Relationship Tips Article

I've posted another article that offers a few relationship tips during difficult times (and no, I wasn't writing it specifically to you-you know who I mean!!)  Check it out here!  I've got some pictures to post, but my kids are begging for food, so I'll have to do a post about that later!

Places to Visit

I've published another article about a fun place to visit now that summer is almost here!  Be sure to check it out!

What You Do When School's Out!

So, now that school is done for the year, we've been taking the last few weeks to catch up on some fun!  This last weekend was bitter/sweet.  Rob, Ammon, and I ended up getting a bit sick, but Rob had the worst of it.  To give him a bit of a break from crazyness, on Saturday I took my kids and my younger brother and sister for an outing.  We had planned on going to the zoo, but when we got there, I couldn't park within about a 3 block radius because it was so crowded!  There was a parking lot just across the street, but it turns out it was a parking lot for the This is the Place Heritage Park, which also had a sign saying no zoo parking!  So, we decided to change our plans a bit and went there first, and then made it to the zoo for about an hour after that!  It was actually a lot of fun!  I hadn't been there for years, and I didn't realize how much stuff there was to do!  We got to ride on the train all around the whole park, and then the kids went on a pony ride, and there was a petting zoo with baby lambs!  They have play places for kids as well, but we didn't make it back to those because we did want to get to the zoo.  We saw the baby elephant at the zoo, and they have some fun dinosaur robots scattered around the park for the year that make noise, and one that squirts you!  But, like I said, it was super crowded, and we didn't stay for very long, so I never got my camera out! 

This is Eden riding her pony.  Actually, she would be upset if she knew I called it a pony, because it was a horse!   

Doesn't Emma look all natural riding her horse?!  I was worried at first about having all the kids ride at the same time because I didn't know how they would do by themselves!  But, they all went right on, and loved it! 

When the ride was over, the guy who was running it was helping the kids get off.  Isaac was the last one to get off, and his horse decided it wasn't stopped where it wanted to be, and pretty much walked another full circle before the guy could catch up!  Isaac just giggled the whole time!

All the kids got the chance to feed the baby lambs.  I forgot to get my camera out with the first group, which was Laurie, Isaac, and Eden, but I did get a few pictures of Thomas and Emma.  We were actually really lucky to get to feed them.  They only do it once or twice a day, and we just happened to be there for one of the feedings!  The baby lambs were so cute, and it was so much fun petting them!!!

I can never get my pictures in the right order!  Here is Laurie getting her turn riding the horse!

We signed Isaac up for T-ball this year, and out of the 4 games so far, 2 have been rained out!  This was the first game that wasn't rained out, and he just played his second game today.  It is so much fun watching them play!  When his team is outfield and the ball gets hit, pretty much the whole team runs to the ball and try to dive on it!  It's pretty funny!  Isaac's coach taught them how to be ready in the outfield, and I think Isaac looks so cute out there!  He's actually one of the few kids that still does this, and he does it the whole time he's outfield!!  The only problem right now is that he gets really frustrated with his hitting.  This is his first time using a real bat and ball with a tee, and he hasn't figured out how to hit it hard yet, which makes him mad!

So, Ammon is only one, but he has already discovered a new favorite activity! He loves our little slide, and yes, he climbs on it all by himself and goes down all by himself! I have to hide it in the closet because he would spend all day on it, and I worry that he will fall off! He is turning out to be quite the climber. He climbs in and out of his walker all by himself as well!  Some of the following picutes are blurry, but I was trying to get a more video feeling of him going down the slide!

Not only is this a cute picture of EmmaLee, but take a look at Ammon's face!  He is not happy that someone besides himself is on the slide, and he's trying to push her off!

This is my cute nephew Alexander.  He is Rob's sister's baby that is about 2 1/2 weeks younger than Ammon.  The next time they come over, I'll have to take a picture of Ammon and Lex next to each other so you can see the height difference.  Lex is about 5 inches taller than Ammon!  He is so cute, and all my kids love when Lex comes over to play!  He's such an easy going baby too!

Today was such a nice day (finally!) that I took the kids to a nearby park for a couple of hours to play.  I had Ammon in the stroller with the shade over him, but he still managed to get some sun!  The pictures don't show it as well as in person, but we all have pretty red cheeks tonight!

Eden and her pink cheeks!

Okay, so this is a very weird picture, but I think it's kind of funny/amazing too!  Eden was taking pictures and took this one of her mouth.  I thought it was funny how her tongue looks like a heart!  For whatever reason, the picture fascinates me!

New Article

I'm sure like many of you I have been saddened by the tragedy in Joplin, Missouri this last weekend and that massive tornado!  My heart goes out to all those who have been affected!  It amazes me how quickly our lives as we know it can change!  I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel, which helps me to find peace in tragic times.  I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us more than we can understand!  While we might not always know why the things happen that do, we can always have faith and trust in Him that things are as they are meant to be, and that He will help carry us through those difficult times with perfect understanding and love!  Besides just the gospel, there are other skills, or knowledge that can help make coping a little easier.  I just published an article on examiner that talks about how to help children cope with tragedy, and while it's focused on children, many of the ideas are true for adults too!  Find my article here.

Ammon's First Birthday!

Today is Ammon's first birthday!  I cannot believe how fast this last year has gone!  He is such a joy to have around!  He walks everywhere now, and he also likes to try to whistle, although mostly he just manages to blow spit!  He is a mama's boy, and holds his arms out to you know when he wants you to pick him up!  He is also my first blanky baby!  He loves a couple of his soft blankets, and gets very upset with me when I wash them!  He loves to play with balls and to chase his siblings all around the house!  He also makes lots of faces, and loves it when Isaac makes faces at him!  He is such a sweet boy, and I'm so glad he's a part of our family!  Sure love you Ammon boy!

Oh, and my second article is published!  You can get to it by clicking on the logo on the side bar!

First Article

My first article for examiner.com is up!  Check it out at http://www.examiner.com/family-parenting-in-salt-lake-city/developmentally-correct.  You can actually subscribe to my articles with a link on the page if you want to get emails when I publish new articles.  I'm very excited and hope people will enjoy and find my articles interesting and helpful!  If you want to share my link with others, I wouldn't mind a bit!:)

The News!

Guess what?!  I'm going to be a paid writer!!!  A couple of weeks ago I applied to be a writer for a website called examiner.com.  It's kind of a news site for local areas, and they have sites for international places too.  It's more of a community site, so the articles are written by local people for their local area.  There are a bunch of different categories, including food, entertainment, fashion, and family and parenting, just to name a few!  I applied to be a writer for the parenting and family section, and they accepted me!  I had to send in a sample article, and I honestly have no idea how hard it is to be accepted by them.  For all I know, everyone who applies is accepted, but regardless, I'm excited!  I'm planning on becoming a family and marriage educator with my degree, and this will be great experience to go with that goal!  I also have to admit that I have no clue how much I will actually get paid.  I know it is based on how many hits my article gets, so I'm hoping you all will check out my articles and spread the word!  But, regardless of what I make, I'm just excited for the opportunity and experience!  I should have my first article up in the next day or two, and I'll be sure to put a link for it on here.  I'm officially writing for the Salt Lake City Family and Parenting section at examiner.com!  And, hopefully my articles will be a bit more fluid than this post; I'm just excited because I got the official email today!!