Back to School

I have some cool stuff to blog about but I feel like I need to do a little catching up first!!!!
(sorry I skipped Tyler's 19th birthday- the camera battery was dead so I don't have any pictures but I think he had a good birthday and got some cool stuff- only one more year as a teenager! Wow that makes me feel old). I also have so many pictures from all of our travels and visiting over the summer but if I blog all of that it will be Christmas by the time I catch up!!!!!! So I am skipping it- the pictures are on Facebook if you really want to see them.

Anyway here are my cute kids on their first day of school. 

JUNIOR YEAR!!!

 I can't believe she is in 6th grade! It almost breaks my heart!!!!! And please ignore the huge pile of unfolded laundry in the background (even though I am pretty sure it is still in the same place)

we are still homeschooling- she is just taking four or five classes through a special program for homeschoolers- she goes once a week to the class and then does all the work at home.

Closing out April

I went to Time out for Women in Seattle with a few of my friends and it was a lot of fun and totally uplifting. S. Michael Wilcox was there and I have always wanted to hear him speak. He was amazing. We went to Red Robin for lunch one day and I got a cheeseburger. I hardly ever eat meat let alone cheeseburgers and so I was so ill the whole night after I got home- and the worst part the burger was 1250 calories!!!!! Crazy!

Trav took the kids to a Mariner's game- they rode the city bus down and back and had a great time. The weather was perfect!

sometimes I wonder about my kids!

ick

ummmm Tyler is a dork!

point proven

It was Military Appreciation night- the kids even got commemorative coins

 We celebrated Easter with my in laws. It was also a sunny day- by these last few blog post you would think we have had a lot of them but honestly I think we had three sunny days in the whole month of April!

My nephew is sooo stinkin cute!

they were cracking themselves up

They laughed so hard they cried

even the teenagers got involved

Cutie Kenna!

this was the most normal picture we could get! The kids were on one that week

Look what we found!!!!
Travis and Tyler have been out in the yard working all day. While they were weed-eating Travis disturbed a nest of bunnies. The little furballs scattered all over the place and Tyler chased this one all the way to the woods and caught it. It seriously screamed like a severely wounded baby all the way back to the house.

After they put the little guy back in the grass we found out they have a little burrow back there.

I guess that is what happens when you let your grass grow and grow and grow and grow.............

18!!!!

I can't even count how many times I have thought to myself, "when Tyler is 18 I will only be 35"

Well that day has come (this post is a little late I have been without a computer)

Tyler,

I look forward to seeing you accomplish many great things. You have your whole life ahead of you. The sky's the limit!!!!
Soon you will be heading out to Utah and I know you are looking forward to a new adventure. Even though you will be thousands of miles away you will always be on my mind and in my heart.
Remember that we will always be here for you and more importantly you can always rely on your Savior Jesus Christ. He knows you, loves you unconditionaly and only He can truly understand the trials you may face in this life. He will never let you down. I hope you know that.

Being your mother has taught me so much. I hope that I have taught you something along the way as well. I love you.


Happy 18th Birthday Tyler!!!!

knowing

Having a child with mental illness is super hard. Like many things it is one of those situations that you can't really understand unless you live it day in and day out. I don't expect anyone to really know what we are going through. I actually don't even expect them to try. I even recognize that I don't truly understand what it is like for Tyler and that quite possibly it may be harder on him then it is on us.
Despite all of the mixed emotions and uncertainty there are some things I understand with absolute clarity. I know that Heavenly Father knows me and that He knows Tyler. My dependence on the Lord is real. I have been humbled in ways I didn't think were possible. I have cried out to the Lord and sometimes I have just cried. I have had my prayers answered and I have felt the love of the Lord and I have seen the "multitude of His tender mercies" continually. We have been blessed with so many Christlike people in our lives that have reached out their arms and hands in support of my son and my family in the most desperate of times.
I don't know what the years ahead hold for Tyler. Honestly I don't know what the days ahead hold for him. I can only continue to hope and to pray and to love. It isn't easy and I don't do it perfectly. I really struggle to even do it well sometimes but I am trying.
*thank you Kevin for this picture- it is a treasure

backpacking, backtracking, basketball, barns and birthday bliss

Allias has been letting me use his camera since mine is broken. I was going to do a bunch of different posts but I got lazy and did it all in one. So pull up a chair and enjoy.



I totally forgot that Travis took Kailyn and Allias camping at Raven Rock last month- Tyler had to work so he and I stayed home. Travis ended up getting off much later then expected and so that left me in charge of getting everything together. I pretty much just threw everything in the back of the van so they could go- which ended up being a mistake because they had to hike in four or five miles just to get to their campsite. And since Travis had gotten home so late they hiked the last two or so in the dark.
Luckily the ranger had a few extra packs so they only had to make one trip. Kailyn even carried one of the packs the entire way.







Here is Kailyn posing in the kitchen this morning, sometime in early spring she and I went to the mall and they were having a MAJOR clearance sale at Hudson Belk. We got over 300 dollars worth of clothes for 56 bucks! I keep meaning to have her put on a fashion show..... This is one of the outfits- so stinkin' cute and only 8 dollars. We got the shoes later- another store another clearance sale.


Swinging at the park the other night.
Tyler and Allias after playing basketball in the rain.

Our home school group went on a field trip to the Agri-fest at the fairgrounds.





I seriously almost brought one of these home!!!
They were selling them for 50 bucks!
and oh my goodness they were the CUTEST things ever!!!!! Not to mention that at only two days old they were already only pottying in one corner of the pen. Brittney do you want me to bring you one when I come to Utah this summer???


Kailyn learning how to spin wool into yarn


My birthday weekend was pretty cool. Travis and I went out to dinner Saturday night and then we went shopping. My dad had sent me some b-day money and I wanted a new dress. I even got to speak in church Sunday. (I do enjoy it actually).
And then Monday morning in seminary I got not one,

but two chocolate cakes-

which I was happy to share with the class. A couple of the kids had a cake eating contest and finished off the big cake in a matter of minutes.

Then I went out to lunch with some of my very very favorite people.
I bought this shirt with my b-day money too!
Travis had to work late but the kids and I had strawberry shortcake.



And last but not least I took Allias to get his haircut today. Kailyn decided she wanted hers cut too. It turned out soooo precious. Even Allias told her how pretty she looked when we got in the car.
This is another picture where I go wow! Allias looks so much like my younger brother!