Playing Catch-Up

It's time for me to play some catch-up and update this blog.  There's been some great events going on in our family and life has been hectic and wonderful as usual.

First up is Spencer's birthday.  My baby boy who isn't much of a baby boy anymore.... turned 25.  Can you believe it?  He's 25!  We celebrated his wonderful day by traveling to Salt Lake city to meet him and spend the day (sadly Ashley was not feeling well so she was not there with us).  We had fun touring the Clark Planetarium and got a picture of my three wonderful children visiting the planet Mars (not really, of course). 

Aren't these three wonderful children so kind to indulge their Mom by posing for a cheesy picture? I keep forgetting that grown children and teenagers don't like posing for cheesy pictures for Mom... when will I ever learn?

 After spending time at the Planetarium, we walked around and found a great place to eat.  I have to say that spending time eating with the family is really, truly one of the best ways to spend time with your children.  It seems that wonderful conversations always come up around the table.  I love it!

We were able to get a group picture at the end of the day.  I love these two pictures.... our three wonderful children hugging the parents who love them forever and always.

Spencer's birthday always seem to fall on or around Mother's day.  Mother's day is always nice but can many times be a little disappointing (just being honest).  Disappointing because there's so much hoopla about wonderful Mother's and wonderful children who love their Mother's.  While I know my children love me and my husband loves me, there really isn't much hoopla going on in our house on Mother's day.  That's fine.... I guess.  But I have to mention this day... this year.... because Todd surprised me with a wonderful, thoughtful gift this year.  Do you see why I have to mention the gift?

More catching-up to come....

Along for the Ride

As a parent of two teenagers and an adult child, I've come to the realization that I'm not so much parenting as just along for the ride.

All three of my wonderful children came to our family with very unique, very strong-willed, personalities.  Todd and I have fooled ourselves for awhile thinking we could get them to behave and think exactly how we want them to think.... hoping they would be perfectly, perfect little images of us.  Well, at least all the good qualities of us... cause we don't have any bad qualities... only good.

Ok, back to the point.  The point is.  We've done our best but in the end, they are who they are and who they've always been; we're just along for the ride.  We've tried to provide some bumper pads in the game of life for them, some railings to help them avoid going over the edge, but otherwise they are headed off to their destination.

And their destinations and lives are going to be amazing..... cause they are amazing people.  Todd and I have been blessed to be part of their lives.

Sweet Spencer always does his best to tolerate us, and never wants to hurt our feelings, but has a mind of his own.  Always has and always will.  Love him tons and tons.

Darling Evan is our quiet, a little bit shy, son who hides his brilliant mind behind his quiet confidence.  He's always seemed to know exactly what needs to be done and just does it.  Not because we've told him to but because it's the right thing to do.  Love him a million times over.

Beautiful Tori came into our lives as a force of nature.  She moves forward with a purpose and direction and doesn't let anyone stop her.  She seems to tolerates us because we provide food and shelter and, well, maybe she loves us a little too.  She's been this way since birth and she's fabulous.  Love this young woman.

We are blessed!!

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a wonderful life I lead.  I'm so very blessed to have my husband and children and so thrilled to have them all home for the holidays.  We don't get to see Spencer and Ashley very often now that they've moved and I was just overjoyed when they came to spend four days with us for Christmas. 

It's tough for a Mom to adjust to having her children leave the nest, at least for this Mom it's been tough.  I cried for days when Spencer moved out.  Having him home with us along with the addition of Ashley, his wife, was an absolute joy.

As you can see from this picture, I've got some pretty good looking kids (just ignore the silly face Spencer's making.... he's just a good looking kid).  Oh, by the way, can you see that Evan is now taller than Spencer?  Evan has grown like crazy this last year.

Sadly we're missing Todd from the picture.  Poor Todd.  Just two days before Christmas Todd had surgery on his shoulder to repair some damage done after a skiing accident dislocated his shoulder.  The accident had happened early December and it took some time to determine if he would need surgery.  Once it was discovered he needed surgery we decided to move forward as quickly as possible so he could recover more quickly and avoid taking a lot of time off from work, which resulted in surgery just two days before Christmas.  No fun.  He's been such a trooper and was involved with all our family fun but generally spent his time laying on the couch or resting, which resulted in missing him in our family picture.

