The Latest

Wow...time flies! Ruth is now 4 months old! She is so full of smiles and has laughed a few times. I am loving every minute of my time with her! She is such a good baby! She sleeps through the night and takes good naps during the day. She is a Mommy's girl. She is kind of fussy when I leave her with Hailey or Dan or even my Mom. She is getting close to rolling over. I don't think she will for another month. She hates being on her tummy, but I make her, to help her get stronger. It makes her mad :)

The kids are off track. They are looking forward to next year in school. They can't wait for the pool to open. Hailey met her new teacher, Mrs. Edwards. She is nervous and excited to go to a new school next year as part of the ALPS program. She has a lot of catching up to do this summer, because she will be basically skipping 6th grade math. I'm confident she'll do great, but she is nervous.

Abby was just in her UP WITH KIDS play, The Wonderful Witches of Oz. She had so much fun and we were so impressed with the costumes, music and all the kids who performed!

Hailey is going to be starting soccer this summer. She is so excited for it!

I'm doing my best not to be too stressed out keeping up with it all. I've been especially overwhelmed lately. The kids fight like crazy! One minute they are friends with each other and then the next, they fight like cats and dogs. I know that this is normal, but I hate it! I remember fighting with my brothers constantly!

On my other blog www.happyhealthystuff.com I've been tracking my weight loss. I'm trying to lose about 30 lbs. I hope to get there by Christmas. I want it to be a slow loss, so I don't have to do anything overwhelmingly drastic. My goals are to keep exercising, try to not eat late, cut out all sugar, except special occasions. I have cut back on eating meat and this has helped a ton! Besides I've grown to LOVE beans :) I'm trying to add healthy recipes when I can.

Face painting at my Aunt Teresa's block/neighborhood party in Logan when we visited a few weeks ago for my cousins Mission Farewell.

For about a week, Ruthie was sucking on her thumb constantly. This is a cute pic of that. She stopped and now sucks on her fingers. Hopefully she won't be a long time finger/thumb sucker like ALL of my other kiddo's

One Hawt Head of Hair!

I have to put a plug in for my favorite salon....RADIANCE. I have never liked my hair until I went here. My cousin owns this salon and she is so good at what she does! She studies hair and is so up on all the latest trends and styles. She also has a great eye for what looks good on people. My girls love going to her as well. She is so worth the price you pay for great hair! If you ever decide to check into this WONDERFUL place, let Tammy know I referred you ;)

Here are some pics of my girls and I :) Fun times!

Gotta love the hair "bling". SO CUTE! I got purple...how many 30 year old Mom's of 5 have purple in their hair...yes I'm weird.

Daddy's Blessing

Ruth Leah was blessed March 21, 2010 by her Daddy. It was a beautiful Father's blessing. She was blessed to choose the right, obey her parents. She was blessed to know that her family loves her very much. Daddy blessed us to teach her and guide her. He blessed her to marry well. He blessed her to be healthy. He thanked our Heavenly Father for her.

How grateful I am for my amazing husband that he has the priesthood. I gave a lesson to my Mia Maids on this same Sunday and my lesson was on the Priesthood. What a blessing it was to have prepared for this lesson and have Ruth blessed on this same day. One particular part of the lesson said this; "The Priesthood is a power great enough to control worlds, yet gentle enough to bless a newborn baby."

Below is a picture of Ruth in her lace tights. My Mother in law bought her beautiful dress and these tights were for Dan, so he had something to hold on to, LOL!

Isn't she so pretty?! I love it!

Guilty Pleasures

I have a weakness....

I'm sure you're dying to know what it is...

Teenager Music.....GURL!

I can't help but just LOVE Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and the like. I have the radio stations plugged into my stereo in the car and on my ipod. "Party in the USA" is seriously, like totally my absolutely fav song right now. How can you not just put your hands up, nod your head, and move your hips to this song?! I can't. Like my brother Shawn says, you have to have some guilty pleasures in life, teeny bopper songs are mine. WURD.

Do you have guilty pleasures when it comes to music? Come on, tell me you love the Backstreet Boys, John Denver, Neil Diamond, or Bruce Springsteen...you know you do.

Roo

Ruth is sprouting before my eyes! This just isn't fair. I can't get the 9 months she's inside me to go fast enough and now I can't get time to slow down. What a sweet, angelic baby! She has been so much fun for all of us! In just the last week, she has offered us a few of her sweet smiles. She smiles the most when she's taking a bath. She loves baths! She opens and shuts her hands, holds her head up, and follows us with her beautiful blue eyes. She is getting used to sleeping in her bed. The last couple of nights, I'm proud to say half of the night she isn't with me, which is wonderful. I love sleeping on my flat (no baby inside, but plenty of chub left) tummy. It's heaven! I love snuggling with my man without a baby between us. It's bliss!

The girls just went back to school after being off track for three weeks and Joe is spoiled being able to hold her all the time. He is such a good big brother and takes such good care of Roo. I'm so blessed!

