Raising Flowers and Skids

Monthly Snaps of Life

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Leah

So I was looking through my phone and came across so many pictures (don’t worry, I won’t post them all here) but figured I’d post a smattering of them to help me remember all the little moments – and bigger ones that I capture on my phone since it’s the most handy thing to have around. I then found some pics on my real camera that I figured I needed to post summer to end off all our summer festivities! So, here they all are – monthly snaps of our CDF life

^^ Sammy went to the Rogers Cup with Dad

^^^ Loved the rainbow that was above Zach at one of his soccer games!

^^^ Someone sent me this picture of Josh at YM camp at the campfire

^^^ Ok, so I also stole this pic off someone’s Facebook page (photo creds Phil Lim). When I see a pic of my kids, I do a screen shot:) This is Sam and the Mission President at Gabe’s baptism

^^^Can’t forget Reggie…

^^^ How they roll…

^^^Love when the kids get a hold of my phone and take selfies! My two braces cuties!

^^^ Washington selfie – may have already posted this one – but I love it!

^^^Beauty on a long drive home

^^^These two beauties got invited to a Quinceanera and had a great time!

^^^Since this is how I spend much of my life, I figured I might appreciate the beauty and opportunity to see so many beautiful skies!

^^^Heading to YLC Reunion dance!

^^^Photobooth at the YLC reunion dance

^^^YLC Reunion Dance Photo Booth

^^^More selfies – while at our photoshoot (and Emily, our photographer was taking a pic of everyone using electronics!!)

^^^ Emily Lim (our photographer) did an incredible job!!

^^^Can’t resist the in between selfies!

^^^Hard to keep teens focused even during a photoshoot!

^^^ Josh at YM camp

^^^Had to throw this one in bcs of Zach’s annoyed face! lol

Here’s a whole bunch of Josh at YM camp! So glad I came across these (and screen shotted them – but didn’t edit!) He had such an awesome time, glad I was able to get a peak of his adventures!

^^^Zach’s final league game. Gorgeous sky!

^^^Super fun game but we were freezing!

^^^ They won the last game and season! Undefeated! Zach’s awesome coach, Andy, brought them non-alcoholic champagne to celebrate and sprayed them all. I was already in the car warming up, so came running to the fence for pics! I got a great video – but these pics will have to do to remind us of the great memory!

^^^Josh’s team won a tournament that same weekend – I was only able to be at this last game with him (no worries, we have a lot of soccer coming up in Spain!!)

^^^ Love the drama… My boy is seriously Italian!

End of year soccer party for Jupiter 21 Academy. Zach won player of the season. He is a great Captain and seriously loves his team mates. Such awesome boys!

Then the official ceremonies at the league: Undefeated Champions:

And…I’ll stop there as I feel like I’m spamming myself! Good times, good memories, good kids:)

Quote of the Week

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Leah

“You don’t want to look back and know you could’ve done better”

It seems to be a constant, non stop whirlwind around here.

But, time to get back on track (AGAIN!!) and back to the routines and traditions that really keep our family together. I really don’t want the years to pass by and me think about all the simple things that were swept aside because of time pressures and “bigger things at the time” that seem to take precedence.

Because really, it is the simple things that will be remembered. At least in my mind.

So, once again, I pledge to do better.

Our Family Photoshoot

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Leah

Our friend Emily is an amazing photographer and I’m so glad she agreed to take us out to the Brickworks for a formal family shoot. I wish I could say the ones with technology or the fighting were completely posed, but in truth, the kids were on their phones a lot and the boys spontaneously broke out into wrestling! The lighting was awesome and Emily knows how to work magic… here are the results (there’s a lot… but I loved even more!!)

Quote of the week

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Leah

“Loose gravel will slow you down just as much as a big boulder”

I love this quote as it’s a little reminder that the little things do matter.

In fact, the little things can make all the difference – for good and bad.

As we start a new school year, it’s the opportunity to focus on all the little things now at the beginning of the year. I’m trying to convince my kids that it’s the listening in class, note taking, doing daily homework, reading the readings and reviewing work that will help make all the difference. Not just the giant test at the end.

