what a beautiful mess

It's a thing.  In April of 2020 quarantine-ing is now a thing.  And I'm okay with that, at least I'm trying to be okay with it.  There's been lots of quality time together and a lot of not so quality time together.  Josh can make his own hot breakfast.  We get Emily home. She does online school and we love having her here.   Trevor has given me a head massage once and asks me if I need pain reliever quite often.  (lol) (It makes me wonder how I act- but to be honest,  I think he just cares and wants to make sure I'm not hurting. I love him for it.)  Stephen got a truck but is not able to get his license yet since the drivers license division is closed.  We go for drives sometimes.  Yesterday, we got some sodas and I drove with the kids telling me if I should turn  right, left or go straight.  We ended up in Teton about 26 miles from where we started.  It was fun.  ...

The last time I blogged was in 2015 and it's now 2018. That's really sad. Because I love to blog. I love to sit down and just write out my thoughts. It helps me to remember what I have to be grateful for and all the blessings I've been given on a daily basis. I'm not even going to attempt to catch up on the last 2 1/2 years. But I am going to post some pictures that I've taken lately. This is our most recent family picture taken. At least professionally. And it's beautiful. Here's the most recent one that we've take: Maybe not as "styled" as the other one but it has my most favorite people in it so it's good. I am excited for this new year. Here's a (small) list of some of my intentions for this year: Drink more water Be kinder to people Grow spiritually Eat more veggies Lately I've struggled with anxiety. When I was younger, I struggled with it as well but haven't too much since I was 18. And now it's rea...

Carl was such a good dog. The day he died was one of the saddest days my kids have ever faced. Maybe not the most tragic, but they'd never lost someone that they loved. We had tears for many days and Annabelle can't even listen to the song "See You Again" without crying or wanting to cry. Carl didn't have the greatest dog manners. He slept on everyone's bed, he ate human food as much as he could get away with, and he liked to chase chickens just for fun. He shed a lot of hair and would roll in chicken or cow poop a lot. But we loved him. He was such a good dog and is so very much missed! I look through our old photos and I see so many with Carl just off in the background or right in front of the camera without us even realizing it. He just became a part of our lives. I found this picture and I had even forgotten it had ever been taken. We have Maria now and we love her as well. But I think we will always, always miss Carl...

How have I gone so long without blogging about life with teenagers? It's fascinating and scary and confusing and fun. And sometimes there are bras just lying around the house and nail polish constantly on the kitchen table. They say funny things and insightful things. Stephen may not yet be a teenager but just the other night I was looking at a picture of our family and I mentioned how I thought I looked fat (not that I was fat, just that it was an unflattering picture- big difference) He said "maybe you're just standing by really skinny people." Touche. See? Funny and insightful. I've noticed that many times raising teenagers can be confusing. I can say something one day and it's okay, but the next day, it can cause many, many tears. You don't know this but I just took a break from writing this blog to go yell, I mean tell my kids to be quiet and to go to sleep. They argued with me and so they can no longer say another word the whole night. And yes, i...

I got on the computer today to get a teriyaki sauce recipe and realized my memory card from our camera was stuck in the right spot to pull pictures from so I thought "why not put some pictures out there in blog world?" I looked at the pictures on the card and realized that they are mostly pictures of Anna and Maria. So this blog post is dedicated to them. Those two love each other. I love Annabelle and am learning to love Maria. She's a good dog but is still a whole lot of work! But she takes the place of another child and is lot less expensive than one, so we welcome her into our home! Love,  Sarah

She makes me happy. She is stronger and better than she even knows. I can't believe she is already fourteen. Sometimes I still just want to cuddle her and snuggle her...but she's not a baby anymore so she won't let me. I'll take a hug though anytime I can get one from her. Happy Birthday Emily Delight. We love you!