My Amanda

This was Amanda's last year of Preschool, she has enjoyed the Hawks nest but is sooo excited to finally be going to Kindergarten or as she puts it "Ms. Diaz's class at Mountain View Montessori" She has grown up so much this last year and I am soo very glad that we had her wait until this year to start school. I have loved having the extra time with her.

Her personality is so kind and loving sometimes to a fault. If there is ever a conflict over who gets to go first, sit next to mom, play with a toy etc. She will always be the first to sacrifice so that someone else can be happy. I love having her around and will be so sad to see her go off to Kindergarten this year. She will be gone from 8:30 in the morning until 2:45 and I will miss her dearly during that time. I will miss her hugs especially and her cheerful attitude. She is one of my babies and I don't want to let her go.

She also has a spunky and funny side. She loves to make us laugh and will do silly little moves and dances when she thinks no one else is looking. This year she was quite the ham at the end of the year performance at Preschool and I was amazed as I watched to realize that my little baby is growing up way to quickly right before my eyes.

I feel like the time has just slipped through my fingers like sand. I can't seem to slow it down and I am afraid of missing something. Am I teaching her all she needs to know, am I inspiring confidence and Independence so that she will be successful this year without me.

It was really fun to have Elizabeth join her for the last 1/2 a year of Preschool. Amanda was the perfect role model and took extra care to watch out for and play with her sister. It was fun for me to know that my other baby was safe with her big sister and that they would stick together. The teachers said they never left each others side. I am happy that they are best friends and hope Elizabeth survives for the next two years while she is the only one at home.


I love this little girl of mine and am proud to be her mommy! She is my angel and I have a feeling she will be an angel to many as she seeks to help, love and serve those around her. I am sure she will be a great friend to the kids at school and I hope they will be as kind to her as I am sure she will be to them.

Before she goes to school we decided to do a special date with each of the kids and since she is always so giving and goes last at everything Steve and I decided that this time she goes first. She is so tickled that she is going first and that she gets to decide what we are going to do. Naturally she wants to do something we will all enjoy. So she her dad and I will be going to McDonald's and then maybe a movie (she's not sure on the actual activity yet) I hope she enjoys the one on one time as much as I will.

I love you Amanda!!!!

Time flies!

Wow time flies when you are stressed to the max. So what you may ask has the Lang family been up to these past 7 yes I said 7 months.

Amanda turned 5 in October Katrina turned 7 Steve turned 36 and Stacie turned ** in November. That being said we went to Disney land for all but my Birthday as we had passes and they gave us gift cards for our birthdays. The girls spent their $62 gift cards in about 10 minutes and then we spent the remainder of the days having fun running from ride to ride. On Steves b-day we left the kids at home and had a birthday date to disney land and went to dinner at the blue bayou resteraunt. It was loads of fun and I think it was more fun watching him spend his money than the girls. He literally took hours and ended up building himself his own light sabor. :) My baby sister McKensi got married and Allison came for a Thanksgiving visit which entailed two trips to Utah that month. We loved every minute of it but it kept us super busy.

We purchased a new home and moved in December with the help of family and made a suprise visit to St George to suprise both Steve and my families on Christmas eve. The new house is a blessing in disguise and came very unexpectadly. We love the new found space we have and I especially love that there is room for everyone to spread out and have a little space to do so. We have lots of work to do on the house as it was a bank owned property but bit by bit it is becoming home.

January left us feeling a bit unsetteled and we spent most of our free time trying to finish up the move and clean up the old house. Allison turned 12 and entered young womens, and yes it makes me feel old to have a 12 year old. My baby Elizabeth turned 3 at the end of the month and we celebrated by going to chucky cheese for the evening.

Febuary brought my youngest starting preschool and I found myself with several hours 3 days a week without children. I am suprised however that in the weeks that have followed I have not found any more time. I still do the same things errands, shopping, dr appts, the only difference is that I do not have the company of little ones to keep me entertained as I do the mundane things of life. I do not look forward to the day that they are all in school and I have every day to myself, maybe we will have to look into foster care at that point or I can get a job at the school as a teachers aid. I guess only time will tell :)

March we were able to have Allison come and visit and we once agin went to Disney Land. Ali does not get to go as much as the rest of us for the obviouse reason that she lives in Oklahoma and when she does come it is the busier times of the year and who wants to spend our entire vacation waiting in line? This year our passes were not blocked and some good friends of ours came with us. They made the trip so much more enjoyable, thanks Carol and Kerri for coming with us :) Ali flew home and then Steve and Katrina started their spring break. We went to Utah for a couple of days to see Steves grandfather who's health is not great. We came back and spent the rest of the vacation on the yard. We stained most of the fence, pulled out all the dead plants and planted 2 peach, 2 apple and 1 pear tree. We also planted 2 grape plants and about 100 strawberries (thanks Ali for helping get those planted and for your help in starting to stain the fence)
April is now upon us and we like everyone else celebrated Easter. We had the Easter Bunny come a day early so Saturday could be about the candy and Sunday could be about the Savior. We made ressurection cookies which helped the kids better understand the Saviors roll in all of this as we read passages from the scriptures to understand the days leading up to the crucifiction and ressurection. I loved listening to conference as we had people in and out of our home joining us for various sessions. Life in the mission field sure is different, no watching conference in your pjs when you have strangers coming into your home to listen to the words of a prophet. On Easter Sunday I also learned that a dear friend of mine had passed away. I made plans to attend the funeral and was touched by the spirit as I watched all of her family and friends (including myself) struggle with the loss. I was touched by the love of her husband for their 5 young children as he made the decision to stay home and be a dad for a while.

I think that about wraps it up for now, I will try to post some pictures as time permits ;)