Summertime and the livin' is CRAZY

Here are a bunch of pictures of our doings lately. Mathan wrote the captions. Most of them are from the  Tenney reunion with some random pictures of the kids. Fun times!

The girls had fun at Jantzen's birthday party.

 I wonder what it will be like to have a little sister . . .

. . . Will she want to play with me? . . .

 Hey guys, pay attention! I think they're looking at us . . .

Ruth, Treven and Lilly, born in April, May, and June.

Ellen looking pretty at the park.

May and Ellen love their daddy.

Mathan, sneaking a kiss.

Lilly in a dress made by her great great grandmother, Mildred McCarty.

With a head band made by her aunt Amy. I think the dress was made for a doll, but Lilly was so tiny it fit her if we didn't button it all the way.

Sunday afternoon nap with dad.

If you climb a tree, the grand canyon seems to be even deeper!

We took a day trip to the Grand Canyon with G&G Peterson. Our camera ran out of juice right after this so we didn't get a lot of pictures.

 A happy moment before we left for church.

The family keeps on growing!

Welcome Lillian!

  

Lilly was born on Flag Day at 6:31 pm. She weighed 5 lbs 15 oz and was 19 inches long. Here she is just minutes after she was born. We both were so blessed. The labor was only three and a half hours with no complications. The best part for me was no iv, stitches, or drugs and minimal monitoring! We really didn't have time for any of that because we were only at the hospital for an hour before she came. Plus the maternity ward was packed and they seemed to be a little understaffed. 

Grandma Peterson came the next morning with the kids. I thought this was such a sweet picture. I'll post more later.

Lilly has been an angel so far. She likes her sleep and only wakes to nurse once in the middle of the night. Things have gone so well I can hardly believe how blessed we've been. I healed up quickly and adjusted to nursing again with only one infection, which is a miracle for me! Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers and sends many tender mercies everyday. We all love our little Lilly. I'm so grateful for my little ones that still have the breath of heaven about them.

Thanks to all the many helpers that have made life easy! We love you!

True Confessions Tuesday

~I haven't done a Memories Monday for a while. I just haven't been feeling very reminiscent.
~We had a speaker in church a while back who said that most of a child's values and habits are developed in their first five or six years. Umm, is anyone else a little scared at that thought? I know I've heard similar ideas before, but now that May is almost six it makes me wonder if we've done enough.
~I love having a lot of family over for a birthday party, and having a dozen kids running around because when they all go home my three seem so quiet and peaceful!
~Our baby is due in 17 days! I'm excited to meet her. I'm praying that I'll be able to bounce back quickly this time. I feel like I have so many responsibilities that I can't allow myself to crash and burn as I have in the past. I've been given the advice to let the housework and callings go for a while, but I think it's better for me to get back to normal as soon as I can. My dad says the best remedy for depression is work and that has proven true for me.
~This weather makes me want to go to Mexico so badly!
~The smoke would make anyone want to leave! Over 200,000 acres have been burned and it's still hot and windy. Every few days the smoke comes right at us. We're praying for the wind to stop and rain to fall.
~I think they called me to young women's because I have a van. haha!

Happy Birthday Ellen!

Sweet Ellen is four today! We're so blessed to have her as part of our family. Lots of laughter and love have come with her. With each birthday I am more surprised at how much she has grown and learned! It wasn't very long ago that this little angel came to us and the years are flying away so fast! I love these days filled with giggles and twirls and dancing. I wish I could keep her safe from the days of struggle and disappointment and growing pains that are ahead of her. But that would defeat her purpose wouldn't it? She is a daughter of God with the potential for greatness. I love her with all my heart. Happy Birthday Ellen!

Baking up a storm

 We spent the morning is Snowflake today and got home just in time for lunch, but sadly there was no bread in the house so I whipped up some cornbread to tide us over.

Then I moved on to the real bread.

Due to (insert lame excuse) I haven't done my visiting teaching yet. Hence the necessity of making cookies.

And when all is said and done our house is an oven! The swamp cooler is having issues so we're all roasting. On a positive note my kids are eating ice cubes faster than they're eating cookies.

The Prophet said to plant a garden so that's what we'll do!

 Gardening is big in Woodruff. I'm talking 'bout "Better Homes and Gardens" big. Everyone has a garden and some people are absolute pros at it. It can be a tiny bit intimidating when you look at some of the immaculate gardens around here. Needless to say, we are not "those people" yet.

 Seeing as I'm due in June, we're taking the low maintenance, less is more route this year. Mathan built these fabulous planters and we're really hoping for some good results.

 We're planting all of our small plants in the planters and planting the more invasive stuff in the field.

So here are all the newly planted, "clean slate" pictures. And let me warn you, there may not be any more. The weeds are already popping up! It takes either a massive amount of work or a massive amount of chemicals to keep your garden weed free. We never use chemicals, and sadly we aren't that good at the massive amount of work either. ;)

Oh what do you do in the summer time?

 School is out! Hurray! Now what do I do to keep everyone occupied? I feel like I need to make this summer a lot more structured now that May is so used to the school routine.

 Bring on the simple little crafts that will keep the kids busy!

 Plus some wet outdoor fun. This is May at her field day. Fun times

 Thank goodness for imagination! The girls made a bus and filled it with passengers. Ellen is singing Drive, drive, drive, the bus!

Here's Thomas the one man band.  Humm, maybe music lessons?