explained it as the lowlight of his day, but with a little smile he told me she had never done that to anyone ever before. 

i was curious what he wrote and when i read it, i thought it was worth applauding!
then i thought of his cute teacher!!!  this isn't the first time she has done this kind of thing to kai.  he wrote a paper about how scared he was when abe had his accident, but that he chose to be courageous.  he had to read it in front of a small group and his teacher started crying when he read it and kai teared up too.
the teacher told the group,  "look! it is so well written that it is making me cry!!!"   

who gets a teacher like that?  i am counting my blessings!!

my favorite part of his write up:  

"people can be brave by chosing the write."

kai, in his tennis class, not even minding at all that his little sister is twirling her dress behind him:)

what a stud.

 ....and since it's the last day of the month of love

i thought we could send it out with a kiss!!

goodbye february!  you were good to us!

success story

max didn't really want to go to school and was playing legos instead of getting ready. 

 i thought he was tired, but after a few minutes he called me over and quietly admitted, "mom, the reason i don't want to go to school is because we have to dress up."  

i thought he meant in a shirt and tie, but he said with a little tight mouth and small voice, "no, we have to wear a costume."  sitting in the middle of the legos, i gave him a hug and happily told him how glad i was he told me what he was feeling...feelings are important information!  i explained (again) that once we have that information we can then problem solve so he can feel more comfortable.

we came up with an olympic speed skater.

max had been roller blading in our neighborhood all week, pretending to be an olympic speed skater.  he liked the idea and when he saw these awesome glasses i had stashed away, he was good to go!  we put a medal around his neck and he was off to school with a smile, and i think, kind of excited.

i just wanted to pause life for a second and recognize this little success! 

i try to get my boys to identify their feelings.  i'm a big believer that feelings will either come out in behavior or they can be verbalized and validated-  i think this is a good skill for everyone, but especially for boys.  i don't think my boys have a need to analyze their feelings, like maybe i do, but, i think it is so important that they can identify them and express them in a healthy way. 

 so, way to go max!!

he came home from school and we sat on the couch.  he explained, with a smile on his face, that it was a carnival at school! i already knew this, because when he said he needed to dress up, i thought, what?!  where have i been? and then dug through the backpack--that i always forget to check!  he had a great day and i hope it reinforced the process that he felt nervous, we problem solved, he chose to be brave and he had a good experience...and deep in his heart, i hope he feels confident in himself and knows he is capable of doing hard things.

feeling twenty-two-oo-oo

vivian is 22 months!

it was a perfect day for a photo shoot.

and some dancing!

renewed

valentine's was my very favorite day in hawaii.  

i rolled out of bed and threw on my exercise clothes.  dave was going to spend the morning in his conference so i decided to walk him there and then go for a run.   we joked around saying maybe we should renew our vows since the hotel had advertised 'renewing your wedding vows' on the beach that morning.  we thought it would be funny and memorable.  as we got closer, i was not prepared for what i saw.  so many couples, microphones, a news crew, and a really pleasant polynesian minister.  tons of couples and almost all fit two requirements: 

1-over the age of 50 and 2- wearing matching shirt and mumu.

we took it in for a minute and then decided to skip out, but not before they gave me a lei (beautiful, but later ditched in the trash...way too itchy and difficult to run in!)  and we had someone take our picture.

as we walked along the path, dave realized i was slightly disappointed, which seemed silly, but something about the idea of it sounded memorable.  he told me he refused to let me feel disappointed and joked around that he would renew vows with me anytime.  he sat me down under these palm trees on this little rock fence next to some little white flowers, and took me by the hand to renew them right then.  i thought he was joking around, but then i realized he had a seriousness in his eyes as he promised me some things.  even though we laughed, it was real, and i once again felt the deep love i have for this awesome guy. 

we looked up, and a little surprised, realized we had a "witness".
this giant statue sitting right in front of us was one big dude.

