2024 Family Pictures

 We took pictures this year because I really wanted professional pictures to remember our time as a family of eleven. 

What a year it’s been! Our foster kids have since reunified with their Dad, a few days before Christmas, but they were with us for almost eleven months. We all grew so much together during this year. It was a hard year but an amazing year too. I felt stretched to my limits and when I got there I was forced to rely on the Savior. This year has brought me closer to Him, and I’m so grateful we had the experience of fostering these children. It really was a whole family experience. My kids took them on as new siblings and helped these kids in ways that I couldn’t as an adult. It’s hard to explain but it’s been a very special year. 

It’s been FOREVER since I’ve done updates on the kids so I’ll share a little about what each of them have been up to this year. 

Esther-10 

Esther entered the double digits in March! The past year and a half or so she has gotten really into reading. When she was in early elementary school there were many many times where I doubted my ability to teach her and wondered if she would ever be a good reader. Well just like plenty of seasoned homeschool mamas told me, she learned when she was ready and now she reads all types of chapter books. She’s done well in math and other subjects too. Her favorite is still probably nature study and she constantly blows me away with how much she knows. She reads books about constellations and gemstones and trees and chickens and knows way more than me! She has also started using Duolingo to learn Spanish and Swedish. I started teaching all the kids Spanish (very basic Spanish) fairly early in our homeschool journey, but my girls have taken a love for languages so they each added another. I often find Esther at night with her Swedish dictionary, writing in her journal in Swedish so that none of the family can read it ha. Esther has continued to do piano this year and has really flourished. She diligently practices without much nagging, and seems to genuinely enjoy it. She played Edelweiss and Puff the Magic Dragon which I and Moses enjoyed, respectively. Esther also started ninja warehouse this fall. It is a type of parkour/gymnastics class. She struggled at first but has gotten stronger and even won second place in a ninja tournament. Esther is in her last year of primary this January. She knows a lot about the gospel and the scriptures and I love to see her testimony beginning to develop.  Esther still loves doing art and has been taking online classes with Adele. She sometimes struggles with comparisons to Adele in this area, but I’m really proud that she’s kept trying and she’s an amazing artist in her own way. She also likes to write stories. She loves creating, parties or anything fun, and although she seems to have outgrown her mermaid obsession, she still loves the ocean and hopes that we can go there very soon. 

Adele-8 

Adele is such a light in our family. Since Sorrel was born she has started loving to take care of babies. She is a great help with all the little kids and she really took her foster sisters under her wing and bonded deeply with them. (And was therefore very heartbroken when they left.) She asks daily when she’ll be old enough to babysit and she’s going to be a great one in a few years! Adele has several obsessions and when she loves something she loves it deeply and forever. Apart from babies, those loves are pioneers, horses and art. Adele loves painting and sketching so much she is doing it constantly. She works really hard and her skills are really impressive! She wants to be an artist someday and I fully believe she will. She also still dresses in pioneer clothes, the more authentic the better, and she dreams fervently of getting her own horse some day. (So much so that it is a topic of conversation in our house nearly everyday). Adele also has become a wonderful reader. She took to reading early and easily and hasn’t stopped since. She is learning Spanish and French on Duolingo.  She loves books about pioneers, babies and horses of course (with a few Boxcar children and Harry Potter books thrown in for good measure). Adele is in her last year of Let’s Play Music and loves it. She also loves singing and was thrilled when she was chosen to sing in a stake primary choir. She tells me that someday she’s going to sing in the conference center for conference, so watch for that! I love Adele and her big dreams. She has the biggest heart and we’re so blessed to have her. 

Julian-7

Julian is growing up right before our eyes. He and Israel used to be the “little ones” and since welcoming our foster children into our family, took on the role of “big kids” in the family. Julian is all boy and loves all things weapons, superheroes and military. He LOVES listening to stories and listens to things with his entire focus ( so much so that he cannot do anything else when there is an audiobook on). He loves the scriptures and knows the war chapters of The Book of Mormon better than I do (if you’re wondering, my kids are that family in church, the know it alls who correct the teachers in Sunday school 😂). He and Israel have become Harry Potter obsessed and I have listened to the first two Harry Potters constantly the past year as they listen to it all day everyday on the yoto player. Julian is my most diligent student in school. He loves to do school with me. He has to work extra hard because learning can be a challenge for him, but he’s progressing really well. He is a really hard worker. I am so glad I homeschool him and I’m able to give him one on one attention. He is dying to learn how to read and he is slowly but surely getting there. It will be a very very exciting day for him when he can read chapter books by himself because he loves stories so deeply. Julian is also in his third year of  Let’s Play Music. He has progressed really well there as well, and is always surprising me with how much he can play on the piano. Julian does speech therapy but has graduated from occupational therapy. Piano actually really really helped him get his finger muscles stronger, and he hardly struggles at all now.  Julian is bursting at the seams to play any and all sports, so he might just be my child who breaks me out of my dislike for organized sports for children. We shall see. Julian is a really hard worker and excels at cleaning and chores. He is my reliable and responsible helper for a lot of things and I'm so grateful for him!

