First day of School

What a summer,  I have to admit that I almost feel ripped off a little.  I didn't get to do all the fun things that I usually take the boys to do and it makes me sad.  Actually what really happened is when we had the time and I asked, "do you want to go to the park, the zoo, the aviary.  Do you want to go on a bike ride, swimming, or a hike?"  They never wanted to, they want to "hang" with their friends or go ride their bikes around the neighborhood; but never with me.

I remember being 10 yrs old, if I look back on my childhood that is the age that I have distinct memories of where I was, what I was doing, and how I felt.  I remember riding my bike around the neighborhood, running in and out of all of my friends houses and as long as I was home for dinner thats all that mattered.

It scares me to think that I remember my teacher Mrs. Macintosh, the songs we sang, my first boyfriend Jeff Larsen, my first bra, and my first migraine.  I was old enough to know things and do things on my own but I still wanted my parents help; but not in front of my friends.  I road my bike to and from school everyday and if my mom wasn't home when I got there it was no big deal; I went out and played, or sat in front of the t.v. with a jar full of skippy.

As a parent I am absolutely terrified of my kids memory.  Not that I don't try my hardest every day to be the best parent that I can be, I do.  But, now I feel I have to put in that extra effort because they will undoubtedly remember things for the rest of their lives.

So this morning as I send them off for their first day of school, I snap this picture; they will remember this Jersey as being the outfit that they were so excited to wear.  They will remember Mrs. Hart; I hope she is good.  They will remember that all their friends are in the same class this year.  They will remember that the 2 of them were the number one pick for the Bountiful Braves gremlin football team.  They will probably find a girl they like, or maybe two.  But above all of that, I hope that they remember that their mom was here for them; to make them breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  To take them to school, to football, and to their tutor;  even though they hate going maybe one day they will be glad.  I hope they remember that I was there for the bike rides if they wanted me.  That I can still bounce them on the tramp even though they almost weigh as much as me.  And at night after the evening battle of brushing their teeth and washing their face, I hope they remember that I was there to tuck them in and kiss them goodnight.

Happy Anniversary

Each morning I wake and every night I fall asleep I can't help but think of how lucky I am for so many things, but the one thing that I always feel so blessed for is my marriage.  When I look back to my dating years and I think about the boys that I dated, I can't help but think how different my life would have been had I taken a different path.
How amazing it is that my brother Travis served with Erik in the MTC and remained good enough friends for 2 years that Trav invited Erik to lake powell.  Then by some  miracle Erik and I became friends; he lived an hour away, is 5 years older, and was at such a different time in his life than I was.  But somehow, through one year of dating, one year of being good friends, then one more year of dating and being best friends he asked me to marry him.
He is my best friend, and an amazing husband and father.  He works harder than any man I know to create a happy, loving home.  He provides, he plays, he loves.
Marriage isn't easy, but it shouldn't be hard either.  I can't help but think that there needs to be a balance of everything.  You have to work at it, but you also have to play; and play hard.  Of course there is always going to be a fight, but if you didn't fight then you wouldn't make-up.  There is a certain balance in our marriage; I know his role and he knows mine, when one of us can't fill our role then the other steps in.  Every time we go to Costco as a family we get home and we take on our roles; he unloads the truck and brings everything to the stairs of the house, the boys then bring everything from the stairs to the kitchen, and then I put everything in its place.  Each time we go to Costco as a family and we go through our routine I work in the kitchen smiling; these are not only our responsibilities after a day of shopping, these are our responsibilities for our life.  Everything we do in our life, our marriage, our family; we do it together.  We are not always smiling and happy while we do it, in fact sometimes we are crying, screaming or whining; but we still do it.....together.
Each year on our anniversary since having kids Erik and I struggle with what we should do to celebrate if anything at all.  We can never seem to decide if we should get a babysitter and go have a nice dinner or do we take the kids somewhere with us?  As we casually discuss the day we almost always come back to us as a family, we would not have the marriage that we do with out our handsome boys.  They entertain us, they play with us, they help us, they make us mad; really mad sometimes.  So when it comes to the Happy Anniversary celebration we typically choose to celebrate with our family.  It is our family unit that makes our marriage click, it is why the last thirteen years have been so rewarding and it is why the next thirteen plus are going to be just as wonderful.
Thank you Erik for the best 13years of my life, I will continue to love you, work with you, play, laugh, and cry with you.  I would not be who I am without you in my life;

Loving Summer

Here we are in the middle of July, baseball is over, football has just begun.  Water parks, hikes, vacations, rhino rides, boating, campfires, movies, and night time bike rides have all been done.  There is no better time to bond with your family than summer time.  How blessed I feel to have a husband that can come home in the middle of the day to hit up our favorite amusement park or run up to the lake.  I feel even more blessed that I look forward to him coming home early!!


Here are a few pic's to give you an idea of just how busy we keep our summers, keep in mind we are only half way done!

We started off with the Dirty Dash, next year the boys are going to join us!

 Time to remodel the Laundry room, too much wasted space.  The mess almost drove me crazy!

 Way to many rattle snakes this year.  This one had a full grown squirrel in its belly,  YES they did cut it out; they are boys.

 Family reunion to Reno, Nevada.  All of the boys had a blast.

 Slip and slide, went on forever and could have kept going!

 Sidewalk days at the Gateway, so relaxing and so many talented people.

Combining work and pleasure; Daddy had to work in St. George so we tagged along.  We got to see Zion's while we were there!

