2018- KIDS

Raquel- Raquel is 18 months now! She is growing and learning so much! She is finally sleeping through the night. We've had a rough go with bedtime ever since she was born. Her and Jag are just not the best sleepers and usually each wake up at least once at night. So I was committed to getting her sleep trained before the end of the year. She got sick and has been getting in her molars, but she's still doing great. Jag really is the main problem, but he's getting better! Rocky is just so much fun. I love having her as part of our family. She is the perfect last puzzle piece to complete us. She loves to just toddle around the house carrying her baby doll and jabbering. She is loud and screams when she wants something or if something bugs her. She LOVES to dance! It is my favorite thing! She shakes her booty and puts her hand in the air and just get's down! I love it!!! She does slap you in the face, and I can't seem to break her of this! I've tried lots of different things, but she's just in that phase where she doesn't get it. But I'm going to keep at it, cuz it drives me crazy!!!!!! She follows Jag wherever he goes. She is my little shopping buddy. She got lots of baby dolls for Christmas, and it's amazing to see her cuddle and hug them and take care of them. She's so young I didn't think that would be the case, but she loves them! Every year we do draw names in our little family. Dan got Rocky, and got her a little baby doll that says, I love you!, She opened that and just hugged her and repeated I love you over and over! It was the sweetest cutest thing! It melted all our hearts! I'm begging Dan to let me go get her ears pierced because she's so bald. But he's pretty stubborn about it! Before we had her we agreed 8 would be a good age.  Well now that she's here, I obviously want it sooner. haha ridiculous I know. But how cute is it when little girls are bald with cute little earrings?! I think it's adorable. I might just go get it done and deal with the consequences! ;) She says mom, dad, baba for bottle, no, ya, go go go, bye bye, night night, thank you.....thats all I can't think of. She's a little smarty pants and can figure out how to open pretty much anything! She gets into everything! It's a good thing she's so cute! She is also awesome at putting things away and cleaning up her messes. Sounds crazy, but it's amazing. She gives the cutest kisses, and the funniest little run, and is just a happy girl!

 Jagger- Jag just turned 3 and is just the funniest little stinker. He still has a hard time speaking, I mean he says alot, it's just hard to understand him. We put him in speech therapy when he turned 2 , and he's made a ton of progress! He's grown so much this last year, it blows my mind. He is so smart and silly. He loves to dance and be goofy and make people laugh. He loves to ride fourwheelers and is obsessed with Pick ups! My dad has a dodge ram, and everytime we see one around town he says, "There's papa's truck! It's my favorite!" It's adorable. He loves to get dirty and play outside with his brothers. He loves magic sand and playdoh, monster trucks, odd bods, scary shows with monsters, books, and to wear his batman boots. He loves to be naked and just doesn't care who is around or what he's doing when he is naked! I finished potty training him a few weeks ago, and it's been amazing! He wakes up around 7:30 and goes to the bathroom, and is able to go all night without wetting the bed. Every once and a while when we aren't right there with him, he will just go in his room and pee on his carpet. Like it's the worst. his room stinks but I don't want to shampoo his carpets until he's done doing this! I don't know why he does it, it's so annoying! I thought he was done doing that, but then he did it again yesterday.  So fingers crossed we can get rid of that! It's about once a week, but still. So frustrating to feel like I have him totally potty trained, then he does that. But I'll take what I can get and having him out of diapers has been so nice!!!! He loves to be wherever his brothers are, he loves to play his little guitar, he lives for bathtime and will just lay in the bath forever if we let him, he is sweet to his sister and only gets mad if she takes his tools. We got him a little tool chest for his birthday and he totes all his tools in his tool box around all day! It's adorable. My little handy man! He's going to be in sunbeams in church now, and that is so weird! I don't know how he'll handle it, but I hope it's good for him. He likes being around kids his age, so I think he will love it. He's grown so much this year, when I was looking back at pictures from this year I couldn't believe how little he was just a year ago! He is just the funnest little guy and my little buddy while the big boys are at school.

