AXTAN'S FIRST PARTY

Axtan went to his first friend's birthday party.  Gunnar and Axtan are destined to be best friends and if they aren't, well they are stuck together because we enjoy spending time with the Anderson's.

 

 Each of the babies got their own baby cupcake to eat.  Axtan was in heaven!



LAZY SUNDAY

All three of the kids woke up with sour throats Sunday morning.  Of course the 2 older ones were fine after a little medication. Little Axtan not so much.  Axtan had RSV back in April so when ever he gets sick I am a little more worried than the other two.  He was extremely cuddly and defiantly not up for much.  The other two kids found a few things to keep them busy while I spent most of the day snuggling with my baby.



NIGHT OUT ON THE TOWN

Jordan and I went to dinner tonight with some great friends.  We ate at the Wicked Spoon (love the name) in the Cosmopolitan Hotel.  The dessert was defiantly better than the actual meal but the food was all good.  After dinner we went and played at throughout the hotel.

Rachel with the puppy dogs

Funny signs on the doors

Kes & Rachel Anderson

Adrienne, me & Rachel

Adrienne & Emmitt Hanchett

The Girls

 Doing a little PLANKING

We are so luck to have found such great friends.   

THE 7 YEAR ITCH

Jordan and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary this weekend.  I am happy to report 7 years and no itching.  It is kind of weird to think we have been married now longer than we dated (almost 5 years of dating).  Jordan makes me so happy.  Don't get me wrong we have our moments, luckily our moments of happiness out number our bad moments. 2011 has been an incredibly rough year and yet we are stronger than ever.  I could not imagine going through anything with out my partner.  Jordan works extremely hard so that I can stay home with our three very wild children.  Words can not do justice to love I have for my husband.  To say I scored a good one is an understatement.  

Jordan and I went up to St. George for the weekend.  We left Friday night, did a little shopping Saturday. Then Saturday night we went up to Tuacahn and watch Grease!  We headed for home Sunday morning.  A big thank you to my sister-in-law for coming down and taking on my 3 children a long with her little one that is the same age as Axtan.  We owe her big time.  The weekend was just what we needed.   

INVISIBLE MOTHER

A friend of mine must have known exactly how I have been feeling the last little while.  She put this article on Facebook and I knew it was written for me and all other mothers out there that sometimes feel a little taken advantage of.  The Auther is unknown, probably because she doesn't feel like her name truly matters. 

Invisible Mother

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, “Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The Invisible Mom.


Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this?


Can you open this??


Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, “What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, “Right around 5:30, please.”


I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!?


One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in.


I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, “I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:


To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.


In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.


A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, “Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, no one will ever see it.” And the workman replied, “Because God sees.”


I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, “I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.”


At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.


I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.


When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, '”My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.” That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, “You're gonna love it there.”


As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Copyright 2008 Morning Sun. Some rights reserved

WWF

The kids new favorite thing is to wrestle with Axtan.  Believe it or not no one has left the ring crying yet!



BACK TO SCHOOL CELEBRATION

Mrs. Douglass (Principle) talking about why we have the red, blue and yellow balloons

This is a tradition Mrs Douglas started when the school opened 7 years ago.  It is a very beautiful thing and the kids love it.