Sisters

Yes I posted pics of my kids in the tub on a public blog. However, all of their little girly parts are all covered so if your offended so sorry :). Since we have one boy in the house and 4 girls we have to take baths together. R usually has a bath by himself playing and getting the whole tub to himself. The four girls get to share a bath. Usually Cecely and Devonney are bathing partners. I hear tons of laughing and splashing each time these girls are together in the tub. Cecely is so good about playing with her and making sure she is safe and happy. I of course am in there most of the time but it is nice to know I can go and check on dinner while these two happy sisters are playing together. Cecely will even try to wash her hair and is so gentle about it. Dev loves her big sister. She looks forward to bath time with Cecely.


Whenever she hears the water start running she comes racing and stripping her clothes off. It is such a fun time for these two. It makes my heart happy to see them have such a great time together.

I am so blessed

Sometimes I look at my life and just have to sit and think about how blessed I really am. I have four beautiful daughters who are the light of my life. They are smart, funny, kind, tenderhearted and just plain amazing. Sure they have their moments and at times I pull my hair out and wonder how on earth I can last until bedtime. All that being said the happy moments are so much more than the hard ones. They are growing and growing not only physically but spiritually as well. They have such a special understanding of the Gospel. They are getting to know their Heavenly Father and realizing how much He loves them.

Since we have started to do foster care I think that they have learned and felt more about our Heavenly Father and his love. Each child that has come into our home as their own special story. Whether it be neglect, abuse or both my children have learned to love each child that comes here. We talk about how every person on this earth is a child of God. They have learned about good and bad decisions and consequences that follow. They have learned that even though these beautiful little children may not be in our home for long it is important for them to feel loved and special.

Bailey and Aislynn started singing to the older children we have gotten. R and L and A(since my blog isn't private I am not supposed to put pictures or their names on the blog) absolutely loved it. R is still here and he requests it all the time. There is singing time and story time and prayers and hugs and kisses. It is amazing that no matter what type of home these children have been raised in once they start learning about Heavenly Father and Jesus and the Gospel it is almost like their little spirits remember. They want to learn more and they want to pray. Little R will often be in the back of the van practicing his prayers.

Many people did not understand our decision to do foster care. To expose our children to so many different children and have them bond with them and then have them taken away. I have had so many people tell me that "you never get a break, you alway have so many children with you." It was a prayerful decision. It wasn't something that we decided overnight. We weighed all the options. We knew it wasn't always going to be easy. It is never easy saying goodbye to a baby that you have had since he was a newborn and got to keep for five months. You love them. You love each one of them that comes into your home. You love them because they ARE each children of God. You love them because they are children and deserved to be loved. You love them because they are such special spirits who have already endured so much in such a short time. You love them because you think about yourself. You think what if I was in that situation. I would want someone to love my children, to be kind to them, to nuture and protect them.

Our whole family has been blessed by this decision. Each child has given us something special to keep and to remember. I am blessed. There is no doubt about it.

Family Home Evening

This past Monday we decided spur of the moment to go feed the wild burros that we have here in Ridgecrest. There are also wild horses. You can go and feed them anytime you want and the girls absolutely love it. They are horses and donkeys that are rounded up by real cowboys because they end of eating the vegetation and of course it starts to get a little sparse. So instead of letting them suffer and be hungry they round them up and put them in this little corale area and it's open to the public. We decided to invite our fabulous friend and her kiddos to come along. It was so windy and freezing but the kids enjoyed it tremendously. Devonney had no fear and just went right up and would say "here Max yum yum." Max of course is our dog and everything that has fur is a "Max". The donkeys loved it and ate right out of her hand. Of course as soon as they would start nibbling on the carrot she would immediately let go and come running.

Even living in a small town I find that we have some really fun things to do with the kids. As we drove up to the animals two of them were.... let's just say they were getting it on. My kids were instantly interested in what they were doing. They kept asking questions. I guess we could have taken the time to tell them, but we didn't . We told them they were playing donkey games lol.

We had a great time with eachother and with our friends! It was a great FHE.

