Our First BBQ of the Season

I am just loving this month. So many wonderful things have happened thus far, and the wistful memories just keep coming back of our BBQ days back in North Carolina and Utah when the girls were little. I look forward to the spring and summer months because those are the months when we can have picnics, and BBQ in our little back yard, and that is exactly what we did for dinner last night. I have been craving BBQ ribs for a while so I had Jon drive to the store to buy the briquettes, some ribs, and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. We managed to cook all of the beef ribs in our little smokey joe before the rain started again.

Noah was observing his dad the whole time Jon was turning the meat. Once in a while Jon will have to lift up the lid and blow some of the smoke out of the way with his hand or mouth. Noah is imitating his daddy by blowing in the air.

As I was taking this picture Noah was laughing for no reason...he's such a happy little boy.

The girls played frisbee, and horseshoes.

It seems as if the grass becomes greener with each passing year. We have been here for three years now and the grass looks more vibrant in color.  So pretty, and I love it!

Noah has become obsessed with picking up sticks. At least he doesn't swing them around or hit anybody with it!

Although the weather may become trite for some of us...I actually don't mind it. If I was pregnant right now the rain probably would put a damper in my mood. Since I'm not though I actually don't mind overcast days. I don't want to hibernate in the house and do nothing. I really try to make the best of each day and make it fun for both me, my better half and our kids.

And the BBQ dinner...it was DELICIOUS!!

Birthday Withdrawal on a Rainy Day

Surrounded by tapered balloons Noah is watching-
 The Lion King

There has been a little bit of birthday withdrawal in the home since Wednesday. The streamers are still hanging on the ceiling and I don't want to take them down just yet. The week isn't over! It just makes the room so much more colorful and happy! Especially on days when it rains.

Only a few of the balloons have survived. I normally don't let Noah watch television, but because of the rain I made an exception. It was raining all day yesterday and instead of having a lazy pajama day, I was caring for the birthday girl. She developed a fever on the night of her birthday and stayed in from school. I'm wondering if the stress from testing this past week, and lack of sleep made her sick. The change of weather certainly didn't help either. There are some days when it's warm and then days that are cool. The weather has been inconsistent lately, and I believe that's another reason how she got sick. She laid down all day, woke up and read for awhile, and then went back to bed. She responded to a few text messages, took a shower and at the end of the day...she felt a little bit better.

Today is a new day and she didn't want to miss another day of school, and so she went. Hopefully they won't send her home because of her cough. We shall wait and see.

I didn't mind the rain. I just felt bad having the girls being cooped up in the house. It's okay because I really don't let them go out on a school day unless it's to go to the library. They're pretty good at using their imagination and finding things to do. Of course they play piano and Lexie practices her violin. 

Today she decided to enhance her intelligence by playing some memory games by Lumosity on the computer for about an hour. Supposedly the games on this website make your brain work quicker.

 

Chelsea wanted to do some yoga. She LOVES yoga and wants to do it everyday. She is my little motivator and example when it comes to exercise. She was a little bit bummed because we couldn't go outside to take Noah on his daily stroll when she gets home from her half day of Kindergarten. "That darn rain", she says. Hopefully it won't rain as much today or this weekend!

It's days like this where I feel fortunate to be a stay at home mom and care for my kids when they are sick. Being a mom fills my heart with joy and gratitude. I hope to always be here when, and if the school ever calls me to pick them up due to illness...which is very rare. We have always been blessed to have pretty healthy children. 

The sun is shining at the moment, but we are expecting at least 60% of precipitation. Let's hope the forecast is mistaken.

**I am also thrilled to see and hopefully meet this wonderful sister from our church this weekend.  She's coming to Valley Forge to uplift us and strengthen us in being faithful sisters in serving others and the Lord.

 Click here to read a powerful message.

Still Pictures of a Sweet 16 Birthday Party

"Youth comes but once in a lifetime."~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I woke up early in the morning to decorate the living room, wrap some last minute gifts, take a shower, drive to Wal-mart to buy marsh mellows for the caramel icing Jon needed for the cake, and drive to party city to get the balloons. I did all of this while it rained, and I wasn't stressed.
Why wasn't I stressed? Because I was excited for Sierra's party! 

Sierra was surprised as she came home from school, walked through the door, and saw signs of Spring decorations in her house.  She was testing for two days in a row at school and this definitely brightened her day. I don't think she was expecting all the decorations, after all...you only turn 16 ONCE!

Even Noah was excited!

Since I was running errands all morning, my better half  (like the great baker that he is) decided to make her cake. He took this day off just for Sierra. He made her a simple yellow cake with caramel creme frosting. A frosting recipe he found in the Kitchen Aid mixer recipe booklet. It was pretty good, and different. Sierra loved it.

Her sisters love to draw and make cards. Chelsea made the card on the left (I think she meant to write 16 instead of 13) mind you she's in kindergarten, and made this at the last minute! Lexie made the big card out of a poster board and drew piano keys on it. She also made her lip gloss out of petroleum jelly and strawberry flavored powered drink! Interesting! Sierra really appreciated them both.

 I had candy spread around the entire kitchen table and while Sierra was opening her gifts, Noah was opening candy and eating it. His favorite candy is the TWIX bar. What the heck...it's a party right?

My dear friends the Duces sent her a book written by David Archuletta. Although we were fans of David Cooke on American Idol a few seasons ago, we did admire the younger David too. Sierra is interested in reading his memoir.

