Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Spring Break 2022 April

When we Announced to our boys that we were having a number six baby we also let them know we were going to go on a trip for spring break. Another surf trip right on the beach. Big boys were super excited about that. Oceanside Ca. 
We ate awesome food after a big trip to Costco. Jas made his famous salsa, yummy ice cream, good veggies & fruit & easy dinners. We did the beach most days, lots of surfing & boogie boarding. We also went to Sea World & saw 3 shows & ride some awesome waves. Our property had a gym to the delight of the big boys. There was a koi pond & we did some putting. Great memories made!





















Gender reveal Baby #6 March 27, 2022

Since this is our caboose we decided to do a gender reveal party. Boys were so excited. We had close family and friends come over and some were watching online.
Tina made us cute shirts that said it’s a… Jason filled up the water guns and our four big boys each had a water gun and sprayed us w paint. Guns came out pink!! Lots of shock and tears and cheers for our news!  Such a  special day to share with our family the good news that our caboose is a little girl!!















Last Day of School May 2022

Keat made it Through his first year of high school as a sophomore.


Jude last day of first grade. 


Thad last day of 4th,


Jonas just finished 8th.
Now off to summer!

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Ollie’s Last Time Nursing

March 15, 2022 Ollie’s last time nursing. I’ll be 20 weeks tomorrow & Dr. Bierer said it was safe to nurse up to 20 weeks. 

Ollie is my only one that was starting to wean himself. I have very little milk & it’s rather painful. So grateful I was able to go through 2 winters and get him through his last sickness of croup. He is now healthy!

Fun nursing memories-sometimes Ollie  likes to hum, sometimes he’ll suck on his binky and stop then nurse, suck binky, then nurse. When he’s in a silly mood he likes to push my nose and laugh as if it was a button. I treasure the times nursing with him. I’m so grateful he’s healthy and I was able to go over 19 months.





Sunday, January 30, 2022

Saying Goodbye to Harper

Just before Thanksgiving, we said goodbye to Harper. It was incredibly bittersweet. We were so excited for her to go with her dad. He put in the work & was ready for her. 
Harper saying goodbye to her Nursery leaders.


Coleson was so sweet & wanted to say goodbye.


Grandma & Grandpa came w play dough & to give her a last squeeze. 


Thad & H.


Jude Bug w Harper. 










Melissa Rackham bringing over a sweet gift. 

Our lives are better, more enriched because of this year. It’s incredibly hard to parent someone else’s child. We prayed for Charity & patience. The boys learned what it was like to have a sister. She’ll always have a special place in our hearts & we’ll be cheering her on from afar. 

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

20 years!








We just celebrated our 20 yr anniversary on Dec 28, 2021!  It’s been an amazing journey so far!  Our family has grown so much in these years. Jenn and I have too!  Jenn looks really young still….I don’t. We have 5 strong and handsome boys.  5! That number surprises us sometimes!  Not an easy task. We are deep in the teenage experience with Keat and Jonas. Busier lives, more challenging school work (over our heads) more complex issues, and higher stakes.  The pre teen boy stage is fun. Thad and Jude are still like puppies. They roll around and wrestle and create and play. Then we are in the toddler stage with Ollie. He is into everything right now. Climbing, exploring, teething, bonking his head, and diapers.  Regardless the stage of life, I love to see Jenn surrounded by her boys. They are each so uniquely talented.  These 20 years have brought enough hard times and good times to make us happy. We have worked hard and tackled a lot of projects together.  Each year we prioritize packing in adventures. There have been literally thousands of sporting events!  All but Ollie can crush it skiing now. His day will come. We have logged enough surfing trips that our skills on the waves are coming along and keeping us coming back. Vacations that we still dream of doing again. Church callings we have stepped up to and loved. We adopted baby Ellie and cared for her for a week. That was a high and a low. We wrestled through the adoption process in AZ. Ended up not adopting there, but we did our best to support Kendall. We fostered Harper during 2021. That was often challenging but overall so good for Harper and her parents and us. We are better from that experience. We have moved 11 times in that window. Some places were just a short stent, like our first apartment in a basement in ogden. Or 6 months in Guatemala. 16 years ago we lived in a house we gutted and renovated in Ogden. What did we know about renovating a house?  Not much really. We just did the best we could.  We started a business and had many properties that we bought and rented and sold. Most of the time it worked out well.  Sometimes it didn’t. We have won big and lost big. The last 20 years have delivered brutal real estate and stock market meltdowns that have punched us in the gut.  With the downturns we have also been on the other end where it seemed like you couldn’t lose. We have endured layoffs, meltdowns, pandemics, drought, family drama, sickness, breaks, bruises, stitches, concussions, surgeries, failed adoptions, failed IVF transfers and our lot of hard times. We have also enjoyed amazing health, built life long friendships, scaled mountains, ran marathons, had amazing spiritual experiences, welcomed new family members, celebrated  birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, sports victories, and school-carreer-family-life successes.  We also got a pool and chickens and Patzi- the worlds best Bernidoodle.  So happy 20th to us!  20 awesome years have flown by!  Here’s to the next 20!  

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Harper

Harper has been a part of our family for almost a year now. It seems her time with us is coming to a close. Her dad has made just enough progress to get her back for a trial placement at the end of this month. Here’s a few pics from the journey.