Rafe started first grade this year. He loves to read and is so good at it. He excels in pretty  much any subject in school and is a good athlete. He's so much fun to watch play soccer! He scored a lot of goals this last season and it was fun to see him challenge himself. He is our little comedian. He makes everyone laugh all the time. He loves to make rocky laugh and is always playing with Jag, whether he likes it or not! hahaha Sometimes Jag with scream at him but other than that, he loves having someone play with him. Rafe is so sweet hearted and loves to cuddle up and be by me. Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like he always has to be right on top of me all the time, but I'm glad he still wants to be around me and snuggle with me. He struggled a little with telling white lies the beginning of the year, but has grown out of that ,thank goodness. He now is in that phase where he's kind of a tattle tale. haha he will let me know exactly what happened, who hurt who, and how it all happened. Sometimes I love it and sometimes It drives me crazy! But I'm glad that he is outgoing, has lots of friends, and isn't afraid to stand up for what he believes, or stand up to kids who might be a bully. He can get super competitive, and I love it. I was always competitive so I get it. And I love seeing that fire in his eyes when he's playing a game and it hits him. Rafe always has something funny to say, or will shock you with how smart and witty he is. He's going to be 7 next week. I feel like I was just bringing him home from the hospital. He has grown so fast and is such a good boy. He's such a great brother and I never have to ask him to do something more than once. He's so obedient and just a great kid!

Damon is a big third grader! It's crazy because I remember so much about third grade, that it's weird that I know have a kid that age. He is so sweet, such a nice boy, tries to include everyone, and please everyone. He is definitely my peace keeper in the house. He very rarely fights back with anyone and is always trying to be reasonable. He's so much more mature than I was at his age. He tries hard in school and is so smart. I can't believe how easily he picks up on math and reading. It makes me so proud. He works hard at it and is always trying to be better and that's what amazes me. He truly wants to succeed and works hard at it even when he's not at school. He's a great example to his siblings. He has recently picked up on a few swear words...... i can't help but laugh sometimes when I hear him say "ohhh sheeeiiiiitttt" (my favorite swear word) when he's playing a game or something. Then i'll be like, what did you say?! and he just looks at me and is like sorry mom! So I told him we are going to set a goal not to say any swear words this year! I can't help but blame myself and Dan. Sometimes it comes out of our own mouths or the TV and they'll over hear it, so we all need to be better. But Damon is just such a great kid. So sweet and caring and I just don't know what I did to get such sweet kids.

 Don't get me wrong, they drive me crazy and sometimes the responsibility is heavy being a mom to 4 kids, but they really are awesome. They each have their issues and their stubborn-ness and strong personalities, but I love that about them! I can't believe how big they are all getting. It's weird to think there will be no more little babies added to our family, but I'm excited for the next chapter and seeing them each grow and develop into who they are supposed to be! I just hope I am qualified enough to try and lead them down the right path and help them along the way! I'm just trying to soak up the stages they are in and take the good with the bad and just enjoy them as much as I can!

2018 Continued!

After Lake Powell, the kids and Dan met me in Utah so that we could go to Mac's baby blessing. Seeing Beth and David become parents has been so fun. They are awesome with our kids and we always knew they'd be great. Mac is a luckily little guy! He is so sweet and chubby and is such a good baby!

John and Bridget and their cute family came to visit us in July. We met them at lagoon and had to best day!!!! The kids don't really know each other, but they went on rides and hung out together like they've never been apart! Instant best friends. It was so sweet to see. I really wish we lived closer to Dan's family, I want our kids to be close to their cousins. So these trips really mean a lot to me! We had so much fun at lagoon and the days after, we just hung out at our house and played games and let the kids have fun together! It was such a fun trip and I am determined to see them once a year! This year we are going to try and drive over to the east and see all Dan's siblings. Johns in Pennsylvania, joe is in Maryland, Brynne is in Indiana, Tim is going to be in Alabama, so that just leaves us and beth over in the west. So hopefully we can make a big trip and go see everyone!

I went to Montana for my cousin's wedding. My mom was adopted when she was 5, but has found her biological family. This is her biological niece who I've never met. My aunts were also going to be at the wedding with more cousins and family that I've never met before. So I jumped at the chance to go! I love my aunt Patty and Aunt Julie! It is always so crazy to me how much they look a like, their mannerisms, and temperaments are all the same! Their husbands are the nicest guys and it was just so much fun to be around them for a few days! The wedding was beautiful and it was so cool to be with all these people who are family, but I've never known. We took a drive up in the mountains on our way back home, and took the long way through yellowstone. It was fun to do that with my parents and just get to talk for hours and not have to worry about anything else. It was a trip i'll never forget!

