Sweet Beebs,

Your 8th birthday has finally arrived! You've been talking about this day for months... well, really you've been talking about what will happen in just a few days, on January 6th, when you are baptized! You had your interview with the Bishop on Sunday and it went so good. You came out of his office so bubbly and excited, clutching a beautiful little card with a picture of Christ that the Bishop gave you. And a package of fruit snacks. You enjoyed those fruit snacks, but I loved watching you hold and stare at the picture he gave you. You love Jesus Christ so much and are so excited for your baptism day.

You are absolutely loving school this year. Your teacher is so kind and loving and you particularly enjoy the stories she tells you about her daughter Winnie, and that she sings songs to you throughout the day. You are quiet and a bit reserved at school, or so I've been told, and I have a hard time imagining that! At home, you are the life and energy of the party. You are a straight A student this year and working really hard to keep it that way. You have become really self motivated with your school work, most recently demonstrating this when you had Sunshine quiz you on spelling words on the way to school each morning so you could get 100% on your pre-test and not have to take the spelling test on Friday. I love watching your love of learning grow. You particularly love math and science, but your reading skills are incredible too. Its so fun to hear you read to us from The Book of Mormon during family scripture time. I am always impressed with the big words you are able to sound out effortlessly.

Like I said, you are the life of the party here at home. You love to goof around and dance silly and talk in funny voices or snort to make us all laugh. This is great, until bedtime rolls around and you are still putting on a show for us all. You are getting better about bedtime though. You aim to be in bed asleep before 8pm, and sometimes you are even successful. It's a work in progress Ü

You are still as social as ever, though you are already finding out that sometimes little girls can be difficult to be friends with. Luckily, you have a wonderful best friend, Dailyn, who you enjoy playing with every chance you get. The two of you love to wear each other's clothes and paint nails and play with your American Girl dolls.

Along with lots of fire and spunk, you are very tender hearted and sweet. Seeing people in need breaks your heart, and you inspired your 2nd grade class to put together blessing bags for homeless people for your class Christmas party. Watching you give away your bag brought me to tears. You were so brave and walked right up to the homeless man you had chosen to help, handed him the bag and wished him a merry Christmas. It was beautiful to watch. You are also extra kind and selfless. My favourite example of this is that you are currently practicing to be an Ompah Loompah in your school's production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You had NO desire to be in the school play, but tried out anyway because I had said that it was all or nothing... either both you and Sunshine were in it, or neither of you were. Sunshine really wanted to participate so you put on your brave face, tried out and got a part. You have such a good attitude about it, even though you've confided in me several times that it's not what you really wanted to do.

You and Shark Bait are still very close. He adores you and you him. You also have an extra special bond with your Aunt Tressie. She may or may  not spoil you rotten, but that's ok! You deserve it. You rarely ask for anything and for Christmas this year, you wanted pajamas. And for your birthday, pajamas and a colouring book.

We love you so much, Sweet Beebs, and are so excited that you are getting baptized. You have some fun adventures ahead in your year of being 8, and I can't wait to experience them along side you. Have a wonderful birthday and enjoy this fun time in life!

We love you so very, very much!

Love always,
Mommy & Daddy

Happy 5th Birthday, Man Cub!

Oh, Sweet Man Cub!

Somehow, you are 5. I keep asking you not to get older, but you insist that you have to grow up. You have big plans! You want to be a dad and a construction site worker. You have to get older to do those things, so I gave in and you turned 5.

You are as spunky as ever. You are a little comedian and love to make us all laugh, especially Shark Bait. He looks up to you and you absolutely love it. Sure, you can be a real stinker to him, but more often than not, you are sweet and adoring and you cater to him. You often ask me for another sibling, so Shark Bait can have a baby, like you have him. It melts my heart every time you say it.

You love Hawaiian shirts and boat shoes, unless your Transformers or shark shirts are clean. You are obsessed with your toys- right now Star Wars, Transformers, dinosaurs and Disney Cars rank highest on your list. You also love to read books. You have lots of favourites that we rotate through and my favourite moments are when you bring me a stack of books and ask to sit in my lap while we read.

You love Primary and Nephi is your favourite Scripture Hero. You once told me that you like that he is strong and kind and serves people. You want to be like him and I support that 100%! Your primary teachers adore you... really, most people do! You have quite the fan club and have stolen many hearts. You are sweet and polite and have no fear when it comes to talking with adults. You save your rebellious moments for me and Dad, but for the most part, we don't mind. We know it means that we are your safe place and we appreciate your determination and spunk.

