{Life according to my iPhone}

We have definitely had our fair share of the white fluffy stuff this winter.  It has been fun though to get outside with the kiddos and play!!  We had an epic snowball fight with this snow fall.  Parents against kids!  I wasn't much help to Ryan, unless we are talking about making all the ammunition!  I was a killer snowball maker, just not so great a thrower!!  It was a fun day!  Nice drool Wyman!!

We got to go ice skating again this winter.  The kids had a blast.  It was during the Olympics so of course we were all trying to do our triple axles and such.  Personally I think we may be ready for the 2030 Winter Olympics!! ;)

One Sunday afternoon I drove down and met up with my "little" brother Alan and Ty in Fredricksburg, VA.  Ty was interviewing for Dental school in Richmond.  It was so nice to chat and hug on both of them!!

One afternoon while the kids were working their homework, we heard what sounded like a snowball hitting the window in the living room.  When we looked outside though we saw bird feathers floating in the air.  So we hurried outside and found this poor cardinal lying on the ground.  It had hit the window hard enough to break it's neck and it died not long after we found it.  So we buried in the front yard and the girls sang "God be with you til we meet again".  It made them feel better!!

On a rare nice day the kids wanted to eat outside for lunch.  We don't have a table out on the deck so they improvised and made their own.  So glad they are up to date on their tetanus vaccinations.

The girls and I went one evening and found Lauryn's baptism dress.  I can't believe that her baptism is just a month away.  She is super excited for her big day!!  I am super excited that she was able to make a decision on a dress.  It only took us two hours for her to decide between all the white dresses we found.  They were all so pretty she said!  Life is full of hard choices I guess!

Spring means baseball and we are up to our eyeballs in it this year.  Ayden is playing of course, but Meysa wanted to try softball and Wyatt is old enough to start T-ball so they are both playing as well this year.  Lauryn didn't want to play, but she may choose to next year after watching everyone doing it his year.

This picture was two days after the previous picture of a beautiful Spring day at the baseball field.  Old Man Winter got the last laugh this winter I guess.

Lauryn brought home a potted beet seed that she is trying to grow in the back yard.  We will see if she can resist giving it so much water.

This was Wyatt's first t-ball practice.  Interestingly enough he throws and bats Right handed even though he writes and eats left handed.  He is so cute out there throwing the ball, running around.  He is having the best time, which makes me happy!!

Up next, our trip to Italy!!

{Catch-up...Instagram Style}

I like doing these catch-ups!!  Sometimes I forget the pictures that I capture with my phone and it is always fun to see the small glimpses of real life.  Some of these are from last year but I love them.  So they make the cut!!
I have really enjoyed getting the chance to more regularly help in the kids' classrooms.  On this particular day I got to help Lauryn's class build gingerbread houses.  It was a messy but fun job!!

We made the annual trek to the temple to see the Christmas lights.  We got lucky this year and the weather was amazing, as you can tell in the picture of us.  We were in short sleeves and we enjoyed it immensely.  I love coming here each year.  It helps remind me of the real reason for the season.  Our Savior Jesus Christ, he is the reason we celebrate each and every year!!

My kids are notorious for snagging my phone and taking photos and videos of themselves.  If I can figure out how to add video, I will.  Some are priceless.  Boy do we have some dramatic kids!!

Well slap us across the face why don't ya Winter!!  Not long after Christmas we got hit with freezing temps.  No short sleeves in sight!!  We look like we are headed to the North Pole instead of the bus stop!

We had the opportunity to tour the US Capitol building early in January.  We also toured the Pentagon the same day but you aren't allowed to take pictures of the building at all.  Inside or Out.  It was a really rainy day so we didn't get the chance to see the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial (which you can get pictures of) so we are going to have to go back on a nicer day to see that.
The Capitol tour was really fun, the kids got to participate and they thought was cool.  The picture below is Wyatt and Lauryn standing on the center point of Washington DC.

Each state gets to put inside the Capitol building two statues of people that represent their state.  This is Brigham Young, for the state of Utah.

By this point the tour was almost over and the kids were hungry.  Don't let their faces fool you though, they loved it!!

Looking up into to the dome of the Capitol building.

Lauryn got a much needed haircut.  She looks so darling with her short bob!!

