Home

Our home is the heart of who we are.   It is full of activity and love and noise and messiness. There is never a day when the dishes are done and the laundry put away.  There is never a day when the dust doesn't cling to the furniture and the floors aren't sticky.

Our home is never quiet.    Our home never organized.  You certainly can't come to my house with Good Housekeeping and take pictures for your glossy, perfect magazine.   

 This is a house where boys play war around this old blue couch.  You know, the same couch that my husband played around when he was a kid and has been passed onto us.   We talk about replacing it.   But, I love this couch.   It's the couch that we all sit on with a big bowl of popcorn and don't mind when little fingers rub butter all over it.   It's the couch that cradles my babies when they are sick and home with a fever.    It's all I want in a couch.   It's old.   It's worn.   It turns into a jungle gym and trampoline and I just smile because if it gets more stained and more broken....I will love it even more.

This is the floor that causes the clickety clack of high heeled shoes worn by my 2 year old.  This two year old won't wear anything but a party dress and heels.   Always a princess.  Always a party to attend when you are at my house.

This is the laundry room that holds the laundry of 6 people.   A sacred space where I stand and fold and hang and pray over each person as I put their things away.     I love this picture because it shows the messiness of what we are.   We are not perfect and with each load comes a prayer for guidance and protection and love.   The satisfaction of all of it only comes as the last child leaves the house with clean shirts and socks   As they head out into their day, I turn around and promise that I will clean up this space yet most days it doesn't get cleaned.  And it's OK because I know my husband and children are headed out into their day with clean clothes and covered in prayers.

This is the kitchen where backpacks hang in a row as we do our nightly homework.   We wrestle and fight over spelling words and math problems.   We whine and complain as we start each problem.  We dread each paper that comes home with all those red marks over it.   My patience runs thin as I vow never to lose my temper again.   I take a deep breath and ask the two year old for the 5th time to go back to my bedroom and finish her cartoons because she is not much help in the homework department.   A struggle that is always blessed by working together and finishing a project and learning.      A struggle that ends with memorized multiplication problems and better spelling.

This is the 7th dinner I have cooked this week.   Only 2 of the 4 children will eat it and the other two will whine and cry as I ask them to take a "no thank you" bite.    It feels like a failure because I can't ever seem to please everyone and just when I decide that it's pizza every night with sodas and candy for desert....my husband walks in the kitchen and reminds the kids to thank me.   At the same time, he reminds me that today I was a good mommy.   Those words from him reassure me and I am filled with confidence again as I start planning the next days meals even before this one is finished.

Today, as I look around at all of these imperfect things I am so thankful.   I keep waiting for the day when everything will be done and clean and there will not be a struggle.   I have just decided that doesn't exist.   What does exist are these moments that make us a family and these pictures that helps me never to forget.

school rain

As we settle into the third week of school our lives find an rhythm of routine and familiar.   It hasn't been easy or smooth by any means but, there is comfort in the sameness of what we experience everyday.   Part of the hard part is this time of year in Arizona.   It's the hottest and longest part of the year.  As we open the garage door in the morning the blast of 100 degrees awaits us.   Then it heats up all day and as we are making our way back home from school in the afternoons it's beyond bearable.   By the time we get home, we are sweaty, tired, and a little overwrought.

Yet every once in a while there is a little break.    Storm clouds starting forming about 2:00 and when I stepped outside the heat didn't take my breath away or burn my feet.   It was cool, windy, and about to rain.  Heaven.  I gathered up the kids from school and we rode home as fast as we could go.   Just in time to watch the sky start to fall with millions of raindrops.    It was so beautiful and welcomed.

But, the heat rages on and we are all looking forward to winter around here and the next day it was back up to 108 when we walked home.

So, after school we must find things to keep us busy.   Our pool is definitely used everyday this time of year.  It is like a little piece heaven in our backyard.

We also have other activities that keep us out of trouble.

You see, if Gabriel is doing something with his hands he isn't running around driving us all crazy.    His yo-yo is always in his hands.   When I hear the purr of the string, I know Gabriel is close by.   He is actually quite good at all his tricks.

And when he's not playing with his yo yo he may be playing his Saxophone.

You will find Gracie with her princess dress pretending to be Snow White.   Her preschool teacher tells me that she is always an evil princess at school.  Freezing everyone in sight.  Evil Princess Snow White?!

We always have reading time after school.   Everyone always whines but they love it once they get started.

It seems that Eli didn't make any of my pictures this time.   Well, it's probably because he is busy sending text messages or face timing someone on my phone.  This is his new obsession.  He loves to add pictures to all my contacts and memorize phone numbers.    He works my iphone better than I do.  So, if you get a call from him in the near future don't be surprised.

11 years old

Gabriel's birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  11 years old.   5th grade. A handsome, smart, energized young man.   He is my first and so very special to me in so many ways.   He is growing up and proving to be a smart, kindhearted, loving young man.  

I had a very special surprise planned for him this year.   Something that would last longer then a gadget or toy.  Something he could remember always.  A visit from Grammy and Jackson!

Plans were made to have Grammy and Jackson come the weekend of his party. Because a weekend spent with cousin Jack is better then any gift in the world. 