Holy Spots Batman

In November Devonney became really sick with a bad chest and upper respiratory infection. It was kind of running through our house that month. So she was put on antibiotics. She seemed to be getting better and was towards the end of her antibiotics when she woke up one morning covered in spots. I was mortified. I thought for sure she had chicken pox. She was so itchy and miserable poor baby. This was on a Saturday so the Dr. office didn't open until one that afternoon. So I called and left a message and waited for a return call.

As the day progressed the spots got worse. I kept trying to think of where she could of gotten the chicken pox from and who we were hanging out with that week. The Dr. office finally called me back and told me to come in but make sure I come through the back door they have because if it was chicken pox they didn't want it to be spread to anyone in the lobby. SO I took my infected little child in and awaited the news. When the Dr. came in she immediately looked at the spots and said " nope these are not chicken pox, this is a skin reaction to antibiotics, has she been on antibiotics?" I told her yes she had but that she was on the last day of them which seemed weird to me that this was just presenting itself now. She told me that that is usually how it works. It is usually towards the end of the cycle that if it is going to happen it will.

I was so relieved. I mean she still had spots for a couple of days and was miserable, but I am so happy it was not chicken pox. I remember having chicken pox as a child and I had a very mild case. My poor brother though had them everywhere. In his ears and eyes and on his head. All over his body. The one good thing about this was she did let me snuggle with her and she actually sat on my lap and wasn't trying to go ninety miles an hour like she usually does.

What they do when I am not looking

My children never cease to amaze me. They can get on my very last nerve sometimes. With that being said they can also be the highlight of my day. They often times will grab the camera and just take pictures of random things they are doing through out the day. At first I would get a little irritated but then I realized these pictures are absolutely priceless. The pictures completely tell the story of my kiddos. Each of them have such a unique personality.

I look at these pictures and smile. Some are goofy and some make me think. Each of them are such an incredible blessing in my life. They each bring such a different yet needed spirit to our home. My favorite is the last one. I have a mat that is on the floor in front of my kitchen sink. Each of my children loves to just look at it and pretend they are walking on a street in some beautiful far away place. They like to pretend what they are wearing and what food they would order. I love the picture of the feet. It reminds me how precious my children are and how precious the imagination is. My children remind me what is was to be a child. It is a precious gift. I am learning not to take it for granted.

Christmas Traditions

The holidays are always such a wonderful time. I love all the holidays starting from October til December. I of course make my candy to pass around. The girls have gotten old enough to help now so it turns into a family affair. We love doing the pretzels and the toffee and the roasted walnuts. I put a whole bunch of parchement paper on the table and we all went to town. One person was in charge of the dipping and the others in charge of the decorating. We had quite the assembly line going on. We also had our two darling foster kids helping out so it made for triple the fun.

The girls had such a wonderful Christmas. Their biggest gifts were their scooters. They were so excited to see that all three of the older girls had them. The immediately wanted to go outside and ride them. Luckily we have concrete on our porch in the back and it is fairly large. They rode all morning out there. We also made reindeer food which we do every year. On Christmas Eve we make reindeer food which consists of oats and glitter and cinnamon. Each of the girls get a baggy filled with the food and then they can go outside and throw it all over the lawn.

Since we live in such a remote little town we know the reindeer are very tired by the time they get to our house. We make sure we leave them a snack on the lawn to help them get to their other destinations. We had such a special Christmas. We missed family dearly but we spent it with friends and our own little family. We have been truly blessed this year.

Birthday Fun

We are so far behind on our blog! I have gotten so many emails saying that I need to just do an update and post some pictures. So, I am going to try and be better. I will make it a New Years Resolution. Don't hold me to it but I will try. These are some pictures of Devonney's birthday. She turned two in December. I can't believe that she is two already.
We had a wonderful time over at our friend's house. Devonney and Chloe are only a week a part so we decided to have their birthday parties together. It was kind of a princess theme. It really worked since both of our girls think they are the ultimate princesses. We had such a great time and Devonney loved her crown,balloons and her pink cupcakes.
She recieved lots of fun gifts. It is so much fun to spend time with our family and our great friends. We have made so many special memories. My little girl is two. I can't believe it. We love you Devonney. You are such a beautiful joy in our lives.