Christmas Art

Tis the season for crafts right? Not at this house! I am not creative, or crafty or anything of the sort. For this reason, I love love love having my babies come home with creative pieces of art, because I am not good at nurturing that side of them. Today, Preston brought home this beautiful painting, and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy. He is a good little artist, with an active imagination.

Emma also came home with a Christmas tree that she is very proud of. She loves the snow, and told me "It's a blizzard Mom." Right, like she would know what a blizzard is! I love it all the same!!

Hope this helps you feel the Christmas Spirit like it did for me!

Thanksgiving

Isn't that a beautiful bird? Guess what? It tasted even better than it looks! I love love love this holiday. I love the family, the friends, the warm feelings, the gratitude, and the food, oh the food! Seriously, what could be better than an entire holiday that is centered around AMAZING food?

This year, my brother Ryan and his beautiful wife Suzie invited my family for Thanksgiving dinner at their house. It is the first time they have hosted, and they did an amazing job. They have plenty of room for all of the kids, and a backyard to banish them all to when they get rowdy!
There are a total of 33 people in my family, but we were missing 9 this year (Shane's family, Nykele and Steve, and Dallon). We missed each of them, but we found a way to move past the grief and have a good time anyway.

My family isn't the closest family you will ever meet, but we love each other. We are horrible at keeping in touch, but somehow when we are together it is like no time at all has passed.

The kids play, and have fun. The older boys tease and torment each other, the girls sing Taylor Swift and dance like drama queens, and the babies run around being cute and getting adored!This year we took part in a Stewart family tradition (thanks Suzie) and put our kernel of corn in the bowl and said what we were thankful for. Most of the favorites were present, family, health, loved ones, safe travels. Tears were shed over the loss of loved ones, and the joy of having new members added to our fold.
Did I mention that the food was good? Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Stuffing, Corn, Rolls, Raspberry Pretzel Salad, Jello Salad, Cranberry Sauce, and Turkey (I went back for seconds on the turkey, and then had a turkey sandwich before the night was through). Many hands make light work, and I love working in the kitchen with my Mom and Sisters. Ryan carved his first turkey!

The family football game was small this year. It consisted of Uncle Stuart, Jaycie, Dyllon, Jacob, Hunter, and Preston playing 500 at the park. The kids also enjoyed the getaway, and got plenty dirty digging in the sand.

The pie was FABULOUS! My family sure knows how to do dessert up right! I think there was enough for each of us to have our own (probably not, but it was close!) Three types of pumpkin pie, apple, pecan, chocolate, and Suzie's amazing lemon dessert! Yum! We all went home with tummy aches, partly from the pie, but mostly from laughing. There is always sure to be lots of laughing at a Conger gathering, and this year didn't disappoint. Once Michele lost her voice and Ryan started translating for her, it was over.
Yeah, that about sums it up. Good food, good family, good fun! I love my family!

Potty Fun

Stockton is quite the little man. No, really, I mean it. This boy can spend some quality time on the potty. On this occasion, I was trying to get breakfast ready, so I chose to put him on the potty, leave the door open, and check on him once in a while. Little boys can only be left alone for so long before they will find a way to entertain themselves, and he found a way alright. He picked up the empty trash can, and was using it for a hat, or a hiding place, I'm not really sure which. Anyway, the pictures really say it all! We love this boy, he keeps us all entertained.

P.S. Wasn't that nice of him to keep "himself" hidden so that my pictures wouldn't be considered child pornography? Very considerate!

Thank You

Yes, in case you were wondering, I do know that my posts are really long, and no I'm not offended that you don't read the whole thing, but that you simply skim through, look at the pictures and move on with your life. I completely understand, but this blog has become a journal of my motherhood adventures, and I have a hard time leaving some of the details out. I want to remember everything. Okay, apology over.
I just wanted to say Thank you to everyone who offered me so much love and support after my "depression" post. That was a hard thing, and to be honest, I'm still navigating my out of it all. My life is so much clearer now, and for that I'm grateful, but I have a lot of "clean up" to do from just getting by for so long. Life is hard, and complicated, and worth it. Thank you all so much for the love that you showed, and the kind words you shared, and the encouragement you gave me. It feels good to know that so many people care about your well being, even if you haven't seen or talked to some of them in years. Anyway, here's a thank you to each of you for being a part of my life. I love you and I value the relationship that we have!

Track Break Fun!

