Its May already?!

I had put off writing anything on my blog because I wanted to get it in print. But since it's now May and I have yet to print, I figured it's time to catch everything up. In a shortened version.

2012 has been a year full of making and keeping goals. And if you know me well, that doesn't happen often.  These last few years have been crazy for me, so rather than taking a break, I wanted to find a way to keep it going. Okay, so I'm done with disastrous moves to other countries, but you know what I mean. What is my goal, you ask? Too bad, you have to wait. Unless you scroll down. But that wouldn't be fair.

January came and went with a schedule filled with basketball. Jakob, Andy and Ashley were all in Jr Jazz basketball and it was a lot of fun to watch. Jakob kicked it up several notches and flew all over the court. He did awesome. Except his shots. But those will come. Andy did great ball handling but he needs to do some pushups and weights so he can get the ball to hit the basket... And Ashley was a joy to watch. She wants to be the best at everything she does and basketball wasn't an exception. She has a ways to go because she had never played before but she's getting the hang of it. They all worked very hard on improving and I was a very proud mommy.

Oh, and I played as well. We had a lot of fun. I even stopped wheezing after the first game or two. Oh, and the best part? I'm not sure if it was the 12 points scored in one game, or if the was three pointer I made in another one. Either way, it was awesome.  I was sad when the season ended.

I almost forgot. Ashley joined the Girl Scouts. She's a Daisy at this point and she loves it. She threw herself into it and even sold 60 boxes of girl scout cookies. Its not a ton but she was thrilled with it. I was too since that meant I didn't have to deliver more. :)

February was spent with more basketball, Valentine's Day, and the rest is a blur because I was sick a lot. With colds. Colds are dumb.

I wish I could say we had a massive party for Heidi because she had such a lame birthday last year (she got her present three days later and her cake was leftovers... good thing she was one), but that wasn't the case. I was so sick. Why? I don't know. But it wasn't fun. So she got us and no cake for several days. She didn't care. She got awesome gifts.

March also brought more basketball, more scouts and more band. But what it also brought was the first part of my goal. This year I was determined to do more with writing. I've had a children's book I wrote in high school that I've wanted to publish for years, and now I have two others I want to get published. So this year's resolution was to go to conferences and actually submit my stories.  I went to Writing for Charity and LOVED it. I learned a lot, talked to authors that had come to my store, and gained more of a desire to get writing and submitting.

I also started taking art.  Jakob was very upset that he couldn't come with me. He loves drawing. I want him in classes as soon as I can get him there. But this was my turn. We worked with pastels. Here is the picture I wanted to use. My mom posted a picture of her tree in a snow storm and I knew it was "the one":

And here is my version. This was my process over the 5 classes:

I was hooked. I love pastels! I think I'm going to ask for some this Christmas. My next project is a crocus.

Next comes April. We went to St. George for conference and we enjoyed our time there as we always do. We love spending time with Steve's family! We watched conference with Steve's parents and then the kids and I played with Steve's mom while he went to the Priesthood session with his dad, brother-in-law, and nephews. We left earlier than we'd planned on Sunday because winter wasn't about to give up.  The snow was bad through Cedar City but we made it home safe and sound.

We were home for a few days before heading off to Oakley for Easter and Spring Break. It was supposed to be cold while we were there but it warmed up and the kids got loved their time outside. They jumped on the trampoline, ran around the yard, climbed trees, and slept well at night. Easter was wonderful.

We had to leave on Tuesday so we could drop Steve off at the airport for a two day trip to Indiana. The kids had hoped to do all kinds of fun things for Spring Break - but we stayed home for most of it. It was cold and windy. So after eye appointments (where we found that Ashley's are perfect and Jakob no longer needed glasses except for reading!) we went home and cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned some more. Then it was play time. The kids have a show in Australia that they loved called Mr Maker. You learn all kinds of crafts. So that's what we did. My house is still full of their art projects. Heidi painted herself (So glad she's her own canvas) while the others painted magnets and sun catchers.

Friday we took Gavin and Ethan to the eye doctor as well. Ethan's are perfect (he was sad - he wanted glasses!) and Gavin is far-sighted. They won't do anything with them unless it causes problems. They're hoping it will correct on its own. I hope so!

I  think I will stop here. Its becoming a novel and I have so much more to tell you! Check back and I promise the next one will be much more exciting.