The day off their arrival, Owen was home sick.  I informed him he would have to come to the airport with me to get a box for his daddy's work. Boy, he groaned and cried and complained.  He didn't want to go all the way to the airport. We loaded in the car anyway and away we went.  When we arrived I told him to get out and help me with the box.  And instead of a box it was Jack.  He was so excited. 

All the way home the boys planned their surprise for Gabe.  They would hide in the guest room and surprise hm as soon as he got home from school.   Gabriel couldn't believe his cousin had come all that way.  He loved it!

Friday night was his party.   Destiny cake was baked and 5 boys arrived for a pool party and a sleep over. It was time to get a little rowdy and stay up all night. 

We had such a good time.  Happy 11th birthday, Gabriel. 

Home

My legs ache as we pull into the driveway at 12:30 pm.   I push open the car door into our overgrown Palo Verde tree in the driveway.  As I take a deep breath, the heat fills my lungs and I know that I am home.   Home after a 17 hour car ride with 4 children.  Our Traverse even seems to take a deep breath after all those miles driven, piled high with bags and our Wyoming beef strapped onto the back.   We make our way into the house and crawl into our beds.   Home at last.

It seems hotter than usual, so we spend all of Sunday in the pool.   Coming inside to make a quick meal and back into the water where it is cool and we can be together.   It feels so good to be here in this beautiful place.  All together.  A place we have created together and call our home.

I soon realize that it wasn't just me that felt hot.   It was hot.  Extremely hot (111 degrees hot) and our air conditioning wasn't working.   That explains why we seemed so miserable.   And thank goodness for air conditioning repair men.  Those men who can make our life much more bearable.

Daddy had to go back to work on Monday and as the kids and I finished breakfast reality hit us.   We had the whole day stretched out in front of us.   There were no cousins to play with.   No Grammy's and Grandma's to make us dinner.  No more Wyoming summer left.   It's always an adjustment.  Adjusting to our routine and what is expected of us at home.   The first day is always the hardest and at the end of the day I wanted to resign from my job as Mommy.   To resign and walk away.   And, I get to.  I get to go to bed and start again tomorrow.   The great thing about being a mom is that you can never really quit.   No matter how you felt the day before.   And the blessing of the next morning comes and the day before is a distant memory as you start again.

Tuesday brought friends and laughter and excitement.    It was so good to see everyone and play with our friends.   We missed them and they have become our family here.   Those hugs we received after being gone for 6 weeks were so welcomed today.   While the Mommy's were all hugging hello, the little girls preferred to crawl under the table, chew gum, and talk princesses.

As the heat rose, we came home and snuggled in for some reading time.  This was my favorite part of our day.    The part where my floor is covered in books and we are all sprawled out together turning pages and getting lost in a story.

As Gabe and Owen read to Grace I silently sat and watched them, feeling thankful.   Knowing that no matter what else was happing this moment was perfect.

The desert has called us home and we are so glad to be back.   We were so thankful that we got to spend so much time with our family in the mountains and we can't wait to go back next year yet we know this is where we need to be.   This place we call our home.

Just a Wednesday.

The normal everyday feels so good. It feels so good to be sitting poolside watching 4 kids swim around.  It's really not quiet and relaxing because I keep having to say.....Gabriel stop splashing. Gabriel if you do that again you will get out.  Eli stop screaming.  Owen help your sister.  Then each child has to get out to go potty. Then they have to look for their lost goggles.  Really it's anything but relaxing but it is our normal.  It is our day today. 

I had friends over today and as they left I worried that they wouldn't ever come back.  You know with all the screaming and the naked 2 year old that decided she wanted to take her clothes off.  I worried.....then I took a deep breath and decided that this is who we are right now.  No need to try and be someone else.  Maybe in 10 years you can come over to my house and enjoy a nice quiet cup of coffee.   Not today.  

The cooking soothed me.  I made dinner. I tried something new.  Cauliflower rice. It was amazing and all the kids except Eli ate it.    I love it when something like that works.  Such satisfaction to know my kids are eating healthy.  This to me means pure happiness. 

Best part of the day.  Playing crazy 8's with Owen. We laughed and had to play 3 times until he won.   

Our day was full of friends and family togetherness. Games and laundry.  So very blessed on a hot Arizona summer day. 

Fathers Day Denver Style

Our first stop was Denver where we would meet up with Grandma and Pop before Pop's surgery.  We spent the weekend together before Megan and the girls arrived for Pop's surgery.

It was Father's Day and we headed to the Musuem of Natural History for a Imax Movie on Dinosaurs.

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And we ended the afternoon with Dinner at Toby Kieth's bar.  Nothing like a fried bologna sandwich for Father's Day.

Summertime in wyomng

The kind of heat that burns your lungs when you take a breath and scorches your feet when you walk down the driveway to take the garbage out.   The heat of the desert is unexplainable until you live here in it.   It is truly like God opens an oven door and refuses to shut it.

When my temperature gauge reads 111 degrees, I know it is time to pack the kids up and head to Wyoming.   To green grass, mountains, and cool summer nights.  We all look forward to our summer trip to Wyoming.

As Byran and I drive across the Rocky Mountains and our temperature gauge starts to drop, I start to feel at home.    These are some of our first glimpses of the Colorado Mountains.   And as we drove past them I take a deep breath of cool air and thankfulness fills my heart.

We are so very blessed to be able to spend so much time in Wyoming with our families and we couldn't wait to start our summer!