2015 Recap and Amazing Pictures

Happy New Year!  I just wanted to do a recap of 2014 and things as of late.  I also have the most adorable pictures that are overdue for sharing.  Photo credit: Amanda Conley Photography

Let's start with Caliah.  She has grown into the most amazing little girl with the sweetest personality.  She is just girl through and through.  Her latest passion is dancing.  I think I danced at least 15 songs with her over the past couple days.  She's pretty coordinated too...she's got the back and forth motion and spinning down!  I have to blame Juan for getting her hooked.  She and him have a "song."  I have to admit I'm a little jealous because I really like the song too.  It's "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran.  Whenever the song comes on she yells, "Dad!" and runs to him with a big smile on her face for their dance.  Time stands still as I watch them dance together.  I hope that they will continue to share this special bond as she gets older because heaven knows she needs a daddy to love her till the day he gives her away.

I'm also submitting the fact that she's becoming a  Frozen/Elsa fan like the billion other little girls on this planet.  I have resisted Elsa for some time but when your little girl wakes up singing "let it go," it's just too much.

She continues to love her baby dolls, getting her nails painted, and shoes.  Don't argue with this girl about what shoes she is going to wear.  The leaps and bounds made between the age of 1 and 2 are just crazy.  I can't believe that just one year ago she had just learned to walk a month prior.  I love watching her grow up though.  Some of Caliah's favorite things of 2014 were going to Peru for Brit's wedding (which she rocked), getting a new kitty for Easter (which we no longer have...Polatis pet curse), going to nursery (loved it every week, still does), and jumping on the bed while holding moms hand every. single. day. She also likes just playing mommy with her very awesome Strawberry Shortcake stroller, changing the baby's diaper, and putting her owns clothes on the baby.  Another passion...cleaning.  If mom has a rag in her hand, Caliah has to too.  Hopefully that stays with her. Her favorite word is "candy."

     

Corbin is loving preschool and loves seeing his teacher when we go to dad's basketball games too (Juan coaches her son).  He's catching on quick to numbers and letters, right there with Conley.      

Last week, Corbin made this disgusting concoction while I wasn't in the kitchen...he was so determined that he needed it to be cooked so I put it in the oven for a minute.  The heat made the smells even worse and I was gagged so bad.  

He's still a determined little boy so gotta love that but I've been praying for the day he turns 4 to come quickly so that the "terrible 3's" will be gone.  I hope he keeps his strong sense of determination with him forever though! He has the biggest cheesiest grin and just loves smiling and being happy.  He's pretty funny too.  Last week, Conley was in the car pretending to talk Spanish.  I think Corbin thought he was for real and goes, "You know, I'm the type of guy who doesn't speak Spanish."  Hilarious!  Both the boys also like telling knock-knock jokes and often make up their own non-sense ones that they get hysterical over. Love seeing them laugh!

Conley is getting taller on me!  Glad summer is coming so he can wear shorts instead of his high water pants.  He is getting so mature and takes on the role of being the oldest in the family so well.  He is always looking out for Caliah and making sure she is treated like the princess she is.  I am glad that my boys have a little sister because they are really learning how to treat a lady right.  

Conley played on a basketball team this past winter and is getting really good at dribbling.  Mostly, it was fun to see him interact and make friends and be excited and gain confidence in playing the game. 

Conley loves numbers and has become really proficient at addition.  This last month we went and visited his possible new kindergarten and he's excited for that next step.  

The boy's favorite things of 2015 were starting preschool, going camping for the first time, Lagoon, and seeing the new Star Wars movie.  

As for Juan and I...2015 rocked us and but then we (actually God) rocked it!  I won't sugar coat it and will admit that we spent a lot of the year in personal and marital evaluation and even spent some time separated.  As hard as this was, I can't leave this out of our story because then I would be leaving out the blessings of Heavenly Father and all that we learned and grew from it.  It's still a journey we are on, but we are better because of it.  We have more faith in our Heavenly Father and a great ability to love.    












Juan is staying super with his job as the Native American Liaison and coaching the freshmen at Century (they have had a great season with lots of improvement).  He recently accepted the position as the Athletic Director at Sho-Ban Jr/Sr High School.  He finished his Masters Degree in Coaching and Athletic Administration last fall/winter and we're excited to see where he will go with that.












