Heathers first day of kindergarten. She was so excited to go on the bus with her brothers. The only thing she was worried about was missing the bus.

She looked sooooo stinkin cute, and soooooo freekin big. How did she go from baby to big girl? I am so proud of her. I love you Heather!!

("HI!") says Heather.

Where or where could my little one have gone???

Samantha is my little escape artist!! I literally have had to put a lock on my front and garage doors that can only be opened with a key. But that still only keeps her in when it's locked. Today we were getting ready to leave to go to the girls tumbling class, she was in the car and Heather was trying to find her shoes. I went in for a minute, came out and was ready to leave when Heather said "Mom, where is Samantha?" I was sooooo mad. I have talked with her a trillion times about stranger danger and the buddy system and how it totally freaks me out when she runs off, but Samantha marches to the tune of her own drum. I yelled for her, ran back in side an called for her (which some of you know, sometimes she wont even answer. which is also scary because you have no idea if she is home or not... and time is of the essence!) I drove all around the neighborhood. I came back home not able to find her and saw her walking up the street sad because she thought I left her. HOLY COW!!! So today I got on the Internet and bought a tracking system that goes on the back of her pants (so she cant take it off ). It's suppose to tell me when she is out of range (better know as when she is running off!!) I can't even tell you how frustrating it is. I am so worried for her safety and I am doing all I know how, but I still keep loosing her. I just know she has angels working over time. They all have to take shifts because it is such a full time job keeping her safe!!! I am just grateful for a Heavenly Father that is mindful of her needs as well as mine. And I pray that even when she does get away she will ALWAYS be found.

Being able to see Heathers little Arayla be born was truly an answer to my prayers. Sometimes we don't even realize that God is listening to us, when all the sudden the desire we haven't even taken to the lord purely because we think it impossible, the lord makes it possible.

For me, it was my desire to be there for my sister that he heard. For many months I had an ache to be there with her at the hospital when she delivered. Thinking that this was impossible I would quickly push away my feelings for fear I would hurt to much if I hoped and it didn't come true. The day that Heathers watter broke Mom called me and told me what happened. She said she was taking the first flight out to be with her. I told her to call me when she got there and hung up.After hanging up I had a strong feeling "Go with her." I couldn't believe that God was telling me to go with my mother. How? Seems to always follow when God tells us to do something we see as impossible. Having faith I went to work.

It was truly a miracle! in a matter of an hour I was able to buy a ticket that "happened" to be the last seat available. Find people to help out when done was working which "happened" to be a week that was really light with only a couple of shifts. Which as you all know is not usually the case. So I hopped on the plane with my Mom and I was able to be with my sister who has always been one of the most important people in my life. My prayers were answered. I feel so much love from my Heavenly Father. I also learned a very important lesson. God wants us to talk to him about everything! From now on I will not decide to pray for only what I think God will think of as important but I go to him for everything.

I love you Heather. Thank you for letting me be with you for such an amazing moment in your life, and thank you for being my sister.

Okl, I just bought a really nice camera and I am sooooooo excited. I can take good pictures like I have always wanted. So I am going a little crazy with it. I have taken pictures of Toby before but they just didn't capture his cuteness (is that a word? lol)

He has such a cute face. We gave him a bath yesterday and put a cute cars bandanna on him. We tried the cute boy dog bow in the hair once and he totally freaked out! It was really funny to see but he wont leave them in. Oh well, Don says I am going to give him a complex if i keep it up. lol so I did.

The kids love having a Dog. When we were in California at the end of the trip the kids said they couldn't wait to get home to see Toby. We all love him and are glad that we have him in our family.

Today was a really fun day! It started out with the girls going to jump'in jacks. And playing on those big blow up play grounds. And jumping and sliding to there harts content. Sammie was so worn out that it took her about two seconds maybe three to conk out in the car.

I love how they come up with there poses. They are the best!

Sammie was on the back of this dinosaur and the wind was blowing her hair and it looked like she was a model with a wind machine to blow her hair. It was so funny.

After a couple of hours of jumping they had a graduation ceremony. They talked to us about what they learned this year and they gave all the kids a graduation ring, cap and a year book. They went all out.

These are there teachers Mrs. Brittany and Mrs. Anno. They love there teachers so much. There really amazing people. I am glad that we will be with them for another year. Heather moves on to kindergarten but Sammie will go back next year. I can't believe how fast time flies by. Congratulations Heather and Sammie!

Ok, I think this is really funny! I gave Toby a bath and he hates baths. He tries to get away any second he thinks he can. He is getting better but I don't think he will ever really love them. It is so funny when he gets wet. he is half his size and he looks so different than he does when he is dry.

I took a few pictures of him after the fact. He hates being wet and he shakes like he is scared to death. He isn't but that is what it looks like. Don says he looks like a drown rat. LOL he kind of does.

Something happens when I turn on the blow drier though, He turns into a crazed lunatic. The first little wile he hides his head, but soon he starts freaking out biting at the air. It is hard to brush him when he gets like that but it is really funny. It drives him nuts to get blown in the face but I have to to dry him off. I probably would do it anyway even if I didn't have to because it is just to funny. My last dog Candy was so mean she would bite me when I would give her a bath. So it is really nice to have a sweet dog who has never bitten or growled at anyone ever! I love my sweet little Toby!

