6 years

6 years ago I was baptized and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

It's such a special day to me. That each year I do something special to celebrate. One of my newly made traditions is to attend the temple on my anniversary. So to ensure we keep this tradition alive Mike and I went Saturday (a day early) to the Bountiful Temple. 

 

 I absolutely love going to the temple with Mike. Afterwards we headed to Temple Square. (Mostly since Mike left his lunch box at work but it was a great motivation for us)

 We smelled the tulips, took a tour of roof top garden, threw coins into fountains (which by the way all the coins get donated to Primary Children's Medical Center), watched as people from all walks of the earth took pictures in front of this amazing temple. It truly is a beacon of hope for all to see.

 

  But to really make this day absolutely special we, as a family, headed back to my first ward. Back to where I was baptized.

 This was an amazing trip down memory lane.

My family met up with my friend, Diana, who was my first visiting teacher. She's such a wonderful woman that I'm very blessed to have her as my friend.

So while we chatted about her amazing lesson from Relief Society our kiddos played at the park. It didn't take long for them to reconnect and become best friends all over again.

Afterwards my family and I went to visit my parents where we filled up on some great food. And where my kids ran more of their energy out. Next a visit to Mike's cousin, Brian. We really do try to make as many visits to people when ever we take the trip to the valley.

So after this visit we headed home since we were all so exhausted and half asleep.

But today... Today is a day I can't really put into words. I am so happy. Like
happy x a million= Me :-)

Over these 6 years I have grown to know

That I am a daughter of God.

He knows me so well that he's there for me even when I want to be alone.

That I have a testimony about the Book of Mormon- this is a book from God.

Joseph Smith was a prophet. President Monson is the living prophet.

Tithing is a blessing all on it's own.

My prays do get answered every single time.

Children are my calling.

Promptings are to be listened to and not ignored.

It's more important to be trusted than loved.

It's not meant to be easy only worth it.

God's plan for me is WAY better than my plan.

Jesus Christ is my savior.

I am Angie and I am a Mormon. :-)

10 seconds

10 second go by so fast. 

Literally 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10

That's it and whatever you did during that time is now in the past.

There's moments pass by too fast for me. I'm finding myself that I'm forgetting too many things. So I'm relying on the magic of photography to capture some of those moments for me.

 Lily just woke up from her Saturday nap. In our house post nap is the best cuddle time. Their still sleepy and want body warmth. Today Lily went right to Mike and just laid on him. I could tell by the smile in his eye that this melted his heart. She's forever a daddy's girl.

While driving in Mike's car I seen Ducati in the rear view mirror and absolutely fell in love her in this moment. She's wearing Mike's sunglasses which are way too big for her. With wind in her hair and her little fingers out the window. She's singing along to some hip hop song with her sweet voice. My baby girl looked so grown up. This moment existed for 10 seconds but left a lasting impression on my heart. ♥

Mason's Milestone

Mason is 11. That awkward stage where I've seen some kids start to feel unsure of themselves. Are they a young man/woman? Not quite a teenager but not really a kid. So Mike and I are starting that journey to help guide, teach, encourage, and direct Mason into manhood. We know he's going to mess up. C'mon he's 11! But at least he knows where his new expectation are at so he knows where he's reaching for. 

(this all came to us after conference... I still see him as a my baby boy sometimes)

So last week Mason got a job. He's now a newspaper delivery boy. 

Since the paper is a local neighborhood paper the wage pay is low. However the lesson of hard work, responsibility, and determination are way more valuable. 

Plus Mason loves it. Getting a job has always been something he's seen for men to do. Now having a job has shown him that he's no little boy anymore. :-)

And this milestone has really helped him find the courage to take on new things. 

Like learning to ride a bike. This has been something he's struggled with for a years now. Alot of people with autism find difficulty in learning to ride a bicycle. Something to do with 

brain + balancing = adaptive bicycles or no biking at all

But like I said Mason is a man now. So he kicked his fear out the door and Mike taught him in a manner of minutes how to ride a 2 wheeler. Now to go bike shopping :-)

Next was Mason's camping trip with the boys scouts. Mike had planned to go along to help...with whatever Mason might need. But a couple of days before the big trip Mason told me that he wants to go alone. ( My mom anxiety kicked in...he's my baby)  But I can't be a helicopter parent so he went it alone. I might have overdone it with the bug spray alittle; having him pack 2 bottles...just in case. Mason just smiled at me and said " I love you mom." 

While he was away on his trip every phone call I thought it was my baby boy calling. But it wasn't. And I was happy for him. He's taking control of his life which means I need to let go....alot! This by far has been the hardest thing I've had to do as a mom.

Even though Mason's growing into his own young man he's still my silly boy .
After all he's my kid :-)

To help keep my kids cups full I really love checking them out of school for a lunch date. Something about leaving school for lunch makes our time so much more... COOLER!

And it gives me a chance to talk with them 1-on-1. Something that can be hard since Mike is hardly ever being home and that leaves me with our 4 kiddos. These moments give me and them a chance to reconnect. I've learned alot during these quiet moments.

