March - I Can't Believe I've Caught Up!

The majority of things in my life are just barely getting done.  Laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping… totally on the back burner.  All of my energy is pretty much split between keeping 5 kids alive and building our house.  But luckily March was full of a few out of the ordinary events that helped me not just survive the month, but enjoy the month!

 

 The first (and most important) was Brans' baptism!  What a special day it was!

 

Before his big day we talked a lot about what it means to choose to be baptized. I help the kids remember what promises they are making to the Lord by summing them up as the "3 Bears".  When we choose to be baptized and officially join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are promising to 1) Bear the name of Christ (be a follower of Him, do what He would do).  2) Bear witness of Jesus Christ (be a missionary!) and 3) Bear one another's burdens (help and serve your fellow men).

 

 Now I've got two baptized babies.  They are both such good boys, with good hearts, and growing, sweet testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Besides the warm motherly pride that comes with watching your child do something that you know is right, I was also overcome with appreciation for the amazing support that my children and myself have.     Family drove in from California and Idaho and all over UT to show Brans how much they love him.  Blessed!

 

Of course this meant we had a house full of people all weekend!!  We love that!  My cousin and his darling fiancé made it down from Idaho and so we took advantage and I did their engagement shoot while they were here!  Nice having a reason to pick up my fancy camera every once in a while.  Life has been too crazy for anything more than a quick shot with the camera phone lately.

 

Right after the festivities were over I was packing up the Burb and we were off to visit friends in Arizona!  Bry and I both needed a break from the normal daily grind and all of us needed some fresh air and sun on our faces!  I know it may look crazy, but I actually really enjoy a good road trip with my fam.

 

The Christensens (our friends from residency in Oklahoma) were kind enough share their home with us for a few days.  With their 5 kiddos and our 5 kiddos, it was quite the party!

 

We tried to take advantage of warmer weather by swimming (too cold for Mom and Dad!),

 

 taking a walk around the new Gilbert temple,

 

 and played for hours and hours in their amazing backyard, playing basketball, chasing the chickens and just letting the kids burn energy with their friends!

 

 Between yummy home cooked meals, some great mexican food and cook outs with friends we sure didn't starve!

 

At night we'd crash after all the fun.

 

Eddie and Bryan talked shop and were determined to figure out how far back we are related (spent hours pouring over their family trees online…. I don't think they ever found our shared ancestor.)

 

But the Christensens weren't the only friends we got to play with while we were there.  We met up with some of our best friends from dental school too!  We love the Prices and the Rolfes. Wish I had gotten pictures of the fun we had with both their families.  We spent a day swimming, 4 wheeling and BBQing with the Rolfe's.  And loved catching up with the Prices over pizza and the park.  And then we were all able to get together for a Major League Spring Training game.  We have multiplied greatly since dental school :)

 

We had THIS much fun!  Before we knew it, the trip was over.  Again so grateful for the amazing people in our lives.

 

As soon as we got back to UT the fun continued!  My sister and her 4 kiddos came to stay at our house for a few days.  Again, gotta take advantage of some time for a photo shoot.

 

And it's another excuse for a family party!  I just love having all my sisters together!

 

And I love that all of our kids just adore their cousins!!

 

There are so many boy cousins!!

 

Tessa loved having her girl cousin around. They were so cute together.  We barely heard from these two all weekend.  It was all dress up and princess fun.  And we'd find them asleep in Tessa's princess castle tent every night.  She misses Brooke so much since they left.

 

They left on St Patricks day morning, after eating a bowl of Lucky Charms soaked in dyed green milk. I was lucky I had even accomplished dying the milk.  Usually I'm a bit more prepared for a fun day like this, but after all the fun we'd been having it wasn't until I was awoken at 3:30am (by a crying baby) that I realized it was St Patricks day.  So yes, I was downstairs dying a jug of milk green at 3:30am.  Ha!

 

Luckily I had hidden the kid's green shirts away 2 weeks before, so that I wouldn't pack them for our trip to AZ. This proved very smart since the pile of laundry in my laundry room was about 5 feet tall at this point (everything from our trip to AZ and after). They didn't have much left to wear.  Wa la!  Clean green shirts!

 

Besides some green dye and some green shirts I didn't do much for St Patty's day, but it was all we needed!

 

I even made a last minute festive dinner. I was proud of myself for coming up with this about a half hour before dinner time!  Spinach pasta, that's green butter on our bread and a rainbow fruit salad :)

 

The rest of the month wasn't quite so bustling.  We squeezed in a double date, with my sister and brother in law, to a jazz game.

 

 Started playing outside in our new spring weather!

 

The kids made picnics.

 

 Knox had his first trip to the park (well, where he got to be out of an infant seat and actually playing!)   It's so great to finally be back to going to the park again!!  Sun and nature is good for everyone's soul!

   

Tessa is deep into a Frozen stage. Frozen as in the movie. We sing all the songs in the car and she requests either Anna braids (2) or an Elsa braid (1) which I adore.

 

And we finally got around to taking Brans on his birthday dinner… only a month late. Like I said, it's been a bit crazy.

 

We made an almost daily trip to the property. Me, to check on things and make more decisions (I feel like it's a hundred a day!), and the kids to play with the sticks, rocks, dirt and an empty river.

 

Even Tessa, in her party dress loves her play time in the dirt

 

Here's a peek inside. March started with our drywall going up!

 

Now we have walls!  And currently they're working on the trim!   Now it's really starting to feel homey and not just like a cardboard box.

 

We have done a few more lessons with our kids about how important it is that our home be a Christ Centered home (our foundation lesson went so well).  One night for Family Home Evening we went over to the house and everyone wrote a scripture somewhere, on the floor, a door jam, on the stairs, etc.  All of the scriptures had to do with the kind of home we want to work on having.  Here's Ty's scripture "Cry unto Him in your home, yea over all your household, both morning, mid-day and evening"  Alma 34:21  

 

And my scripture is a quote, from a talk by one of our apostles Elder Scott.  This talk is one of my favorites ever, with so much great counsel on how to have a peaceful home.  I plan on reading it often!  Here's the link https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/for-peace-at-home?lang=enghttps://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/for-peace-at-home?lang=eng

So excited to hear from our prophet and apostles this upcoming weekend!!  Anyone can listen in at www.lds.org!

 


 And in true UT spring fashion, we ended the month with another snow storm.

 

 Apparently spring storms don't require the usual winter wear.  Diva Tessa thinks a skirt will do just fine.  Maybe the outfit is her way of telling the snow to go away and bring back 70* weather.  I'm ready for it.  Ready for all that April has in store.