Things to Remember

1- Saturday was our 9th anniversary. I kept thinking of all of our other Anniversaries, and all of the things we've been through in our life together. It's crazy how much can happen in 9 years. We had a nice day. I felt really bad because I agreed to go visit my Nana's grave with my Dad and his family earlier in the day, not knowing what Nate had planned (it was his year to plan our Anniversary).... so he had to change his plans a little. But he made it special and we had a good time. Heidi watched the kids while we went to the Gateway. We walked around shopping for clothes for me, but really didn't find anything :(.... time to lose weight. that's all I'm gonna say about that. But we had fun together. Then we went and saw the movie "Date Night". That movie is HILARIOUS!!! I couldn't stop laughing. Nate has my heart. Hopefully he still wants it :)



2-We had the hugest let down ever on Sunday. The people we were going to rent from, who told us we could sign the lease on Monday, called and left a message sometime Sunday morning saying that someone else had signed the lease instead. Of course it had to happen AFTER I told everyone at church that "this might be our last Sunday". I was really bummed. Nate was strong about it and kept saying that things would be okay and probably better since this probably just wasn't meant to be. He's good. I am still having a hard time with it. I just got so excited to finally be in a house again. 5-16-10


3- On Monday we (Kelly, Erika and I- since Charity had her activity days) went to Annie and Marci's baby shower. We had such a great time. Hopefully Claire will share some of her pictures :). Can't wait for these two to be moms, they're gonna love it!! 5-17-10



4- Today I decided to stop and smell the roses a little. In the morning I sat down with Lukey (without nagging him to change into his clothes first) and watched him play a game on the computer. He loved it! And I was really impressed with how good he is at this game. He loved telling me all about it and showing off his skills. Felt good to give him that moment. That's probably why the girls were late for school, but oh well.... can't win 'em all right? I remembered to take some time to read books today as well. It's really been too long since we did one of our marathon book reading sessions (we used to do it all the time, everyone would go get 5 or 6 books and we'd sit and read for hours).... it felt good to do it again. I read books all the time, one or two here and there, but this seems to be really fun for the kids, we get all cuddly and just sit there and focus on the books. It's relaxing. We were there for at least an hour and a half, probably more. The laundry sat there getting bored, but we had a good time! Noah enjoyed "get nudda one?" [getting another one]. When we were at Walmart we took a detour through the toy section (which I haven't done in a while either since I get tired of hearing "will you get me this for my birthday?" when the birthday is MONTHS away). It was really fun to just watch them touch all the buttons and try everything that they could. They really do love to do that. Erika was pretty cute too even. She saw the baby dolls and got really excited. The boys brought a few over to her to look at and she just about died! Well, then I couldn't help it, I had to grab one of the cheap little four dollar ones for her.... she sucked on it and loved it all the way through the store (probably not too sanitary) and then some more when we got it home. I think she likes it :) Then instead of just parking in front of the school 20 minutes early (since we finished our errands early) like I usually do, we stopped at Rocket Park and Brad and Luke got to run around while I fed Erika and Noah slept. Just some of the things I wish I did more often. It's hard to run a family and sit back and enjoy it at the time, but I'm slowly trying to master the art. I've been reading a lot of really helpful hints from the book Charity gave me for Mother's Day.... I really need to bring it in from the car and share those.... good stuff. 5-18-10



5- Erika calmed down when I sang to her in the car! Just had to document it. It's a rare occurence. 5-19-10

6- I got to go to Kelly's Birthday table today at school!! She wanted McD's happy meal and so I delivered :) I was really rushed to get there since I had lost track of time, and I showed up like 3 or 4 minutes late and she was waiting for me at the front doors of the school with the biggest smile on her face :) I love how excited she gets about this stuff. I told her I was sorry for being late and she INSISTED that I was not late :) What a sweetheart. It was nice sharing that time with her. 5-19-10

Erika's already six months old!

I'm trying not to let it bother me that I'm over a week late on this post.... but whatever. Erika turned 6 months on the 10th. She's half a year old!! Blows my mind when I think about it that way. She's getting so active. She's started a few new things lately. She's improved on her sitting up. For the last few grocery shopping trips she's been just fine sitting up in the front of the cart.... which is just fun :) I love watching her look at everything. She has a bad habit of sucking on the handle, which is disturbing, but she feels like a big girl anyway. She definitely knows how to pick things up and usually puts them right in her mouth, so we have taken advantage of that for help with feeding her. She eats nonstop still, but now she can have crackers and baby treats and stuff, so it gives me a little bit of a break. She's generally pretty happy, as long as she has company. She doesn't like to be alone AT ALL, meaning she needs to be held most of the time. So luckily she came to a family where there are plenty of willing people to hold her. She enjoys the constant entertainment of her brothers. She hasn't been in for her well-child yet, so I don't know her stats, I'll put them on here when I get them. Yesterday and the day before she's shown that she's VERY into babies!! We ran into the Dallas' new baby in the hallway at church, and she just about dove out of my arms to get her.... it was really cute! Then she did it again about 3 or 4 times at Annie's shower yesterday while everyone else was holding her.... I almost dropped her a couple of times. It's cute! Annie says that means she wants a little sibling and I should get started on that.... HA! Annie's so funny! Erika is very aware of everything around her and studies it well. She's not the quickest smiler, I think she's just so busy trying to figure everything out and examine it thoroughly that she just forgets to smile. It's cute how she'll just stare at people though... makes me laugh. She does have a few people that she will smile at instantly. I'm one of them :) I love that. On Sunday she was sitting a few rows up in the Primary on Nate's lap and when she caught a glimpse of me in the back of the room, she couldn't help leaning over to peek around Daddy to flash her big smile at me. She has a beautiful smile. Her eyes are her most talked about feature though. Big and bright! People always say, "isn't she just so bright-eyed!" and I just have to laugh and say, "nope, they're just big :)".... People like to rub her bald little head too, to which I'm always thinking, "stop! you're gonna rub off what little hair she has!" She'll get some hair eventually. We like her baldness :) Erika is still so popular here at home. She is content to be with her sibs, and that is a good thing. I'm so glad Heavenly Father let us have her, she's a doll, and such a fun little personality to add to our family. I can't wait to see what this determined little girl sets her mind to do in the future.....

