1 year old

I can't believe my sweet baby boy is one year old today. The time has gone by so quickly. We've had a lot of rough times this past year but this little guy has always brought us joy and reminded us how truly blessed we are. He started out so little and now he is wearing 24 month clothes at only 12 months old. Don't let his size fool you though, he is the sweetest little cuddle bug ever. He loves to snuggle and cuddle and give loves; he is SO affectionate. He is a very happy boy. Whenever we go out we get comments on what a good, happy baby he is.

He also loves to tease his sister. How they learn so young that they're supposed to bug their siblings is beyond me!

He LOVES to eat (that's probably pretty obvious if you've ever seen his cheeks & thighs). His favorite foods are: cheese, meat sticks, mandarin oranges, rice cakes, bananas, spinach ravioli, rib bones, pretzels, cheerios, of course his new favorites cake & ice cream...hmmm, this may be easier if I list what he doesn't like: corn (he always spits it back out) and I think that's about it!

His nicknames at the moment are: bobo, Urbie, Urbster, Urbanski, Urbski, monster, bugga boo, sweet boy, little man, big sir, mister man, snicker doodle, snickel fritz. Really it's a wonder that the poor boy even knows what his actual name is!

We had his birthday party on Friday and it was so nice because both of his grandmas and grandpas got to be here for it as well as some of his cousins. We did a fishing theme for his party so there were lots of worms & fish (gummy worms and gold fish crackers that is) as well as fish shaped grilled cheese sandwiches which were surprisingly a huge hit among the kiddos & adults (I think we all must have been very hungry).

It was so much fun to watch Urban eat his first piece of cake. I totally thought he would just devour it in seconds but he was actually unsure what to do with it for a little while. He just kind of looked at it for a while and poked his finger in it before he finally discovered it's yummy goodness and chowed down.

His party was a ton of fun. Thank you so much to everyone who shared it with us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY URBAN CLAUDE, WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

These past six years have been wonderful. I am so thankful for all that you are and all that you do. You continually amaze me. You have the ability to comfort me simply by holding my hand or make me feel like the most special woman in the world by kissing my cheek. I love you more than I ever thought possible and that love grows everyday. I'm not sure how I got so lucky to be your wife but I know I don't deserve you. Thank you for putting up with me. I can't wait to see what the rest of our lives together have in store for us. I know with you by my side we can't go wrong. I love you pomegranate, happy anniversary!

Love, Cherry

Weekend Update!

My parents came up Friday afternoon to visit for the week. As usual we've had some great times together and had a fun filled weekend. Blaise, Caiden & Avery spent the night on Friday and spent most of Saturday with us so Heather & Jason could celebrate their 10th anniversary. We had fun running around, playing guitar hero, having a slumber party while eating yummy snacks and watching a movie and of course there were lots of cuddles.

What is it with kids and boxes?Later that afternoon we headed to Snow Basin which is a ski resort to ride a gondola up to the lodge at the top of the mountain. It was so much fun and so beautiful. We played and hiked around for a little while but some how this was the only picture I got...

probably because I was so fascinated by the bathrooms that was all I could focus on. I know this sounds strange but they were huge and gorgeous. There was actually a lady in there at the same time as me who couldn't figure out how to get out of the bathroom because there were so many mirrors and paths it was easy to get turned around. Anyway, luckily I am very much aware and not at all ashamed of how big of a sissy I am when it comes to cold weather so I brought sweaters for me and the kids. And boy am I glad because it was chilly up there. For some odd reason though Addison thought she had to have her hood up and wouldn't let anybody help her so she ended up looking like the above picture. (If you want to see more pictures you can look at my mom's or my sister's blogs.)
On Sunday we headed out to Jason's Uncle's farm. This may not sound all that exciting but the kids loved it. We brought their bikes out for them to ride around in the dirt and the girls thought it was the greatest thing in the world to feed the chickens and ducks in the pond. After hanging out for a bit we picked some peaches and headed out to lunch.

My Man!

