Ethan's 7th Birthday

We had a lesson in Relief society today about personal history. I've done a pretty good job up until about a year ago. SO I am determined to get cracking on this again. The first Sunday of every month I will blog and add pictures from that month. To blog all that has happened in the past year would be too much of an undertaking, so I will hit the highlights.

MAY

Josh turns 2, My birthday and trip to California, Summer highlights with kids out of school, Back to school, Lena turns 5, Christmas, Ethan's Birthday.

I'll start with Ethan's Birthday and work my way back.

Ethan, Wow! What can I say about this boy? He is amazingly smart, the smartest in his class (I can brag, becuase I''m the mother). He is kind to others, and very thoughtful, a great helper, loves to play with his friends, and makes us so happy.

For his Birthday party we decided that we'd go bowling, but it was such a beautiful day that we ended up playing outside and exploring the river bottom. Ethan invited two friends, Logan and Jaxson.

Mark turns 31

Mark's birthday was a lot of fun. We had all our favorite friends over for a bbq and were lucky enough to have Grandma Kozak and Aunty Rachel come as well. Uncle Dan, his girlfriend and my dad rounded out the group.Mark--how blessed I am to have him as a husband and the father of our children. How happy I am to know that we will be together forever.

It`s a typical Wednesday morning. Mark crawls into bed with me still half asleep. He spent the night in Ethan`s room snuggling away bad dreams. Soon Ethan comes padding in quietly, quickly lifts the covers and finds that perfect warm spot right next to Mommy. His hair is soft from his bath last night and still smells faintly of shampoo, but mostly of little boy. I gently wipe the sleep out of his eyes and he turns on his side--my singal to start scratching. Josh is next to wake up. He knows that Daddy will come rescue him from his bed so he doesn`t cry, just calls out Dad, Dadaaaa. The covers next to me move ever so gently as Mark leaves to retrieve our baby. Josh cannot help himself but lean his head into the crook of his Dad`s neck. Josh is in bed with us now tugging at my PJ top, my singal to hurry up and and give him his morning appietizer. Ethan`s back is still turned enjoying his back scratch and Josh is thoroughly enjoying himself, his little hand rests on my stomache. His hair is light blonde with just a hint of a curl. I marvel at how perfect his features are his round cheeks, his big blue eyes peering up at me, those long dark lashes that he surely got from his Dad. Lena is next to arrive. Oh how she is adored! She is my little kitten. She has the ability to curl into the tiniest of places. This skill comes in handy, especially this morning as Real Estate on this Queen size bed is running low. She manages to squeeze herself in between Josh and her Dad, but is as close to me as possible, curling herself around her baby brother so we are sharing a pillow and her cold feet tuck under my warm leg. Her hair, as usual, has fallen over her petite face. Brushing it away unleashs her morning breath and it is now added to the rest of her family`s and the concoction is complete. Leni is wearing her pink thermal pj`s. They are polk a dotted with chocolate brown. There is a trace of last night`s dinner on her cheek, speghetti I think, I leave it. Mark eventually gives up trying to balance on his edge of the bed, and gets up leaving me with our three children. Ethan 5, Lena, 3, and baby Josh 15mos. The room is quiet, my babies are all under one comforter and so close to me I can hear each of them breathing. This moment is perfect. This moment doesn`t last for more than five minutes, but those five minutes were perfect. A little gift. If only I could wrap it up. Open it whenever stress, or impatience, or `why am I doing this` comes over me. Open it when they are teenagers and don`t want to snuggle anymore, at least not with me. Open it in the too soon future when my babies are all grown up. The little moments...Thank you Dear Heavenly Father for the little moments.

July 2011

Ok, this mama has a lot of catching up to do. It seems I begin ever post that way. My goal is to do one post a month, once I've caught up. We'll start with today and work our way backwards.

July 1st CANADA DAY

Today we continued on with tradition and spent the morning at my aunt and uncles house enjoying the Raymond Parade. Afterwards we had a yummy lunch.

