Yearly Update

Abby (7 ½) has become a reader!  It took a while but she has taken off and I’m impressed often at the words she is able to read.  At parent teacher conferences her teacher said she lacked some confidence and I pondered what I could do to help her be more confident.  I felt impressed to just spend more one on one time talking with her.  I started doing that and she LOVES it!  She’s also involved in choir and dance this year.  She has a sweet singing voice and has really improved in dance.  She does a bit of gymnastics in her dance class and it’s been quite hard for her.  And that’s my favorite part because she really has to work at it.  Her cartwheels have gone from flopping on the floor to pretty decent ones.

Luke (5 ½) is such a peacemaker most of the time.  If there is one candy left, he is quick to let another kid have it without being asked.  When we are playing a game where we keep score, he’ll purposefully do bad to let me catch up.  He played soccer for the first time in the fall.  I loved watching him pick up on the rules and skills of the game.  He would get so excited for his teammates when they scored and was ok that he never got the ball in the net. 

Rachel (3 ½) makes me laugh.  Today Jared and I were the monsters and she was “the princess with powers that superman gave me”.  Needless to say I died a lot and she ruled the world.  We are starting to realize she thinks her bed is our bed.  We have her visit and take up lodging with us most nights.  She knows how to get her way and can be pretty good at bossing Luke around.  She watches out for Jared for me all the time.  Oh, and it’s just so adorable to watch her sing and dance to the songs from the movie Frozen. 

It’s hard for me to believe but Jared is 1 year old.  His smiles, laughs, and snuggles bring so much joy to the entire family.  He loves to play ball, play rough, and crawl upstairs to mess up the big kids toys.  They don’t love that but I think it’s kind of funny.  

Jonny is up to the same things this year as he did last year: work and church.  Abby and I have talked a few times about how great dad is that he works all day and then shares the money he makes with us.  We are so blessed that wants to provide for us.  He loves to spend time with the family and we love to be with him.  The kids always get excited when he comes home and that includes Jared.  He hears his voice and starts crawling to him while he makes this little pick-me-up whine. 

This year I’ve made a lot of effort to get my body back to normal.  Pregnancy left me physically week and emotionally unmotivated.  It took me a while but I got to work and lost the baby weight.  I’m proud to say I’m back to the weight I was when I got married and the best part is that I feel strong again.  I’ve also thought a lot about the Savior this year.  I felt a need to redefine my testimony of Him.  I pondered a lot about the experiences I’ve had over the years that led me to believe in Him.  It helped confirm again that He is my Savior .  I’m forever grateful for his love and sacrifice for me.