What a life!

It is amazing to me how quickly time has gone by.   Our little Annie is almost 6 months old.... she is growing and changing so much every day. Max was adopted almost 4 months ago- it feels like he has been ours forever- but I still remember how much anxiety and stress it took to get to the adoption, and now things are just so great. Our kids have started soccer again and we really love this time of year and spending time out on the fields with the kids. There have been many fall festivals going on, unfortunately we missed the tarantula festival this year (our Nanny was definitely not disappointed), but everyone else was super sad to have missed it.  These kids are all changing and progressing in so many ways. Gloria is our dancer. She loves to dance and practices all day long every day. We constantly have to tell her "no dancing at the dinner table", or "no dancing in the church parking lot" or "quit dancing and get dressed for school, please"- she loves it and it is fun to see dance because she is so in love with it!!   Grayson is so smart and kind. We love getting reports from his teachers that he is a model student and so helpful and kind to everyone around him. He is brilliant. He is also doing so well in soccer this year. It is super fun to watch him go crazy on the field!!  He and one of his friends collided at school on the field this past week. The other boy's teeth went into Gray's head! Yikes. It was a bit stressful, we had to pick him up from school and he was bleeding like crazy! In the end, we decided to glue his head together instead of go get stitches (as we have family pictures in a week and we did not want to shave a patch of his hair).  He was sore for a few days but is doing better now. Cami is also doing so well in soccer. She is one of the best on her team. Last week she played against her best friend, Reesa, and it was fun to watch them compete on the field, but stop to give each other a hug or a smile, they can compete and still be friends!  A good life lesson :) Cami loves her teacher this year, and so do we. We have had her for all of our children so far, and count ourselves lucky to have her for the 3rd time. Mrs. Stefke is amazing. Olivia has stopped going to school. I am perfectly fine with that. She loves staying home with mom (and nanny, Aspen) every day. She is a big helper and I think she enjoys being the oldest child at home and that she gets to help out so much. She is just so fun and happy all the time. I love that she has decided to stay home with me. For a few weeks I kept trying to talk her into going back to school, then I thought about it and decided that I would much rather have her home. I didn't send her to Kindergarten this year because I wanted to have more time with her, and this would give me the most possible time with her before she has to start school. I love having her home. Max is still super busy, but having a nanny has really helped me to be able to spend quality time with him, and everyone else. He is so smart and busy and cute. We love him so much, and it is nice to have Aspen to run around with Max out doors for hours every day while a get necessary things done inside, then be able to play with him myself because I finally got all the stuff done that needed to be done inside. Max makes me smile about a thousand times a day, at least. He is so happy and fun and a joy to be around. Annie is changing every day. She is the first child of mine that I have not PUSHED to learn to roll and sit and eat early and crawl and walk.... and guess what, even though I am not pushing her (I am not hindering her progress, either, just not overly encouraging her progress)- she is learning to do all these things without me!!  She learned to sit almost completely on her own. She is rolling, despite my wishes that she wouldn't, she is trying to pull up on her knees when she is on her tummy.... yikes!!!  I don't know if I am ready for a crawler!!  She is so peaceful and sweet and cuddly and just the best baby. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. She is a little piece of heaven right here in out home. We love her so much.  Travis is busy today at his office doing "Dentistry from the HEart", a day every year that they do free dentistry all day long for anyone who comes to their office. The staff all volunteers for free, we donate all the supplies and the dentists volunteer their time for free as well. It is a pretty big deal. People wake up before the sun rises to wait in line. The boys will be busy until late tonight, with probably no lunch, just so they can help as many people as possible. He is also in the process of opening up a third dental practice. He is serving on the High council as well. So, I don't see too much of my favorite man in the whole wide world. But I am proud of him and all that he does.  I am still busy with life. I teach institute and bootcamp every week (Heavenly Father knows that teaching is my weakness and he is definitely trying to help me overcome it....). I love my quilting club. It is the highlight of my week. I love my card club... it causes me a lot of stress, but a lot of joy too!  I love my friends here and am so blessed to have such great women in my lives- but mostly I am so blessed to have the most wonderful kids and husband in the world. I love them so much and know that my life would be empty and meaningless without them in it. I am so very blessed. I am so very thankful. Wow! What a life!!