It's been forever

Once again I've let weeks pass before writing a post.  Life has been so busy and crazy that I haven't made time to blog. I've missed it. We've been doing the usual Shaw things: work, school, church, with a little bit of fun in between. We really enjoyed General Conference last weekend and spent a few weeks preparing our family for it. We prayed about specific things we wanted answered for our family and within the first few talks we had our answers! It was a great testimony builder for the kids and us too. The kids just finished Spring Break last week and had a very busy week. They went to the Zoo with friends and babysitter one day. And also went to the park and on bike rides. Ellie even had a friend party where Spencer helped paint the girls' nails! Everyone is happy and healthy.
I'll do my usual update for everyone.

Ayden
Ayden was able to get his cast off after 4 weeks. He still has to wear a soft brace for another week to help strengthen his wrist a little bit more. He finished his basketball season and will start baseball in a week. He's excited and has been playing with his pitch-back every day. He wants to play short stop or 2nd baseman. Ayden and Ellie switched piano teachers and he is enjoying the new teacher. She is excited because he is her oldest student right now. She's been giving him harder pieces and trying to push him a little bit more, which we love.
He is already thinking about his 10th birthday which isn't until July!

Ellie
Ellie has been working on reading 100 books through the month of April. The first grade classes are encouraging all students to read and if they accomplish the 100 book goal they will get to be part of a pizza party. Ellie doesn't like pizza but is determined to finish the goal! She's already at 80 books. They have the option of counting chapters as a book, but she didn't want to do that. She wants to read 100 books. I love that she is working so hard. She also started with the new piano teacher and loves it. She is very chatty though and has to be reminded to get back on task during the lessons. Both Ellie and Ayden signed up to be part of a Stake Primary children's choir for Stake conference Easter weekend. She is so excited but also nervous to sing in front of all those people and cameras. She has been loving this nice weather and spends all her extra time outside riding bikes or playing on the monkey bars. She has several calluses on her palms that I don't know will ever go away.

crazy girl

Tate
Tate has been going to preschool and daycare. He loves daycare and always asks if it's a "Keisha" day. School is a different story. He doesn't like going to school. He's good once he's there and has fun, but he just doesn't like the thought of going I guess. Thankfully he has a very patient, loving preschool teacher! Tate is still our crazy boy. He loves to play with the older kids, but is completely content doing his own thing and playing pretend. He is such a good big brother and loves to make Tayrn smile. He recently had his toe nails painted because "boys can like paint too, Mom." He chose blue like "BIU" (I love that he says BIU instead of BYU).

this was taken after a treadmill accident

Taryn
Our sweet baby girl is already 5 months old. I can't believe how quickly time is going with her. She is such a content, happy baby. She is working on rolling over.....she's quite chubby so it's a little hard for her! She is a squawker and we lovingly refer to her as our "Taryn-dactyl" because she sounds like a pterodactyl (as if we know what one sounds like). Taryn loves her siblings. She gets so excited when they talk to her and her legs and arms start going a mile a minute. I miss her during the day when I'm at work, but she is such a good baby for the babysitter that I don't ever worry about her. We love having her in our family. I couldn't decide which picture of her to put on here so I did a few. she's so stinkin' cute!

Spencer and Loni
Spencer has been picking up extra cabinet jobs and stays pretty busy with that. It's nice having the extra money and it's good for him to get his name out there with builders. He really enjoys doing and I appreciate all his hard work. We both signed up to do a 5k run on April 26th so we've been training for that. The first night Spencer went out to run, he tore his lower calf muscle. Seriously! He wasn't able to do anything for on it for 2 weeks. We've got 1 1/2 weeks left before the race and we're both working hard to be ready. It's been great for him because he's lost 15 lbs doing this. Me......nothing! But at least we're getting healthier.
Spencer is working on his classes and this new school Western Governors has been great. He can go at his own pace which sometimes involves last minute panic before the end of the semester!  We try to plan one a night a week where he goes to the library for a few hours.
I've been staying busy with my primary calling and started working full time again. For the last 4 weeks I've had a really bad headache that I cannot get rid of. I go to bed with it and wake up with it. I've been to one doctor (who honestly didn't really care and just gave me some meds to get me out the door). Some days are ok and I can function but other days are really bad and my head is throbbing and I feel dizzy/sick. I'm going to another doctor this week so hopefully he'll be more willing to help me figure this out. I'm starting to forget what it feels like to not have a headache!

So that's the Shaws!