Back to the photo dump-catch up…. all for history’s sake.

I just have to get all this documented. 

The last time I shared all of our April memories.

It feels good to be catching up with this little project.

I was sorting through May, and I ended up with 54 pictures of memories that I wanted to share and remember.

I promise not to torture you with all 54 pictures in one post.

I will divide it in to 2.

I know you are thinking “thank you so much, 2 posts all about May, makes it so much more fun.” 

…and really you don’t have to read if it doesn’t interest you.

But… this is our life.  It’s our real life.

…and I want to remember.

I ended up with so many photos because May is worse than December.

It’s true; I have many friends who agree.

Our family calendar was extremely full.

So here it is:

Part One of Swenson Family Memories May 2015

1. We started the month off by going down to my hometown.

I grew up in Payson, Utah and it just so happened that an LDS temple was just finished there.

One of the exciting things about a new temple is that it is open to the public until it is dedicated.

This meant that our kids would get to see the inside of a temple for the first time.

We were all shocked at how beautiful and amazing it was.

I am thankful for temples and the role they play in my life.  The Payson Temple makes number 18 for temples in Utah, and 147 temples around the world.

 

It was a beautiful day to share as a family, and Jonathan’s parents got to go with us.

2.  One of the biggest events that takes place at our kid’s school is called the North Park Mile.

Last year, both Jex and Stella placed in the top 3 which was so exciting.

Stella had been practicing and training during the spring.

She has such long legs and makes such a beautiful runner.

Here she is neck and neck in first place.

When she crossed the line she came in 5th.

She had a moment during the race, where she just stopped running and gave up on herself.

It was a good learning experience for her to remember that she can do hard things.

I am so proud of her for finishing, even though at one point she said she wasn’t going to.

It’s pretty incredible that she took 5th place, when she stopped in the middle and said she was done.

She learned that day, that she can do hard things.  When life gets hard sometimes you just have to keep on going.

3.  …And then that coming weekend, we went back down to Utah County to run a 5k as a family. 

It was an angel run, and we were running for Angel Baby Ruby.

The funny thing is, Stella and Jex ran the whole 5k together.  The whole thing.

It was amazing to me.  Isaac ran it with me, and we only stopped once to take off our jackets.  He was a real trooper.  We just kept pushing each other along.

Jonathan also ran the whole thing while pushing Tessa in the stroller. 

Well, Tessa actually ran for about 3 minutes, and then into the stroller she went for the rest of the trip.

Jonathan had some insightful thoughts as he ran.

First of all, he didn’t come to the race with the intention of running the whole race.  He didn’t come prepared.  As he began, he felt that he needed to run the whole thing.  He thought about Kristin and Jared, and how they didn’t intend or know that they would have an Angel Baby, but they kept on going even when it got hard.  So when the race got hard(and it wasn’t easy to push a 45 pound-5 year old in a stroller), he pushed through using Jared and Kristin as an example.

There were also moments that he could feel that sweet angel baby helping him along.

We all ran for her.  We miss her so, but we know and believe in angels.  We know she watches over us.

4.  During the month of May there is always a lot going on at the kid’s school.  One day, Tess and I lived in the car.   This is our little “selfie” we took in between all the events of the day.

We had about 30 minutes during our day with nothing to do, and she begged for chick-fil-a.

I said “Yes!”, but I demanded a kiss.

5.  Mother’s Day was amazing this year. The kids and Jonathan were so thoughtful.

Jonathan took care of every meal, and helping the kids for the day.

He even let me take a really long nice Sunday nap(which I almost always do on Sundays.)

The kids had a slew of homemade gifts that they made for me. Including: soap dispensers with pictures, a story all about me, bracelets, coupons, home-strung necklaces, and even a rock.

Stella also baked some cupcakes while I was having my nap. She loves to bake.

I also bought myself this bracelet as a beautiful reminder.

Jonathan lets me pick out flowers for all my pots in the yard for Mother’s Day.

6.  That brings me to a slew of pictures that I just have to share.

I am obsessed with the beauty of flowers.

 

I love having them in my yard, and on my porch, and I love taking care of them.

I also love photographing them. 

 

Especially since I got my new lens that has a macro feature.

 

I have been able to take some really beautiful pictures. 

Now that I don’t have a photography business anymore, it has been fun to keep up my skill by taking photos of other things.

 

I am hoping to hang some of these in our master bedroom.

 

7.  One of the other school events that we attended was Stella’s 4th grade Utah program.

They sang songs all about Utah, and what it stands for.  What it produces, and how it came to be.

They dressed up in different costumes that help to represent those things.

Stella was a Mormon girl.

 

Which is very fitting for her because she IS a very beautiful Mormon girl.

So there you have it. 

Half of the month of our May memories.

More to come soon.

April Happenings 2015

April was a very fun and busy month.

1. We started the month out with Easter weekend. The Easter Bunny comes to our home on Saturday morning so that we can keep our Sunday all about the Savior and his Resurrection.  We also do all of the traditional Easter activities on Saturdays as well.