I (Keshia) have been super blessed to have my dress business grow with a new location, new website, and tuxedo rentals coming soon.  It has been very busy but feel blessed to know where its come and the belief that has been able to grow about where it is going.  I am getting more in tune with the overall purpose of not only providing modest dresses, but helping girls know their true worth and love themselves.  I've also landed my dream job doing logo designs as a graphic designer!  It's been a blessing to be able to work from home and learn while doing something I love.  


I'll close with what I wrote Sister Darci Polatis in her missionary letter today:

Have you ever heard the quote "She Believed She Could So She Did."  I've always loved that and I wanted to frame it and put it in Caliah's room.  I had it on my desktop screensaver for a while though and I started to realize that it should say "She Believed He Could So He Did"...as in just believing that God wants to bless us and He will.  I am becoming a strong believer that angels literally go before us and orchestrate the things in our lives.  We pray for something and then God starts sending the angels around to get things ready for it all to come together and it ends up being even better than we could ever imagine.  

It's true.   

Kids, Birthday, Portland

It's been a while since I've blogged.  I need to keep this up because it keeps me grateful, centered, and happy.  And again, I can't stand how my kids are growing up!  I need to remember them.  We recently did a family photo shoot.  We haven't gotten all the pictures yet but she posted this one on facebook as a sneak peak.  It shows each of these kids' personalities so well!

There's Corbin with his silly, fun-loving personality.  Then Caliah who is always so sweet and looking like an angel.  Then Conley with his "cool," serious personality.  I'm so excited to see the rest of the pictures! 

Just a few things about each of the kids:

We love having a little girl!  I think we say that everyday.  Caliah is as girly-girl as it gets.  Caliah's newest favorite thing is getting her nails painted.  She holds her hands together and loves to show people her "pretty nails" and her "pretty toes."  Her favorite color is for sure pink.  She's been getting her nails painted several times a week lately.  I've given up on painting her right thumb because she's always sucking on it.  Maybe someday when she gets that she's not getting that nail painted because of her habit it will be motivation to quit.  

She also loves shoes...she is almost always wearing shoes that she brings for me to put on her.  She likes dresses...lately she has been taking her baby blessing dress out of the closet and admiring it and showing it to me.  And if you can't get any more girly, she likes her bows.  One of the most clear words she says right now is "bow."

She has a lot of favorite things that she likes to do she here's the list:

• Have her baby swaddled.  She is always bringing her baby to me with a blanket so that I can wrap her up tight.  I thought my days of trying to figure out how to make a baby stay in a swaddle were over for a little bit longer.  Luckily dolls are not as wiggly as babies and so they stay in longer.  
• Be wrapped up in a blanket herself (or her princess towel).  Here's an adorable pic:
  
• She loves to read books.  All my kids have which is a great blessing...definitely one of my favorite things to do together too. 
• Talking to daddy on the phone.  She's pretty obsessed about taking the phone from me when she knows it's him.
• Her and her daddy have a song and she recognizes it when he turns it on now.  It's Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud."  They cuddle up and dance and it's pretty adorable. 
• She's talking up a storm lately...mostly jibberish but the days of full sentences are just around the corner. 
• Today she wanted to sit on the toilet because she saw Corbin going potty.  Then she proceeded to wipe all by herself (she didn't go potty though).  She wiped a few too many times.  This was the first very obvious time that she's shown interest in going on the potty.  Wow, I might have no diapered children for the first time in over 4 years! 

Corbin is our silly, determined dare devil as always.  Him and Conley and are going to preschool together at Pocatello Valley Montessori School.  Him and Conley spend their days playing legos and playing make-believe fighting something or other.  Here's a funny story that demonstrates Corbin's "I'm up for anything" personality.  Our cat had killed a mouse and Conley came inside to tell me to come look.  I went outside and look around at where the cat is and I don't see a mouse.  All of the sudden, Corbin goes, "Here it is mom!"  He's holding it by the tail right in front of me.  In a sort of panicky, slow-like manner,  I tell him to "put the mouse down...!"  He's seeing that I'm freaking out a bit and it like, "It's okay, Mom.  It's dead. It's okay."  I then have to explain to him why it's not okay to pick up dead animals and he gets good handwashing.  Him and Caliah then are thoroughly entertained and they squat next the cat watching him pull about and devour the mouse, guts, blood, and all.  Conley and I on the other hand, are very disgusted.  Conley can hardly look at it.  I love how my two boys are so different!

