JULY

July is our busiest month. It seems like we always have so much going on in July with multiple birthdays and holidays! So, technically we didn't go to Bear Lake in July, but we went the very last weekend in June and I haven't documented it yet so I thought I would now.

We took a last minute trip to Bear Lake to hang out with my parents at their cabin. We had so much fun boating, tubing, swimming and playing on the beach. We also did a lot of swinging, hot tubbing and playing in the treehouse, but those photos can be found on instagram. Then the next week it was the 4th of July! One of Ry's favorite holidays.

We spent the 4th doing the usual traditions; East Mill Creek Parade in the morning, as well as the little carnival after where the girls love to get their faces painted. Then we go get some breakfast and get ready to go swimming. Everyone's pooped at that point so we head home to nap everyone before heading back down for the Goodrich BBQ and some fireworks! It ended up being a fun 4th, and the celebration continued that Saturday at the Oakley Rodeo! Landon and Sara had matching cowboy shirts like dad. Sara thought it was pretty cool!
 

 The next week was Ryan's Birthday! He turned the big 3-0 on the 11th of July! We celebrated by taking a weekend trip to Vegas with my brother Ty and his wife Whitney. We had fun shopping, swimming, gambling, going to a movie and eating!!

The next week the girls had their much anticipated Princess Camp with Belle! I saw it on facebook and knew I had to sign my girls up! (Even if it was in South Jordan ;) it was SO worth it. They both had to wear their Belle princess dress since that's who they were going to see, and they had SO much fun!! They're already talking about going again next year with a different princess.

The week after princess camp was our long awaited planned trip to San Diego with my family!

 We've had this trip planned for almost a year and it ended up being SO much fun!! We all went in on a beach house in Mission Beach right by Belmont Park. All the married couples in my family went with all their kids, and my kids couldn't have had more fun playing with their cousins all day every day! The first day was grocery shopping with the moms while the dad's took the kids to the beach. Then we went to Sand Diego Zoo the next day which was really fun!

It was Amiya's Birthday that day and Sara's the next so we decided to throw a little party for them that night. We sang happy birthday, ate some cake, and opened presents!

Then the next day (and every day after that) we were at the beach!

The kids had fun swimming, boogie boarding, paddle boarding, building sand castles, getting buried, jumping the waves, finding seashells, and catching sand crabs!
We also spent a couple nights at Belmont Park riding rides, playing games and winning prizes! Ryan even got his picture taken with a grand prize because he was winning so much! He won multiple prizes for our girls and even some for a few of the cousins! It was awesome!
It was a sad day leaving San Diego because we really did have so much fun! I loved every minute of it and can't wait for the next trip!

Mimi and Pop with all the grandkids that were there.
Chloe, Noah, Amiya, Lia, Savannah, Malia, Della, Sara, Alyvia, Gwen, Hunter, Landon, and Kasin.

It's SUMMER!

Is Summer not the best thing ever! It is seriously SO fun! Which is the only way to describe our summer so far... I feel like we've had something fun going on every month, or even week! We got summer started early and went on a Family trip to St. George with the Goodrich's in May.

We had fun swimming, playing shuffle board, tennis, and eating! It really was so much fun and everyone had a blast!

We got home and Ryan ran the Ogden Marathon in the pouring rain! Which.... didn't feel too much like summer, but it was still fun to go cheer him on!

The week after it was great weather so we decided to hit up the beach at Pine View..

It was a little windy, but still fun!

Then on May 27th I ran my first race with Ryan and his dad. Nothing too exciting, just a 5k but it was big for me!

May 27th was also Lia's birthday! She turned 2 and we celebrated by going to Build a Bear and getting rid of her binkies. We had her stuff them in her bear before they sewed it up...
And of course her sisters got to join in and make their own stuffed animals too! They loved it!

But I think her most favorite gift of all was the new pink car we got for her! You've never seen anyone so excited as when she saw that new car. It was pretty cute!

It seemed like Summer was officially here when the girls graduated preschool!

I love that they go to the same preschool at Bravo, and Sara will even continue to go to Bravo for Kindergarten we love it so much!
So once summer was really here, we invited some friends over for a backyard water party! They had so fun running through the sprinklers and playing in the little pool we have.

You know it's summer once you pull the pool out ;)

We also went to a "real pool" one day with our friends. Clearfield Aquatic Center has a fun kiddie pool that's perfect size for them and a splash pad, which was fun!

Landon is always there too, but he likes to sleep a lot.
Although we did leave the kids for a weekend to take a trip to Catalina Island with my fam!

