Easter

We hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. We had fun coloring our eggs and having an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. The Easter bunny did find us down here is Arizona so the kids were excited about that.

Bikes and Scooters

Lizzie is trying so hard to reach the toys; I love how she stands on her tippy toes!


So nonchalant about everything...just casually drinks her water as she watches her older brother and sister.


These two are totally crazy! They get it from their dad I swear.


"When I get big I'm going to be a Park Ranger just like my dad!"


Scooter race..ready set go!


It didn't take him long to catch up to his sister and then started riding in circles around her.


Annalyn finally learned to ride her bike without training wheels! We practiced all summer LAST YEAR and she couldn't quite get it. Then 7 months later, one day last week she just decided to get on her bike and whala! she could do it! She's doing great and she's so proud of herself!

4 Year Old Jacob

We celebrated Jacob's 4th birthday yesterday. It makes me wonder why times flies so fast and why kids grow so fast! He is such sweet little guy; he even waited until after Cody got home from work to open his presents because he didn't want to do it without his daddy there! He had a great day and we love this little boy so much!

My Sunshines

These kiddies of mine...they make me smile. They are like my little rays of sunshine making it impossible to frown.

Reflection

Today has been a reflection day. I often have these days where I think about my trials and everything that has happened in my life to bring me to this point. It was also kind of an emotional day; which mostly happened just because of my reflections. Cody left for training today in Tucson, just for two weeks, so not that long. In the eternal scheme of things, two weeks is nothing. When I woke up this morning I had deja vu; well actually I felt like that all day. I kept thinking about what it felt like when he left for the academy almost year ago. I know two weeks does not even compare to three months but I still couldn't help but think about it. I'm so glad that he is finally doing what he loves and he has my full support but it gets hard saying goodbye to him. So I'm thinking about all of this along with the fact that I'm living somewhere new, far away from family, and we are all still adjusting and there absolutely nothing to do in this town besides go to the dollar store and wondering what I can do to keep me sane until he gets back. Then this afternoon we decide to watch Legacy with the kids...church history and pioneers have a soft spot in my heart so I cry every time I watch this movie anyway, but today I was already keeping my feelings in check, trying to be the strong wife and mom, and trying to figure out why I was feeling such a wreck inside anyway. As I sat there with my husband on my right, my baby on my lap and my two other children to my left, I realized (for the umpteenth time) that my family is my whole life. I am so thankful for the knowledge of eternal families. I realized that my husband may be leaving for two weeks but I know he's coming back. I will see him soon. I get to talk to him every night. I could say goodbye and know that I'll see him again; instead of saying goodbye wondering if I'll ever see him again. After everything that has happened in the last year, my emotions/realizations/thoughts/reflections just came to a point and I thought how blessed I am. I have realized time and time again that if we are doing what we are supposed to nothing happens by coincidence. We will be taken care of. Everything that has happened to our family has been for a reason. Some reasons I understand now and some I don't. But as I sat there with my family, I thought to myself I can do whatever I am suppposed to do and have the strength to do it because I am blessed. I am being watched over and my family is being watched over whether we are together or apart. So even if all I have is the dollar store to venture out too with the kiddies, so be it. Even if I am running low on patience and smiles, I'll keep going because my kids are worth it.


Plus, two weeks really isn't that long, right? :)