Instead of writing a letter and printing it out on paper this year we thought we would use modern technology and save a tree. So here is our family update for this year:
Kolby is 6 almost 7 and getting bigger and bigger each day. I swear that he alone is going to eat us out of house and home. It seems like all he ever says is I'm still hungry what else can I eat. He came home from school the other day telling me about how Jonathan (a kid in his class) said that at night if you set your shoes out by your door and you've been good during the day one of the elves will put a toy or a treat in your shoes. I told him that the elves were way to busy this time of year to do this, but he still believed and talked Shelby and Cooper into it too. Well, i'll be darned if he wasn't right they did come a few nights in a row untill I told him it really wasn't nice to expect the elves to come here every night when they have sooo many other things to be doing right now. He agreed. One thing about Kolby he is very sensitive and he cares about others very much. About one week ago the kids were all tucked in except for Kolby, we were chating about the days events and he told me earlier he was outside sleding with some neighbors and one of his buddies said something to him that hurt his feelings. I asked him what he did about it, he told me he just left and came over and sat on our front porch for a while and then started playing again. I asked him if he talked with his friend and told him how that made him feel. He said no, so I told him how people don't know how you feel unless you talk to them about it and he said well actually mom sometimes people can tell how you feel just by the look on your face and I told **** how I felt that way. 
Shelby is 4 and is our sweet daughter and princess. She is so full of life. Her preschool teacher asked me if she is always happy and my answer was she is happy alot but when she isn't watch out. She loves dancing,singing and performing. She isn't afraid of getting dirty, the other day she found a half eaten mouse courtisy of our neithbors cat. She just picked it up and brought it to Casey without even thinking twice about it. She is also a little mother and loves babies, she's always carting Chase around. I was watching her with Cooper the other day as she dressed him up with bracelets, girl shoes, and other girl accesories and then she wanted him to dance with her. After witnessing this act I called my little bro. Clint and thanked him for being such a good and willing brother just like Cooper is to Shelby. She some how has master the art of getting what she wants. She came in from sleding cring the other day because Kolby wouldn't share the sled with her, or so she said to her dad on the phone, and sure enough daddy came home with a sled. I had taken all of the kids to Walmart the other day and when we got home Cooper was stinky, Chase was hungry and screaming, I had to go to the bathroom, and it was high time for dinner. Well, I accomplished it all and sat down to feed Chase when the phone rang. I just let it ring and when the message came on it said this is 911 dispatch we recieved a call from this number, if it is a true emergancy call us back. Well it wasn't an emergancy so I did not call back and sure enough we/Shelby had a nice visit with the officer on duty that night. I opened the door saw him and pointed to Shelby and told her to say sorry for calling and hanging up, but of coarse she started cring and he said its ok and I said no its not ok she needs to know you should only call when its and emergancy. Needless to say he still had to come in ask questions and make sure everyone was infact OK. That was a tad embarassing. Speaking of embarassing I had one more experience at the D.I. I took Kolby and Shelby there to Christmas shop for the kids gifts to eachother and while in line to check out Kolby says, "Mom I want to go to a store that they speak english, and I said Kolby shh you need to be nice. That was bad but then Shelby waits untill we get up to the cashier and smiles real sweet at her and says, "We don't like spanish people", the cashier says, "What"? And she repeated it again, I was stumped not knowing what to say, so I said looks like we'll be having a talk later.
Casey has been tring to stay busy with mortgages but with the economy he has been taking a different approach focusing on reverse mortgages for seniors. He has been buying leads for this but they are fairly expensive to buy so he has been working on a way to generate his own leads and hopes in the near future his website http://www.reverseutah.com/ will be collecting enough names for himself and to supply to others. He said that he wants to do a triathlon this summer. He is a hard worker and helps me out around home and with the kids as much as he can.
Me: I feel like I either lack sleep and time to think or I'm on the road to Alzheimer's because I can never remember what I go into a room for, which childs name to whom I am speaking with, and I mix up the years of my childrens birth when calling for doctor apts. I still do hair on Tuesdays once a week and love it. i'm doing another sprint triathlon this spring. I love volunteering in Kolbys class as a helper just to see his face light up when I walk into his class and visiting just him in the evenings about his day. I love holding my daughters hand while making yummy treats and dancing with her as we wait for them to bake and singing with at the top of our lungs her favorite Taylor Swift song. I love reading a favorite book to Cooper and his cute little kisses and playing catch. And I love holding Chase in my arms as he falls to sleep and trying to make him laugh and smile; and how he holds on tight to your cheeks with his little hands. I love listening to Casey tell me about his day and seeing him smile and laugh. In the car today the sun was setting and I heard Kolby say to Shelby," Look, Shelby, Look at that and all the colors." And I said its beautiful isn't it, if you keep watching you'll see more colors. And infact all the colors of the sun set are mommies favorite colors. And Kolby said when I look at it, it kind of makes me sad, like a happy sad. and I said do you know what that feeling is? He said Heavenly Father. And I said yes, Heavenly Father likes us to see the beauty in things to help us remember him. I love our little family they are getting so big. My favorite thing of all is watching Casey play with the kids with wide smiles and laughter in the air it brings tears to my eyes, as Kolby puts it, like a happy sad, because like a sunset this time in our lives while our children are little will only last for a short while but one thing about it they are beautiful. Mostly I love being a mother to our children and a wife to my husband and I'm thankful I have been so blessed to have them in my life!
