checking in...

it's been too long since my last post - i know, i know!!!

we're in utah right now with my in-laws. we will be home sunday evening and hopefully sometime next week i can get caught up on my blogging! so much to post!!

love to you all!Y

heaven on earth...

today was one of those days that i just want to yell to the world how wonderful life is! (well, maybe it didn't start that way - with 4 kids, sacrament meeting usually is never what i would call wonderful...)

by the end of the day, though, my heart was bursting with joy. we took a walk (with the new pup) along sakatah singing hills trail. it was a miracle: aaron and i were walking hand in hand with a cute little puppy at our heels while our four children were leading the way - kaylee pushing tanner in the stroller and emma by her side joking with her while dallin was in his element with a walking stick conquering the brush by the side of the trail. splendid! then when we got home i settled down to finish a novel i'd been reading kaylee plops down on the couch next to me to read "the magician's nephew" by c.s. lewis - i was so excited to see my little girl enjoying reading as much as i do and at the same time was somewhat saddened by how old she is getting (way to fast for my taste!).

anyway, just wanted to gush about my blissful sunday...life is good.Y

a new addition...

well, we finally took the plunge...we got a puppy! tanner is just over 2 years old which means it's time to have another kid, right??? here come the sleepless nights and lots of pee and poo!!

she's so dang cute!!

i'm sure she's wondering what kind of crazy nuthouse she's in.

emma loves smothering her to death with hugs and kisses!

needless to say, the kids wear her out.

she is a 2 month old beagle and we named her roxie (emma and kaylee had 2 very long lists of boy names and girl names before we even told them we were getting a dog.) for the last several weeks we've been taking the kids to the shelter to walk the dogs. it's been really good for not only getting the kids used to taking care of a dog, but to also scope out the different dogs the shelter has and what kind would be a good fit. after being presented with a great dane (aaron politely asked to walk another dog) and a papillon (who almost got trampled by all of us), we decided a beagle would be the best fit for us (we took care of one for a short time while we lived in NY). so we looked for a while and then aaron found this cute little dog from a backwoods minnesota farm in the middle of nowhere and knew that she had to join us! she was a little skittish and we think her tail may be broken, but she is warming up to us and is now frolicking with the kids like she is one of them. so far she is exceeding all expectations with crate training and going outside to do her business. we hope she will be happy with us!!

bring on the chaos...

my little ballet dancer...

here's some long overdue pics of kaylee in all her graceful splendor! (they're not great, but i was still messing around with my new camera at the time!) she was in ballet for a couple of years in new york and just finished her first year at the mankato ballet company. i think she is a natural (if i do say so myself...) - and i don't think i'm just biased. at the end of class she got her placement for the fall and it turns out she is skipping a level and is slotted to be in with the 10 & 11 yr. olds. as soon as i get her professional pics of her in her costume, i will post them. she was a hedgehog in the ballet company's version of alice in wonderland.

my baby is growing up! *sniff*Y

women's leadership graduation

for the last 10 months i've been a participant in the Elizabeth Kearney Women's Leadership Development Program and last week we presented our final leadership plans and then had a graduation reception. what an incredible experience this program was! i brought my camera determined to get some pictures, but was so emotionally overwhelmed and entranced that i completely forgot to take any pictures. after the fact, i did take a picture of my project to show my parents and here it is. our project was to include our strengths (assessed through the gallup/clifton's strengthsfinder), goals, and leadership plans for the future. my top 5 strengths are activator, futuristic, communication, input and relator. you can find yours by taking the strengthsfinder assessment - if you want more info click here (it's usually about $20 w/ the book, but on amazon and barnes & noble it's around $13). aaron got to take it through a teaching development thing at MSU.

so here's what i came up with for my project:

my family produces some pretty amazing artists, but i'm not going to claim i received any of those creative genes. it was very cathartic to get my feelings and ideas in paint though. it was a very clarifying and empowering class. now to put my leadership plan into action...Y

11 years and a trip to the temple...

things have been a little nuts lately (why do i feel like i always start my posts this way??) anyway, aaron and i celebrated our 11 year anniversary on friday. we usually get away to a bed and breakfast, but this year aaron was teaching, i had chem. class and emma got her tonsils out during the past week, so we decided to take a trip up to the temple to do sealings (which we've kind of made a tradition) and go out to dinner. our friends the harpers and the andersons came with us. we had a blast! i tried to take pictures at cheesecake factory, but we were in a booth surrounded by mirrors, so the flash was blinding and they didn't turn out. we sure stuffed ourselves silly though.Y

oh, come on...

sooooo, tanner has pneumonia - again. ggaaahhh!

poor guy! i took him in yesterday for his pre-op appointment (on tues. he's getting tubes in his ears) and after the dr. listened to his lungs for an unusually long time, she said that his left lung sounds awful. (thank goodness she didn't send us for x-rays - chest x-rays for babies look like some kind of futuristic plastic torture device that make me want to snatch my child and run out the door!!) so he's on antibiotics for the next 5 days and hopefully his lung will clear up enough for his surgery on tues. my kids are driving me crazy with the sicknesses - emma also has strep again and we go next month to see about getting her tonsils out (she's only had strep 5 times this winter...just like her mama used to!!) has anyone else ripped through their $1200 health expense account in 4 months??!?!

anyway, i finished my cna class today and i take my state/national exam on the 20th. should be loads of fun. chemistry starts next week and math after that. should be a pretty mellow summer (or so i'm hoping!!!)Y