Just because

This boy cracks me up!!!
How can you NOT love this guy????

He took the left over happy meal box from McDonalds (MacKenzie's birthday) and the goggles from swimming - that I had yet to put away and created a super hero out of them!!!
I think the Shrek watch completes the out fit!!!!!!

Doesn't this just make you smile!!!!!!

Happy 7th Birthday MacKenzie

I can not believe another year has come and gone for this girl.
As of Oct 1st she is now the big 7 Years old!!!!

We didn't do anything super fun or exciting - like a party, but the day was spent as a family. We started out with our friends the Willard's stopping by on their way out of town to wish MacKenzie a happy birthday. Then, it was off to swimming with more friends, the Copeland's. They were "living" in a hotel at the time while some major repairs were being done on their house so we helped take advantage of the heated pool. Soooo fun!!!! We got home, got everyone through the showers and cleaned up and off to McDonald's we went. Daddy joined us there and we spent over two hours there for the kiddos to play and enjoy. They helped out some younger kids and that mom was so thrilled that she bought all of my kids a cookie as a thank you! Sa-weet!!

Then home to have the requested dinner - MacKenzie's favorite - waffles. We enjoyed them with syrup, peanut butter and syrup, or with peaches and whip cream. YUM!! Good choice MacKenzie.

Then to the long awaited presents. She wanted to open everything first thing that morning, but we made her wait until everyone was together again in the evening.

A cool new outfit.
(I might add that I bought every single piece of this outfit on clearance and the entire thing cost me $8 - including the shoes!!!)

3 packages of 10 count silly bands - let's just say that this girls was in heaven!!
Gotta have the silly bands (a status thing at school - who knew?)

Pet Shop

Cards from both sets of Grandparents - both containing CASH MONEY!!!
Thank you Grandmas and Grandpas

Another shirt - notice it is DANCE??? Everything dance is a hit for this girl
(another clearance rack find at only $2 - go me!)

Lastly - it was the BIG present. She wanted to open this one first. But, no, it had to be last.

Wow! I didn't think it would be that big of a hit....

Just look at that face of pure joy and excitement....

So what was it? Her fashion sketch pad of course. A set of 3 to be exact!!!! Alexis got a single one from a friend for her birthday. We gave this same exact thing to another friend for her birthday and MacKenzie has been talking about it for months. We decided it was time for her to get her own.
They had a smoking deal on them at Costco so I had to get her one of her own!!

The silly bands were definitely a hit. Now the sisters are a little jealous!
Oh well. It is MacKenzie's birthday after all.

Happy Birthday, sweet MacKenzie. We love you to eternity and back!!!!!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Another dance season is complete. (Insert sigh of relief - SIGH.) It was fun while it lasted and yet, I am relieved to have it done and over with. Bailey was in one class and I moved MacKenzie up to join Alexis' class. I decided to enroll them on a Tuesday night this year. Daddy was already gone to the church for his responsibilities there so I didn't want to do it on Thursday to take another possible day away from the family. Although, Thursday's would have been much easier on me because Josh would have been around a lot more to help and juggle the schedule, I felt it was more important to keep those family days instead.

So, for Tuesdays, it was homework, make a portable dinner, get everyone ready, Daddy's dinner set out, load up and go. We would drop off Bailey to her class and then head to one of three parks in the area to eat dinner. Then we would load back up and switch out MacKenzie and Alexis for Bailey. We would then again head to one of three parks and Bailey would get to eat. Of course, playing at the park was a given once food was finished. Then once again, back to dance class to pick up the two girls, home and a mad rush (usually with a lot of me yelling) to get everyone ready and in bed. Once the kids were in bed on Tuesdays, I would just crash onto the couch myself. Ahhhh!

The dance performance was fun. The girls did such an amazing job. The theme this time was "At the Movies". Every dance was performed to a song from a movie. Here are a few highlights of the girls' dances.

Bailey ready for dance number 1 - It was the end song from Sleeping Beauty (that is why some of the girls are in pink and some are in blue)

Can I say that I just LOVE this picture?!?
I think I am going to crop it and enlarge it so I can frame it for her some day.

MacKenzie ready for dance #1 - The theme song from Kung Fu Panda

Alexis also ready for dance #1

Lucky for us they were right next to each other in the dance so it was easy to get pictures of these two together. Daddy did an awesome job as photographer for the day. Thanks Babe!!!

