"Flash Back Friday"

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY!Five years ago today I married my best friend, the absolute perfect man for me. I am so glad that he found me and did not let me go. I love him more today than I could have ever imagined and that love continues to grow everyday. He treats me better than I will ever deserve. He is an amazing husband and father, he takes such great care of us. He fits perfectly into my family, as if he's been a member all his life. Jared you are the love of my life. Thank you for all that you do and all that you are! I love you with all that I am. Our wedding song that we danced to was "I Cross My Heart" by George Strait and I love the wording. Jared is the one who picked our song, and he really does exemplify the things that the song talks about.

Our love is unconditional

We knew it from the start

I can see it in your eyes

You can feel it from my heart

from here on after

Lets stay the way we are right now

And share all the love and laughter

That a lifetime will allow

I cross my heart

And promise to

Give all I've got to give

To make all your dreams come true

In all the world

You'll never find

A love as true as mine

You will always be the miracle

That makes my life complete

And as long as there's still breath in me

I'll make yours just as sweet

As we look into the future

It's as far as we can see

So lets make each tomorrow

Be the best that it can be

And if along the way we find a day

It starts to storm

You've got the promise of my love

To keep you warm

MY SWEETIE!

Jared said the cutest thing today and it is so true. Let me begin by explaining something first. Jared has never really been much of a "handy" man. He's never known how to fix up cars or things around the house and for the most part hasn't even attempted. Whenever something has needed to be done he'd call an older sibling, parents or a professional.Well he's been having some car troubles and we're just not in a position financially to take it into a shop so he's been doing all of the work himself. Today he came in for a brief break to wash his hands (yes, he washes his hands in between fixing things even when he knows he's going right back out for them to get filthy again, he HATES dirty hands, which is kind of funny seeing as how he's not at all a prissy boy) but anyway back to the point, when he came inside I told him how proud I was of him for doing all of this stuff himself. He's really been working hard and doing a great job. I told him that if someone would have asked me a couple of years ago I would probably say I didn't think he could do it (terrible of me huh?). He responded by saying "yep, I've really kind of surprised myself. I guess being poor has its benefits, it's amazing what you can learn to do if you have to". I am so impressed by his outlook, he truly continues to amaze me all the time. It's so true too. He is learning some very useful skills that will help our family and possibly others for years to come and he may not have had the opportunity to do so if whenever we had a car problem we could just afford to take it into the shop. Now I'm definitely not saying there's anything wrong with using a licensed mechanic (believe me if we could we would) and being poor is not necessarily the picnic I'm making it out to be, I just wanted to share Jared's insight. In my eyes everything he does and says is priceless. By the way, if you were to ask me now I'd say that he can do absolutely anything and everything if he tries. Thanks sweetie for all of your hard work. I love you!

I'M A BIG GIRL NOW!

Addison Rose is reaching new phases that make her seem like such a big girl and I have such mixed emotions about it. On the one hand it's so fun and exciting to watch her reach these new milestones in her life and see how proud she is of herself when she accomplishes them. On the other hand it makes me so sad to know that she's not my baby any more and never will be again (although to some extent she will ALWAYS be my baby whether she likes to admit it or not). This first picture is one that she will inevitably hate me for some day when she's older, but I couldn't resist. For the past couple of weeks she's been asking to sit on the toilet to go to the bathroom. It's pretty much just been a game, she'll sit up there for a couple of minutes, wipe and then get down to wash her hands. She hadn't actually gone on the toilet until one night we came home and I told her I had to go as I was racing to the bathroom. She then told us that she had to go too. I told her I couldn't help her because I had to go (plus I figured she was just copying me) and she got FRANTIC! She started crying and holding herself like she really had to go. This surprised us because like I said, it's really just been a game up to this point. So Jared took her into the bathroom and she actually went. I would have thought it was just coincidence, but she knew she had to go and she was adamant about using the toilet instead of going in her diaper. Now this is in no way meant to imply that she's potty trained, as a matter of fact this happened last Monday and she has not sat on the toilet since. We figure she just needs a little more time.The next set of pictures also represent a new stage in her "big girl life". On Sunday night we took her crib out of her room and replaced it with her new toddler bed set that my parents made for her. It is so adorable and perfect for her room. The set came complete with 2 night stands, a toddler bed and a toy unit which was badly needed to contain her big toy mess.
We had Addison stay out of her room while we were setting it up so it would be a surprise when she saw it. I love the look on her face when she first walked into her room.

