Little pieces of Heaven

Today was good. Tonight however was testing my patience. It could be because all the kids know that it's that time of the month for all the ladies in the house and they are conspiring against us to drive us absolutely nuts. Or it could be because all the ladies are just cranky and it's all our fault... but I'm going with the first one, because there's no way it could be our fault... we're perfect for goodness sakes!

So, since the kids are conspiring against us, I decided to focus on something more positive tonight. I'm thinking about a date when one of the most perfect little angels made an appearance on a very special date. Although she came with such grace, she was too perfect to stay. She only came to earth as a bud to leave for her eternal home again to bloom. She's one of the most beautiful spirits I have come to know. Anyone she has met, she has blessed in one way or another. We named her Kynzie and she came to this earth 6 years ago.
A week and a half ago, we celebrated her birthday as we were heading out of town for our little weekend get away. Here's are some pictures that captured her little celebration.

They all decided to pick some small wild flowers and plant them by her grave.

We all sure do love this guy :)

See what they did? Makes my heart so happy :)

Cup cakes are a tradition on her birthday.

Love this forever family of mine! I still feel like there's a few more babies to be born in our family. I can't wait to have family pictures when our family is complete :)

I love LOVE LOVE that we got to create this tombstone from scratch. It was something so special and heart warming. The tombstone is petite, but has huge meaning just like Kynzie.

Life for us this summer has been more than crazy. Both Skyler and I have been working full time Jobs, as managers none the less. And 10 days ago, we had my niece and nephews go home that had stayed here for 6 weeks. I think for most of the time during those 6 weeks, at least every night, we had 18 people in the house. Skyler had just finished up school in January and I have been so anxious to be out before summer, to be moving on and forward. I had neglected to see that both Skyler and I needed to be here for the summer. For more reasons than one. There was my Job, both mine and Skyler's patience had to be tested (apparently), and mine and Skyler's relationship needed grow and I believe that my family and I needed to be here for the my niece and nephews while they were down. But, to be completely honest, in all of this craziness, there were days where I didn't want to come home from work because the downstairs would be so messed up from babies and kids, the house would be loud and the feeling of chaos would be strong. Sometimes getting the kids to clean up their messes was a nightmare in itself, at least towards the beginning of those 6 weeks it was. Some days the only reason I really wanted to go home was to sleep in my own bed. Then sometimes I didn't want to go to work because getting what I wanted from the department and from my co-workers was hard FOR ME because I'm a big softy and I give in to almost anything, I have my entire life, and I have always had a hard time saying anything that might make it hard for others. There were also times that I didn't want to do either and just run away into the mountains and stay away from all people. But that's not what I needed to do. What I wanted and what I needed were and are two completely different things. I needed to take this all, head on, and get through it... and maybe run up to the mountains for just a weekend so I could all breath. That is exactly what we did this last weekend. Man, let me tell you... it was so rejuvenating for all of us. It wasn't a fix it all, but it was a "okay, I can breath again" type deal. Here are a few pictures to show a bit of what we did.

His eyes are just so blue!

I brought along both of my camera's and Kyen asked me if he

could take my old one and go around taking pictures.

He said, "mom, when I grow up, I want to be a professional photographer. Just like you want to be". Love this kid!

There was a big sandbox in the back of my aunt Heidi's yard and these boys absolutely loved it. Infact, the first night we were there, Kysen had stayed up till 1am playing in the sandbox because he had slept almost the whole trip (6ish hours). Kid needed to get some energy out!

Kylie and this rope...she loved it! She kept saying, "mom, come take a picture of me doing this!" "mom, come look at what I can do!"

Love this! Kylie, mid air, jumping off.

Grandpa says, "Ky, do a thumbs up"

Kyen replies with a thumbs down and a grin, haha. But he was so excited to go razoring with grandpa!

These boys though... second day and there was so much to do! Bug didn't fall asleep till almost 3pm (this was in the camper)

Moans didn't fall asleep till around 3pm too, only his nap was outside on a blanket with a pillow. The weather was so nice there!!

Such a beauty! Not only on the outside though. She's got such a beautiful spirit and such a tender and motherly heart.

We took one of my parents dogs with us. I love this dog. I want a dog like this when we have the chance to get one.

Skyler will agree, this trip was so good for him too. Going up there took quite the load off our day in, day out, routines. Love this man of mine!

Kyen had so much fun with his cousins (my cousin's kids). He hadn't met any of them before this (sad, I know). He can't wait to play with them all again, soon hopefully!

This kid has such a sweet smile.

Moo and I on the tire swings :)

Such a goofy girl!

He calls this baby "the digger!"

YOU!

Kyell found a new best friend while we were there. He usually has the biggest heart for the ones who are a little rough around the edges, or when someone is having a bad day, or when someone is really sad (Bug has the biggest heart for me when I'm having some pretty rough days...he's got quite a light about him). In this case, he got super close to my cousin Matt :)