Arianna even loved being there with all the girls. Look at these smiles!!!

After intermission it was on to dance #2 - Bailey had Funky Town - Chipmunk style (Have I ever mentioned that Funky Town is my all time favorite song - Don't know why, just is!!!)

Dance #2 for Alexis & MacKenzie was Dance of the Sugar Plum princess, I forget which movie she took it from, but it was also in Fantasia.

Our three dance stars with their awards certificates

Our good friends the Browns...

and the Smiths were there for their girls as well.

The Parkinson's were also there, but somehow we didn't capture a photo of them. Glad to have good friends to share things like this with. It was fun seeing you all there!!

Brendon at the Car Races

There was a recent Groupon deal to get VIP passes to the Car Races/Bike Show.

Of course, our little guy would be EXCITED to get to go to such an event. I decided that we couldn't pass it up, especially once we found out that his "Boy, Kyle" was also going. I went ahead and purchased the discount tickets to have Josh take Brendon and our friend and his son also went.

The week leading up to the show I got on the website of the company doing the event and Brendon would sit on my lap for an hour at a time watching the videos of the bike stunts over and over. Frequently I would hear, "AWESOME, MOMMY!!" "Did you see that?" "That's so cool!" "Oh, Man" and "Did he get hurt?" He could not sit still. And then when he found out that he would get to go see it all in person - words can not describe the pure joy in that boys face!!!

I think I was just as excited for him to go as he was to go.

He got to sit in a couple of race cars....

Recognize this one????

Here is a different angle...

Of course the boy was super excited to be sitting in Lightening McQueen himself!!!! Josh has an incredible picture of the two boys in front of this car on his phone, but I still have yet to get it from him (hint, hint, hint)

The report I got was that the boys also loved the bike stunts. All in all they had a grand time. Most of the bike stunt was at night so the rest of the pictures didn't turn out very well - not having a flash on the camera makes a big difference. Still the memory of it is in the boy's mind and he LOVED the event..

Alexis, toothless wonder, too???

Not to be out done by her younger sister (see previous post), Alexis also has two missing teeth. Ok, the reality of it is that Alexis' teeth came out first and at the hand of the dentist.

Her baby teeth were just not strong and had a lot of decay. The dentist has even marveled at how "wimpy" the baby teeth are compared to the Adult teeth.

She had two teeth pulled on the bottom right hand side and then had a spacer put in. One of the two teeth is already growing in - as seen in the photos below.

We could have saved the teeth if we had acted earlier. Which, to our credit, we started. But I had taken her to a general dentist, who was not kind at all. She started the work, but was rough and called Alexis a baby when she was upset and crying because the work was hurting. The dentist claimed that she was numb enough and "should not be feeling it". Obviously Alexis was and the Dr would do nothing about it. This made me so mad. Then she turned on me and stated it was also my fault because I was in the room with her and I should have been sitting in the lobby - that children act less juvenile when the parents aren't there to comfort them. HELLO???? Are you kidding me????

Needless to say I took her out of the office with the work half completed and went instead to a Pediatric Dentist. A pediatric dentist is considered a specialist on our insurance plan so it was going to cost twice the amount to fix and finish the work that was started - About $1800 - in addition to the almost $500 I had just spent not getting very far. Ya - We just did not have that money a year and a half ago.

We waited out the rest of our plan year and switched to a better coverage with the insurance company, got the financial side in order and back to the dentist we finally went this year. Still to complete the work it is still about $950. But, I will take that over the $1800 any day!! However, at this point, after waiting for a year and a half, the decay was too bad so the teeth had to go.

It took Alexis a couple of days to get used to the spacer, but she loved showing it off to her friends. I think it was all the attention she was getting!!!

We LOVE our Pediatric Dentist. We have to literally drive clear across town to see them, but they are phenomenal!!! I have been so impressed with them. I couldn't imagine that a children's dentist would be anything less than that. Still they are great and the dentist himself even called to our home to check on her after this set of teeth were pulled. And then he called this week, as well, in preparation for another round of teeth pulling and work that is a little more intense. He wanted to give me some suggestions to help her the morning of to make sure she had the best experience possible. HOW COOL IS THAT???

