14 Years!

 Today is our anniversary.  We have been married for 14 years and have been friends for over 20! I love how happy we are in this picture.  I still feel that way today!  I know I may not always be the best at showing it, but I really do! This will be the first year we don't go out on a date for our anniversary.   We still have a fun evening planned though.  I have a zoom meeting for class (sounds romantic, right?) then homemade chicken curry , chocolate cake and ice cream.  And we will probably end it all with a movie or game night with the kids.  Sounds pretty perfect to me!

Jake is pretty special and I am so glad we ended up together!  He is a hard worker, a great dad, a perfect companion, talented, so smart, funny (even though sometimes I pretend he is not) and is easy on the eyes.  I am pretty lucky to have him around for forever!

This past week or so has been a lot of the same but it did have some fun moments for sure.   We enjoyed another hot dog cookout.  Fires in the backyard with the kids are always a treat.  We roller bladed down to my parents again and visited with them for a minute, social distancing of course.  My dad has been growing a beard and I had to make sure and document it.  I don't ever remember it being that long.  He usually kept pretty clean shaven growing up.

We have had a few family game nights.  Scategories, Apples to Apples and of course Rook.  That is one of their favorites.

The kids have been enjoying the weather.  I have been busy with homework, but have tried to get out here and there and squeeze out some housework in between.  Jake has been working a lot!  He tries to get in as much fun with us as he can when he gets home, but is sometimes pretty wiped out.  He is pretty great. We are enjoying our time together and look forward to planning a few more outdoor activities! 

Mother's Day Quaritine Style

Mother's day was a little different this year.  I didn't get to celebrate with my favorite Moms like every other year.  Although that is something I always look forward to my family helped make it a pretty special day for me!  The kiddos gave me cards and took turns doing my hair.  Jake made awesome homeade pizza and we had cheesecake for dessert.  Let's face it, I couldn't be the mom that I am without Jake.   He helps me be a better parent and he is the best partner a girl could ask for!

I also have so many great mom's in my life!  Two in particular are the ones I actually call mom.  I grew up with a wonderful mom who always made us feel loved and now she does the same for our kiddos.  I was also blessed to marry a handsome fella with a wonderful mom (and is also a wonderful grandma) who treats me just like one of her own and is just the best! 

Jake stayed busy at work this week and during spare time hung out with us and did some projects at home.  He also planted tomato plants for me for Mother's day.  We especially had a fun time with him playing football tag and run sheep run at the school.

I have enjoyed my week off  of school and had a good time with the kids and Jake.  It is back to the grind next week.  I also got a few extra projects done this week as well.  I really enjoyed a zoom visit with Jake's mom and most of his siblings for Mother's day today.

Lawson has been practicing the guitar and is starting remember all the chords.  He has also started doing the pogo stick and is killing it!  His record was 167 jumps!  What a champ.

Ava enjoyed a zoom visit with her friend from school and has been practicing piano more.  She has memorized a couple of songs.  She is also a great helper around the house!

Pierce has been doing great at Preschool and loves to ride his scooter.  He really loves to be around mom lately, which is sweet.  Him and Weston have been playing so nice together lately. It's cute!

Weston, Weston, Weston.  He has such a personality now and isn't afraid to tell us what is up.  We started potty training at the end of last week when I was done with finals.  The first couple of days he would sit on the potty frequently, do nothing and then wet his pants right after.  It was frusterating and I did a lot of extra laundry, but the second half of this week something clicked and he has been awesome!  He has stayed dry for 4 days straight.  Yay!  

I am pretty lucky to be the mom of 4 great kids.  All with such unique and strong personalities and good hearts.  I know I can get frusterated sometimes and I don't always feel like I am doing it right, but I love being their mom.  They are such a joy and Jake and I love them so much!

As Mother's Day comes to an end this year, I think about all the great examples of wonderful moms I have in my life.  There are so many of you that mean a lot to me and help me be a better mom!  It is a bummer that we can't all celebrate together this year, but it is nice to know that we are all doing this mom thing together, the best we can!   Keep it up Momma's!

Here is a beautiful song that pretty much sums it all up:

"More Than Enough"

https://youtu.be/P7EfJRrJueY

Another Semester Down and Summer on it's Way

Last week I had finals.  I had two of them and both required a lot of studying.  I made it through and feel pretty good about them.  Now a week left until another round in the summer!  

Although a lot of are days are still the same old thing, we did have a few more exciting things going on these last couple of weeks.  

We have had a lot of family game nights. Clue was a particularly fun one.  We have played a lot of Authors and Rook and added Scategories to the mix as of yesterday.

We have enjoyed watching the music concerts and sing alongs that some of the celebrities have put together.  The Disney one was fun, and the others had Paul McCartney, Elton John and some of our other favorites.  

On Earth Day the kids and I went on a Nature Scavenger Hunt in the neighborhood which was fun.  It was a nice day and it was good to get out for a little bit.  

We did Roller hockey at the school one of the days.  That was a great time.  We hadn't played in a while.  It was great weather the past couple of weeks, so we have been trying to take advantage.

Wasatch, the kids’ school, had a day where we could drive by and see all the teachers outside.  That was fun.  It was fun to see the teachers and they sure seemed excited to see the kids.  It was especially fun to see Aunt Caryn for a minute.  We miss seeing family!

I had a little social distant visit with Julie and that was very enjoyable.  I miss talking, walking and visiting with her almost every day.  I visited with my mom for a few minutes this morning as well.

We did homemade pizza as a treat the other day.

Jake has a rocket that he saved as a kid, that was never used.  We had 3 rounds to try.  The first round was great, it went pretty high and came down great with the parachute.  So we called the cousins over to the school so they could see the second round (social distancing of course).  The second one went so high, which was so cool.  Unfortunately, because of the height and the wind it blew a lot farther away coming down.  We thought it was on a roof, so we called some ward friends close by with a high window and they said they couldn't see it.  Jake and Laws checked again, and it had blown completely out of the school yard over the building and across the street.  

We did the last launch the next weekend.  Quinn and Julie came to watch along with some Fetzer cousins, and we told our ward friends to come out to their balcony if they wanted to see it.  It didn't work for a minute, but after we changed the batteries we got a pretty good launch in.  It was a fun thing to see and it was great seeing friends and family from afar!

I think I miss the visits with friends and family the most!  We saw a few different friends outside these last few weeks because of the weather.  It was great to catch up, even if only for a moment from across the yard or street!  

We had a hot dog roast in the backyard a day!  Those are always a good time. We miss inviting people over for them though.

Saturday afternoon we went up to the cabin to stay overnight.  It was nice to get away and hang out at the cabin.  Saturday weather was beautiful, Sunday morning it rained. We enjoyed a nice walk and the kids explored the "forest".  We played a few different card games, had yummy foil dinners and watched "Father Goose", a Cary Grant classic!  It was a fun time.