After a very exhaustive and draining time in his life, Dan decided to quit his job in August. It ultimately was the best decision for us.  It was so scary to think about going job hunting again, but it was the best thing he could have done. He's so much happier and just feels free. Nothing he ever did seemed good enough at his last job. His confidence was shot. He worked so hard and was just unappreciated for years. We job searched for a while and had some promising things, but they didn't pan out. So out of desperation and little by little Dan started doing online work for different businesses and it's built up to be something that can sustain us nicely so we are rolling with it! It's amazing how things can look so promising, then it doesn't work and forces you to take a different path, then it ends up being the best decision and you wonder why you didn't do it sooner. Anyway, we hope this new venture keeps going like it is, we are just praying and working so that we can have a great 2019.

We went to the Oregon coast the end of October. It's one of my favorite places in the world! It's where Dan and I went on our honeymoon, and I vacationed there lots as a kid. It's so healing for me to go there. It's just a whole different type of beauty. While we were there we decided to take family pictures in front of Haystack rock. They turned out awesome and I'm so glad we forced it! It was going to rain most of our trip so we were just waiting for the right window. We had to hike like a mile down the beach to get to the right spot, hauling all the camera equipment and two toddlers, but it was worth it! It's such a special spot for us, and we have lots of pics of the two of us in front of it on our honeymoon, that it's fun to have pics of our little family in the same spot almost 10 years later. We just used a self timer and a tripod. It worked better than having someone behind the camera! hahaha I don't know how, but our little ones looked and smiled perfectly in most of the pictures! That never happens!!! We had such a fun trip just exploring and hitting our favorite spots. Swimming in the pool, looking for seashells and sand dollars, playing on the beach, eating at Mo's, and shopping for fun souvenirs.  Definitely one of my favorite trips to the coast! We stopped at Multnomah falls on our way home which was seriously so amazing! I've never stopped and it was so beautiful! All the fall colors were so amazing and vibrant! And the falls were unreal! We were at the coast over Halloween so on our way, we were able to take the kids to a trunk or treat with some of our friends, the Ashton's. We had so much fun and it was nice to still let the kids do halloween and not have to worry about doing it on our trip! We were just going to find a random neighborhood in Oregon and let them go door to door, so this was a much better and easier thing. Rafe lost a tooth on our way to the coast. I had to pull it out. barf. I hate loose teeth! It's so gross to me and having to pull it off the last little bit of gums was seriously so gross to me! Hahaha but he was so excited about it!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family. That was fun and we got spend lots of time with friends and family while we were there.  We set up Christmas before we left. We normally do it right after Thanksgiving, but since we were going to be in Melba, we did it before. I love having Christmas up. And Dan and I have so much Christmas stuff I feel like we need 2 months to really enjoy it and appreciate how long it takes to set it all up! It was fun to come home to and feel like it was Christmastime! It's our favorite time of year. I could totally leave Halloween and Thanksgiving! Give me Christmas for a few months and i'd be a happy girl!

The second week in December we took the kids on the "polar express" in Heber. We got to ride on the train, sing songs, had hot chocolate and cookies, and go to see Santa! My parents met us in Utah so they could come with us. We have talked about doing it for a few years, so we were so excited to do it! It was such a fun time and our kids thought it was the coolest thing! I can't wait to do it again next year! After our train ride we went to my parents condo's in Midway and spent the next day and a half there, playing games and swimming and making lots of fun memories.

Dan's parents were able to come for Christmas! We had so much fun, and it was so busy, I hardly took any pictures! But i'm so glad we will have the memories! We made sugar cookies, went sledding, make gingerbread houses, had hot chocolate, played lots of games, watched christmas movies, and just enjoyed each other's company! We had Beth and David and Mac, and Tim and Mikiah here as well so it was a big party! Christmas Day was magical as always. It was definitely one of my favorite Christmas's. I say that every year i swear, but it's just so fun seeing my kids get excited about Santa and their gifts. We made the boys wait until 8, then we got everyone up and opened presents. It was so fun watching them open everything and see the excitement on their faces!  Santa brought them a nintendo switch, which has been a big hit! It's so much fun playing it as a family. We definitely all got spoiled this Christmas. It was so fun to have it with Dan's family. Since everyone is so spread out we never get to do Christmas with his side, except for Damon's first Christmas when we went to Florida. So it was nice to have them here! I just wish I would have taken more pics!

New Year's Eve we had Tim and Mikiah over and we watched the ball drop and had IBC cream soda and just had a good time.