Our First Date

March 1st, 1997 Dan and I had our first date. He pulled up in an uber hawt Acura (his room mates) and took me out to Dos Seranos (sp?) for dinner, an organ concert on temple square. He was killing two birds with one stone...taken out a hottie and accomplishing a little music appreciation for college credit...lawl. We then drove around the avenues for an hour talking. He is so easy to talk to. We then played miniature golf with an 8 year old who decided he wanted to hang out with us that night. We had no idea who he was. It was funny. It was the best date ever! Obviously :)

To that boy in my Old Testament Class 13 years ago. I'm so glad you asked me out! I love you!

My Babies!

Just the other day, Hailey (age 11) went out with friends to her first movie WITHOUT parents! Yikes! This was just about as exciting as her first day of Kindergarten! Where has time gone? Why are they growing so fast?! Wasn't I just her age? She saw The Tooth Fairy and had a ball! She went again today with another friend. This girl of mine is just blooming before my eyes! I have to admit for about the last 6 months I thought I was going to pull my hair out, she just wants a little more independence and freedom and it's just been so hard for me to realize this! I have prayed my guts out to understand my almost teenager and have felt that I have had some answers these last few weeks. I think Ruth is literally a Godsend. It's been fun to see these kids rally around her. They love her! Hailey is WONDERFUL with her! It takes me back to when my Mom had her youngest...Shawn. I was 11. I LOVED it! I had wanted a sister, since I have all brothers, but I'm so happy my Mom had Shawn. He and are buddies and still love my buddy, even though he is now 20 and too opinionated for his own good, lol!

Abby (age 9) was caught wearing makeup every day this week. Dang it! This girl has so much personality and I love it! Abby will be 10 this year and is right behind Hailey in her pre-teen-ness, if that's a word. She wants to be a Movie Star when she grows up. This doesn't surprise me. She is in an acting class called "Up With Kids" and is doing a play in May called "The Wonderful Witches of Oz". She has the part of Evanna. She has about 11 lines in the play and is singing/dancing all of the songs. I can't wait to watch it! She loves it! She is quite the little actress. This has been so good for her. I will have to post pics and some video if Blogger will let me.

Rachel has been struggling in school with her reading/speech. She has improved a TON! She is getting so excited about reading! Rachel will be 8 this year. Again...where the flip has time gone? It's crazy! She has lost 5 teeth so far! This girl will always be a princess. She loves to dress up still and puts together all kind of fun outfits. It totally reminds me of me when I was little. I walked in the other day and she had a slip on her head (her long beautiful pretend hair, like she needs to pretend). That was totally me.I find lip marks all over the mirrors and walls, from her kissing her pretend princes. I just love little girls! They are so cute!

Joe (age 5) is going to start Kindergarten this year!!!! Ahhhh! He is soooo ready! His birthday is in September and being home with Mom all year has been mostly good for me. I have loved spending time alone with my buddy. He has started piano and has almost passed Rachel. He loves to practice. I told him her has to play the piano until he's 8 and then he can learn the guitar. He mostly wants to learn the guitar, so he's putting up with me making him do piano, although I know he loves the piano. This kid can skateboard! He is so naturally good at sports. He is his Daddy's buddy. He loves to spend time with Dan and Dan loves to spend time with him. His favorite song is I am a Child of God. I find him singing to Roo all the time. It's so cute.

Ruth is 6 weeks. Have 6 weeks really just flown by?! I was reading a wonderful book called "What the Scriptures Teach Us About Raising a Child" by Michael Wilcox. He talks about the impressions he received about his children when they were born. In asking Heavenly Father about his children he has always received an impression or answer about each one and their specific personalities, their potential weaknesses and strengths. I completely agree. I don't know about when they were just born, but within a couple of years, it's interesting to see how different each of my children are and the inspiration I receive for each one. Ruth is such a sweet little baby! This little girl has cracked a few smiles in the last week. It's fun to see her entire face change. She loves to eat! This girl eats every 2 hours, without fail. The last 2 nights she did go about 3 hours and it was nice to sleep for 3 hours straight without interruption. She hates her hands wrapped up in a blanket and prefers sleeping on her tummy or side. She hates to be on her back. She grunts like crazy. She toots like an adult and it makes us all laugh. She loves music, anytime we sing or play the piano she is calm and looks around. She loves her Grandpa Ron's voice. When she hears his voice, she perks up and starts looking around. She takes a binky and a bottle!!!!! This is huge! Hailey was the only other baby of mine that did this. Oh the freedom! She loves the hours of 9:00 p.m. to midnight. This was when she was most active when I was pregnant with her. She's still most active at this time. I munch her to death. This poor girl doesn't go 5 minutes without being kissed by Mommy. I have to. She's my last.

Life with my 5 babies is crazy! It is getting easier. I think I was so used to the freedom I had before Ruth, that it has been quite the adjustment for me with a new little baby around again. I have so many 1/2 finished projects. I don't get ready for the day until right before Dan comes home. My dinners are taco's and spaghetti and scrambled eggs with toast, not together or in that order, but those are seriously the meals I make each week. The t.v. is on constantly. I give them a piano lesson once every 2 to 3 weeks. However, they have all been giving family night lessons and Dan and I have still kept out date nights each week with the kids. They love it and I'm happy we get some time with them one on one. I've decided this year to put each of my kids on a different track in school. I hope to be able to spend one on one time with them this next year. I just can't do that when all 5 are home together at once. I hope the school will let me do this!

Life may be crazy, but I love it!