over the past year

So, to keep you occupied while I sort through and organize the plethora of photos that have collected in various places over the past year, here are a bunch of super cute ones that don’t really fit into any category other than “life”.

One of the many reasons I began blogging about our family in the beginning was so that I could scroll back and remember those precious moments with my family. I am all to aware of how easy it is to forget how small they once were.  These were taken last July. Scary and awe striking to think of how that little boy has changed in that amount of time…

While that baby was turning into a toddler, this early teen was maturing into a young man….

and the princess was changing right before our eyes.

Michael began his first year of seminary and it seems like it may take him awhile to get used to having to function at 5:30 am every morning.

We occasionally will get flack from other people when they discover that co sleeping is the norm around here, but pics like these remind me of how precious this time is and I do believe that the fact that we co sleep contributes greatly to the close relationships that my children have with one another. I mean, really, who wants to sleep alone? I can’t imagine consistently sleeping in a bed all by myself.

Kaden looking for bugs with Mike on a lazy, sunny day

 

Seri’s Debt Of Honor class went to a local nursing home at the end of the year to share their final projects, some of the things they had learned, to sing all of the division songs and to honor and give thanks to those that had fought for our freedom.  It was one of those moments when pride, humbleness and gratefulness swell within your soul.  I am so grateful that we have chosen to give our children an education in which history is not watered down, disguised in agenda and profit, or glossed over.  These teens truly have respect for and an understanding of a difficult aspect of our countries history.  These will be the children who realize that history repeats itself and are willing to stand up and confront others when freedom is threatened.

They have spoken to those who have been there first hand and have witnessed the emotion and the trauma that those people face as it passes through their eyes or rolls down their cheeks. These kids know that the experience was real and not a story…

I am not sure why we had Kaden with us but the people really loved having him there.

Kaden is one out of two of our children who has a birth mark but his is the cutest!!!  If you look right below his left lower hand you will find a very faint heart.  It is in the shape of a perfect heart and seems to grow with him.  For this reason I have been known to call him a care bear.