Track break is always an adventure and this one did not fall short. I do love track break. I love that we don't have to keep such a tight schedule and stay right on top of things all the time. I love being more relaxed, and sleeping in, and letting the kids stay up late on a week night. I love being able to go away for a few days/nights and not think about school. I love that I can go across town if I need to and not have to freak out if someone is going to be late for school, or if I will get back in time to pick them up. I love having the kids around, and playing all day. I also don't love track break so much. I don't like the kids getting bored, and picking fights, or teasing each other. I don't like that they don't get to see their friends, and don't have any interaction outside of our family because none of their friends (that I know) are on track break at the same time as we are. I don't like that my two hours of quiet in the afternoons are gone (no time for blogging, or reading, or being a lazy bum). I guess its just like everything else in life, the good with the bad! I miss the kids now that they are back at school, but I know they are happy and learning and doing good while they are away, and they are happy and fun and enjoyable when they are at home, so I'll take it.

Anyway, sorry about that, I got a little side-tracked! We had some fun while we were on break. We spent most of the first weekend with Grandma Conger and Grandpa John. It was fun to take the kids to St. George (especially since our house was torn up with plumbing repairs at the time). We got to go swimming, play at the park, Stockton got the flu (that wasn't so fun), play the Wii, and we even spent a day hiking. It was so much fun. I've never taken the kids hiking, but the weather was so beautiful that I couldn't waste it by being inside. Grandpa John went with us, and it was great to have him along. The kids loved running and exploring and seeing where a new path would take us. I had no idea it would go over so well.

Not the greatest picture, but here are the kids exploring a small "cave". That's Grandpa John-and the only picture I took with him in it!

Stockton LOVED to find rocks. This one is all boy. The entire day he was carrying around at least two rocks. He loved to drop the rocks down hills and watch them break apart as they fell. The kids were fascinated with how the sandstone would just fall apart.

We also spent time this track break doing the usual-going to the library and story time, playing at the park, riding bikes, losing teeth, and climbing mountains. One day we were on the verge of World War III so I packed up the kids, a lunch, and water bottles and we went off on an adventure. We hiked to the top of the Mts. Edge Mountain, and ate lunch up at the top. It was so much fun. The kids really enjoy it. On the way down Preston was even willing to hold Emma's hand to help her out. It was so beyond adorable, but before I could get my camera out of the bag, the moment was over! I did take a few pictures at lunch though.

The glare in this picture is horrible, but I had to post it anyway. This is so Preston. The expression on his face, the pose, everything is captured in this picture.

We currently have several wiggly teeth right now. Between Preston and Emma, the tooth fairy is on the verge of going broke. They were playing in their room one evening when Emma comes running out and says "Mom, I kicked Preston and his tooth fell out!" She was laughing, he was laughing, and upon further examination, I found out they were rough housing, and he did indeed take a shot to the mouth, but the only harm it did was to knock out a tooth (good thing it was already on it's way out!) That's baby tooth number 4, and 2 adult teethe have made their appearance! Never a dull moment in the Humes house!

Here's to surviving another track break!

What are we thankful for?

I love the Thanksgiving holiday, and I always feel like it comes and goes too quickly. This year was no exception. It has been a great season, with many reasons to be thankful. One thing that I am grateful for is that Stockton has some of the greatest nursery leaders ever. No, really, I mean it. The Seager's show me exactly what it means to magnify your calling. Being a nursery leader is hard, believe me, I've done it. These two have grabbed on to this calling, and are making it mean something. The children LOVE them. Every Sunday, the only thing Stockton will talk about is "Sisto Seago", and I love it. A few weeks ago, they sent this home with the kids:
How adorably cute is that? My little two year old boy is thankful for those things. I love it, and this little hand out makes my heart melt everytime I see it. But what are the rest of us grateful for? Here's what they each said when they were asked "What are you Thankful for?"

Emma:
1. Church
2. Family
3. My home
4. Earth
5. My toys

Preston:
1. Family
2. My house
3. My wonderful Mom and Dad (brown noser)
4. All the movies I get to watch
5. That I have a brother and sister that care about me
6. I'm thankful for Heavenly Father's creations
7. I'm thankful that I could play baseball and basketball
8. I'm thankful that I can play games
9. I'm thankful for the church
10. I'm thankful for my toys
11. I'm thankful for my clothes
12. I'm thankful for the food that I eat, and that my mom makes it for me.
13. I'm thankful for my body
(Apparently he's very thankful this year, because his list went on and on!)

Heather:
1. My hard-working, wonderful husband
2. My family-the one I was born into-they make me smile and laugh and I know they will always be there for me
3. My in-laws and the example that they are to me and to my children
4. Having the means to keep the electricity flowing and the refrigerator full
5. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the anchor that it is in my life

Stuart:
1. The light at the end of the tunnel (with his schooling!)
2. My beautiful wife
3. My healthy children
4. The opportunity to coach
5. My amazing wife

Happy Thanksgiving! What are you grateful for?

