January 20th

So we're more than half way through January and things are going just fine. Kids have adjusted well, except for Elizabeth. She still hates it. Just giving it time. Weather has been cold and dreary, nothing fun to speak of. Things with the baby are coming along just fine, the weight is coming along more than fine. Too much really. Oh well. I gave up caring since it doesn't seem to make a difference. Had some pretty good swelling in my feet. Not painful, just uncomfortable. Brian started back up with his choir and we're just getting into the swing of our new normal before our new new normal with the baby. Anxious for her to come.

2016 Begins...

So we've started 2016 and I'm hoping to keep up with all the things going on with our family. With the start of the year came the start of the new schools. For the most part, the kids are doing well. Elizabeth was excited but seems to be hating it now. We're working on trying to find 3 positive things a day. It just takes time, but I hope she finds some happiness in there sooner than later. She does know a few kids there so at least she isn't totally on her own. Caroline, Cooper and Isabelle seem to be doing just fine. We did take Caroline back To Kohl the first Friday there because her clarinet concert got cancelled before Christmas because of a snow storm and she was totally bummed because she had a solo, so we got special permission to take her back. She was excited to visit her class and happy to still be able to do her solo.

The older 3 kiddos have decided to do no treats/sweets/candies or desserts for a year. If they do, they'll get $100. They get 5 free days and their birthdays. So far Cooper has taken one day and Caroline kind of did as well. She forgot, but we had to count it because it was her 2nd time and it was a whole cookie. Liz emailed me from school to see if she could eat 3 M&M's for a science experiment but by the time I got back to her it was too late, so she told her teacher she couldn't. Makes me smile. I hope they make it. I'd love from them to see they can have the self control and make healthier choices. I know it's only been 11 days, but I'm proud of them for doing it so far. They're doing great!

We've had a bit of snow and it's been pretty cold lately, not my favorite. I've wanted to get out and just take some walks and be in the sun, but it's been too cold and snow and ice on the sidewalks so I've felt a little cooped up lately.

We're down to less than 3 weeks before this baby comes. It's starting to be a little more real, but still a little on the hard to picture side. We're all set with the needs though and the kids are so excited. Time is passing quickly. I've started swelling a bit and put on more weight than I had hoped, but hopefully it will come off in good speed. Had a lot more contractions earlier than I remember with the others, so maybe it will happen sooner. If not, we've got our date set for January 28th, so it's close.

Brian has auditioned for a part in his next choir performance. He's so funny because he acts like he won't get anything, but of course he will. I hope he does. He wants a certain part, so hopefully he'll get it. It's good for the kids to see him still doing things he loves and auditioning for parts. I'm proud of him.

Things are going pretty good with the new ward. We're starting to get to know more people and feeling more comfortable there. I think the kids seem to be doing well with it. They do struggle a little with how many kids there are. There are a ton. They had to move the primary into the chapel to fit better. The junior primary fills up all the middle section of the chapel except for about the last 3 rows, as does the junior primary. It's crazy! Definitely a change from our previous ward.

All in all I think the transition has been good. We're settled in the house and getting our normal back. I just need some nice warm weather so we can get outside a little more. Maybe after the baby comes.

August 2014

August was a super fun month! Along with the normal fun summer things, we were able to take a trip out to visit the family in PA. Felt like it had been way too long. We had a long day of travel starting with the drive to the airport, the flight, then we had to take a train to a bus and then Julia met up with us and picked us up. Our family doesn't fit in anyone's car, so we had to use 2 cars. Renting a van would have been nearly $1000 even though we were just driving it to the farm and basically parking it. Crazy!

 We all had a fun time being together, eating, playing games and getting out a time or two. We took a hike around Rickett's Glen with the older 3 kids. That was one of the only things I wanted to do so that I could some good pictures, but of course, I left my battery plugged in charging on the wall, so my camera was no good to me. I had my little point and shoot for pics of everyone else though, so that was good.

We also took some time for a family picture. Can't pass that up.

Brian has been doing a lot of training for his tough mudder race coming up.  I don't run, but one day I followed him while riding my bike. It was fun and the scenery was beautiful. I was impressed with how he ran the WHOLE WAY! He's been doing awesome!

 The kids started school as well. They were all anxious to get going again and Elizabeth started middle school!!! Crazy! So nice to have all the schools so close that they can just walk. I walked with her, snapped a picture, then let her walk in all on her own. I asked:

Me: would you rather me not walk with you to school today or are you okay with that?
Liz: no, I want you to. I'm not one of those kids who gets embarrassed when their mom is around.

Love that sweet girl and hope that stays true for a long long time!

Charlotte was of course bummed that she wasn't starting school, so we tried to have some fun outside in the beautiful weather!

