"Life is to be Enjoyed...Not Just Endured"

Mayli Turns 6!!!

2012-01-06T22:09:00.005-07:00

Mayli Elizabeth turned 6 on December 5! She is growing up way too fast. The other day I was watching videos of the girls when they were younger and realized how fast time is flying by. The quote, "This moment will never come again...enjoy it" rings so true to life. Each and every moment will only come once and we truly need to make the most of them.

Mayli on her blessing day.

Our little baby was so tiny and in the blink of an eye turned 1...

She loved making us laugh

And now she is grown into a beautiful young lady.

Mayli started Kindergarten this year and is learning so much. She loves to learn and every day will come home and tell me something new she has learned. She already is on level B in reading and can count to 100 by 1's, 2's, and 10's. She loves to read and loves to write things. She likes boys a lot already (eek) and this year has already had 3 different crushes but her latest she's had for a couple months now. :) She loves to dance still and loves to sing too. Her favorite color is a rainbow. She loves to play with her sisters and her friends. She also really likes riding her bike, playing on her scooter, and riding her skateboard. Her favorite candy bar is a 3 Musketeers and she loves to chew gum. Mayli is very kind hearted and if someone has less than her she will willingly give all she has to them. For instance a while ago my girls and their cousins each got a stuffed cat at Halloween. One of Mayli's cousins lost her cat on the walk home and was so sad she couldn't find it. Mayli walked up to her and said, "You can have mine." And she gave it to her. She is always thinking of others and will give anything she has to help someone who is sad. She loves to help out with the baby and loves to help around the house most of the time. She is a joy to have in our home and we are so blessed that she is part of our family! Love you Peanut!

Mayli had a fun birthday. She got to go to school and bring cupcakes to celebrate with her class. I had a wisdom tooth extracted on her birthday so I wasn't in a party mood. She was so kind and understanding. Daddy took her and her sisters to Arctic Circle for dinner and then when they came home we had cupcakes that the girls helped decorate. The next night we had her birthday dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup. She was so excited. Happy 6th birthday!

Where have I been????

2012-01-04T22:00:00.006-07:00

Where have I been...that's a good question! Life seems to have remained consistently busy for these past few months. I keep thinking one day it will slow down a bit and I can catch up. But boy that hasn't happened yet. Since I last posted lots has been going on...Thanksgiving, gingerbread houses, Mayli turned 6, Mike's mom started Chemo treatments, I got called as the Young Women's President in my ward, family came to visit from all over the world, 2 wonderful people were able to receive their endowment, a wedding, girls night, cake making, Christmas shopping and wrapping, Christmas parties, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, more family visits, New Years, my sister moved in with us, and so much more! So hopefully I can update what has been happening to catch up a bit.

Lately I've had the words from the song, 'I Like Life'...over and over in my head just randomly the words, "I like life and life likes me" pop into my head. Life is a bit crazy right now but 'I like life'and I'm trying to enjoy every moment I can. Here is the start of the updates.

I had the opportunity to make a cake for a charity and I'm so used to making wedding cakes or cakes for girls that I didn't have a lot of ideas for a cake for the men's division. After help from a few people this is the cake I came up with. It was a hit and the guy that won it loved it!

We spent Thanksgiving with Mike's family. It was a lovely day and how grateful we are for all our family. We were able to still have our tradition of making gingerbread houses. Sherie's sister Leslie made gingerbread houses for everyone. What a blessing it was to be able to have them all ready and made for us.

The girls ready to start

Madi loved decorating this year...she really loved trying out all the candy too!

Mayli and Uncle Ethan having fun.

Kate finishing up decorating

Gingerbread decorating so much fun!

Mike and Kate decorating

This was Madilyn's...she did a great job this year and did most of it by herself. I was impressed with all the patterns she did.

This one is my house.

Daddy decorated Juliet's for her

Mayli's house. She made the 'tree' all by herself.

Mike's house

Katelyn's house. She frosted and decorated all by herself this year!

The next weekend we had a bridal shower for Amy. Afterwards I had the fun opportunity to be able to go help Amy get ready for the bridals and groomals at the temple. I was so grateful for the wonderful opportunity to be able to be invited and help out with this day. A special thank you to my dear Michael for letting me go while he took care of the kids.

Amanda looked gorgeous! It was freezing outside but we had a great time!

Beautiful Amanda

Ethan was mesmerized by her beauty and was quite speechless when she walked out.

Seriously gorgeous!

It was so fun to able to share this special day with them. Thank you for letting me be there!

Madi's Fieldtrip

2011-11-26T00:00:00.002-07:00

Madi went on a fieldtrip with her school. It was so fun and they got to learn a lot. She was so funny and being so shy. She got a coloring book, a sticker, and a firetruck eraser. She was pretty excited and had fun seeing all the neat things.

She is so cute! :)

Life-A New Normal

2011-11-25T23:37:00.003-07:00

My poor blog has been so neglected lately. It seems life has been in a whirlwind the past couple of months. I rarely find time to sit and relax and when I do find time I just want to relax and not worry about anything. So hence my blog has been quite neglected.

It is crazy how your normal can change in an instant. A few weeks ago Mike's mom was diagnosed with cancer. The phone call no one ever wants to get but so many people do. We had just arrived home from San Antonio. I had just left the pediatricians office and my phone rang. It was Mike's mom calling to tell me they had just found out she had cancer. I froze not knowing how to react to the news I just heard. It has been quite an eventful few weeks. With so many things...crying, waiting for results, fear, more waiting, love, still more waiting for results, time with family, seeing amazing support of an amazing woman, spiritual experiences, tender mercies, testimonies strengthened, and so many other hard and yet wonderful things.

I love my dear sweet mother in law. Too often we take those we love for granted. I shared my thoughts on her blog and if you'd like the read them you can click here:

http://cheereveryday.blogspot.com/2011/11/weekend-with-family.html

We finally have gotten a treatment plan for Mike's mom. She will start chemo therapy on December 5th. Please keep her in your prayers. She will need a lot of strength to endure the things that will be happening to her. We know that our Father in Heaven is mindful of us and that this is happening for a reason and it is for our good. Life is going to be a new normal right now and that is ok. We can endure because we have a Savior who loves us and knows how to succor us. Life will be wonderful because we have each other and the gospel.

Here is Mom with me, Amanda, and SaraAnne.

Love you girls!

Trip to San Antonio

2011-11-25T22:37:00.009-07:00

We went down to San Antonio to go to our niece Kylie's baptism. We drove down there...crazy right? It is a 2 day drive but we had a good time. Here is some pictures from the fun vacation.

Here we are before crossing the Colorado state line.

Crossing into New Mexico

Finally to Texas! We had fun driving and got to stop in Roswell, NM the 1st night. It was so funny to see all the alien stuff they had. We also got to go to church on Sunday in Roswell. It was so wonderful. It was weird being a place we didn't know but as soon as I saw the church a peace came over me and it was wonderful to be able to step into a place of familiarity. It was so great.

We had so much fun while in Texas and got to spend Halloween there. Here are all our 8 girls all dressed up ready to go. They were all so cute!

Kate was a genie

Mayli was Tinkerbell

Madilyn was a fairy

Jewels was a little bunny

A pic of all 4 girls

Here is Juliet while we were trick-or-treating

Here are the bigger girls while we were trick-or-treating

We decided to go see The Alamo because Mike and the girls had never seen it. It was fun to and see the history there. We had a fun time looking at everything.

Here is Mike and the girls

The girls by a cannon

Mayli and Kate by the flags

Me and the girls in front of the Alamo

It is beautiful down there

We went to the duck pond later that evening and the kids had so much fun feeding the ducks.

Celeste and I took the girls to Minitown. They had so much fun!

Later in the week the rest of the family flew in and we had fun together. We went back to the duck pond and every one had a great time.

Here is a picture of us all. We were only missing Ryan, Hannah, and Evie. We had a great time and it was wonderful to go to Kylie's baptism. It was a fun vacation.

Days Never to be Forgotten

2011-10-09T19:32:00.004-06:00

I would be ungrateful if I did not record and share the wonderful experience I had being blessed to be a part of the woman's choir for the General Relief Society Meeting. The theme for our choir was, "These were days never to be forgotten." And truly they were days never to be forgotten. The experience was amazing; the Spirit was abundant and the blessings were plentiful.

I had heard at a Relief Society Training for our stake that our stake would be included in the woman's choir for conference. I was so excited hoping that my bishop would choose me. I talked to Mike about it and he told me as they were discussing names in Bishopric that my name did come up but they thought there were others that needed it more than I did. I told Mike that, that was ok and there probably were many other sisters that needed the experience more than I did. Secretly I was hoping and yearning for the experience and that maybe they would consider me again. A couple weeks later I was called into the Bishop's office with Mike and the Bishop called me to be in the choir. I graciously accepted the call jumping for joy inside. I had always wanted to sing in conference ever since I was a little girl.

How grateful I am for my wonderful supportive husband who took care of the kids week after week while I was at practices. Dealing with a screaming baby who hated bottles and just wanted Mom to nurse her; and to add to the craziness the 3 other children. Many times I came home to a freshly cleaned home, 3 of the children in bed, and my husband cuddling with the baby on the couch. How grateful I am for him and for his unwavering support in my callings. I am so richly blessed!

The practices were always filled with the spirit. I had to opportunity to each week to hear a member of the Relief Society General Board speak to us. We also had amazing support from our wonderful priesthood leaders; each week the stand would be full of priesthood leaders who would be there supporting the sisters in each of the stakes. We would hear wonderful council from one of them weekly also. We also got to meet the amazing couple in charge of putting together the guest choirs for conference. They were so loving and kind and well amazing. The choir director was wonderful and she has changed my life. She always had something amazing to say and we were so blessed to be taught by her. At one particular practice she bore her testimony of the Savior and right after we sang 'I Know that my Redeemer Lives'. The Spirit was so strong I cannot even express the feelings I had but there was not a dry eye in the room.

I also had the opportunity to hear Julie Beck, Silvia Allred, and Barbara Thompson of the General Relief Society presidency speak to us. It was an amazing experience to hear all the stories of why they chose the songs they chose; why we wear the white shirts, black skirts, and corsages; and to be blessed to hear their amazing testimonies, feel of their spirits, and see their amazing countenances. The light of Christ shines from them and illuminates the room when they walk in. As we were practicing before the conference I could feel when Sister Beck walked in the room; I could feel of her spirit and the whole atmosphere changed as she came in. She truly is a woman of God and has been called by the Lord to serve in this capacity. I have always admired her but being so close to her and seeing the beauty she has because she has so much charity was just astounding.

As I sat in the conference center as we were waiting for the conference to start an overwhelming feeling of love from my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ enveloped me. I was overcome with emotion as I sat there knowing that I was called to do this because the Lord knew I needed this. He knew my struggles and the things going on in my life and He knew that this is exactly what I needed. He loved me, Diedre Wright, enough to bless my life with this. It strengthened me beyond what words can even express. It was simply amazing and I'm so grateful for this wonderful opportunity. It was amazing!