Carving Pumpkins

We took advantage of a family night to carve pumpkins this year. This is an interesting event in our house. This year was no exception. Up until now, I've always been too nervous to let them carve themselves, but I was actually going to let them do their own pumpkins this year. We let them pick out the patterns that they wanted (mistake number 1) then we cut the tops off and they got busy picking out the guts! They all complained, but I secretly think they enjoyed getting all messy. They did a good job cleaning them out this year, and I only had to help a little at the end. Aren't they cute? And happy?
We only had one set of carving tools (mistake number 2). Stuart got busy helping the kids on the first pumpkin, while I melted the caramels for caramel apples. Notice the concentration going on, and notice who is doing all the carving!

Well, long story short, once the kids had patterns they wanted to do instead of just carving good ol' fashion jack-o-lanterns, the control freaks in us took over. We were too worried about them "messing" up the pattern. Instead of carving their pumpkins themselves, they carved some of the easy spots, and watched us carve the rest of it. What can I say, we have issues. The kids still had fun, and we now have a plan for the years ahead. For future reference, everyone gets their own pumpkin (to be bought early in the season so that we don't have to drive around town searching for a store that has any left) and the kids can do whatever they like with theirs, while the parents are crazy and particular with our very own pumpkins to control!

Here are the finished products. The kids are doing their best "Muahahahaha" evil laugh in the picture. It's times like this that I wish for a video camera.

This was our first adventure with caramel apples. It was fun, and the kids LOVED them! I love fun family nights!

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to show off my little goblins! Many of you know that halloween isn't my favorite holiday. I was never really crazy about it even as a kid, and neither was Stuart. As a parent, I thought I would start to enjoy it more when my kids were old enough to get into it. I don't. I still simply tolerate this holiday. But that isn't the point. My kids were adorable this year, and they did have a great time, so I guess that is what counts right? Our festivities started out with a Fall Festival at the kids school. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time going around and playing all the games, and getting to see their teachers and their friends. I only took one picture the whole night. (That is the result of Stuart having school, and not being able to go. It was enough trouble just trying to keep track of Stockton!!) The one picture I did take was of our own little vampire. They had a costume contest, and Preston got third place in the scariest category!! (They even gave out trophys!)

Here's the pictures of the kids all decked out and ready for the fun!

There is a lot of glare off this picture (hey, I'm not professional, and niether is my camera) but you can see how awesome he looks. We sprayed his hair black, and his teacher and friends all thought that was pretty cool. I think his favorite part was the blood trails that go down from his mouth! We had costume drama with Emma this year. She really wanted to be a pirate, but when we got the costume home, half of it was missing. So we went back to get another one, but by the time we got back, there were none left. She settled for being a bat girl. Honestly, I think it turned out better this way. She looks adorable (but that's just biased mom talk I'm sure). This is out little cowboy! Stockton did NOT want to get a costume. He still remembers Preston's scary mask from last year, and based on that he decided he didn't want to participate in halloween this year. The closer it got, the more the kids talked about it. Once Stuart and I got in on the action, we finally convinced him to be Woody (from ToyStory). This was the closest I could find, and he LOVED it. He spent entire days wearing his costume and saying "Ye Haw". Cutest thing ever!

Our last halloween event was a ward dinner/costume parade-contest/Trunk-or-Treat. It was fun! Here are the kids with some of our friends kids-Kamryn is the Sheep, and Kenna is Little Bo Peep. My kids love these girls, and can't get enough of them. Stockton loves to follow Kamryn around and "take care of her".

I feel like we never have pictures of the whole family-so here we are. This was at our ward Trunk-or-Treat. It was a good time. The kids loved it, and they got enough candy for several families.

The Diva in Action

Just in case you thought I was exaggerating when I described my little diva, I have a story to share. Emma has her first loose tooth. This is not a good thing for her. It makes her grumpy and she doesn't like it. This afternoon the kids had apples with lunch and when she bit into hers, she felt it pull on that loose tooth. It didn't come out, but she started to freak! She was crying and emotional. I finally got her calmed down enough to check her mouth. The tooth is more loose, but still has a ways to go. Finally I got her to talk to me. I asked her why she was so emotional about this tooth. Her response to me was (and I give you a direct quote): "Because I'm afraid I won't be pretty anymore when my tooth is gone." What? Huh? Where did that come from? She didn't believe me that she would still be beautiful with a lost tooth, so we were lucky that Daddy was home to reassure her. Once he told her that she would still be beautiful if she had no teeth at all, she was just fine. We took the opportunity to show her pictures of her mom with no teeth up front. She thought it was funny. Until the next breakdown...
P.S. It won't let me add pictures tonight, so I'll put them on tomorrow I guess!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