i went on my run, and dave went to learn more about emergency medicine.  

we met up for lunch.

i ordered this amazing drink, which luckily dave remembered, as the waitress was walking away, to request no alcohol- i didn't even think about it- haha!  i don't think about those things where we hang out in utah.

it rained the rest of the day!
dave and i spent the afternoon sitting in different hot tubs in the pouring rain, talking--for fun.
we played in the rain on the beach.  everyone else must not have thought the rain was as pleasant as we did.  we had the beach all to ourselves and we had an awesome time racing in the sand, swimming and exploring.  well, we thought we were alone-  as we headed back to the hotel, a couple called us over to them.  they had been watching us and jokingly said they thought dave was a jerk for leaving me in the dust during our race and was so happy to see me attack him in the water....haha!

we drove up the coast and got out to watch some kids surf.  we were lucky enough to see three whales swimming together and blowing water.  pretty cool.

we ate dinner at a thai restaurant--dave's favorite.  they had music videos from thailand on a giant tv.  they were hilarious!  we couldn't understand what they were saying, but every single one was a super sad, dramatic, love triangle- highly entertaining!

my favorite valentine's day ever.  i feel renewed:)

fun stuff

 here are a few random pics of stuff that made me smile lately:

abe got an instagram.

he discovered someone started a "cutest couples" page for his school and look who it highlighted.  abe...and some girl he has never talked to:)  haha! 

the boys got creative one afternoon...

 i found 45 movie clips on my phone and they were pretty funny.  can't wait to see the final product.

vivian learned how to take selfies... more where these came from:)

the plant at the dentist office that vivian walked over to, studied for a minute, then took a pretty good bite out of one of the leaves...we need to stop reading 'a very hungry caterpillar'!  abe and i got a good laugh.  i wish i had a picture of her face as she spit it out.

best fan club ever...these little people are troopers.  

they have been to their share of ball games!

vivs went with me to the church to rebound for sadie.  sadie would shoot and vivian would smile  and happily jump or clap and say, "nice!" or "nice shot!" 

 went with kai to his scout klondike.

 super cold but fun.  i was happy to spend the morning with kai.

i went home and tried to get warm and kai turned around and went skiing with dave for the afternoon.

 sling shots and snow sculptures

we went to church.  

vivian refused her coat...couldn't cover up her sparkly dress! 

 i really love church.  

i know that might sound weird, but i love watching abe pass the sacrament, i love serving in the primary and the ladies i work with, i love watching vivian get excited about nursery.  it is a good boost for me spiritually each week.  sadie bore her testimony about her seminary class.  she was put in a seminary class with the special needs kids in the high school and it was neat to hear her thoughts about helping them learn the gospel and the thoughts she had lately about focusing on other people,  not just herself.   she also was put in the mia maid presidency and was set apart after church.  her priesthood blessing was so nice.  it also talked about reaching outside of herself and promised if she put Heavenly Father first then she would be blessed in all her activities.

 abe painted self portraits every day after school for about a week.  a good relaxing thing to do before basketball practice and homework.  this was my fave.

 sadie and some friends went to the byu game together.  fun for her to introduce them to her cousins and family.  after games, it's kind of like a mini family reunion.  it's great!

life is good.  this is just a glimpse.  i feel so grateful and i want to post a million more moments that make my life happy!  

enjoy your day!

back at it

dave took me to hawaii for a week.  he has been begging me for years to go and i just couldn't see how it would work out, but it did.  he took the initiative and planned it and it was wonderful!  there are so many things i want to write about and capture to remember forever.... but life is moving fast.  i got home yesterday, spent an hour with the kids and then headed to basketball camps.   it was nice to be on vacation, relax and connect with dave.  i loved it.  it is also nice to come home and be with my awesome kids and jump right back into real life with a more relaxed perspective.

vacations are a good thing.

thanks dave!  i truly love you.

"buuu-ful"

got a little too quiet around our house the other day....