Dental Work

A blessing happened today in that Adam had his dental appointment moved up from the 26th to tomorrow. I am relieved to get this done, and it is happening so soon that I don’t need to worry about a substitute Adam tends to grind his teeth. He has done this so much that he got rid of a filling and sealants on his teeth. He also has grown up teeth growing behind his baby teeth. So these will get pulled out. I am hoping of course that everything is ok and that all goes well tomorrow. 

He sure is a cute little guy! 

Disney World

I am going to back track a bit with this trip. Only because it was such a big deal for our family to go and it was a once in a lifetime experience where we went as a whole family I feel it needs to be documented   We had a great time. We took this trip in June of 2022. The events getting us all packed and ready to go was stressful for this mom, but it was worth it. We had so much fun. 

Happy New Year!

As part of my many resolutions for this coming year, I decided I need to do a better job at recounting our family’s adventures. I did this a bunch when my oldest 2 were little, and am grateful I did. I am missing it. So I am starting again. I hope I can make 52 entries for this year. So we will begin again. 

Christmas Time:

Christmas Eve we went down to St. George. Met the David and Beck for bowling. Kirk came with us.  Grant beat his all time personal score. He bowled 102 and his old goal was 101. We had a great time. It’s good to wear them out a little on such a big night. We got back a little later than we wanted. Grant, Audrey and I played Banagrams till like 7:30 or so. My mom also made lemon meringue pie (my absolute favorite!) we gave Kirk some gloves that he loved! 

The kids unwrapped their pajamas and then it was off to bed with them! 

Christmas morning:

 Christmas came with excited children at 6 a.m.

Grant got a new iPad, Audrey got a new craft desk, and Adam got some new trains. The family gift was a Nintendo Dwitch which everyone played Mario Kart on pretty much the whole day. I served crepes for breakfast. So far, I think Adam is the only one who really enjoys how yummy they are. This was the tradition since I was a kid. 

Got to take a nap in the afternoon and play with my kids. It was a great Christmas. 

Brain Balance for Adam

This cute little guy is 5 years old. He loves to play outside, and play cars, trucks, trains basically anything that moves. He likes to pretend that he is a dog. He loves his mom more than anything and is often her shadow. He likes to eat cheese, rice, beans, chicken basically anything we eat. He has a shy disposition and also a funny playful side once you get to know him. Funny thing about Adam our 5-year-old is that he cannot say very much. He can muster out a few words here and there. He can tell us what he wants, and will appease us with random words every now  and then, but it is not enough. He does not know enough words to carry out a conversation. He cannot tell us what he learned in school or who he played with at recess. He cannot say what he wants to do, so we have to suggest until we are exhausted. Sooooo….. What to do? 

Brain Balance for this little kiddo. About 6 years ago our Grant had the same issues on a much worse scale. Grant would wake up screaming every morning for years. He would have terrible tantrums if things weren't just right. He would throw toys across the room and break them. He was much more loud in letting us know that things were not right for him. Back then, Brain Balance seemed like a shoo in.

Adam has been different from Grant's situation since the beginning. Adam is so much more laid back then Grant ever was. Adam has been much easier to take care of in that he sort of takes things as they come, where Grant had to have things out to entertain him at all times. I remember going to the store, and buying Grant and Audrey a balloon and just begging in my brain for Grant to be happy. Adam is more happy than sad. If he doesn't want to do an activity or is just not interested, he will back away from it. Where with Grant it was way more definite that we need to intervene and do something, it hasn't been that way with Adam. The tipping point for us to decide to take the drastic step of Brain Balance happened at a Parent Teacher Conference in February, the day after President's Day. I happened to ask the question

A lot to say about this little ones decision to become baptized a member of the gospel. She has such a testimony about Jesus and the Church, she is just too sweet. She loves to share her testimony in sacrament on Sundays, and people will always tell me how much they enjoyed her testimony.
She was baptized on February 3rd at 10 a.m. by her dad and confirmed by him as well. We had quite a few family members that came to wish her well and support her. They all came to our house later for a luncheon and a birthday celebration for her, Adam, and Uncle David. Lots of excitement, but fun for her. She got to see her favorite cousin Maddie, and the two of them just played and played.

We are forever grateful for the family that came, and missed the ones who could not come.

How did my  baby girl become big enough to be baptized? It seems like yesterday we were doing this with Grant, and that still blows my mind. I remember when they were little, and our days were play-doh, painting, reading books, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When moms, grandparents, and random people in the store tell me to "enjoy this time, it goes by fast," how right they were. It seemed at the time to just drag by, but now it seems to be slipping by. I think school has a lot to do with it! Before you know it, it's summer, and then fall and school starts again, therefore, making my kids grow up! Can't believe it!