Any way - our two toothless girls are amazing.

MacKenzie, First Grader, Toothless Wonder

I don't know if any of you have ever heard of the Junie B chapter book series. One of the classic books in that series is Junie B, First Grader, Toothless Wonder.

We have our own version of this classic book...

MacKenzie A, First Grader, Toothless Wonder

There is a story behind this toothless girl....

One Sunday evening, I was sitting at the piano trying to find some music for someone to use in church. I sent the kids upstairs to change for bed and brush their teeth. Josh was down stairs with me playing with Arianna. Soon there was laughing and playing from upstairs and I decided I would just let them get it out of their system for a bit and then I could go get them settled down and actually doing what they were sent up there to do.
Sooner rather than later there was loud screaming and shrieking. My immediate thought was the same as usual, "I am not going to worry about it unless there is blood."
Not a moment later, MacKenzie comes down the stairs, blood running from her mouth with her hand extended. I was up from the piano bench and looking into her hand to see a tooth sitting there. I had her open her mouth to see that one of the front two teeth had obviously come clean out and the second was basically dangling there.
She was frantic. I just looked at Josh and said this second tooth is going to have to come out or it could fall out in her sleep - not a good option.
I took the baby and all of the other kids upstairs while Josh worked with MacKenzie. He got her calmed down and got the bleeding to stop. He just quickly took out that second tooth. There really wasn't any more bleeding with the second tooth coming out.
But, let me tell you what. That girl was hilarious. She just ran up the stairs and started strutting around with the biggest smile on her face - showing off her space.

So, how did the teeth come out like that you ask? She was rough housing with Brendon and as he claims, "I kicked 'em out mom." That's right, her little brother kicked out her two front teeth.

Crazy I tell ya.

Her two biggest excitements were that the tooth fairy would be coming. CHA-CHING!!
And second that she wanted to show off her mouth for show and tell the following Friday - don't forget this was a Sunday. I simply told her that I thought people would notice before Friday. I told her to ask her teacher if she could do a special show and tell on Monday. She was excited that the great Mrs. Rupel let her do it.

Now to present day, the girl loves not having her two front eat, except when she needs to eat. It is cumbersome and she can not bite straight on. She does more of a gnawing thing to bite her food. It is rather funny to watch sometimes.

In the mean time, there are no signs of either tooth coming in. I am sure she will be hearing the "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song a lot this year. Hopefully she won't grow to hate the song.

MacKenzie girl, We love your silly grin!!

Thoughts and Jots - FAITH, TRUST, HOPE

I have still been quite busy and not getting to updating my blog like I have wanted to. I have finally taken the time to sit down and jot a few things down before I loose my train of thought.

Sometimes in life it seems as though many trials hit all at once - some being big "mountains" to overcome, while others are many small hills one right after the other or even building upon each other. Choices need to be made, difficulties arise, and obstacles just seem to be never ending. I feel like with many areas of my life lately I have had a struggle on top of a struggle - whether that is trying to be a better mother to my children, being more patient in my circumstances, more understanding of my husband and his schedule, my own feelings of inadequacy and even when my own character is attacked and questioned.

I have sometimes begun to wonder where the silver lining is - where is the "light at the end of the tunnel"? How can we face some of these trials? Why do we face some of these trials? How much do we need to endure? How we can have hope to get through the things we face in life?

Recently I read the blog of a friend of a friend. Through reading her story I have been able to verbalize (or type up) my own thoughts. A few are paraphrasing her, but mostly just finally getting down in writing what has been being formed in my head over the last couple of weeks.

I understand Charity: Charity is seeing and loving people how our Savior sees and loves people; its treating them how He would treat them; it is the pure love of Christ. Often loving and forgiving for no other reason than for the sake of loving and forgiving.

I understand Faith: Faith is believing in something that is true that you can't see, sometimes you can't even describe it; it is a conviction; it usually moves us to action. Keeping the commandments is an act of faith.

However, hope has been a concept that I have had a hard time wrapping my brain around. I have struggled to keep the hope in my life as I face trials. I try to maintain a feeling of hope in my life. Unfortunately, oftentimes it just feels like wishful thinking to me. But in the scriptures it talks about the need for hope. So I have been studying hope, trying to understand, grasp, and ultimately develop this Christ-like attribute so that I can overcome trials and struggles in life.