I can't believe this year is over. It's been full of fun things and trips and lots of memories with our families! That's all that matters to me! I love creating these memories for our kids to have and taking these trips even though it can be hard to want to travel places with small kids! It throws them off their routines and nap times, makes them cranky, and driving is always difficult. But it's always worth it. If there's been one main thing I've learned this year, it's that you have to force yourself to make theses memories. I've gotten to a point where doing anything outside of the main responsibilities of being a parents sound exhausting. I'm quick to shoot things down so that I don't have to go outside my comfort zone. But it's always worth it. Having little kids is hard and demanding, but these trips we took this year, and the fun adventures we went on were things i'll never forget! One of my main goals for next year is to get out of my comfort zone, say yes more often, and continue to create lots of memories with my kids and our families.

2018

A whole year went by and I didn't blog once! How crazy! I just want to do a highlight from 2018 and do a little update on all the kids and how life is going! It might be a little long but I feel like I need to document this last year so I don't forget it all!
Rafe turned 6!!! I can't believe he is that old. I seriously hate my kids growing up. His next birthday is just a week away and he'll be 7 and I want to cry. It goes by too fast!!!! But on his 6th birthday, my sister had her baby, Henry, so I was at the hospital with her that morning. I got to be in the delivery room and it was seriously one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. She did amazing and her little boy is one of the sweetest little guys ever! It's one thing to have your own birthing experiences, and mine weren't always magical, but to see your sister go through that moment was seriously something so special. I'll never forget it!
So after Henry was born, I headed back to my parents to get some sleep before we started the birthday celebrations for Rafe. I stopped on the way home to grab some donuts for breakfast, he LOVES donuts! It's kind of a birthday tradition to have donuts for breakfast. That day we went to wahooz and let the kids play their little hearts out. We went to lunch, grabbed some cupcakes and ice cream and a redbox and just had a little movie night/birthday party with our little family. My family was helping shaunie and tyler and were visiting them in the hospital so it was just our little family for most the day. But it was a special day and now he gets to share his birthday with his sweet little cousin!

Dan and I celebrated 9 years of marriage! Crazy to think it's been that long! I love that man, and would chose him a million times over!

For spring break, we took the 18 hr drive to Monterey to see Joe and Thea and their girls. The trip started off great. We had fun staying in the hotel and swimming and ordered pizza and just had a good time. Sleeping in one hotel room with two babies is a nightmare though! One little sound and they wake up and everyone else! Once we got to Joe and Thea's we had a nice evening together. it was st. Patricks day so we watched boondocks saints-one of dan's favorites! And Dan's family has a lot of Irish in them so he loves to celebrate St. Pattys. During the movie he kept complaining about his lower back hurting. So I was trying to rub it and help him out, but it didn't subside, and was just getting worse. Joe has lots of experience with kidney stones so when dan told him what he was experiencing, Joe knew exactly what was going on. So after making Dan work out the pain for a few hours I finally agreed to let him go to the emergency room. That sounds so mean, I know, But we were in a different state and I wasn't sure if our insurance would work or not. So I was hesitant because ER trips are not cheap. I was hoping it would subside. It didn't. So he went and got lots of pain killers and stayed the rest of the night there. He was pretty drugged up the rest of our trip. We were still able to do some fun things even though Dan was pretty drugged up! haha Joe and Thea got us into the monterey aquarium, which was so amazing! So we did that for two days. We took the kids to the beach and let them play while we played bocce ball. They have the coolest park and I think we hit that up twice, maybe three times! Dan finally passed his kidney stone but at the point I was so burned out. He was able to go golfing with Joe and had so much fun, then we headed out the next day. I was dreading that drive home and everything that came with it, so I just wanted to rip the bandaid off. That dang kidney stone put a damper on our trip, but I am so glad that we went and saw joe and thea and got to hang out with them for a few days! I wished we lived closer!!

We had a good Easter, my family came to hang out with us that weekend. We colored eggs, and had an easter egg hunt and a big dinner. The usual! I'm sure we played about 20 rounds of pinochle while they were here too! It's always fun to have family around for holidays!

The boys were both in soccer for two seasons. They have grown so much and are so fun to watch! It gets a little crazy with different practices and game times. It seems like it's all we do! So we took the winter off from sports to just slow down a little. They both also played machine pitch baseball. Also a lot of fun to watch and see them grow as players. But so hard to sit and watch with jag and Rocky trying to run everywhere! Rafe also played flag football in the fall and that was pretty boring. Hahaha I think i'm going to pass on signing him up for that for a few years until it's a little more fun. I couldn't get Damon in on a team, he was pretty bummed. This year we will probably let them each pick two sports to play. I also want to get them into piano or guitar lessons. They got guitars for Christmas and I would love to have them start learning how to play!

