First year of preschool comes to an end

Evie had such an enjoyable time in preschool this past year. I had been throwing around the idea last summer, but it can be pretty expensive. My sister in - law was putting her little girl in it and told me they had one more spot open. It was meant to be Evie's spot, for sure! I ended up watching the same cousin, once a week, so it paid for Evie's preschool. It worked out great! Evie grew in leaps and bounds. She learned so many things from Miss Staci... much more than I could have taught her at home.

 The kids started out by blowing bubbles around their family....

 Zayne was content to sit with Cousin, Becca :)

 Then they sang 3 cute little songs they had been singing through out the year.

 Here she is with her cute little class! After wards we had cookies and juice. I never realized how tall she was until I saw her next to other kids her age....at preschool and at church! She loved Miss Staci and so did I! She is so good with the kids and we are so excited to be able to go to her next year, hopefully :)

Our sweet family picture. I love our little family so much! My kids are adorable and Owen is such a handsome man! I'm one lucky woman!!

 As a thank you present for Miss Staci - we baked lots of chocolate chip cookies and put them in one of those big mason jars from Craft Warehouse. I had Evie sign her name under the saying: "I'm one smart cookies thanks to you! Have a great summer!" I'm not a crafty type, so this was simple and fun and Evie enjoyed helping! I think it turned out great!

Waiting - it's what we are good at :)

Minus a few days, here and there, it's been really nice outside! I love the summer time. It is by far my favorite season! 

 Evie loves driving with the window down. I usually don't mind - until we get on the freeway, then it must be up :)

 This clematis bush at my parents house is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I had to get a picture of Evie and her cousin Ruby by it. I love the color of it!

 My mom will hate this picture of her, but I'm putting it on anyway :) Her and my dad are so good to watch the kids every week while Owen and I, or sometimes just myself, go to the temple. Thank you guys so much!

 Evie got crazy with a cupcake one Sunday.....she really enjoyed it :)

 We have a couple of parks in our neighborhood and the kids love going! I love Evie's get up.....it makes me laugh....oh, to be 4 again :)

 The cousins got a hold of my moms flags one afternoon. Fourth of July is kind of a big deal around these parts :)

 One night when Evie was supposed to be going to bed, I went in to see that she had put all of her little beanie babies/small stuffed animals on top of her bed. It made me smile. About half of those came from Grandma and Grandpa Great. They were my Uncle Ken's and after he died my grandma had 2 huge totes full of them. Every time we come to visit, she lets Evie and Zayne have one. Evie LOVES them and plays with them all of the time!

 These two girls see a lot of each other :)

Evie is always doing silly things. I love having a 4 year old.......most of the time ;)

On a completely different note - we are still waiting to hear back on a potential job for Owen. It will be 4 weeks since his 2nd interview, this Thursday. They assured him 2 times, by 2 different people, that they would let him know either way. And so we wait......

Owen started asking Heavenly Father, in our prayers, to bless us with patience. I don't know why that one never occurred to me, but I'm so grateful he asked because it is really the only thing we can do. Be patient and have faith - and so that is what we are trying to do!

I love Elder Uchtdorf and I love his talks. There is a particular talk that I have always enjoyed and which fits our circumstance so well at this point in our lives. It is entitled "Continue in Patience." He delivered it in the April 2010 Priesthood Session of General Conference. These are some of my favorite quotes from this talk. They have brought me great comfort. 

Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and facing it with courage, grace, and faith. It means being “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father.” ⁸ Ultimately, patience means being “firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord” ⁹ every hour of every day, even when it is hard to do so. In the words of John the Revelator, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and … faith [in] Jesus.” ¹⁰

Patience is a process of perfection. The Savior Himself said that in your patience you possess your souls. ¹¹ Or, to use another translation of the Greek text, in your patience you win mastery of your souls. ¹² Patience means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting rather than in the receiving that we grow the most. This was true in the time of the Savior. It is true in our time as well, for we are commanded in these latter days to “continue in patience until ye are perfected.” ¹³

"Every one of us is called to wait in our own way. We wait for answers to prayers. We wait for things which at the time may appear so right and so good to us that we can’t possibly imagine why Heavenly Father would delay the answer."

"Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experience. Often we can’t see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed. Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future opportunity, understanding, and happiness."

We have faith that something will work out. If it isn't this particular job (that we really want!), then Heavenly Father has something even better, that will fit the needs of our family, when the time is right. I have found great peace through prayer, scripture study and temple attendance. I'm thankful for the gospel in our lives!

Butterfly field trip!

Evie had her last field trip of the year this past week at the MK Nature Center. They had been learning about butterflies in preschool the previous week and her teacher had some cocoons that they were able to witness hatching (is that what butterflies do?!) and coming out of. They saved them to release into nature at the beginning of their field trip. 