Our kids rarely get to play their DS's.  It was the weekend (when they can have screen time) and they had gotten all their chores done, their pj's on and teeth brushed so I busted them out of their locked hiding place.  They got one hour and they felt like all was right in the world again!

This kid shoveled our sidewalks after one of our snow falls.  He is getting old enough to be a real help to me.  Love that!

Went on a field trip with my girl!!

Attended an awards ceremony for Meysa the other day.  She is a wonderful student and makes us proud.

Enjoying one of our snow days playing games.  Ayden is pretty cool, no?!!

Until the next catch-up......

{More Snow and Wishing for Warmth....maybe}

We have had more snow this winter than the last two combined.  The kids have enjoyed each and every snowfall.  They have gotten pretty conditioned though, to think that with every bit of snow or icy rain, they should get a snow day or at the very least a two hour delay.  We are hoping to not have to make up any days at the end of the year.

We will enjoy it while it lasts.  I try to remind myself that in the heat of the summer I will wish for a little cooler weather.  So instead of wishing for something else I am trying to enjoy each season for what they offer.

I think that is the key to happiness in life anyways.  Don't wish for a distant time in the future when everything is supposed to be perfect.  The perfect house, or perfect job, or perfect place to live or even perfect weather. Instead enjoy each day as it comes for what it is.  There is happiness to be enjoyed today, not tomorrow or next week.  Happiness isn't some distant goal to be had when and if some milestone is reached.  If you live like that you aren't going to find that elusive happiness.  The moments of real joy will have already been missed.

Ryan and I are coming up on our 15th wedding anniversary and in all those years there has been ONE year where our life was somewhat normal.  It was in between undergrad and medical school.  We were both working and had one child.  It felt like we had spent more time with each other in that one year than in all of our relationship up to that point.  We joked with each other that our marriage worked because we didn't spend a lot of time with each other.  Kinda sad when you think about it.  Before that year of normalcy, Ryan was playing baseball 9 months of the year, with constant practice, games and travel.  The years after that normal year have been spent away from family, and a lot of time away from each other.  It has been one wild ride I tell ya.  Do I wish that is was different?  No.  We have gone into this adventure with the attitude that each and every step along this journey has something good to offer, something that we won't get to experience ever again.  We have lived longer away from family than we have lived next to them.  But we have lived in some great places and next to some amazing people.  Our kids have seen and experienced amazing things that they wouldn't have, if we were so bound and determined to not to recognize the opportunities before us.

I am not perfect at living with this attitude.  Sometimes I find myself wishing for things or changes that I think will make life that much better.  Forgetting that life right now, today, is pretty great without anything added to it.  It is always good to be reminded to enjoy each season of life (figuratively or otherwise).  So roll in the snow and make a snow angel, dance in the rain, build a sand castle in the blazing hot sun and jump in the leaves once they're piled high.  You'll be glad you did!!          

{Heitmann Family 2013}

{our family newsletter that we sent out with our Christmas cards}

We hope this letter finds everyone happy, healthy at the end of this year.   We have thoroughly loved our time in Washington DC these last 2 ½ years and are sad that our time here will be coming to an end.  Here is a recap of the happenings around these parts.
Wyatt (5) – Very few people call this young character by his real name (mostly only his mother accompanied by his middle name).  Even our Bishop calls him ‘Wyman’.  He is the comedian of the bunch.  He constantly has us laughing and shaking our heads.  He has absolutely flourished as a ‘big boy’ kindergartener.  He loves riding the bus to school.  He is reading, writing and ‘wanting to learn’ how to do anything and everything.  No one can tell him he isn’t big enough or old enough to do something. 

Lauryn (7) – Her determination is something to admire, even when she is determined NOT to do something we would like her to do.  She is so quirky and full of personality.  She is in 2^nd grade and really likes being in the oldest grade at her school.  She has really taken seriously the job of watching over Wyatt on the bus and at school.  She can’t wait to be baptized in May and is even more excited that it will happen on Mother’s Day.  She is still sticking with piano even though some days she is determined to make us take her out.

Meysa (10) –  She is such a special spirit.  She is amazing and excelling in everything she does.  She was nominated to take part in a scholars camp in Bethesda this summer and had a blast meeting other kids from all over the country and learning about the human body.  She can’t get enough of 4^th grade.  We can’t walk through the school without teachers and other students asking “Are you Meysa’s Mom/Dad?  She is so nice/smart/pretty/fun.”  She really has picked up piano and now has decided that she also wants to learn to play the violin.  Now if only she excelled in doing the dishes…hmmm.

