Friday Letters

Dear Children, we spent most of our week in Mesa going to appointments. New glasses for one and shiny teeth for others and some not so shiny ha. I've gotten so used to sharing a room with you in the past two years that sometimes it is comforting to all be sleeping in the same room together when we come to Mesa. Minus getting kicked by Hazel. Dear Sis's, I love getting to just hang out with you. I miss that. Come visit me! Dear Ranell, I must love you lots to come and eat food in the hospital at 10:30pm for your lunch break with you. It was nice. Jimmy Johns is yummy. And I got to see an angry nurse beating on a vending machine, full on breakdown going on there. Dear Traffic, is it possible that every street in Mesa is under construction? I think it is. Dear Bahama Bucks, you are so yummy. The kids picked weird flavors and I picked cream soda. So naturally they ate most of mine. We actually decided to stop there because we had been stuck in traffic for so long! Dear Nieces/Nephews, I love it when you all get along and play so nice together. You know we will be leaving soon so you pack in as much play as possible. Dear Mom and Dad, I love hearing stories about your life. This time it was about when Mom was 8 months prego and driving the truck behind the tractor to cut the corn on the farm and the truck stalled. By the time Dad had stopped the tractor it was lined up just right with the open truck window and the whole cab of the truck and Mom got buried in corn. Haha. The thought of it made me laugh. I wish you would write these things down. Dear D&B, I miss hanging out with you guys! I am going to crash your house when I come into town again. Beware! Dear Dentist, you are pretty cool. Going out of your way to try and help me gets my kids dental work done before losing insurance is pretty awesome of you. Lets just hope it all works out. Dear Will, I don't like being away from you. I wish you could come with me when I leave town. What happened to the days when you used to follow me everywhere. Dear Self, I think I could sleep forever. I am always so tired. And I am very tired of driving.
smile.

Love This

I think it is still cute to come home and find this in my bed.

Only because no one touched my pillow, it was safely hidden on the bottom.

You know you do it too

My Hazelnut

I caught her doing this in the rear view mirror. Smile.

Friday Letters

Hailey and Becca made Will a giant chocolate chip m&m cookie for Fathers Day.

Dear Children, this week has been a lot of hanging around the house and a couple trips to the pool. I've been waiting for you to clean up your mess so we can do something fun. I may be waiting forever. Dear Fathers Day, I did not feel good. I could have stayed in bed all day. Luckily all of the kids were on top of things and brought Will breakfast in bed and gave him gifts. It was funny seeing the ties they made in primary and the answers to the questions asked. How tall is your dad? Liam said "as big as a door" haha. I am so lucky to have been raised with the Father I had. I hope that my kids can also have that blessing. When asked how old ? Hazel said Ric is 51. Haha. Dear Liam, yesterday you hopped on your bike and started riding like a crazy man. We rode all over. Yay! Dear Laundry, I truly believe there can not be five minutes in the day that you are DONE. I am not joking. Not even a little. Dear House, I want it clean, uncluttered, organized, and surrounded by things that make it feel homey. I try to not let it eat away at me, but it does. A lot. It's important, but not the most important. Sometimes that is hard to put aside. Dear Body, I just want you to do what I say! And why are you not listening. A low white blood cell count is all that comes up so...get it together. Dear Track, I feel lucky to live one street away from a track. A dirt track. I love the sound of the dirt crunching under my feet. With a play ground right next to it. Perfect set up. Dear Dreams, I find it strange that some people don't dream. That would be nice sometimes. I dream even when I've slept for five minutes. I hate bad dreams, they are so silly when you are awake, but so terrifying and real in the dream. I must say you can't replace a dream where you are flying. Unless you are trying to get away from something scary. All of my kids dream. Dear Reading, the other day my mind was feeling so overwhelmed with too many things so after getting the kids in bed I actually opened a novel and sat next to my Mr. and read. It was nice. I can't remember the last time I got to just lay in bed and read. Well, read something that wasn't related to health and behavior. Dear Will, I wish I wasn't going to be out of town on your days off. I wish we got to spend more time together. I'll take what I can get though because I love being with you. Dear Self, do the things that matter and let go of the rest. I am not going to catch up any time soon. I don't want to spend the time I have the kids home feeling frustrated and behind with EVERYTHING. Make a good moment everyday. I wouldn't trade tucking my kids into bed at night for anything.

My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad...

I believe I will always look at my Dad this way.

So lucky to be his daughter.

Me and My Dad

I Love You more than words can say Dad!