I have come to understand better what hope is. We have HOPE that things will be ok, then we TRUST in God that whatever happens will be for the best. I am finally making the connection that HOPE and TRUST go hand in hand. Hope is the optimistic attitude that everything will be made right because we have trust that our Savior and our Heavenly Father know who we are!! Also, that they are aware of our personal and very individual trials. "Faith knows this, but Hope smiles and knows."

We need to have HOPE; hope that things are all going to work out - not necessarily the way we think they should, or how we except them to; hope that there are awesome people here on earth that can help us and guide us; hope that when things go bad in life that it doesn't have to and won't stay that way. "And it came to pass..." It is through prayer, pondering, and staying close to our Heavenly Father that we increase our hope, faith and ultimately our trust.

It is in giving our will to the Lord that we show our true willingness to TRUST in His will for us. Often times we don’t understand the “what” and “why” of His will for us and that is where the HOPE and TRUST come into play.

The miracles will start to pour out upon us. We must remember that Faith and Hope always precede the miracles. There are true tender mercies all around us. It is amazing to see the hand of the Lord in our lives, in the perfect timing, in the growth, and in us personally as we look back on experiences in hindsight. But, what about while we are going through it? Do we recognize it during the journey of the trial. It takes a tremendous amount of hope and trust to get us through the experiences - Knowing that hope is the positive and optimistic view of the situation.

My sister posted this as her status on Facebook yesterday. "A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather, a person with a certain set of attitudes."

I believe her quote goes right along with the thoughts that I have been having. We all have to go through life. Just because we follow the Savior doesn't mean that our lives will be free from trials and struggles. But when we maintain our hope and keep our attitude positive and uplifting then we can be happy through the trials and struggles, believing that the best possible outcome will happen as we trust in Heavenly Father and follow His will for us. We can in turn be an influence for good and an example for others around us.

Hope is truly a powerful thing.

Hope is an amazing thing. I found that I was letting things get to me and allowing them to impact me negatively. I can change that though. I HOPE that I can develop more HOPE through life. I will be more positive and work to improve myself this way.

Arianna Baby Blessing

Arianna's baby blessing weekend was Labor Day weekend. (So all subsequent pictures are already a month old - sorry.) It was filled with so much fun, family, friends and food. Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came down from UT and stayed with us Saturday night. This was when they were finally able to meet Arianna. Grandpa A wasn't feeling so well, so we felt extremely blessed to have them with us.

The night before - enjoying time in the Bumbo

The morning of was a big rush. We had the kids pick out what they were wearing the night before, but Josh was still gone and it was a blur. Luckily Grandpa and Grandma were there - especially when Brendon got a little bored and hungry. I was doing one last feeding before we headed out the door. Then the knock came at the door. Mom A let me know Brendon had just gotten into the chocolate pudding and it got all over him. She quickly cleaned him up while I finished with Arianna.

Grandma A also snapped a few pics of the older kids before I came down to head out.
Thanks Mom A these were wonderful!!!

I wanted to get an updated family picture. Before church was impossible with Josh gone to his Bishopric meetings. I was trying to get everyone gathered up right after church but my family was running in different directions and everyone that was with us was waiting on us to head back to our house for the brunch. So once we returned home this was the best we could do on short notice. I am not sure what was with my kids - What is that on your faces, certainly not smiles. And I didn't have her headband and flower on.
{SIGH}
Oh, well. Moment captured!!
(I am not sure if I snagged this one from my Mom-In-Law or my Dad - either way - THANK YOU to whomever took this one!)

This, unfortunately, was the best picture we got of her in her dress.

Getting out of the dress was a little bit more tricky with a very tired and hungry girl!!!She was so tuckered out that she fell asleep while sitting in her Bumbo. It was the funniest thing to see her like this. Thanks Daddy for getting this picture captured.

We were extremely blessed to have so many family and friends join us for this great occasion. For our brunch I served breakfast themed food. We had an egg and bacon quiche, stuffed french toast, bagels and cream cheese, fruit, muffins, a wonderful overnight crock pot oatmeal, juices and chocolate milk. It was a huge hit. To all who our family and friends - thank you for coming. We love you all and are grateful for your love and support!!