Conley celebrated his 5th birthday!

We went to the corn maze and he invited his cousins and friends.  They had bounce houses, slides, and barrel train rides there as well.  We had pizza and cupcakes and Conley got some lego and lego watches from his friends, a helmet from grandma, a car from great-grandma, and a bike and ninja costume from mom and dad.  It was a hit and they were talking about it for days before and after.  Conley is continuing to be very intellectual about numbers.  He can do addition now without really counting on his fingers.  He is semi-interested in reading (him and Corbin both like trying to figure the beginning sounds of words) but definitely has more of a drive for math concepts right now.  One of the things I love about Conley is he goes, "Mom, I have to tell you something......I love you."  

This past week we took a last minute trip to Portland.  Juan was going there for a conference so we came too and played.  We did the Oregon Zoo, Children's Museum, Forest Park (amazingly beautiful), the Rose Gardens, and went to a Halloween carnival at the park.  Portland and Oregon itself were gorgeous.  I definitely have my perspective of the state expanded.  Here's some pictures from our trip:

I'll end with my testimony that God is aware of us even though he gives us ginormous trials to make us grow.  There is much to be grateful for!  We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Church, Park, Library, & Life

Happy Sabbath everyone!  I took a picture or the kids before church today...I don't know how many pictures I have of them dressed up because they are usually quick to change afterward and I probably can't catch them all dressed at the same time.  Aren' they handsome?  And here's the princess in her new yard sale dress :) I couldn't get Corbin to stop doing that super hero stance, or to wear it tie...it "chokes" him.

I am just starting the post today by looking at what pictures I have from the week because otherwise I don't remember what we did.  We sure do spend a lot of time at the park...especially since it's almost summer.  The last couple weeks it has had to be in between in the rainstorms.  We sure will miss the park in walking distance someday when we move!

Caliah loves getting dizzy on these spinny cups.  I have to make her stop after going a couple times each direction when her eyes look like they are going to roll back in her head although she would do it all day if I let her.  I have to distract her and make her "lose" them.  

More park pictures, different day.  Apparently I don't have any pictures of the boys because they are usually off playing some attack and hide game.  I LOVE my boys but Heavenly Father really knew me and blessed me by giving me and girl to play at my pace.

Here the boys are going to the library.  Going to the library is a special treat and we can usually spend a couple hours or more there.  They have lots of activities...puzzles, learning games, ipads, and LEGOS!  

This summer we are doing the reading program to read 10 hours to get a prize.  I made a secret goal to read to my kids everyday for "as long as they want to" meaning, we sit down and read and keep going with more books until THEY decide they want to do something else, not me saying it's the last book.  They usually go for 1/2 hour to and hour.  That's my only goal for the summer.  Sometimes I feel like as a mom I should be teaching them so much more.  This is the one and only goal I felt inspired to make so here's to reading! Conley has been really into board games and card games lately too so almost every night is game night.  He practices a lot of counting doing this.  His top games now are Lost Cities, Avengers Monopoly, Star Wars Life, and Uno Attack.  He is his best when he is playing a game and having a good time!  It's worth it staying up till 11 pm after the other kids have gone to bed to play a game with him and see the smile on his face.  

Caliah painted her picture this week!  She is starting to want to do all the things her brothers do. 

Today in church, Juan gave the 5th Sunday lesson on keeping the Sabbath Day Holy as a family.  It originated from a training from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve.  The whole goal of the church is to have "multi-generational" families where we are baptized, endowed, sealed, have children, and then the cycle starts over.  The cycle us typically broken between baptism and endowment and so it is key to have gospel teaching in the home.  Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is foundational.  I really enjoyed the teachings.  

