lately

:: I wish Corbin was in this picture ::

At the beginning of 2018 I sort of made a goal that I would be better at documenting our family life here. And here we are, almost at the end of February, and not one post. I think I'm making it more difficult than it needs to be. :) Time to change that and get these stories, pictures, and moments on this page because my memory is horrible and I don't want to forget these happy (and hard) times. Right now feels like the ideal time in our little family. I wish I could pause time for a while and just soak it up even more, but I've said that before. So I'm hopeful that I'll say it again in the future.

The last couple of weeks has been, if I could sum it up in one word, ROUGH. Two weeks ago Corbin came home with a headache and then hardly left the couch for nearly a week. In his fourteen years, I have never seen him so sick. It's been a week since he has started to feel better, and he is still EXHAUSTED. Yesterday he came home from school and slept the rest of the afternoon, woke up to eat a couple of bites, and then went back to bed for the night. We're not sure if he's still recovering or going through a serious growth spurt :) 

During that time, Rudger missed almost a week of school (he even missed Valentines day) :( Taylor missed a few days, Adeline was a little under the weather and Justin and I kept feeling like we had something but it never knocked us down. Last Friday I was talking to Levi's teacher and she asked how we were all feeling. She said Levi came to school and told her "I do NOT want to go home, everyone in my family is sick and I don't want it!" Then he told her he was just going to avoid the couch because that's where all the sick people are sleeping.  So far it's worked out for him :) (and he really did come home)

During that time, Adeline threw my phone in the bathtub and I was terrified that I had lost all 3,475 pictures and 100 + videos that were on there (that I am silly enough to not have backed up). Although we did figure out that Taylor's tablet has all my pictures from my phone on there. Something to do with the cloud and that his tablet is under my account??? I really don't get technology. But thank goodness.

Luckily, after a couple of days in rice, my phone was perfectly fine. I offered a lot of gratitude prayers and then spent a couple of days trying to get pictures off my phone and then organized all our photos from 2012. (I was on a roll) During that time, I don't know how on earth I did it, but I lost almost all the videos from 2016. I. was. devastated. I tried EVERYTHING to find them, but had no success. I cried over the fact that those were videos of Adeline as a 3-11 month old (some of my very favorite stages) After many tears, I just came to terms with the fact that they were gone and I would cherish the few videos we do have. (There are a couple on Instagram and we do have the videos from her first birthday and everything after that) 

Life moves on and I realized we are so lucky to live in a time where we CAN record so many happy moments. And as bad as my memory is, I won't forget that precious year with Adeline. They are some of my happiest memories. (And we still have hundreds and hundreds of pictures) :) 

So the past couple of weeks has been rough, but there have been so many good moments too. The cuddles on the couch, smiling while looking through thousands of pictures, evenings at home watching the Olympics together. I'll take them all. 

in the middle of july

 :: we keep things balanced around here - books and electronics ::

 :: frog hunting, kayaking, and mud ::

 :: lollipop cookies while watching the new beauty and the beast ::

 :: wednesday night at Lagoon and just waiting for the others to finish riding the bat ::

:: lunch with grandma and grandpa :: 

 :: visiting cousin Scarlett for her birthday + having a lightsaber fight with the cutest one year old cousin ::

:: waiting for icecream and lemon custard + I am in love with this picture :: 

:: ♥ reading beauty and the beast ♥ :: 

 :: lagoon a beach on a friday night ::

:: this is Adeline trying to be like her brothers giving peace signs + I love seeing these brothers walk and chat and play games

 :: a tough hike up to adam's canyon, but these kids did awesome and it was worth it ::

These summer days have been extra busy, but full of adventure and hopefully good memories for these kids. I went to the store the other day and they actually had school stuff out...in the middle of July! That's cruelty. But we'll try to continue to make the most of our summer.

march at a glance

It's been a long time since I have sat down to document life. I miss it. Not much has happened, but that's for the best because we are gearing up for one of the busiest months of the year.

 :: I will never tire of seeing the boys like this ::

 :: We got together with Mandi and Jon for a rootbeer tasting evening ::

I will just say that I am completely happy to stick with my A&W.

 :: This night was nearly the most perfect night ::

 :: This is how we roll sometimes ::

 :: Seriously, this kid will wear his play clothes under his church clothes ::

 :: Rudger LOVES when his brothers get home from school. They break out leftover lunch and play to their hearts content. ::

 :: Lately this has been his favorite thing to do ::

 :: Why do I wait too long before running errands? ::

:: We celebrated 3.14.15 with some friends, it was quite tasty ::

 :: Happy Birthday to my mom! ::

 :: I love that my dad takes the time to talk with my kids and teach them what he knows. Being a DJ, he knows music. Corbin was excited to tell him that his class will be singing 'Hound Dog' by Elvis. ::

 :: St. Patty's Day this year. As soon as they walked in the door from school, they built a leprechaun trap. ::

 :: We take the Family Home Evening treat very seriously ::

:: Corbin + his cheesy smile + his book report of King Arthur knighting Sir Lancelot ::

 :: I've said it before and I'll say it again, Justin really is the fun parent ::

:: Rudger worked and worked to learn how to peddle his tricycle. :: 

He loved it until he got stuck and couldn't get his feet to turn the peddles. It was sad and a little pathetic. 

so far this month

With the boys back in school, I decided that Rudger and I should try out story time at the Library. Rudger was not at all interested, so we checked out half the books there and came home to have our own story time. 

All the bonding we did over Christmas break has extended into the new year. They played adventure games and some basketball.

For our Family Home Evening activity, we built towers as tall as we could.

1. Rudger - dad's harmonica, mom's headband, no pants - it's how he rolls.
2. Now that the boys are back in school, Rudger wants my undivided attention. I let him watch Curious George to extend his breakfast time so I can get a few extra minutes to clean up.

Seriously love these men of mine.

Obviously most of my January days are spent with our baby. Even after bedtime when mom and dad just want to lay in bed and watch a movie...he thinks he needs to be there. *sigh*

January has been pretty good to us so far. We are getting used to being back in school and work, having routines again, and having to actually make dinner. January is when I do my spring cleaning. It feels soooo good. I started this week in Corbin and Taylor's room. Maybe if I am on top of it, I'll even show pictures on Monday. Happy January!