Grandma Casady

It's the month of love, and there's no doubt we love this sweet lady!

As I mentioned in the last post, in February we get to celebrate 2 grandmas, and Grandma Casady is always one to bring joy to our hearts.  We are so blessed by her love and devotion to her family.  She has a peaceful way about her and tries in every way she can to help make everyone happy and comfortable.  She is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to organization, shopping at Costco, and feeding the masses.  She has raised 7 incredible children, including mine & Rachael's "Most Favorite Person in the Whole Word," Mike/Dad.  We are impressed by her creative talents, her heart-felt compassion, her willingness to serve, her fun-loving personality, and her reassuring hugs. 

Grandma/Mom Casady has been the glue that keeps everyone informed, involved and all-together, (quite a task with 7 kids & their spouses!) and now that she's so far away, we miss her so!  And of course, our appreciation for her efforts has only increased in her absence.  We feel close to her through our daily prayers for her & Grandpa to be safe & successful on their mission, & through her weekly (at least) emails from Albania.  The country is lucky to have her & we hope she is treated like the queen she is!
Since I was a teenager, I have always felt that I would have a special relationship with my husband's parents someday.  I feel like I won the lottery with the in-laws I got, for sure.  I remember when Mike & I were dating, my insecurity and worry of getting too attached to his family, afraid of rejection & losing more special people in my life.  I will always treasure the memory of how it felt to enter their home, the sanctuary that Barbara created with love and spiritual strength.  I recognized the joy I felt just being around her and knew I wanted to learn how to be like that.  I can never thank her enough for opening her heart to me, as a daughter-in-law and a friend. 
I know my children are so blessed to have her as their Grandma.  She lets them be children, celebrating and enjoying them in each stage they go through.  She wouldn't even blink if they destroyed anything in her beautiful home, which has been outfitted with a swimming pool, playground, giant trampoline, dress-up boxes & art supplies for their entertainment.  I've always felt confident entrusting them to her care, knowing that they will be making memories to ensure a strong relationship throughout their growing years.  My children have been enriched by the traditions Grandma Casady has organized and encouraged, such as Sunday night Family Gathering: Dinner & Devotional; Christmas Nativity Family Home Evening; Casady Easter party;

 and the most beloved of all: Cousin Camp!!! 

Yes, we are thrilled to celebrate this special lady, on her day of birth & hope to honor her every day by being the best we can be. 

We love you Grandma Casady! 

In the Cookies of Life...

Ugh.  January.  It's just not very fun.  Another holiday season has come and gone in a whirlwind of festivity, leaving January to be dull and much less eventful.  There's so much pressure to start all new and fresh, resolve, self-improve, etc... So that's why I'm glad it's over.  Ahhh, February.  The month of hearts and chocolate, how I LOVE you.  But for our family, February is also special because it's the month we honor the birthdays of two very special ladies.  Their names are Grandma and Grandma, but first up is (Great) Grandma Amonette...

My Grandma Amonette is one incredible lady. When I hear the news about whether or not a ground hog has seen his shadow, I am reminded that I need to wish my grandma a happy birthday! She is my only surviving grandparent, and I feel so blessed that my children get the opportunity to know and love her.  She is thoughtful and kind, always quick to give hugs and food.  Whenever we visit, we always leave with more than we came with.  She's always calling to check in on us, spreading news of the events of our whole family & sending packages for birthdays and greeting cards to all 4 of my little ones for every holiday. 
In her Christmas piano and voice recital, Rachael shared that her favorite Christmas memory is opening presents at Grandma Amonette's house on every Christmas Eve.  My Grandma is a skilled bargain shopper, and enjoys providing presents for every member of the family.  I've spent many Saturdays of my childhood scouring clearance racks and running from store to store to get the best deals.  Due to the influence of my grandma, I'm reluctant to pay more than $10 for a shirt. 
I can't describe Grandma Amonette without the mention of COOKIES. 

She taught me how to bake the very best chocolate chip cookies.  I have always enjoyed baking with her, helping her and visiting with her in the kitchen. While there was not a recipe in sight, she mysteriously knew exactly how much sugar.  She makes those cookies from her heart, and has for as long as I can remember.  Her freezer was always stocked with cookies, but we would still get to make the new batch together.  She always teased me about sneeking a taste of the cookie dough, but never seriously got upset.  There was a time when she experimented with adding chopped up gumdrops and M&Ms.  The M&Ms prevailed in the end, especially since they came out with mini baking M&Ms.  And who could say no to another form of chocolate in chocolate chip cookies?
When I left for college, I wrote down her recipe as she recited it from memory.  While I was at school, she and Grandpa would come to visit bringing a mixer, beaters, and all the ingredients to make sure I was able to bake cookies for all the boys.  To this day, my husband claims that the cookies I can bake definitely played a part in my success in convincing him to marry me. 
We sure love Grandma Amonette & we hope she has a very happy 80-something birthday!  She has always been a great grandma, and once my cousin, Heather has her baby in June, she will be a wonderful great-grandma to 10 adorable children!