Cheesecake Wedding Cake

2011-10-09T00:59:00.002-06:00

I was able to make a cheesecake for a wedding for a friend of a friend. It turned out great. It was cheesecake with chocolate cream cheese frosting and white chocolate shavings on top. It turned out beautiful and the bride loved it.

Family Pictures

2011-10-07T22:54:00.010-06:00

We had family pictures done over the past month. The first 3 are from Endless Memories Photography, Olya always does such a great job.

The next set were taken by SaraAnne, Mike's sister. They turned out so great. It is always fun to have Sara take our pictures and she does an amazing job!

Love this!

My handsome hubby and my beautiful girlies! I love this! They are all smiling and all looking at the camera! That never happens!

I love Mike. He's always making me laugh!

Mr. Hottie! Looking good!

Juliet and her cuteness and amazing blue eyes!

My busy little Madi! She is so cute!

Mayli is growing up! Just beautiful!

Kate is getting so grown up! She is beautiful!

I love my man and my girls! I'm so blessed to have such a beautiful family!

Juliet is 7 and now 8 Months Old!

2011-10-07T22:38:00.003-06:00

Juliet is 8 months old!

Stats for this Month:

Weight: 16 lbs 13 oz

Height: 27 inches

Juliet has had an eventful 2 months. During her 7th month she finally drank a bottle of formula for me. She also started crying when she couldn't see me in the room with her. Jewels started eating 2nd foods and eating solid foods 2 times a day. She would scoot all over the house and could move her legs but couldn't quite figure out how to move her arms. She also started eating crackers and cereal puffs.

During her 8th month Juliet finally would sit still long enough and could sit up all by herself. She worked so hard trying to learn how to crawl and finally mastered crawling and has been exploring the whole house. She also learned how to pull herself up all over on to the couches, stairs, and anything she can get her hands on. She can climb the steps up into the kitchen and loves to explore. She is into everything and puts everything in her mouth. She also loves to say dada. Her eyes have finally turned a gorgeous blue and they are stunning. She is so fun and is usually happy most of the time! Happy 8 months Juliet!

Mayli Can Ride a Two-Wheeler

2011-10-07T22:06:00.005-06:00

Mayli learned to ride a two-wheeler bike! Katelyn helped teach her which was so sweet. She was so excited to finally learn! She does a great job and just loves it!

Madilyn was souping up Mayli's bike for her.

So big! Yay Mayli!

First Days of School

2011-09-09T21:45:00.005-06:00

School has started and Katelyn, Mayli, and Madilyn all started on different days each 1 week apart. Katelyn is in 2nd grade now and is loving it! She thinks it is pretty awesome that she can now read chapter books and she gets to eat before the 1st graders! She started on August 23rd.

She is growing up so fast and enjoys school and her new teacher.

A picture of all 4 girls before we took Katelyn to school.

Kate in her classroom.

Mayli started Kindergarten and she is loving it. May started on August 30th. She loves being at 'Kate's big school' and thinks it is fun she gets to go everyday. She had her outfit picked out exactly how she wanted it. She wanted to wear her black outfit, black shoes, black headband, and 2 piggies with black hair ties. She asked if she could wear black nailpolish and lipstick...I told her that was a little too much black so we compromised and she got to wear my glittery lip gloss for the first day.

The 2 girls with Mayli before we took her to school.

Mayli in her classroom after she found her desk. She was pretty excited!

The girls get to ride the bus which saves me an extreme amount of time. They enjoy riding the bus and here is Mayli on her 1st day riding the bus. Katelyn was such a good helper and made sure Mayli was taken care of.

The girls getting on the bus.

Just Juliet and Madi left at home. Madi was so tired this day that she was still sleeping when we had to head to the bus stop. I had to wake her up and put her in the stroller because she was too tired to walk. She held Juliet very nicely the whole way there and back.

Madi started pre-school on September 6th. She was so excited to go to school that day. When the girls were leaving to go catch the bus Madi was playing and realized her sisters were leaving so she grabbed her backpack and started running out the door. As she was rushing out she waved and said, "Bye Mom." I caught her and told her she can't ride the bus because she is going to a different school. She was so upset and just wanted to ride the bus and go to school. I finally calmed her down and we were able to get 1 good picture of her.

We she got home I asked her how school was and she told me that if you were naughty you had to go to the corner. I asked her if she had been naughty and she said, "No, teacher won't let me get my backpack. I not naughty, teacher naughty." It was so funny. I explained to her the importance of listening to the teacher and following the rules. I also had Kate and Mayli tell her how they act at school and the importance of listening to the teacher. I'm happy to report that on her 2nd day she was much more happy. She said that she followed the rules and said "teacher nice".

Just Madi and Juliet left on our way to drop off Madilyn. It is nice to have 2 days a week with just one little one for 3 hours. All the girls are loving school, their teachers, and the new things they are learning. Mommy is excited to get back onto a schedule and enjoying quiet time every once in a while. Yay for school!

Soccer Time!

2011-08-23T23:03:00.006-06:00

Soccer started up for Mayli and Katelyn. They enjoy it so much and had lots of fun at their games on Saturday.

Here is Mayli after playing hard! She did so great! She made 5 goals and almost made 6 but at the last second passed it over to her teammate who was right next to her so her teammate could make a goal. That is so Mayli always thinking of others! She had so much fun. All the parents kept asking if she's ever played before. She hasn't but she sure did great! She also was so fun to watch running after the ball. She didn't really run she leaped everywhere. So graceful even on the soccer field! WAY TO GO MAY!!!

She really likes her coach and assistant coach. She kept giving them high fives during the game especially after she would make a goal!

Celebrating after she made a goal! Yay Mayli!

Here is a far away view of her making one of the goals.

Katelyn has a great team with fun coaches too! She had so much fun playing but was getting pretty hot after the first half. It was at least 95 degrees out there. She played hard when she was in and was always up with the ball when it was her teams turn. She did great! Her team made 3 goals and they all worked so hard! WAY TO GO KATE!!!

Here is Kate kicking the ball.

Katelyn talking to one of her coaches about what she needed to do. She was a great listener and stayed in the positions she was told to play in.

We are excited for the rest of the games! Way to go girlies! Love you!

Juliet is 6 Months Old!

2011-08-23T10:11:00.004-06:00

Juliet turned 6 months old on July 28, 2011. She is getting so big and we are so lucky to have her in our family. She loves to laugh and smile. She is so curious about everything and wants to explore whatever she finds.

Stats for this month:

Weight: 15.4 pounds

Height: 26 inches

Head: can't find my paper will update later

She is growing up so fast. She loves to smile and laughs all the time. She loves to 'talk' and makes lots of noise. She had a fun 6th month. We celebrated lots of birthdays, she stayed in a hotel for the first time, tried lots of new fruits and vegetables, she learned how to hold a bottle, got to celebrate Independence Day and loved the fireworks, rolled all over the place, had another ear infection, went to a family reunion and got sunburned (I really did try to keep her covered), learned she loves sleeping on her tummy, and tried a sucker for the first time thanks to her sisters. She loves to play with toys and rolls everywhere trying to get things. She is so much fun!

Here she is holding her bottle

Here she is rolling over, which is her favorite thing to do right now! We love you Jewels! You are a joy in our lives!

Weekend with Matt and Michelle

2011-08-07T22:22:00.005-06:00

Where did July go???? It was a crazy whirlwind of a month! One weekend Matt and Michelle came to visit us all the way from Hong Kong. We were so happy to see them! We had such a fun weekend. We met up and played at a park.

Everyone had so much fun! We all stayed at a hotel that night and got to go swimming. The kids had so much fun!

The next morning Matt and Amanda ran a half marathon. We went to go cheer them on. They did so great! YAY!!!

We hung around at the park for a little bit after then race and then we headed to the Hill Aerospace Museum. It is always fun to go there.

After the museum we headed out to Grandma and Papa's to have some more fun and celebrate all the July birthdays. Here is Aunt Michelle with Jewels.

Michelle, Sara, and me. I absolutely these ladies!!!! We have so much fun together! :)

My Lovely 'New' Living Room!

2011-07-19T23:38:00.004-06:00

A couple weeks ago my friend texted me at 7am telling me she had awesome news and to call her as soon as I woke up. I was already awake so I gave her a call. She told me she needed to come over to tell me and I said please come! She came over and told me that she had been thinking of something nice to do for me and she wanted to help me remodel our living room. Mike and I had been helping them out a little with their new phones and a couple new laptops and this is how she wanted to thank us. She knew I had been wanting to remodel since...well...we moved in. Hahaa! I knew she wouldn't take no for an answer so I said okay!

Here is what the room mostly looked like before. It had changed a bit since I took these pictures but not too much.

And here is the After picture: (drum roll please!)

My goodness amazing what a little paint, crown molding, a new fan, new curtains, and moving furniture around can do! I LOVE it so much! It is so warm and inviting! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!

It turned out great! I love to just sit in the room and enjoy it! I'm so grateful to Rachel and Brandon for all the hardwork they put in; especially Rachel. Also thank you to Mike for hanging curtains, putting up a new fan, and moving furniture all the while listening to Rachel and following every direction quite perfectly!!! Hahaa! Now I need good ideas of how to thank them. They put so much time and effort into this room! I love my new room!

The 'Great Flood' of 2011

2011-07-18T22:17:00.004-06:00

Last Sunday, July 10 at about 5pm there was a huge downpour of rain. It was kinda cool for about 15 minutes but then it just kept coming. After about 30 minutes of a huge downpour our road and neighborhood started looking like this:

I looked out the front window and saw my neighbor in his window well using a bucket to get water out. I ran back to Mike, who had just gotten back from counting tithing, and told him that our neighbor was flooding and might need help. Mike changed and ran out the door to go help. That got me worried that we might be flooding and well yes we were too:

This is after I had cleaned up some of it already. I called for Mike to come and start getting water out of our window well because it was starting to not drain anymore and it was starting to fill up which was making more water come in.

Here is Mike cleaning out the window well. I ran to go get the trash can and saw people running all over with buckets helping people clean out their window wells. Mike got ours taken care of and headed off to help others. It truly was an amazing sight to see. People everywhere helping everyone. Men driving by getting home from meetings and jumping out to help, suit and all. Many of our young men running around the neighborhood finding those that needed help. Everyone was helping everyone it was amazing to see our neighborhood pull together and help each other out. Many people had quite a bit of damage 2 families in our ward each had a window shatter from the weight of the water and the water gushed into their home. Mike was out until 7:30 helping people. He came home to eat dinner and then headed out again at 8:30 to go help more people. He was out until midnight cleaning carpets, moving furniture, and helping anyone who needed help.

This is a picture of our park...where all that water is, it's normally just grass. It was full of water.

Many people decided to take advantage and have a little fun in the water.

It was crazy! I am so grateful for the amazing people I live by. We have a wonderful neighborhood and an amazing ward! Everyone cares so much about each other and even those who were out of town were taken care of. It was an amazing site to see people running around with buckets ready and willing to help. We truly live in a Zion and I am so grateful for that! Minus all the damage that happened it was an amazing day.

Madilyn is Potty Trained!