I love her baptism dress. I picked it up from Deseret Book and it was just the right price. I had been looking online for a bit, and could not find anything I really liked (and it also had to fit Audrey's criteria of not being itchy), so I was happy when I found this.

 These sweet girls are all part of Activity Days, and they came to Audrey's baptism. So sweet. Audrey has been waiting very patiently to be able to go to Activity Days. These girls were so welcoming  and kind.

 Audrey's friend Hadley came to see her be baptized. Such sweet friends. They have known each other since preschool.

Mrs. Wells  was there playing the piano for us. She is a special lady to our family. She taught my Grant and Audrey music for a bit, and was so patient and kind to us during the whole process. 

How I love this sweet family of mine!

Soccer Family

We are officially a soccer family with Audrey starting soccer this April. She has never played before, but she loves to run, so we thought this would be a good fit for her. She is on a team with 4 other girls who have played before and are pretty good, but she is improving every time she plays. She had a block while she was acting as goalie, and it was fun to watch. We tell her to kick the ball hard, and she will say, "I don't want to hurt anyone." Still need to work on kicking. The other girls are really supportive and patient with her. It will be an interesting season. James signed on as their coach, and another mom is also a coach.

It also throws quite a wrench into our Wednesdays. We already have the paper route that we get ready for every Wednesday right after school. Audrey is in charge of rolling the papers, and I help her. Grant is the one who delivers the papers with James after James is done with work. Once we are done rolling, Audrey does her homework, and has some playtime. Scouts is at 4:00 which is wonderful and Sister Jolley is super with him. He goes there and then Audrey has dance at 4:30. On my way to get Grant at 5, I grab some dinner and pick him up at Sister Jolley's. We go home and eat, and then James picks Audrey up at dance and brings her to a meeting spot by our house. I bring Grant and we switch kids. Audrey needs to eat and change into soccer clothes, and has to be at the soccer field at 6:30. Adam and I watch Audrey play and James and Grant join us when they are done with the route. It is a pretty crazy day. And this past week went even more crazy, when we discovered that Audrey had soccer pictures and had to be at the field at 5:30. We made it at 6:00 after we called and told them, that not only are we crazy busy, be we completely forgot! All was well though, and she got her pictures taken. It was also extremely cold, and Adam was getting over strep throat. We left a little early that night. Hopefully, we will get the hang of these Wacky Wednesdays? I don't know though. We are all pretty exhausted by the end of Wednesday.

Happy 10th Birthday Grant!

Over the weekend we celebrated this guy:

He got sung to in church on Sunday. I love how joyful he looks here. His Sunday School teacher pulled a funny face and he thought that was funny. He wore this crown for the rest of the day. Then Betsy got it and took it outside. Oh well. He had fun wearing it for the time he had it!

Who it just seems like this was him yesterday:



He got a brand new bed for his room. His other one was hand-me-down from Grandma Jane and was kind of old and really hammered. We gave Adam the same bed for his birthday, and put Grant's in his room the night before so he could wake up in his new bed on his birthday.

He wanted a chocolate cars cake, and we came up with this:

I love the look of the cars on top. And Grant is loving cars right now, so this added to his collection.


For dinner, he asked for chicken enchiladas. This is the one meal I make that everyone will eat, and no one complains. James, Adam, everyone eats them and they all thank me and talk about how good they are. There is not another meal that comes close. Grant ate his and had leftovers the next day.


We went to the Lego store recently and Audrey bought herself a Lego hospital with the money she earned from the paper route. Grant was there too, and wanted something so he found the perfect thing:

And he put it together himself!

In anticipation for the Lego hospital, (Audrey was letting it be known throughout the whole house) Grant mentioned he wanted a clock tower Lego building. We looked on Amazon, and they have one that is discontinued, but you can get it for $649. Ummmm.... no. So we looked a bit more and found a tiny miniblock set of Big Ben with clock stickers he can put on. It came the day before his birthday, and James helped him put it together. At least, that is how it began.  Then James became so intrigued with it, he ended up staying up till midnight a few night later finishing it! He really enjoyed it, and Grant likes playing with it. So funny!

All in all, he had a great birthday! I loved the 10 pancakes, even though, it made me a little sad that he is now in the double digits, and my baby is not such a baby anymore. He is a big kid, who loves to be creative, is super smart, loves to cuddle close, and say sweet things at bedtime. He doesn't sing often, but when he does, my heart is happy. He loves A Childs Prayer as his favorite primary song, and loves to wear statement T-shirts that say things like "Believe Me, I'm Awesome." He has no filter when he says something, so what he says is exactly how he feels. He loves to swim, read books about dogs, loves timers and clocks, and follow the lines on his Road Atlas. He is best friends with his sister, and the two of them love to watch movies, play the wii, and play outside. He gives us lots of hugs, and we just adore him. Happy Birthday, sweet boy! How we love you!!!