Thank you!!

Today is the one year anniversary of Melissa's death.  ‎Melissa, this day is yours. I am grateful to have known you and your mom. Thank you for being my friend through good times and bad.Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help you and thank you for being so strong.

As I reflect on the two years prior to her death, I want to thank all those who made it possible for me to be by her side and helped me through a very difficult pregnancy. Those who watched kids, helped financially, emotionally heard me, spiritually uplifted, made food...you know who you are and I will be forever grateful.

Aaron Kibbie, you are amazing. Thank you for loving me and ALWAYS supporting me.

Aiden's first Pinewood Derby

Last week was Aiden's first pinewood Derby.  I hadn't been to one since my brothers were in scouts.  Man, has it come a long way!  I remember the track being some large wooden contraption.  Now look at it!  It's even computerized with laser sensor at the finish line.  His car did not win, but he had some good bonding time with his dad making the car.

No TV

So one day last week I went out to run some errands and told the kids not to turn on the TV.  During the week we have a rule that the kids are not allowed to watch TV.  So when I came home, this is what I found.  They made a TV out of a box and were entertaining my little girls with puppet shows and skits.  They even turned on the music and danced for them.  The girls were laughing hysterically when I walked in the door.  It was a great noise to come home too!

Bathtime!

Robyn took these fun pictures of Eva and Gwen.

Busy month

We have had a lot going on this month.  As I mentioned before, Aaron's sister got married and his family was in town for the event.  Almost all his family was able to attend.  We were only missing one sister whom we missed having with us.  It was a great time catching up with each others lives.

The following week, Aaron's brother Chuck, stayed with us for a week.  He is getting ready to go on an LDS mission to Brazil.  Chuck was 5 when we got married and I used to babysit him.  We had a great time reminiscing about the past and having some time to get to know him a little better. 

The next week we finally made a trip to Colorado to visit our good friends the Milams.  We had made a promise in the spring to visit and just got to busy.  Sonya is an amazing friend to me.  She really took care of me when I was pregnant with Eva by stopping by my house with her big van and telling the kids to hop in and come play at her house so I could rest.  She would bring me meals and invite my family over to eat so I wouldn't have to cook.  She called me nearly everyday to see how I was and to have a nice chat.  She has 7 beautiful children and is one of the most giving people I know.  Sadly we did not get a picture with them while we were there, but hope to when they come to visit in April.

To my surprise, my other dear friend Emma Goltz Dean lives in the same little town that the Milams live in.  I hadn't seen her in 10 years!  We got to spend some time together at a local park catching up and letting our kids play.  She has a miracle baby and is a wonderful mom to her sweet daughter Maggie.  I sure miss Emma's friendship and having her close by.

Tina and Emma.  She looks great!!  I, on the other hand, am starting to look a little wrinkly.  Maybe I should start wearing make up again...

Eva with Maggie Ann.  She just a little older than Eva.

My 5 with Maggie Ann.  Some of them are a little hard to see.

Robyn got a little creative with the berries from a near by bush.  She used the berries to create lips on this turtle.  Then she did this:

Wow!



Do you see her leafs in the wood?

Wedding dresses

My sweet sister in law, Sharon, was married this month and had asked me to make flower girl dresses.  For some reason I only got a few pictures so I am hoping to get a few more from my other sister in law who was the photographer for her wedding. (Aaron has 8 sisters.  Sometimes it's hard to keep track! :) )

Here is Gwen in her flower girl attire.  I made an under dress out of purple silk dupioni and an over dress with a sheer silk organza.  I layered large tucks on the bottom and smaller tucks on the bodice of the over dress.  Over that dress I made a large purple silk dupioni sash that tied in the back.  Sharon's new sister in law made the adorible head band.  Her sister Diane did her hair.

Eva wanted a dress too, so I made a smocked dress out of the same silk dupioni.

More Dance

Robyn and Emma got to try out ballroom dancing last semester.  Their teacher was amazing and they had a great time.  She had a great talent in getting boys that age to dance and love it.  This is Robyn and Emma just before their second performance at Thanksgiving point.

The videos I took were of their first two performances.  They were in several performances and I was planning on video taping the last one, but to my surprise, they would not let us do that.  It's sad because they were so good at it by the end so I feel these videos of their first performances don't give them justice.  Since the Grandparents couldn't attend, I posted them anyways so they can see a little. 