2011-07-15T23:18:00.002-06:00

I didn't think that I would be posting this for a while but Madilyn decided finally that she was ready to be potty trained. I've found that pushing a child when they are not ready to potty train is not worth it at all! So we've been waiting (mostly patiently) and finally on Thursday, July 7 Madi came in from swimming and when I was getting her dressed she said she wanted to wear big girl panties. From then on she was pretty good. While we were gone for the weekend she had a hard time but on Monday she woke up and has only had 1 accident since. She has done awesome! I don't even have to remind her to go. Half the time I hear her yelling, "I did it!" and she has gone all by herself! I think she just had to figure everything out first. She is just like her daddy in that way: Assess the situation, figure out how to make it work, perfect it in your head, and then pretty much perfectly preform it! She was the same way with crawling and walking.

Madilyn got to choose her potty toy and she chose this Strawberry Shortcake house. She loves it! We are so proud of you Madi! WAY TO GO!!!

Katelyn Turns 7!

2011-07-15T22:33:00.006-06:00

Katelyn turned 7 on July 3, 2011! I can't believe that just 7 short years ago (which flew by in a blink) this is what my little Katelyn looked like:

Then growing to this:

to this:

And now look at my beautiful girl! She has grown up so big

Since Kate's birthday landed on a Sunday we decided to do some celebrating on Saturday. We took the kids to Trafalga. We had a lot of fun bowling, bumper boats, rides, and games. Afterwards Katelyn chose to eat at Dennys. We then headed home and enjoyed the afternoon.

Here are some pictures from Trafalga.

On Sunday Katelyn got to open her presents. She was so excited and this was the first time she actually made me a list of what she would like. Boy that makes it super easy!!!

Katelyn wanted this doll so much! She was super excited to get it.

This was a fun art kit she was happy to get too.

After presents we had dinner and Kate chose to have ham sandwiches, fruit salad, and chips for her birthday dinner. She isn't a big fan of cake so we were going to make cupcakes which she still doesn't like a ton. I asked her if she'd rather have brownies and she was so excited and said yes! So we made brownies and put the candles on there.

Katelyn is a wonderful person. She is so helpful and kind to everyone. She loves to learn and absolutely loved school this past year. She has become quiet the great reader in the past couple of months and we are so proud of her. She is so excited to be baptized next year and reminds me all the time that she will soon be 8! Her favorite color is blue, she loves ham sandwiches and my homemade chicken noodle soup, and she loves to write and color and make her own books. She loves to ride her bike, swim, play with friends, and loves to play with toys. Her sisters are her best friends and they have a lot of fun together. She is a wonderful helper with all her sisters and is always the one who is the first to get up and help clean. She cares for everyone she meets and wants everyone to be happy. We love you Katie-bug! You make us smile!

Independence Day!

2011-07-14T15:16:00.003-06:00

I have a ton of posts to post and it's been so crazy lately that I haven't had time. Today Juliet has decided that she should be extremely cranky and wants to be held all the time so I will type some posts while she drools all over my arm.

We had a fun 4th of July. Grandma Sherie was honored as the Grand Marshall of the parade in Morgan so we headed up early to surprise her. Here are the 4 girls ready for the parade to start.

She is in this jeep but my camera clicked to slow. She was surprised to see us and we were so glad we were able to make it there for this special event.

The girls loved the parade and we got lots of candy.

Papa Kelly was in a float too and the girls got lots of candy from him!

Madilyn waved the whole time. She had so much fun. She even kept waving when she'd pick up candy. We headed home after the parade and did fireworks in the cul-de-sac just down the street. We had lots of fun chatting with everyone and enjoyed the fireworks. As it got dark and we started the fireworks it was such a beautiful sight to see the kids laughing and running around with their sparklers. I am so grateful we live in a free country where my children can run and play and enjoy their childhood. It was a joyful day.

God Bless America!

Singing in the Car

2011-07-14T14:42:00.000-06:00

These past couple months we've been doing quite a bit of driving. One day we were on our way back to Papa and Grandma Wright's after a missionary farewell and the radio wasn't getting good reception and I had left my MP3 player at home so everyone just decided to sing themselves. Katelyn asked me to record her so I did but you can hear in the background Mike, Mayli, and Madi too.

This next video is so funny. I was recording Madi singing and Katelyn was singing really loud. I love Madilyn's face when she realizes Katelyn is singing really loud. And then when she tries to tell her to be quiet. It's always a fun time in the car! :)

Uncle Lowell

2011-07-14T09:23:00.003-06:00

Mike's Uncle Lowell passed away on June 27, 2011. He had been fighting cancer for over a year and had been in an immense amount of pain. He was a wonderful example to all who knew him. He loved the gospel, served with a smile, and lived his life as a true disciple of Christ. His funeral in one word was amazing. There were so many people there to honor and remember this wonderful man; filled with people all the way back through the chapel, gym, and onto the stage. The spirit was so strong throughout the entire service. The closing song was "Called to Serve". It was amazing as the first verse was sung in Russian and hundreds of Uncle Lowell's missionaries (he was a mission president in Russia) and family members sang. It was as if it was a choir of angles singing welcoming Lowell as he was called to serve his mission on the other side.

If you want to read about his story you can read on his daughters blog here. Also if you go there you will see what an amazing legacy this man has left. The faith and attitude of this family amazes me and I hope one day I can be as wonderful as they each are.

The day Lowell passed away I sat thinking about everything. My heart hurting for his dear wife, children, and other family members. My heart hurt as I read the pains he experienced the last few months stating to the doctor on his last visit before he was put on hospice explaining his immense pain saying that he would never wish this pain on anyone. The day he passed away those pains and afflictions were taken away as he ascended to our Father in Heaven. I sat thinking of the scriptures. My mind turned to Doctrine and Covenants sections 121 and 122 "Thine adversity and afflictions shall be but a small moment." As Lowell suffered for months in grueling pain I sat pondering that now as he had met the Savior and reunited with loved ones on the other side it probably, did seem but a small moment to him. As trials, pain, afflictions, and tribulations come our way we must remember that they are "for our good and experience." And when we look at this life with an eternal perspective we can endure well knowing that our Savior has "descended below" all things and knows how to succor us. I am so grateful for the knowledge and peace the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to my soul. And I am so grateful for family and the love that we can share. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that through him we can be families forever. And I am so grateful for that knowledge and the joy that it brings. I am grateful for G. Lowell Wright and his amazing example, life, and testimony. God be with you til we meet again.

Elder Tim Wright heads to Spain!

2011-07-04T23:37:00.003-06:00

Tim, Mike's youngest brother, left for his mission on Wednesday, June 29. We were able to attend when he was set apart and then the day he left we got to eat lunch with him and say goodbye. We love you Tim and we will miss you so much! Spain truly is so lucky to have you serve them for the next 2 years!

Moments That Matter Most

2011-07-03T08:15:00.002-06:00

I love this video every time I watch it, it makes me cry. We get so busy in life that we forget sometimes what matters most. We would all do well to slow down a little and remember those things that matter most in our life. Life can be so full of distractions and many times we experience heartache, disappointment, sorrow, and pain. We need to remember to stop and look around and enjoy the many blessings that our Father in Heaven has given us to bring us great joy and happiness. Slow down and enjoy the moments that matter most.

Last week Mayli came running in the house saying, "Mom, Mom, Mom, you have to come see this! It is so neat." I responded, "Just a minute, I'm busy." Mayli said, "But Mom it is so cool please come see." So I decided I better go see this exciting thing. She took me over to our pine tree in the front yard and showed me this birds nest in the tree.

It was a beautiful sight and fun to watch the birds then everyday as they grew bigger and soon left the nest. It was a reminder of the beauty that Father in Heaven has given us so we can smile and have joy. I'm so glad Mayli took a moment to slow down and enjoy the beauty of the earth and looked up and saw this little miracle. I hope we can all slow down a little and enjoy the moments that matter most.

Juliet is 5 Months Old!

2011-07-02T22:47:00.006-06:00

Wow! I can't believe it has already been five months since sweet Juliet joined our family! She is a joy to have in our family and we all love her so much! This past month she has grown so much. I can't believe the milestones she has mastered in just 1 short month.

Stats for this month:

Weight: 14.5 pounds

Height: 25 inches

Isn't she so cute!? She really has learned so much this month and boy it was a crazy, busy one! We were all over the place this month. She got to go to Aunt Kenzie's and Uncle Jonny's wedding, attend 2 missionary farwells, see baby Lucy Belle get blessed, and many other things. She learned to roll over from both her tummy to her back and her back to her tummy. She learned how to give kisses. She loves to give kisses but if she doesn't feel like it she won't. She loves to grab her clothes and chew on them. Her clothes usually get drenched in slobber. She squeaks all the time especially when she is upset. She ate rice cereal for the first time and also had her first taste of apple juice. She loves both of them! Lastly she watched her first movie. She loves the colors on the tv and the music and I put her swing in front of the tv and she sat there and just smiled and watched the whole thing.

This was her reaction after a few bites of cereal. She was not happy!

She did calm down once I held her and then realized it actually was yummy. Now she loves it and starts getting upset because I can't feed her quick enough. She sits up so cute in her little high chair.

Juliet loves toys now and loves to be on the floor and rolls all over the place once she is there. She loves to put everything in her mouth and is starting now to recognize her name I think.

She is so much fun! We love having her in our family.

Jon and Mackenzie's Wedding

2011-06-29T21:00:00.000-06:00

My little sister Mackenzie got married on June 3, 2011. It was so fun because the guy she married lived just down the street from us. Kenzie came to stay with Mike and I last September. She was just going to stay a couple months but then she met Jon and ended up staying with us for 9 months. We loved having her here with us. Wedding preparation was crazy busy but it was so fun to have the whole family together again.

The night before the wedding we decided to have a girls night out. We missed Carli and Sarah but enjoyed having Bailey and Dawn with us. We had a great time and laughed all night.

It was quite a lovely day as we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to watch Jon and Mackenzie get sealed for time and all eternity. It was slightly overcast which made picture taking much more enjoyable.

The ceremony was lovely and we all waited for them to come out. Here are some fun pictures.

I love this one it truly captures my father's sweet, kind heart.

Hug time! :)

Here are my girls (except Juliet...she was a little cranky at the time)...they all looked super cute

Olya Clark from Endless Memories Photography took the pictures for the wedding. She did amazing! She is one of my friends here and she always does such a wonderful job.

Kenz looked beautiful

I made the bouquet and it turned out quite lovely.

I love my family and it was so fun to all be together. The best part of the whole day was to be able to be in the temple sealing room with Mike, Dad, Mom, Lindsay & Jared, Celeste & Matt, Carli & Ryan, Caleb & Sarah, Samuel, and then Mackenzie & Jon. I can't wait for the day McKenna gets married and we can all be together in the temple. What a wonderful day!

I love my brothers they are so fun!

My sisters are the best! I love them! We always have so much fun together!!!

I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful family! We always have a blast together! Always laughing and smiling! What joy! :)

Dad and Mom! They are so amazing!