Letters to my Children

When I was a litttle girl my Dad bought and sold horses as a side business. There was nothing better than to watch those horses, I loved them. But no one loved them more than your Grandpa. He was particularly drawn to those animals that other dealers shied from. The bargin horses. Horses that would otherwise be sent to the cannery. It were those horses that my dad sought out, bought, and saved. He had a way with them. There were countless horses over the years, but none as special as Woody. I'll never forget the day Woody was brought home, never forget the flies buzzing around his gaping oozing wound.
At one time he was a ranch horse and still would have been if it hadn't been for the accident. His first owner had taken him out in the bush for a ride then tied him to the horse trailer. Woody veered back breaking his lead which sent him tumbling down a hill. By the time Woody reached the bottom he was back on his feet, lept over an uprooted tree and continued to run. The damage had been done. His owner took him to the vet to have the branch removed, but for the following year the wound continued to drain and ooze pus, never healing completely. The owner had finally given up on Woody and decided to shoot him. It was on this very day that my Dad was out looking for horses to buy. He visited a certain farmer, but didn't find what he was looking for. Before he left the Farmer informed Dad of his neighbor who was about to shoot his wounded horse. Dad headed immediately to the neighbors, took one look at Woody, asked the price, paid the $100 and took Woody home.
Woody's mane was dull, his eyes lacked life, he was wrecked. A second trip to the vet provided the answer to the oozing wound. Another peice of the branch was found deep inside surrounded by infection. Once it was removed the wound healed after months of special care and attention. Woody was back, restored to full health and went on to live a very full life.
There will be times in your life when you will want to struggle against the very thing that keeps you safe, just like Woody struggled against his lead. As your mother my greatest hope, my biggest goal is to nuture within you confidence and security. So you know why certain guidelines are set before you, to keep you safe. No one is immune to temptation no one is perfect (especially not me, now matter what your dad tells you). And you know, you may just fall sometime in your life, you may struggle against the truths you've been taught. Struggle so hard that you fall. It happens. Just know that when you think all is lost, there is someone who will interced for you just as Grandpa did for Woody. Our Saviour can heal all wounds, take away all pain and has set the perfect example for us. Know that your Mom and Dad will be there for you always. To love you, to cherise you, regardless of the choices you make. You children are my light, my life, my everything, my best friends. Really. Really, Really.

August 2010

Back to School

Ethan's First day of Kindergarten at Galbraith School. Wow! I can not believe my first born baby is in Kindergarten. He was sooo excited and took to it with ease. He is such a smart boy,but also so very kind. He has been in Kindergarten for about 5 mos since this picture was taken and his teachers just adore him. His teacher's name is Ms. Henke who is wonderful and tells me Ethan is a prime example to all in his class. He enjoys math and is excelling in reading. Ethan is a joy, he is funny and has so many friends that love him and love being around him because of his postive personality. Ethan is sensitive to others feelings and is quick to make someone feel better. That is all you could ask for as a mom, that your children are kind and Ethan is--I am so proud of him!

Lena is back to Preschool at Sunny Side and it is as though she didn't leave at all. Her teacher is Mrs. C and Lena is adored in her class. She is friendly to others, but especially her best friend Layna who is in here class. Lena can not wait for Mondays and Wednesdays so she can go to preschool and see her friends, paint, play dolls, and learnher ABCs. Lena is also a joy to have in our family. She is my little snuggle muffin and tells me she loves me multiple times a day. I could not ask for a more delightful girl, to see her is to smile. She has the most endearing personality and the prettiest eyes I've ever seen. Love you my Precious!

August 2010

Trip to AZI had been looking forward to this trip for a long, long time. No longer is Josh breast feeding (sad, but happy that he is more independent.) I know that Josh will be reading this someday, so not to embarrass him too much, but he loved mommy's boobies! And I loved nursing him, especially since he is my last baby. He is such a good eater that the transition wasn't too bad, just glad that he was finished before I left.

The sisters and I had so much fun shopping, relaxing, and going down the gigantic water slide, well one sister did, me. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time, just the thing to remind one self that they still know how to have fun.

We spent one day shopping, the entire day shopping. We spent 3 hours in one store. Chelsi sat on the floor in the changing room, Joy brought me clothes continually, and I modeled, it was perfect! I loved seeing Joy's sweet kids the first day, but most of all being with my sisters. The hi-light was the impromptu lip sync to a Ke$ha song that I had memorized on the way to the airport. Chelsi got the whole thing on her phone and has it to this day. I'm told she watches it whenever she needs a good pick me up.

Missed my kids and was so happy to be home again, but sooo grateful to have a husband who loves our children so much and takes the best care of them. There is nothing more comforting as a mom than to know that your babies are safe and are having fun with their dad.