Home Sweet Home

Dale turned 8 and was baptized. I was surprised how seriously he took it. Around the time he turned 8 he really tried to start being more reverent at church and would bring a huge bag that he could put Justin's scriptures in for church. I asked him if he wanted to get baptized and he said he did so he could be forgiven of all his sins. It made me sad to think this awesome kid thought he had sins needing repentance of. We had a talk about what a good kid he is and how he hasn't done anything at this point that is sinful. He gets in trouble for the amount of energy he needs to let out sometime, but we love him all the same. We went to the temple for some pictures for his announcement and the Gilbert Temple was closed so we headed over to Mesa. He is such a handsome kid I could hardly choose a favorite!

Adaira's bathroom mirror. This 11yr old amazes me. After testing in, she chose to go to a more intensive school for middle school that has a longer day than her 6th grade at elementary school, so she goes to school an hour longer every day. Every morning she wakes herself up as early as 6am so she is ready to leave by 7am. She is never, EVER late. She makes her own breakfast, does her own hair, does all of her homework completely on her own without any reminders from me. She is completely self sufficient. She puts herself to bed on time because she has to wake up early. She likes eating salad! She wants to be a nurse and chose the school she's going to now because it will put her on track to get up to a year of college credit by the time she graduates. As an end of the year 5th grader this option appealed to her last year! I couldn't have cared less about those things at her age. She hates being younger than Brighton because it means he is ahead of her in school and thus, i...

Dale is a different kid. He has always worried me, he has been the source of most of my motherhood tears, he has pushed me to my limits for my patience, anger, and my love. I honestly almost lost my mind when he was a toddler, I'm not even sure I have it back yet! With so much sacrifice comes such a greater depth of love though. He is the darling of my heart. Big Dale turned 8 today. He had a half day at school so I let him choose to stay home with me all day. After breakfast I couldn't find him and was looking for him and found him sitting on top of our shipping container with sunglasses, a water bottle, and a spray bottle to keep him cool as he watched the tractor moving dirt in the lot next to ours as it prepped for a building pad. He said he was sitting inside watching TV and heard the tractor and thought "You know, it's not often in my life I get to see this kind of stuff" so he went out to watch and had a great view.  These pictures are screenshots ...

Summer of 2017 was SO busy! A few days after school ended, on June 3rd, we went up to Payson to try a new swiming hole called Water Wheel. It was about a 1.5mi hike, which Daisy whined most of the way through. It was hot but we quickly forgot our hot misery when we made it to the water, which was so cold! The hike back up was so much easier after we were all cooled off. Adaira wasn't with us because she was finishing up a week up at Grandma Jo's with her cousin Addie.  June 7th, we took the kids down to Tucson for the temple open house. It was a long and hot day, but always such a blessing to be able to take our children through the temple. Aunt Leza and cousins joined us, as did Sister Infanger and two of her kids, Ainsley and August. Adaira rode to and from Tucson in Ainsley's car and just loved it. On June 8th Brighton boarded a plane in the wee hours of the morning to fly by himself to Salt Lake City. He was picked up by Justin's cousin ...