Although we had a whirlwind swirling around us as we were preparing to sell our house the following week, this sweet husband of mine was so kind to brave the sweltering August Texas heat with the kiddos and I to take our traditional anniversary (aka birthday of our family--- the start of our journey together forever!) pictures!! We figured out some revolutionary gam-changers that made pictures from our remote and camera on a tripod so much better---I pulled the kids out first from the comforts of our air conditioned car one at a time to do the individuals, and siblings....and then, drum roll please, they each were bribed with some skittles or lollipop or something...if they did their best and listened super well--they all did an awesome AND super amazing job!!! Then, we all braved the heat together to snag a few different poses of our entire family for pictures (which turned out so well for being taken with a remote...haha..so proud of us and that trusty camera--even though some pics had some sort of fuzzy blur off to the side <<<not sure why>>> must be on the lens??) and then our budding photographer 8 year old snagged these of just us two! There was no whining, tears shed, meltdowns, and mommy got her favorite pictures of the year, while Daddy could listen to Harry Potter audio books with the kids in the van with AC while I got to use my creative photography magical skills (albeit, while sweating beads from the heat along the way lol) with each kiddo and trying to bring out their individual personalities...and I was so happy with what we got!!
I am so thankful for this sweet husband of mine and for the last wonderful 10 years we have shared together!!! He truly is the best teammate and eternal companion for me and I am so thankful for the good man, awesome daddy, and best friend he is as we continue to take on life adventures together side-by-side. You are wonderful and I am so thankful for the heaven-sent additions we have added to our family each year, the immense blessings, challenges, opportunities for stretching and growth, unspeakable love and joy they have brought into our lives! We truly grew entirely new additional hearts for each one and our lives have been so richly blessed by each of them. I am thankful for our temple marriage and that we can be together forever!! Love you family! You mean everything! =D
Miss Katelyn the biggest helper and climber! (8 years old)
Nathan speed-racer man the thoughtful, smart and sweet caring joy! (5 years old)
Miss Gracie June-bug who brightens the world with her big heart and smile! (4 years old)
Joshy the little smiley, fearless, curious adventurer/explorer (1.5 years old)!
What sweet blessings!! We are so thankful for this little crew of ours, the light and love, challenges and opportunities for leaning and growing together, and indescribable happiness and joy they bring into our lives!! They mean the world to us and we are so thankful for each one of them and their unique attributes, strengths/weaknesses, personalities, the way they look after each other, help care for each other and the ways they teach us about the pure love our Heavenly Father has for each of us and extending that loving charity to others everyday!
Love this heart-throb of mine. :) He means everything to me. I am so thankful to be by his side along this journey in life each day. I am thankful for his faithfulness, determination, hard work ethic, patience with me and our sweet kiddos who try to keep up with his quickness at everything, and for his sincere loving and caring heart who honors his calling as a husband and father with his utmost abilities. We love you, honey and our world is made so much better because you are in it!! <3 <3 <3 10 years down and forever more to go! Couldn't imagine a more exhilarating or stretching, growing, learning from all the bumps in the road, fun, joyous, loving adventure than getting to experience it all by your side!
So incredibly thankful for this sweet family of mine. <3 We are truly blessed beyond measure and so thankful to God above for these greatest blessings and treasures who have been entrusted into our care. Although there are many days we find this parenting experience to test us to the very core, and we continue to find more and more gray hairs from trying to manage and balance our time and most important responsibilities as parents, we sure love them and pray each day that we can help teach them more and more about Him, and help them know of our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ's immense love for each of them, and to help them turn their hearts towards following our Savior and staying on the covenant path which will lead to the greatest happiness of all and enable us to live with our family forever someday.
Love them and the plan of salvation, the Atonement of our Savior and the chance we have to repent, learn and grow and keep progressing each day!
Speaking of learning and GROWING, we finally were able to sell our house, after having it on the market for a little over 5.5 months!!! Due to our plans to continue to grow our family, we decided to make a few adjustments to our first home here in Texas, and move a few miles down the road into a home that would fit our families long terms needs and desires to accommodate more people a bit better! Woo hoo to the end of showings and that crazy whirlwind of a process, but we were thankful it all worked out in the Lord's timing and for the hospitality of those family members who let us stay with them while our next home was being finished!!
We are so thankful for this wonderful life. For each other. For those smiles that keep us going. For our Savior and His love we can feel and find every day. For the gospel plan which gives us so much hope amidst hardship, meaning amidst societies misguided monotony, true happiness and peace. Ten years has been trying and led to lots of stretching and growing, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Here's to taking on another infinity with ya'll!!! =D
After we moved out of our house, we were so thankful for Liz and Austin’s kindness in letting us stay with them a couple weeks while we prepared to go on our family trip and then venture up to Washington for the fall until our house was finished being built. It was a huge blessing for them to open their house to us so Jon could stay there a couple months to still do his ward calling and keep up with his work responsibilities while we were away. 
