Merry Christmas

A little while ago (around halloween??) our talented friend Sherry took our family picture.  I love them so much and had a heck of a time narrowing them down to 15 for this blog post.  

Theo had his head shaved this day for a doctors appointment.  I couldn't believe the pictures and head shave landed on the same day. 

 My boys.  I am so blessed. 

Theo is the light of our lives.  We love him so much. 

Sherry had shown me some beautiful engagement pictures...and wanted us to recreate them.  Cortney and I couldn't stop laughing because it was so awkward.   We love each other so much but it has been a while since we gazed into each other's eyes...the way you need to for engagement pictures.  I love them though...and i know someday when my kids are old they will be amazed by how young we were.  

 haha.

I remind myself of my mom in this picture...I don't look very relaxed. 

By this point the boys were DONE. 

Love him. 

This year has been a hard one, but full of blessings along the way.  

Cortney continues to work on his two companies, Caddis Worldwide (a merchant services company...he pairs international high risk credit card companies with banks for credit card processing) and Blue Halo a fly fishing gear company he's started with a couple of friends.  He rents an office space from a friend, so he stopped working from home this year.  It has been a huge blessing to have him working in an office because it is really hard to concentrate with me and the 4 boys around. I miss him though!...that and running out to the store while the babies napped. Cortney works non stop, and usually until past 1 in the morning.  He is such a hard worker and we are starting to see some progress with both companies.  Working for yourself is not easy...(especially starting both from nothing), but we hope that someday all the hard work will pay off.  Cortney tries to get out fishing and hunting whenever he can and occasionally plays some racquetball. He is the secretary in the Elders Quorum.   He still loves taking pictures and this year upgraded his camera and also got a GoPro...he dreams of making movies someday. 

Each year seems the same for me and I never know what to write on our yearly summary. I love the holiday season and have been trying to milk it for all it is worth (picture lots of Christmas foods, music, scents, movies...everything) . Cali and I unfortunately and fortunately have 10 kids together so our days of spending all our time together is over.  It is just too wild and too loud.  We try to still do stuff as much as possible but even during school we have 5 kiddos.  I have loved living over here by Cali and our kids are walking between houses almost daily.  I am loving being a stay at home mom and am savoring every moment of having little babies at my feet.  I got called again to Young Women's and am the beehive advisor.  I love working with the youth and I am inspired every week.  I am the room mom for Robbie's class and I also do a reading group for his class on Thursdays.  On Friday's I help in both kids classes (doing folders and misc.).  It has been so great seeing my kids so much at school, Cali and Cort both help me so I can volunteer.  My health has been really pretty great and I am so grateful for my doctor and treatments.  Hmmmm what else???  That is about it, I am so blessed and happy but not much is going on. 

Oliver 9,  (3rd grade) is almost done with his bear in scouts.  He has been making a lot of friends at school and always has a backpack full of notes from other kids.  He is starting to really read and can now read real books.  He is very kind and tries to be friendly to everyone.  He loves playing minecraft and playing on the ipad.  He loves playing with his cousins and neighbors.  He just started playing basketball for the first time (on the team with Jack) and is going to be pretty good. 

Rob (7 1st grade)  Wow....Rob has grown up so much this year.  He is doing awesome in school and works really hard to have good behavior.  He loves reading and math but hates when he doesn't know the answer.  I am amazed at how much better he is getting at controlling his temper.  He too has tons of notes coming home from kids at school.   He is playing soccer and runs like crazy and tries so hard.  He volunteer's every time to kick the ball in and has a ton of confidence.  He loves playing minecraft as well.  He loves crafts and science.  His best friends are Carolina and Grace. 

Henry is my sidekick.  He hates when I leave and tells whoever is watching him that he needs to tell me something.  He tries to call me and Cortney whenever we are gone and Cortney tells me that Henry will call multiple times during the day.  He is finally potty trained (even at night!!!). He still doesn't eat, but hopefully with age he will try more foods.  He loves to sing.  He loves Toy Story.  He is a happy boy and we all love him. 

Theo is amazing as usual.  He started just this week being interested in cars and pushing them along the floor. He has also just figured out how to push buttons on toys.  He sleeps like crazy and is so pleasant when he isn't sleeping.  We are so grateful for his miracle in our lives.  

We are so grateful to be a family and love doing anything we can together.  We are more than blessed.  

Merry Merry Christmas.  We love you all.