Waaaayyyy Behind...

Boy, I am really far behind on my blog and I really wish I had a good reason for it... but I don't. I am pretty far behind on almost everything! I will keep procrastination in mind this year when I make my New Year's resolution!
Okay, I am going to run through the last few months as fast as I can. A lot more happened than what your going to see here but I have also been slacking on taking pictures lately too (something else to remember)....

I'm going to go cleeeeaaarrrr back to Aug 1st because I forgot to write about this:
On the morning of Aug 1st my little Rori Ana came into our room around 7:30 and said she wanted a bike with pedals (she has been riding a push bike) and she DID NOT want training wheels. So, we got her a bike with pedals that day, the next morning she came in and said "I towd you I didn't want twaining wheews!" I didn't think she was ready, she had just learned how to pedal but her daddy had all the confidence in the world so off came the training wheels....

.... and away went Rori Ana, she never even skipped a beat.


Next we started soccer! This was Chanel's first year and let me tell you she is one amazing little kicker! She is a very strong player and she isn't afraid to bully her way through the field. Jameson is on his third year of soccer and he gets better every year, this year he had a few moments where he just got bored of the whole thing but I told he him he wouldn't move onto football until I could see that he tried his best. Now he is one of the best players out there! Luckily we take a break from soccer during the cold winter so we will have more pictures come this spring.

Rori Ana is LOVING school and she got to go to her first field trip!! They went to the grocery store and learned how everything works there. She has this weird thing where she will do just fine and cooperate with her class and teachers perfectly... Unless I am there?! If I am there she will completely shut down and won't budge! So she had to get towed around the whole grocery store by Miss Mindy. Hopefully this is just another phase and she will get better soon.
We have been spending a lot of time with cousins! We went to the zoo and we went to Bear Lake. The kids have so much fun together and it is always nice to be with family.
Sep 12th
Nelly's whole little life she has had a problem with her tonsils. She was always getting sore throats and strep. She snored louder than most full grown men and it would keep her awake at night. I was really hoping she would grow into those nasty tonsils but instead the tonsils just got bigger as she got bigger. We finally decided to go ahead with the surgery. I left it completely up to her, I told her it would hurt and that she really needed to think about whether or not she wanted them out. She opted to have them out! She was so brave through the whole thing, she never got scared, even when I explained how they would be doing the surgery and how it would feel. She did amazing.
This is before:

I was able to stay with her while they put her under then it was time to go out to the waiting room. When I saw them carry her away I immediately started bawling! It's funny, I consider myself to be pretty tough. I don't cry for hardly anything at all, I hate crying! I get so embarrassed and I have always believed crying doesn't fix anything. But when I see something happen to my kids, even something as simple as them taking out their stupid tonsils I LOSE IT!! It was so humiliating to walk out to the waiting room and sit there and cry because chanel was getting her tonsils out! You would have though something horrible just happened. But it was all done and over with pretty quick and she was only down for a couple of weeks! Now she feels better, breaths better and sounds better! It all paid off!
Sept 24th

My baby boy blew out 8 candles this year!!! I can't even believe it. He is so big, so smart and so talented in everything he does. I couldn't be more proud!!



He says he is "too old" for a blow up house in the backyard. This is the first year he didn't want that and to be honest it kind of broke my heart. I don't blame him for wanting something different but I was a little sad that he is getting too old for that kind of stuff. So we talked it over and after going over lots of different ideas he chose rock climbing! It turned out great!

.... and what did the birthday boy get this year?? A baby blue bird we call blueberry. He loves her very much and so do I.

To wrap up our summer we went to Moab. We did lots of bike riding while we were there and little Rori Ana managed to run right into a concrete wall going as fast as her little bike could go. We did some hiking and swimming in the creek and even got in a little rock climbing. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to the warm days.

People stare at us when we drive down the road in Rory's monster truck.

Next was Halloween. This year was just as fun as in the past and this was Ava Lyn's first year going trick or treating all by herself! Rori went on another field trip with her class, this time to the pumpkin patch...

Then the 3 older kids had their Halloween parties...

Then we carved our pumpkins and of course I forgot to take a picture of how they turned out!! Chanel and Rori Ana had Hello Kitty pumpkins, Ava had Mickey Mouse and Jameson had a scary face. All of them turned out awesome, I'm really mad at myself for not taking a picture because I think this years pumpkins turned out better than any of the past years!

Rori Ana was a princess....

Ava was a baby giraffe...

Jameson was a ninja and Chanel was a dead bride! My days of choosing my kids' costumes are over, they each have a mind of their own but I think they did a pretty darn good job at choosing what to be this year.

Ava is all grown up now. We no longer have a baby to put in the crib Rory made for our girls. I was so sad to take it down, it is a beautiful 4 post iron crib, all handmade with love. Rory made it for me when I found out I was having Chanel, little did we know at the time that we would have 2 other baby girls that would sleep in it too.

Now it is officially winter. And I hate every minute of it. But the kids make the best of it...

This year we had 3 Thanksgivings! The first one was at my house, this was the very first year I have ever hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house! I had a dinner for my dad and all of my brothers and I was so nervous!! I planned and stressed and prepared and planned and stressed all week. I wish I would have gotten a picture (again, slacking on the picture taking) but everything turned out great! I made a gigantic feast and everything was fabulous, I look forward to having a Thanksgiving dinner every year at my house from now on.

Rory did manage to get a picture of the turkey...

So that about sums it up. Our summer was filled with lots of warm, sunny, fun days. We soaked up every minute of it and spent every day outside. That is probably why I neglected the blog so much. But now I should have plenty of time to write since I am stuck in the house for the next 4 or 5 months. And we have lots of things planned, I look forward to writing about them!