We take my Dad's boat over and got to ride on the nose most of the way, it was seriously hilarious bouncing up and down on the waves! We stayed at Hamilton Cove which was way nice! It was such a FUN trip! Boating, golfing, playing beach volleyball, swimming, shopping, eating, and sleeping!
Wasn't quite ready for it to end, although I was so ready to see my kids! Missed them like crazy!
Now we're home and soaking up some more Summer, 'cause I know it will be gone before we know it!

their favorite holiday

I'm not kidding when I say Easter is my girls favorite holiday! They loved it last year and they loved it this year! Pretty sure Della has asked me every month since last Easter "when do we get to paint eggs again?" They really do love it more than Christmas! So of course the girls were ecstatic when it was finally time to color eggs again..

 ... so we colored eggs the Monday before Easter for family night and they loved every second. We thought it'd be fun to find an egg hunt they could do the Saturday before. We were able to go to Fischer Park that morning and the girls were quick enough to grab some eggs before they were all gone! Fastest egg hunt ever! Literally over in 20 seconds, but it was fun while it lasted!

The next day was Easter and the girls were so SO excited to wake up and find the eggs the Easter Bunny had hidden, as well as their baskets.

Sara's was downstairs in their little playhouse, Della's was in the dryer and Lia's was in the tub/shower. (Landon got a basket too, but his wasn't too hard to find ;) Lia was pretty excited and as much as Sara wanted to help her carry her basket, she insisted she do it herself!

After the girls had had time to look at everything in their baskets, we got them some breakfast and headed to church! We have 9:00 church, which was pretty much the only time Landon was awake all day, and luckily Ry snapped this cute picture of him on his phone.

 (I don't have many more of him on Easter besides this one)

I also tried to get one right after church while they all still looked halfway decent. After multiple tries, this was as good as it got!

Since we do have early church, we were able to lay Landon down for his nap when we got home, and it was such a nice day, so everyone played outside til it was time to go.

After lots of swinging, sandbox and scooters we headed down to Grandma Good's for some Easter dinner and an egg hunt!

The girls were pretty excited to be getting even more candy plus a little money!

 My baby boy was doing more sleeping while all the excitement was going on.

It really ended up being such a great day. Hope everyone else had a Happy Easter!

a post about how much I love them

Just to warn anyone that may still read this blog this is a post all about my kids and how much I love them so.... don't bother reading if you're not interested :)

I don't want to sound like one of those people who talks about how perfect their life is and sounds like they have no problems whatsoever. But, I gotta be honest. I really do feel like the happiest woman alive. I honestly have little or no complaints about my life and love it more than anything! Don't get me wrong, I have four kids 4 and under and it's no cake walk. There are days that are rough and I count down the minutes 'til Ryan gets home, then once he's home I feel like I'm counting down the minutes to bedtime. Let's just thank heavens there's such thing as a night/sleep and we can start over in the morning. But for the most part I really could not be happier with my life and some days find myself wishing I could pause time for a moment and not let my kids get any older and just enjoy these ages they're in a little longer 'cause I really do LOVE where they each are right now...

Sara (aka Sar, Sara Ems, Sars) 4 1/2 years old

It's crazy how much this girl reminds me of myself at her age. She gets scared so easily and I've always been a scardy cat. She loves babies and is already so motherly and can see her having the same goals as I did to get married and become a mother. She also really worries about how she looks and always wants to look cute for the day. She also loves to watch shows and movies and would rather stay home than go out. She really is such a good girl and I don't know what we'd do without her! She's such a good helper with her siblings and they love her just as much as she loves them! There have actually been times where Landon is crying and Sara wants to hold him- I usually say "okay, but he's fussy so he'll probably cry" but as soon as he's in Sara's arms he stops. Not kidding. He LOVES Sara. (she's even told me a couple times she wants to marry Landon when they're older)Sara gets along with other boys and girls her age and loves having lots of friends. She LOVES all her cousins and gets along especially well with Alyvia, Gwen, and Mary and Kiki. She gets SO excited if we're going anywhere where they will be there. Of course these are all the good things about Sara, don't get me wrong she can definitely have her moments and is already starting to give me attitude! She still has the sweetest little spirit and isn't hard to make smile or laugh. We love her so much!