She immediately ran up to the bed with a huge smile on her face and laid down on it. She loves her new pillow (as she's never slept with one before) and was so excited to go night night in her big girl bed.

When she was done checking out her new bed she headed over to the toy unit and started pulling out all of her fun toys. I swear even though she's had most of these toys forever most of them seemed new to her because she was actually able to see what they were. They weren't just strewn about in a huge messy pile on her floor.
She's done really well sleeping in her bed the last couple of nights, we haven't had any problems. She looks so cute in it, I LOVE IT! We're still trying to work out some kinks at nap time though. =)
All we've really done so far is get her furniture in her room, I haven't decorated yet. Once I'm done with all of that fun stuff I'll post more pictures so you can see how it turned out. I love her new "semi" big girl room. It's so cute and girly and just perfect for her. Thank you so much grandma and bapa for all of your help and hard work!

MINI ME!

Lately Addison has been going through such an independent phase. She wants to do everything by herself with no help from anybody else. She
also wants to do everything the grown-ups do, especially her daddy! The other day we were heading out the door to go to one of our newphews' football games. As we were leaving Addison said she wanted to wear a hat so I brought her a cute little bucket hat with flowers on it. Well she started to throw a fit because she wanted her other hat. So she went to her room and found her baseball cap. Okay, no big deal, I put her hair in a cute pony tail and pulled it through the hole in the back of the hat. Not good enough for little miss thing. She started to throw another fit as she pulled off the hat, ripped out her pony tail and put the hat on backwards. That's right, you guessed it, just like daddy wears it. Anyone who has ever met Jared knows he always wears a backwards baseball cap, so apparently this is how Addison thinks they are supposed to be worn. As you can see from the pictures, if it wasn't for her skirt and other pink attire I think people would have thought she was my adorable long-haired little boy. She did look cute though don't you think? As for the plumber's crack, that wasn't something she did on purpose, I just thought it was funny so I took a picture. Sometimes daddy's pants also look like that, ha ha! By the way, she wasn't standing in the corner although I know that's what it looks like. For some reason that's just the stance she took when I asked her to turn around so I could get the picture. She also likes to sit on the couch next to Jared and position her arms and legs to look just like his. It's so cute how much she wants to be like daddy. It's also a little scary to realize how much she notices the things we do and follows our lead. It's a huge responsibility to always try to be a good example because she is obviously watching our every move.

THANKFUL TO BE IN A RUT!!!???

Lately I feel like I have just been stuck in a major rut! I was going to write a post about how unhappy I've been lately and how I just don't know what to do to make it any better. But then luckily our sacrament meeting today was meant solely for me. Don't you love when that happens? First we sang "Sunshine in my Soul". I love that song, it's so happy. I found it very fitting because lately all I've wanted to do is fill my house with sunshine. Now this may sound silly, but since we do live in the desert we tend to keep shades and curtains drawn because it's so hot outside that you do whatever you can to keep the sun out and the electric bill low. The last couple of days though as soon as I wake up I open all the curtains and shades to let as much light in as possible, and it automatically cheers me up a bit. Then a speaker talked about a woman who had a lot of things going wrong in her life so she decided to turn them around and say why she was thankful for these things instead of complain about them. Last but not least we sang "Count Your Blessings", another song I love, and I do have oh so many blessings to be thankful for. So instead of making a list of complaints, I'll turn them around and find reasons to be thankful for these hardships. Let's see if this works!
I'm thankful that I've been sick, tired and/or in pain for the last 8 months because it means that I will soon be bringing another child into this world.
I'm thankful for a toddler who is a complete handful at times because it means that I also get to enjoy the sweet moments at other times.
I'm thankful that Jared got fired because it means that he gets to spend more time with us and help me get some much needed things done around the house. Also it may give us the push we need to make a move, either in location or just career paths...who knows.
I'm thankful to have the opportunity to get frustrated with the in-laws sometimes because it means that we're able to live so close to family who loves and cares for us. For example, just the other day Dianna (mother-in-law) brought me some flowers out of the blue which brightened up my day and helped to bring more "sunshine" into my home. I love having fresh flowers!
I'm thankful to have not lived by my family for a while because now I KNOW how much I NEED, APPRECIATE and LOVE them. (By the way, I've been thankful for this for long enough, so let's all figure something out quick!)
I'm thankful to have bills I can't afford because it means we have a roof over our heads, food in our tummies, clothes to wear and cool air to breathe.
There's so much more, but this list could go on forever and I've got to get dinner going. Anyway, I do feel a little better. I really don't like to complain and be down in the dumps. I truly am so very blessed in my life and sometimes I just need to take the time to sit down and "count my blessings". I'm still trying to convince myself that I should actually be thankful for some of these things, but I know someday I'll look back and realize how they made me stronger and blessed me and my family.

