An Adventurous and Relaxing Spring Break!

 We had the BEST time in St. George over Spring Break. We went with Nathan and Steph's family and rented a townhome with a private pool. It was a little pricey but we thought with how many people would be in St. George it might be worth it to get our own pool that we didn't have to share with other people. And IT WAS WORTH IT. The kids had SO much fun and it was wonderful to be able to put Jane down for a nap and just let the kiddos party in the pool for hours! The trip was the right amount of adventure and relaxation and just an amazing time!

Hiking at Gunlock State Park Thursday morning. The falls only go on once every 8-10 years! So we just have fun hiking around and exploring. 

Hiking the lava tubes (caves) in Snow Canyon State Park Friday morning. I stayed back with the two babies so everyone else could explore the caves. Unfortunately they forgot their head lamps so I think they only were able to do part of them. What was really fun is Emma and Reese randomly ran into their two best friends, Madi and Kenzi Waite, on that hike! 

We explored Pioneer Park Saturday morning and it was a breezy, beautiful day! The kids and adults had a great time!

Swimming for hours and hours in our private backyard pool was definitely a favorite part for all the kids.

Easter 2021

 I love that our girls now understand better our Easter tradition of watching the sunrise and the importance of our Savior in our lives. It's become a favorite tradition for sure. This year was special because Easter fell on General Conference weekend and we got to listen to many uplifting messages from the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Of course we have to do the obligatory Easter egg dying. Not my favorite but the girls and Cade thoroughly enjoy it :). 

Janie-Boo had her first Easter egg hunt (that she can really enjoy and understand). Of course she would find one and sit down every time she found one to scarf down the candy inside. It was all gone in a matter of minutes :). The girls all had a great time. 

One Year Since the Covid Shutdown Began!

 Today is March 23rd. The world shut down last March 13th. It has been QUITE the year. There are many times and many issues that have been hard to deal with and get used to. Such as wearing masks (girls at school too), not being able to easily go to museums and indoor play areas, etc., and in the beginning not being able to see family and friends. But there have been many blessings and eye-opening things that have happened that I am very grateful for. 

Being able to do at home church and make our home a sacred place has been the most important thing Cade and I have learned from this pandemic. The temples have been shut down and it's been very hard to not be able to go inside and focus on the spiritual nourishment that we have needed. But then we have made our homes that spiritual haven that we and our girls have needed. Come Follow Me has been a regular important thing in our home and it has strengthened our family relationships 100 fold. I am so grateful for the revelation of the Come Follow Me program that has allowed families to become spiritually stronger together. 

I have also learned that I need to be understanding of others beliefs and opinions and know that my way of thinking is not the only correct way. I want to teach my children to be strong in their beliefs but understanding of others thinking and believing different than them. The Holy Ghost is so essential in our day that I need to keep Chirst's teachings at the front of my to-do list every day. I need to be guided and directed every single day to what is most important for myself and my family. 

I am grateful that we are coming around a corner and hopefully will be able to resume certain activities soon (church, primary, etc.). We are currently meeting every other week at church and doing the other week at home virtually. It has still been good but I am excited to get back to hugging people and smiling at others without a mask on. 

St. Patricks' Dinner

 This year Grandma and Boose came for our traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner. What's great about this tradition is that it's so easy to keep up with! I already cook dinner for my family s might as well make it green and call it a special holiday dinner! The girls look forward to little things like this. 

They were so excited to have Grandma Bleak and Boose come join us this year. We made our rainbow fruit kabobs and veggie rainbow and then a chicken asparagus pasta with green sauce. Then green smoothie and brownie and mint ice cream for dessert. Then the best part...put on a movie for the girls so I could talk and catch up with my mom and sister :). Good times!

Random Family Fun

 Just some random family memories. 