The grandkids

I love this picture of them in the field! So beautiful!

My family again this time at the reception.

Mayli and Kenzie giving Jonny a kiss!

Here is the cake I made. It ended up looking quite lovely too.

It was a wonderful day and so much fun! It was so fun to be there through Jon and Kenzie's courtship. We loved seeing them everyday. They care so much for one another and I'm so excited to see what their future holds.

Juliet is 4 Months Old!

2011-06-14T22:32:00.000-06:00

Juliet turned 4 months old on May 28, 2011. She is growing up too fast! We are enjoying watching her learn and become more aware of her surroundings.

Stats for this month:

Weight: 13.93 pounds (50 percentile)

Height: 24.5 inches (52 percentile)

Head: 16.5 inches (71 percentile)

Here she is at 4 months! So very cute!

Things that happened this month:

She had 2 ear infections, learned to hold a toy, went on her 1st big trip up to Montana, laughed for the first time, started to love putting things in her mouth (especially her hands), and graced us with her smile constantly! :)

She loves to lay on the floor

She still sometimes cuddles but loves to look around and see what is going on everywhere.

She loves to put her hands in her mouth and this past month started grasping toys and putting them in her mouth.

She loves to smile and 'talk'

Juliet spends lots of time in her bouncer so she can be by me while I take care of the other kids and the house. She really enjoys it.

Here is a video of her laughing one of our favorite new things she has learned to do! :)

Mayli's Graduation

2011-06-06T23:47:00.002-06:00

Mayli graduated from Lilypad Preschool on May 25, 2011. She enjoyed school a lot and is super excited to go to Kindergarten next year! It was a fun graduation. The kids sang some songs for us and then each kid received a diploma and Mrs. Ashely said something nice about each child.

Here are the kids singing

Here is Mayli shaking her maraca.

This is when Mayli was receiving her diploma. Her teacher said that she was going to miss Mayli a lot next year. She said Mayli was always a good helper. After all the children got their diplomas we had some treats and watched a slideshow of the school year. Yay Mayli! We are so proud of you!!!

Trip to Montana for Kenna's Graduation

2011-06-06T23:23:00.004-06:00

My baby sister graduated from high school May 22. We headed up to Montana to attend her graduation. Here is McKenna on her graduation day!

The kids were having so much fun playing with their cousins and other kids who were visiting for the after party.

Madi and Molly were being too quiet so I decided I better find them...those 2 could get into a lot of trouble together. Luckily they were having lots of fun in the bathroom playing with these bathtub toys and not doing anything destructive.

It was so fun because this was the 1st time in 4 1/2 years that we had all been together so we had to get a family picture taken. We had lots of fun together.

Here are Papa and Grandma with all the grandkids.

We threw a bridal shower for Kenzie while we were up there. It was really fun and we had such a good time.

Here is Klara and Juliet. My sister Carli and I both had babies within just 2 weeks of each other. They were both just so cute! We had a fun time together. It is always fun to go back to my hometown and spend time with my family.

Spring Dance Recital 2011

2011-05-27T20:07:00.004-06:00

The girls had their Spring Dance Recital on May 21st. The girls looked so cute! We had to miss the actual recital but the girls did get to dress up for the dress rehearsal so we were able to see them dance. It wasn't the same as when they dance at the recital but they did a great job and it was so fun to be able to be apart of the dress rehearsal at least. We had to leave for Montana as soon as we were done.

Katelyn age 6 tap danced to "Rockin' Robin"

Mayli age 5 she danced to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

Madilyn age 3 danced to "Never Smile at a Crocodile"

(I can't get Madilyn to sit still for more than a few seconds. This was as good as a picture as I could get.)

All three girls

They did a great job. Here is a short video of each of them. We didn't get the best videos because people were walking all over and talking. But they were so cute!

The Week of Projects

2011-05-26T22:38:00.005-06:00

So last week was crazy I had lots of projects to get done. Here are some things that I did Tuesday-Friday:

Used my awesome new Cricut Cake to cut out vinyl for my mom

Then I made 65 magnets so my mom could put the vinyl and magnets on these

I made some of these pom poms to see if we could make them for my sisters wedding reception. Super easy and super cute!!!

We had a service auction for Relief Society and one of the services I said I would do was make a cake. The sister who won my service came over and asked if I could make the cake for her twin daughters' birthday. It turned out cute.

Then I had to make 5 dozen cookies for Mike's cousin's wedding reception.

I was also asked to make a slideshow of pictures for my sister's wedding so I've been scanning in pictures constantly.

I made 2 diaper cakes also and they turned out so cute! This was my 1st time and they are super easy to make too!

The last project was 4 dozen cupcakes for a funeral for a little baby girl who passed away in my ward. I finally finished everything late Friday night. I also had to wash clothes and pack for our 4 day trip to Montana, get the girls ready for their dance recital, keep the house clean, and all of my other daily duties. It was a crazy week and I'm glad it is over. Next week is wedding prep for my sister's wedding and then things should slow down a bit.

I Love E-Meals

2011-05-26T22:28:00.002-06:00

So about 2 months ago we signed up for a thing called e-meals. It is a full planned out meal plan and it has made my life extremely easier! I was getting so tired of cooking the same things over and over again. About 90% of the time I was cooking chicken for dinner. So it is extremely nice to have new ideas and great meals that are easy and so yummy. The other night I made this beauty for dinner:

It was so yummy and so easy!!! (Excuse the paper plate I was trying to minimize dishes that day) I absolutely love having a planned out meal plan with new recipes everyday!

Mayli's Surgery

2011-05-14T08:35:00.003-06:00

Mayli had surgery up at Primary Children's Hospital yesterday. For about 2 years she has had this little red growth under her right eye. In just the past couple months it has started growing bigger so our pediatrician recommended we get it removed. He referred us to a plastic surgeon up at Primary's and we were able to get in quickly. Yesterday we went in at 9:45am.

Here is Mayli in the parking lot.

Here is May in the waiting room while we were waiting to register.

We got in and met with a nurse who made sure Mayli was all ready for surgery. Mayli got in her hospital gown and socks. She didn't like the socks but I told her she needed to wear them.

Here she is while we were waiting to go to pre-op.

Juliet got to come with us because she is so young and won't take a bottle. May liked having her there so she could give her lots of loves while we waited.

We got into the pre-op waiting room about 11:45am and they told us that they would come to get her about 1:00pm for the surgery. Mayli was such a trooper she hadn't been able to eat all morning and she wasn't complaining at all. Every kid that goes in for surgery can make a little buddy to take in with them. Mayli picked this one and got to draw her buddy.

At about 1:15pm they came and took her back for the surgery. She did great and went back without any problems. We waited about an hour and Mike was able to go back and see her. At about 2:30pm I was able to go back and see her. She was doing so great and enjoying watching her show and drinking her root beer slushy.

She got 2 stitches and she isn't in too much pain. Just Tylenol and Motrin for pain and that seems to work just fine. She was doing so great waking up that we were able to get discharged at about 3:30pm. She did awesome! They are sending the growth in for testing and we should hear back in the next week or so. She is feeling great today and running around and having fun.

Juliet is 3 Months Old!

2011-05-10T23:00:00.000-06:00

Juliet turned 3 months old on April 28, 2011. She is getting bigger everyday and we love having her in our family.

Stats for this month:

Weight: 12 pounds 4 oz

Height: 24 inches

New things this month:

She listened to her first General Conference, learned to sleep through the night, got in 1st car accident, Mike and I went out and left her home for a few hours, she started loving her binky, and she loves to smile.

Here is Juliet and Kate

Daddy and Jewels

Uncle Jonny and Juliet

Mayli and Juliet.

Juliet still doesn't like bathtime very much. But she usually is pretty content.

One of my favorite things she does is when I change her she looks up at this wall and smiles and coos. It is so cute! She loves it!

Isn't she so cute!!!!

She isn't a big fan of tummy time. But she will lay there at least for a few minutes.

She is starting to like toys a little bit and is always putting her hands in her mouth. She still loves her swing. And is content most of the time. She is starting to grow out of her 0-3 month clothes and is starting to fit into her 3-6 month clothes. She is getting so big! We love her so much!

I Love to See the Temple

2011-05-02T22:40:00.004-06:00

I put the kids to bed tonight at 9pm. At 9:50pm Madilyn toddles her way out to the family room saying she is scared and needs a hug. Mike and I both give Madi a hug and Daddy takes her back to her room. At about 10:15pm she comes back out saying, "Mommy, I scared." I took her back to her room and suggested we say a prayer to make her feel better. We said a prayer and she seemed ok so I started leaving. She starts screaming asking if she can sleep with Katie because she is too scared to sleep in her own bed. I asked her why she was so scared and she started telling me about something that happened to Dora and how Dora was scared and now Madi was scared. I told her that is was just a show and it was nothing to be afraid of. She still wouldn't go to sleep and by this time had woken up both Katelyn and Mayli. I decided to take her out of the room to see if I could calm her down. She kept telling me she was so scared because of this Dora thing so I told her instead of thinking of the scary thing to think of things that made her happy. I asked her, "what makes you happy Madi?" And without hesitation she began singing...."I love to see the temple I'm going there someday to feel the holy spirit to listen and to pray. For the temple is a house of God of place of love and beauty. I'll prepare myself while I am young this is my sacred duty." (With a little help from Mommy but she did know most of the words). She then said ok Mom I'm not scared anymore I'm happy! I asked her if she could go to bed now and she said yes I'm not scared...I love to see the temple! And off to bed she went without any problems.

Well Madi I also love to see the temple and it makes me happy too! How I love my young children and their amazing faith and the joy that they have because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So next time I'm 'scared' or having a bad day...maybe I just need to remember "I love to see the temple" and all will be well.

If I get one more...

2011-04-30T13:29:00.010-06:00

If I get one more medical bill in the mail I may end up like this:

It is so interesting how every year can be so extremely different from the last. Last year we put $1500 into our FSA plan and had to come up with things to do to use it all before the end of the year. This year we put in $2000...and its all gone and the bills keep coming...

Things we've had to pay this year:

-2 visits to the hospital to do stress tests on the baby

-Madi knocking her teeth out

-Mayli's cavities

-The birth of Juliet

-Emergency bill for Mayli's Seizure

-Ambulance bill for Mayli's Seizure

-Katelyn's glasses and eye appointment

-Check up after the baby

-Visit to Primary Children's for Juliet

-Visit to Primary Children's for Mayli

-2 Children with Reflux ($120 a month gets expensive!)

-Co-pays for the visits to the doctor for the kids because of sickness

-Prescriptions

Totaling more than $5000 out of pocket so far this year

(And I wonder why I feel like I have no money left from Mike's paycheck after all the bills are paid)

Doctor Bills coming up soon or possibly :

-Mayli is having surgery at Primary Children's on May 13th to remove a growth from under her eye. It is getting bigger and they need to remove it and send it in for testing.

-Took Juliet to the doctor yesterday...another ear infection...the doctor said that it isn't looking good and with how its been going, if it continues she will have to have tube surgery.

