letting go, living life

things don't always go as planned. God has different ideas and plans for our life and sometimes its hard to see what the BIG plan is.  i have learned that this week.  i read a blog called hands free momma and she posted today about less worry, more life. we all need less worry, more life. today i need to let go, i need to live life with my 3 boys and my husband and not worry about tomorrow or what the big plan is. i want to etch all of these fleeting memories that are made everyday in my head and NEVER forget them. i want to remember the way hudson calls me "ma" and how happy he is after he wakes from his nap and he sees me, how he hugs me tight and gives me the most beautiful smile. i want to remember "super-kasen" and all of the crazy super faces he makes, thw way he says "te-tar" for guitar and wants to be just like his big brother. i want to remember all of braden's titanic and train stories and his amazing imagination and the way he loves school, how he wants to grow up and be a train engineer...and how he can't go to sleep at night without our long list of "i love you more than's....". those are the things that are most important, not jobs, not money, not cars....memories....those are the most important and you can't get those moments back. so i'm making the vow to let go and live life....and to cherish all of these moments with my kids and my husband.

head over to hands free mamma and maybe you will find less worry and more life:
http://www.handsfreemama.com/2012/10/23/less-worry-more-life/

Braden's Baptism

One day after school as we *me & the 3 kids* were waiting our turn in line at the "new car wash", Braden was rambling on and on about school and telling his tall tales, Kasen was acting like Spiderman or Hulk or some superhero, Hudson was sleeping and I was lost in my own thoughts.  Braden and I have this conversation:

Braden: "MOM - I'm ready to be baptized and I want Dewey to do it, okay?"
Me (completely caught off guard): "okay, do you know what it means to be baptized?" Braden: "yes, it means that I know Jesus and he lives in my heart, he loves me and I love him and I want to live with him forever in Heaven."
Me: "okay, we will call Dewey tonight!"

This whole conversation completely caught me off guard but it made my day! We have been taking the kids to church every Sunday & every Wednesday. It made me so proud and happy to know that he felt moved and that he made this decision and commitment on his own terms. We called Dewey that evening and the plans were made and Braden was baptised a few short weeks later on March 25, 2012. Dewey preached an awesome sermon that Sunday, he made Braden's special day even more special. I'm so thankful that we have him and his family in our lives. Our kids love Dewey & Norene, they are a blessing to us, our church and our community! We had a lot of family there to support Braden on his decision and then we all celebrated afterwards with pizza and cupcakes. Here are a few pictures from that special day.

 Braden being baptized

 Braden getting lots of love after the ceremony

 Braden & Dewey

 this is the best family photo we got that day!

the cupcake cross

very proud of his new bible

embrace the camera

I've been absent....for that I kick myself & apologize to you! I want to capture all of these precious moments with my kids but life seems to be sprinting by! I've been reading a blog for a while now and on thursday's she does something called "embrace the camera", it is used to encourage us mom's that are usually the picture "taker" to be in the picture so that when our children are grown they will know what mom looked like and be thankful mom decided to step in front of the camera.  so here is my embrace the camera moments for this week. I hope to at least do this with Emily once a week but hopefully more often!

 *mommy pile-up*

*me & my 3 boys at cherryberry on my birthday*