It’s the daily I love you’s, thoughtful text messages, kisses and hugs, small expressions of gratitude and appreciation, and meaningful apologies for small things that contribute to the foundation of a solid relationship. Yes, the “big” and “wow” factor things are great, but the small things are really the things that hold it all together.

Likewise poor choices around small things can lead to bigger challenges down the road. A degree of difference is not immediately a big deal, but follow its course and you could wind up finding yourself way off where you intended.

Yes, small things do matter.

First Day of School

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Leah

Is it possible that we have THREE highschoolers, ONE middle schooler and only ONE left in elementary?

Yup. Sadly. Time marches on and it doesn’t stop as you can see in these back to school posts.

But, truth be told, as sad as I am that they age, every stage is truly awesome (and truly terrible, depending on the day you ask me).

We woke up to rain on our first day, which made me super sad as that meant for the first time in YEARS we couldn’t do our traditional stair picture:( No one wanted to sit on wet stairs?!?!? So we improvised, and I guess it turned out ok. But the humidity certainly was terrible to MY hair (waste of time straightening it!!).

Everyone else looks smashing in my opinion though!

Entering Grade 7 – starting a new school (middle school) ^^^Tradition is Josh always does a funny pose, but said his stomach was hurting, so this was the pose I got ^^^Grade 5! Last one still in elementary school ^^^

Grade 9 – Starting high school! ^^^

Grade 12 – last year of high school!^^^

Choose the right Zach ^^^

Grade 9 – first day of high school ^^^

His mug shot (can you tell he was being goofy …just thought I’d capture that side of him here) ^^^

I tried to get some pics of the all leaving and I can tell you they were ANNOYED!!! But, whatever:)) —>

Best buds since grade 2^^^ His Mom moved just across the street from us in the Spring and they have been loving the convenience of walking to school and just hanging out whenever they have some free time! Can you tell Zach’s face is “I’m going to kill you, Mom”!! Luckily his buddy knows me well enough to indulge me with these pics:)

Off they’re off (chauffeured by Rob today since it was raining and they were now late because of my photos:) Otherwise they make the 30 min walk to school.

Here’s hoping for a great year!

More Beaching….

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Leah

(Ooops…this was in my drafts that I forgot to post – from about midway on our trip:))

We always try to do a sunrise walk.

One day we woke the kids up early to see the sunrise, but they all went to back to bed.

But one day, we walked to the pier.

We spent the next couple of days just beaching in some huge waves

Rob and I headed out for dinner saying good bye to this cutie who was wearing all his new school clothes (starting a new school)

We loved our dinner at Ketch 55 – one of our fave places but about a 45 min drive from where we were staying. We ordered the kids pizza

Last Day Photoshoot

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Leah

A couple of years ago we hired a photographer to do our family pics in the Outerbanks. This year we decided to get our family pics done in the fall at home (I hope), but we still wanted some beach pics.

Unfortunately it was super windy, our lens cover was filled with a salty mist (and I didn’t notice until later) and we were not having a smooth day together – so all the smiles are pretty fake – but some of the pics are ok and it still captures the essence of the beach:)

Zach to the rescue! Ha ^^^

Having fun with our selfie stick (which I broke on day 2 so it’s tied together with hair elastics:))

Standing in the wind ^^^

Zandra can’t get enough of her “Birdie” ^^^

The next day we left and at the last second decided to detour into Washington DC. It was a spur of the moment request from Zach and was met with interest and agreement from Rob (who basically drove the whole way minus a few naps where I took over for him).

So we drove by the Washington monument, and then found perfect parking and hopped out and saw the White House!

Great end to our vacation!

Bonfires and Wild Horses

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Leah

One night Rob built us an incredible bonfire.

We sat around and had smores. It was gorgeous to see the light of the fire and listen to the waves crash and stare at the starry sky.

Of course the kids were in a snit as we had taken away their electronics for the evening so they “had to go back to the house to stare at the fan as the fire was too hot and the bugs were too buggy”. So they went.

And Rob and I totally enjoyed this amazing fire.

And let the kids have it the next day. Seriously. I know it’s not a problem unique to our family, but we did not just come all this way, to pay all this money, to have our kids sit on their phones communicating with friends back home.

Anyhow, the next day we went up to the 4×4 Beach (only accessible by 4×4 on the beach) for a picnic.