Truth be told, in the cookies of life, Grandmas are the chocolate chips!

 

Mining For Gold

Every once in a while in the middle of motherhood, I discover a gem such as this moment in time...

As we abandon the Wii games to explore the desert lot in our neighborhood, sticks became tools & a bank of dirt became a mine full of treasure.

We're mining for gold!  Yeah, we're going to be so rich.

Why? 

So we can give money to all the poor people.
Yeah, and buy food to give to the homeless.
We want to be nice people.  And help everyone!
Nicer than our school...they only do a toy drive & food drive for Christmas. 
I mean, what about toys for Thanksgiving & all the other days?

Their imagination & ideas make me smile, but the evidence of their kindness & generosity warm my heart. 
It's truly a pleasure to teach, train & nurture the spirits of these precious little ones, for they are my greatest treasure.  Perhaps I'm doing a pretty good job of it, afterall.

A Return to Blogging

For longer than the past year and half (!) I've been on a blogging hiatus. I have returned. In the meantime, I had a baby who is now a toddler! In my defense, Facebook came along and it's such an easy way to keep in touch with so many people I love.  I was not sure how to accomplish both blogging and Facebooking without completely abandoning my real life.  Honestly, I enjoy Facebook, and find it to be more interactive than blogging. On the downside, I'll admit, my status updates are, perhaps, less interestingly detailed than a blog post. However, since I'm a failure at regular journal writing in this season of my life, I feel like this will be good to start up again. So, for those of you who have unfriended me, all those that are simply not Facebook fans, or even those of you who just can't get enough of our crazy little family, well, I suppose this is for you...Enjoy!

Bryce Landon, my baby who's now a toddler, and so dang cute.

Opposites According to Spencer

So, I rarely find that anything funny happens at well-child check-ups with kids. I've been not feeling well & insanely busy lately, and although Spencer isn't 5 until July, he needed his kindergarten check-up so I could complete the registration process. After a run-in with an office lady at the school, I am relieved to have it done. She wasn't very nice to me, but that is another story.
I got to the appointment on time, first thing in the morning, only to discover that I had not brought my debit/credit card. It seems that in my exhaustion the night before, as I was filling the car with gas at 9pm with kids that needed to be in bed, I forgot that I had put it in my pocket. Of course, I was wearing a different pair of jeans. Luckily, Mike came to my rescue, and saved the day, since I was $3 short in cash for the copay.
Spencer was really great through out the appointment. He knew shots were coming, but he didn't dwell on it. He followed all the directions and I was really proud of him. The doctor was asking developmental questions & started to question Spencer about opposites. My favorite was "If soup is HOT, then ice cream is..." Spencer said, "GOOD!" Then he corrected himself to say COLD. The final round was, "If mommy is a WOMAN, then your daddy is..." Spencer enthusiastically said, "A BISHOP!"
I am so thankful for Spencer's comic relief in the middle of this stressful week. He's pretty awesome.

2009 Year in Review

There have been so many holes in my blog updates this past year, I wanted to try and fill you in...2009 was an eventful year for us in many ways. We've had some great times as a family and really learned a lot. While we're excited to start the new year, we have lots of fond memories to look back on, and thankfully we've made it through another year just fine. We look forward to all that 2010 has to offer. I'm sure it will be a great year~

January

We switched to 11am church in 2009, thus I was able to take the time to have photo shoots

Rachael is 5 years old, Spencer is 3 and Lucas is 1

I was brave enough to take 3 kids to San Diego by myself & went to a baby shower for a dear friend from high school. It was a good time, and at the shower, Luke was the perfect example of why it's great to have babies....however, I don't think I'm up for another single parent trip any time soon.

February

We had a family trip to America's Finest City, where we went to Balboa Park & explored the Reuben H. Fleet Space Museum. This is Rachael and Spencer loving the musical instruments they had on exhibit. We saw a silly Imax movie about animals, which our children endured, despite their fears.

We surprised my brother, Landon at a late dinner in Little Italy, to celebrate his completion of all the testing he had to pass in order to be officially licensed as a chiropractor. It was a really memorable night. YAY for Dr. Amonette!

We started the month out with Luke's exciting surgery on his ears. He was a brave and tolerant patient, and so far the tubes were a success. YAY for no more ear infections!

Mike's cousin, Austin got married and we were thrilled to be a part of that special occasion. His sister, Heather became engaged at the end of the wedding reception, so YAY for weddings!

We ended the month of love with a trip to the LA temple to attend with friends going through for the first time, and to witness their sealing. Yay for families being together forever!


March

The weather warmed up enough for my daffodils to blossom and for my boys to get outside to play in the dirt. No garden this year, just an excavation site.

This month was busy, but nothing too exciting. I probably took less pictures because someone was always sick.