The kids baskets are always hidden by the Easter Bunny so they have to spend some time looking around for them Saturday morning.   I love that they found them, and went through them, all before I had even gotten out of bed.

So… then I wanted a photo, and I wanted it just the way they were.  This is them.  This is real at our house in the morning.  Crazy socks and hair.  It’s just us.

One of the important gifts in their baskets was a piece of jewelry that represents our church, and some of the beautiful thoughts and sayings we use.  It’s important to me that they have something in the basket that actually reminds them about what we are really celebrating.

Tessa’s say: “I am a child of God.”

Stella’s is a little different.  It is a locket, but it also says, “I am a child of God.”

Isaac’s is a tie clip and says, CTR which means “Choose the Right.”

Jex’s is also a tie clip, and his says, “Called to Serve.”  Which is something that we use and say for boys that our serving missions for our church.  I bought it a little early for him to serve as a reminder that we can always be missionaries, and it’s always important to serve.

I decided to invite my family up for the weekend.  Kristin and Jared were able to make it, and the kids were so excited to spend Easter Weekend with a few of their cousins.

We started Saturday with the traditional egg dying.  The kids really enjoyed it.

I always go a little over board on egg buying; and then we never eat them.  None of us like hard boiled eggs.  After I had thrown them all away, someone told me about the tradition of rolling them down old main hill at the University.  I think we will try that next year.  Then the seagulls clean up the egg mess.

Easter Weekend also happened to fall during our LDS General Conference weekend so we watched Conference and enjoyed Easter activities in-between the sessions.

After Saturday Conference was over we had an egg hunt.  The kids loved it.

We hid about 170 eggs so there was plenty to find.  Some had candy in them, and some had quarters.

 

It was a great afternoon.

I also hid giant eggs that looked like carrots.  Each child was required to find one. 

Each egg had a word in it.  They were required to put the words together and make a phrase.  The phrase was “The good news is he lives.”  Just another simple reminder of why we celebrate Easter.

The kids spent the rest of the day hanging out with each other.

Then when it finally got dark we did our annual glow in the dark egg hunt.  It was fun for Luke to be a part of this because he had never done it before.

It was a beautiful weekend, and we loved being able to spend it with some of our family.

2. The weather in April was so unpredictable.

One day we had this….

Then a few days later Jonathan was out playing BBall with the kids; because it was so warm.

I think the old mans still got it.

3. In mid-April, we made the journey down to Utah County to see this cute little baby be blessed.  It was a great weekend.

It is so nice that we can come down to share special events like these with our family.

We also enjoyed some time at the greatest park that weekend.  It’s called Neptune Park; and the kids loved it.  It was once again fun to share it with cousins.

Tessa decided she was completely in love with Cade, and wanted to hold him all day.  She then decided that we should adopt a baby.

So…. with that in mind, one day on our way to dance she said, “Ok, mom after you pick me up from dance, we should run and adopt a baby at the place that you adopt them.”  We need another mommy baby, so get one.

It’s so funny to me how easy she thought it would be to just adopt a baby.

4.  Jex started Spring Baseball again this spring.  There are lots of practices, and lots of games going on.  It’s always nice to get away from the house and just sit at a ball game. 

Once again, some games were cold, and then some were warm. 

Ugh!!! make up your mind weather.

I really enjoyed my blankets, and I was so thankful to have lots of them in my car one evening when the weather turned off really cold.

5.  I always make Strawberry Freezer Jam in the month of April.  The kids count on it.  On this particular day, I had a few helpers.  My sis-in-law needed some help with her kiddos; so my niece and nephew got to help me out.  They were actually very helpful.

Jane, my niece enjoyed eating Strawberries the most.

I think strawberry jam is so beautiful once it’s all put together.

We love having it all done and in our freezer throughout the year.  It makes great PB&J’s and it’s even better on ice-cream.  I can’t stand store-bought jam.  I am all about the homemade.

6.  As we got closer to the end of the month, Teacher Appreciation week snuck right up on me.  I really wanted the kids teachers to know that we appreciate all they do for our children.

I think being a teacher is one of the hardest jobs.

This is what we came up with.  I love flowers, and I thought it would be nice for the teachers to get something they could take home and add to their yard.  Maybe something they could look at all summer, and be reminded that we love them.

This is what we wrote on the tag:

“Thank you for helping me bloom.” Love, Isaac/Stella/Tessa

April was a great month.

7. We ended the month on a little bit of a sour note.  I ended up seeing a neurosurgeon for the pain that I was having in my arm, neck, and head.  We had figured out that I had a cyst growing on my T1 nerve.  This neurosurgeon decided that I should think about going through with having the cyst removed.

So as April ended, we moved on to May with a lot to think about.

It was a very risky surgery, and I needed to process the whole thing.

May Happenings will answer more of that for y’all in a few days; so stay tuned.

Thanks for being here; and seeing what we have been up too.