Ahhh the joys of motherhood!

So we are entering a new phase this week. Abby has decided she no longer would like to wear diapers. I like to call this phase "Potty training takes over our lives." I have done this 3 other times....do you think it would get easier? I say to you that it does not! If anything, it's more difficult because you actually know what you are in for and you are NOT excited about it. Diapers are so nice and convenient. Going to the potty 50 times a day with your toddler, only to have her pee her pants 2 minutes after she tried the last time is not nice and convenient. Ok, my complaining is over. Now I will tell you how happy I am to get rid of the huge diaper bag and the endless money spent on diapers and wipes. Plus, I have to say that Abby's little behind looks so dang cute in her tiny Little Mermaid panties! Oh my heck!!! Every time I see her run around in them, I giggle uncontrollably. I would post a picture if I wasn't paranoid about weirdos looking at my blog.

Uh oh....gotta go.

My recent addiction

Two days of posting in a row! How ambitious of me. I was just laying in my warm bed thinking of all the things I should be doing and believe me, the list is looooooong. This is what I do when I have too much too do. I just shut down completely and eat chocolate for breakfast. Speaking of chocolate, here is something I have recently discovered:
Yes, these are delicious Hershey kisses filled with caramel. I have eaten 2/3 of a bag since yesterday all by myself and have even hidden the bag in my sock drawer so my kids won't get any. How sad is that? They should call them Hershey's with Crack.

Wow, I really suck at this

I am a terrible blogger. I admit it. I go months without updating anything and then by the time I get around to it, I feel like I have a novel to write. So I usually just bag it and post some tiny random thought that really doesn't even begin to describe my life.

So this time I am going to attempt an edited version of the novel I usually feel compelled to relate to you. (all two of you who read this blog)

First of all, I have to talk about the most pressing matter on my mind. Time! It is just going by way too fast. I know that is such an overused expression, but that's because it's true. I can't believe that it's 2010, I have a teenager (who, by the way, will be DRIVING in 3 years), my baby is two, I'm on the downhill slope to age 40, I have been married 15 years in June, etc. etc. etc. Does anybody else feel like they are getting washed away by a very swiftly moving river and you are barely keeping your head above water? That's the closest thing I can think of to describe it. But even though life is moving very fast, I love every minute of it. Well, maybe not every minute, but definitely 90% of them. :) I only hope that I can enjoy my kids at this stage in their lives as much as possible so that I have no regrets later on.

Speaking of my kids, I have to brag about them for a moment. Yes, I get to do that because it's my blog. Alex, the teenager/man-child, is so much fun. I enjoy having him around and he's 13! Who knew I would love the teenage years? Well, so far anyway. I know there are those of you who are shaking your head and saying "Oh, just you wait" and all that. But it is so fun to have another person to laugh with, talk to and have little inside jokes with and realize that this is your child. You used to change his diapers, play Pokemon, sing kid songs together and now he looks so grown up. He has opinions and inspirations. He's changed from this little, timid boy to a very handsome, smart, talented and a little bit too sarcastic young man that I just adore. He loves Jazz music and has learned how to play the trombone very well. I love listening to him practice and I love seeing him perform. Plus he has a lot of fun playing.

Nate is quickly following in Alex's footsteps. He is learning to play the saxophone. He will be 11 in March and is beginning this metamorphosis from child to young adult. It is so strange how much they change in such a short amount of time. They seem like different people after they reach a certain age. He is such a handsome kid. He looks just like his Daddy and I am amazed at what that boy can do. He works with Shawn all the time to fix things and build things. He is so good with his hands and is artistic at the same time. If I need something put back together or fixed, I just ask Nate. He is not only willing, but he is capable too. He is destined to do great things!

Seth is turning 8 in a few months and is excited to be baptized. It is this time in my kid's lives that I start to really examine my parenting skills (or the lack thereof). I wonder if I've taught them what they need to know about life and about the gospel. I wonder if they really know what they are doing. I start to feel a little panicked and try to shove every gospel concept into their brains as fast as possible. This doesn't work, of course. But it makes me feel a little better. Seth has also started taking piano lessons from yours truly. He really does have a talent for it. I have a feeling that I will be farming him out to some other teacher in a couple of years, because he will have surpassed my musical ability. He has a great ear and can pick out melodies and play them. If I can just get him to learn to read music then he will be amazing!

