Cannon rides a bike

OOPS! This is Declan!

We made a failed attempt at teaching Cannon to ride his bike. He did not like it because he could not do it just right the first time. He claims, often, to not want to do anything until he is an expert. Problem is, you have to practice a lot to become an expert! He rode around with either his mother or father hanging on to the back of the bike until we wore out. He cried and yelled and said it is dumb and he hates bikes. We went home and put the training wheels on.

At the Park

We forced the kids to go on a walk along the trail behind the park. The reward was playing at the park. Doesn't Madsen look thrilled? Waverly enjoyed her first swing ride. Mads even restrained himself and did not push her too hard. Madsen and Sullivan declare themselves too old for the park. Declan and Cannon are just right and Wave is too little . At least I can sit and relax for a few minutes while they run around. Just another example of FFF! (forced family fun)

Pink corner in a blue room

My house is too smal for my family. It felt that way prior to Waverly and now it is bursting at the seams. Poor Wave does not have a place of her own. She is stuck in a corner of the play room. I obviously, had never planned on a girl after all the boys and declaring myself done having babies. The playroom is a fun shade of blue, makes sense for my family! I have gone a lot pink with Waverly. I really did not think I would do it, but it is fun after so much blue! She has been crashing her head into the sides of her crib and waking up lately so I decided to buy a bumper pad. I found the bumper pad and crib skirt at Kid to Kid, I paid $16.00. It is from Pottery Barn and the price for just the bumper is $100! I think I got a bargain! Her little corner is turning very pink. I am thinking of making a pink curtain for her window.

Here she is in front of her bed.

I think she likes it! I will have so much fun putting a room together for her when I have an entire room to decorate.

Bugs eye view

Sully took over the camera on our blueberry picking adventure. He was playing around and started taking "bug eye view" pictures of everyone. They are kind of interesting. Above is Matt, below is Madsen. They are not the most flattering pictures, so I will not post mine!

She is so darn cute!

Here are the peacocks. It was fun to see him with his tail out trying so hard to impress the ladies.

Blueberries

We found a little farm near our house that has pick your own blueberries. Since we had a failed strawberry season, we did not have any homemade jam, crisis at my house! So, we loaded everyone up and went topick berries. It was actually easier than picking strawberries, but takes a lot of blueberries to make jam. Declan did a great job.

Cannon got tired of it pretty quickly and grumped til it was time to go home. There were some peacocks wandering about so he enjoyed looking at them.

Sully got tired too, but he took the camera out and became the official photographer of the event. I will post more of his work next!

We ended up picking 23 pints of berries. I discovered we payed just under the price at a grocery store. Oh well, it was an experience. Then I got to go home and make jam. I have never had blueberriy jam before, I was a little doubtful. It turns out it is very yummy. I made 19 bottles of it from our labors.

Take me out to the ball game

We finally made it to a Bulls game, after our previously failed attempt. It was Friday, July 3, so there were fireworks and we called it good for the 4th.

This was Waverly's first baseballg ame. She loved it. grandpa Madsen would be so proud.

I could not get all 4 boys to look at me and fit into the picture at the same time.

This is the snorting Bull. I believe it is the same one used in the movie, Bull Durham. It's eyes light up red, tail moves and smoke comes out its nose whenever there is a home run. We were lucky to have this fabulous event happen 3 times this night. It was the best part of the game for Cannon. Madsen caught a shirt slingshotted from Wool E. Bull, Cannon and Declan got to shake hands with the Blue Monster mascot, we ate sno cones and funnel cake. We oohed and Aahed over the fire works. It was a fun night.

Why is it so hard?

This morning I got news of yet another one of our friends getting divorced. Satan is celebrating again. Do we want to give him cause to be happy? It breaks my heart, mostly for the children, but here is another eternal family destroyed. We have had a slew of divorces and "trial separations" in our ward lately. Of all of these situations, there is only 1 couple that I feel was totally justified in divorcing. All of them are based on someone (or both) not living up to sacred covenants made is temples. I know that I do not know all that went, or is going wrong in these relationships, but it seems to me that people are giving up too easily and are so quick to think that divorce is the answer and will solve all problems. From the only personal experience I have witnessed of divorce, all problems were not solved. Some really rotten new ones arrived and people have been affected very strongly for life. Is it really so hard to love someone? I think back all those years to when I first met and fell in love with Matt. I thought I loved him then. All the experiences, both good and bad, that we have endured together over the last 14.5 years, have made my love and appreciation and gratitude for him grow. He is my very best blessing. He has brought the best blessings into my life. Oh, don't get me wrong, there are things that make me nuts about him. He knows what they are! But, I will not let it ruin our marriage. In the big things, he is great. He loves me and the kids. He works very hard to support us and be there for us. He honors and uses his priesthood authority to bless us and those he serves. He is so devoted to the Lord. It is hard to have his always having these big responsibility callings, but I am so grateful to be married to a man who the Lord sees fit to call. We get more blessing in return for his service. He has sacrificed much and will continue to do it. I know that there are things about me that make him crazy too. But, we signed up for eternity and intend to see it through. I just don't understand why people can't just love each other. Be a little more forgiving. Ask for forgiveness yourself. Work hard to love that person. It is kind of fun! Intead of a six month trial separation, I think people should do a six month trial marriage. For a few months pretend that you love each other. Do whatever it takes to make that person happy. Think of the other first. Give up some of the things you want for what they want. Fake it if you have to for a while. I bet it would not take too much time to fall in love again. And I think it would be a better experiment than a pretend divorce. Life is hard. Marriage is hard. Life is wonderful, marriage is wonderful.