Busy Bs

as in busy Breach family. Jeff pointed out to me that I have not blogged lately. My poor picture of the day blog has been deserted the last few weeks. I haven't downloaded pictures off my camera in weeks. Sigh. September is always this way.

Here is a little run down on what has been going on at our house.

JEFF - His work is busy, but he was just able to promote someone into an assistant supervisor type position which will help him out and allow him to switch to 4 - 10s (yay!) with Fridays off. He is waiting for his instructor to set up his black belt test. This is something he has been working towards for years, I'm really proud of his dedication. He is trying to plan a staycation for us (without the kids).

STEPH - I'm teaching 9 credits at CWI and running the Youth Court program. Crazy busy. I've been baking more than usual which makes Jeff happy - recent successes, caramel corn (2 varities) and chocolate pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. Loving the kids. Drinking extra diet coke. Reading the new Dan Brown book. Actually scrapbooked 6 pages last weekend. I've already started my Christmas shopping ... so fun!

MYLIE - She is loving soccer. Their team is having a lot of fun this season and it is fun to watch them improve each week. She has scored 3 goals so far this season and her pink shin guards are so cute. She has been playing dolls a lot lately. She has a great imagination. We have some fun library books and need to go get new ones. She loves loves loves going to the library. She and Jeff went on a movie date last weekend to "Up" and she had such fun. She is growing up so fast and I think we are going to have to go on fall shopping spree. She is much taller than she was last fall! She is going to be a princess for Halloween, so fitting.

BLAKE - He's just crazy. He understands so much that we tell him. He still has a limited vocabulary (at least that we can understand). He loves to play outside and just stands by the backdoor and begs to go out (like a dog). He starts dancing everytime he hears music come on ... TV show, commercial, radio, whatever. He is going to be a martial artist like his Daddy apparently. He and Henry fight a bit at daycare. They are the same age, but Blake is bigger. Apparently today Blake just sat on Henry, looked at him and folded his arms. So I'm totally open to ideas regarding hitting and wrestling ....

OVERALL - we are happy and excited about fall! We are in the process of getting a family dog which is exciting for all of us. Mylie is over the moon about it and Blake walks around saying "dogdogdogdogdogdogdog." We have everything ready to go except the dog and the food. We are working on finding the perfect dog for our family. Our weeks go slow and our weekends go fast. We are happiest just being together ... hanging out ... watching movies ... just as long as we are together!

There are people in your life

who you really miss when they are gone. I can't believe it has been 3 years that Grandma has been gone. Yet on the other hand, it seems like so much longer than that since I have talked to her. I still miss her so much. I love this picture, taken just about 6 weeks before she died.

Sometimes when my parents are on vacation and I don't talk to my mom for a week or so, I have this glimpse into what it must feel like for my mom not to be able to pick up the phone and call her mom and talk anytime she wants. And it hurts.

I'm so grateful to know that I will see her again someday. I'm grateful for eternal families. I am grateful that I had my Grandma for 30+ years of my life and that I have both my Grandpas going on 34 years. I am grateful that my grandparents aren't distant relatives but people who are a very important part of my life. I am so blessed.

Silly Kids!

**Mylie had a soccer game today (she scored 2 goals!). Jeff is the assistant coach so he is on the sidelines with the girls. There was a girl on the other team who was quite a bit taller than the girls on our team. Jeff said our girls were deep in discussion about her ... "How old do you think that big girl is? I bet she's a hundred." Silly girls.

**Blake loves dogs. But he thinks that all animals are dogs. So when he sees a dog (or any other animal) he yells "Dog! Dog! Dog!" After soccer today we went to lunch with Jeff's parents at Famous Dave's BBQ (yum). They have wild game mounted and hanging on the wall, such as a big elk right in front of our table. Blake yelled (loudly) "Dog! Dog! Dog!" Silly boy.

Feeding the ducks

Jeff and I both got off early today and decided to take the kids to the park to feed the ducks. Mylie knew just what to do ...


Blake just thought it was snack time and ate those stale hot dog buns, ick!


He was interested in the bridge.


Mylie is always interesting!

It was so cute how he wanted to hold on to the handle to walk across the bridge.

Time for a piggy-back ride.

So cute!

Blake is such a boy, he immediately insisted on playing in the dirt,

and picking it up and throwing it in the grass.

Blake is just getting so big! It was a nice afternoon, love this little family of mine.

Parenting is hard ...

No doubt about it, my kids are tougher than any boss I have ever had. But this job comes with the best benefits package I have ever had. Tonight I got home from work and had two little munchkins yell "Momma, Momma, Momma" and they ran to me and threw their arms around me. Apparently those 4 hours I was gone was long enough for them. I love these two crazies. They do drive me crazy sometimes sometimes. I'll admit it, but oh how I love them. Sometimes when I can step back from the day to day craziness of our life, I just feel overwhelmed with how lucky I am to be their mother, how lucky I am to co-parent with Jeff. Just lucky and blessed.

Lila

I realized that I haven't posted any of the pictures I took of Lila on my blog. This baby is so cute and I am so tickled with the shots I got of her. It has been about 16 months since I made the jump to a DSLR camera. I knew that having a nicer camera would help me take better pictures, but it was more than that. I have spent so much time (just ask Jeff) reading and trying to self teach myself photography through books and online photography sites. I don't have any aspirations to have a business or a photography careers, I just want to take the best pictures that I can of my own family. I never realized how much goes into photography, how it isn't just about taking a picture, it is about light, about composition, depth of field. I'm so happy with how these came together ... of course having an adorable baby girl to take pictures of helped too!

Heaven is Far Away

On Sunday afternoon Blake was napping, Mylie was having quiet time in her room, Jeff was watching a movie and I had dozed off on the couch. Suddenly I hear Mylie crying, not just crying, but sobbing. I jumped off the couch and ran into her room. She was sitting on the floor next to her bed just sobbing, her poor little body was shaking. She didn't appear to be hurt and I asked her what was wrong, but she could hardly talk. I gathered her up and we went into the living room and snuggled in the chair. She got her bearings enough to tell me that she was listening to her primary songs and one of the songs was singing about how Heaven is far away and it made her sad.

Apparently it made her really sad, it probably took me 45 minutes to get her calmed down. She would calm down for a bit, then just start to sob again. It made me wonder ... do little children remember Heaven? Do they remember being in Heavenly Father's presence? If they do, they must miss it immensely. I know our homes are supposed to be a Heaven on earth and a haven, but lately our home feels more like a zoo then like Heaven.

I've been thinking so much about parenting lately. Perhaps because I'm having some parenting struggles. Perhaps because being a parent is hard. Perhaps because I don't get how I can love my kids with reckless abandon one minute and be so emotionally and mentally taxed by them the next. In fact, today I got in the car and just sat there and cried for 20 minutes. No reason, nothing happened, I just feel so blasted emotional the last few days. I just want to be a good mom. I just want my kids to know without a doubt how much I love them. I just want our home to be peaceful, to feel more like Heaven ....