Abigail is already 2 and it was only like a few hours ago that I gave birth to her. Seriously, could we just slow the time machine down a bit? She truly amazes me. I cannot even describe it. I just feel so lucky and blessed and a little bit undeserving of such a precious little girl. I want to fold her up in a soft blanket and never, ever let go. What on earth am I going to do when she starts school? Or starts driving? Or, heaven forbid, DATING?!? No way. Either she won't get to do any of those things or I will need to be heavily medicated when she does. I just pray every day that I will have the faith that it will require to let her go out into the world and live her life. What is it about a little girl that provokes this feeling of over-protectiveness? Is that even a word? It's a good thing I have Shawn to balance out this paranoia of mine. Sometimes he is the most laid back person about stuff like that. But when it comes to Abby, I wonder if he will still be the same? Hmmm...we'll see.

Ok, enough thinking for a while. If you made it this far in this extremely long post, thank you! Either it really was interesting or you have nothing better to do. :)

It's Christmas already??

Oh boy, I really need a boost of Christmas Spirit. I used to really love Christmas, but it seems like every year I dread it more and more. What's wrong with me? My kids are the one of the only parts that makes it all worth it. We put up our tree the other day and it was so fun to watch Abby. She still doesn't get what is going on, but she LOVES the Christmas tree and all our decorations. As soon as she wakes up in the morning the first thing she wants to do is see the tree. Then she spends about 30 minutes rearranging ornaments on the lower branches. So cute! Abby and I went to the Festival of Trees a couple of days ago to watch my sister Amy sing. At first Abby loved all of the hundreds of "Christmas stars" as she calls them. But it got boring rather quickly for her (and I have to admit, for me too). So we ditched the festival and went out to lunch with "Amy Aunt" and cousins. That was the best part! Watching Amy's group perform was awesome too, though. They did a fabulous job and I really miss singing with them. But there is a time and season to all things, right? Someday I will be in another choir!

If I get a dose of Christmas spirit soon, I can tell you where it's going to come from! Every year my family does a Christmas project in place of exchanging gifts. We have done many wonderful things over the years including humanitarian kits, emergency kits, sub for santa and food bank donations. This year we decided to make quilts to donate and also purchase items on the wish list for the Christmas Box House. For those who don't know, the CBH is an organization ran by Salt Lake County that shelters children who are removed from their homes because of abuse, neglect or abandonment before they are placed in foster homes. Instead of having to spend several nights in less comfortable circumstances, they have immediate access to a full staff of trained individuals who can offer comfort and someone to talk to about this very difficult time in their lives. Some of these kids come to the house with absolutely nothing....sometimes not even shoes! So the CBH has a huge "wish list" of items that they need to help the kids just have the basic necessities of life, plus have things to do and learn while they are staying there. I am excited about doing this! I love this part of Christmas and I am so grateful for the lessons that my kids learn about gratitude, humility and charity from doing these special projects. Most of all I am grateful for my amazing family who are so inspiring and such a good example of unconditional love!

If anyone wants to learn more about the Christmas Box House and what they can do to help, here is their website: www.thechristmasboxhouse.org

So cool!

Nate came home from school yesterday with some great news! His photo of Abby won a trophy in the Reflections contest and his entry moves on to the next round. I am especially excited about this because Nate's self confidence could always use a good boost. It's hard to be the 2nd oldest I think. He is forever living in Alex's shadow, but I really try to make sure he knows how unique and amazing he is. I am so happy for Nate's accomplishment!! He is such an awesome kid!

Nate the photographer

This year at school, Nate's teacher required them to do a Reflections entry. He has really been into photography for a few years now, so he decided to give it a try. He took this picture all by himself! Well, ok, I was helping Abby smile, but that's it! I thought he did a great job. The theme was:

Beauty Is...

Isn't that sweet? :)

More camping adventures!