Tipton boys will be Tipton boys

It is not easy to be a wife to a Tipton boy,  I don't know if it is easier or harder for me because we live out of the "Tipton" state of California.  When I first married or even started dating Erik and we would go visit his family it was always very entertaining to watch all 4 of the bothers, if not somewhat chaotic.  As time went on and Erik and I got married and had kids the chaos of the Tipton brothers though still entertaining is still sometimes annoying. When they are having so much fun together that they forget that they have a wife and kids.  There are times when you can see any one of the Tipton wives sitting in the car with all the kids buckled up and ready to go home 40 minutes past bedtime; but the Tipton boys are so clueless as to what is going on outside their circle of fun.  How many a family reunion do we wives chase after and entertain our kids while our husbands entertain themselves with various games; R.C. cars,  pillow toss with elbow catch, baseball,  crazy high fives(this can go on for awhile), video making.  The list goes on and on.

As the years have past I have learned to be more patient and realize that they don't see each other very often.  Last night after a rainy day home with the kids Erik was sitting working on his lap top and I was doing dishes.  At the first sound of laughter I looked up to find my boys 20 minutes into a game of kick the hacky sack past the other and score a goal.  The game totally made up on the spot with rules and all.  They were entertained for an hour before it was time to cut them off and put them to bed.

As I sat recording them I couldn't help but think to myself; only a Tipton boy could be this entertained for so long.  I can only hope that my boys will grow up and have a relationship like their uncles.  I pray that they will always find joy in one anothers company, that they will have many moments of laughter together.  If I am lucky enough, maybe they will drive their wives crazy playing silly games way past the time they are suppose to be somewhere else.

Easter Sunday

Erik and I lay in bed last night going over the days events, Easter just felt different this year.  The boys are at such a weird age for Holidays.  Do they still believe?  Do they not believe? Do they  not believe but don't want to say anything for fear of not receiving gifts?  Do they not say anything because they feel the Holidays changing as much as Erik and I and they don't want to loose "that" feeling as much as we don't want to.

We started Saturday with coloring eggs, they were excited as always for about 15 minutes at which point they took a t.v. break.  One hour later  I had lay down the law and make them come and finish their eggs; 4 went un-dyed.

They weren't as excited when they went to bed that night, I usually have to pump them full of melatonin on holidays to get them to sleep, but they went down just fine.  Easter morning however they were up at the crack of dawn whispering in their room wondering what kind of tasty treats  were left for them; also probably wondering how a little tiny bunny could magically leave the whole world treats in one night.  Or is it not a tiny bunny but a 6 foot creature that maybe they should be more afraid of than excited for.

Finding their eggs was much like dying their eggs, they were done half way thru; maybe I provide too many!  The rest of the day was mostly relaxing, sitting around the house playing, watching t.v., and getting a few things done.

Grandmas house for dinner was nice as always, dinner was delicious, dessert was even better; maybe because I don't eat dessert that often anymore.  The kids played ball out back and did their PaPa easter egg hunt.   Each grandchild gets 10 eggs with $1 in each egg.  I love the money thing, my kids need more candy like I need another diet coke.

The days events are done, the kids are down for the night and Erik and I are laying in our bed feeling that it is just not the same.  Our little family is growing up and while some parts of that are great other parts, like holidays really suck.  Maybe in a year or two we will have that renewed life, that excitement again..............

Happy Easter.

PineWood Derby

Alongside homework, teaching combat, dad heading out of town, and baseball practice we had our pinewood derby last night.  Our experience at the pinewood derby taught me a lot, one is that I am growing up a little:

Carters car had the fastest speed in all four races on all four tracks, he beat out every car he raced against, and he went the furthest on the track every time.  In fact he went further and got there faster than anyone else ever did.  For some reason he did not win, maybe there was error in that of the girl that was averaging the numbers or maybe I just don't get the way that it is done.  This is what I know; I was already so upset from a number of things that had happened that evening, my blood pressure was already way up.  When I asked and heard he wasn't in the top 3 I took a deep breath then told Carter.  He was visibly upset but as I went over to gripe and complain to my mom and dad I noticed what Carter did.  He went on playing with his friends, he stood there as the awards were won and he cheered when 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize were handed out.  He didn't give it another thought, he is a boy, he was having fun and he wasn't going to let anything stop him.

Who am I,  even as his mother to teach him to behave any different than the way he just did.  He was a good sport and a good looser even when he knew he probably should have won.  I don't know if that is a quality that can be taught or if it a quality that he just has but I am so proud of him.  Maybe I should take a step back and a deep breath every once in a while and let my kids teach me a few things.  Carter is a strong boy with a gigantic heart.

Life in the fast lane, or at least it feels that way

Here we are in the middle of April with winter, spring, and summer all in the same day.  The boys are in Baseball, practicing three times a week,  games one or two times if the weather will allow.  They have the pinewood derby tomorrow for which they are not ready, we haven't had the time or the DAD to make a car let alone two cars.  They will be just fine using their amazing cars from last year; Erik spent enough time on them to count for 2 years anyway.

I feel busy as all get out trying to put together the pinewood derby even though I asked to be released nearly 2 months ago, oh well.  I also have teacher appreciation next week that I am doing for the PTA, it is going along fairly smooth and so far hasn't consumed to much of my time.  I am also trying to kick my own butt at CrossFit.  I have some pretty lofty goals that I hope to reach by the end of the school year, when I reach my goals I will create new ones.  There is always room for improvement.

Erik is busting his butt non-stop.  Even if he isn't at work in the O.R. or at his desk his mind is going a million miles a minute.  He has been home for 4 days from his two and a half week adventure and he leaves again tomorrow.  We are starting to miss him.  This is a big lifestyle change for all four of us, we are used to being together all of the time.  It is going to take a while to get used to but I know we will, and I know it will be worth it.

Here is to hoping that it will stop raining and snowing.  Lets hope that we will soon be watching the boys play ball and that I can get my garden planted in the next couple weeks.  It is going to be a great summer I can feel it.  Let the adventure begin.