Ahh silly life.

So this morning I'm cleaning the kitchen and I can hear Kaia playing with barbies in her bedroom and it reminds me of my sister and I playing with barbies for hours when we were kids and it makes me smile.  Hannah is outside in the back playing with Max, who she loves, more than any of the other kids that girl loves our dog, but every time he licks her she runs in crying that she needs he arm washed or her hand and then she runs back out and says, "NO, Max! No lick-a me.".  Ha ha ha that girl cracks me up.  They are both so content to just do their own thing.  Austin is crawling around back and forth between watching Hannah and watching me.  Soon Kaia goes outside to join Hannah and then Austin sits by the window and screeches at them through the window.  It is moments like this I truly take pleasure in.  When there is peace and happiness and laughter instead of fighting and bickering which I'm sure will come inevitably but ah these moments are awesome!  They are the moments that remind me of why I have chosen to be a stay at home mom.  I am so grateful to be able to watch my kids grow and play and teach them and experience life through their eyes.

I've had a rough week but already the sun is shining again which is not to say all is well but all will be well and this knowledge and the Lord will get me through the dark days that are sure to come occaisionally ahead.  Nothing short of a miracle has what has gotten me from where I was at the start of this week to where I am and I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has given me an oppurtunity to experience it.  As I look back at the last few months of my life I can see that He has actually been preparing me for this week and that is a wonderful thing to realize His love for me to help me through this trial.

A good day!

...

Wracked with torment...I dont think I ever appreciated and understood what that truly meant until today.   I can say now that I know all to intimately what it feels like to have your soul wracked with torment.  Oh and it sucks.  Oh there is plenty to be thankful for and things that bring me joy but one day you are doing fine and you think you have a preety good grasp on your life and what it has been and is and will be and then BAM! You knew and know nothing.  I'm sure there is plenty that is what it has always seemed, but there is this doubt, and I apologize if this is dark and the few people who may read this are going ??? but this is my day today and I'm sure tomorrow or a future tomorrow will bring more light but today is dark.  So this is my rant and I won't be defining the problem so feel free to stop reading now.  I also have never relalized how anger and pain can comsume you but I am consumed and I hate it.  One thing can change so much and I wish I could run away and escape and just disappear but I feel trapped like I can never leave again.  How can you love and hate so much all at the same time? Thankfully I know the Lord is here for me and can take this from me and is probably the only one that can bring peace and comfort into my life again at this point, but if I'm not ready to accept that peace...

Already today I've lost my patience too many times with the kids and it is days like this I appreciate a childs short memory and ability to forgive so easily.  Hugging them and playing with them helps and when I apologize and tell them mommy is sorry she yelled and that I love them; hearing their I love you back and mommy don't be sad and then lets play, like all has been forgotten makes me apprecite them all over again.  I understand why we should be childlike in so many ways but man it is so hard.   I know in my head that I will probably look back at this one day and see the benefit of this trial but today I am in it and it is only the beginning and I don't want to be here.  

I propably, although I can't say for sure because who really can be sure, won't ever post on this subject again and no one may ever know there has ever been  a day like this in my life but it is certainly true that you NEVER KNOW what goes on in a persons life so I will do my best to never judge again.  From here on out it will be back to the kids, who I love and adore and appreciate more than anything in this world and my "normal" life and family updates.  The things that bring me joy and my silver linings on the dark cloud that has intruded on my once blissfully sunny minimally cloudy life.

Until a future tommorrow....this helped a lot today.

Another month

So it's been another month and here I am again finally.  Austin is amazing and has been rolling over for a month.  He holds his head up great and loves his tummy time.  He smiles and coos and I continue to adore him.  Hannah is starting to repeat words and babbles all the time.  I'm thinking she is going to be more like Alexis.  My girls love to sing and read and love to love on Austin still.  Lex and Kaia are starting tumbling and dance classes next week and I can't wait.  I know Alexis will love it but I'm hoping it'll help Kaia bust out of her shell.  James just got a promotion at work although not what we were hoping for, every little extra helps.  His boss says they'll revisit his pay in a bit but...I'm not holding my breath.
I'm excited we are two months into the summer because that means we are about halfway through the misery of it.  I feel like such a hermit in the summer months of August, perhaps because  I am but uhhgg it is so miserable even enduring the heat from the house to car and car to whatever location and then waiting for the car to cool off.  Yuck it is gross.  I think it wouldn't be so horrible if I wasn't loading and unloading 4 kids every time.  That alone can make a girl work up a sweat. :)
I have been missing having family close recently and it makes me super grateful for the close friends we have here.  I am longing for a trip but alas won't be making one for a while.  James is busy quite frequently on the weekends with scout camps and I have 2 little kiddos that need to grow a little more before I dare venture on a trip alone.  I am super bummed I 'll be missing a wedding and reception for one of my favorite cousins but am excited to go to my nephew's baptism.  Unfortunately we won't be escaping much heat because St. George is barely cooler than we are but we'll take what we can get.
I can hardly believe that Alexis will start school in a little over a month.  I'm so excited and nervous for her.  Excited for her to start a new adventure and to learn and meet new friends but nervous for her to encounter the world that I have protected her from thus far.  She is such a friendly girl and so outgoing that I don't want some bratty mean kid to crush her.  I am nervous to be called to come bring her a change of clothes if she has an accident because for some strange reason that James and I can't figure out she is scared to death of going to the bathroom anywhere but home.  Kaia starts preschool and I am super excited for my little independent girl to get to know other kids and to learn and grow as well.  She is super shy in new situations and I'm hoping this opens her up a bit.  I am excited to be able to have some two on one time with my two littlest kiddos because I feel like I don't get much of that.  Anyway until another month or week goes by and I sit down in peace.