Friday Letters

these boys look like trouble when they are together

Dear Children,you are having so much fun with your cousins you asked me to leave you here for a week. Dear Luke, I'm so happy we got to be here for your baptism. I said you are as fresh as a new born baby! Dear Family, I have been enjoying my time with you. I can't decide what day to leave. Dear Dad, I could not have been more blessed than to have you as a father. As a kid I remember being so proud that you were MY Dad. I still feel that way. I love you! Dear Home, will you ever feel like mine? I look around and I see bins of our stuff but nothing  really of our home. I'm not sure if I should change things or not. Weird. Dear Pool, it can actually be fun when your kids are a little older. And it helped to have an extra set of eyes from my Mr. who let my play with B's baby half the time. Ha I just realized it's nice to not be panicking but I went straight for the babies who can't swim anyway. Dear Headache, !!!! Seriously!!! Enough Already! Dear New Toilet, Yeah you heard me! I said new toilet. One that isn't leaking all over the bathroom. You are so awesome. And I can't wait for the kids bathroom to have a new toilet that actually flushes and doesn't overflow every week. #nightmare #gross. I totally made that up haha I don't know how to tag/tweet/instagram? I don't even know what those really mean. I'm awesome by the way. Dear Summer, I still love you. All my little chicks at home where they should be. Dear Kade, you had so much fun at Scout day camp. Grandpa Clark called to tell me that you got the highest score in your age group and the second highest of the day for the shooting accuracy with a bb gun. I liked that he called to tell me that. That's good cause you told me that when you did archery, your first time, you shot the wall. haha. Dear Big O Tires, sitting in the waiting area with a 9 yr old boy for hours watching sports center was only fun for about...2min. tops. The new tires though are worth it. #nomoreflats. Haha...ok enough of that. Dear Will, I miss your Face! I'm meant to be by your side I believe. I'm pretty sure I miss you more than you miss the five of us. Here's a conversation I overheard some of the kids having "so is Will nice".."yeah he is so nice he never yells".."what! really?".."yeah imagine a dad that never yells at you".."oh man that would be so nice that would be like paradise". Thank You for helping me raise my children. It is not for the faint of heart. You are a wonderful father. Dear Self, some days are really hard. But I am grateful every day for all that I am blessed with. Which makes me feel guilty for having such hard days sometimes.

SunSplash 2013

                                                               
                                                                   Birthday Girl

My Posse

They like each other still

Oh the Lazy River...

The perfect picture to depict the day

I love this one

I love the excitement in their faces.

I remember those innocent summer days...

When the sun goes down

We break out the hula hoop contest.

Source: Uploaded by user via Camille on Pinterest

Friday Letters

                                                      The birthday girl and the big 12 !

Dear Children, Summer has begun and I think I'm going to like it. Dear Becca, Even though your Dad will only let you turn 11 + 1 I will let you turn 12! You are such an amazing girl and I am so happy you are a part of our family. I hope you had an awesome birthday! Dear Flat tire #2, getting a flat tire 2 hours after getting the first one fixed and the other three checked is not cool. The kids on the other hand had a fun time roaming the desert collecting beer bottles. Dear Hula Hoop, who knew that Avary got her skills from her Mamma? I knew but I had to prove it to the rest of them. Ha. Dear SunSplash, we had so much fun. The kids never got tired, I had to make them leave. They were happy the whole day. My only complaint? Now I'm broke. Dear Family, it was fun to spend some time with you. I love how you completely embrace my new family and love them. It makes me happy. Dear Dad, I love hearing you tell stories about all the crazy things you did. I mean, who else can say that their Dad has roped an eagle? Dear Hailey, you spent 3 days away at girls camp. We missed you. I am glad you had so much fun. Repelling and canoeing?..I never got to do that at girls camp! All we did was go on hikes. Dear Kade, you made me smile when you came into our room early one morning after eating breakfast leaned over to Will and whispered "Will I just finished my waffles they were perfect, toasted golden and just a little burned, it was awesome" gave a sigh of satisfaction then you walked out. Dear Unpacking, after realizing that my stuff just isn't going to fit here the garbage has been overflowing all week. Will I ever be done with it? Dear Blowup Pool, you were the best investment ever. All of the kids can spend hours out there. Water, trampoline and mud. A kids dream right. Dear Roaches, I do believe you are from hell. There have been five big roaches in the last week and a half INSIDE the house. I swear they follow me. I have had nightmares almost every night filled with roaches. I wake up feeling exhausted and traumatized. Dear Lukey, I can't believe you are turning 8! I am excited to come and see you baptized. Dear Will, thank you for taking us up to the mountain for the afternoon. It is so peaceful and a nice break. Dear Self, this week has felt long. It's annoying how many times you have to conquer the same fears when something brings them up. And I hate having to battle what I want to do and what my body lets me do. Although I am extremely grateful for the ability I have, I always want to be able to do more. I think tomorrow I will just take a break. Or try to ha.

Friday Letters

                             

                                        How many kids does it take to dunk a Will.....

Dear Children, summer has begun. We have survived so far. But your rooms are still messy. This is going to have to change. Mentioning the word change I'm sure made you want to run and change your clothes for the 100th time today just so you can keep me buried in the laundry with no hope of ever getting out. Dear Date Night, I love spending time with my husband. I doubt many people get to watch a movie over looking the city/town lights at night. Dates are good and needed around here. Dear Did you know, that if you drive down a road through the desert at night you will count 13 mice on the road? Eww. Dear Swimming, the water was freezing! I did get in though it was a small miracle. Afterwards getting a treat at Taylor Freeze we got to stand out front, in the sun where it was warm, right on the highway in my bathing suit. Just what I've always wanted to do. Ha. Swimming wears kids out. We will be doing a lot of it. Dear SunSplash, we are going to be brave and take 7 kids to have a blast today for Becca's birthday. Lets hope we have enough sunscreen. Dear Flat Tire, you ruined my plans for the day. Boo. Dear Will, one thing I love about you and something that I could just never live without is how much you make me laugh. Moments I can always look back on and they still make me laugh. I love you! Dear Self, I don't think I can remember what it felt like to not have a headache and my shoulders and neck all messed up.