Say your prayers for a quick recover for Todd.  He really struggles with not being in tip-top-shape and keeping busy.  Recovery from this injury will be a long, slow process and that's tough.  Say a little prayer for him.

On Christmas Eve we had my parents over for a Christmas Eve family dinner.  We love having them over and, of course, had to capture the moment since we don't get to have Spencer with us very often.

Here's my Pops with his two oldest grandchildren, my wonderful sons, Spencer and Evan.

Here's Mom and Dad with my three crazy, wonderful, beautiful children.

My favorite picture of all.  My sweet oldest child who said he missed me and missed my cooking.  Isn't that just the nicest thing a son can say to his Mother?

Christmas Lights

Just after Thanksgiving we headed up to Salt Lake City to spend some time with Spencer and Ashley. I miss that boy so much and was so happy to spend a day with him.  The original plan was to have the whole family together but unfortunately both Todd and Evan had to work that day so it was just me and Tori with Spencer and Ashley.  No matter, it was a wonderful time.

The day after Thanksgiving is the traditional lighting ceremony of the Christmas lights in Temple Square, Salt Lake City.  Have you ever seen the Christmas lights in Temple Square?  If not, I highly recommend making it a family tradition.  It's a beautiful sight and puts you right in the Christmas spirit.

Spencer and Ashley, such a cute couple.

Some of the sights at Temple Square. 

Can see why it's a great suggestion for a family tradition?  If you go, be sure to bundle up, it can be cold.

The Joy of Life

I love my children, always have and always will.  Well, ummmm, ok.   I admit there are moments when I'm not sure I'm happy to have children.... but I do always love them.  Having children and a family is what life is all about for me.

My children certainly keep us busy and keep life exciting, especially our youngest child, Tori.  You can probably tell from my blog that she seems to be involved with every school and community activity available to her.  She just finished participating in her school play.... even after breaking her arm.  She is such a great little actress and we loved every moment of her performance.

Here she is during one of the songs.  She's the second from the left, on the front row.  Cute little girl, right?

This play kept us all busy for almost three months.  Many mornings of early morning play practice and then late evenings for dress rehearsals.  I honestly don't know how she manages to do this and keep up with her school work AND spend time with all her friends.  This girl is a true extrovert.

And I realize I haven't posted much about Evan.  Our sweet middle child and amazing young man, Evan.  While Tori is an extrovert, Evan is the exact opposite as a true introvert... very much like his Mother.  He gets his energy and fulfillment from a quiet night at home. 

While Evan is a home-body, he still enjoys time with his friends and Evan's friends are lifetime friends because once you're a friend of Evan's you realize what a gem he is.  His quiet confidence of who he is and his caring for others is something that always amazes me.  He's an amazing student in school and a wonderful son. 

It's such a joy to be part of our children's lives and to witness their growth and see their unique personalities grow and progress over the years.  It's also been fun to watch our Spencer grow and progress in his married life.  Children are the joy of life.

Nostalgia and New Beginnings

It's that time of year, time for the kids to head back to school, time for cooler weather, time to say good-bye to summer fun, and time for new beginnings.  Big sigh.

Every year as my children head back to school I can't help but feel a little nostalgic over the passing of yet another year.  My children are growing up so quickly.  As I see them prepare for the start of a new year, I can't help but think back to when they first started school, when they were so excited about being such a big kid and going to kindergarten.

Now that my oldest is 23 I'm definitely feeling the nostalgia... thinking of his first day of school... so I dug through the old photo album.  I went back to my first child and my first back-to-school picture.

Oh my goodness, such an adorable little picture and such an adorable little guy.  I remember like it was yesterday, his excitement at going to school, how proud he was of his backpack and baseball cap and new shoes.  (I also can't help but think how nice it is to have our current digital cameras and the ability to take better pictures.)

Flash forward to today.... Spencer graduated high school five years ago, Evan is starting 10th grade at the high school, and Tori is in 9th grade.

Evan who grows taller every time I turn around.  Evan who has developed into a confident, very smart, kind young man is now nearing the end of his years in public school with just three short years left in high school.  I'm not ready to let go.

Tori, now a gorgeous young woman, loves all things social at school.  She loves that she's the oldest in her school and looking forward to going to the high school next year.  This little girl of mine keeps me young and I love it!

Nostalgia and new beginnings, a feeling that I'm swimming in and hope to resurface before it starts all over again next year.