Jenna after she finally had her way with my makeup. I think she was embarrassed she got caught and not happy to have a picture taken.  

Pig tails for the girl who won’t leaver her ponytail in. I was gushing over these all day. She plays the toddler roll well. 

This girls loves to read and be read to.

Life with these two during the week is a blessing even when it is hard. 

The Armor of God

While studying Ephesians for Come Follow Me we took advantage of teaching the ‘Armor of God.’ I knew this concept would stick a little better if we could create some armor for the girls to dress up in. Thankfully, the Friend had a simple wonderful idea for this. 

The shield of faith was a muffin tin and the sword of the Spirit is a light saber! I learned while studying these scriptures that as we think on the fact that the sword is what we use for our offense in fighting, the sword represents the Holy Ghost. Our prophet is asking us to increase in our ability to receive personal revelation because we will be better able to fight the adversary and his attacks. 

I have loved studying and teaching from the Come Follow Me manual this year. It has helped our family come closer together and learn the scriptures better. We have not been perfect at it, but have tried. How grateful I am for the change our prophet saw our church needed to make so families can better teach their children and take responsibility for their own gospel learning. 

One more picture from our studies this year

General Conference Weekend

Natalie filling out her General Conference notebook during the first session. 

We try to do fun activities and traditions to get everyone excited about Conference. This year the swimming pool was handy from the carnival the night before. A last minute idea came to fill  it with blankets and pillows for the girls to sit and lounge in during the sessions. 

  

After Conference was over and we needed a break from our living room, Justin and the girls harvested all our pumpkins. It has been such a delight watching these plants grow all summer long. We would think wow, there are a lot out there and yet another would sprout out and grow. I feel so blessed as we harvest from our garden and from the abundant spirit we felt listening to our Prophet and Church leaders speak this weekend. Now to implement and apply what was taught. 

Summer Days

I haven’t taken many pictures at all of our summer days. Many of them feel so ordinary, but I know I will look back and be grateful for the ordinary days. I am trying to figure out the balance of work, play and rest for our family.

It is amazing to me what a year does for the development of a child. My two oldest are definitely needing more responsibility and teaching, rather than time to imagine, explore and play like babies and toddlers. I had a hard time imagining this day would come. It is so nice to have help with sweeping the floor, vacuuming, doing dishes and weeding. 

We have also been busy trying to read for enjoyment and passing off the summer reading  hours. This has been a really good challenge and goal to work on. Everyone enjoys the time reading. Beth loves books just like her older sisters and can often be seen toting a book along to bring to us to look at with her. 

Justin made donuts with the girls while I was gone at a long series of church meetings. Everyone was a fan. 

Other big achievements for our family is that Beth started real walking while we were away on Trek. She is getting faster and more balanced every day. I love watching her toddle    along. Here she is using our heater as a seat during one of her walks.

Lastly, the girls are enjoying the water activities summer brings. Especially their cousins pool. Jenna borrowed this swim suit for the first swim of the season. She looked like she had a ballerina tutu on.

I feel like the days are flying by. The Fourth of July will be here swiftly. We will keep soaking in the sun and trying to make the most of our days. 

Last Day of School

Picture on the left is the first day of school, picture on the right is the last. This girl has completed her Kindergarten year. What a year of growth and change. Shas learned to read, ride a bike, tie her shoes, do addition and subtraction and is still working on getting up with a good attitude in the morning (but then again so am I). We are grateful for the wonderful teachers she has had and the friends she has made. The dual language program has been a good fit for her. It is amazing to watch her learn a new language and be able to understand it at such a young age. 

Education is such a gift and I am grateful we had the opportunity to be part of a good school this year. Now it is time for summer with less structure but hopefully different kinds of learning, growing and fun. Justin put in garden beds two weeks ago and I am looking forward to including the girls in the work and reward of gardening. 

Day to Day Life

Just a little girl filling up her dump truck with her afternoon snack.

This girl keeps loosing teeth. She asked if when she looses one the tooth fairy puts it in Beth’s mouth. It is an interesting concept, but no. She is always excited when another comes out. Her only disappointment is that it didn’t happen at school where you get a cool tooth necklace to put the tooth in.

Jenna got bit by a hornet one evening while her and Natalie were picking flowers for a game they were playing. I didn’t think much of it when it happened, but when she woke the next morning her hand was huge! She also developed blisters on it.  It took about 3 days for the swelling to go down. 

This girl has grown up so much since starting Kindergarten. Her class did a Mother’s Day Performance and party for all the mom’s. 

It was very touching for me to go watch this. She politely served me my cookies and juice as her teacher had showed her before hand. She also made me delicious smelling bath salts. She kept asking if I liked the smell because she had picked lavender! 

We enjoyed spending time together just me and her reading stories in her classroom. We don’t always get to spend time alone anymore so it was a special treat. 

She also has fabulous style with long socks.

😂

Clogging

These two started clogging classes in February. A Couple, from New Plymouth run a clogging studio called Gem Cloggers. They do a wonderful job teaching all ages and levels of clogging. This year Jenna was known as a mini rec clogger and Natalie a smartie rec clogger. 

The girls participated in a Spring Recital the first weekend in May. It was a new experience for me full of hairspray, eye shadow and doing and re-doing hair to get it stage ready. 

They both radiated excitement and happiness in the spotlight. Grandma Lasley was kind to come along and watch them. It was neat to see not only how much Natalie and Jenna have learned, but also the talent of the other dancers who performed. Beth enjoyed the beat of the music. We will see where this dance journey takes us. So far, Jenna and Natalie really enjoy the classes each week.