Della (aka D) 3 years old   Sara's little buddy. These two are the best of friends! Which is kind of crazy because they are so SO opposite! To give you a few examples....Sara's so smiley and easy to talk to, Della... not so much. Sara likes to stay home, Della loves getting out of the house. Sara's afraid of her own shadow, Della sleeps downstairs by herself! Sara's not a morning person, Della's up at the crack of dawn. Sara eats a ton, Della eats hardly anything. Della can count to 30 and recognizes numbers up to 10 as well as a lot of letters, Sara recognizes the letter "S"  I could go on and on because they really aren't alike at all, but they sure do get a long good and love each other so much! Della isn't too hard to please, she's really pretty happy and content most of the time. We go to the store and Sara throws a fit if we don't bring her back something Della would be happy with a piece of paper- or nothing at all! She gets so excited to go preschool and insists on getting dressed herself (we can pick out her clothes, she just likes to put it all on herself) She loves to bake (or help make something) the second I get a bowl out in the kitchen she plops herself on the barstool and helps me pour and mix everything! She also loves playing doctor. We used to come up with our own way to play before we got her her own doctor kit for her birthday. Now I get asked at least 10 times a day to play ('cause Sara doesn't love playing with it) and she thinks if she gets the tiniest little anything she needs a bandaid. Della loves to play games and read books, and take tubs! Don't even think about trying to sneak in the bath without her 'cause if she hears the water going she'll come running from wherever she is and be totally undressed and in the tub before we even blink. And if you didn't know already... she's 100% daddy's girl! Which might have something to do with the fact that they're exactly alike in every way! She's tough to get to open up, but once she does you'll see she is the biggest sweetheart and we love her for it!

Lia (aka Lou or Lou Lous) almost 2

Oh Lia..... our dear Lia. Let's just say.... she's one of the worst kids in the world. But, believe it or not, she's actually getting better! I think! I hope! Because man she sure is a fireball. I mean, from the day she was born! When she wouldn't stop crying after she was born, it was a sign of what was to come! She's a feisty one and knows how to get what she wants when she wants it! Poor Sara and Della are so patient with her, but they've had their hair pulled, been bitten, scratched and screamed at. You know how you always hear about how mean girls can be in school? I'm seriously afraid she's going to be one of them :( I hope and pray that's not the case, I just don't know about her. Anyway! Besides the fact that she's not the easiest child around, she's definitely the cutest! This girl has the funnest little personality! She asks for a hot dog for every meal (obviously I don't give her one) but she sure gets excited when I do! She loves to watch shows, but only certain ones. Despicable Me and Winnie the Pooh, (pretty sure she can quote the whole movie of "Piglets big Movie") or backyardigans. She seriously has the songs AND dances memorized! Cutest thing you've ever seen her trying to move her feet and hands the same way they do while singing. She also loves her baby bro. As mean as she is to Sara and Della she has never tried to hurt Landon in any way. She's all loves, hugs and kisses with that boy and asks multiple times a day to hold him. She's also very polite, always saying please and thank you for everything! She's still learning how to talk but really tries and sometimes will just jabber a few sentences like we know exactly what she's saying. We'll usually just respond with "okay, sounds good" and that seems to satisfy her. She really is at such a fun age right now and we're loving every minute of it.

Landon (aka LJ) 4 months     Our sweet baby boy!! We LOVE having a boy. He is the sweetest, happiest, smiliest, most handsome little thing! It is so hard not to just squeeze him! Something about having a baby in the home makes everything brighter. It's crazy how much I love him and I feel like he has absolutely no idea. I'm pretty sure I kiss him way more than I should and Ryan is always teasing me that he's my favorite. Which of course he's not! I don't have favorites ;) He loves taking baths, he loves to be sung to, he loves his blanky and he loves sucking on his hands and fingers. He turned 4 months old on the 25th and is getting too big too fast! He's in the 77 percentile for his weight and 86 percentile for his height so he's a healthy boy! (besides the ear infections he got over the weekend) And just like his sisters love him, he loves his sisters! As of right now... he's a Mommy's boy! I'm sure that will change once I'm not his food supply anymore, but I'm going to soak it all in now while I can!

Now see why I'm so happy? Who wouldn't be happy spending all day every day with these four cute kids!

 I really do feel so incredibly blessed and feel like I can't go to bed without thanking my Heavenly Father for all I've been given. All I've wanted to do is be a Mom and is turning out to be everything I hoped it would and more! Of course, none of it would be possible without the love of my life...

I couldn't have picked a better dad for my kids. They seriously love him more than anything and I know he feels the same about them!

If only I could pause time... as fun as it is watching them grow. I'm dreading the day they get too big and too cool for mom :( time goes WAY too fast! So just trying to enjoy my little ones while I can 'cause I love them more than anything!!