I am supposed to do a speaking part in a musical fireside tonight about my testimony of life before and after repentance.  I still need to work on the wording but here's my jumbled thoughts.  We all come to a time in our life when life really knocks us down.  We've heard the advice, when life gets too hard to stand, kneel.   But what happens before it gets too hard until we finally realize that become sufficiently humble?  My thoughts are that I want to see change but I'm want to do it my way.  Complete humility before God is the first step.  When I submit my will to Heavenly Father and tell Him that I am willing to do anything He wants me to do if He will lift this burden from me.  When I not only say, but also DO this, he not only lifts the burden, but gives me peace and wholeness that I could never imagine or create on my own.  Repentance is REAL in my life when I have a grand feeling of gratitude for my Savior.  I know that I can't do it without Him.  He is the source of all good things in my life.  He makes it possible for me to feel love.  

God is Mindful of Us, Be Happy

Yay, I am blogging on Sunday like I said I would!  Create a habit one day at a time, right.

This week has been kinda rough because we have been sick...Caliah in particular.  It's so sad to see our little princess like that.  Her little cry was barely audible.  Today she is finally acting like she is getting better.  You can tell because she is starting to talk and laugh again.  She likes to copy what you say.  She particularly likes to say "mmmm" in different ways (like yummy food).  She also started doing something new just today...nodding her head YES.  She has been shaking her head no for quite some time but this is new!  When she does it she moves her whole body, almost like she is doing the worm.

As you will notice in pictures, you often can catch Caliah with her thumb in her mouth.  Lesser known is that you can find her other hand doing something else oftentimes as well...in her belly button.  Haha.  This was one of the days she was sick...her little eyes look so sad.   I am so glad she is getting back to normal (probably thanks to a trip to Grandma's for a good oil rub and her letting us borrow her diffuser since ours broke so that we can blast our house with RC and Thieves..thanks Mom!)

The boys had their last soccer game this week.  They both did awesome...Corbin finally played on the field by himself for the first time.  Conley had so much energy and was running circles around the field, scoring 2 goals.  They were both very proud of their trophies and pictures (I'll have to scan those and post those later).  Corbin planned out exactly where in his room he was going to put them on the way home.

They also had their last day of preschool!  Here's three pics of their class because they all showed different personalities and I couldn't choose which one. (I do like the funny one though.)

Again, I am so grateful to have met Kylie because this was the perfect preschool program for them!  I asked them what they wanted to give their teacher as a gift since it was their last day and they said, "A necklace!"  So I got out some beads and they made a necklace for her all by themselves!  It was pretty multi-colored but it was very sweet.  


One thing that always fills our days are lots of lego creations.  I want to start taking more pictures of the things Conley and Corbin build.  I am always so impressed!  Conley is so skilled with putting pieces together...it's amazing to watch him.

Another thing we have been doing this week is playing board games particularly with Conley.  He caught on very well to Lost Cities (which says it is for age 10+!).  It is crazy to see my little boy becoming so smart.  Playing the games really helps with his counting and he loves it!  After Corbin and Caliah have gone to bed we play and it is really fun to spend that two on one time with him.  We are challenging as parents with him from time to time as he can get angry and demanding (he doesn't like it when his little brother and sister mess with his stuff...the life of being the oldest).  So seeing him happy and excited is rewarding.  

A little about Juan and I...Juan is starting his LAST semester of his master's program in Coaching and Athletic Administration!  We are so grateful that we were able to find a masters program that worked perfect with our lives and is something that he loves.  There have been some late nights but it's been good and I am proud of Juan for pursuing this goal.  

Last week, I went with mom to a Whole-Person Preparedness Conference (Body, Mind, & Spirit) in Idaho Falls.  It was awesome!  I learned so much and really felt uplifted from the things I learned...one of those things being about living at a higher vibration.  We really are just meant to be happy which comes from living by faith.  There is much opposition in this world but God is mindful of us and we just need to look steadfastly to Him.  A couple quotes I like from the conference:

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” - Albert Einstein

The greatest tragedy in life is the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked. 

One other thing from the conference...there is this free download from Kirk Duncan who wrote Mind of Steel.  It is a two hour audio that goes over how to monitor thoughts so that you can have better life results.  It has been worthwhile for me to listen to so check it out if you want here: www.3keyelements.com/mind

Until next week!  Love on!