April

Once again we escaped the desert for a day to visit San Diego. We ate Bottle Shop pizza at what used to be called Dallas park, and the kids got to experience a real tire swing. While I went to yet another baby shower of a dear high school friend, Mike took the kids to a strawberry farm in Lakeside. What a great day.

Rachael turned 6 and had a My Little Pony birthday party at the park

We had a fun Easter party at Grandma & Grandpa Casady's

At the end of the month I drove up to Provo, Utah with a friend to attend the BYU Women's Conference. It was delightful. I learned to so much and felt so refreshed. Can't wait to do it again!

May

This is our cute family at the Redlands Temple for Mike's cousin, Heather's wedding. It was a really special day and we were so happy to be there.

Mike took Spencer on the annual Father's and Son's Camp out, while Luke stayed with me to make sure us girls stayed out of trouble.

June

June was super eventful, but the picture represents my first attempt at making pizza. The kids had cousins over and we made it a party by letting the kids make their own shapes and decorate with toppings. It was a proud day for me, because being so creative meant that I was finally feeling better!

We said a fond farewell to Kindergarten, until we meet again...

We celebrated 1 year anniversary of Mike's service as Bishop.

July

We braved the heat in Bakersfield for 4th of July at my sister, Amy's house. It was a blast.

The best tradition ever: Cousin Camp at Grandma Casady's. All three of our kids actually spent the night this year.

August

Above, you see 3 cute Casady girls. Livia Ann was born in August. Hannah and Rachael are preparing to show her the ropes in this male saturated family.

September

I turned 30 years old and got new carpet & tile, and a week of celebrations.

Rachael started 1st grade.

Spencer fulfilled his dream of seeing pandas when we went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. Thanks for a great day Mark & Nance!

October

Mike turned 33 and he got new socks and scriptures for his birthday.

My sister, Amy had an adorable baby girl named Lucy. Mike & I were so happy to meet her just hours after she arrived. It was definitely worth the trip.

I went with some really awesome ladies to a taping of The Price is Right. None of us were chosen to play, but the experience was sure memorable.

We went to the pumpkin patch as a family and then carved our Jack-o-lanterns. We celebrated Halloween with Casadys at Mike's brother David's house. Rachael was a High School Musical Cheerleader, Spencer was Spiderman, and Luke was a pirate.

Oh, and this is the month we found out that a new baby is on the way!

November

My kids were so excited to have a new cousin on my side of the family. Lucy met Rachael, Spencer & Lucas on Thanksgiving day. I'm so glad that I was able to have most of my siblings over for the holiday. I am also grateful that I was not sick, but strangely feeling really well. It was a fun , relaxing holiday and to make it more festive, we announced our own impending arrival. Really, it felt like it had been a secret for a super long time. We told most of Mike's family the next day, in between volleyball, Rock Band, pizza & improve games.

We made another trip to SD to visit my Grandma Amonette. It was really great, as always.

Luke had a birthday and turned 2 years old. We celebrated by getting his first hair cut and by letting him eat lots of chocolate cake.

December

2 year old Lucas was a Wiseman for the Casady family Nativity play. He's not in character; he really is always that adorable. And yes, he kept his head piece on for the entire program.

This was the month I spent way too much time in the kitchen. To celebrate the holiday season, we had a month of creative food. We made marshmallow snowmen, ornament cupcakes, a gingerbread house, chocolate almond butter toffee, and dinner shaped like a Christmas wreath, complete with a bow. Just thinking about it now makes me tired. What was I thinking? I should have been taking naps instead.

Christmas was a joyful time & the kids must have made it on the nice list. They each got bikes to ride and they love it. Lucas loves his hotwheels and drum set, Spencer loves his panda and baby panda with a bottle, Rachael loves her new play kitchen food and Snow White DVD. They were all showered with gifts from extended family and we all feel very loved.

Thanks to a friend who is an ultrasound tech, we were able to discover early on that we were entirely wrong about our baby's gender. Luke is the only one who informed me that it would be a baby brother. He is a wiseman after all. Although in shock, we were pretty convinced by what we saw, and are now really looking forward to having another baby boy. He will follow in the footsteps of his daddy, being the 3rd boy in a row. We are running out of available boy names in the Casady family, so if you have any ideas, feel free to send them our way. And like I explained to Rachael & Spencer when they protested the ultrasound results, this is the family that Heavenly Father wants us to have and we love our family. We feel truly blessed and fortunate beyond words.

Farewell 2009....

Oooh Scary!!!

Can it be? Well, I suppose it's true. October has arrived (and I just bought Thanksgiving party goods). We are so excited! I've had some technical difficulties in keeping up on my postings, so reviews of the past few months will just have to make their appearance eventually. Spencer had a birthday and he is big now...Rachael started first grade and she is big now...Luke stopped using a pacifier and he is big now. So just in case you were wondering, we are alive and well, unless I am typing this in Zombie form. I guess it's possible, after all it is October.