Camping is a lot of work. As I am spending the countless hours preparing for this annual tradition or as I listen to Shawn get frustrated at the kids (and sometimes me) as we are loading up our van and tent trailer to full capacity, I wonder: why do we do this to ourselves? Shouldn't we just go get a hotel somewhere and order room service? Why do we think this is fun? I ask these questions again as I am shivering in my sleeping bag, scratching my numerous mosquito bites or as I am holding my breath by the hole in the ground that is cleverly disguising itself as a bathroom. But year after year, we do it all over again. Here's why:

Abby LOVES camping! She loves the bugs, she loves the freedom of running around outside all day long, but she especially loves the dirt judging by the huge amount that she collected on her person throughout the trip.

The kids LOVE playing games! Here they are playing a new one, "Munchkin Booty". I think it was almost as entertaining to watch them play it.

Nate and Grant LOVE fire! Here they are hanging out by the fire, putting their fire sticks in it and scaring me just a little.

I LOVE seeing my husband happy! Being with his family in the beautiful mountains makes him happy.

We took Kaiser with us this trip and he LOVES squirrels! The squirrels, however, do not love him.

Kade and Seth LOVE going to the river. They throw rocks, they play with fish. Good times.

I LOVE seeing my kids get along and have fun together!

I LOVE this little girl! (p.s. I stole a few of these pictures from Briana. This is one of them. Soooo cute.)

Abby LOVES the river too! She cried every time we left.

I LOVE watching these crazy, talented, creative and awesome kids perform their annual skits and songs that they work together to make up for us. I don't think they realize just how amazing and unique they are.

But most of all, I LOVE my whole family and my family LOVES to camp. So every year I will plan, prepare, shiver, scratch, cook, clean and do anything I need to so my kids can have these awesome memories together!

The Great Outdoors

After weeks of preparing we finally got to go on our yearly Crockett family camping extravaganza! We headed up to the Tetons this year to Green River Lakes campground. The scenery was SO beautiful, this picture does not even do it justice. We had a good time, even though the bugs were insanely bad and camping is always a little bit hard with a toddler.

(in case you were wondering why Seth looks strange, it's because his aunt Erin painted his face with the face paints. He was going for a skeleton look. lol!)

Abby just loves to wander and I was pretty worried the whole time that we would lose her in the woods somewhere. But we tied a bell to her shoe so we could hear her wherever she went. It also had the added bonus of scaring away bears. :)

Shawn got to take some fly fishing lessons from the master, my Dad, and even had a couple of bites. But no fish were actually caught, much to my disappointment since I love fresh cooked trout in the mountains. ***sigh*** Oh well, maybe in a few weeks since we have another trip planned with the Shipleys.

Here's some more pictures of the beautiful scenery:

There is something about the mountains that just takes my breath away! I think it feels like a little piece of heaven (except I'm hoping that in heaven, there aren't any angry bears or pesky mosquitoes.)

Peek-a-boo!

Oh, Abby just cracks me up sometimes! Here she is playing a fun game with herself. She hides under the blanket, then walks around until she falls over or runs into me, then laughs hysterically. She is such a little nut!

The reason why she is not looking at me in these pictures is because she is too busy checking herself out in the full length mirrors that are her closet doors. She loves to watch herself and I frequently find her talking or singing to herself in the mirror. Should I be worried about that? :)

She definitely earns her nickname of "Princess Abby".

Late night jabbering

It's close to midnight and I really should be sleeping! But I can't sleep because I am a worrier. I worry about lots of things that I have no control over. Most of the time I can deal with it, but sometimes it interferes. So here I sit. I won't bore you with all the details of my worries, so instead I will talk about my weekend.

We went on a fabulous fun-filled trip to St. George with our friends this weekend! It seriously was the best time I have had in a while. I feel so blessed to have such great friends that are in my life. We saw a play, lounged at the pool, swam, shopped, ate great food, played cards, watched t.v., joked around and talked, talked, talked about nothing and everything. It seems like just a few years ago that we all met, were newlyweds with babies on the way and our whole lives ahead of us. Now fourteen years later we are raising teenagers, have thirteen kids between us all and can see middle age in the not too distant future. Where does the time go? The older I get the faster it seems to slip away. But with friends like these I think I can take whatever comes my way. Thanks guys for being so awesome and for making life fun!!