You are quite the negotiator and have a bit of a stubborn streak. While it can be challenging at times, we recognize that these characteristics have the potential to make you a strong leader in the future. We just hope and pray that we can help you to grow that potential and become the wonderful father and construction site worker that you want to be Ü

Kevin the Bird is still one of your best friends, along with Isaac, from church. You and Isaac are practically inseparable and play together at least 2-3 times a week. Isaac has become an important member of our family and the bond you two have is so much fun. You are so creative when you are together and you keep each other in check. You love Isaac's family and often tell me that his mom is your favourite! But it's ok, because you still tell me almost daily that I am the prettiest mom you've ever seen, and now days, you tell your sisters that they are the prettiest girls you've ever seen as well. Your future wife is a lucky woman. You are learning early on how to treat the women in your life with love and respect and I know that will bless you later on.

We love you so much little man! We are so blessed to have you in our family!

Love Always,
Mom & Dad

Happy 10th Birthday, Sunshine!

Happy, happy birthday sweet Sunshine!

Today is a big day for you... double digits! You've been simultaneously excited beyond belief and hesitant and nervous for today to arrive. You weren't sure what to expect when moving to the double digits, but hopefully it has been a wonderful day! We started with your traditional birthday breakfast of beniets and ended the day with tacos and angel food cake... all your favourite things. You were showered with wonderful gifts, perfect for the grown up girl that you are- new clothes, some fun art projects, lots of new books to read and Harry Potter Wizards Chess. You've already played it a handful of times, and I'm sure it won't be long before you are beating your dad every once in awhile. 

This past year has been a challenging one for you. At the end of the summer, we made the very difficult decision to pull you from the school you had attended since Kindergarten and all the wonderful friends you had made there, and move you to a new school. It was such a scary decision that we all prayed about for months on end before making. It was a hard transition at first, but you were so brave and full of faith. You knew it was the right choice and even when it was most difficult, you have always had a great attitude and found the good amidst the trials. You've made new friends, discovered new interests like band and drama, you've excelled in your studies and been on the principals pride list two of the three quarters this school year. You are such a great example of thriving during difficult times. We know this change has disrupted your life more than ours, but you have grown so much and it brings us so much joy to watch you bloom.

You love church and are such a great example of Christlike love. You are kind to all you meet (except maybe your siblings!) and you often ask your church teachers some hard questions that they cannot always answer. Your desire to learn and grow is strong and we love when you bring us your challenging questions and let us help your testimony grow. You have a wonderful understanding of the scriptures and enjoy reading them alone and as a family. We hope your love of the words of the prophets never dwindles!

You are just as creative and artsy as always. You are doing a wonderful job learning to play piano, trying your hand at the flute in the school band and playing the role of July, an orphan, in your school's production of Annie Kids. The school play has been a huge time commitment but you are handling it with grace. Even the weeks when you have multiple days of practice, plus swim team, plus piano, plus before school commitments, you are smiling and happy and never say a word about quitting. You work hard and give all your extracurricular activities your best effort. Unless that extracurricular activity is cleaning your room... Ü We are working on that hurdle still. 

We are so blessed to be your parents and find so much joy in watching you learn and grow. We love you so very much and are excited to see what your second decade of life brings! But just remember, no matter how old you get, you will always be our baby... the sweet baby girl who entered our lives following a magnificent Arizona sunrise all those years ago, our own little bundle of Sunshine.

Love always, 

Mom & Dad 

Happy 7th Birthday, Beebs!

My sweet Beebs,

Happy, happy birthday! 7 years old! You know, I've been fine all day as we have celebrated, but as I sit down to write your birthday letter, I find myself on the verge of tears. How is my littlest girl getting so big, so incredibly fast!?

There is so much I want to say to you, I just don't even know where to begin! I am so proud of how far you have come this past year. You are so brave and so full of faith. Dad and I asked you to do a very hard thing when we pulled you out of your old school and enrolled you somewhere new. It was one of the hardest decisions we have ever made, and even though I know it wasn't what you wanted, you put on a smile, told us you were excited and it has been a great change. You are learning and growing so much, and even though you miss your friends, you have such a positive attitude about it all and it has made the transition easier on all of us.

You are so friendly and social. You always want to be playing with someone and you are never afraid to make a new friend. This is something I really admire in you. You have a way of making everyone feel loved and they are excited to be around you. Anytime I visit you at school, you are greeted by name by pretty much everyone we encounter. You have a bright, bubbly personality that people just love. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with your social life as you always want to have someone over or go to a friend's house, but I love that you know the importance of friendship and work hard to be friends with everyone.