The Whole Nine Years!

108 months of marriage

94 months of crazy hormones spent pregnant or nursing

(I think Nate deserves the most credit for this one)

228 weeks of pregnancy

25 hours of labor (for 1 kid)

6 first times tearing up about holding each beautiful new baby together

6 different homes

7 different vehicles

2 out-of-state moves

12 weeks away from each other

9 different employers

8 surgeries

11 hospitalizations

1 ride in an ambulance (and it wasn't as cool as I had hoped it would be)

4 deaths in the family

3 years of college

8 first days of school

65 well-child Dr. visits

11,731 pictures (not counting all the deleted ones :))

42 Birthdays

at least 400 Family home evenings

25 talks in church

18 callings

4 cameras

7seasons of 24

16 feet

80 toes

1 forgiving husband

1 lucky wife

and

8 happy people

I don't think that back on that Tuesday, 9 years ago today, that we could have ever imagined our lives to be this full. I'm happy it was though, and that we've made it through alive. There have definitely been some ups and some downs, but we've been through them together and been made stronger. I love Nate more than life itself. It blows my mind how much my love for him has changed and grown over the last 9 years. I never could have imagined I'd love someone as much as I love him. I can't wait to see what the next 9 bring..... and eternity after that....

I love you, Nate!!

Happy Anniversary!

and just for me 3285 days that I could say the words "my husband"

(Before I got married, I LONGED to be able to say those words. And I'll never forget how excited I was to say 'I'm waiting for my husband' to the valet guy while Nate ran into the hotel for a minute..... it made me smile then and still does. Maybe it's just because I'm married to Nate..... who knows :) )

Things to remember

1- Yesterday we finally got Noah to really play the wii :) It was SO ADORABLE!!!! He did the bird one where you flap your arms.... SO CUTE! He totally wouldn't let me help him move to the center of the board so his little birdie was flying in a circle.... he loved it! Then he did the kung fu one, that was funny because he was actually getting some of the moves. He loved doing the one where you tilt to drop the balls into the paint.... he kept saying that he "shoot you" to all of us :) So cute. It's just fun when everyone sits around and enjoys something with Noah. The older kids all laugh and make it twice as fun as it would have been for him alone. I love those moments. 5-13-10

2- We did a quick little competition between all of us just before scriptures last night, on the hula hooping, and I totally kicked everyone's trash :) I loved it :) Charity jumped up and brought it on :).... she says she's going to spend the next day beating my score. She gets her competitiveness from Nate of course :) 5-13-10

3- This morning Brad was playing with Erika. It's funny how much fun he has with her.... but at one point in the getting ready for school- crazy morning- I heard giggling under the blankets on Charity and Kelly's bed. I went in there and guess who I found under the covers.... Brad and Erika!!! Just playing around :) He was showing her how fun it can be to be under the blankets :).... I had to put an end to it, just so that I could have them closerby, but he repeated it all in the tv room with one of Erika's little blankets.... it was adorable. And she just acted like she was a big kid and enjoyed it with him :) She's hilarious. fun kids. 5-14-10



4- Luke just told me that he "can't find a shirt" while his closet is PACKED (and I mean PACKED) with shirts.



5- Today I realized that when I blog, I am happy. I need to keep up on my blogging.... I've missed it. 5-14-10



6- We finally got the call from the renters.... I think we're gonna move!!!! 5-14-10

Chocolate Cake! Kelly style!

Here's Kelly with her Chocolate Cake that she made for our Family Night Treat. She was actually the lesson but NOah was the treat, so we let Kelly kind of head that up since she was dying to make her recipe from the little book that she gave me for MOther's Day. I'll never forget the look of pride on her face when she was passing out the "2 slices for everyone!" She's such a little homemaker :) I love that she gets into this kind of stuff right now. And who doesn't love a little Nutella~!!! I'll have to go get it and type up her exact recipe later, it's in the other room and the kids are going to sleep :)