Haley Turns 16 !!!

I can't believe my baby is 16! She is starting to drive, which is beyond terrifying. But, she is a fun, happy, wonderful and smart kid. And I am very proud of her!

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 Sure, she could pay more attention to her grades and her room, but she does ok. I just like to be around her. We have fun talking in British and angry Asian accents. Haley has always loved having lots of friends. She is very friendly and can be with adults and little kids and be totally happy.

Haley sporting her new cheetah pants I bought her. Meow!

 The day she was born was an amazing day, and I have loved being a mom to her. I'm lucky to have such a great daughter. I only wish my mom was around to see her. She would have loved Haley. She would have loved her energy, spirit, sweetness and affection. I know I do. Happy Birthday sweet girl, my Haley Baby!

First Day of School

I love taking pictures of the kids on the first day of school. New clothes, clean faces, and excitement about seeing their friends again. Haley started high school this year.

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 I never looked this cute going to school.

 Haley dancing a little "I'm going to high school" jig.

 

She is so funny. She is a happy girl.

The boys are excited too. Well, Josh is, Max always has a little anxiety about school. He is happy to go, just worried a bit.

 They are getting kind of sick of me taking a million pictures, and are ready to go.



They are good friends too, which makes me happy. They put up with me taking their pictures. The boys are in 4th grade.

Vacation in Park City

 We needed a little break. So for the weekend we went to Park City/ Midway. The rides at the resort are awesome. We love the Alpine slide and the coaster. The kids love it and we all have fun.  Park City also has a lot of fun places to eat.

 One of our favorite places to go is Java Cow and get some ice cream.

We stayed at Zermatt in Midway. Zermatt is very fun. Great pool and a carousel.  

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As a child, my family would stay at the Homestead. It was sold out this weekend, but we went there and climbed the crater and had lunch. To me the Homestead was the best place in the world. It seemed we were there forever, we were probably there for three days. We used to swim and go for walks and ride horses.

The boys kind of looked around like, what do you do here? But my memories of the Homestead is about family. About Aunt B vacationing with us, playing cards at night, swimming every afternoon, walks with the family, making drinks for my parents and Aunt B (vodka and Tang...ew).  So I try to incorporate the same feeling with my little family on our vacations (minus the vodka and Tang).  Just hanging out, swimming for hours, and slowing down our pace. The kids thought it was a great vacation. I think it was just great to be together.

Summer 2012

I am always so happy when school is out and the kids can enjoy some time off. Life is busy, and I always loved summer vacation, I hope my kids do too.  Haley is off on an adventure of a lifetime going to London, Scotland, Wales and Ireland with a student ambassador program. I hope this teaches her a few things like appreciation for what she has here, responsibility and open her mind to the big big world full of wonderful things. The thing that is surprising is what her trip is teaching me. Not only do I miss her more than I thought I would, I think about our relationship and how I want it to be when she returns. I want to listen more and not be so quick to tell her what she did wrong. It also gives me a glimpse of what will be in the future when she goes to college or someday gets married and not living with me. I hate it. I know that this time is a precious. It goes by way too fast.

All I know this Christmas

I love this blog, but I never blog. I think about it, and what I will say, but never get to it. I am going to try to blog more, shorter, blogs to keep this going. I hope I can do it.

Christmas is frustrating to me. I want to enjoy it. I want to have that special Hallmark Channel moment with my kids. But somewhere in between going completely broke and going to every performance, party and event, my spirit gets run over. I can't balance making my kids happy with presents and not spending a fortune. 

Haley at a dance performance

Josh and Max, ready to perform

All I know is my kids are what gives me my Christmas spirit. Seeing their happy faces and spending time with them is all I could ask for in this life. I wonder how I could be so lucky to have such healthy, happy kids who try so hard to be good.

First day of School 2011

The first day of school always comes too fast. I just don't want to admit my kids are another year older in school. But it is fun to see them get excited to see their friends and learn new things. Haley is in 9th grade and Josh and Max are in the 3rd grade. I think this will be a great year for all of them. Jr. High will be fun for Haley to be the big kids on campus. She is in dance and band and loves school. I am pretty sure she is the social director there. She has such style and presence that I admire her and have to be thankful she is such a good person with such a good heart.

Even if her attitude shows up every once in a while, it's all good! Of course after she did this I yelled from the car "I love you Haley, make good choices!" Which every 9th grader wants to hear from their mom walking into the building. She turned, ignored me and walked away quickly. Ah.. mission accomplished.

I always make the kids pose for pictures. The roll their eyes, but secretly I know they like it. It is a tradition on the first day of school, and they indulge me in taking a million pictures when all they really want to do is get on with it. 

Josh was very ready to go to school. Max was happy to go to school but had that little nervousness when things are new.

 The hardest part is walking away from them as the enter the school. They had a good day and it was fun for them to see all their friends, like Marlee.

Think Spring

I am oh so ready for spring! To go for walks, go to the park, and picnic outside will be wonderful. But I know living in Utah we still have some snow ahead. I am starting to think of what to plant, where we are going to go for some instate adventures. Something to get these kids away from the TV. The Zoo, Liberty Park, MillCreek Canyon, Park City, camping to name a few.

I'm looking around my house and it is so full of stuff, spring cleaning would help but I just lack motivation. I clean all weekend, and when I come home Monday after work, it looks the same as when I started to clean. It is like I clean off a shelf, and then something fills it back in again! I take clothes to charity and then someone gives us clothes to fill back the drawers. I can't win. Then I picture my life in 10 years. And what will my house look like. Haley will be 24 and could be living on her own? The boys will be 18 and there won't be power rangers on my bed and on my floor. There will be big shoes, and jackets, books and gear. So I try not to get too angry at my messy house. Because I would rather have the three kids here and all their mess, than a clean empty house. It will come someday. I try to enjoy what I have right now, no matter how messy it is.