You still have such a playful heart and you can spend hours and hours with your toys. You are very creative and come up with elaborate games and storylines. You don't always like it when someone else (mainly your sister!) has different ideas but you are catching on to the idea of compromise.

You and Shark Bait continue to have a very special relationship. He just adores you and often wants you over me. He loves to follow you around and play with you and your toys. He learned to say your name and it is one of his favourite words. You are so kind and loving towards him. I love watching the two of you interact. I hope this special relationship lasts forever.

We are finding that you are a natural athlete. You are such a fast runner and last summer you started swimming competitively. You made so much progress over the course of the summer and have continued to swim twice a week since. You work hard and your efforts have been rewarded. You have turned into quite a little fish, or a graceful mermaid, depending on the day. Ü It is so fun to watch you try new things and succeed.

You are such a special little girl, and when I think back on the scary circumstances that brought you into the world, I know you are truly a miracle in every way. You have a very special purpose on earth and I am excited to see it play out. We love you so much, we are so grateful for you and feel so blessed to be trusted to raise you.

Have a wonderful year of being 7! We love you so much.

Love always,
Mommy & Daddy

Happy 4th Birthday, Man Cub!

Dear Sweet Man Cub,

Today you are 4. Yesterday I begged you to stay 3 forever, but you told me that you couldn't. You had to turn 4! You've been looking forward to your birthday for months. Literally, every time we would  go to the store, you would find something that you just had to have for your birthday. Your wish list got pretty long as the months went by. Luckily, you are one of the easiest to please children ever, so even though you didn't get everything on your wish list, you were happy as could be about all the sweet gifts and notes and birthday wishes you received today.

We had a birthday party for you yesterday. We kept it simple and just invited a bunch of your friends and their families over for popcorn, birthday cake and a movie, which we projected onto the side of the house and watched under the stars. It was so much fun. Because we weren't sure how many people would be attending, we bought a Costco sheet cake and you picked the dinosaur design. You were absolutely giddy with excitement when we picked it up. As I pulled it out of the big fridge at Costco, I looked over at you and you were covering your eyes saying "I won't peek! I won't peek! Tell me when it's ready." You opened your eyes to see it and squealed with delight. It was exactly what you wanted. Your excitement for life is not just limited to all things birthday related. I love that you get excited about almost everything you do, except for cleaning your room, of course.

You love your siblings so, so much. Almost every day when we drop the girls off at school, you shout "Bye Beebs! Bye YaYa!" as we drive away, then you quietly tell me "I'm going to miss my girls while they are at school." And you do miss them. You often count down the hours until they will be home. Luckily, you still have Shark Bait around to play with and boy oh boy do you adore him. You recently insisted that he needed to move into your bedroom with you. I was scared as could be about how the transition would go. You have a tendency to turn your light on and play at night, until you are ready to go to sleep. Shark Bait really values his sleep and likes to go to bed early so I was worried that your night owl ways would interfere with his good sleep habits. This has not been the case at all. You are so incredibly considerate of him. You lay quietly in bed with the lights off and let him go to sleep. Once, I heard you softly whispering my name. I went to your room to check on you and you whispered that you had to go potty. I helped you to the bathroom where you continued to whisper and remind me to be quiet, so Shark Bait wouldn't wake up. You didn't even want to flush the toilet! I was blown away with how considerate you were of your sweet little brother. He is so lucky to have you to be an example to him and to be his buddy.

You are doing great in preschool this year, even though your three best friends forever are in our class. I was a little worried about how it would go over, but for the most part, you are doing great. You are an eager learner and with a few small exceptions, you stay on task and participate in our lessons. You are learning so much and really blossoming in school. You are getting good at tracing your letters, so I know it will be just a matter of time before you are writing your own name. You've learned all your colours and can say the Pledge of Allegiance. You are great at counting and saying the days of the week. And books... oh how you love to read! It is not uncommon for me to go into your room during quiet time and find you reading a stack of books. Once, you were sent to your room to go to bed after a small tantrum and I turned off the light and told you to go to sleep. The light stayed off so I thought you had actually done just that. I went in to check on you and you were sitting by your bedroom window with the curtains pulled back, reading books by the little bit of light that was coming in. It melted my heart. I love that you love books! We have read Winnie the Witch so many times that you know most of the story by heart and will sit and read it to yourself. It's just about the cutest thing ever.

