It has been a long time since I have posted here. I am up to pretty much the same thing. Homeschooling and raising 6 kids. This last year we put away the baby crib and potty trained our baby. I can't believe my baby is two. I am looking forward to a good year with some fun. I will post some pictures in a few days. I have to find the cord to the camera. I really hate all the cords we have to have these days.

Girl's Yearly Night out.

Every year, when the boys do the Father and Son's camp-out, we do a night out for the girls. One of our traditions is to go to Olive Garden. Our other activities varies each year. This year our fun was cut short when someone rear ended us. She tried to tell us she was only going 5 miles and hour. Yeah right. We still went out to eat and the girls had fun. But I decided to cut our out activities because I probably shouldn't be driving the car around in its current condition. The great thing is that I get to tell Jaren tomorrow what happened because he was already gone when it happened.

Tucson Zoo With Friends

This is Addison with his best friend. He misses him so much.

Liam with his good friend.

Another picture of Addison with his best friend.

Nathaniel with his best friend.

These are our friends that met us at the Zoo.


When we went to Arizona, we arranged to see some of our friends at the zoo. It is the zoo where all of my kids go for their first visit. So Aimee needed to go there for her first visit. And then of course I didn't take any pictures of her. She loved the animals. She learned to point there. The most disturbing thing is we watched a bird eat a baby duck. It made me really sad. Jaren found it cool. The nicest thing is that Addison wanted to surprise his best friend. And his best friends mom is wonderful and kept it a surprise and only told him they were meeting friends at the zoo. It was great to see their joy at seeing each other. All of my kids were happy to see all of their friends while we were there. I feel blessed about the friends my kids have. They are a blessing to their lives.

Our trip to Arizona at my mom's house

I am afraid of heights. Seriously afraid of heights. when my children do this, I want to throw up. They find it funny.

Of course the kids had to sit on the wall.

We saw a man panning for gold.

Aunt Jessica, Uncle John with two of their kids.

My kids with John's kids

This is me with my little brother John and our two youngest.

Aimee actually enjoyed the mountains.

Jaren and I are so different. He lets her walk, I would have carried her.

Huachuca mountains

My kids in front of the Huachuca mountains at my parents house.

We spent about 5 days in Sierra Vista. It was fun for my kids. We had a lot of fun with John and Jessica. We went to Arizona for their sealing. I love that my kids have so many fun cousins to hang out with. Cousins that are being raised in a way that you know they will be a good influence on my kids. And getting to be with my brothers was awesome.

Liam is six

Liam loves to joke around and be silly. He came down to have a good time and help everyone around him have a good time. He got these silly glasses from his Nana. She knows him well. In the last year his speech has improved so much. He has been extremely patient with his speech therapist and with me. He has never once fussed about having his speech corrected or having to say things over several times. He is amazing. And now people can even understand him on the phone. When the Sahuarita Stake was made, he got to shake Elder Anderson's hand and talk to him. I was so happy when the apostle understood what Liam said to him. Liam is a great helper. He is very thoughtful of others and prays for me every night that I won't have nightmares. I can't wait to see the person he is going to become.

My oldest Lovey is 12!

My son is actually taller than he appears in the picture. I am wearing my "I am not a mom" shoes. I guess I should actually say that I am shorter than I appear in the picture.

When I asked Nathaniel what he wanted for his birthday, first thing on his list was to go to the Temple and do Baptisms for the dead. So we arranged everything so that he could go to the Dallas Temple on his birthday. He was given the Aaronic priesthood at our Bishop's work. Then we took him out to dinner and to the Temple. We had a wonderful time. Jaren baptized both of us for people who have passed on so that they would have the opportunity to accept the gospel if they want to. The Temple president is a member of the quorum of the seventy and spoke with all the youth there. He told them that we are older than the stars. Nathaniel is very excited that he gets to pass the sacrament and collect fast offerings. I am excited and nervous about the teenage years which are coming. But I am so grateful for the testimony my son already has. I know that his testimony of Jesus Christ will pull him through whatever trials and troubles he will face in his life because my testimony Of Jesus Christ has done that for me.

Alyssa's Baptism

Well, our first beautiful daughter is 8. I can't believe how fast she has grown age wise. She had a wonderful baptism. She got baptized on Liam's birthday. September 5, 2009 will be easy to remember. She had her grandparents from Arizona, her grandparents from Del Rio, her Aunt And Uncle from Florida and two of her Aunts and Uncles from the Dallas area and an Uncle from the Del Rio area. I gave the talk on Baptism and Jaren gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. We also had a lot of fun shopping for a dress for her.