Buddies

Gavin and Greyson are such great little buddies.  Gavin just has to walk in the room and Greyson is smiling at him.  Greyson spends hours in his jumper that hangs between our kitchen and playroom just watching Gavin build Lego's or play with cars.  One of Greysons favorite things to do lately is spend time outside.  Gavin is happy to comply and help keep an eye on him.  This first picture is my favorite of the bunch!

Quiet Moment

Today I had one of those special quiet moments with Grayson.  One of those moments where nothing was said, but everything was felt.

I got my work out in early in the day.  Took Gavin to preschool.  Went visiting teaching.  Came home and put Grayson to bed and got in the shower.  I thought about all those things that were on my list and what I needed to get done that day.  When I was done Gray was still screaming, apparently never went to sleep.

I went in and picked him and sat in the big brown comfy chair.  He calmed down instantly and snuggled right into the crook of my arm.  The house was quiet and we sat there looking at each other.  It was one of those moments where our spirits were having a conversation.  I felt so full of love, peace and contentment.   I was so grateful for the gift that is motherhood and thought again how lucky I was.  I stroked his face.  Over his eyes, down his nose and along the contour of his cheek and chin.  He rested his tiny little hand on my face.

Eventually those eye lids began to close.  But I didn't lay him down.  I sat and held and cherished the moment until I thought my heart was going to explode with joy and love.  I thought how five years from now Abby will be 16...dating and driving. (scary)  McKenna will be 15 and a freshman in high school.  Zachary will be 13.  He'll hold the Priesthood and will be in Junior High.  Gavin will be 9, a baptized member of our church.  And Grayson, this little baby asleep in my arms will be in Kindergarten.

And I thought to myself that I better not even blink.  Five years may seem like a long time, but it's really not!  After all, this is our fourth year here in Virginia!  Five years and these little ones will be not be my little ones anymore.  I want to stop and breath these moments in while I can.

I made a commitment to myself to make a conscious effort to cherish these moments.  To not get so caught up in the to do's of each crazy busy day and all the activities of the big kids that I miss moments like this with Grayson and the others.

Oh how I love these little moments that cause me to readjust and tweak my priorities.  They pull back on track.  They remind me that keeping my house spotless all the time, making sure my kitchen is always clean, laundry always done and put away, everyone to where they need to be and on time are not the most important things.  They help me remember that it's not only OK, but good, to let things go so that I am there in the little moments of the lives of my kids.

I'm grateful for these reminders because man alive do I ever need them.

Rusty

Meet Rusty...or as Abby calls him "Trusty Rusty"

This is Rusty's home..

Rusty makes his appearance every morning in our house usually around 8:00.
He has become a part of our regular mornings around here.

Every other day he leaves our house and travels by bus so he can join the countless others like him in the Middle School Band room.  Lucky for him he has this cute girl to take such great care of him.

(The good news is that all those squeaks and squawks are actually starting to sound like real songs now.)

Baptism Weekend

The rest of the weekend involved hanging out, soccer games and a whole lot of food.  Because the birthdays of my three big kids are all within a month of each other, Grandma and Grandpa Crane told them they could each pick a meal and what or where they wanted to eat that meal.  Zachary chose spud nut donuts for breakfast.  McKenna chose Panera for lunch and Abby chose Bonefish Grill for dinner.  It was a very special treat for all of us because we hardly ever eat out.  So thank you Grandma and Grandpa Crane!!!  This visit we had to keep Grandpa off the tramp because the springs are breaking left and right.  But that didn't stop the fun.  They got a great game of baseball going in the backyard.  Tina taught me so cute and easy new hairstyles to do on my girls.  And Abby loved her late night talks with Grandma.  My kids had such a wonderful weekend and didn't want it to end.  Even three days later they're still talking about how much fun it was to have Grandma and Grandpa here and Aunt Tina and Brendan.   Living so far away, I see them truly treasuring more and more any amount of time they do happen to get with family.

Zachary's game was in the morning.  He played great and even scored a goal!

 Really at this point it should not be called soccer but magnet ball as a heard of boys chase the ball around the field,

 Playing a game of football before McKenna's game.

It was such a highlight for Zachary to have Brendan in town.  It's amazing how much these two boys love each other.  I remember when we used to live by these guys in Arizona Zachary and Brendan would fight and argue and push each others buttons like crazy.  And Tina and I used to look at each other and wonder if they were ever going to get along.  When it came time to say goodbye to each other late Monday morning there were tears by both of them.  And all I've heard ever since is how Zachary wants to move to Indiana.  

Zachary's Baptism

Zachary Bret Crane was baptized Saturday, September 15th.

And what a day it was!  There were lots of dear friends who came to support Zachary.  The Harris's, Evan's, Johnson's, Amos's, Zobrist's and Harding's all came.

Zachary's cousin Brendan and his Aunt Tina drove all the way from Indiana to be here for Zachary's special day.  These two boys are 2 1/2 weeks apart and love each other like crazy.  Tina was nice enough to be the chorister for us and Brendan even said the closing prayer.  

There's nothing like seeing your husband and child dressed in white ready to enter the waters of baptism.  I get emotional just thinking about how wonderful and special it is.