I'm not writing this to complain because we truly are blessed. We have insurance that has covered so much and we all are pretty healthy. But this is something I wanted to keep track of for myself and for posterity in our blog books I'll someday print off. I know we have so much to be thankful for and I know that everything happens for a reason and the Lord has a plan for us. So when the next bill comes I will have to remember this! :)

Easter

2011-04-29T22:40:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful Easter. Now that the girls are getting older it is so fun to be able to teach them why we celebrate these holidays. We had a wonderful Easter Sunday...church was lovely. The sacrament talks were great and we had a beautiful musical number. The spirit was so strong. We talked with the girls about why we celebrate Easter. It is so neat to hear them answer questions and know the answers. Mayli every once in a while will say to me, "Mommy ask me when Jesus will come alive again." So I ask her and she says, "Right now, He lives and is alive right now Mom." I love that my children know that Christ lives.

I didn't get any pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses before church...Mike had meetings and was unable to come home before we had to leave and I was rushing like a mad woman out the door to try to get to church on time. Which I was still late for because the Relief Society president called and said she was sick so I had to run by her house and pick up the binders and keys because I was the only one that was going to be there from the presidency. But the girls did look beautiful in their dresses and pink flowers! After church we went and had dinner at Grandpa and Grandma Wright's house. Then we went to study group and had a wonderful lesson about Christ from Grandpa Porter. It truly was a lovely day.

We got to dye Easter eggs on Saturday and here are some pictures of the girls having fun.

They had lots of fun dying the eggs. We had 54 eggs to dye and they got them finished in like 10 minutes! They had so much fun putting them in the cups and seeing the colors change. By the end they were getting really creative and putting them in different colors and trying all sorts of different combinations. We had a great time!

Cake Contest

2011-04-29T16:05:00.003-06:00

The elementary school had a cake decorating contest and I made this cake and I won! :) YIPEE!!! This is a somewhat replica of what Kenzie's wedding cake will look like. It was nice to make a smaller version to see what it would look like. It turned out cute!

I also made some cupcakes for a charity event this weekend. They turned out cute too. Next time I make them I hope to have more time and I'll put on some fondant decorations.

The Living Planet Aquarium

2011-04-29T09:40:00.004-06:00

We had Spring break a couple of weeks ago and we wanted to take the girls somewhere fun for one of the days. So we headed up to The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. It was a lot of fun and the girls enjoyed seeing all the cool fish and other water creatures. We got year passes so we will be going back often.

Here are all 4 girls right as we started

This octopus was so cool looking and it was moving all over the glass.

The girls had lots of fun here is a picture of each one of them as we were walking around:

They have a place where you can pet the stingrays. They are so slimy! The girls wouldn't touch them but they liked to watch them swim all over. We had a great time!

My Madilyn...

2011-04-22T21:37:00.007-06:00

I love my Madilyn. Everyday is a new day, crazy and fun-filled. She is so curious about everything, I wonder what goes through her mind. She loves to get into everything and in the past week she has broken:

The Hallway Mirror (by throwing it down and jumping on it)

My $300 MP3 player (soaked it in water)

Joseph from my Willow Tree Nativity (Well it's behind my piano and I'm not strong enough to pull out the piano to see if he is broken)

Our Toaster (She put marshmallows in it and started it...now whenever I try to use it is smokes and smells like burnt mallows...it made its way to the trash can today)

A dozen cupcakes (we were at Walmart and she grabbed a thing of cupcakes and dropped them on the floor)

She drew all over the van window and cup holder with a crayon

Katelyn's flower she was growing (she dumped the poor thing and got soil all over the house...the plant was officially dead today and had to be thrown away)

At least once a day I find her in the bathroom playing in the sink. Which results in water all over her, the sink, and the floor. She loves to play in the water. Here is a picture; just look at the pure joy on her face:

She makes me smile and laugh. There was a talk given in General Conference and I know that Madi is in our family for a very special reason. "A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in Parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505. Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and opportunity to become more godlike yourself. With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed, and refined? Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you?" Lynn G. Robbins. Madilyn is refining us and making us more Christlike. And I need her to help me be more patient and long suffering. It's like when she soaked my MP3 player someone asked me did you yell at her...well no I didn't I told her she ruined it and how sad it made me and how she needs to be more careful and thats why I tell her not to play in the water because things can get ruined. She had no idea that my MP3 player was right there she was just having fun playing in the water. I just have to remind myself...patience! She is a joy to have in our home even if she broke about $500 worth of stuff this week....

Accident...

2011-04-15T23:58:00.004-06:00

Tonight me, Kenzie, Christina, and Juliet headed down to Orem for a little Friday night shopping. We were on our way home and as I was leaving the mall I thought maybe I should go the backway...but then decided to go on University Parkway. We turned right on to the main road and there was an accident at the next light. I said "Oh man I should have gone straight!" Traffic was moving slow and the light had turned red. We waited and when it turned green traffic started moving but then stopped. So I stopped and all of the sudden we

got slammed in the back of the car by this little car:

We looked and saw there was more damage than we thought so we pulled off the road. Kenzie went up to the cops helping at the other accident they said we still needed to call 911. So we called and they sent an officer to help with our accident. When we got hit it didn't seem too hard just more of a shock. I was a little shakey and Juliet just did a small cry and didn't seem too upset. Everyone was ok and no one was hurt. The poor girl that hit us was crying. All of us in our car were ok and we were laughing and trying to make the best of the situation. Here is a picture of Christina, Kenzie, and Jewels.

Here is the damage:

It wasn't that bad but it did knock the bumper off some.

When we were driving home the alignment seemed off and there was a clinking noise. There is definitely some things wrong with it. So we will call the insurance company tomorrow and get everything all worked out and get the car fixed. We are just happy that everybody was ok. Next time I'll listen to that 'thought' which was most likely a prompting that told me to the backway.

Here are some pictures of the damage when it is light:

Not too bad. We have to wait for the girl's insurance company to call and get everything figured out until we can go get it fixed. So we are down a car for a few days until we hear back from the insurance company.

Juliet's Newborn Pictures

2011-04-14T22:54:00.000-06:00

Juliet had her newborn pictures taken on March 31st. She looked so beautiful and did such a great job. Olya, my friend down the street is a professional photographer and she took the pictures for us. Her business is called Endless Memories Photography you can check out her website...I highly recommend her. Olya came to our house and took the pictures. Juliet was having a hard time at first but after a feeding and a prayer from my sister, Juliet was asleep and perfect. She looked just beautiful!

I love this picture of her eyes open it is my favorite.

Olya put together lots of collages. I loved each one of them. I still haven't been able to decide which pictures to print off because I love them all!

There were so many great pictures. Juliet looks just beautiful.

Juliet is just beautiful and we are so grateful for her.

Such Girls!

2011-04-04T10:31:00.003-06:00

Today this was my Facebook status:

Dede Clayton Wright finds it a little bit frightening that Katelyn-6, Mayli-5, and Madi-3 all seem to be having their 'time of the month' already and all at the same time! Katelyn is super emotional, Mayli is irritable and angry, Madi just melts down and cries over the silliest things. Oh what joys I'm in store for when they are all teenagers...eek!!! :)

Here is a little story of why...Katelyn just started crying yesterday. I asked her what was wrong, she said I miss you sometimes when I'm at school. Then she started sobbing and telling me how much she loved me and wanted to get Tangled and wanted to know if I could go to the store in the morning to buy it for her. She continued on saying that she wants to be Rapunzel and wanted to know why I didn't name her that.

Then Mayli jumps in yelling, no I'm Rapunzel! There can only be 1 Rapunzel and I'm her! I said there can be more than 1 Rapunzel and you can both pretend. Mayli then runs to her room screaming, no one ever understands me!

Later after scripture study Mayli was asked to pray and Madi had apparently really wanted to so she starts screaming and throws a fit for 10 minutes because she didn't get to say the prayer. I finally get her calmed down and we go to her room and Madi realizes she left her Dora pillow at Grandma Sherie's house! Meltdown #247 for the day! It was just one of those days I sat and laughed inside all day because if I laughed out loud that would start another snowball of emotions rolling!

They are such girls! There is a clip from Tangled that reminds me of how girls are. I have it below. I died laughing...thinking of my girls...and said oh she is such a girl. It makes me laugh...it will be so fun when they are all teenagers. Lots of drama I'm sure! They are such a joy to Mike and I and we know there is a special reason Father in Heaven gave us each one of them and blessed us with 4 girls so close together. Enjoy the clip...she is such a girl!

Juliet is 2 Months Old!

2011-04-03T23:00:00.002-06:00

Juliet turned 2 months old on March 28, 2011. She is growing up so fast and getting so big.

Here are her stats for this month:

Weight: 10 pounds 4 ounces (42 percentile)

Length: 23 inches long (76 percentile)

Head: 15 inches (51 percentile)

She is as beautiful as ever!

Our Jewels

Her 2nd month was lots of fun. She is a joy to have in our home. Some things that happened:

She was blessed. She moved out of our bedroom into her own room and crib, She found her hands, and she started having some nights where she would sleep through the night. Her best night was march 24th she slept from 8:30pm to 7:30am! 11 hours! She started following objects with her eyes and kicking her feet. She also got her 1st ear infection but is recovering quite well. Our favorite 'first' is that she smiled for the 1st time and started cooing and talking. There are videos below.

Juliet on her blessing day

Her tiny hands!

She is so cute when she yawns!

Here is a picture of the first day she smiled at me! The morning of March 28th she surprised me with this beautiful smile and she has been smiling ever since! It is truly a great reward to see that she loves me and recognizes me.

She loves to sit up in her Bumbo chair.

She loves to be swaddled but she was always getting her hands out of the blankets which was waking her up more often. I got her a swaddle blanket and she loves it! Here she is all bundled up. She sleeps better and doesn't get too hot in this 'blanket'.

She loves to swing her swing. She also loves her bouncer and still loves to cuddle. She was still sleeping quite a bit but in the last week she has been up a little bit more often which has been lots of fun to have her more alert. She still projectile spits up a lot and is always pooping out of her diapers. She isn't a fan of bathtime and gets upset during tummy time sometimes. She is content most of the time and we love to talk and play with her.

I love this picture of her! She looks so happy!

She loves to smile!

We had a photoshoot of Juliet and she looked so beautiful. I'll do a post of just her pictures later.

Here is Juliet smiling!

Here is Juliet talking!

Family Night With the Bishopric

2011-03-29T11:48:00.003-06:00

Last Monday we had a Family Night as a new bishopric. It was really fun. We started out with a yummy dinner. Then after we were done eating the bishop's son, Garrett, did the lesson for us. The lesson was about overcoming our fears through a treasure...prayer. It was fun and the kids got to be pirates and look for the treasure. The girls loved their eye patches and telescopes as they searched for the treasure box that was full of necklaces, chocolate treats, and a reminder that prayer is a treasure. The kids had a blast!

Here is Madi after they found the treasure

After the lesson was time for some fun activities:

Katelyn had so much fun playing basketball and now wants a basketball and basketball hoop for her birthday. She loved it when she made a basket! It was fun to watch her enjoy it so much.

