August Amari: Skate Boarding, Gardens. Dancing in the Car, Last Day of Pre-school

Early morning adventures with Dad

Fun with the slip and slide

Geese chasing boys around at Alridge gardens

Becks last day of pre-school. So proud of him and all he accomplished this year! He is such a smart kiddo and loves school and loves socializing so much!!

Having fun at Barnes and Noble

I love that Amari loves copying everything his brother says and does; he is such a good copy cat!

This will be a testament of how cool I am when the kids are teenagers :)

Some times life gets so busy and we get caught up in the rush of getting as many things done as possible...and we forget moments like these:

As a child I used to relish in getting lost in nature—wandering off on my own, taking in the smells that carried through the orchards behind my house, taking in Gods final masterpiece of the day, admiring the grandeur and glory of billions of billions of twinkling lights dancing across the night sky, noticing the shapes and the movements of the clouds, all the while taking a moment to contemplate life, commune with my Creator, wrestle through heartaches, work through things that were weighing me down, dreaming up dreams—giving those dreams to the universe.

As I'm sitting here looking over this lake at the last rays of sunlight, I realize that for the past 10 years of my life I've been so caught up with the hustle and bustle of making it, living it, doing it, surviving it, that I forgot to take moments like these to really feed myself...to remind myself that all of the things that lay deep inside are what make me enough—my story, my life, my successes, my failures. I. AM. ENOUGH.

Society deems being enough as constantly going, doing, hustling, striving, perfecting oneself—changing as a chameleon would, in other words, to fit in with what our environment says is enough. No matter how many promotions we get, how many pounds we lose, how good of a mom people say we are, how many cars, boats, the size of house we have, we will never feel enough; we will never feel a true sense of belonging from things outside of us. Belonging comes from accepting, loving, and sharing with the world the authentic person that is within us, right now ‪#‎guesswhat‬ ‪#‎youareenough‬

I could not be more proud of this kiddo! He LOVES water so much but has struggled getting in the pool for 2 years now. Lately he has been mimicking everything Becks does and I guess today he saw how much fun Becks was having and decided it was time to join in. He jumped in the pool and there has been no looking back; he LOVES swimming! And he was so very proud of himself, he clapped for himself and kept shouting yeah!! It brought tears to my eyes seeing him overcome a fear of his!

We were so privileged to be visited by Elder Bednar for our stake conference. I spoke to the boys about what privilege it was to be in the presence of one of the Lords apostles, and Becks was so very excited to see him. He truly laid down the law for the members and non-members alike during our meeting by telling the non-members how without a shadow of a doubt this was the true church and that they better stop thinking they didn't need anymore truth. He talked to us about how we needed to repent and become full members of the church. He also told us that this would be the last time we would most likely be visited by an apostle as they were needed in so many other places throughout the world. It was incredible to feel of his spirit and to see everyone stand in honor of his presence.

So sweet, a friend of ours bought him this mask. He said "this is so special, I am going to take extra care of it!"

When you have run out of ideas on what to do with your kids during the summer #letthembecats

Swimming at another YMCA

Night ride . . .Amari learned to ride his bike and now he loves riding!

This little guy and his snoring :)

Ice cream outside #southernliving

Beck's first "big accident", Amari pushed him into the pool and his chin hit the side of it and split his chin open. Dad acted as Doctor and put butterfly bandages on him.

Our first bird feeder

Alabama storms can be so crazy!

It is so hard seeing my little ones get sick. Breaks my heart thinking of all of those parents who have to see their children living in hospitals. Amari had a fever for 2 days.

I love naps! Today I especially loved it as I was up all night with Amari and then he permanently woke at 4am, followed by Becks at 5am who came into my room crying with a bloody nose.