Zachary is such a special boy.  He took this decision very seriously.  He not only read the Book of Mormon on his own before he was baptized (he even finished last January), but he prayed to know that he was making the right decision.  He is a boy who is close to the spirit.   I'm so proud of him and his desire to do what is right.

Grandma and Grandpa Crane were able to make it from California.  Grandma gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and Grandpa confirmed Zachary and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We love you Zachary!  

Catching Up

I've done some serious back-posting today.  With much more still to come.

And not that I even pretend that people are interested other then maybe my mom and dad, here are the links to the posts.


July 4th: http://thecraneblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/fourth-of-july.html
Lake Tahoe: http://thecraneblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/lake-tahoe.html
I See the Y: http://thecraneblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-see-they-y.html
Ice Blocking: http://thecraneblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/ice-blocking.html
Cupcakes=Love: http://thecraneblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/cupcakeslove.html

Abby's Birthday

11 years ago this beautiful girl came into the world and I became a mother.  Oh how I have been grateful for her ever since! She is a true gift and joy in our family.  She is kind, thoughtful, responsible, respectful, obedient, funny, and intelligent just to name a few.  She is so much fun to be around.  I love our big girl outings, our conversations and how wonderful she is with all her younger siblings.  She is just wonderful in every way.

I was more then happy to bring in treats to her favorite class, but I was informed that morning that it was no longer cool for me to come eat lunch with her.  That ship has sailed.  It was fun to walk by her locker and see the notes friends put on it for her.

As one birthday present we let her get her ears pierced...definitely the highlight of her birthday.

She's such a tween...so excited about i tunes gift card and cloths.  One way to look at it she's easy to please! :)

Her birthday comes at the perfect time of year for her to have her favorite desert...fresh peach pie.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!  We love you more then you know.

Zachary's Birthday

Zachary was a great sport this year and loved his parents even though we were out of town on his big 8th birthday.  (sorry buddy!)  We tired to make it up to him and took him out for a special birthday lunch at the Boar's Head before we left town and then had our family celebration when we got back home.

I think the actual day ended being a pretty good one though.  In the morning his sisters had a scavenger hunt all set up for him with candy at each clue leading to a new wii game they got for him.  He was so excited he woke up at 6:00 to begin.  They made him go back to bed until at least 6:30 before they let him start.  There was no school that day so our friends the Harris's picked him to go play at there house where he was in heaven with their four boys.  She even bought donuts as a special "It's Zachary's birthday" treat...and that's a big deal for Jodi!  And then a good friend in our neighborhood made Zachary his favorite chocolate cake so he could have a special birthday cake that night.  I've really got some great friends who not only look after me but take care of my family as well.

Bret and I returned from Utah 3 days later and had our families belated birthday celebration.

(I know right...Christmas wrapping paper!  Let's just pretend those are different colors and it's really birthday wrapping paper.)

We gave Zachary an air soft gun for his birthday.  It was the perfect gift that went right along with his new set of scriptures.  (ya right.)  Strict rules with this thing...it stays in my possession unless he is using it and absolutely NO shooting other people.  We'll see how long that lasts but so far so good!

Man I love this boy of ours.  He truly is a special boy and I can't wait to see what amazing things are in store for him.  His little brothers are blessed to have him to set such a great example for them to follow.

50th Wedding Anniversary

The first weekend in September all my siblings and their spouses gathered at my parents home in Saint George to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary.  My parents didn't want a party, or a reception of any kind, they just wanted to be together with their kids on their anniversary.

It was such a great weekend.  We haven't done anything as just adults in our family for a while and it was so great to just be together without our kids around.  We have so much fun at Lake Tahoe every year, but we are all so busy parenting.  All of us had different assignments for the weekend.  It was so nicely planned with great outings, lots of down time to relax or do whatever people wanted and of course lots of yummy food.  There were two downsides to the weekend.  One, my brother Chris as not able to get off of work and so couldn't make it.  We loved having his wife Maren there, but missed Chris.  Two: the Saint George Temple was closed for cleaning.  We all would have loved to be able to be in the temple together.

The first morning the guys went golfing while the girls went to get massages and have lunch at the spa.  Bo and Steve opted out of golf and played risk.

Later that night we went to a really nice restaurant for dinner.  We all went around the table and shared what we loved and appreciated about my parents and what we have learned from them.

Michelle and Bo had to leave the morning of the second day because Robert was getting married in a few days and Brianna was going through the temple for the first time.

We went on a beautiful hike up Snow Canyon the second morning followed up by breakfast at the Bear Paw

That afternoon some of us went to a movie, or did a little shopping.  My brothers all decided it was their turn for time at the spa and went to get massage's themselves.  There is something about us Daines kids that we LOVE massage's.

That night we drove up to Cedar City to the Shakespeare Festival to see a play.

David and Julie

The guys outside grilling the steaks for Sunday dinner.

Rob and Ruthann

Sunday dinner, trying our best to fit us all in the picture

Steve and Kathryn

Paul and Tina

Even though Chris wasn't there, I still got a picture of Chris and Maren at Roberts wedding.

Happy 50th wedding anniversary Mom and Dad!!!!  What an amazing legacy of love and service the two of you created.  So grateful we got to celebrate such an important milestone together as a family.