We had a busy summer full of friends and family coming to visit, sports, birthdays, and fun celebrations.

Dan's parent's came to visit for a week or so! They were here for Damon's baptism, which was so nice! I love that even though they are far away, they always make an effort to make it to these big moments! It will be special for damon to look back and remember that they were there and the effort it took for them to come across the US for him. We had lots of fun while they were here! We played lots of games, ate lots of good food, had a fire in the backyard and had smores, and just enjoyed eachothers company! We sure love grammy Val and Papa Tom!

Damon turned 8, we had a huge water party in our backyard with 18 little boys and 5 dozen donuts that were devoured so fast! They had such a good time! Damon was baptized and was lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents here to be apart of his special day! We also had tim and mikiah, colby and lia, and shaunie and tyler. It was such a special day. I can't believe that we are already to that point. 8 years old. It just blows my mind. Damon is such a sweet boy. He's so loving and conscious of others and their feelings. He's the best big brother, best helper, he is so smart and tries so hard at school, he's sensitive, has lots of friends, and tries so hard to be a good boy. And he is. I'm so lucky to be his mom and watch him grow into the sweet boy he is today!

Rocky turned one and we had a fun time celebrating her! It was so fun to make her unicorn cake and dress her up and take her pictures. She is such a fiesty little girl! She is bossy and independent and just everywhere all the time! She started walking the week of her birthday and has been running everywhere ever since! She loves her brothers and they adore her! She is just our little doll! I love to dress her up and paint her toe nails and just do all the little girl things with her. She is still super bald, has little gapped teeth like her momma, and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. Everyone always stops and comments on how blue her eyes are. She's got long dark eyelashes that just make them pop even more. She's beautiful and sweet, but also so sassy. She likes to hit and slap you right in the face. She shows no remorse and just scowls at you like it's all your fault. She also has the LOUDEST and HIGHEST scream you've ever heard. It hasn't gone away yet despite all my prayers. It seriously is the worst sound ever. We are totally those people in the restaurant when the baby screams and everyone stops and looks. Yeah, that's not fun. hahaha hopefully someday soon it will go away or just tone down a few octaves!

It was weird to think it was the last time we will be celebrating a one year old birthday party though. I love having babies and seeing them grow up, but I am ready for the next chapter.

The end of june, beginning of July, we went to Mccall with my family. We went four wheeling and exploring in the mountains, we went swimming, watched movies, played games, and just hung out as a family and it was so much fun! My boys are obsessed with fourwheelers and grandpa's big truck. They love being with everyone! It's great getting together with all my siblings and their kids and my parents and just creating memories. It was a great week! Then we headed to Melba for the fourth of July and stayed for a few days after then headed home. The 4th of July is usually when my Heiner side all gets together for a family reunion of sorts. Its always so great to see all my aunts and uncles and cousins. We have such a huge family, so it's always nice to see everyone!

In august I got to go to Lake Powell with some of my favorite people! I love to waterski and wakeboard, and I used to go all the time growing up. Being married, living far away, and always pregnant or nursing a baby makes it hard to go! I was able to go with Mike and my dad about 4 years ago, and I had so much fun! Mike and my dad go every year and meet up with some of mike's family, they have the house boat and mike brings his ski boat and they just party all week. So after going that first time, I've been desperate to go again! So I  invited myself and luckily it all worked out! Tim and Mikiah and Dan managed the kids while I was gone and I went and just had so much fun! I feel like I'm with long lost family when I'm with the Tenneys, Whitings, and English's! They are seriously some of the best people i've ever met and I will always cherish my week in Lake powell with them! It was such a nice break. I've been struggling with Post Partum depression and anxiety and having that week to myself to just escape my mom responsibilities did so much for me. That might sound bad to some people, but when you're a mom or dad, you always take a back seat to your children's needs. Your hobbies and things you love to do kind of dissapear and you just focus every day on them and their needs and keeping everyone happy and alive! haha It's exhausting. And having Raquel really kicked my butt and I just felt like I was running on fumes forever! Sometimes it still feels like that, but it's getting better! That week away just helped me balance out a little better and come back energized and ready to tackle all my mom responsibilities! Of course I had mom guilt while I was gone, I hate that. But for the most part I was able to just relax and have fun knowing that my kids were taken care of while I took some time to myself.



To be continued!