Sierra received nice gifts and cards from family in Utah. Her grandma from Utah gave her a new scripture bag, clothes, a cute clutch bag with money, and books. Sierra always appreciates everything her grandma sends her. My mother, her wella from Texas, sent her a beautiful neckerchief and a card. Sometimes the smallest gifts are the ones that mean the most. One thing I have taught all my girls is to appreciate all the gifts they receive, and they do.

This sterling silver charm by James Avery was sent by her Aunt Lynn in Texas. James Avery has the best jewelry in the whole state of Texas! You should check it out here.

After the presents were opened and dinner at Cici's pizza was devoured, we resumed the party with the birthday cake.

The balloons began to wind down just like Sierra, and so all the kids began to play around with them. It was so fun watching them...I didn't even yell at them to settle down.

Noah was having a blast playing with the balloons! 

We didn't spend hundreds of dollars on a sweet sixteen birthday party. We don't have to spend so much money in order to have fun. Sierra was so thankful, and said this was better than having a huge sweet sixteen birthday party at a fancy hall. We are grateful to have made this day special for Sierra. It was such a fun day! I think her siblings wore her out...what do you think?

Or maybe she ate too much cake and ice cream!

THE END.

A Baby Story

^^^ The day of Sierra's blessing, circa-1996. ^^^

Behind every picture is a story. Today Sierra turns 16 and I would like to share a story about bringing her into this world. A few weeks ago I went to Costco to pick up my old negatives that were converted into a CD. As I was loading the CD into iphoto yesterday I happened to stumble upon this picture. 

It was Sierra's blessing day when she was three months old. I honestly cannot remember this picture being taken. The first year of motherhood wasn't easy for me. Sierra was born weighing four pounds and two and a half ounces. She was a couple of weeks early. I can't give you the exact number of days as to how early. All I remember is eating pizza, laying down and my water breaking at about 9pm. We were carless at the time and ended up having to call my father in-law who lived 15 minutes away to take us to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City where I was to deliver.

That evening I did remember.

I remember it very well because I gave birth to her in under ten minutes without any drugs or ivy's. I had her completely natural with only seven hours of labor.

Although I was 23, I was nervous being that this was my first pregnancy and first child. I didn't know what to expect. We went to ONE lamaze class and couldn't go consistently because we lacked a vehicle. During my pregnancy I had preeclampsia and had to be on bed rest for the last month of my pregnancy. I had to be brave and strong because at the time, I felt as if the only support I had was that of my husband. All my family was in Texas and I didn't want to bother his family too much.

Sierra didn't have any major health issues when she was born. She had a bit of jaundice and was under the billi lights for two days. She had trouble nursing and had to be fed with a tube. I hated when the nurse would shove that tube down her throat. Having seen the nurse do that was a motivator for me to get better at nursing and to not give up so we could get her out of there. We were able to take her home within 48 hours and I was a happy, yet exhausted mommy. I sometimes wonder if I repressed a lot of memories of Sierra because of all the stress I endured during, and after my pregnancy. I don't have too many pictures of her as a baby under eight months old. We didn't have a nice camera that captured good photos. I'm surprised to have found this photo. She sure does look tired in this picture (so do I!) I'm sure it was an exhausting day for both of us. Sierra looked at this photo and couldn't believe it was her. She said she looks totally different (so do I!) I explained to her the events of that day and she was sympathetic. I told her that she is special and that all those sleepless nights nursing a four pound baby was worth it. I told her that I only had planned on nursing her for about three to six months...I nursed her for TWO YEARS. She had a huge smile after I mentioned that.

When I found this other photo of her on this couch my mind became clearer. I recalled taking this picture of her sitting in the center of the couch. My mother-in-law made her blessing dress. Her sister Lexie wore the same dress when she was born. I still have it and I am saving it for when Sierra has her first child. Here she is smiling and looking more alert. You can see that she takes after me with her olive skin color.

I can't stop looking at these photos. Maybe it's because I couldn't remember them right away. You'd think that you would remember every picture being taken of your firstborn. I do have a few photos of her being born in the hospital. Those I do remember. I hope I'm not the only mom out there who had a bit of a memory loss. Then again I didn't start scrap booking her life until she was about five. I had to compile five years of her life full of pictures that I put into photo albums, and get all the essentials needed in order to scrap book, i.e., glue sticks, pretty card stock and scrapbook paper. I developed that talent right away. It took me about five minutes to finish a page. Now that I have a blog, I am blogging about her life. Which makes it a bit easier... if you like to write.

It seems as if these pictures were taken yesterday. I remember when it was just the three of us.
Backyard of grandma & grandpa's house

Austin, TX-1999

Salt Lake City, Utah -1998

Once we got a better camera I began going crazy taking pictures of Sierra. I always told Jon to take our picture everywhere we went and everything she did. I LOVED IT!

HALLOWEEN-1997

HALLOWEEN 1999

Our first trip to New York City-2000

Salt Lake City-circa, 1997

Raising her for the past sixteen years has been fairly easy. She truly is a wonderful daughter. Seriously...she is. She doesn't cause me any stress at all. She is strong in her moral values in respecting herself and others. She is thoughtful, selfless, a bright student, and loves her family very much. I know that others see the light in her and how she carries herself on a daily basis. She has the potential to move mountains and put a smile on a face that has a frown. I know I owe it all to my Heavenly Father. He blessed me with a beautiful baby that was meant to be born at the right time. I feel extremely blessed to have her in my life. I am very impressed in the way that she carries herself. I will always treasure the memories of her then, and now.

 TIMES SQUARE-2010

Happy Sweet Sixteen Sierra...you deserve the best today and always!!