Robyn is in the Harry potter dance and at this point she did not know the ending.  She missed when they taught it the week before.  I think she did pretty well considering.

Ah yes, and here I am.  I couldn't resist the dancing bug when I found out that there was a ladies dancing group just around the corner from me.  I had a splendid time dancing with these lovely ladies.  Cheap therapy is a good way to describe this time as well.  We would "start" at 9pm and dance (or talk) until we were too tired.  These ladies are all doing amazing things and I have so much to learn from them.  A few of them were dancers for the Utah Jazz or BYU dance teams.  I felt a little lack of talent dancing with them, but they never made me feel that way.  It has been years since I danced this way and my body liked to tell me about it.  Even though I lacked the flexibility that I once had, I was still able to dance.

Us in our wild Africa pose.

Sorry about the video quality on this last one.  The lighting was less than perfect and Aaron was more interested in watching then making a video so at one point it starts to drift.

Hint of Lyme

This summer, I was finally able to complete my story about my journey with Lyme disease.  I decided that it would make my story more available if I made it into a blog.  So here is a link to my new blog:

www.lifewithahintoflyme.blogspot.com

Do you like the nifty title?  I can't take credit for it, my nifty husband came up with the sweet title.

Gwen's Dance

Here are some photos of Gwen's dance recital back in June.  She loved her teacher Aura and had a great time dancing with her good friend Oakley.

Here is Eva showing off her moves before the performance begins.  According to Aaron, she insisted on wearing this lovely attire and refused to wear shoes.

Farm life

 Here are some pictures of our new property that we are trying to turn into a self sustaining homestead.

Robyn's ducks

Here's Aaron in the back ground enjoying our fire pit where we roast corn and give Aiden opportunities to "be responsible" with fire.

Some of our chickens and a few guinea hens.

The neighbors across the street

Aiden, building muscles

Eva enjoying the life of a "free range" kid

Birthdays

This summer we had some birthdays.

Aiden turned 9. He is a very sensitive soul.  In spite of being in the middle of 4 girls he does all he can to prove his manhood.  Sword fighting with his sisters, shooting BB guns, catching bugs, looking for opportunities to scare me (or anyone for that matter), playing in the mud and much more. My favorite part about this "manly man" is at night when the house is quiet I'll here a little whisper from the door "Mommy, will you cuddle me?"  Then he tip toes to the side of my bed and gently climbs in for some last minute cuddles before he is summoned to his own bed.  Then he whispers again "I love you mommy, your the best mom EVER!" I hope when he's old and grown he will still whisper those words to me.

Sweet Eva turned 2.  I can't believe my baby is 2!  Where does the time go?  Her ability to speak is amazing for her age.  Often people think she is younger than she is until they hear her speak.  She reminds me of Robyn at that age.  Her size and speech are so similar, yet she has her own flair.  Eva loves to smile to show her teeth and give "power" hugs where she hugs you really tight and with a clenched jaw she will say "I love you!".  She was a miracle at birth and still continues to amaze me.

Emma turned 11.  She is a beauty, inside and out.  I can always count on Emma to make me smile and to help when asked.  She has a wonderful way of making others feel accepted and loved.  She also has a profound ability to memorize and to recall.  This doesn't always work in my favor.  Emma loves her little sisters.  They often prefer Emma over me.  I am so glad to have a girl like Emma in our family, she makes our home a happy place to be.

WAY TOO LONG!!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since April!  Where have I been?!  Well I could tell you.  It might take a few posts.  We have had visitors and have been working really hard in our yard though you probably couldn't tell just by looking at it. 

My amazing sister, Gwen and her wonderful family came to visit for a whole week!  It was wonderful to have them around and be with family. While they were here we went to Park city to ride on the Alpine Slides and for the fourth we ran in the Freedom run marathon.  Nate did the 10K while the rest of us did the 1 mile fun run.  I know, only a mile you ask...I did it with Eva on my back and little people trailing behind.  Does that count?  If not, it doesn't matter, we had a great time!