The kids were so excited to watch them fly away! On our walk to the nature center we stopped at this fun little owl photo op :)

The gal that gave the tour was fabulous! She was really good with little kids and they all seemed to like her. She taught them about insects and the requirements to be considered an insect (the little things you kind of forget about ?! Hope I'm not the only one ;) ) Anyway, they made their very own butterflies, and we then went on a butterfly "finding" activity and walked through some of the little nature trails. Saw a little water snake and some random insects. It was kind of a cold day :( Wish it had been a teensy bit warmer, but it was still fun!

The kids with their butterflies :) I think my favorite thing about this age is that little things are so exciting to them. They love learning and are so enthusiastic to share the things they are learning. I was really happy I got to go with :) We are sure going to miss preschool during the summer. We are hoping to stay busy with swimming lessons and a little ballet class - should be fun!

Zayne is walking!

This was taken yesterday -a week after his birthday! He is a big boy walking :) Today he took even more steps and doing it all on his own with out any incentives! Love him. He is growing up too fast!

Mother's day :)

 I had a very joyful Mother's Day this year! Evie made this super cute card and picture in Preschool on Thursday. I LOVED it! She wrote her own name, even though the e and i are swapped - she did really well!

 On Saturday Owen took Evie and Zayne for the afternoon to do some Mothers Day shopping. It was so wonderful! I worked out AND took a shower with zero interruptions - then they came home with the beautiful flowers in the picture above :)

This was the picture after they got home. They are so darn cute!

 On Sunday morning Evie and Owen made me french toast for breakfast :) It was delicious! A picture of me and my beautiful children before church :) The Young Women taught my primary class on Sunday so that I could have a break....it was glorious! They had the kids make these cute projects for us. One thing about it.......Evie consistently thinks I am 3 years old and that I make the BEST pancakes :) Love that girl!

It was Evie's first time singing in Sacrament meeting with the primary! She was so excited! She had the biggest smile on her face when she was up there and kept waving at me. She had and still has been singing the 2 songs above. I love hearing her sweet little voice......."I know a name, a glorious name..." makes me smile every time :)

My mom is one of my best friends! I'm grateful for all of the things she has taught me about being a righteous woman - especially in these trying times in the world. I'm grateful that she taught me about dressing modestly, standing up for what I believe in and most of all for loving and following the Lord in all she does. I love talking to her and she is such a good grandma! 

I'm lucky to have such a good friend in my mother in-law. She is a great example to all those she comes in contact with. She is such a good listener and has raised 10 amazing children. I love talking to her as well and she is a good grandma, too!

 This is my grandmother and I love her! She is truly an amazing example of a selfless person. I hope to someday be as full of charity as she is. Love you grandma! 

I love this quote from the First Presidency of our church many years ago:

"Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels."

I have been blessed with many examples of angels in my life. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a mother and although it can be very challenging at times, it can also bring so much joy! I love that I am able to stay at home with Evie and Zayne and consider it to be such a blessing. Happy Mothers Day!

Love family :)

We went to Jerome today to visit my Grandma and Grandpa for Mother's Day and my grandpa's birthday and my grandma and her twin's birthday.........it's all happening in the next couple of weeks. We went to lunch and we had such a nice time! The kids loved it and were in such good moods :) Love all of these people so much!

It was nice to get out of town for a little while. Owen had a second interview a week ago and we should be hearing back this next week sometime. I've been a little (ok. A LOT) cranky, impatient, stressed, etc...you name it. We are praying this job works out for us! We have had so much love and support from so many friends and family. Lots of prayers and fasting in our behalf. Thank you to everyone who has been keeping us in your thoughts and prayers - it is very much appreciated!

Cousins and Zayne's shiner...

Can I just mention how much I love it that Evie has 4 cousins her age on my side of the family?! I never had any cousins my age growing up - so this is something that is so special to me, and her :) They are all such good friends and I hope it stays that way! 

 This was just too cute. The older cousins who are 14 - took all of the younger girls to the park on Zayne's birthday. Love it :) I pray that we don't have to move away...

 This was one day after family home evening. Evie wanted ice cream as the treat and so we gave a little to Zayne. Messy, sweet, little faces :) They were just being silly together.....laughing and giggling. It made mommy and daddy smile! We love our little family!

 I just LOVE these two!

 After Zayne's party on Sunday, Evie and him were in the tub and he slipped and hit his eye :( I was standing right there, and I'm always afraid something like that is going to happen...and it did. It was bleeding pretty bad. It wasn't deep enough for stitches or anything, but lets just say that I would not make a very good nurse. Good thing Owen was there! He is usually more calm and collected than myself - guess that's how we balance each other out?!

 It didn't turn as black as we were thinking it would.....

 but this picture shows how swollen it was :( Poor little guy. He only cried for a few minutes. He is such a sweet little guy :)