Fo Sho

I loved these pics.  They make me laugh so much. 

Alexa

Disney and a Cruise for Christmas

Last Year, Grandpa and Grandma Hope took us all to Disney Land and a cruise to Mexico.  It was an amazing trip and we had a ton of fun.  Grandpa Clark came too!

That is me in the green shirt. Skyler looks like he is trying to take off his seat belt.

There are a few heads hiding in there!

on the cruise ship!

Arches

Shay and Skyler had to work and the kids wanted to go camping.  So we loaded up and took off to Arches.  It was absolutely amazing, hot, but amazing.  

Lagoon

When we moved to Utah, we moved across the street from Lagoon.  It is an amusement park. When we sold our house, we bought season passes.  It was so much fun.  Looking back over the past two years, we have been so blessed.  

Attempting Dreams #2

So, you know Kaely's dream of going to Italy? About the same time, Skyler said he wanted to go to Spain.  On a whim, I added a plane ticket for Skyler to go to Italy with us.  Then Shay started talking about going to Spain.  It is pretty cheap to fly within Europe.  I bought tickets for about $67 roundtrip to Barcelona for 5 days.  Now we spend 5 days in Italy and 5 days in Spain.  Kaely and Skyler get to mark off huge goals on their goal boards.  It is pretty insane.  I feel extremely blessed to be doing this.  I have been saving everything I have made from babysitting to cover the plane cost.  I will save from now until then to cover food cost and Shay is covering the lodging.  It is gonna be ridiculous!

Attempting To Make Dreams Come True

At our house we make goals.  Each person has a list of goals written on a canvas and hung on the living room wall. I encouraged our kids to not just make little goals but big ones too.  I believe big goals push us to better ourselves.  Kaely wrote in 2010 that she wanted to go to Italy.  She was 8 and loved Italian food.  She said she wanted to go to Italy and eat real Italian food.  I told her if she could save for the plane ticket, I could do the rest.  I told her to plan on around a thousand dollars.
Since leaving Georgia all Kaely has wanted was to go back. She started saving for a plane ticket.  I talked to her about how you can never really go back.  People and places change and you change, when you go back it isn't the same.  She has had a few experiences that have helped her to see that is true.  I talked her into changing her Georgia plane ticket fund into an Italy plane ticket fund.  I also started saving.
The week of Thanksgiving a friend texted me, she knew we were saving for Italy and said Delta was having a sale.  I spent 5 hours figuring out details and booked us tickets to Italy for $422 roundtrip.  Kaely had $488 saved.
I know that when we set goals and work hard, things fall into place.  I am so excited to help Kaely accomplish her goals. It is going to be a real adventure!

Kaely

Kaely is super smart and funny.  She loves llamas and I am afraid they will be her downfall. 

She made this dress! She loves Jane Austen and is a bit of a romantic. 

She is super goofy and reminds me of myself.  I am so glad she is my girl.

Fireworks and Exhaustion

Shay and I have been trying to get out of the evil control of credit card debt, when our air conditioner went out on the hottest week of the year. We had highs of 105, at least that is what my car said. Shay really wanted to just put it on the card, 4K. No stinkin' way. I knew if we did it would take a long time to be motivated to put all we had towards them again. So I turned on the music and deamed our house Sweatin' to the Oldies.

In the meantime we had decided to try selling fireworks to speed our process up. We had been told it was hard, but I had no idea. I worked hard growing up and I have five kids and that keeps me busy, but this whole ordeal was Tough! I got tired of people more than anything asking me what the difference was between the five dollar fountain and the twelve dollar fountain. I understand why people in retail are so cranky.

Update: Since I started this post, forever ago, so much has happened.  We have sold fireworks 5 times.  The money we have made from it has paid off debt, paid for a trip to Costa Rica, and put money in mission funds.
I don't hate it as much as I used to.  I actually get a little excited because I love to work hard.

We have also paid off all our debt.  Not just credit cards but cars, and student loans.  It has forced us to rent and save up a down payment for a home, which I was upset about but have seen the blessings that have come and I am ok with now.

Patience my dear padawan. In time all makes sense.

Things I Am Loving

I recently posted some old drafts and one of them was titled "Things I Am Loving."  Reading it took me back to when I thought of stuff like that.  I have been so caught up in...I have no idea what and I have forgotten what I love about life everyday.  I decided to try this again and see if it would help me to start looking for things I love.

I am loving getting my camera out again.  It makes me feel creative. I love being creative.

I am loving Kaely.  She is so fun and happy.  She talks to me about life and that makes me feel good.

I am loving Christmas!  I love my Savior and the feelings that come when we think about and serve others.

Old Drafts Posted

I found some old drafts of posts that I had never posted.  I decided to post them.  They were pretty entertaining. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas and Skyler gets stuck!

