Scottsdale

 About a month before Mother's Day, Craig sent an email out saying he was surprising Audrie with a weekend getaway at a hotel in Scottsdale.  He said he was fine getting her a rental car, but wondered if any of us girls had any interest in joining her.  Kind of a dumb question.  We picked her up from the airport on Thursday, shopped, saw a movie, shopped more, and ate the entire mall.  Friday we got a pedicure, shopped some more, had a ridiculous eating contest, and stayed up way too late watching Pitch Perfect and eating more junk.  Saturday we lounged in the morning, worked out in the hotel gym, and vegged at the pool until they forced us to check out.  We took our time getting home and stopped for one more fatty meal and shopped yet again.  It was such a dream.  I LOVE my kids more than anything, but getting away for three full days was such a nice break.  I laughed so so hard and was so relaxed.  I'm beginning to think that a once-a-year weekend with my mom and sisters is just not enough.

It's June!

 Summer is in full effect up in here, which means....

Popsicles and playing in the hose in our undies to stay cool

 car naps from trying to keep up with older sisters 

and their jam packed schedules

 

More popsicles

 

 getting ahold of moms phone to stay entertained 

while mom works out

 

Summer movies 

( at our very own brand new movie theater in town! ) 

every Friday

SAGE

My sweet little Sage is not so little anymore.  She had an amazing year in Mrs. Mendoza's class for first grade.   I've been blown away by her progress this year.  She really struggled through kinder but has really seemed to catch on and catch up this year.  She's reading like a champ and is learning how to study for tests and think outside the box.  She has started to come out of her shell little by little and it's so fun to witness it.  I was able to help at her class party on the last day of school, and her teacher had awards for each student.  She would describe the student and let the class guess who she was talking about.  It was so fun to be there for that, and I was moved to tears listening to her go on and on about my Sage.  She started out by saying that the student she was describing had the most amazing smile in the world.  She said that when she smiled, you couldn't help but smile back.  She said when she was happy, the whole world was happy but if she was sad, the whole world was sad with her.  She said she was the happiest, sweetest, and most sensitive student she had ever had.  She said she was always helping her classmates and going out of her way to be kind to others.  It made my heart explode listening to her.  While she was describing her, her friends were all pointing to Sage and chanting, it's Sage! it's Sage!  It was a fun moment for sure.  I am so proud of this little Miss and love her so much more than I know how to say.

TEN years

 

TEN years with this guy.

When did we get so old?

And how did the last ten years fly by so fast?

Time is such a crazy thing.  As a mom, my days tend to be pretty long a lot of the time.  But I blinked, and I've been married for ten years and have four kids.  I don't get it.  I'm so glad Clint and I have stuck it out.  It has not been easy.  We have had our differences and have fought and fought hard.  But we love each other through it all and are better for it.  There are still days when I think to myself-- "man-married for ten years and we still don't understand each other".  But more often than not, we finish each others sentences and make each other laugh.  We get each other.  When we are able to pull ourselves away from the responsibilities of life and bills and babies, we have so much fun together and I'm so glad he's my partner for life.

I love you babe.

Kinder GRADUATE

 My sweet little C graduated from Kindergarten!  She sang her heart out and belted out her speaking part of "Making new friends was awesome" like a champ.  We sure love this kid.  She has loved almost every second of school this year.  She loved her teacher and has made so many pals.  She is still way too hard on herself and hates to make mistakes, but we are working on it.  Some of her writing pieces are basically being framed because I love them so much.  A few of my favorites:

 translation:

When I'm asleep when the water is on when my little sisters are in the bathtub Emery and Ivy.  Can you stop the water.

origination:

She is always so fearful that her little sisters will drown or fall in the bathtub.  She is so protective and looks out for them nonstop.  I LOVE it.

 translation:

Ducks. 

Mom please can you get out of my bed.

origination:

Beats me.  

 translation:

I love to play with dolls we have to play with my Cinderella doll.

 translation:

Dear mom,

Please can you stop waking me up.  Please can I sleep for two more minutes.

origination:

This chick is my teenager as of late.  She hates getting out of bed and is always begging me to let her sleep for two more minutes. 

 Here she is doing her thing and loving on Mrs. Hinderland.  Mrs. H was such a great teacher for both my girls.  We LOVE Eduprize. 

More May

 Still madly in love with this little baby.  She has found her voice finally and while she still won't say any words, she absolutely knows how to get her message across to us.  Loud and clear.  She is the BEST snuggler.

 Baby Lainey was blessed and this handsome crew were all able to join in.  Lainey is the most adorable baby.  She does NOT make me want to have another baby.  I keep repeating that to myself. 

 The girls entertained themselves by playing dress up.

 Having to wake up this babe from her naps is always the worst thing ever!  Especially when she looks so adorable.

 Lately, Emery insists she isn't tired and does not need a nap.  I've been letting her skip her nap every other day and just "relax" on the couch.  Usually, she ends up like this.

 Little fashionista insists on dressing herself for school each day.  Whatever, Charlotte.  Whatever.

 Another bout of sickness for these two means no sleep for me and lots of cuddles.  Which is cool.

 

 Rylee and I working a strongman session together.  Trying to keep up with a 19 year old blows.  I get less cool every year.

 THANKFULLY, these four think I'm the bomb.com and love to watch me workout.  Especially when they get sweet treats while they watch.

 We went with some friends to their cabin up in Strawberry and while getting there proved to be a bit rocky and Ivy barfed all over me the second we walked in the door and it SNOWED the whole time (which was actually awesome), we had so much fun.  The girls LOVE hanging with their friends!

Working on becoming FEARLESS.

 We survived another Sunday!  Church can be exhausting.

MAY

Apparently I'm getting worse and worse at the blog.  

I can't keep up!  

Let's start with these awesomely blurry photos 

of the cutest kids ever.