Savanna Eileen

I took these out at my parents place. We spent the day out there with both my sisters and their families. All the kids played outside on their 10 acres, which is all dirt and mesquite trees. They had a blast with the cousins. They all came home covered in dirt with smiles on their faces.

This is Savanna enjoying the day. She is in deep thought here.

Savanna is cuddled in Grandpa's arms on his four-wheeler.

The Sweetest Moments in Life

The smell of a freshly bathed baby.

Along with his sweet smile.

This is enough pay for all I do.

Word to the WISE!

Last Sunday the RS lesson was about having a good atmosphere in our home. The lesson was wonderful. During the lesson an older lady, who is a grandma, with obvious memory loss speaks up. She thinks us "young moms" should turn off the DVD player in the car and "talk" more to our children during trips. The idea sounds just wonderful, doesn't it?? So this last Friday we are headed to Phoenix for my post op ear appt. and we don't have the dvd player. So things are going good and we're "talking" and all is well. Well, by the time we get to Globe it is totally out of control. Hunter and Loralie are in the backseat fighting, hitting, all the kids stuff they like to do when you can't reach them. The baby is crying, and Savanna is hungry. I am about ready to jump out, and then all of sudden Carlee yells "Are we there yet??" Jeremy and I just busted up laughing. It was a classic moment. Like the ones you see on the t.v.! Laughing was about all we could do. So a word to the wise. Take the DVD player and "talk" while your changing movies!! On a good note we did get to see the Temple lights this year. They were just beautiful! But to top off the whole trip, I had sitting on the dash some frys with ketchup from In and Out Burger. Hunter gets into the car first when we are leaving the temple, so I tell him to get right into his seat. What was I thinking?? He climbs into the front, gets the frys, and they dump face down into my diaper bag. Frys, ketchup, the container all into my diaper bag. You can imagine what happened next!!! Lucky for Hunter, we were still on the Temple Grounds. Now I can laugh. Not so funny Friday night when I was cleaning it up!

2 HUGE parenting moments

Ok, first off I am proud to announce Savanna is POTTY TRAINED!!!! And she did it HERSELF. I was not ready to do it right now, but I let her wear the training pants and all that. Within a week she is doing it herself without accidents! SWEET!! No more diapers! Ok, only Fisher now I should say.

Now for my next moment. Well I have to say I was not ready for this one at all. I knew this would happen someday, but not at this age! My oldest child decides she will use her free agency for the first time. So after school both girls get off the bus (or so I thought!) and come in the door. Well Loralie comes in all upset and telling me something that I can barely understand. So once I really listen I realize she is telling Carlee didn't get off the bus. So I ask her if she was on the bus, and she ways yes. So I figure she went to her friends house and got off the bus there. So I call twice with no answer. So in my HOUSE SHOES I drive over there, and sure enough, there she was. Trying to act like it was normal!!! I nicely told her to get into the suburban and she was not suppose to be here without asking. So when we arrived home she went straight to her bed to do her homework. I called her father and told him, which he said he will talk to her when he got home. I was in total shock. This wasn't like Carlee at all. So I decided I need to make her FEEL like it was wrong. Not just lecture her. So that night we sat down with her and talked about the situation. I know older kids do things like this. But at this age??? IS this normal??? For all you moms with older children I would love to hear some feedback. What works?? What doesn't??