Extremes

I was thinking the other day about motherhood. And the extremes that I go through on a daily basis parenting our kids.

Presley is at a really hard stage right now. She is a little destructo. This week alone she has gotten into fingernail polish, lipstick, an entire brand new industrial size bag of goldfish (which she subsequently dumped onto the floor), a loaf of bread, a glass pumpkin lid (which didn't survive and even cut Pacie's foot in the process) and just this morning she got into a box of powdered donut holes and spread them all over the carpet. JUST THIS WEEK ALONE. Here is a peek at her trail of destruction this morning.

And then there's Landon. There are many many tales I could tell about him. Just a couple reminders.....the paper shredder incident and the carpet fingernail polish incident. Another recent favorite is when he and Presley are in the tub and they splash to the point of totally flooding the bathroom. In fact, they've been caught several times doing cannonballs into the tub off of the sides. Please notice the filthy dirty shirt and the crumbs all over the couch. I don't know why he was eating on the couch, mind you...but there you go.

When things like that happen, it is very difficult to keep my cool. I do always try to look on of the bright or the funny side of things. I do try to remember that these moments are small ones and do not have eternal consequences.

And then I see pictures like this:

And have moments like this:

And I know why I have extremes. Because I love these kids more than life itself. All of my kids. These two are just cause the most anxiety at the moment. I love being a mommy. And the extreme frustration and discouragement is completely balanced out by the extreme love and adoration I have for all of my kids.

And I guess it's true what they say: You can't know the joy without the sorrow. You can't know the good without the bad. And I'm sure I wouldn't appreciate the good days without the bad ones.

In the meantime, I will just keep trying to laugh and remember that my kids will be grown and gone in the blink of an eye. And I will miss those powdered donuts scattered across the floor.

Happy Halloween...a couple of weeks early!!

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Happy Anniversary, Scott

Today, 9 years ago, Scott and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful sunny day. It was also the beginning of something I only could've dreamed of. Scott is truly my best friend, my biggest supporter, and the most amazing daddy to our kids. I am so grateful that he is forever mine and that there have been "no complaints or doubts". I love you, Scott! Happy Anniversary!

Family

All of the family.

A couple of weekends ago we were able to go to Utah to attend the baby blessing of Mitch and Sarah's baby boy, Jack. He was born on July 9th (Pacie's birthday) and is the cutest little guy. It was so fun for the five of us siblings to be together with my parents for even a few short hours. Mitch and Sarah live the farthest away in Las Vegas. But really, we are not too spread out. Matt and I are here in Idaho Falls with my parents, Rachel and Danny are in Logan, and Tyler and Ashlee are in West Jordan. We do get to see each other more than some, but it has been a while since the whole family was together.

Mitch did a beautiful job on the blessing and we were able to go to a luncheon at Sarah's sisters house afterward. (We took some really nice family pictures there that Rachel has on her camera and I am waiting for my copy....) But I wanted to put these pictures up today, especially after hearing Elder Bednar's conference talk this morning.

I do not tell my siblings often enough how much I love them. And although this probably counts as a public telling (even though it's not sacrament meeting) I want them to know how much I do love and respect all of them. Also, I hope by my actions, they know how much I do love each of them, their spouses (and girlfriend...;) and their kids.

Thanks, mom and dad, for raising us to be friends and creating memories and bonds from such a young age that are still holding strong today. I love the two of you both more than you know as well.

Gramps with his two handsome grandsons, Landon and Jack.

My handsome dad, brother and baby boy.

Gramps with Jack. I love his little face!!

Mamie and Gramps with all of their grandkids.

9 Total. 7 girls and 2 boys!

Our little family with Mitch and Sarah, Ari and Jack and Mamie and Gramps.

How thankful I am for eternal families.

I will post our other family pics when I get them. You can actually see everyone in them-all of the adults anyway! :)

Just call me mom.

Landon has started coming to preschool with me two days a week. Things have been going pretty smoothly. It has been a little difficult establishing different boundaries during school time and then during normal time. But overall I have been really happy with his behavior and progress.

Yesterday we were talking about Clowns (and Cookies). I was helping a very sad boy with his paper when I hear Landon saying, "Mom. Mommy. Moooom.". I didn't react instantly, as I was really trying to get this sobbing little boy to be not so sobbing anymore.

All of the sudden I hear:

"MRS. TAFT!" come out of Landon's mouth.

I immediately turned and looked at him with a half smile, half shocked look on my face.

"I NEED HELP!".

I patted the sobbing boy on the back and went to help my own son.

It sounded so funny to hear him address me as "Mrs. Taft", but I guess he realized that was the only way to get my attention.

I will listen from now on when he says, "Mommy!!"

And just because he is so dang cute, here are a couple of his silly clown faces. I couldn't resist!

My little patch of heaven....

When Scott and I built our house, we had no idea how much work it would be to get the yard in. Scott has been working a ton in the yard and he (and I do mean he...I haven't done a thing out there!!!) finally has everything pretty much prepped and hopefully we will be planting here shortly. But for now, I have a little patch of heaven in my backyard.

My parents are doing an addition on the back of their house and had to cut away some sod to make room. They graciously offered to come and give it to us. We decided to put it right around our back door-kind of a natural dirt stopper, I hope!

They came and worked to get it ready and had most of it laid in no time. Scott and my dad worked on it the next morning to get it all finished up. I can't believe the difference a little grass makes!! It will be so fun to have a full yard of green grass in the spring. It really is the little things that make a girl happy!

One of my friends commented the other day about how great my parents are. I have to agree-and I'll add my brother Matt to the list. He does so much for us-I'm thankful he's right next door. He is a great uncle and friend to me and to my kids!

So thanks, mom and dad for our little patch of heaven in the backyard! And thanks again for your work in putting it in. Love you!

PS Don't we grow cute flowers around here??

Fun at the Fair

For the last five years, Scott and I have worked with our friends (the Smith Family) at the fair at their food booth. We serve teriyaki and sweet & sour chicken, philly cheese steak sandwiches and the all favorite fried candy bars, twinkies and oreos. It is always a great time!!

My parents have taken over fair touring duties with our kids the past couple of years and the kids have loved going to the fair with Mamie and Gramps. It is fun because they bring them to see us and then take them to see the animals, eat cotton candy, and basically spoil them because that's what grandparents do best. :) Thanks again, mom and dad for taking our kids and giving them a great time!

Here are a few highlights from the Fair, 2009.

Landon did NOT like the pigs. The closer my mom would push the stroller to the pigs, the farther apart he would put his legs so that he wasn't close to the snout. So funny!

Hard at work at Yan Kee Kan Kook. Even Parker and Pacie got to help for a few minutes and they each earned a dollar for their labors. :) Thanks to our wonderful friends for letting us be a part of your fair experience!

In the back, making the fried goodies. We did something like 400 twinkies and 4 boxes of snickers on Friday. (around 250) People like their fried sweets!! (Next year they are doing fried cheesecake and I'll tell you...it's a must try!!!)