Ayden (12) – Well the oldest is finally a Young Man.  Literally and figuratively.   He thinks he is pretty neat as a 7^th grader (and also because he is about ½ inch shorter than his mother).  He was ordained a Deacon,  loves passing the sacrament each week, and takes his responsibilities very seriously.  He has such a true heart and always wants to do what is right and pleasing to Heavenly Father.  He obtained his Star rank and is on track to be a Life Scout in March 2014.  He may even be an Eagle Scout by the time this letter is written next year.  He also flourished in fall baseball this year.  He was the team’s first baseman and improved his pitching enough that his coach started him each of the last 4 games of the season.

We are so proud and humbled to be parents to these wonderful kids.  We could stop the letter right here, but in case you are wondering how the “Bigger” kids are doing here is a little update.

Ryan (too old) – The educational journey is just about to come to an official end.  Fellowship will be done in 6 short months.  It has been a long 17 year journey through undergraduate, a year off, medical school, residency and now fellowship.  It’s been long, hard, stressful, and at times overwhelming but I wouldn’t trade the experiences and the future opportunities I have for anything.  I was officially promoted to Major in June and look forward to the next promotion.   I am finally getting the hang of presiding over the Young Men along with what it takes to teach them and let them learn and grow in the gospel. 
Aimee (too older) – Being the leader of a three ring circus is a fulltime job.  Aimee does a good job at keeping us all in line and going in the direction we need to be going.  She is busy with her church calling, which is teaching music in Primary.  While that isn’t her favorite thing to do she is learning to love it and to appreciate the opportunity to serve there.  She is still clickin’ away on her camera and has done several family shoots for friends here.  She seems to be the one to do all the pictures for our Ward activities as well.  This Fall she, for the first time in a long time, is home alone with no kids during the day.  She has found that there still isn’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.  It is, however, just a little more peaceful!!

 
We will miss living on the East coast but we are looking forward to being much closer to our extended family.  We look forward to moving back to the Northwest this coming summer.  We wish you and your families all the best this coming year.  

{Christmas Eve}

We are going to pretend for just a moment that it is still 2013....Ok?  Just this once!! 

For Christmas Eve this year we thought about doing something a little different.  We did the usual sugar cookie decorating, homemade pizza for dinner and Nativity story with puppets and all that, but one thing that was new this year was the National Christmas Tree.  With this being our last Christmas here we wanted to do something we would remember and that we wouldn't be able to do any where else.  So after dinner, we hopped onto the Metro and headed downtown.  It was COLD!!  Seriously bone chilling.  The wind was awful and if you could for even just a moment stand behind a tree or something so as to hide from it you told yourself it wasn't too bad.  But is was!!  The kids were troopers and were really excited to see the tree.  That is probably the only reason that they didn't rise up in mutiny against Ryan and I!!

The Washington Monument is almost done with repairs.  The scaffolding went all the way to the top and now it only has that bottom portion left.  We are hoping to get to tour it before we move.

Finally, after what felt like an epic arctic expedition we made it to the tree.  It was pretty amazing all lit up with lights.  All around the base of the tree they had set up an entire model town complete with trains.  Wyatt was fascinated with that and we barely got him to come home with us when we were done looking.  We bribed him with hot chocolate and then and only then did he agree to leave the trains.  It was a pretty cool set up.  We saw the Nativity they had set up and then made our way out of the crowd and trudged off to hop on the Metro to head back home to warmth.  We are glad, despite the frozen toes and noses, that we went down to see the tree.  Something we will remember for sure.

Once home the kids got to open up the traditional Christmas pajamas.  Of course they had to suffer through Mom's pictures.  Poor kids.  To keep them happy I allow one crazy picture and then they don't seem to mind pretending to be normal!!  As I look at these pictures all I can think is STOP GROWING!!  These darn kids won't stop eating and growing!  Man time is flying!  

He is as tall as me!

She is almost as tall as me!

Thankfully the stars have aligned and this one most likely won't ever be taller than me, but perhaps just the same size!!

This one will most definitely be taller than me.  He is almost taller than Lauryn!

With that the kids were ready for bed, so were Ryan and I!  Each and every year we are amazed at how blessed we are.  Merry Christmas Eve!!