A Hero

Dear TJ,

A few weeks ago your Show and Tell was actually just a Tell.  You had to tell your class who your hero is, and you chose me. I tried to explain to you that a hero is someone who has overcome something great or been an example to you in some way. I didn't feel that what I do for you every day makes me a hero, but you kept saying that I was your hero because I check on you every night. I keep you safe.
When you said that for the third time, suddenly I understood! The world can be a big, scary, uncertain place, but you always feel safe and comfortable and loved when you are with me. You have total faith that our home is a safe place. You can fully enjoy your childhood.
You know what Buddy? I do make it one of my top priorities to keep you safe. I never let you cross a busy road alone, or play out front without supervision, or eat more candy than I know that you should. I make sure you are buckled whenever we drive somewhere, and that you get your immunizations, and that you stay by me at the store. I do check on you every night to be sure that you are covered and that your head is on your pillow, not under it.
All of these things are not unusual. I believe all moms should do them for their children, but being a hero doesn't mean you are different from anyone else. It means that you make a difference to someone, and what I do to keep you safe is everything to you.
After my quick epiphany I concurred that you had chosen a good hero and we wrote out what you would say at Show and Tell. You added as another reason I'm your hero is that I keep plan fun things that make you happy. I do love to plan outings big and small for you guys. I love seeing you explore and learn and love this beautiful world. There is so much out there to see and experience and sharing it with you makes both of us happy! As I finished writing up the little assignment I thought to myself, "I would choose someone who made me feel safe and happy as my hero too."
We placed the paper on the mantle so that we wouldn't forget it in 3 days. When Friday came guess what happened? We forgot to put the paper in your bag and you were not allowed to share who your hero is! You were disappointed and I'm sorry for that. I'm very glad that we still took the time to fill out your paper though because what I learned that night made me appreciate being a mother even more.
Sadly not every mom out there is a hero and it breaks my heart each time I read one of those stories in the news.  That is not the way Heavenly Father intended it to be. He wants each Mom to be a hero to her kids.  He trusted his beloved spirits to come to earth as vulnerable babies and children because he knew a mother's love would keep them safe as they grew. Each mother's individual love means everything to her child. What an amazing privilege it is for me to be a hero to 4 little people. I believe it's the most important thing I will do in this life. Thanks for helping me see this TJ.
I sure love you,
Mom

Phone Favorites - October 2016

Last soccer game, the storm held off just long enough

Date hike with Dad

Children's Museum with friends!

Balloon from Smith's attached to the bat ear

Enjoying Lagoon

Date with Mom for Mango Italian Ice

My favorite picture from Fall Break. Baby at the FHDC

I love when TJ draws pics. It says "Boo. I am scere (scary) Mostr (monster) Ror Boo!!"

I couldn't believe it when Baby willingly ate broccoli!

Watching the garbage man

I had a date with Gramma to see Thriller, a dance show. Loved it!

We found a rainbow collection of leaves from our front yard

Baby's first date!! McD icecream.

Sorting and bartering after Dad's work's trick or treating

Last day at Lagoon and the boys met the witches

You guys had Halloween off from school! We went to the park for a little bit to enjoy the weather.

And that's all folks!

Alice, Pirate Hammer, Kylo Ren, and a Garden Gnome

Hey kids,

You guys dressed up a bunch of different times this year!
First we had the trunk or treat:

Then we had school:

Then we had trick or treating at Dad's work:

And lastly trick or treating on the real Halloween day:

We carved pumpkins the day before Halloween. That's always a fun activity huh? You guys designed the faces you wanted and Dad cut them out. I helped scrape a little, especially Baby's since he was totally grossed out by the whole process:

One of our favorite traditions is to sing Halloween songs with the pumpkins lit at night. We sing "Ooh ooh ooh ooh, this is Halloween." and our very own "Freddy the Big Mouth Pumpkin." Baby you LOVED this experience and I keep hearing you singing the first song around the house.
Some of you changed up your costumes and some stayed the same. You all looked super cute every time and got so excited each time it was dress up time.
Lulu, you couldn't wait to wear the new dress Gramma got you. You kind of look like Alice in Wonderland, so the dress was the perfect costume. You wore it for weeks around the house, but I didn't want you to wear it to school and ruin it before the real holiday! Here you are in our little annual Halloween photo-shoot, looking just like a Disney character:

Hammer, your costume stayed the same but the accessories changed depending on where we were going. You made a really great pirate!:

TJ, you were stoked for months about being Kylo Ren since you have the cool mask that distorts your voice. You aren't allowed to wear masks to school and went as Darth Vader sometimes since you were technically wearing his suit. I love watching you really get into character:

Baby, I didn't decide to make you a gnome hat until 2 days before Halloween. Every time I get you out of the tub and put your bath towel hoodie on, you remind me of the cutest garden gnome. Before my Halloween creation you just picked out things from the basement to wear. You look cute no matter what you wear, but the gnome is awesome. Thanks for humoring me and wearing it the whole time you were trick or treating. Look how cute you were:

Lastly, each year I make Pluto wear some kind of costume for a picture. This year he got the gnome hat too:

Love you my candy crazies,
Mom

Fall Break 2016

Hi my buddies,

Often we take advantage of Fall Break and travel somewhere as a family. We debated doing a trip but decided on a stay-cation instead.  That's where we do activities just like we would on a trip, but stay close to home and sleep at home.
Thursday we met our friends downtown. We started at the Church history museum. We were bummed that the children's area was closed, but still had a good time there.

Next we wandered temple square and the visitor center.

After that we checked out the Family History Discovery Center. We had never been there before and everyone loved it. It's pretty neat to see where your ancestors are from and to dress up like them on the screen.

We ended the fun with dinner at McDonalds. We love our friends the Presnells and wish that they lived closer so that we could see them more often!

Friday we drove up to Grammie's house so we could all drive in her new car out to Promontory Point. We had a tour of the winter storage area where we saw the trains up close.

The 3 big kids filled out forms to become junior rangers,

and we of course walked the rails and saw the historic golden spike place.

From there we drove up to Logan where Grammie treated us to lunch at one of her favorite restaurants.

Then we went back to Grammie's for a movie and a little cousin time. Grammie's neighbor has kitties that always come over to say hello, so you guys got kitty time in too.

I got a little stressed during this stay-cation, not gonna lie. There was an awful lot of whining going on, not during the driving luckily, but when it was time to be patient at the museum and at the restaurant. It was also hard to get you boys to act reverent and stay close to me at temple square, but it was worth the efforts to see our friends and to do something fun. I still had a great weekend.
Love you all,
Mom