October 17, 2007

What will you be doing on this day at 7:00 a.m.? I will be having a beautiful baby boy! Well, we're hoping he's beautiful anyway (just kidding...kind of). That's right, I got my c-section date and we are so EXCITED. Also a little stressed though, that's only 5 weeks away. I still have so much to do before he gets here because I know once he's here I won't have time for much at all, at least for a little while. Luckily we have pretty much everything we need. I just need to finish decorating and organizing the nursery, finish Addison's room and do some touch up painting in a couple of places around the house. I will be busy, busy, busy from now until then and I know it's just going to go by so fast. I can't wait to meet the new little guy. I am so excited for Addison to have a little sibling to love and play with. It will be so much fun to watch them interact with one another, at least until he's older and they just fight all the time. =) Anyway, I better get going. There's no time to waste. Let the countdown begin!!!

Yummy in my Tummy!

We were invited to a birthday party last night and everyone was asked to bring their favorite appetizer to share. I wasn't sure what to make so I browsed through my Sandra Lee "Semi-Homemade 20-Minute Meals" cookbook for ideas. (I love this book, it was a Christmas present from my mom.) Anyway, I came across a recipe for Bacon-Wrapped Artichoke Hearts that looked and sounded really good so I decided to try it. I figured anything wrapped in bacon has to be good right? These are seriously the simplest things to make, it's literally only 3 steps, and it was a HUGE hit at the party. Everyone loved them and said that I have to make them from now on at every get together we have. It's definitely something I recommend trying, so here's how to do it.

Ingredients: (no set amount really, just use as much as you want to make)

jar of marinated artichoke hearts

slices of bacon, cut in half

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 425, drain artichoke hearts reserving liquid.

2.) Wrap each artichoke heart with half-slice bacon and secure with a toothpick.

3.) Place on baking sheet, drizzle with reserved liquid from artichokes. Roast for about 15 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

That's it, easy huh? And so delicious. Now of course I forgot to take pictures of the ones I actually made, but I included a photo I found online. Get to cookin' & ENJOY!

Birthday Par-tay!

I had such a fabulous weekend, I didn't want it to end! My parents arrived on Friday and brought the most adorable bedroom furniture for Addison that they made from scratch. I can't believe how talented they are, it's beautiful. I'll post pictures once her new "big girl room" is completely finished. Then later that day Heather completely surprised me by showing up at my house. I had no idea she was coming, it was the best surprise ever! I had so much fun with my family. We all get along so well, it's great to be around each other. We had a very busy weekend. Friday night was Addison's 2nd birthday party. She's really into puppies right now so that was the theme of her party. Then Saturday morning was my baby shower. My sister in law Trecia planned it for me and did such a good job, it was very sweet of her to put it all together. It was so nice to have my family here for all of that. Then we also took maternity pictures, 2 year old pictures of Addi, ate some food, did some shopping, visited, laid out decorating plans for the nursery and Addison's room and ate some more! All of the pictures turned out SO CUTE! You'll have to check out Heather's blog to see some of them. I was my typical self and didn't get hardly any pictures, but I posted a few that I did take. The first 3 are from our individual family party on her actual birthday.

Table set up at party.

Grandma and Addison looking at presents.

Princess Addi playing dress-up with new gifts.

Doghouse I made out of cardboard boxes for kids to play in. The cat seems to think it's for her, but the kiddos had fun with it.

This picture is for Caiden. He picked this dress out for Addison and wanted to see her in it. She loves it Caiden, thanks a lot!