We stopped at Duck donuts along the way. They were just to tasty to even stop to take a pic:)

We made our way on the beach and again had a nice time in the slightly calmer surf.

While there, we saw horses ON the beach. In previous years we have had to drive around to see them, but this year, they came to us!!

It was so cool!!

He headed back and that night went to a local place that apparently has the best burgers in NC.

I think we all agreed. Their fries were pretty darn great too:)

Evenings often looked like this while we watched Friday Night Lights:

Our vacation is almost over…

Beach Days

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Leah

The next few days were pretty much lazy beach days.

We walked on the beach, swam in the waves and ate lots of yummy food.

We went to Hatteras Island for one day and brought a picnic for lunch. The waves were so good, but it was exhausting to be jumping in them all the time!

We spent a day at home and the beach was calmer, but still with a decent surf.

We went to Jockey’s ridge one night and watched the incredible sunset.

And mixed in we had lots of arguments, fights, rivalries and moodiness:) Ahh teenagers. And complaints about taking breaks from electronics….

We also watched a ton of Friday Night Lights…. Seems we have fallen into our Outerbanks traditions quite nicely 9except now Rob and I end up going to bed before the kids…)

Heading to the Outerbanks

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Leah

The week of summer that I have been looking forward to all year has finally arrived… our trip to the Outerbanks!

It has been a busy few weeks with YLC and then Nauvoo, so although we were super excited to go, I was pretty exhausted with all the prep and packing.

Which meant I wasn’t as organized as I usually am, and we forgot a few things, including MY CAMERA. That I cannot believe. Big miss.

Luckily, Zach brought his, so I still can get some good pics. But, it’s just not the same. We did however buy a selfie stick on our way down, so we have been fun with that:)

We also had a very close call at the border when I pulled out our passports and realized one was missing. I quickly remembered I had given Gabe his earlier in the week (he needed it as ID for a flight he took to Montreal for this amazing opportunity he had to tour some Air Canada facilities). I had a “Home Alone – KEVIN” moment when I yelled “GABE!!! Where is your passport?!?!?” Luckily, he had it:)

We had a nice drive, after leaving at 5am and ended up in Williamsburg for the night. Before checking in for the night, we shopped up a storm at the outlets. The Canadian dollar is not doing so well so that is a bit of a downer, but everyone still seemed to shop enough!

The next day we headed to the Outerbanks. Unfortunately the highway in was closed for a bit, so we were stuck in some traffic, but then took a detour so got there a bit later than expected.

We still were able to head up for our traditional lunch at Dockside n Duck and had the yummy crab dip and the crab that Rob was finally able to teach the older boys how to help shell:) The guy at Dockside n Duck remembered us – which the kids loved – since it has been our tradition to go there as soon as we arrive. We also picked up our traditional key lime pie (and Hershey pie) to take back to our home, “Ocean Haven”.

We shopped at our favourite Life is good store and the real Zach came out:

Then of course the boys had to fight a bit…

We finally arrived!

After doing some grocery shopping and settling it, we were able to head out to the beach and play some flashlight tag (the little boys desperately wanted to do this). We then pulled out some Chinese lanterns (that we had tried to a couple of years ago, but it was too windy) and finally after a few tries, we had some success and launched two of them!! Yah! So, you will have to bear with quite a few photos as it was quite ab accomplishment to get them going:

The next day was a chill day. We went for a nice walk with Gabe and Zach, who ended up going in for a swim.

We headed back to get the others, went for a quick shop to get some boogie boards and spent the rest of the morning in the ocean on the boogie boards. The waves were crazy and we all got beaten up a bit!

We fooled around with our selfie stick too:)

It wasn’t the sunniest of days, so we were able to hop in the hot tub following our ocean swim and then had lunch. After lunch, it started to rain so we spent the afternoon having goofy conversations, watching a movie and then playing Apples to Apples.

Dinner for the kids was some yummy grilled cheese cooked up by Josh (inspired by the movie “Chef” that we watched earlier) and Rob and I had some fish. The two older boys went for a walk on the beach, and then the three others went on their own later on too and we met up with them. So different that our kids are off having their own adventures!!

The rest of the evening consisted of some pie and some TV watching.

Great start for our vacation!