Reed's 3rd Birthday

Since it's been 5 months ago now, I won't be able to recall the day in perfect detail. But I remember that we started Reed's birthday off by opening presents and eating donuts. He was in a powerful transformer phase at the time so he got transformer toys and masks and movies. I let Reedy help me make his cupcakes that day. He loved the stirring and the licking! Then the afternoon was spent at our favorite spot at 6th Street park with the best party guests any kid could ever have...Reed's brothers and sister who ADORE him. It was a perfect, beautiful day. Reed's birthday will always fall at the prettiest time of year in Pratt. Lucky birthday boy...so happy, so silly, so clever and fun, and SO loved!

Grown Up Girl

Hanna underwent an extreme makeover this year. Besides growing up way too much, she also lost her two front teeth and got a way cute hair cut. I really cannot take enough pictures of her right now!

Nolan's 12th Birthday

Look at that handsome kid! I'm so proud of my Nolan. He turned 12 and was ordained an Aaronic Priesthood holder by his dad and is every bit a sharp and stalwart little Deacon. Oh, I love him so much. Along with some Pokemon cards and some roller blades, Nolan got a new suit for his birthday. He loves to wear it and he loves performing his callings at church, passing the Sacrament and collecting the Fast Offerings. He is the only Deacon and the only youth in our Branch, but he sure sets a good example for those Primary kids who are coming up fast behind him. So to celebrate his awesomeness we planned a cool-kid get away with his three best buddies. I took them to Pizza Ranch  (Nolan's favorite buffet place) and the roller skating rink. Nolan's friend Jeff told the DJ that it was his birthday and they called him out to the middle and pulled his face up on all the big screens and sang happy birthday to him. Fun, fun times for my big boy. And of course, we did not miss our annual skype call with Uncle Paul to blow out candles :)

1st Day of School

In 2014, Nolan started 6th Grade, Colby 4th, Hanna 2nd, and we had planned on giving Liam another year of preschool since he was still so young but he ended up super bored so we had him tested for Kinder and the results were a resounding YES! He's way too smart for preschool! So the picture of Liam with his Kindergarten teacher is actually about two weeks after the first day of school, but we do have four out of our five kids riding the bus to school now. They're such a cute crew running off to the bus stop in the mornings. I thought this picture of Nolan with his foursome of best friends was pretty cute too :)

And Reed's big accomplishment this Fall was to learn to use the toilet! Here he is with his potty-prize :)

Teaching at the College...What?!

Here I am in January, trying to catch up on events from last Fall, and the people in this picture are the reason why...

So maybe the real teacher was life-threateningly sick the whole semester, and maybe it is a small town and the college didn't have a lot of options, but I was still uber flattered (and flabbergasted) to be offered a job to teach art! And because of my determination to not completely fail at the prospect, I may have withdrawn from every other aspect of my life and spent every waking moment studying the material, preparing power point lectures and art projects, and grading tests and papers. But I finished what I started, and God got me through. And I promise you it was God...I felt Him helping me every day. And man, what an adventure! It really pushed my capacity to the limits! It was so hard, and I learned so much, and I had so much fun, and I hated it and I loved it and I'm so glad it's over and I wish I could go back...

And wow, isn't life so like that? And aren't you glad it is?

Note to my posterity (and my future self): Never say no to the gift of a great challenge :)