April 12, 2012

Much Thanks & Going Ons

Well, thank you for the kind messages and words of encouragement regarding my Easter post!  My brother called me right after I posted and said, "You seem so normal and happy in person but then I read your blog." Haha!  Perhaps I'm too honest?  I find it therapeutic.

Anyways, church issues aside, life is actually wonderful. That sounds awful!  Life is only wonderful because of the knowledge I gain from church and the testimony that burns in my heart that I have a Savior who knows me and loves me and understands my challenges and provides comfort and sustains me in my trials.  It's because I understand the importance of church and desire for my children to have testimonies of the Savior too that I care so much about them being present and reverent in Sacrament meeting.  I love church!  I want my kids to love church, too.  So badly.

Anyways, that's not what this post is about....

Life is wonderful!  Ben is home lots more and even took a day off work recently just for fun.  The kids seem much happier, Ben seems less stressed, and I am feeling more relaxed.  I also love that the sun is setting late because it provides us with opportunities to go places and do fun things in the evenings.  I haven't been great about photographing our explorations but here are a few pictures from recent outings...

************************

The kids favorite restaurant is Sweet Tomatoes.  We went there on Friday.  The paper has coupons for $20 for a family of four.  Not bad, right?  They love the all-you-can-eat and pick-what-you-want-to-eat aspects.  Among their favorites are the macaroni and cheese, breads, cheese, broccoli, and definitely the ice cream bar.  They think it's better than Disney World.




After that we headed to Clearwater beach....







Sadie was burying her Easter bunny stuffed animal in the picture shown above. 



**************************

We went to Target recently to pick up a special something for Jax (I'll share it in another post).  Sadie is sad that she doesn't get to ride in the cart anymore so I let her bring her own stroller.  People give us strange looks and say things like, "Well, you sure have your hands full." I just nod my head and move on.  I think people think I'm an unfit parent because I have three kids close together so we don't usually get sweet comments out in public anymore.  This is what we look like:



We're not so bad, are we?

****************************

We have a few Pasco beaches close by.  They're just rocky and yucky beaches but sometimes we go anyways for the sunset.  The kids always enjoy scooping out new places.  This one had a boardwalk/sidewalk along the water.  When we were leaving the house Sadie didn't want to get off her bike and in the car so we told her she could bring her bike if she would get in the car happily.  She said, "Oh, okay!"  She was thrilled that she could take her bike along with her.  We brought the baby stroller for Jax to equalize things.  











Is this why there are slots in the front and back? 

2 comments:

Steph said...

Cute photos!! I'm so sorry about Easter! I had no idea it was THAT bad. Alicia, you held it together quite well. I would have been screaming and kicking my legs on the floor with my children. ;)Hopefully this Sunday brings good news for you!

Sharla said...

Brothers are sometimes too honest, haha. I love these pictures. Your hair looks so cute. And I applaud you for your solution to target trips. What a good idea to take the stroller.