Moab, late post from April 11, 2014

Everyone in our family loves moab. We decided to go realizing we wouldn't be able to do family mt bike rides with a baby.... It was so much fun! We camped at horse thief, it was clean and quiet. I was impressed at the kids abilities to complete a 2 hour ride, Malia will go down anything!  They spent hours chasing lizards and exploring the red rock. We captured two for pets. Wes made some delish meals on the grill and we roasted marshmallows on the fire. I love how young and fun the kids are at this stage, and I'm soaking up every minute.

First day of school

First day and I'm relieved they have good teachers, Morgan with mrs. Cox and Carson with mrs Timothy.  Malia seems to like kindergarten and all is well... Now we just need to get back into our house. 

Summer with gramma ruth

We left the day after school ended to head down to my moms while our kitchen gets a much needed renovation! Upon finding out about the little #4 that would be joining us we concluded that more space was necessary. So we packed up our stuff and away we went.

I was very conscious to not wear out our welcome and have the kids help out as much as possible. It was such a great experience for all of us. Gramma used a point system where the kids could earn points to go do fun things. As a result, they learned to be better behaved and just more respectful to each other. I gained a much greater appreciation of my mother and the help she was to us. She even encouraged me to pick up the paintbrush again and enter a few contests.

We ended up doing so many fun things like the stadium of fire, museum of curiosity, dinosaur museum, the pool, hiking timpanogus cave, bike rides, donut shop, Maui chill, movie nights (mooch a wabie) and a rodeo. I think this will be a summer the kids never forget. I just love that my mom put aside her busy life to include us and help us feel comfortable. She even let the boys come to the art classes she was teaching and they have learned all about perspective and such. Her neighbors, Nicole and Marshall miller have been watching ruby all summer and that has also been a blessing. Can't wait for things to get back to normal, though we have adapted to a crazy lifestyle pretty good:) 

Morgan turns 10.

Morgan turns a whole decade old today. The guilt that has been resting on my shoulders for not having blogged in quite a while has finally gotten to me! Not to mention all three of my kids officially start school tomorrow. I thought of all the time I would have.... Then came the fourth pregnancy! Ha! Let's say I felt a bit derailed, but to a greater destination I am sure. I thought if I ever got pregnant again I would eat so well and do everything right... Harder than it looks:)  I am now 6.5 months along and Morgan will be 10 years older than the baby. We like to tell Morgan he will be old enough to baptize her when she turns 8!   Morgan has been such a fun little guy to be around. He is sensitive to others' needs and feelings, enjoys building Legos, mine craft, and doing magic tricks. He is also a good swimmer and likes to play tennis with his gramma Ruth.

He currently wears glasses and asked for a mullet at his last haircut- and well it looks pretty good on him. He is so excited to meet his baby sister and I know he will be a lot of help. His teachers praise him for being so helpful and kind to others.   I am proud if him for being such a good example as an older brother.  He also likes to play guitar. I wish he'd play piano but he hates it and I believe he got burned out by being pushed too hard by his teacher at such an early age.  I've had a couple of teachers tell me that is what will do it. 

Well at least I hope he sticks with guitar.

Morgan starts fourth grade tomorrow! We are remodeling our kitchen and can't live in our house yet,but I hope to be back in soon.

We had a great day yesterday, we celebrated Morgan by having lunch and playing laser tag with all the friends he met while staying with gramma Ruth. Parker miller, drake eudis, and max jarvie. His cousins came as well as his childhood friend tanner Baldwin. Today we came to the Ridds an Julie made Morgan a double decker couch cake. Pretty awesome. 

We also got him a metal detector and he can't wait to find buried treasure.

all about malia age 4-5

Since Malia is sick and sleeping, I thought I would do a little catch up on her.  She is such a fun little girl and so daring, eats almost everything and can also be very kind and loving. she loves to play with Ruby and her new best friend Ava.  She loves daddy daughter dates, dancing, singing, and will ask you to turn the radio to the spanish station, her favorite.   She started preschool and can read small words, and count to 100.