I promised Bishop I wouldn't post these on Facebook...but he didn't mention the blog. It was fun to watch everyone jam out with Rock Band. Here is Bishop playing the guitar...collar up and everything. Hahaa!

Here is Bishop on guitar, Branson (1st Counselor) on bass, Nick (2nd Counselor) singing, and Garrett on drums. We really had a fun time and it was great spending some time together not in meetings at church. Here are a couple videos.

Juliet's Blessing Day

2011-03-25T22:20:00.000-06:00

Juliet Celeste Wright was blessed on March 13, 2011. It was a beautiful day. She was absolutely beautiful and we had lots of friends and family in attendance. Mike blessed her and there was also so many others who were able to stand in the circle. The circle had Daddy, Papa Clayton, Papa Wright, Uncle Aaron, Uncle Thomas, Uncle Mark, Uncle Timmy, Uncle Jared, Uncle, Jonny, Uncle Caleb, Uncle Sam, Bishop Wardle, Brother Hammond, and Brother West. I'll share a small part of her blessing: She was told that she has a wonderful spirit that she will share with others. I have seen this in her since the moment she was born. She truly has an amazing spirit about her. Whenever I hold her she brings peace and joy to my soul. Her spirit fills whatever room she is in and it is so calming.

Juliet Celeste Wright

Getting Juliet ready

Almost done...

Juliet and I right before church

She looked absolutely beautiful!!!!

And so peaceful as always

Her outfit for the day

Her tiny feet and tiny shoes

Grandma and Jewels

These next pictures Mike's sister SaraAnne took! She did such a lovely job! Thanks so much Sara! It's nice to have such a professional in the family! :) Love you!

Our family

My life, my joy. I love this picture. Mike's sister put it so well she said, "You look so peaceful among the chaos...I think this picture represents life." It is so true...life is crazy but wonderful and we must smile because it is true joy. I wouldn't want it any other way. This is true happiness!

Me and my 4 beautiful girls! They bring me such happiness!

Madilyn and Juliet. She loves her so much! Every night Madi prays and thanks Heavenly Father for Juliet.

Juliet was also told in her blessing that she would be a peacemaker with her sisters and bring them all close together. I can already see how much closer the girls have been and how kind they are to her and to each other because of Juliet.

All 4 girls pretty in white! Our greatest joy!

Daddy and Jewels

Mommy and Juliet

Our sweet baby girl brings us so much happiness

Kisses

Here are some pictures of the after party:

Cute Aunt Amy!

The boys playing football

Katelyn had been running a fever for 4 days and Uncle Aaron brought his doctor stuff so he could check her ears. She had quite a bit of wax in them so he cleaned them out for her. After he was done she said wow I can hear!!! She did end up having and ear infection and we were able to get some medicine. Thanks Aaron!

Playing with the kids outside. It was a beautiful day!

Here is all the family that was there.

Silly picture!

I love this song and had to put the 1st verse on this picture. I can't wait to see what amazing things you will do Juliet! The Lord has a great plan in store for you! We love you!

Madilyn Faye Turned 3!

2011-03-09T17:19:00.004-07:00

Madilyn turned 3 years-old on March 6th. She is getting so big! I can't believe how much she has grown up in the past couple of months.

Here is our big 3 year-old

Here is Madi at 1 week-old

Here is Madilyn on her blessing day

Madilyn at age 1.

Madilyn on her 2nd birthday

Here are some pictures of her birthday this year:

She got a big-girl bike and when she walked in she gasped and was so excited! She still is learning to use it but enjoys riding it.

Madilyn opening presents

Madilyn with her cake

(This is the only picture we got and the camera I purchased is horrible but we can't take it back because the return period has passed...so we are dealing with some pictures being blurry sometimes. The reviews were so good and I thought I was getting a killer deal...oh well...you live you learn)

Madilyn is my crazy one and we love her just the way she is! She is the one that loves to scream at the top of her lungs at the drop of a pin. She is the one who I'm constantly chasing after. The one who is always hurting herself. She is the one who is into everything and once I'm finished cleaning up one mess she has made another one for me to clean up. She also is the one who makes me laugh and smile everyday. The one who's smile and laugh is infectious. The one who has the most adorable voice. She is the one who when she prays, thanks Heavenly Father for her mommy and other family members. She is the one who is concerned about everyone and wants to make sure that when there is a treat passed out that everyone gets one. She also is the one who when she was sick a few weeks ago and I had to take her into the doctor and we had to stop and get her prescription and I let her pick out a treat...she picked out treats for ever single person in the family before she got her own. She is always thinking of others and still loves to cuddle and give lots of hugs. She still loves her binky and her blanky. She loves Dora and anything that has to do with her. Her favorite toys to play with are the little Disney princess dolls, barbies, and any little toy she can find and use her imagination with. We love you Madilyn and are so happy you came to our family! Happy Birthday!

Juliet is a Month Old!

2011-02-28T22:31:00.003-07:00

Juliet turned 1 month old today! She is getting so big yet she is still so small. She is so sweet and we are so happy to have her in our family! Here is a picture of her at 1 month.

This is Juliet's favorite way to be held right now. She probably is almost 8lbs now and 21-22 inches long. She is a good nurser and eats about every 2-3 hours. She is patient and seems to know that sometimes I need to take care of her sisters and she will wait patiently to eat most of the time. She loves to grunt and is always grunting after she eats. She has cooed a few times and is always smiling in her sleep. She spits up at least 1 time a day if not more and usually at least once it is projectile spit up and a lot. So normally she goes through a couple outfits and blankets a day and I am usually in the line of fire too. She is sleeping pretty good at night and usually is up 2 times usually once between 2am-3am and once between 5am-7am. Her sisters absolutely love her and are always asking to hold her. She has already spit up on Kate once and Mayli once. She is a sweet baby and we love her so much!

It's been a crazy whirlwind of a month. The house is messy, the laundry is piled up, I'm exhausted, and my dinner is usually cold...but for now I'm content spending most of my time doing this:

Happy 1 month birthday baby girl! We love you!

Pictures of the Last Few Weeks

2011-02-27T21:00:00.007-07:00

Here are some pictures of the last few weeks.

Juliet's tiny feet.
Madi loves to hold Jewels!

My sweet mom came to my rescue a week after I had Juliet. There is something about having my mom here that makes having a baby easier. There is something inside that makes me yearn for my mother to come and mother me as I mother my new child. She helps out so much. She cleans the house, does the laundry, cooks dinner, holds the baby, tends the other children, and is just there to talk to and listen to me. The last one is so important after having a baby...to just have someone to sit there to talk to is so healing. She stayed with us for a little over a week and we enjoyed every moment of it! Thanks so much Mom I could never survive having children without you!

My dad came to pick up my mom and he brought down Kenna, Sarah, Caleb, and Sam. Here is a picture of Kenna and Juliet. It was fun to see everyone and have them meet Juliet for the first time.

Here is my wonderful father and Juliet. He had to wear his sunglasses inside because his eyes are bothering him. He is probably going to have to get another cornea transplant soon. Love you Daddy!

Here is Mayli and Juliet...she loves to cuddle with her.

One morning I was getting Kate off to school and when I came over to check on Juliet this is what I found. Madilyn loves Juliet and loves to talk to her, hold her, and give her kisses.

Such tiny hands and fingers.

Our beautiful baby girl.

Katelyn Got Glasses

2011-02-25T10:43:00.003-07:00

We decided to take Katelyn in to the eye doctor to see if she might need glasses. She has been having a hard time reading and we wanted to see if that might be why. I took her in on Wednesday and she did need glasses. Kate is farsighted but her right eye has 20/20 vision and her left eye has 20/25. So the problem is that when she trys to focus, her right eye will focus but then her left eye is out of focus. So if she trys to focus her left eye her right eye will go out of focus. So she's always only been able to see well out of 1 eye. The doctor said we were really lucky because most of the time a person will develop a lazy eye because they only focus the one eye and the other one doesn't get focused enough so it becomes lazy. We are so blessed she has been able to use it enough to prevent that. The glasses will help prevent that from happening in the future. So I'm really glad we decided to take her in.

She picked out her own glasses and she was super excited to get them. We picked them up yesterday and she looks super cute! We are hoping that this helps out with her reading.

We also found out that she has a bulging optic disc in her left eye. Another reason I'm so glad we took her in. The doctor took a picture of the inside of her eye and found that in her left eye her optic disc is bulging a bit. She could have been born this way or it could mean that there is some pressure on her optic nerve from her brain. Which if that was the case would not be good. But she doesn't have any of the other symptoms so we need to just keep a close watch on her and take her in if any of the other symptoms develop. She will need to be checked every year to make sure that it isn't getting bigger. I'm so thankful to live in a place where we have such great medical professionals who take such great care of their patients! Kate loves her new glasses and we love that they will help her.

Our Trip to Primary Children's

2011-02-11T20:04:00.007-07:00

Juliet had her 2 week appointment today at our pediatricians office. She is growing very well. When we left the hospital she weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and today she weighed 7 lbs 1 oz. She is growing very well. She is now 21 inches long. She is getting big but is still so tiny! She is an angel and we've had her with us already 2 weeks! This morning I fed her before heading off to the doctor and she ended up spiting up a lot. A little while later she spit up again but this time it was a green color not white. I was concerned so at the appointment I told her doctor and he said we needed to make sure that there was no blockage in her tummy because she was throwing up bile. So they called over to Primary Children's Outpatient in Riverton and set up an appointment for us to run over there and make sure she was ok.

Here she is all wrapped up before getting her tests done.

Here is another picture of her under the machine.
They gave her some barium and then proceeded to take x-rays and see how it ran through her body. We could see the liquid going through her. They checked her intestines to make sure that they weren't twisted. Everything looked good there. Then they checked her stomach opening to make sure that was connected correctly. It was connected correctly so, so far she was looking great! We then watched to see if she had reflux. After a few minutes we could see the liquid going back up her throat and then go back down. So they were able to confirm that she does have reflux. They prescribed Prevacid for her and that will help her not be in so much pain everytime she eats. We were so grateful she was ok and that there were no major issues. We are so blessed to live in a wonderful place where we are so close to so many wonderful hospitals and experts to make sure all is well with our baby.

Juliet Celeste Wright

2011-02-04T18:11:00.010-07:00

Juliet Celeste Wright was born January 28, 2011. She was born at 5:21pm and was 6lbs 13oz and 19.5 inches long. She was pink and perfect! Her apgar score was a 10. She has been as sweet as ever since she was born.

A picture of Juliet a few hours after she was born.

Here is a picture of me during labor...this was even before the epidural...and I'm still smiling!

Here is Mike waiting patiently for the baby to come.

Mike and I a few hours before she was born.