We had a last minute invite to go to Moab and hang out with a bunch of our friends from dental school. It was so much fun. We had a huge house about 20 minutes outside of Moab that we all stayed in. It was fun to see how much all the kids had grown and just be around such wonderful people. There was a lot of laughing and reminiscing, we took a trip down the river and the kids absolutely loved it. We also hiked to the famous Utah arch. Never done it and don't care to do it again. The kids did fabulous! I can't believe they made it. It was not an easy hike and it was super hot! So proud of them. Another day we stopped by a beautiful natural water slide and then jumping hole. Liz and Caroline did it and I was so surprised. Brian took a fun mountain biking trip one morning with some of the guys. All in all, a great trip!

July 2014

July starts off pretty awesome, of course. With my favorite holiday and birthday, its a tough first week to beat. Since I'm trying to recall all of this over a year later, I can't remember all the details really. I do remember going down to Denver for the 4th of July celebration, which is done on the 3rd. It was a great firework show. We got down there a little early and went to eat at Cheesecake Factory. Super Yummy. I don't remember much else! Ha! Of course I remember the food. Sad.

For the 4th of July, we went to Carter lake and spent some time in the great outdoors. It was a beautiful spot surrounded by mountains. A fun place to be to make it feel like a fun summer holiday. We came back later that day and put on our fun shirts we tie-dyed. I think they turned out pretty cute. Bella wanted to wear her fun dance costume, which was fine by me since you pay all that money and they wear it once. It was a perfect 4th of July outfit.  We had a traditional hamburger We met up with the Skinners at the Broomfield Commons area for their fun firework show.  Such a fun holiday.

A week later the Porter crew came out for our family reunion. It was nice to have everyone come to us for a visit. We had some great times. We went to Carter lake one day and a massive rain storm came through. Didn't stop us from having fun. However, those in the Liddiard car didn't make it up because their car broke down. Sadly, Bella was one of those and it was her bday. But sounds like they had a good time playing at McDonalds and getting ice cream, so there weren't any upset kids. Just bummed they missed it. We also went to Union Reservoir in Longmont for a day trip. Paul and Jill rented a water board, which was a lot of fun. Any time in the water is fun, in my opinion.

We also had a baseball game and Papa John helped teach a few of the kids how to bat, which was cute. I feel like we had a date night, but honestly, at this point, I can't remember. Haha. Before everyone left on their last day, we threw together a quick family picture. Got to capture all these beautiful people together.  It was great to have them all out for a visit and good fun family time!

 We took the kids up into the Rocky Mountain national park for a few days of camping. It'd been a while since we had gone, but we had a great time. The kids loved it and were really good sports. My favorite was finding them in the tent playing games together. Love that they are having fun together and hope they remember these wonderful times together. These are the relationships that matter and last! We did some hiking, playing games, roasting marshmallows and took a drive through the park where we came across a few herds of elk. It was pretty amazing. Some beautiful areas so close by. Such a beautiful place we live!

The older 3 kids were able to participate in a summer acting camp where they practiced all week and then put on Alice in Wonderland. They loved it and did fabulous. Liz played the rabbit, Caroline played a mouse and Tweedle Dum (or dee, I can't remember) and Cooper played the other tweedle. It was fun to see them enjoy performing and doing a great job at it.

June

June was filled with fun and family. As soon as school got out, I took the kids out to Utah. (Brian ahd to stay to work). Miss Maya was getting baptized so we thought we'd surprise her that we were going to be there for her bday and baptism. She was surprised. It was nice to be there for her special day.

 We always love lots of cousin time and summer is the best time for that. We did lots of swimming, trips to the park, several trips to the Trafalga and Liberty Land, a little firework fun and just good ol' being together. One day I took the kids down to Provo. We spent some time at a dinosaur museum, eating at the Cougar Eat, visiting Nana and watching Jayde fly his model airplane. Provo is such a fun place! Every time I'm there I think, "I could live here".

 We were able to get out for a date night, which is always nice and a little more calm without 14 kiddos running around. We went and played some golf frisbee and then headed out to dinner. Funniest part was pretending it was Greg's bday and they were trying to get him to sit on a saddle for everyone to sing happy birthday too. As much as he loves attention (which he does not), it was no easy task for the waitress to get him up there, but eventually he didn't want to hurt his feelings and got on there, like a somewhat good sport. Oh we were dying laughing with tears in our eyes!!! A time for the books. We have Jill to thank for that.

For Maya's bday we had a fun time swimming at their community pool. Wasn't too crowded which made it extra nice. Somehow Jill was able to pull both of Bella's crazy loose teeth, so Charlotte and Bella were twins. At first Charlotte was upset about it and said she didn't want to be twins, but then changed her mind and liked being toothless twins with Bella.

Had a fun time getting together with my high school besties, Josh and Alisa Linton, Dave and Heather(spouse) Sullivan and Heidi and Phil Berry. Such great memories with great people. I wished Brian has been there with me, but I flew solo, with all the kids. The kids had a great time too playing basketball and scooters and whatnot. Good times! I'm glad we still get together every now and then.

 Since Papa John's family is a little funny about reunions, we had a "non-reunion" and whoever wanted to come, could come. It was a good time. We had a big water slide out and just visited with one another. At the end, a few of us "adults" went down the slide. It hurt. Guess we're getting old!

