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Well, I finally got my truck. I have been talking about getting a Ford for about a year now, and an opportunity presented itself. I got it from a guy at work and brought it home today. It's a 2001 F150 Lariat 4x4. It's got leather, a sun roof, a bed liner, bed cover and a bed extender. It's pretty sweet. It only had 50K miles on it. Now, Beth and I won't have to switch cars when I take out the scouts or the boat. I will be getting rid of the Camry. It's got 225,000 miles and has served us well.

Natalie- (flushed with excitement after helping by "babysitting" Ben) "Mom- after the next new baby, we're going for ten!!!"

Ben was so tired he could hardly hold his eyes open, but he is always up for a good laugh......

I was sitting on the couch with Jack and he wanted me to go get him a snack, I asked him if I could cuddle with him for one more minute first- "Mom you don't have to ask. You can always cuddle with me mom. You- you - you don't even have to ask!"

Heard a fabulous quote from Elder Ballard at church. Speaking to mothers of young children, he said "Enjoy the doing more, and the getting it done less." He reminded us to enjoy the moments. I decided I was going to live by that motto. This last year is a blur. I was looking at Jack the other day and wondering when he became a little boy and not a toddler. It makes me ache a little to see them leave each stage for the next.
Tonight my new motto for life was put to the challenge. Instead of playing with the neighbor kids all hours I called them in for baths at 4 so that we could have a more relaxed dinner and get ready for Family Home Evening. (All the while planning on Jonathan being home in time for it.) So we took baths, put laundry away, made dinner and all this while carrying 22lbs of Ben on my non-existant 7 month pregnant hip. Put him in his high chair (despite squawking that told me that was not where he wanted to go) then read Harry Potter to the kids while they ate. They love it. Then walked Natalie through making cookies for FHE treat- she did everything (with close supervision) even scooping the balls onto the tray to bake. She was thrilled with herself and I was thrilled with her cute toothless scrunched nose grin. She kept giving me hugs.
So I'm feeling pretty good- feeling like I had been enjoying some moments..... then the phone rings and I hear Jonathans brief message (I couldn't get to the actual phone because of Ben) that he would not be home anytime soon. (This when I was expecting him in the door any second.)
My bubble burst. All of a sudden I was wondering how on earth I could do one more thing, I felt like crying as I thought of the whole FHE and then bed routine (and the beds that had no sheets- I was saving that for J to do) and feeling like I couldn't go up and down the stairs one more time. I was tempted to say Ok Kids, bedtime right now.
But we went ahead and got out the paper and crayons and hymn book and had our lesson about "Counting our blessings" and writing in my journal what everyone is thankful for. Of course I am the one who needed that. My sweet kids, their laughs, their bright faces as they try to sing count your blessings and then finally say "stop singing it mom!" and then an hour later (!!) kisses and hugs good night and just wanting to tell me "one more thing."
Jonathan gave me a card for our ten year anniversary that said "Someday we will look back on this crazy time in our life together and wonder how we did it all... then those ordinary moments that we often take for granted will shimmer like stars as we recount them... and we will look at each other and say we would do it all again" (Obviously that was the card part- he does not wax quite so poetic on his own.....) but I loved the sentiment. And I don't want to look back and wish I could do it all again so I could do it differently..... I want to really enjoy the moments. Prioritizing what is really important. (PS- I love this picture up close- you can see how protective Jack is of his little brother!)

Well, one of my life long dreams was finally realized a couple of weeks ago. Through a friend of a friend, I bought a boat. It's an older boat, but the price was right. I got a knee board and skis from a yard sale and a tube and wakeboard from friends. Here is one picture, but check out my gallery to see the other pictures of the boat.