To everything there is a season...

...and a time to every purpose under heaven. This has always been in my top ten of favorite scriptures. I once had a seminary teacher tell me that we experience stress when we refuse to accept this. Well, we've come to an end of one of our seasons.

Between the recent crib recall, and the fact that we've come into Kali's room more than once and found her perched precariously on the edge of the rail, we decided to take the leap to a toddler bed. Thus initiating the end to our crib days. We have had a baby in the crib for the last eleven of our thirteen years that we've been married. All five of our kids were born in the same hospital, in the same room, and slept in the same crib. So, while the men reading this may not understand my sentimentality in writing this, I hope my fellow mothers will. Ironically, the same day I took down our well worn crib (one side wouldn't even stay up, and we had a nails holding in a post or two) I received an email from another mom with the same feelings. She really summed up how I felt.

"There in my nursery is that beautiful crib, with its bumpers and ruffles, sweet lambs and fuzzy bunnies. I know every tune the darling bluebird mobile plays, in order, forwards and backwards. Etched into my mind are my darling babies, standing at the rail with drowsy eyes and static-straight hair, smiling as I enter the room. So, I admit to a few tears. There is something so solid and iconic about a crib in a nursery. It's almost a rite of passage--like a wedding gown, or your first car. A crib is a sign to everyone that life's most miraculous event is happening. It's safe and certain and it is there for such a brief period of time--like babies who grow into little people entirely too fast."

Friday I took down the crib as quickly as I could, and tried not to focus upon what I was doing. I easily coaxed all five kids into the crib for one last sentimental picture for me.

Unfortunately the crib is in too poor of a condition to pass on to future generations. Had I known then what I know now I would have bought an expensive, sturdy crib. But who would have known in 1997 that it would hold the precious cargo that it did.

So, now we move onto the next season of our lives. Kali is thrilled to be in a "big girl bed", even though we have to convince her to stay in it. And while not necessarily thrilled to move on myself, I look forward to another handful of firsts - first make up, first drivers licenses, first dates, first loves, first heart breaks.

Then again, maybe I'll go have a good cry before moving on...

Together Again

Last night we were finally able to get together again with our friends, the Lamb Family. Within seconds of hitting the front door the kids were all gone, with their respective friends, in their rooms. They just love hanging out together. We carved pumpkins, ate a delicious dinner, and just had fun playing together.

(Unfortunately, due to this prior commitment we missed the Farr Family Halloween party. We're sorry! We hope you had lots of fun and we missed you!)

Kids being kids

I was working on a project in the front room the other day when the kids came in like this. Sometimes I'm just grateful to see my kids being kids. How thankful I am that they have each other.

Fall Fun

The older kids were out of school Friday due to parent teacher conferences. Sabrina's preschool teacher graciously invited all of us to participate in their field trip that day. We went to the Halloween Roast in Paradise. We were able to take a wagon ride around their Halloween displays. I kind of just got the backs of their heads!

They also had a barrel ride for the kids to go on. They loved it!

Here is a picture of Sabrina with her preschool class.

After we got home the kids went outside to play in the leaves. Even the cat got in on the fun - you can tell he loved it! ;) I've been in such denial that fall was here (I really love the summer), but this was the first day that I was really excited for it.

Letting you in on a little secret

Have you ever heard the phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none"? I have always felt this was me. I can kind of sew, play the piano, sing, decorate, scrapbook, keep the house clean, & cook. But none of them well enough to be called a talent. I know if I really spent the time on any of them I could probably improve, but with 5 kids, husband and a busy life I don't really have time for the dedication involved in stepping those abilities up a notch.

Well, one thing I've always enjoyed is doing my daughters hair. Through the years I've gone through different phases of difficulty depending on my time. I had a secret dream of making a hairstyling book for kids. I've even done some research on the matter. Well, I guess there is good news and bad news concerning my dream. I've recently found out that people are giving away their ideas on blogs. There are wonderful, creative ideas out there. So, I guess that my dream is out the window. On the other hand I now have a plethora of ideas to pull from. I had to share two of my favorite links. http://hair4myprincess.blogspot.com/ and http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/ Their is also this one for those with hair challenged little ones http://shortyrocksitshort.blogspot.com/. The first one I mentioned has a bunch of links on the right to other great sites as well.

So, it finally hit me that I've found a talent I enjoy. Maybe that's the reason I was given so many girls - I had to find one thing I was good at! While I'll never start my own hair blog, I did want hard evidence for all the hard work. The girls are pretty patient with me. Miranda's took a little longer than I had planned - leaving myself 15 minutes to get completely ready for church. A special thanks to my patient husband who took all the pictures while I frantically got myself ready. Anyway, I just thought I'd share the websites with everyone just in case you too are trying to find your inner talent!

Move over Hannah Montana...

Here comes Sabrina! She came out of her room yesterday dressed like this. All I can say is I hope she gets it out of her system now!

Arianna turns nine!

Ari's long awaited (she's been counting down the days since August) ninth birthday finally came Saturday. Usually our one to sleep in, she was out of bed at the crack of dawn to open her presents. She spent the day playing with her new beads, webkinz, and listening to her CD player. She also requested seeing Beverly Hills Chihuahua for her activity. She loved it! She requested a jack o' lantern cake this year. Rory worked on the face while I did the body. We got it done just in time to light the candles and cut into it. We are so grateful for the 9 years that Ari has been in our family. Life is always a little sillier when she's around. She filled out a work sheet the other day that asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be a singer or a dancer and if that didn't work out she wanted to be a comedian (she added after reading this that she also wants to be a writer). Well, she's certainly in training for it. Ari loves school (especially math), TaVaci, playing with her girlfriends, beading,watching TV, and entertaining people. She loves having a clean room and everything in it's place. I guess she's also pretty easy going, when I asked her something that she didn't like neither of us could come up with anything. Gotta love that! We're still working on balancing her stomach pains and acid reflux, but she's learning to deal with that too. We love you so much, Arianna!

This is picture Ari chose (even among the cute ones posted earlier) to be on her birthday blog! She's crazy!

Zoo Fun

The second day of our vacation we met up with Erin and Brianna and Cayde(and kids) at Hogle Zoo. We love going in the spring and fall when the animals are more active. It may not be hard to see the difference between Kali and the monkeys. It was fun, but we were spent once the afternoon hit. It seemed like the rest of Utah was at the zoo too!

That evening we met at a restaurant to surprise my brother Jordan. He just got his Journeyman's license! We're so proud of him.

(Sorry, Brianna, I had to steal this off your blog. It was the only picture I had access to!)

For a vacation that was potentially going to last the entire weekend, we sure gave up fast. By Friday night we were glad to all be home. I'm beginning to think we might be home-bodies!

Fall Festival

The kids had a few days off for UEA and Rory took the time off to play with us. We were excited when Grandma and Grandpa Farr invited us down to play at the Fall Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa, Brianna and her family, and Erin and her kids. There were lots of rides, lots of games, and lots of kids! I can't even begin to guess how many times we counted to 5 that day! We even lost Sabrina for a few panicked minutes. (I think leashes for kids are totally underrated!) Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a a fun Day!

Fun Family Pictures

I mentioned eariler that my sister took our family pictures. We were so excited to get them! Thanks so much, Brianna. I also threw in the pictures of the rest of our family - we love you all so much.