Ok, this is a tribute to Jace! For those who don't know him what you see is what you get. He is a clown. You rarely get a picture of him without him pulling some face or doing something funny. If I want a serious picture I have to ask him to just smile please!! But he will only accommodate me sometimes. So I take it knowing he is going to laugh at himself someday. And no matter what, I love the picture. I love his fun loving nature.

Jace loves movies, Baukugauns (a small ball toy that opens up when the magnate on the bottom comes in contact with metal. They come from a game but all the kids his age just collect them and trade) He loves to cuddle with me and loooooves to be tucked in by mom at night. He wont go to sleep otherwise. He had his two front teeth pulled out 3 years ago and is finally getting the back. He is excited because now he can eat hambergers with the pickle in it. His favorite collor is red and he loves body parts. We think he will be a doctor someday if he can get over getting grossed out over blood. Which is funny because drawing pictures of gory things is his favorite thing to do. But if he watches the medical chanel with Zachary he will cover his eyes.

Jace loves to read and learn. He is so good at being a big brother and even a little one. We were riding in the car once and Zak fell asleep Jace put his hand under his head and held it up so he would be comfortable. Sooooooo cute! It's one of those moments that you just love being a parent. He loves playing with the girls and it is fun to see what they come up with. The girls play barbie and Jace will play with his action figures and they mix girl play with boy play. The barbies get shot and the action figures help fix the barbies. It's really intertaining. Jace will be 7 on April 9th and has told me for a year every night what he is getting for his birthday. I just love his emagination. Jace loooooooves motorcycles and cool cars. He is the first to notice them and says "someday I will have one mom!!" I don't doubt that he will. Last summer we were driving down the road with our windows down and a motorcycle was parked next to it. He was so excited and started talking to the guy next to us and telling him that he loved his bike. The light turned green and he was off Jace said with a kind of admaration that was so supprising to me "Mom I just love that sound" I am so greatful to be his Mom. I love you Jace!!

Heather and Samantha woke up this morning and said "Mom, we want our hair cut before we go to school today. At first I thought that they meant a few inches. Last year Heather wanted her hair cut but only dared to cut off 3 inches if that. Today, there was no messing around. Heather cut off 11 and 1/2 inches and Samantha cut off 9 and 1/2 inches. Wow! I have to say that I was way more nervous than they were. But I love to see them grow and have there own style. They are so beautiful and I new they would look gorgeous either way. And they do.

Heather said she was happy she cut her hair because now she looks more like one of her friends her Mom and snow white "except for the black hair" she said.

Samantha wanted her hair short like Heathers. she told me she also wanted to look like Snow White.

I love to see Heather and Samantha together. There is nothing like having your sister be your best friend. I have been lucky to be best friends with my sister so it warms my heart to see the closeness between them grow with each year.

The girls are so fun to watch. They are always coming up with things to entertain us with. Just before bed they posed and showed off there dance skills. I wish I had a video camera sometimes.

My beautiful girls!

OK, so I have been having a hard time learning how to blog, and thanks to Kara I have figured it out. This is my first attempt at doing it the right way. so hear we go!

Samantha loves to give kisses. And so does Toby. He is the sweetest little guy and is not only loving but very gentle. So even Heather who is really, really, really scared of dogs loves him and plays with him and will even let him chase her. WOW!

As you can imagine, all of the kids are arguing over him, no one wants to share. This puppy if anything will have to much love and attention. I will have to send a picture of his favorite place to go to get away from it all. It's really cute.

We have settled on a name. It's Toby. He has done really well with potty training and has adjusted fast to his new surroundings. I am surprised that he can sleep through all the noise in the house. With Mango squawking, the kids screaming and the friends running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, he just lays there completely unaware of the chaos. Yep, he is going to do just great!

I haven't done this since we lived in Indiana. When we moved back to Utah I didn't see the need but now that half of my siblings are now out of state I feel like I probably better. I should have done it when It was just Jake and Kara, live and learn I guess.

We are all doing well. Heather and Samantha just started Smarty Pants preschool. They love having there own homework. It makes them feel big. It's great to see them grow. They also have dance once a week so they are staying busy. Jace will be starting Sylvan soon to help him get caught up in reading. He is so excited and can't wait to earn sylvan tickets just like his big brother did. Zak graduated from sylvan a few weeks ago and is now doing much better! He doesn't feel so overwhelmed and seems to have a better attitude about everything. Zak will be starting Guitar lessons soon as a congrats gift, and Jace gets to when he graduates.

We are following Jake and Kara and are getting a puppy next week. It's a havanese puppy. he is really cute and I can't wait to bring him home. He flies in on Wednesday. These pictures are of the ones that were sent to us so we could see him before he gets here. He is going to get any wear from 10 to 12 pounds. Not to small and not to big I guess. Heather is really scared of dogs so we will see how she copes with it.

I will try to do better than I did in Indiana with this blog site. Im crossing my fingers!

We love you all and miss everyone of you terribly. I am going to try get Zak and Jace to write some stuff on hear to. It's fun to hear what they have to say. Talk to you all soon!

Love,
Heidi