Lions and tigers and....Taycie's hair, oh my!!

My thought by the middle of the day is always, "Why do I even bother?" I have put together some proof of my pains to make my angel's hair look nice and her pains to make it a rat's nest in two or three hours.....I have a morning shot and then the "after" shot

Glad for the reminder...

These are my little angels in the morning wanting
to finish their waking up with mom and dad.















I am so grateful for church. If I didn't have reminders every week about what is possible for me, I would be on the fast track for disaster. Our lesson was on the conference talk by Elder Ballard given to young mothers. Two things that have stuck with me are that when I get frustrated with my kids or husband it is not because of something they did, but how I chose to handle it. Mike has been working late nights every night so I have the kids all day and have to get them ready and in bed by myself most days. i have found myself getting angry or frustrated when my kids won't put their pajamas on fast enough. In our lesson they talked about focusing on the "doing" instead of the "getting it done". This struck me like a lightning bolt. What the heck am I doing? Relax, sister!! So now with the help and helpful hints from Elder Ballard, I am determined to enjoy the bathing and changing and feeding and putting to bed, and all the other monotonous but AWEOME moments in my children's lives. Wish me luck!

Cason Phelps

Let me just say....Cason is our awesome man. He saw Isaiah jump off the board and swim to the side and also watched Michael Phelps swim his way into history. He was particularly interested in the breaststroke, so he tried to imitate it the best he could, we think he did awesome. On a side note- Cason just turned 4 in August, we were a little worried about the pool when we first moved in for obvious reasons. Mike and I were both lifeguards and I taught lessons for awhile so we thought we could handle it. It is probably no surprise to any of you that it is hard to teach your kids how to swim. All the other kids would listen to me. Anyway, I just decided to get him in the pool as much as posible to build his confidence. Although I have tried to teach him many things in the pool, all that you see is inspired by master Isaiah or master Phelps

Swimming and Dancing

I have a hard time staying away from the videos!! They take so long to upload so I hope you appreciate my kids many talents that include swimming like Michael Phelps, dancing like Michael Jackson, and dressing spiderman in doll's clothes (while stylishly sporting a fro).

Our best daddy!!

I just wanted to give a shout out to our best daddy! Mike works very hard to keep things balanced in his life and I know that it is harder for him than it is for me when he is gone from home. Between home, work, and church, he has a lot on his plate and a lot of people he has to divide his attentions on. I do get jealous sometimes, but I know if he had his way there would be more time at home. We just wanted him and all of our friends to know that we love daddy and all he does for us. We miss him sometimes, but love all the time we do get to spend with him. We love you dad!

Playing catch up...

So, sorry it's been so long. I just got overwhelmed with all the stuff I missed that I just decided to write about what's going on with us now. We are done with our reunions and vacations. Now we are just working (Mike) and working hard (Jill). We are excited for our next little arrival Rhett Michael (or Michael Rhett if mike gets his way). We are excited to meet him and see what he looks like and have all of his family tell him who he looks like. We love our kids and hate to see them grow up but can't wait for them to get older at the same time. We hope all of you are doing well and we will eventually get around to writing to you on your blogs! Enjoy the videos!