Sunday's we like to drive up the canyon sometimes. Didn't realize there is still that much snow in March but as Cade says, "sometimes Mom needs to drive up the canyon and sniff the air." Then Nora kept saying, "I don't want to drive just to sniff the air!!!" Hahaha. 

Girls night with my Mom and sisters! Man, I love them all! Especially during this past year with the pandemic...I have become closer to all of these wonderful women and I love them so much. We had a favorite things" party at my house and had amazing food and good talk. It was great! Faith was home recovering from covid-19 and we missed her terribly but we got to Face Time her in for a bit. 

I love listening to my girls and husband sing together and hope we create lots more memories doing it in the future!

Just some fun pictures with our fun LuLu. During a Daddy-daughter interview she wanted Daddy to put a "boop-boop" in his hair. Hahaha. She is doing swim lessons right now and loving it and doing really well at it. 

I try to change things up every once in a while and be spontaneous because I think children need that to keep life fun and interesting. These pics were after I picked up the girls from school and we did our after school snack at the pond near by. We had apples and popcorn and fed the ducks and geese. Jane LOVED it so much. She calls them "kack kacks." So cute. 

Ahhh. The end of skiing season. Cade created some awesome memories taking the 3 oldest on the slopes this season. I was kind of bummed I didn't get to do it with them but at the same time I can't be sad about growing another baby to join our family! It's so great that Sundance is 30 minutes from our home. It forced them to go about a dozen times this season. They have all absolutely LOVED it! And Cade feels like he can ski and not just fall down the mountain :). Next season we'll probably get them another couple lessons where the girls can learn to do more than just pizza the whole way down. But the important thing is they loved going and learning something new. 

Baby BOY Close!!!!

 What?? For real?! 

Cade and I weren't going to find out because it was so much fun waiting until sweet Jane was born. It was so fun waiting until the end. But I kept asking Cade, "Are you sure you don't want to find out? Especially if we feel this is our last baby, will you be disappointed if it's a girl and is it better to find out sooner?" So the week before the ultrasound we decided we would find out the gender together and tell the girls later. 

We went to get our ultrasound done and it was the same lady who did our last two ultrasounds (even the one with Lucy where we thought she was a boy at first). We reminded her of our past ultrasounds and that we have 5 girls at home and we indeed wanted to find our the gender after all. So half way through heart and organs she couldn't wait and said, "Okay! I have to show you guys now!" She found a good shot and wrote out "boy". Cade couldn't believe it. The ultrasound tech said, "I've known this whole time and I usually wait until the end but I just couldn't wait any longer!!" She was too excited for us. Cade was trying to hold back the tears :). Of course we'd be excited either way. Our girls are AMAZING!!! And we wouldn't have our family ANY OTHER WAY! And to be honest...I think we really aren't going to believe it until baby boy is here in our arms. 

Now for telling the girls...

My friend a few weeks earlier said, "If you want a gender reveal cake let me know and I'll make you one!" I told her that was so nice but we probably weren't going to find out. Then after we DID find out I texted her to ask if she would still be willing. We found out Monday and did the cake on Thursday after dinner. We told the girls we had a special dessert and when we brought that out they were SOOOO excited because they've had this amazing ice cream cake from our neighbor before. Then Cade said, "now there is something special about this cake. With the help from our doctor this cake will tell you whether our baby is a baby boy or a baby girl." The girls screamed, "WHAT?? Are you serious?" They were even MORE excited. Lots of screaming started :). Everyone made their guesses. Emma and Reese guessed girl and Nora and Lucy guessed boy. Jane just yelled "cake!" When I made the first cut into the cake, I pulled the knife out and there was a little bit of blue on the knife! Then I cut the other side and more blue came out. The girls were going CRAZY and screaming. I finally got out the piece and it indeed was blue inside. They couldn't believe it. They're reactions were so great. They are so fun and so animated and it makes anything like this so much fun. 

We are excited to have Close baby boy come join us this summer! What a special little guy to join a family with 6 mommies!!! He is going to be extremely loved.