Landon's Blessing

Our sweet baby boy Landon James Goodrich was blessed on Sunday, February 17, 2013 by his dad, Ryan Kelly Goodrich, who gave the most beautiful blessing!

Ryan said when he brought him up to bless him he had the biggest smile. Then a few people said they took a peek at Landon while he was being blessed and said he had his little hands folded together over his chest and was just staring right at Ryan the whole time.

I still can't believe this is my family. I feel like luckiest girl alive to be the mother of these four beautiful children. I love them and Ryan so much and am so grateful I married someone who feels the same way I do about family and wants to have more kids with me ;) I'm also so grateful he has been able to give each of them an incredible baby blessing.

We finally got our BOY and couldn't be happier. He is such a happy baby and always smiling! We are so incredibly grateful to be his parents. We love him SO much!!

 

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Well, we braved it once again and took another trip to Disneyland! I thought it'd be a few years after last time but Ryan and I felt like our girls were at a fun stage and would love to go. So we planned a last minute trip and loaded up and headed out! We first stopped in Vegas on our way down because we thought the girls would think it's cool to stay in a "real" castle! So after spending the night at Excalibur, we got up to get breakfast and went to see the Belagio Gardens before continuing our road trip! We invited Ryan's little brother TJ because he's never been to Disneyland before and we thought he'd not only have fun, but also be a big help.. which he was!!

Well what seemed like forever, we finally made it to California! After checking in to our hotel, we got our suits on and headed to Newport Beach!

The girls LOVED it! Who am I kidding, they always love the beach! Della was just running around, chasing the water then running away from it as it came back. Sara couldn't get enough of finding shells, even though half of her collection consisted of dead sea creatures (this is not a joke) I wanted to get a picture but forgot! And Lia was Daddy's shadow of course!

Is there really anything better than getting away from the freezing cold and being able to walk barefoot on a sandy beach? We were in heaven. After lots of fun playing on the beach we got some dinner and some tasty donuts to finish off our night at the beach!

Next day.... Disneyland!! Don't get me wrong, I was a little nervous, just 'cause last year we had some disaster moments- especially with rides that went inside, for some reason they made Sara nervous ?? So, we got in and waited in line for our first ride, Peter Pan. We got on and... made it through the whole thing with no tears!! The girls actually loved it! I was thrilled. So we hit up Dumbo, Casey Jr. and the Storybook Boat Ride after that.

Then it was time for lunch. After that we hit up a few more rides like It's a Small World and the Tea Cups of course!

The girls were pooped after that and we all headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap! After we woke up everyone headed down to the pool/hot tub and had fun swimming while Landon and I sat out and watched.

After hot tubbing it was dinner time and after dinner Ryan and TJ headed back out to go on some big rides together, while I stayed back and put the kids to bed.

Day 2 of Disneyland we went in with a plan of attack and actually accomplished everything we wanted to! First the girls wanted to see TinkerBell, so we went on a ride or two while we waited for her to get there and went and saw her once she came!

We were pleasantly surprised to see and meet Periwinkle too! (since "Secret Wings" is Sara's favorite Tinkerbell movie) both fairies couldn't believe we drove from Salt Lake and said we could borrow some pixie dust next time so we could fly instead.

After Pixie Hollow we headed up to Toon Town to see Mickey and Minnie's house. Probably one of Lia's favorite things, she did NOT want to leave Minnie's house..

After visiting a few more houses we headed over to Critter Country to go on Winnie the Pooh which was another favorite ride. But their all time favorite is (and probably always will be) The Little Mermaid, which was next on the agenda.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pics while we were over at California Adventure, but after Little Mermaid we went on a couple rides in "A Bug's Land" that the girls loved, then finished the day off with Monster's Inc. before we headed back and did another night of hot tubbing. That night Ry stayed back with the kids and TJ and I got to go out to ride Splash Mountain, Soarin' over California, and of course my all time favorite... Tower of Terror!!

 Tried to take a picture of the picture so sorry about the poor quality. But it was T's first time and I loved his face in this! Seriously hilarious!

The next day it was time to make the long drive home. We were originally thinking of stopping in Vegas to stay at Dustin and Stacie's but they had sick kids. So we toyed with the thought of getting a hotel and staying in St. George but when we got there a couple kids were asleep so we just kept driving all. the way. home. It was a fun fun trip and Ryan's now thinking of making it a yearly tradition! So, 'til next year I guess!