If I could do the impossible, I would. I would love to take Emma's energy, her love of life, her joy, her creativity, her desire to create things of beauty, her smile, and her ability to love and bottle them up. Emma is a special girl, a Princess, and one of the joys of my life. I often joke about the fact that I don't know why Heavenly Father sent me a girl because I don't know what to do with girls. And really, I'm not joking. I'm not good at fashion, I would rather wear jeans and a t-shirt every day than worry about it, I hate doing hair (my own and hers included) and I'm really bad at it, I'm not a diva, I hate carrying a purse, and jewelry is more of a hassle than it is worth. Emma on the other hand is a complete opposite of all of these things! She LOVES to go shopping and pick out new clothes. She also loves to decide which outfit she will wear each day and only pick the jeans and t-shirt if her other favorites are already dirty that week! She loves getting dolled up, but hates the time it takes to get there (our one commonality). She is a diva extraordinaire who loves to carry around a purse, and hates to leave the house without one. My family all thought she was hilarious because while we were camping this summer, she carried her purse everywhere. Last but certainly not least, her newest favorite thing is making jewelry. She loves to put together a new bracelet or necklace, and can often be found wearing one or more pieces of Emma Originals! Maybe someday I will fully understand why I was given a daughter who is clearly my polar opposite, but until then, I'm learning a lot along the way. Emma, thank you for coming to our family. Thank you for making all of us better. Thank you for all 8 of the new drawings/cards/pictures that you draw for me daily. Without you, our lives would be a lot quieter, but they would be much more boring and bland as well. Happy 6th birthday!

Emma decided that she wanted homemade pizza for her birthday dinner, and she got to make her own (of course) so she arranged her peperoni's in the shape of a smiley face!

Blowing out 6 whole candles! Stockton, Please don't help!

Don't forget the presents!

Having a little girl has been fun in a lot of ways too! I get to play with Barbies again, and this year, Emma chose a Pink Barbie Cake. She helped me make the cake and it was fun for both of us.

It took me back about 23 years to when my mom made me my very own Pink Barbie birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Emma! Here's to enjoying the moments! (Since we can't bottle them up and save them for later!)

Summer Vacation Part 2

Next on the agenda was to head up to Logan, UT to spend some time with Stuart's sisters and family. It was a blast! We spent the week swimming and playing, then there was more swimming, some games and x-box, more swimming and playing at the park! First, we love how beautiful it is up there. The summers are AWESOME! We have spent a week of each of the past two summers there, and it is always beautiful and green, and the weather is perfect.

Probably the best part of the week was the day we spent at Bear Lake. I had never been there, and I'm so glad we went. It was BEAUTIFUL! The kids had so much fun digging in the sand and running through the water. It was great. We laughed at each other and just had fun. Here are some pictures of our fun! (Thanks Whitney! I totally stole these off your blog!)

Maybe a runner like her Mom?

He loved the water, and had way more fun that I thought he would!

The big kids played Frisbee 500! And yes, that is my HUNK of a husband!

Unfortunately, after the first 20 minutes or so, this was Zach's idea of a good time! Good thing he has a wonderful and patient dad!

And you can't go to the beach without digging in the sand right? The artists in the family (aka, not me) made an awesome sand turtle that the kids had fun destroying once they were done. Here are Kristen and Whitney posing with their handy work!

And that is the famous and ADORABLE Zach! He is loved by all (most especially my kids. They love him and miss him terribly!) He is standing on top of the turtle and showing off his awesome baby belly!

At one point during the day I had to take Stockton up to the bathroom. While I was gone, the crew decided to play a little trick on me. They buried Preston.When I got back they kept me talking for a minute and then started asking "where's Preston?" So, I'm looking around, and I don't see him anywhere. My heart was starting to race and I was starting to panic. Luckily they didn't let their little prank go too far. They turned me around and he was about two steps behind me and one step to the right. I never even saw him. He thought it was pretty cool that he pulled a fast one on his Mom. I was just glad he wasn't drowning in the lake!

Because what is a trip to the beach until someone gets buried in the sand?

As always, we had a great time with you guys! It was a wonderful and relaxing week. Thanks for letting us crash on you and your home, and helping us to have such a great vacation. You guys are the best and we love you more than you can know. Thank you Whitney, Brad, Zach and Kristen!

P.S. On the way home we stopped and spent the night at my sister Michele's house. It was so fun. I love my sister and don't get to spend enough time with her. It was fun to be in her home and just visit and enjoy a quiet minute with her and her family! Thank you Michele and Don. We love you too!