We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

We have become regulars at our little lake that is at the end of our street. We go there in the evening and walk around, explore the wildlife, (there are frogs, turtles, beaver, ducks, and all sorts of birds that I have never seen before), we even picked up some trash to fulfill one of Rylan's cub scout goals. Last night the boys decided to try out fishing since we can see fish jumping for bugs. Rylan caught a couple, mostly perch: Maddy and Ian and I went to go visit for a bit, Maddy was infatuated with the worms, she liked watching them wiggle and she touched them once. A couple nights ago when we saw the ducks we had the following conversation: Me: Maddy look at those ducks! Maddy: Oh yeah, that is a mommy duck and that is a daddy duck...and they kiss....all animals on this planet kiss.....A LOT....(giggle giggle) and go on dates. Maddy really wanted to fish but her little pole is in our camper which is still parked at Grammy & Papa's house, we are going to go get it th...

Ian is growing out of the baby stage and into a toddler. It is so amazing watching him mimic his brother and sister. He loves to be near them, and follows them and tries to do what they do, then gets frustrated when he can't ride a bike or climb up on the chair. He has gained just a few more words like all done, and mama, but still isn't a big talker. He likes to grunt and point at things to get his way, we understand him. Some new things about Ian: he brings us his shoes and waves bye to tell us he wants to go outside finally walking gives high-fives can successfuly go to the child care center at our gym without screaming when I leave he puts his hands up palms face up when he is looking for something or I ask him "where is. . ." something. if we are in the front of the house when Scott comes home on his motorcycle and Ian can hear it he goes running to the window until his sees his daddy then runs to the door with his arms up ready for Scott to pick him up is trans...

Last week we were plagued with the flu at our house, first Ian on Saturday night (at our ward chili cook off , poor Scott had Ian puke all over him), me on Sunday night, both Rylan and Scott on Tuesday and Madelyn on Wednesday! Nothing like a virus to ruin your week. The weather was gorgeous however, on Tuesday when Rylan and Scott were sick I took the younger kids out for a walk, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that we have walking trails and ponds all around us. We live on a culdesac with no neighbors across the street. We are about the 4 th house in out of about 8 houses on the street. At the end of the culdesac is a little trail and this. . . A gorgeous little pond that connects to a larger pond with a trail that goes around it and into the businesses in our neighborhood. We saw some ducks, and according to our neighbor there are fish in the pond! In winters past when it gets freezing people ice skate on this pond too, but it didn't get cold enough this wint...

We are loving cub scouts with Rylan, he had his Blue & Gold Banquet a while ago, he was asked to make a cake with the theme being "the movies" he chose to make a character from one of his favorite movies, Despicable Me.... (Notice Madelyn with her bossy look on her face, she had her own opinions of how Rylan should be decorating the cake, she eventually got sent to her room to play a quiet game by herself :) Introducing the minion Didn't he do a great job? His cake had the most pieces taken out of it by the end of the night. He was pretty proud!

The week before I went to Utah Rylan and Scott were busy working on their first pinewood derby car together. Rylan was given a kit from his leader and they began by sanding it. . . painting it black with a layer of sparkles, Then after a couple tests, they decided that it would not be fast enough, so Scott went to the scouting store and bought a new kit with better axles. They then started over, made a new sleeker design, painted it the same, and added some flame and skull stickers. Rylan is the kid without his scout shirt on...oops, that is what happens when dad is in charge and mom is out of town...who knows what Madelyn looked like that day? After 3 heats he was proclaimed the WINNER! He and the 2nd place winner were VERY close. They had to do a couple tie breakers. Rylan with his trophy, he was thrilled. Another activity that Rylan is in to right now is rock climbing. At our gym, Lifetime Fitness (which we LOVE) they not only have exercise equipment, classes, but pools with slide...

Way back in January 2011 my brother in law Jeff and sister Margaret had a guy they knew named Kevin (Jeff worked with him) who just went through a divorce. Jeff was there for him and helped him figure out how to deal with divorce yuckiness and all the details that really aren't my business to share. Well Kevin was wondering, how in the world am I going to find a normal girl now? Well Jeff shared Anna's facebook page and Kevin thought, huh she is cute, why not. So they met and after tons of e-mails, phone calls, a lot of driving and flying since he was in Utah and Anna was in Idaho, they GOT ENGAGED! We couldn't be more thrilled for our Anna, this is the sister that has been there for all of us, for all of my babies, and even sacrificed her single life to live with me when Scott was in Kuwait and Iraq. She is fun, intelligent, trendy, caring, and she is fabulous with kids. So why wasn't she married? I truly believe it was because she was meant to be with Kevin and his sw...