The Cause of my Future Heart Attack

Dear Future Aurora,

I hope you know how much I love you. I love that you chose to come to Earth and that you are in our family. We were so boring without you and I didn't even know it. Girlfriend. You were a handful. I'm so sorry that there aren't as many pictures and details of you as a baby. It's because I don't have time to stop and write it down. I'm chasing you, tickling you, spanking you (yes ma'am), sending you to your room, smooching you, watching you dance and play,  and chasing you down the street because now you can escape through the back door. It is never a dull moment in our household. The house is almost always a mess because I will begin something and then have to run after you because you're getting into something. You like to smack me in the face every time I pick you up and you don't want to be held. You bite Sequoia (and sometimes Lincoln too) almost every day for something she didn't do, or just slap her in the face while she's laying there. You don't really take naps anymore, because if you do, you're awake till 10pm. It's a win/lose, lose/win situation. I can't nap or rest with you in the house and not contained. You like to open my eyelids and get very frustrated and nervous if I lay down to rest for 10 seconds. Baby girl, I know you love me. You show me every single day and I love you for that.

What's even harder, you are one smart little stinker! Seriously. You just turned two and can go potty all by yourself (you just need to perfect it and do it regular, stubborn!), wash your own hands, get your own drink of water from the fridge, climb in the van and start to buckle yourself, you only like to "read" your own book by yourself, you're most famous saying is, "No, I do it MINEself!" You are an amazing climber, can do puzzles, love to vacuum, can speak very well, you are doing well learning your colors, and can open just about every single door (heavy or not) all by YOURself. You are an amazing child. You will do wonders. You are very determined, strong-willed and independent. You are intelligent. Use your experiences you've learned for the better. I know you will be my best friend when you're 30. Let's hang in there! ;)

I've been told from almost everyone who knows you that you are an angel and such a fantastic and sweet little girl. Even your precious Daddy. One day I'd like to meet and spend time with her...

Love, 

Your Unconditionally Loving & Exhausted Mother

 (Yes, that's Vaseline all over her face and hands!)

Just canning some peaches (first time canning, woot woot!) with Grandma and Annie. We were having a great old time chatting, kids playing outside in the beautiful weather. 

Then I looked out the window and what did I see...?

Auri's nakey bum looking back at me.

SERIOUSLY, never a dull moment with this one!

But dang she is a sweet and precious thing too. This probably lasted a whole 1 minute before she ran off to do something wild. I wouldn't even be surprised if she reached back and pulled Quoi's hair out as soon as I snapped these pictures.

She sure does love her Grandma and Grandpa time!!

The Goodman Children

These are just a bunch of silly pictures we've taken in the last little while. These kids are so much fun to have in our home. They make life crazy, loud, constant, cheerful, exhausting, musical, unexpected and fun! I wouldn't trade them for anything. (Ok, I would trade them for one hour alone with Mike! But then I want them right back. Haha!)

We have "Friday Movie Nights." It almost always involves the big air mattress, millions of blankets, popcorn smashed everywhere, and some happy children. One of my favorite things we do each week.

We went to a fund raiser some friends of ours put of for the cute Stafford family we love. They live down the street from G & G Goodman. Their littlest one (Lincoln's age) has cancer and is doing very well fighting. We were happy to go and support their family. Lincoln had an awesome time getting DUNKED! I was impressed.

He doesn't like loud noises...

Wahoo!!!

Park With Daddy and Flash Flooding!

Lincoln found an awesome tree bug. We kept it as a "pet" for a couple days, but had to hurry and let him go before he croaked.

This was probably one of my favorite days. It was one of Mike's Wednesdays "day off"  he actually took. He had to run some errands and go do some stuff, so did it together. We had a lot of fun. (Lincoln is probably in the right to complain when he says we always do everything fun while he's at school, sorry buddy!) While out and about, Quoi got to stop into the dollar store and spend her $5, she loved it! And we went to the park and let the girls play for a bit. I am so relaxed when he's right by my side. I love that man:) And the girls loved it too because he pushes better than Mommy. 

I swear this girl is just like Sequoia was when she was a baby and always has some kind of bruise on her body!

After what I thought was already a fun day having Daddy around, we decided very last minute to go check out another park that evening. Awesome day. And Lincoln wasn't so whiny when he found out he finally got to go do something fun for once;)

Mike went and helped with an Eagle Scout project a boy in our ward was doing a couple weeks ago (making a disc golf course) so we decided to go check out the park it was at, Pineview Park. It is awesome! Probably my favorite in town now.

They have pipes that you can whisper into and someone can hear you on the other end. The kids were fascinated.

The best park about the park is that there is a splash pad right in between a little toddler playground and a big kid one. And its on a good size area of grass. I love it!

My Fall Ladder Kit. My last kit I'm doing!! 

So on this random day just a couple days later, I decided to stop by the store to pick something up and so me and the kids could say hi to Daddy real quick. Well... it was raining just a bit when we got there so we ran inside. One hour later after insane amounts of pouring down rain, it turned into this!

I don't think the kids have or ever will experience this kind of rain and flooding. It was incredible. They were seriously in heaven. And of course while I watched from the garage door, I was about to have a heart attack because it was still a parking lot with moving vehicles. But it would have definitely been worth the episode. During the pour down, I saw my cute friend Rosa in our ward walking home in it! I'm amazed she had got her that far, so Mike kept the kids for a second so I could drive her home. What a day!!