The first day of 4 year old Preschool

I can't believe my little girl is starting her last year of preschool. I love watching her grow and learn new things, but it is so difficult to have her moving on from just being with me all the time. I miss her. I know a lot of people need that little break when their kids go to preschool, but I really miss her when she is gone. 

Reese got these awesome Super Hero capes the first day of school. Her teacher was dressed up as Super Heroes and Reese was so excited to go inside. She got the Batgirl cape and wore the cape for the next couple of days. To the grocery store, to the Dr's office, and even to bed. I'd say she had a great day at school.

My babies....

I love my kiddos and I love watching them play together and help each other. Nora and Reese are two little mommies and Reese will always look at Ren and say, "Oh, he is so cute" or "Oh mom, he is so cuddly". Nora always says, "Hey Buddy", "Hey Buddy Boy", " Mister Man", "Renner", or "Little Brother". I love all the nicknames. Ren cannot stand being away from the girls and when they take off running, he is trying to catch up and yelling at them to come back.  Ren loves playing with Reese's hair and gets so excited when he sees his sisters in the morning. Reese and Nora love to help push the stroller, feed their brother, or just cuddle with him. I feel so blessed to be the mother of these 3 angels. I absolutely love being a mom and get a little anxiety already  thinking about the day that they all move out. I just love every stage of their life. I love how close my kiddos are and I pray that they will always be close. I love my babies and thank Heavenly Father everyday for them.

Weber County Fair...

We had so much fun at the Weber County Fair. The kids loved feeding the animals and looking at the baby piglets, fishing, face painting ( even if it wasn't the greatest painting:), pony rides, etc. It was a great day spent with Grandma. 

Happy Birthday Cy!!

My cousin threw her son a bug birthday party and it seriously was the cutest party I have ever been to. She is so creative and the girls had a blast. Ron took Ren with him to a family party so they were not there. The girls had their magnifying glasses and searched for fake bugs in the garden, they had a picnic, and pinata. Everything was adorable and the girls came home with butterfly nets, picnic baskets, bug watches, bug pens, and all things bugs. It was such a fun party! Happy Birthday Cy!

Happy Birthday Ron!!

Happy Birthday to you.....

I am really late on this post, but better late than never.Ron turned 38 on July 27th and it was a great birthday. There are so many reasons to celebrate Ron. He truly is one of the hardest working people I know. He is such an amazing father and husband! Here are a few things that I love about Ron.....

- He loves being a dad and he adores his children. All of his patients have seen pictures of our kids. 

- He is honest. Almost to a fault. I remember when we were selling our first house that he was telling the buyers more that was wrong with the house than what was right. 

-He loves to play with the kids and he can do it all. If I am gone, I never worry about the kids because I know that Ron knows what to do. Well, that is except the girl's hair. He is still working on that one:) 

- He is able to do hard things. Ron and I are very different and yet complimentary and I love that. I have a difficult time being direct and he is able to talk to people in a way that I cannot. 

-He loves his job and he loves to learn. 

-He loves DIY projects and his newest thing is building Reese a treehouse. Since we do not have any large trees yet, he is figuring out how to make clubhouse. 

- He loves the gospel and has such a strong testimony. He leads our family in scripture study, FHE, and family prayer. One of the things that I loved about him when we were dating and that I still love about him was that I never had to worry about Ron not reading his scriptures,praying, or going to church. I remember when I was dating, I didn't want to date someone that I had to push to read their scriptures everyday or remind them to say their prayers. I wanted someone that I knew I would never need to worry about those daily things that make such a difference. When I met Ron, I knew I didn't need to worry about him because he had been home from his mission for almost 9 years and still kept his scripture habits, temple attendance, prayers, etc. That was so comforting to me. 

- He always calls me on his way home from work and asks me if I need anything from the store. 

- He dances and sings to the kids. He can be silly which I love because I am huge goofball when it comes to my kids. 

- WE are funny! Well, nobody else probably thinks we are, but I think we are hilarious together when it is just the two of us. 

- He is seriously so cute. The other day we went to the temple and we were supposed to meet at the fountains. When I saw him standing at the fountains, I had to refrain myself from running to him. It sounds corny, but that is how I felt. 

- He is so much fun to watch shows with. Everything is just funnier with Ron. He is constantly slapping his knee and belly laughing which automatically makes it funnier. 

- He is my eternal companion that I love so much. We have been blessed with a beautiful family and we have been able to share so much love and happiness over the past 8 years. 

Happy Birthday Ron!!! We love you!

Tomorrow Tomorrow....

Renners and Reesers

This is one of the things I dreamed about when I dreamed about being a mother. I could sit and watch my kids make each other laugh all day.

Visiting Teaching made easy...

A few weeks ago, my visiting teaching companion and I decided to do something a little different for visiting teaching. Instead of just visiting the people we are assigned to, we decided to have a BBQ and play some pickleball. Our next door neighbors also home teach the families that I visit teach and so we invited them as well and had a FHE, VT, and  HT BBQ. It was such a great night and I got to know the people I visit teach better. Something that I learned from having this BBQ is that there is no limit to visiting teaching. I am starting to realize the power of visiting teaching. Lately I have been looking at my life and trying to figure out where I am just going through the motions. I feel that if we truly are applying the atonement in our lives and we are truly praying, truly studying, and not just going through the motions......we should see a change. A change in our relationships, a change in ourselves and how we react to things, a change in our parenting, and ultimately a change of heart. I want to feel that change every day of my life. The atonement is so motivating and powerful. It brings hope and a determination to be better tomorrow than we were today.

So going back to visiting teaching, I have felt that pull to make a change. To not just go through the motions as we visit teach, but to make a noticeable difference in the lives of those we visit. As long as I can remember, my mom has never been active in the church, but she has always had visiting teachers. I have seen the power of true visiting teachers as I have watched those that come and drop something off so they can report they have completed their VT. I have also watched another VT that not only came to visit my mom, but they started running together. They became good friends and continued to do things together long after my mom was assigned to this person. My mom will now call this lady if she needs help with something and she knows she will be there for her whether she is assigned to be her VT or not. I think it is because of these situations that I have a difficult time reporting my VT. I never want to do my VT just to appear that I am reporting. I understand statistically why you need to report, but I just have a difficult time feeling like I visited a person because they were my assignment. I want to do it for the person I visit. It's probably for this reason that I was called to be a Visiting Teaching Supervisor.  LOL!!! This definitely is one of the easier callings that I have had in the church, but I am grateful that I get to focus more on my life long calling as a mother and wife. Also, Ron just was just released from Executive Secretary and called to be the Scoutmaster. We do not know what we are getting ourselves into yet, but I'm sure he will do a great job. I know that Ron had a great scoutmaster that helped him get his Eagle Scout when he was 13 years old and so I'm sure he wants to be that kind of example to they young men.

I have had some neat experiences from having my new calling. At first, I thought this calling was a little meaningless, but as I prayed about how to magnify my calling, I was filled with love for the ladies that are supposed to report to me. I guess it was more a feeling of wanting to feel connected to them. I had the idea of sending out motivational thoughts and quotes that related to the Visiting Teaching  message for the month.  I guess my hopes were that these little messages would 1.) help the ladies think about the monthly visiting teaching message throughout the month and gain personal experiences 2.) Remind the ladies to visit teach and the importance of visiting teaching 3.) help them feel connect and comfortable reporting
I don't know if these little messages will help out or just be annoying, but hopefully they will be a positive influence. Anyway..... we had a great night!!