During that time, my dear friend's son, Josh, came to live with us for a few weeks before he shipped off to boot camp this summer.  I can't believe I used to babysit him when he was a small fry and now he is all grown up!!  He helped us in the yard and gave Aiden a temporary big brother.  Aiden was (and is) so sad to see him go. 

Before he left we picked up another friend's niece who is from France.  Carole came here to practice her English and to help with the kids.  She was so nice to have around as well and was a lot of fun.  We took her all over the Salt Lake Valley. 

I also went on a weekend trip to Washington to attend the spreading of ashes of my dear friend Melissa.  It played on my emotions as we drove through the beautiful scenery of the Western Washington country side and into the beautiful Lake Chelan region where, as children, Melissa and I spent a lot of time camping and swimming with her family.  So many memories flooded into my memory and reminded me how much our friendship meant to me. 

I've also been madly working on a few flower girl dresses for my sister in law Sharon's wedding coming up (pictures will be posted soon, they turned out so cute!!).  Now I'm painting Aiden's/ the guest rooms only to host another set of people.  Aaron's brother Steve and his family are coming to stay with us for the wedding.  I'm so excited to have them come to get a chance to know them a little more.  They got married after we moved to Utah so I haven't had the chance to get to know them as a couple.

Not to mention trying to keep up with the schooling. I am so glad that I am well enough to keep up with all this!!

Aiden with his cousin Max getting ready to brave the slide down the mountain.

Here we are with Josh (next to Aaron) after our first marathon at Freedom days in Provo.

My kids with their Boyack cousins

With Carole at Stewart Falls 

Yes, I know, but Carole really needed an American experience 

Here  I am with my family!! Tim (aka Dad), Dan, Erik, Ron, myself, Gwen and Helen (aka Mom).  I got to be with ALL of them while I was there for a weekend in July

Myself with the Waller family at Melissa and Mary's (Melissa's mom who died and had her ashes spread in the same location) spot on Lake Chelan.

Spring, how I love you!

I love spring!  The invitation to warm weather is intriguing and puts me in the most beautiful of moods. I love where we live!  I can step out my back door and hear roosters crowing, horses neighing, and wind blowing through the trees.

We are now working as quickly as possible to prepare our yard for my dream garden.  If you like yard work and want to help we would love to see you on our door step!  This year we will be preparing much of the soil to be able to plant more next year. 

To help our soil, we are raising 24 chickens, 5 ducks and soon we will have 3 guinea hens.  Next year I'm hoping for a couple of goats as well.  Here are some pictures of our 4 weeek old chickens enjoying bugs under our burried trampoline. There is also a picture of our 4 day old ducks.  Aren't they cute?

Archery

Emma and Aiden got the chance to take a free archery class at our local shooting range.  They are having a great time learn to use a bow and arrow. The fun part, aside from archery, is they are joined by a few of their friends.

 Here is Emma with her life long friend Aeryn standing side by side leaning to shoot a bow and arrow

Here's Aiden giving it a try

Princess GG Gwenie turns 5

Are you wondering where the name GG gwenie came from?  For those of you who don't know, Gwen is named after my sister Gwen.  One time both of our families were in Washington with the rest of our family for my brother Dan's wedding.  My sister Gwen was pregnant at the time and my kids kept calling her big Gwen.  Being pregnant, I'm sure this was not an easy thing to hear so her husband started calling my Gwen GG.  My Gwen then called herself GG Gwenie and thus the new nick name was born.

What a joy she is to have in my life.  She is a spunky fun loving spirit.  She's beautiful in all respects and loves to care for others.  The other day I found Gwen with her baby sister Eva in their room with the door shut.  I opened to door to find Gwen changing Eva's diaper.  She quickly came to the door and said "Mom leave, I'm helping Eva get dressed for the day.  If you open the door she escapes".  When she is not quiet she is humming or singing a song.  She has a taste for fashion.  Being a more experienced mother now I don't do anything to squash that ability unless she is wearing something that is immodest.  She brings laughter to our family with all the funny things she says and I am so grateful for a beautiful girl like her.

This is the second year in a row that Gwen wanted a princess birthday party.  I figure this desire will die with age.  The wonderful part about this party is that Robyn and Emma took it upon themselves to plan and create this fun event for Gwen.  So here are some pictures of Gwen on her special day.  Do you like her clothing selection?  According to Gwen all princesses are ballerinas too!