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful day starting out at 1:15 am. It was great to make all the excited kids go back to bed until a decent hour. Skyler had woken up and got all the girls up. He said he didn't know it was the middle of the night, because he saw light outside, which he later figured was a streetlight! I guess Shay woke up at 5:30 and Skyler and Jane were sitting in front of our big clock in the Kitchen, waiting for a decent hour, whatever that means. And nothing makes time go slower than watching the clock. Shay said he couldn't go back to sleep so he joined them and they all came and got me and the other girls up a little after 6. I am suprised they made it so long. We lined them all up as little ducks, you can see below and they came into the magical living room with candy sprinkled on the floor and presents everywhere. It was great and everyone enjoyed watching the others open presents as much as getting their own. We feel so blessed this Christmas, to celebrate the birth of our Savior. May we live to be worthy of his love. THE HOPES

Kaelys puppet theatre I made her. I think it is super cool!

The twins REALLY wanted bikes from santa. They love them, even though they look a little sad. I don't know what that is all about.

Skyler got a dirtbike. This thing is super cool.. It took Shay all day to figure out that he didn't know how to work the darn thing and needed help. Thanks to our neighbor I finally got him to take it to the guy we bought it from and let him show him how to work it. Come to find out it had a faulty carburator and there was no way Shay could get it running and that was not for lack of trying. The guy had to replace the carburator and now it works like a charm. They came back at 4:30 and we finally got to try it out. Skyler is a natural, but I wish I would have got the biffs on film!

And lastly Skyler gets stuck in the girls playhouse. All the girls can fit through the front door no problem, but Skyler is a little too big. I find it comical, haven't we all got stuck somewhere we shouldn't have attempted in the first place?

Baby yoga

Meet our Baby Yoga instructor- Adam. He specializes in relaxation and new maneuvers. His strengths are his chanting and flying toes(his favorite position). He accepts payment in the form of kisses, tickles and milk. He accepts large groups and enjoys doing FHEs because their is a treat involved. If you are interested shoot him a line at yogaisforbabiestoo.org. (not a real URL)

Things I'm Lovin'

Adams silly dance and laugh. He likes to shake his head and shimmy his shoulders and laugh all at the same time and I can't help but pick him up and kiss him.

My new laptop that I saved for. It is really fun. My first laptop. I feel spoiled and a little guilty. But it is so fun. Got it on sale for $298 at Wal-Mart.

Hugs and kisses from Shay when he gets home from a long days work and I am exhausted as well. I feel our energy come together and somehow I can finish the day. I really miss this when he is out of town.

The girls Christmas present. I got all us girls tickets to the Nutcracker. I cannot wait. It is going to be magical. It is at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. I know Heavenly Father blessed me with girls so I could do all the girly things I missed out on as a child.

Skyler is at such a good stage, I am really enjoying his company.

Rainy days where I don't feel guilty playing on my new laptop.

Boogie Baby

My Sweet Adam loves to dance. He dances with music, he dances without music, he dances when he eats, and when he plays, pretty much he dances most all the time. We went to Kaely's voice recital and got some video of Adam dancing. Skyler and I were cracking up.

Skyler's 12 trip

Skyler really wanted to go to another country for his 12th birthday trip. We finally decided to try a cruise after pricing out other options and decided on the Bahamas. We drove to Orlando. Went to Harry Potter World, which I absolutely loved. Walked on every ride without waiting and drank frozen butter beer and ate huge smoked turkey legs. After riding the Harry Potter ride twice in a row, Shay was super motion sick and wouldn't ride any roller coasters with me. Kaely was a quarter of an inch too short and Skyler chickened out, so I rode most of them by myself.

Then we boarded the cruise ship. Kaely probably had the most fun. She loved camp. Skyler loved having freedom to go as he pleased, but more than that he just wanted to hang out with Shay and I.

I felt like all we did was sleep and eat. The dramamine made Shay and I so tired that we went to bed early every night.

We had lots of fun on the island and went snorkeling and had an adventure riding the bus to and from our destination. We decided that we enjoy that more than being on the ship, so next time we will fly and stay rather than cruise.

Overall it was fun to just be with the big kids, but I really missed the little ones too.

Twins 12 Trip

Jane and Elly turned twelve.  Something I never dreamed of when they were three and potty training.  They are actually fun to be around and don't bite each other anymore! Although I am pretty sure it is still tempting to Elly. We took them to Orlando for their 12 trip.

 We went to Sea World. We rode roller coasters, good and bad ones. Watched a dolphin show, a killer whale show and walked out on the weasel/sea lion show.  We went to Discovery Cove.  Snorkeled and held birds on our hands and Jane had one on her head.

 We went to the movies and dinner.  Went to a science museum, which was way crowded with school kids.  Swam and went down freezing water slides.

 Went shopping at thrift shops for halloween costumes.  Entered a costume contest and Jane won. Flew on a plane and watched movies.  We really had an amazing trip.  These two are gonna take the world by storm.  I am so blessed to have been the one to bring them to this world and watch them grow.  I love you Janers and Elser!