{Arizona prt.3}

Tamsyn. She is a sister. She has seen me through some very hard times when I needed someone to hold me up & we have had enough good times together to last a lifetime. when we met, she had baby Kailyn & I had Tre who was 2 & Britt who was just a month old. We were not sure what it would mean to be wives to med students...but we sure figured it out together. Between the two of us we have 9 kids now. The oldest 9, the youngest 9 months. We took them out for burgers and we got some funny looks as we herded all these little ones in to eat. The W family live in the cutest little community. It is adorable. We swam at their pool & then went back to the house for coloring, tickling babies & fresh baked cookies. Only one thing was missing from our much too short visit & that was our other sister from medical school, Laura. Next time. Hopefully soon! Before I left, Tamsyn said exactly how I was feeling; Being together is like being home. I could not have said it better. 

{Arizona prt. 2}

Any & every time we go to Arizona we see Charlie & Sara & their beautiful children. They are our family. Charlie was there from the start of Rod & I & has been by our sides through the early years of drama (& if you ask charlie...there was a lot of it.) He was a witness when we were sealed in the temple. His Mother & Father, George & Sabra were with us in the Washington DC Temple for our sealing. Sabre helped me before & after our sealing ceremony. Now, fast forward 14 years & Charlie & Sara live just minutes from my parents. Their babies call my parents Omah & Opah.  They always greet us with open arms and big hugs. This visit we had a picnic & played at the park. & It turns out Tre is really good at baseball. The kid wacked the tar out of the baseball at first swing & Britt, who is not a huge fan of team sports, had a great time & got on base too. At the end of the night Charlie helped my mom & I load the kids in the car & made sure seat belts were on each of them. & That is why he is Uncle Chuck. We had a great night with these sweet friends & are anxiously awaiting the news that baby 3 has arrived! 

{Arizona prt.1}

 Of course as soon as we got out of the car the children dug out their swim suits and jumped in! 

{being a girl}

We tried Presley on some taekwando with her brothers. we figured, we are here...she is here, why not? We tried about 2 months worth of showing up in her white uniform with bows bigger than her head (ya know just to girl it up a bit) and she never stayed on the mat for long. But her dance classes, that's an entirely different story. She loves it. She twirls about with ribbons, shakes pom pons, & taps her toes. The girls are all darling & love to sing the latest Disney hit "Let it go" at the end of the class. Our girl is still working on her words, but she hums right along with the best of them. Presley loves slipping into her pink leo & tights. She really enjoys being a girl.  

I spied on her through the one way mirror today (when I wasn't having deep discussions about burger joints, babies & book club meetings with my good friend.) It is easy to see that Presley is enjoying the room full of girlies & pink.

{blue & gold}

Last week was T's Blue & Gold banquette for scouts. It is fun seeing Tre light up when he is with his church pals. They are such good buddies. He had a great time running about with Nate & Josh & the other scouts. His scout leader is my good friend & I just love her to bits! Tre has had all super great leaders. He always has a great time at meetings & comes out all smiles with a good story to tell. He feels very loved by our ward family! Who could ask for more?! 

{busy hands}

The children have been passing around a yucky bug to one another. We have been trying to chase it away for weeks now. The littlest ones seem to be getting hit with it over & over. That has been keeping my hands busy. Always a warm baby to hold & rock. My favorite moments of motherhood are those in the darkness of night with my cheek on their forehead offering milk or humming love songs. It reminds me of the moment I fell in love with our first baby. It was in a feeding at 4am on our green sofa in our tiny 900 sqft  house in Provo. It was so cold outside, but so warm inside & in my arms was a swaddled up baby drinking while in twilight. I have moments like this etched on my heart with each of the 5. The moments I fell in love. 

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I took a moment to sit on the floor with my wrestles sick baby this afternoon while the brothers were at school & sister napped. He picked some little cars & found the windowsill to be a suitable race track for his matchbox cars.