Israel-6 

Israel is the sweetest boy with the biggest heart. He’s also got a wild temper, but he’s slowly learning some emotional regulation :) He’s very intense and stubborn in all his emotions, whether it be love or hate, so it’s been a journey for both of us. Israel really is very sweet though. He tells me he loves me and wants to live with me forever. He also really loves Sorrel and it’s been so sweet to see their bond grow. Israel is a lego and math MASTER. There is hardly a lego set he can’t assemble and he has kept me on my toes to try and find a math curriculum that doesn’t bore him. (I finally found the Beast Academy workbooks only and it’s been great). He was doing 3 digit addition and subtraction in his mind at age 5, and he has just “figured out” multiplication and division without teaching it to him. It’s been kind of strange after me and the girls being decidedly more “right-brained”. Israel really takes after Leland though, so it’s a good thing he’s got an actuary for a dad who can talk to him about math all day long. Israel is not super motivated to read, or do any school work really, so he’s pretty much unschooled at this point and I’m mostly okay with that. For him, I’m sure that reading will be a snap once he decides that it’s worthwhile to learn. Israel is also in his third year of Let’s Play Music, and since he is one of the youngest in his class his progress has been even more remarkable. He will be composing and playing his own song at the recital this spring which is just mind blowing! He has also started loving Harry Potter and also loves Star Wars and the color orange. Israel is a little home body so his future plans mostly consist of being home with Mama, and eating lots of treats. 

Moses-age 3

Not the most important milestone but must be mentioned first, Moses got his first hair cut this year! Right after these pictures were taken in October I cut his beautiful little curls. He was asking and asking for a haircut like all year so I finally gave in. I left a little bit of curls but it’s not quite the same. He looks darling either way. Moses is such a typical 5th child. He is very funny and can make all the big kids laugh with his jokes. He goes along with most anything they want to do with him and they teach him so many things that he seems like the smartest little homeschool baby. He is constantly knowing things that I never taught him, like all his numbers and letters. He even learned how to write his name! Having a foster brother the same age was a bit of a challenge for him. (Understatement) They were enemies almost the entire time he was here, but being 3 year olds, there were occasional times that they forgot they were enemies and played nicely. This year Moses loved dragons, tigers, a made up/imaginary mountain lion friend named Bop, and mostly he just liked following me around and being right next to me at all times no matter what I was doing, which is I guess a good strategy to get your mom’s attention when you’re the 7th of 9 children. He’s a very cute Velcro baby though. He was an early talker and has kept us laughing with all the wonderful 3 year old things he says. Here are a few: 

Moses what do you want to be when you grow up?

Moses: um a fox? 

Moses: when I grow up I think maybe I will have green hair? 

Moses getting out of the bath: Yook mama, my potbelly can spray water! *slaps belly*

Moses: The grinch saw a crumb and a mouse was sniffing it, and he (gestures) takes it away. 

Sorrel- 1 

Oh baby Sorrel! There is something about a baby that just brings so much light and happiness into a family. Sorrel was a fairly easy and sweet newborn for about a month. After that she got a little more demanding. She was definitely on the harder and high needs end of the spectrum when it comes to our babies. But being our 6th I just loved and cherished (almost) every minute of it. She HATED the car and would scream terribly in the car for her first 8 months or so. That was really really hard on both of us. We live fairly far from most of the kids activities and things and so we do a lot of driving. Hearing her scream for so long and not be able to calm her took a toll on me. But she did eventually outgrow it and we made it through. Sorrel was born with huge darling dimples on both sides that I noticed just minutes after her arrival. They are one of my favorite features of hers. Sorrel followed in her older siblings footsteps by being a chub chub, 99th percentile baby and I love it so much. She's thinning out a little now at 18 months but she still has her "bracelets", the little wrist rolls that the kids and I adore. She never took a binky or bottle. She's co-slept, contact-napped and generally just been a spoiled little baby. ;) She is smart and a little talker already. She has just started to string together two word phrases and it's so darling. Some of her words are Mama, Dada, Poppy, Cat, Doggie, Apply, Milk-Milk, Bye-Bye, Night-Night, Water, Here, Where, Mine, No, Yeah, Outside, Lappy (to be held). Sorrel doesn't have much by way of hair, just like Moses at her age. But I would love if she got curls just like him! Sorrel is so beloved by all the kids, it's the sweetest to see. She is silly and playful and reminds me a lot of Esther as a toddler. She LOVES Baby Beluga by raffi and "bay-bee bu-ga" was one of her first words. She loves books especially any with cats or babies. She is obsessed with baby dolls too which I love. I am so happy I have another little girl to wear dresses and play with dolls. 

Leland- 

I don't know if I ever posted about it here, but Leland became an acutal actuary in September 2023! This was a credential that he has been working towards out entire marriage, so it was really exciting that he accomplished it last year. It came with a pay raise too which is always such a tender mercy and those things always seem to happen when we welcome babies into the family. Leland has lately taken up a love for cornhole and has participated in several local cornhole tournaments. He also has continued to do his company's hiking challenge, finishing 20 hikes each summer. It's quite a feat for him now that we live so far from the mountains, but I also love hiking and I love getting the kids outside so we make it work. Leland has also taken up a newfound love for politics, so if that's your thing, bring up politics with him and he will be happy to be given a chance to have a conversation about it. :) Leland has continued to work from home which is also a huge blessing. He's a great husband and father and we're all so blessed to call him ours. 

Courtney- 

I have been mostly doing the same things I always have, homeschooling and nursing and cooking and cleaning. I did another big garden in 2024 and canned more than I ever have, which I love doing. Since having Sorrel 18 months ago, I've been on a health journey. I did really good in January 2024 and then we got our three foster kids and I was thrown into survival mode.  Working out and making healthy meals for myself was not really a priority. As the year went on I was able to get back into those things somewhat, but now that was are back to having 6 kids, I feel like 2025 is my year. Aside from that, I have been making time for other hobbies like crocheting, and sewing. You know, all the grandma hobbies. :) I have also been working on growing my instagram account, so that it can potentially be another stream of income for our family, and also just because I have felt prompted again and again to share my life and my thoughts there, as scary as it is sometime! If you want to see a lot more of my day to day mom life you can follow me there. /mountainshinemama/