Lucky 13

13 Years ago yesterday Jake and I got married.  It was such a speical day spent with family and friends.  I remember how much joy and love felt that day and I couldn't believe that I got to spend forever with his Hot Face!  I was so excited to become a part of the Fetzer family and have always felt their love and acceptance for me.  Jake was a great addition to the Clift clan as well.

We have grown to know and love each even more since then.  We both have our strengths (and a few things we could work on 😉 ) and know how to work together to make a pretty great team.  We have added 4 kids along the way whom we adore and try our hardest to do what is best for them and keep learning as we go.  I couldn't imagine it any other way!

 Dating

 Wedding Day

Now

Past Week update

 ( and yes it has only been 1 week..yay me!)

Jake

Had a couple of evening work events this week.  So we missed him just a litte bit more.  Saturday he hung out with the boys so Ava and I could attend another family shower.  He is such a great dad and also a good husband to support me in my activities.  

Anna

I had a good week.  We had fun with a couple extra kiddos on various days.  It was my first Friday watching my niece Maya.  She is the cutest.  The kids were pretty excited to have her around as well.  For my first assignment for my class I was supposed to interview three people about my communication skills.  I talked to 3 people I felt knew me pretty well.   My long time friend Katie (whom I had a fun lunch with this week). My friend Becca,whom I haven't know quite as long, but we see and talk to each other a lot. And Jake, because he's Jake.   It was interesting to hear about what they thought were my strengths and weaknesses.  I wasn't too surprised they all had fairly similar answers.  I feel like a got some great feedback and know what I need to work on to strengthen my communication with others.

Lawson

He did a great job on his Violin concert this week.  He was also recognized by a teacher at school for being kind to others, which is always so nice to hear as a parent.  It makes me feel like we are at least doing something right.

Ava

I love listening to her tell us about her day.  She gives great detail and talks with such enthusiasm.  She is still rocking it in gymnastics.  I love having her come with me to the girl things like showers and girls nights!

Pierce

He is stubborn.  But oh so loveable lately.  He had a super fun time dressing up for his friend Ty's Halloween birthday party.  Laws and Ava helped hand out trick-or-treats there too.  It was a fun party.  Those two have a fun time playing together and I love hearing Pierce talk about his best friend and how he likes to play legos and super heros with him.

Weston

His new word is "Eww" and he says it all the time.  It is pretty funny.  He has also been getting into everything lately, which is great he is learning, but can also be very exhausting.  He is understanding and talking more and more everyday and loves yelling hi to people.

We ended our week with a Bee's game with the Clift clan.  My dad got us all tickets. He is pretty cool.It was a fun time.  Three 1 year olds were a little tricky in the stands, but it was all around a pretty enjoyable game.

Jake's good friend Werner from Germany sent Wes this cute german apron.

(A quote I really liked from this weeks RS email)

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a pretty good one.  Jake worked all weekend so both Saturday and Sunday morning/early afternoon was just me and the kids.  At church Sunday the kids and I had the opportunity to sing "A Child's Prayer", with Lanie, her girls, Our friend Becca and her two boys.  Becca arranged the musical number and told us that she performed as we did.  Where the children sing the first verse talking to Heavenly Father and the Mother's sing the second verse where the encourage them to Pray.  I had never thought of it in that perspective before and I thought it was really moving experince.  Wes stayed a little bit longer in Nursery this week, so I got to enjoy about 15 minutes of RS, which is better than nothing.

The rest of the day was spent with my family for the afternoon and with Jake's Mom and Quinn.  It was really nice to visit with all of them.  

I am really grateful for all of the great women in my life.  I have 2 moms, since I have been married and I think that is pretty wonderful.  They both have talents and traits that really enrich my life.  I am also grateful for my sisters, sister-in-laws, good friends and other family members that are great momma examples.  Each of them teach me different things that help shape me as a mother.  Motherhood can be hard sometimes, and somedays I feel like I am just on edge and get praticularly frusterated. It's nice to know I have other mother's in my corner so that we can help lift each other up.

I am pretty fortunate to have 4 great kids of my own and I love being their momma!  I also love sharing the great responsibilty of raising them and teaching them with Jake.  I wouldn't want to do it without him!

The past couple of weeks...

We have had a couple different days of getting to have cousins around which was fun.  The kids always love to play with their cousins.  We coinsidentally all had dentist appointments with in the last week or so.  Everything was great for all of us, which is always a good thing.  We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with Tacos and fun. And spent a couple of days playing with Riley and the Woolf kiddos a after school.

Jake has been working hard as usual.  He is pretty great to take care of us.  He had last weekend off, which was really nice.  We enjoy the time we get to spend with him.

I finished spring semester and did pretty well in my class.  I am taking a writing/communications class this summer and it started today. Luckily it is just the first half so I am done in about a month.  Ava and I went to Jake's cousins bridal shower and had a nice time.  We are really excited for Jess!  I also got the chance to visit with a good friend of mine, "Angie" as Pierce would say.  It was so funny he couldn't remember her real name, even though we told him over and over.  I haven't had the chance to visit with her for a while, we got to have lunch and visit together for a few hours which was so fun!  Working on Positivity, I think it is a great trait and I think it can help me accomplish some of the other things I am working on as well.

Lawson is having a good time with Bike Shop.  He is learning to fix up bikes and earning his hours to bring one home for him to use soon.  He has been enjoying the warm weather and has been enjoying his new rollerblades.

Ava is doing great at gymnastics.  She really enjoys school, although she is also counting down the days for summer.  Ava has been crusing around on her scooter and finds any opportunity to be outside.

Pierce is getting better at writing his name and is excited about learning.  He has been a real cuddle bug lately, wanting to give us all hugs and he tells us he loves us all the time.  It is pretty cute.

Weston trys to go outside anytime he can.  He can't go as fast as the kids when he is on a bike so he likes to push his toy around because he can do that a bit faster.  He has started to gallop when he does it and it is the cutest thing.  He is saying more and more words and does a pretty good job at communicating with 2-3 words.  

Tonight we hiked Ensign Peak as a family.  It was a fun little hike.  The kids all did great.  We let them play at the nearby park for a little while after.  

As Pierce would say, "I love spending time with my family."

Mother's Day cards and gifts

This is how I feel sometimes.  Positivity and Patience!

I am working on it 😊

A quote to help me stay positive

Pierce at the Dentist.  He was a champ!

Some special mom's in my life above and below

 

All of the kiddos came with us to Ava's gymnastics last week

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

These two!