Thank you is not enough!

A few Quotes that are fitting in my life right now:

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.-- Albert Schweitzer

Beauty, truth, friendship, love, creation – these are the great values of life. We can't prove them, or explain them, yet they are the most stable things in our lives.-- Jesse Herman Holmes

Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief.-- Swedish proverb

Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.-- Anonymous

To understand your parents' love, you must raise children yourself.--Chinese proverb

I really can't even begin to tell everyone how thankful I am for everything they have done to help me and my kids out these last few weeks. My own parents have been amazing as always, my brothers and sisters and sister-in-laws are always willing to help me, to watch my kids and to just listen to me. My dear friends Angie, Mindy and Anjanette are always willing to do anything for me. Angie is seriously like my kids 2nd mom. In fact they most likely like her more than me. :) I also have the most amazing neighbors and ward members. My poor bishop has been at my home many times. My sweet and fun Relief Society President dropped me off some groceries and helped me clean my house with Mindy. She even brought me some lip gloss. (Everyone knows I'm addicted to it). My long time friends and neighbors, Trent, Shelley, Kim, and Kelly came over to my house last night and spent at least three hours doing yard work for me. I actually laid outside on my tramp for a couple of hours last night just enjoying my yard. I have never enjoyed my yard. But it looked so good and felt so good after they finished. My wonderful friend Julie has brought me dinner, helped me weed, picked up my kids and just talked to me a lot. My sweet friend Tenelle left me some lasagna in my house after church on Sunday and is going to watch Logan for me for the next couple of Fridays. My neighbors Wendy and Cory came over late one night, like at 2am, and Cory gave me a powerful priesthood blessing. Wendy was so sweet the other day and was worried about me for not being able to eat so she brought me some delicious homemade bread because it is one of the only things I have been able to eat. I have also received some delicious meals that my kids have enjoyed from Joy, Casey, and Heather. I work with some of the neatest gals ever and they all got together and brought me tons and tons of groceries last week. Liz is one of these gals and she has been such a support in a lot of ways. Many of others have just let me cry and talk. Angie also took me away for the first few days when I didn't want my kids to see me so upset so that I could just cry for two straight days. Now that I have gotten that out of my system I can move on. Angie's husband and my friend Ryan has came over to fix things in my house like my disposal, my toilet, my AC and more. What a handy man. I am also sure that James' sweet parents and siblings are helping him and I am grateful for them for that too. I know I am forgetting some people and some kind acts and I'm sure no one really cares about this all but I just wanted to write it down that my heart is full of love and gratitude to so many wonderful people in my life. I am so lucky to have so many loving family members, friends and neighbors. I promise I won't be the needy person for long. But for now, thank you for being here for me and my kids. Words can't express how much I appreciate everything little and big that you have all done for me.

My Brothers Mission Call

His initial reaction

Chade and my kids. I know my kids look like scrounges and a little weird. :)

This is a short video of Chade opening his call. His girlfriend is on the left along with one of his best friends who will be in the MTC with him at the same time. My mom is right their too along with some nieces, nephews, Dusty, Tiffany, Mallory, my Dad and you can't really see the rest of us. If you watch this short video you may want to turn off my sometimes annoying music.
My little brother Chade received his mission call today. He is the youngest of the kids in my family. I am the oldest and was 13 when he was born. I remember how excited I was when he was born and I loved taking care of him. My kids absolutely love him and look up to him so much. I am so proud of him and excited for him. We all got together tonight to be with him as we watched him open his mission call. My other two brothers also went on missions too. Dusty went to Mexico and Lucas went to Brazil. Dusty mentioned as Chade was opening his call that it is the first of the calls received in our family with President Monson as the Prophet. President Hinkley was the prophet when Dusty and Lucas received their calls. Everyone in the family and some of Chades friends wrote down their guesses as far as where he will go. No one was close. He is going to Des Moines, Iowa and leaves on November 19th. He was very excited about it. I kept thinking that the next one in our family to go on a mission will be Dylan. I can't even imagine that time coming. Dylan is so strong and spiritual especially for a 12 year old. My little family is really having some major trials as some of you may know right now and last night when me and all four of my kids were all crying Dylan came and told us all that he was going to be in his room praying for a while. After he came out of his room our home was almost immediately peaceful and within five minutes one of my best friends Mindy and also my amazing relief society president Diane was at our home bringing us some groceries, service and comfort. Dylan is such an amazing son. Tonight as Chade opened his mission call it really made me think about how much sacrifice and strength a missionary and his family goes through. I know I will be so excited and proud if any of my kids choose to go on a mission but at this point I can't even imagine not seeing one of them for two years.

Happy Birthday Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

My dads birthday was on September 13th. I won' t mention his age as he is one of those that absolutely hates getting older. When I turned 25 he asked me if I was having a hard time because when he turned 25 he freaked out because it meant he was a quarter of a century old. I would have never even thought of that. My dad is the most amazing man ever. He is so successful in everything that he does. I could never have asked for a better dad as a child and as an adult. He is such a hard worker and is so loving, caring and sensitive. I really feel bad that he always has to worry about me still. Hopefully one day my life will be calmer and it wont be that way. One funny thing about birthdays with my dad is that it takes triple the time than any other birthday in our family for the gift giving process. He always shakes and pokes at each present to guess what it is before he opens each one. I am sure that he guesses correctly 90% of the time. The grand kids all love it. Anyway, I love you dad! Happy Birthday!!

Logan's First day of Preschool

This is actually Logan's 2nd year of preschool. He loved it last year and was very excited to start school again this year. I think the last few weeks have been hard for him with his older brothers and sister at school all day.

Labor Day

We went with our dear friends the Wendels to Mesquite over the Labor Day vacation. We had tons of fun just laying out at the pool all day at the beautiful Casa Blanca Hotel. One night there was a huge storm and the lights in the whole town went out including the hotel room. That was not very fun with six kids. The kids were all starving and there wasn't anything to eat in the casino because there wasn't any power so Angie and I went outside to get in our car. Outside there was this elderly lady who was struggling to stand up in the rain and wind. I have never seen it rain so hard. We helped her back into the casino and Angie went to get her car. She was the cutest lady and was so scared. I hope she made it home OK. I can't believe she trusted Angie with her car. You never know what one would do when given the keys to a strangers car. (he he) So we then somehow made it to our car only to find out that every restaurant in the town was closed. I should have taken a picture of the streets because they were completely flooded. In the end we were able to get the kids some cold sandwiches and the lights finally went back on.

On this night we went and rode the go-carts. The kids all had so much fun although Dylan was a little sick.
Logan with his new sunglasses. He barely took them off.

I absolutely love this picture of Lexi. She is so adorable. Between her and Logan's voices, I'm not sure which one is cuter.

Swimming in the pool all day every day we were there. I am so sad that winter is coming. I really love the sun.

Jada, Logan and Allie casually feeding the ducks outside the hotel.