Our Fresh Life

Scott and I both have siblings getting married over the next two weeks, and it has reminded me how grateful I am for him. We've been together now for almost half of our lives. I'd marry him again and again. We make each other better. We also drive each other crazy. (in the good and bad ways.🤪) He's my best friend and any second we're apart is a second too long.

I hadn't ever had an expectation for what life would exactly look like, but he has surpassed any and all of my dreams, both spoken and unspoken. He loves deeply, is the most fun to be with, and is the hardest working man I've met. This picture is fitting since it was taken last week after spending time together in the Dallas, Texas LDS temple. Anytime we spend time in the temple, we're reminded of our covenants and promises made with God, and each other, that give us the opportunity to be an eternal couple and an eternal family forever and ever. Good thing, cause I kinda love my fam. 😘❤️🥰

My favorite people! ❤️ "Family is central to the Creators plan for the eternal destiny of His children"

For Christmas, each one of our family members got a figurine that represents them as part of our family. I love that each figure captures each family member so accurately. Even Kaymen's figure is titled "spirited child" 🥰😂 I'm so grateful for each of these beautiful spirits, and for the opportunity to be an eternal family. Can you guess who is who! (The mother with the baby represents the two miscarriages we had years ago.)

Merry Christmas, dear friends. We hope your hearts and minds turn to our Savior, Jesus Christ during this beautiful season. These are difficult days, but because he was born, and ultimately atoned for us, all will be right in time. Please know how much you are loved and we feel continually blessed to call you, Friend. ❤️🎄

Food this beautiful deserves its own spot here. 🤩 What are you most looking forward to eating today for Thanksgiving?!

It was much harder than expected to get all SIX of us in one selfie! 😂 Can you see what Kaymen did when Scott said, "Kaymen, look up!" 🤪 Did you dress up for Halloween this year? No theme this time for us. We had Superman, one of the elves of Rivendell, Cruella, Wanda, Spiderman & Elsa

I have to admit, I didn't know how things would go.... how's school going for your kids this year?

When we decided to homeschool three years ago, the older girls already knew how to read and write, to add and subtract, multiply and divide. They were at the tops of their classes and I was, more than anything, just afraid of slowing them down or crippling their progress.

It was a completely different beast to start from NOTHING....no adding, no subtracting, NO writing, letter recognition, reading...no ALL of it!

VICTORY!! You guys! This kid! He's READING, WRITING, ADDING, SUBTRACTING.... He's comprehending! And it is INCREDIBLE! Last year, he excelled in Math and despised Language Arts! I'm talking tears EVERY DAY...(from both of us)

I recognized this year that it was at least partly due to the fact that he just wasn't ready. He had barely turned 5 the week kindergarten started, and so I see now that he just needed some time to grow and mature. Now, as a 1st grader, he walks into our little classroom, does his board work ( which includes a spelling word for the day and that word used in a sentence) stands to say the pledge of allegiance (he's memorized it now! 🥰) and then engages in each different element of learning for the morning.

I'm really grateful for fantastic curriculum choices that help engage his mind and solidify concepts. Specifically, we've used 2 different math curriculums and is by far my favorite for his age group! Engaging, diverse, thorough, it's fantastic! Actually everything he's using this year is theirs.

So far...this is my favorite homeschool year yet! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to influence our children for good. To teach them from the best books. To study both temporally and eternally important truths. It truly is a blessing.

We hug trees in our family. You could just call us "tree huggers" 🥰🌳 We found a secret spot to take the best pictures while we were at CVX Live last week. Can you guess where we were in this picture? Clue: We accidentally managed to find a way to have the sun both behind the tree AND in front of it!
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