Final Days of Summer

As the final days of summer are passing by us, I am getting a little sad that the kids are going back to school. It's been nice having little helpers and sleeping in (I've trained the kids that during the summer they are supposed to stay up super late and then sleep in really late, too! But now we are back to a regular sleep schedule and it's not so fun!). We've been hanging out with friends, going to Grammy and Papa's, swimming, playing the Wii, playing Rock Band, watching movies... just doing all the fun summer time things you should do! Though we really didn't go on vacation (the kids went to Utah and we all went to Payson for a weekend) we've still had a lot of fun.

This week has been the hardest. Bry left Sunday for Chicago until Wednesday and then flew from Chicago to San Fran for the rest of the week. I know that I should be used to him going on business trips, but I'm totally not. I hate sleeping alone, and everyone who knows me knows I'm massively paranoid and swear that at night we're going to be kidnapped or something. lol. Last night we didn't get home until 1 (I told you we stay out late) and when we got home I checked the house like 3 times over. Then I woke up at like 6 to let the dog out (how do I make her stop barking so flippen early?!) and the kids bathroom light was on- never once did I think that a kid got up and went potty and didn't turn it off, I thought someone was in the house. I'm telling you, I'm crazy! I'm for sure glad Bry will be home tomorrow night!

We've also been taking this Marriage and Family Class through the Church. It's sooo good! This week will be our 3rd week, and it's so amazing how much I feel it's already helped our marriage. Most wards offer the class, so if you haven't taken it I would TOTALLY recommend it. It's not for marriages that are failing, it's to help strengthen your marriage. There are couples in there that have been married 30 years and then Bry and I who have been married 16 months- and everything in between!

What else? Oh, I'm back to having dark hair, and so much happier! lol. I need to take a pic of it but am totally slacking today and haven't done my hair yet! I also gave Natali bangs, they are sooo cute!

Just wanted to update everyone! Oh, the pics were the other morning (at 10:30) when I went into the boys room. Giovanni refuses to sleep on the top bunk, and this is how I found the boys! Cute, huh? What do you think of the wall color? Pretty cool, huh?

FHE

A few months ago I bought this book while I was at Deseret Book called "Before they Turn 12: Helping Children Gain a Testimony of the Lord's Standards". On the cover it said it was good for families with children aged 5-12, and that pretty much covers 2/3 of my kids, so I got it! With the move and everything I hadn't gotten the chance to use the book yet until last night. Basically the book introduces the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet to children and each lesson covers a different topic. While I was reading the lesson yesterday morning I was so excited to teach this to my kids. So I went to the distribution center (ps I LOVE living so close to all these great places!!) and got the pamphlets for my kids. I hadn't looked at one of those in a really long time, so it was cool to go back and flip through.

Anyway, last night was awesome! The kids got really into the lesson and were super excited about it. Last night was the introduction and we read the message from the first presidency. While at the distribution center I picked up a picture of the first presidency and of Christ, which also helped out with the lesson. We read about how if we follow the instruction that laid out for us in the book we would receive many blessings from being faithful. The kids were excited to learn and to hear about how important it is to follow the Prophet. The lesson was quick, but powerful and the Spirit was so strong.

If you have kids and are looking for some FHE ideas, this book is awesome! I highly recommend it.

Linds and Don

So, I know I've mentioned that we have these super good friends over here, The Rogers (Linds and Don), and we hang out with them pretty much every night. It's super fun because we go to each others houses, our kids play and we get to have fun too! Well last week (I think it was last week) we went on a double date with them while Jen watched all 7 of our kids (she's a total trooper!). We had soo much fun! We were going to go to dinner and a movie but we ended up leaving our house at 9:30 and hardly made it to the restaurant before it closed so we just had dinner, dessert, and a drive.

We went to Chili's for dinner and a guy I used to hang out with from culinary school was the manager there, so it was fun to catch up with him. I bet he thought Linds and I were drunk though, we were having soo much fun and laughing soo hard! The guys didn't find us as funny as we found ourselves, but secretly, I know they had fun too!

A few days after that their dog was going to have her puppies, so we went over to experience that. I think Bry thought that I was crazy because he knew the kids would ask all sorts of questions, but I thought this was a really cool thing and a great time to explain to them how a baby (or puppy in this situation) was born. Punkin (yep, that's how you say it, and that's how I say it too! lol) had 6 puppies and was such a good sport. She was spooked with the first one and jumped up to run away but we got her to lay back down and then she was a pro. Linds wasn't home from work yet so I was the birthing coach along with Don and I took pictures all along the way. (Don't worry, I won't post the nasty ones) We didn't let the kids watch them all come out because the first one wasn't very active and we weren't sure if he'd survive but he did so then we let the kids watch the last 2 being born. It was cool because like 10 minutes after Linds got home from work Punkin had the last one, so Linds totally felt included. lol. It was a really neat experience, and I totally want a puppy, but am forcing myself to realize we can't have 2 dogs. Bry is a big help with making me realize that because he is just getting used to Sophie.

So I was also just going through my pics and found some super cute ones of my kiddos and my hubby, so I'm adding those for your viewing pleasure! :)