Well as quiet as it can be with these 2 still tagging along where I go:-)

I just want to record this moment. Mason is an amazing young man.  I am so proud of him. He's always smiling even though he has some temporal difficulties. But we've come to recognize that his autism is actually a blessing since he's not easily swayed. Once he knows something to be true he holds onto that truth forever. He's growing closer to his Heavenly Father. And it's amazing to witness these changed in him. I see his testimony growing. He's preparing and saving for his mission. He's preparing himself to be temple worthy.  I am very blessed that he's in my life. I love him so much. OK- enough with the mushy stuff- I'll just say it- Mason's awesome!

April Showers

April showers bring.... SPLASHES! 

 This is Ducati's first pair of wellies. So she's still learning that it's OK to splash ONLY in these shoes. So for now she'll get a running start then stop right on the edge of the puddle then put 1 foot in and then run away. Adorable to watch :-)

 Lily on the other hand is a very experienced splasher so she's full body in with water drops reaching a couple feet way from her.

I'm just happy they find the joy in all this rain :-)

Learning with Dad

Not all Saturdays are filled with playing. Most of the time I'll have a project or two that I'll need Mike's handy brain for. So Mike took this time to show our girls proper saw etiquette. :-)

Seriously. Every single one of our kids knows the jiff on how to work a saw, hammer, drill, and the difference from a screw driver and Phillips ( I still need help with this one from time to time)

Today they are making me a frame from our family chalk board calendar. Ducati is loving this!

Here's Lily showing me the piece of wood that she cut with the saw. She's so proud of herself for learning how to use a power tool. I'm proud of her for learning another life skill.

Gardens

Most mornings I'll find my 2 girls outside caring for their garden. Not a day goes by that they won't be weeding, watering, and removing debris from their beautiful flowers.

 Lily will do the dirt watering while Ducati will spray the leaves with water since they are thirsty too.

But last week we had a wind storm. Pretty common around here now but with winds reaching 70 mph their poor flower patch didn't survive. Lily and Ducati cried their eyes out because the wind "killed" their flowers.
To help calm those tears I promised them a trip to Lowe's to pick up some pretty new flowers. This brought comfort to their broken hearts.

Just by chance the next week was a kid's clinic where they made planters. Great fit for this occasion. :-)

After much debating and deciding Lily and Cati chose these lovely beauties for their new planters.

Gardening has never been my cup of tea. I can usually grow things on accident but 9 out of 10 times what I'm growing will die. But I've really taken up an interest in gardening (thanks to all the pinterest tips) But hey.... it gives me something to bond over with my girls. And that right there is something special all on it's own. :-)

Spring Break

We love Spring Break. With all 4 kiddos at home we sure did have some adventures. 

We did alittle shopping with Grandma one day. 

Here's Ducati showing off her new clothes. All clothes must be spin approved and my guess these items passed the test.

We also had a picnic at the park

 frozen yogurt lunch dates

seen the movie, "The Croods" (<--- which was Mason's Easter date coupon), purchased new books and came home to read. (*sigh) I enjoyed that quiet time. 

And with such great weather our kids were bugging asking me to bring out their outside toys. 

But when looking through most things Mike and I noticed that our girls had a serious bike dilemma. Their bikes were either too small, broke, and dirty. So we had a small spring-break project

Here's Lily with her "new" (to her) bike. $8 from thrift store- can't beat that price. 

Mike took the training wheels off of Hailey's bike to put on Lily's bike.
That left Hailey to learning how to ride a 2 wheeler.

 It took her a matter of minutes to get going.

 Look at that smile. Nothing can beat the feeling of accomplishing a goal.

And Ducati- she had outgrown her big wheels trikes so we upgraded her to Lily's old bike. But with a major makeover.

From this....

To this....

 I love $4 spray paint.

 Ducati was so happy that she had a new bike that she kept singing to it.
 ♪ I love my bike It's so pretty.With decorations. I love my bike. ♪♪

I really enjoyed this break.We didn't do 1 single lesson while on break (except our 30 minutes of reading a day). It was nice to just kick back, laugh, and enjoy each other. :-)

35 minutes

What if you only had 35 minutes a day to spend with your children? How would you spend that time?

Play with them outside?

Try to leave a lastly impression on them?

Or maybe play their favorite game?

 (playing Marco Polo)

I'm not sure what I would do but this is what Mike does with his 35 minutes.

Full time

Mike was offered a full time janitor position at his church job. Yeah!!! :-)

Just days prior Mike called me and told me that his hours at Lifetime would be cut about 20 hours. No big deal -we could make it work. Just careful budgeting and back to minimum payments on our debts. But the bright side was more time with him :-)

More time for family. sleep. house. sleep. callings. sleep. dates. sleep. motorcycle. And did I mention sleep :-)

So we were all very happy for this new schedule. However that night while at the church job Mike was called and offered a full time position. He was so happy that of course he took it. This has been something he's been wanting for sometime now. I couldn't be prouder of him for trusting in the Lord and doing what he's been asked to do.

 And want to know where God's hand was in all of this. Well besides everywhere- Mike's work schedule will be 8 hours in the morning at one job with a 90 minute gap in between to come home, change, play with the kids and off to work again for another 8 hours. PLUS- he gets 1 more hour of sleep in per day. So now he's getting 4.5 hours! (big deal for him.) 

Working 2 full time jobs will have some difficulties for both of us but we have faith in God and his plan for us. We made the goal to bloom where we've been planted. So all will be well. :-)