Our Year in Review :)

Pretty sad that I haven't updated our family blog in OVER A YEAR!  Well, time to catch up.  Rather than write an exhaustive post of everything we've been up to, I'll just give a quick overview of the highlights of the last year in pictures....then I'll resolve to do better at keeping up with the happenings :)

#1.  Dan and I were sealed in the Rexburg Temple this last December for time and all eternity.  It was a wonderful day - a day that made much of my life up to this point make sense and fall into place.   I love this man and the sacrifices he has made for our little family and for me.   He has battled for my heart and for me in a way no one else ever has.  Each day I am grateful for that and each day our love grows stronger.   Anyone that knows our history and story, understands that this has been a difficult journey for us.  But the Lord can work miracles in all of our lives if we allow it.  We are living proof of that.  :)

#2.  Casey was baptized!  I still can't believe I'm a mother of an 8 year old.  This little boy is just amazing in every way - he's wise, compassionate, intelligent and loving.  He is the elder brother all the other kids need and look up to.  I'm so proud of his commitment to live the gospel and follow Jesus Christ.  

Way to go Casey!

#3.  We built a house!  We moved from Idaho Falls to the Shelley area.  This new home has made it possible for us to have goats and more chickens.  The area we live in is just beautiful and WE LOVE IT!  Dan and I both grew up in smaller farming communities in Utah, so this is just like getting back to our roots.   I'll post more about our animals later on - but what has been awesome for us is having the chance to teach the kids about work and responsibility by having animals and taking care of them.  We even have them moving sprinkler pipe :)  What a great life!!!

{Casey with Leo}

 #4. We had a BABY!  We welcomed Liam James McPherson to our family on February 13, 2012.  What a perfect blessing he has been.  Being a mother is simply the best job around - and I'm relishing every moment of having him in my life.  Each of the kids feels a special love for him and he has really helped to cement the relationships of all his siblings and Dan has a constant little buddy that laughs at every funny face he makes.  We are all enjoying a little bit of heaven with him in our home.  Only a special little soul could do the work he has done.  I'm still getting up with him 2 times in the night and it doesn't bother me a bit -- he has captured all our hearts.  :)

Well that sort of catches us up.  We also took an awesome family vacation this summer to the Oregon Coast - I'll post about that later.  Pretty much we are just taking life a day at a time and enjoying our little people as much as we can :)  School starts this week - which means the first year of "home schooling" at our house.  I'll post about that later on too!  :)

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Catch up.....

Wow - where did June go?  Gone so quickly.  For Memorial Day, Dan and I decided that we wanted to start a tradition to remind the kids of the real meaning of the holiday.  We took the kids to the Taylor Cemetery (which looked so beautiful) and let the kids find graves of veterans and place small flags by them. Together we played detective to try to figure out which war the veteran served in.  What a great experience for us and the kids.  Made me think about my Grandpa and miss him - He passed away last Fall.  My Grandpa Hendrickson served in WWII - he repaired runways for planes and that's how he learned the welding trade that he used to support his family.  It was such a sweet day.  The older I get the more grateful I am to be an American.

Father's Day was so fun.  Dan is such a great dad to all the kids - he really takes time to get to know each of them and the relationship they have with him is forged of love and goodness.  We don't have the kids with us all the time, which makes days like this one so very perfect and memorable.   I love to watch how he is with each of them - it's a side of Dan that not many people see - it's tender and open - it's a side that I get to see all the time.  I had the kids color a Father's Day t-shirt for him......he LOVES it.   It's his favorite sunday morning attire - he is wearing it right now as he is in the kitchen making cookies.... I love him and he knows I love cookies :)

The new house is coming right along.  Even with several weather issues and changes in schedule, we should still be in by late October.  They poured the floor for the garage this last week and I took the kids one by one and had them each make a hand print....in the far corner of the garage.  We went back to see the finished product all dried today after church.

Church was awesome today.  My lesson in young women's was just amazing.   I didn't plan it that way - it just happened.  The girls in my Mia maid class are just so in tune with the Spirit and they speak with such conviction about their beliefs - I admire that so much.  I'm really grateful for this calling, because it has reminded me of some very important truths - important truths that I need to hang on to at this point in life.

 I sure love my little family.  I'm so grateful that the gospel is all about second chances.   :)

Airplanes and Rockets.....

{Caelan at the farm}

I'll post more about our Memorial Day adventures later, but this is pretty much 

THE

most awesome picture of the day.

{Followed by these from yesterday}

which reminds me of this one from last 4th of July

I should probably take more pictures of our kids from the front side.

{God bless America}

We've seen this before.......

This last Friday we went to the Idaho Falls Zoo with the kids for the morning. 

 It was so fun - every time we go it is like
the first time they've ever seen a mangy camel. < Click there to see a similar mangy camel.

We've gone every summer since getting married and becoming a family.  We always take the same picture of the kids - on the tiger. Here are pics of the last three years:

{We may need to find a taller tiger soon - Casey's legs are getting so long!}

{I just love this picture.  It was a perfectly fun day!}

So I'm new to this....

It's Memorial Day weekend - which means working on projects and getting spring officially going. Dan and I drove around and did errands this morning with Hailee and Caelan in tow.....ended up buying a bike with training wheels for Caelan. He is so cute on his Diego bike. And so proud of himself. It's a joy to watch him putt around the driveway on that thing.

We also made our way out to Shelley to see the progress on the house. I'm amazed at how it looks - and so excited that we get to live there someday... hopefully before Christmas. While Dan looked for some stuff he packed away in the barn and since Caelan was asleep in the back of the car, Hailee and I ventured off down the pasture in search of an old tree house that the neighbors have on their edge of the property. We found it - and it's everything a tree house ought to be! It sits just beyond our property line in a grove of old trees.

I hope the neighbors will give us permission for the kids to play there.

It would be pure fun.

It was a really beautiful evening - no wind at all - Dan walked down and met us as the end of the pasture and we just enjoyed walking slowly back to the car.

We found some gopher holes - guess we won't be alone in our farm paradise.

I can't believe how lucky I am to be here and to be doing this. We are so blessed.

Who would have thought that I would like the idea of moving sprinkler pipe and gardening?

(I guarantee NOT my parents.)

But that's the life I want for our kids. That's the life we are trying to make.

My how life is strange.

Strange and absolutely wonderful.