You are still all boy. You love all things dirt. You love cars and trains and anything that moves. You love dinosaurs and you love, love, love animals. Kevin the Bird is your best buddy and the two of you are your own little pack. You love to wrestle each other and snuggle on the couch and watch TV. Once, you told our friend Amy that you thought she needed "a little boy and his dog" so you were going to go live at her house. She'd take you in a heartbeat. You are her most favourite little boy ever!

You love going to Primary and you think your Primary teacher is the greatest guy in the world, next to your dad. And he is! You give him a run for his money but he is so patient and kind to you. You learn a lot from Brother Ban Wee, as you call him, and he is helping you continue to grow in the gospel. You look forward to Primary each week since it means you get to see Brother Ban Wee and two of your three best friends.

You tell me that you want to be a dad and a dog doctor when you grow up. It warms my heart that you know you want to be a dad. You'll be such a good one. You are strong and brave, but also kind and tender hearted. I hope you never lose those qualities. You often climb up in my lap and tell me "I forgot to hug you, mom!" You then give me a hug and a kiss and go along on your way. I have been teaching you to randomly tell me "You're the prettiest mom I've ever seen". I know it's totally self serving, but every time you do it, it makes my day. Just the little boost I need!

One thing is for sure, our lives were blessed when you were born 4 years ago. You are the baby I dreamed about the night before your dad and I were married and I am so grateful that you joined our family. You keep us on our toes and make life interesting. You give the best hugs and kisses and keep us laughing.

We love you so much, Man Cub. You are the best Dirt Boy a mom could ask for.
Love Always,

Mom & Dad

Beebs' Birthday Getaway | 2016 Edition

Last year, Beebs decided to forego a birthday party for a weekend getaway to visit my parents in Utah. The trip had some struggles, but we ended up having a great time (once we got there!) and Beebs decided she wanted this to be her birthday tradition. Throughout the year she did waver a bit, sometimes wondering if maybe she wanted a big party with friends instead, but as the time drew nearer, she decided that she really did want another trip to Nana & Papa's to celebrate turning 6. And this time, Shark Bait came along.

I got Shark Bait a new mode of transportation for the trip. Typically I use an Ergo carrier for him, but Ergos are such a pain to take on and off multiple times as is necessary when traveling. He seemed to really like his new ride and I'm kicking myself for not having gotten a ring sling 4 children ago.

After last year's debacle, Allegiant wised up and changed their flight times from Mesa to Provo, allowing the fog to clear before trying to send their planes to land in Utah. This meant that Beebs was able to attend most of her day of school before we left. I picked her up a little bit before the end of her school day and we made the drive across town. We grabbed something to eat at the airport while we waited, with Beebs decked out in pretty much head to toe jaguar print. It's her signature look. 

The plane ride was uneventful, THANK GOODNESS, and both Beebs and Shark Bait did great. I love that I have such great little travelers. I don't love that Beebs does "duck face" in pictures... I did not teach her that!

Once our plane landed, we hurried to my parents house where we changed into church clothes then headed to the Provo City Center Temple open house. It worked out perfectly that the open house started the weekend we were in Utah, and we were able to get tickets for the first day. I love any chance to take my children to see the outside of a temple... it is so so wonderful when I can take them to tour the inside! It is a beautiful temple and I am so grateful that we were able to tour (and touch!) it. 

Saturday we drove up to Salt Lake to spend the day at the zoo and eat at Red Iguana. It was cold, but so much fun. Beebs wore two coats... one the right way, and one the wrong way, with her new jaguar backpack in between the layers. She managed to stay warm enough and had so much fun visiting all her favourite Hogle Zoo animals. 

After visiting Uncle Matt-Stache at his work, Aunt T took us to visit her library. She introduced Beebs to all of her coworkers and then taught Beebs how to work Hans Gruber, the huge book sorting machine. Beebs thought that was the best thing ever. It ended up being a highlight of the trip for her. She also loved seeing the Star Wars and Mr. Potato Head displays in the childrens department. Aunt T and Uncle Matt-Stache have some of the coolest jobs around. 

We ended Saturday with a trip to the cupcake store, relaxing at my parents house and playing in the snow. 

Sunday was for church, lounging, cards and playing with Uncle Cooper's snake.

Monday it was time to fly home. Beebs was worn out from celebrating all weekend long. She slept in nice and late while Shark Bait and I attempted to pack all our stuff into a bag that would fit under the seat. That didn't work out so well, so we ended up borrowing a duffle bag from my mum and checking a bag to bring home all our Utah goodies. We said goodbye to the mountains, then to my family and with that, we were headed back to Arizona. After a stop at Ikea to buy new dining room chairs, we made the drive home, back to Bruce, Sunshine and Man Cub who were excited to see us.