Nephi

I was looking through my pictures from the last few months and I just love these ones of Nephi. So, I thought that I would do a post dedicated to this cute little boy.







Nephi loves shoes. One night when Hyrum had gone to bed and forgot his shoes, Nephi found them and loved wearing them around the house!

Nephi gets so tired that he refuses to do anything. It is really frustrating. He just stands around in the living room crying and if you talk to him or even look at him he will yell at you. Eventually he just crashes, usually on the floor or the couch but over the last several weeks he has found a new spot to fall asleep. This is the ottoman to my computer chair.



A couple of weeks ago we broke down and bought a toddler bed for Nephi. At the beginning of last month we had put Nephi down for a nap and a little while later Hyrum went into his room (the boys all share) to get some toy off of his bed. When Hyrum went in he jumped up to the top bunk and found Nephi sleeping there. Apparently Nephi figured out how to climb out of his crib! We have never experienced that before. Our other kids were not quite as adventurous as Nephi has proven to be. Before he climbed out, he had perfected the art of climbing in, so we knew that it was only a matter of time. We bought a toddler bed (2 actually, Gloria's was cheap and had started to bend) from a family with twins off of craigslist.com. Here is Nephi's first adventure in the new bed. He really loves having a big-boy bed like all the other kiddos.

Happy Mom

The end of January every year the kids' school hires an author to come and spend the day there. The kids absolutely love it! Each grade comes up with a presentation for the author and sometimes the kids make a gift for the author. It is a really fun day for the kids and they look forward to it each year. This year Robert D. San Succi came.

Vilate came home from school the day before Author Day and was in tears. Apparently the first graders had each colored a picture based on one of Mr. San Succi's books and then the teachers chose (my least favorite phrase is here) the "best" ones and compiled them into a book for the author. Guess what? Vilate's wasn't chosen, hence the tears. So Faith came up with a brilliant plan! The two of them wrote their own book, using Mr. San Succi's book as a model, and illustrated it.

After they spent hours perfecting it, with Faith writing and Vilate illustrating, it was done! We typed up the story and Faith and Vilate assembled the book. It was so cute! Now, the mission for Faith was to go to school the next day and hopefully get chosen to be in the writer's workshop that was going to be held for a select group of approximately 10 students and give the book to Mr. San Succi. Faith came through for Vilate and was chosen to go to the workshop and she gave the book to Mr. San Succi. He was impressed and read the book right away. Instead of keeping the book he wrote some encouraging words in the front and returned it to Faith to share with Vilate.

It was so great to see these two working together on a project that they came up with. Faith was so helpful and Vilate loved the attention and making something with her big sister. They really made me a happy mom that day!

Polar Bear Plunge

At the end of January we had a wonderful ward activity. It was the 2nd Annual Polar Bear Plunge! We all met at the Welch's house on a Saturday morning for brunch and those crazy, I mean brave enough went swimming in the really cold pool.

The food was wonderful and four of my very crazy children went in the pool and were rewarded with a spot in the hot tub. Gloria loved standing by the fire and Nephi just was everywhere. It was a great morning and the kids enjoyed seeing some of the adults ----not me and David----jump in the pool along with them.

Thanks to the activities committee and all their hard work. It was a success!!!

Pinewood Derby

This was our first pinewood derby. It was definitely a learning experience and it was really fun. I was amazed at all the steps that go into making a car and all the things you have to do to it to make it go faster. Hyrum's car was name the "Hawkster." He came up with the design himself and added the detail all on his own. He did a fabulous job.

A quick shout out to all the leaders in his cub scouts. They are amazing! This year they used the entire month of January to help the boys make their cars. Each week at pack meeting they had the boys bring their blocks and helped them to shape them into the cars and supplied all the necessary tools. These leaders made it possible for all the boys to have a car regardless of their home situations and I really admire their dedication.

So, the pinewood derby was a success. Hyrum's car was not the fastest, but we never came in last in a race. We consistently finished second or third out of four cars. Hyrum had a great time and it was a really fun night!

Happy Birthday Faith

Today is Faith's 10th birthday!!

10 years ago we celebrated our one-year anniversary by being released from the hospital with our little girl. In the past 10 years I have learned a lot from being this kid's mom. Faith is a very smart, self-motivated girl. She is very thoughtful and very helpful with other people, especially her classmates and siblings. In her 10 years Faith has written numerous stories (one of which won 2nd place in the Reading Rainbow contest for Northern California), read dozens (probably even hundreds) of books, played many, many games, traveled throughout California (to many places I have never even been) and even into Utah and Idaho, cleaned numerous things, helped with her younger siblings bunches of times and the list could go on!! Faith has been a great example to me of faith. She loves doing what is right and encourages others to do the same. Don't get me wrong, Faith is a normal kid with faults, but this post is to highlight all of her great attributes!!

I love this kid more than I ever thought possible. When I first found out we were pregnant, I was thrilled and a little scared. I thought of all the responsibility that went along with being a mom. Then as the day of her arrival drew closer, I was more afraid of the actual delivery than of the mountain of responsibility that I was approaching. The day that Faith was born I had a C-section and the drugs for the spinal made me a little loopy! After I was returned to my room, the nurse asked if I wanted to hold her for the first time and my response was, "I don't know. Is that what I am supposed to do?" I did hold her and fell in love, but who wouldn't have. She had a bald head and huge cheeks - just what David had ordered!!

Faith is a great example to me of service. She loves to help her friends and most of the time even her siblings. She definitely balks when she is getting, or thinks that she is getting the short end of things, but she is willing to help anyone and everyone. One time I got the best compliment from another parent at school. She told me that her son had told her that Faith was the greatest because even though she was one of the smartest kids in the class she was always willing to help everyone and tried to make everyone feel great. What a fantastic kid! So, happy birthday Faith, I hope that you enjoyed your day in San Francisco and your dinner at Hometown Buffet! I love you bunches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!