***Birthing Story***

The hospital called us earlier than expected on the morning of the 28th. They called at 8:20am and wanted us to the hospital by 9:00am. I told them I could be there by 9:15. Mike's mom was on her way but we weren't expecting to go in until 10am so she wasn't to our house quite yet. So I called my friend Rachel and she was over within minutes ready to help get the Kate off to school and take care of the other girls until Mike's mom came. We got to the hospital right on time and started the induction process. By 10:15 they had started the pitocin and called my doctor to let him know I was ready to have my water broken. I was only dilated to 1cm and 50% effaced. My doctor wasn't able to come over until his lunch hour so at 1:15 he came and I was only at 2cm and 80% effaced. By this point I was sure I was going to be there all day. He broke my water and then I decided I'd get the epidural. The anesthesiologist was so mean and he kept yelling at me while he was trying to give the epidural. My nurse was super nice and made me feel better. I about cried because he was so mean. He finally got it done and I was so ready for him to leave. The contractions started coming harder and faster but by 2:30 I was only at 3cm. Again I was sure I'd be there all day and all night. At 4:30 I pushed my epidural button for the 1st time because I was starting to feel a bit more pressure. The nurse checked and I was only at 4cm. It was taking forever. At 4:50 I was feeling a ton of back pressure and told the nurse I thought I might be ready to deliver. She checked me and I was at a 6 and going very fast and she told me that I was ready to deliver. They called the doctor and he showed up about 5:15 or so. After only 2 pushes Juliet was born at 5:21pm. All in all it went very smoothly and great. My doctor was awesome and really made the whole process quite calm and relaxing.

Here is Juliet getting weighed

Just a few minutes after she was born

Here she is right after birth before they gave her me

Here she is all cleaned and ready

My sister Kenzie and Jewels

Big sister Kate and Juliet

Big sister Mayli and Jewels

Big sister Madi and Juliet

Grandma Sherie and Juliet

Papa Kelly and Jewels

Me and my 4 girls

Me and Juliet

Our Jewels

Juliet means youthful. We fell in love with the name the night we found out we were having a girl and it has been our favorite since then. So we were so excited to name her Juliet. All of our children's middle names are named after a family name. Juliet's middle name, Celeste, is after my sister who has been there for me always. So that is how we named her.

Daddy with Juliet

Juliet in her bed at the hospital

Juliet all ready to go home

So super cute!!!

In her carseat all ready to go home. We are so excited she has come to our family and absolutely are enjoying every moment with this sweet, calm spirit our Father in Heaven has given us. She is a wonderful baby and is just content to be here. She is beautiful and is so loved in our home! Welcome to the Wright Family Juliet! We love you!

Poor Madi...

2011-01-26T19:48:00.002-07:00

Well the afternoon was going just normal...I got the girls their afternoon snack and after they were done I sat down to enjoy a lovely bowl of ice cream. The girls were running around and I heard someone fall and Madi started screaming here is why:

Madilyn had fallen and knocked in her rightside front tooth and the tooth next to it. (This is an after picture after it was fixed) The culprit:

This little gem...the recorder (which by the way I had already taken away from Madilyn 10 min earlier). I'm not 100% sure what really happened...no one would tell me the real story...I guess in fear that they might get in trouble. I think Mayli was chasing Madi and of course she was running with the recorder in her mouth...she tripped and fell and the recorder knocked in her teeth. Ok it was just confirmed...apparently Kate and May were both chasing Madi and at the time Mayli was the one that was right behind her when she fell and Kate was still in the back of the house. Anyway I ran over to her and I looked and saw her teeth and all the blood. She was screaming and there was so much blood. All I could say was, "Oh no, no, no, no! Oh no!" And hold back the tears and try not to cry. I got a cloth and had her hold it in her mouth. I wasn't quite sure who to call or what to do. So I called the pediatrician first who told me to call the dentist. I called our dentist and they told me they'd wait for me to come in so they could see what they could do for her. Luckily Kenzie (my sister) was here and she was able to watch Kate and May while I ran Madi down to the dentist.

Here is a picture of how Madilyn has been holding her mouth most of the night when there isn't a cloth in it. We got to the dentist and we were able to get her to cooperate enough to get an x-ray and see if the teeth had broken inside her gums. The x-rays showed that they had just been knocked out of their sockets. I decided to have him try to push them back into place (which was so not fun for her) because there is a possibility her teeth can be saved. We are going in, in 2 weeks for their 6 month cleaning and he will check then and see if the teeth are doing ok. There is a possibility that the teeth will die because they had been detached from the nerves. Sometimes though they re-attach and everything is ok. So we will just wait and see what happens.

This is a picture after it was pushed back into place but you can kinda see how it is crooked and loose.

This pic sums up how she feels!

But she'll still give us smiles!

She got a blessing from Daddy and seems to be doing better now. She won't talk at all...must be because it hurts too bad. The bleeding has finally slowed and almost stopped. But she isn't being very helpful in letting me see how things are going inside her mouth. She just wants to keep it shut now. Maybe we'll have more progress tomorrow. It is rather weird this happened today. Because 2 days before I had Madi, Katelyn had to get stitches on her forehead. Why not have a nice tramatic injury right before the baby is supposed to be born???? For now Madi has to be careful what she eats and can't use her front teeth at all to chew. We'll see how well that goes. She was a trooper today and did very well with the dentist. We are hoping the teeth will be ok and that they will live. :)

Excited for Baby #4

2011-01-23T20:03:00.002-07:00

Well we are so excited for our new baby to make her appearance soon. Getting prepared has been a process but we finally have the nursery all done and everything else ready. So I thought I'd post up some pictures of the baby's room.

Here I am at 37 weeks.
Here is the baby's room. You will have to excuse the blinds...as soon as I put new ones up...they look like this within just a day or two!

Here is the crib and window.

I scheduled an induction date with my doctor so the plan is to have the baby on January 28th. So we will see if everything goes as planned. We are excited for her to be here soon. The plan is to name her Juliet Celeste Wright. Katelyn, Mayli, and Madi are so excited for their baby sister and she is going to be so loved and very welcome in our home.

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T21:36:00.005-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Christmas Eve we headed up to Kaysville for the Porter family annual Christmas Eve get together. This year they decided to have it earlier in the day so we could all head home earlier. We started at 11 and ate brunch. After we were all done eating all the kids acted out the story of Christ's birth. It was so great! (I forgot my camera but luckily I had my phone so I could take one picture.)

Here are the girls all dressed up. Mayli was a sheep, Madi was a cow, Kate was an angel, and Emma was a sheep. After we were all done we headed up to Papa and Grandma Wright's house and spent the day with them. We opened up pixie gifts and then headed home about 7pm. A few minutes after we got home one of our neighbors came dressed up as Santa and brought us treats and had each of the girls sit on his lap. It was so fun!

Christmas Morning was so fun! It was our first year just being our family! For the past 7 years we have always been at one of our parents house for Christmas morning. The girls got up about 8 and they were so excited.
Madilyn eating a treat from her stocking after opening some Santa gifts. Madi got Dora and Boots beanie babies and a Dora bath toy. They got lots of little goodies too from Santa.

Mayli with one of her gifts from Santa. Mayli was so excited...each one of them got an umbrella which is what Mayli kept asking Santa for. She opened some magnetic dress up dolls and said, "Santa brought me just what I wanted." She also got the squinkie cupcake toy.

Katelyn so excited getting ready to open her Santa gifts. Kate got a baby crib and a baby from Santa. Santa also brought a movie and some games for the whole family.

Time to open all the other gifts under the tree...

Daddy helping opening and passing out gifts.

Katelyn with her gift from her pixie, Mommy. It is a Sleeping Beauty dress-up.

Mayli opening a gift.

Madi after she opened a gift...she got lots of Dora stuff she was so happy!

Daddy with the girls after we were all done opening gifts. They were so excited to go and start playing! It was fun to be able to let them open and play with whatever toy they wanted to. They had so much fun playing all day long.

After we were done opening gifts...we decided to start a tradition for our family and we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We had such a lovely day and the girls had lots of fun. After we were all done opening presents we talked about why we celebrate Christmas. We had quite a lovely day.

Winter Dance Recital

2010-12-18T23:38:00.003-07:00

Tonight was the girls winter dance recital. The girls looked so cute and all 3 of them did a fantastic job dancing!

Mayli all dressed up.

She is in Ballet/Creative Dance this year.

Katelyn all dressed up for her dance.

She is in Tap this year.

Madilyn dressed up like a snow fairy.
This is her 1st year and she is a little young being 2 still but she did a great job.
She is in Creative Dance.

All 3 of our little dancers right before their recital!
Here are some short videos of their dances!

Katelyn's Dance

Mayli's Dance

Madi's Dance

It was a great recital and the girls did great!!!! :)

Santa Pictures

2010-12-18T23:30:00.002-07:00

Mike's work had a Christmas part on December 13th. We went ice skating, had dinner, and saw Santa. The girls had so much fun ice skating! They want to go back soon. We had a Hawaiian dinner and then the girls got to go and see Santa. Katelyn wants a baby doll, Mayli wants an umbrella, and Madi wants Dora. :) They were so cute and had so much fun!

Katelyn with Santa

Mayli with Santa

Madi with Santa (She couldn't wait to go sit on his lap! She was jumping up and down while we were waiting.)

Blessing of Ian Wright

2010-12-15T21:56:00.003-07:00

On December 5th we had the opportunity to go to our nephew, Ian's blessing. It was so fun to be with most of the family and enjoy each others company. Ian was blessed on December 5th by his dad Mark, Mike's little brother. They are attending a Spanish ward because Jackie is from Guatemala and although she is doing so great at learning English they were able to serve and help so much in the Spanish ward. Mark gave the blessing in English but the entire rest of sacrament meeting was in Spanish. It was such a neat opportunity to be there. It was testimony meeting and the spirit was so strong. Most of the time I didn't understand what was being said but the spirit testified to me that what they were saying was true. It was an amazing experience. I was so moved at times I began to cry. I was even able to have some personal revelation come to me as I sat and listened and felt the spirit. It was wonderful. I'm so glad we were able to go!

Jacky, Mark, and Ian
Baby Ian...absolutely adorable!!!!!

He was blessed in the same outfit Mark was blessed in as a baby. So special and neat!

Just 19 short years before he will be serving his mission!

Ian Mark Wright...his blessing was amazing...he is a special son of God that has so much to offer the world.

Here is the family that was able to attend. It was so fun to all be together.

Here is another picture with the ones who couldn't be there added in. We sure missed Tim, Matt, and Michelle. This is our crazy picture...although some people didn't get the memo we were supposed to be crazy...so they look all cute! :)

Here is an adorable picture of Madi that I just had to add...she was entertaining us all with some lovely music.

Mayli Elizabeth turned 5!

2010-12-08T21:17:00.008-07:00

Mayli Elizabeth entered our family on December 5, 2005. She was 6 lbs 8 oz and 19 inches long. She was a beautiful baby and my labor with her was so easy. I went in for a check up and they did an ultrasound and found I had lost quite a bit of fluid. I had to head straight to the hospital from the doctors office. Katelyn was with me and the nurse in labor and delivery kept asking if someone was going to come pick up my little 17 month old. I assured her my husbands mother was on her way and would be here soon. 4 1/2 hours after starting pitocin Mayli made her debut. The doctor came and checked me at 3:45pm and said that I'd probably deliver about 10pm that night. But 20 minutes later I called the nurse in because I was sure I was ready...she said there was no way I'd make that much progress in that short amount of time. I instisted she check so she did and I was ready to deliver. At 4:21pm Mayli was born. Here are some pictures of the last 5 years:

A few minutes after she was born

Look at all that blonde hair!