 We had to get back in time for Bella and Caroline's dance recital. Didn't realize it was still going through June, so that was a bummer, but they did fabulous. Such fun spirited girls. It was fun to see all their months of practice show up in their recital.

 Liz and Caroline were able to be part of a fabulous Activity Days camp. They asked me to come take some pictures for it so I was able to get some of the girls with the whole crew. The committee went above and beyond for it. It was fabulous and they had such a good time. So grateful for those who invest time and talent to make a special day for the girls.

 Charlotte asked me to take some pictures of her, so of course I willingly did. She's such a cutie

Brian and I have been investing a bunch of time in making a table for our family. Buying one was way too expensive, for what we wanted, so we made a bold risk in making one. It was still expensive, but probably half the cost, but we got to have a good time doing it together. Luckily our city has a wood working shop just down the street that we can get into 2 days a week, but one of those days is Friday mornings, which Brian only has ever other one available, so some of the progress was slowed down by that, but grateful they had some of the big gun tools there to help us accomplish our masterpiece. We still have a few coats of the sealer to do, but I love it and it turned out great. It was so fun to make with Brian. He's awesome.

As for family time, Brian was able to get in some good mountain biking, which he loves. He's been able to explore a bunch of the trails in the area, which is super fun. We took a hike up Chataqua mountain, which was super fun. Thought we'd have a bunch of complaining criers, but not so much. Cooper and Bella were buddies and did fabulous together. It was a beautiful spot that we will have to do again.

 I had fun doing a wedding at the Denver Temple. First one there. Elizabeth came as my assistant, which was fun. I enjoyed having her with me and being able to see a couple married in the temple and help on their special day. After, she and I went out and got lunch. A fun outing together.

 And that just about wraps up June..... phew!

Oh to play catch up....

I've hesitated getting on to update the blog because I'm so far behind! Getting close to a whole year behind!!! Kind of over whelming. So, just so I can get back on track I'm going to summarize up to where I am so I can get back on track. Here we go.....

May:

 Weemama came out for a visit. It's always fun when she comes out. We love it.

Caroline had her 9th birthday and she wanted to go to Boondocks for our family activity. It was fun and she got lucky because on her turn on go karts, they had a problem with another car so she got to ride for twice as long. I also took her to the store that morning to pick out her favorite cereal and she wanted to ride the horse there, so she got to take a birthday ride. She wanted an ice cream cake, so that was easy enough. One more year until double digits!

 We had a major trauma with Charlotte. We had walked to the school to pick the kids up and were waiting for them on at Bella's playground. Charlotte was playing while I was sitting on a bench. She kept sliding down the handrail on a set of stairs and I asked her to stop. I was reading a book when all the sudden she started screaming. I'm not sure entirely what happened, but from what I can gather, she was sliding down that handrail again, flipped over and smacker her mouth on the bar below and had totally cut her lip and jacked up her teeth. Since we walked there, I had to run around and gather the kids and someone was kind enough to drive us home so I could rush her to Brian's office. She had chipped one tooth to the root so it had to be pulled and the other she had knocked so hard she had jammed it into her pallet and it too had to be pulled. She had a huge fat lip for a few days and a pretty significant cut in her lip as well. It was so sad but she handled it well and was so excited to have a visit from the tooth fairy. Bella, on the other hand, was holding onto her 2 front teeth for dear life! They were so loose that they were starting to cross each other, but she would not allow anyone to touch them.


Moments before. Still with her cute 2 front teeth:

Bella was really sweet and got Charlotte all set up with a blanket and stuffed animals as soon as we got back from Brian's office. She took good care of her.

The next day, Charlotte was back to all her craziness and didn't skip a beat of being happy and silly!

Brian and I were still in the middle of constructing our table. It was a lot of work and I was totally nervous that we were going to botch it with all that expensive wood, but Brian did amazing with all the research and did a great job leading the project. It was great fun to work on together. After the kids were in bed, we'd go out in the garage for a few hours to keep the process moving. Long process!

Brian's office had a fundraiser run for oral cancer that we went to support. Liz did the run with Brian and finished in good time. The rest of us just hung out and enjoyed our time.

We were wrapping up the school year and had a concert from Bella's Kindergarten group. She was so cute and it was fun to see them perform the songs they had learned. Cute!

 Bella and her teacher Mrs. Holley

Then we had Elizabeth's 5th grade graduation. I was involved with putting together the year end slideshow. It was a lot of work to gather all the pictures and put it together, but I think it ended up well and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Hard to believe that Elizabeth is going into middle school next year. Growing up so fast!

Elizabeth and her friends: Grace, Eliza, Kristina, Liz and Sarah

Liz's teacher Mrs. Fields

The kids had their field days:

Caroline was determined to win the tug'o'war this year since she had lost the previous year, but it didn't happen. She was pretty upset and shed a few tears, but she worked pretty darn hard!

And just some other random cute moments:

And of course Mother's Day. Kiki gave me a nice foot bath and foot rub.