so what if it's been 3 years, right?

Wow! I'm a slacker and have not even been to my blog in 3 years.  Oh yes tat's right my "new baby" Kaia is getting ready to turn 3 in a few weeks and since her birth I have popped out 2 more children who you would clearly not know about via my blog.  :) In fact you might think I had died were it not for the occasional posts on facebook.  So let me get started by saying we are still in Arizona and there is something strange in the water down here because in the 3 years we have lived here I have had 3 babies.  Now in my defense we were about to pop with our 2nd child when we moved here but still...  We have three beautiful girls, Alexis who just turned five a few days ago, Kaia who will turn three in a few weeks and Hannah who is 19 months. Then I just gave birth a few weeks ago to the most handsome little man, Austin.  We also got a dog, Max, a few months after Hannah joined our family so we are complete with our little man Austin.  James and I got our boy and decided that since Hannah and Austin were unplanned and when Austin was born we had 4 children 4 and under, plus a one year old dog, that we were done. So I figure that now that I have come to this huge change in phases as a parent from the birthing stage to the raising stage I can get back into the habit of writing on my blog.

So basically I figured out that I have been pregnant every year of my six year marriage and I am pretty excited to not be pregnant and experience being a mother with out morning sickness or back pains or constant weariness (due to growing a baby in my belly, I'm sure I'll still be constantly weary) or hormones going crazy.  I'm sure James is excited for this too, especially the last symptom; which has in the past turned me into a crazy emotional jealous wife.  Just ask for the stories and I'll fill you in. :)

James is hard at work at a dental lab and even harder at work in school.  He will be finished at the college down here at the end of the this summer and our plans so far are to head north to Utah and finish his bachelors up there and then hopefully get accepted to UofU for the graduate program he wants.   I am a busy stay at home mom and love almost every minute of it.  There are those occasional few minutes that make me want to scream but those come and go pretty quickly most of the time and I have a fantastic husband that helps as soon as he gets home.  This is possibly our last summer in AZ and while I will NOT miss the absolutely horrid heat of this state I have made some really good friends here and this is the longest we have ever stayed in one state since getting married and I love the preschool my girls go to and the wards we have been in and it will be hard to leave the good friends my daughters have and that I have made.  The winter weather is my favorite.  While the heat may be wretched for 5 months it is wonderful 7 months and up north I despise the cold and do NOT look forward to the never ending winters.  I'm sure we will make good friends up there and we will be there for about as long as we've been down here and then we will be off again so I should be used to this but I sure look forward to the day when my husband graduates and gets a job and we get to settle down somewhere for at least a little while.

Here are some updated pictures of us all...Hannah shopping at old navy, oh how I love this sweet girl.

 Austin sleeping, his favorite pastime.

 Alexis and Kaia playing in the sprinklers on this hot May day.

 Alexis looking beautiful while we went on an Easter egg hunt at a friends.

 Kaia in a rare pose for the camera with a smile.

 Me and my handsome boy enjoying some alone time at home.

 Daddy, who is hardly ever in pictures, at the hospital proudly holding his boy minutes after delivery!

So hello blog again it's been a long time but lets keep in better touch.  Until next time there's a bit of an update on us.  :)

So the Riese's have moved to Arizona and while I absolutely am starting to love it (minus the summer heat) we will be moving back to Utah in May. James has decided to go back to school and become a physical therapist. I completely support him in all he does but have decided me and the girls are just along for the ride for the next few years. :) We have added a member to our family and she is as adorable as Alexis was and we are loving her to pieces!!! James is living in a house full of girls and he loves it. Kaia is finally sleeping through the night, WAHOO, and while Alexis is in her terrible two phase, and trust me it is in FULL effect, there are still tons of moments where her sweetness and loving nature can make you forget all about it. James is working hard at the dental lab but for those of you who know him he is just too active to sit at the desk all day long and he is searching for something a little more stinulating to him. I am fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom and I love it. It is hard work most day, especially now with two girlies, but the rewards are greater than any pay check. While I will be sad to leave this awesome in the winter weather state I do look forward to moving back close to family. Alexis is going to miss her cousins Shelly, Briana, and Nevaeh cause they are down here but we'll just have to get in lots of play time while we can.