This is the most decent picture I could find of me holding her when she was a baby.

Daddy with his 2nd baby girl

Mayli in her blessing dress

Mayli 2006 (age 1)

Mayli 2007 (age 2)

Mayli 2008 (age 3)

Mayli 2009 (age 4)

Mayli 2010 (age 5)

Our Mayli is an amazing little girl. She has so much to offer this world and we are so grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to our family. She is so silly and makes us laugh all the time. She is so smart and loves to learn. She is always asking me questions wondering how everything works. She loves to do homework with me and Katelyn and understands it a lot of the time. She loves to sing, dance, read, play with toys, color, and play outside. Mayli is so sweet. She always is trying to help someone in need and if she sees that anyone is sad she will do all she can to make that person feel better. She is so willing to share with her sisters. Mayli is a great helper and many times I find her cleaning something or downstairs trying to help me with the laundry. She has lots of energy and tends to get everyone a little crazy sometimes but she is a peacemaker in our family too. She loves the gospel, loves to bear her testimony in family home evening, and loves to pray and always says such great prayers. She will do so much in her life and we love her so much! Happy Birthday Mayli! Love you!

Mayli's Princess Birthday Party

2010-12-07T23:11:00.007-07:00

Mayli had her 1st friend birthday party this year. We decided for our kids they only will get a friend birthday party for ages 5, 8, 12, and 16. So Mayli was so excited this year to have a party with her friends. She chose to have a princess party and we got a discount coupon from littledressupshop.com to have a princess come and do the party. It was a great time.

Here are some decorations for the party.

Our 5 year-old Mayli with her princess castle cake.

The pink castle cake. It was really easy to make and turned out super cute!

More decorations...Mayli was so excited when she woke up and saw all the decorations in the morning.

The lady that came decorated the family room and turned it into a princess dress up palace. Here was the 'salon'.

Here were all the extras they got to dress up with.

She brought shoes for all the girls. They were all so excited to pick out their favorite.

Each girl got to pick a dress they wanted to play in when they RSVP'd for the party. Madi chose Cinderella. She was so cute.

Katelyn picked Sleeping Beauty.

Mayli chose Rapunzel. Each girl brought their favorite doll or stuffed animal and they had a doll dress to match that they got to keep. And Mayli got to keep her dressup.

Here are the girls putting on their makeup. It was so cute. They all had so much fun!

Mayli opening her presents.

Mayli with the Princess

Kate with the Princess

Madi with the Princess

All of Mayli's friends. All the girls looked so cute! We had a great time!

Here is a video of the Mayi being announced coming to the 'Princess Ball'. All the girls were announced and Mayli was the last one. It was such a fun birthday party and Mayli had so much fun.

Mayli turned 5!

2010-12-06T10:00:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Mayli's 5th birthday! I can't believe she is already 5! We did most of Mayli's celebrating on the 4th because she had her 1st friend birthday party and since her real birthday was on a Sunday we did the party on Saturday. We also got to go to our little nephew Ian's baby blessing on the 5th so we did a family party with Mike's family Saturday night. She got lots of fun presents. I will post about the party and do an actual birthday post later.

We traveled up to Vernal for the blessing so we were out of town on her actual birthday. She was pretty excited when she woke up in the morning. Everyone was saying happy birthday and she was feeling pretty special. But then her day just turned into a 'bad day' as she put it. Everyone was playing and Mayli was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got kicked right in the nose. Then just a little while later she was up at the counter and fell backwards off the stool and hit her head and hurt her elbow. She was so sad and kept saying "it is supposed to be my special birthday day and it's just a bad day!" We went and did her hair and got to use one of her new awesome headbands and a flower that she got for her b-day. So she was a little more happy.

Then it was time for church and went and saw baby Ian's blessing. After we got back it was time to pack up to head home so Mike and I started packing up the van. Mayli was outside with us helping getting everything in the van and playing.

Well Mike has been bugging me about getting a hand gun for safety reasons. From the beginging I've been totally against it. There is just too much of a risk of your children getting to it and getting hurt. He said that there was a special safe we could put it in so they couldn't get to it and I still said sorry no. Well he thought maybe if I saw it I would think it was super cool and I would say ok. He had just gotten it from his brother and he had it in his hand and Mayli came running up behind him and she ran right into the butt of the gun. It hit right above her right eye above her eyelid. I heard her scream and start crying. I ran over and asked what happened and Mike said she ran into the gun. I thought it was rather ironic that within just seconds of getting the stupid gun Mayli already got hurt by it. I didn't know he had the gun anyway because he hadn't showed it to me yet. I looked at Mayli's eye and she was bleeding just a little bit. I took her into the house and got a paper towel wet to wipe it up to get a better look at it. I saw the cut and it was deep and wide. Aaron, my brother-in-law, is a PA and he came over to check it out. He took one look at it and said that it needed to be glued. Because of the place where it was stiches wouldn't have worked. He ran over to the clinic where he works and grabbed some special glue they use when they can't do stiches. It took him about 20 minutes to drive there and back so while he was gone we put some ice on it. Daddy felt really, really, really bad. So he got to hold her while everyone was trying to make her feel better. Uncle Marky let her play Angry Birds on his phone, Caleb her cousin got her some strawberry ice cream, and Aunt Sara got her some medicine to make the pain go away. Uncle Aaron got back and he took care of everything. It was so nice not to have to take her in to the ER. So Mayli's bad day got worse. But then she got lots of birthday calls from everyone and was feeling pretty special. Plus we went home and she got to open all of her new toys and play with them. So it ended up being an ok day after all.

Mayli with her hurt eye.

Pregnancy/Baby Update

2010-12-05T23:18:00.003-07:00

Well things are moving along with the pregnancy. I'm almost 32 weeks. Which means that this baby is coming soon! Can't believe it! It's took a long time but it really went by fast. The baby is moving lots which is good but so not fun at bedtime...which is of course when she is the most active.

We just had an ultrasound and everything is looking good with the baby. I have a history of fluid loss with my last 2 pregnancies so my new OB is checking to make sure we catch it early if it happens this pregnancy. With this ultrasound everything looked good. My fluid levels were at 13 and he said they would induce labor if I got to a 7. I have another ultrasound at the end of the month and then from there he will check weekly.

30 Weeks Pregnant
Picture of the baby's face

It is a girl!

Here is her face again. This is one where she was opening her mouth.

Thanksgiving and Gingerbread houses!

2010-12-05T22:42:00.007-07:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving! We started the day out signing the papers to refinance our house. We were able to get a new, much lower rate! We were so excited and so happy we were able to get it taken care of! We then headed off to Mike's Aunt and Uncles house. We walked in and they had decorated it so cute...all the tables had cute centerpieces and everyone had their place with their name. It was so cute! We had a lovely time. The food was fantastic!

We then headed off to Mike's parents house. We spent time together as a family and enjoyed being together. We spent the night and the next day we made gingerbread houses! It is one of my most favorite days of the year! I of course forgot my camera so I didn't get pictures of any thing. Here is our gingerbread city and each house:

Our gingerbread city
Madilyn's house. She put on every piece of candy. She did such a great job!

Mayli's house. She did it all by herself (I did help her with the door). It is fun to see the kids really getting into it and being so creative!

Katelyn's house. She did it all by herself too. They had so much fun picking out candy.

Dede's house

Mike's house.

It was a lovely holiday! We had a great time and enjoyed remembering and thinking of things we are thankful for!

Welcome Home Elder Samuel Clayton

2010-11-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

Well we made a surprise trip up to Montana to welcome my little brother Samuel home from his mission. He served in the Halifax, Nova Scotia mission. The only people that knew we were coming up were my mom, Caleb, and Sarah. Everyone else was surprised we were there. It was fun to be able to go and we were so excited to see everyone. :)

Here is Madi with her sign

The nieces that were there to welcome him off the airplane.

The skater boys ready to pounce on him when he came down the stairs

This was Madi's favorite way to hold her sign

Sam running down the stairs to us

The nieces giving him a big hug

Mom giving Sam a hug for the 1st time in over 2 years

Dad giving Sam a hug

Brothers re-united after almost 4 years. Their missions overlapped and Sam left just a few months before my brother Caleb came home.

Madi kept hiding under the chairs

All the boys...just the same as in high school

Sam with our family. He was so happy we came up and was surprised we were there. He was a great missionary and we are so happy he served faithfully for 2 years! We love ya bud!

Happy Halloween 2010

2010-10-30T21:17:00.004-06:00

Well this is my last post tonight. While I was handing out candy I had a few minutes to finally catch up on the blog inbetween trick-or-treaters. Tonight we got to celebrate Halloween a day early since we can't go tomorrow because it is the Sabbath. So everyone here decided to go a day early so our kids could enjoy the holiday. The kids were so excited.

Madilyn dressed up as Mariposa a barbie butterfly fairy. She looked super cute!

Mayli dressed up at a pageant queen. She looked beautiful.

Katelyn in her pink mermaid costume. She looked so pretty and was so excited to go out.

Attempt 1 again...

Attempt 2...Madi smiling the other 2 have silly faces

Attempt 3...and well....yah...I tried.

Daddy, Katelyn, Madi, Mayli, Uncle Thomas, and Emma heading out to go trick-or-treating. The girls got so much candy and they had a great time! Happy Halloween!!!!

Friday Halloween Fun!

2010-10-30T20:42:00.005-06:00

Friday was a fun day. We had fun parties to go to and lots of fun things to do.

Katelyn dressed up for school in her Mermaid Costume

Our pretty pink mermaid...Madi had to get in on the photo

Mayli right before her school party.

Super cute Pageant Queen

Katelyn and her class in the costume parade at school

Katelyn sitting in her classroom

Katelyn's class all dressed up (with a few siblings in there)

Then we got to go to Daddy's work and go trick-or-treating. Here are our attempts to get a good picture..someone always has eyes closed, face covered, or something. Attempt 1.

Attempt 2...I love Madi's face.

Attempt 3...they all looked so cute!

Here are Daddy and the girls walking around to go trick-or-treating. They got lots of candy and had so much fun!

Mayli's Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-30T18:43:00.004-06:00

We had Mayli's fieldtrip to the Pumpkin Patch on October 22. I helped chaperone. We had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of the fun!

Waiting in line to go on the hayride.
Mayli on the hayride

Madilyn on the hayride...she looks 'so happy'.

Mayli and her friends waiting to go in to see all the animals.

Madilyn really wanted a picture with this...yet she wouldn't stand still for 5 seconds so I could take a decent picture. She still looks cute!

Petting the bunny

Mayli and Madilyn and Levi in the back

Mayli petting a chicken

Madilyn petting a chicken

Madi going down the slide

Mayli and her friends climbing up to go down the slide

Mayli's class and her teacher. We had a super fun time! After this picture each kid got to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin to take home and decorate.