I'm going to use this post to brag on my man a little bit. Today in the mail we received his Official Letter of Acceptance to Weber State University. I am SO PROUD of him. He has worked so hard for this. This may sound silly to some of you, but it has been a long, hard road for Jared. He basically dropped out of high school as a sophomore and just got his GED a couple of years later. Not because he's not smart or anything like that, just because he got wrapped up in some dumb teenage stuff and didn't care any more. Since we've been married he's gone to community college off and on, but has really taken it seriously the last couple of years (stressing over how to take care of your children will do that to you). He has been working his butt off working a full time job, putting in over time and taking classes at night all the while trying to balance family and church responsibilities. The past few semesters he's even managed to make it onto the Dean's List because of his fine academic performance. It's so cute too because when we get these letters in the mail informing us that he's made the Dean's List he always hangs them on the refrigerator. I love how good it makes him feel. He deserves to feel smart, he is extremely intelligent, he just never put forth the effort when he was younger. Being accepted at an actual University is just the confirmation he needs to know how great of a job he's doing. Of course getting that diploma will be the ultimate cherry on top but this will keep him motivated for the next 10 years. Gosh I hope it doesn't really take that long, it already feels like we've been doing this F-O-R-E-V-E-R!

So I wanted to include a picture of Jared along with this post but it turns out that as I started looking through our pictures I don't really have any pictures just of Jared. We have millions of pictures of the kids but none of ourselves. We'll have to remedy this, good thing I know a great photographer...Oh Heather, any plans this weekend? Anyway I did come across this gem but decided that I shouldn't post it because I felt embarrassed for Jared. When I told him, he said that he didn't care and thought I should put it on here because he thought it was funny. The reason we have such a picture is because in one of Jared's x-box games (Tiger Woods) you can download pictures of yourself to make your golfer character look like you. Funny story, I didn't know anything about these pictures. One day when I saw them on the computer I asked Jared why in the heck he took glamour shots pictures of himself. He had profile shots, straight on, close ups, etc. I must say I began to worry a bit about my husband. When he explained to me what they were for I'm not sure I felt much better. So here you have it, a beautiful self portrait from my genius!

PARTY PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE!

My parents came to visit over Labor Day weekend and they brought quite the party with them. In our family all 5 of the grand kids' birthdays fall within a two month period. (Kind of puts the pressure on when we have our next baby...early to mid September looks open!)

Avery---August 3rd

Caiden---August 19th

Addison---August 29th

Blaise---September 21st

Urban---September 30th

This makes for a busy couple of months and a lot of birthday parties. So this year my parents threw one big birthday bash for all of the grand kids. This means that each kid gets two birthday parties, one on their actual birthday and then the big combined party. How lucky are they? It looked more like Christmas than a birthday party. There were lots of kids opening lots of presents and of course lots of yummy party food. The kids all loved it, they had a blast. We all had such a fun weekend. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for everything, we can't wait for next year!

Urban looks ready to fight Caiden for this one!

Avery's reaction when she opened her doll was too funny. I don't think I've ever seen that girl speechless before.

Grandpa helping Addison get her doll dressed. He forgot her underwear & his hands were too big to button her little shirt, but it was so cute that he tried.

WE WANT CAKE!!!

Happy Birthday Addison Rose!

On Friday my sweet baby girl turned 3 years old. I can't believe it! It's so amazing to me that a few years ago I wasn't even sure whether or not I'd be able to have babies and now I have two perfectly healthy, beautiful children. Addison is pretty much an average toddler. Here are a few of her likes and dislikes:

She LOVES princesses, shoes, kitties & puppies, Mickey Mouse, bubbles, jelly beans, chicken on the bone, picking her nose, singing "I Am a Child of God", both of her grandmas & grandpas, playing dress-up, watching Disney movies on mommy & daddy's bed, swimming, fruit snacks, oatmeal.

She HATES bugs, having dirty hands, washing her hair, sharing with her brother, being told no, taking naps, shows that aren't cartoons, peas.

For her birthday we went over to Aunt Heather's house and had a Little Mermaid themed swim party. She had a blast playing with her cousins and got a fun surprise when grandma & grandpa Van Rij came. We knew they were coming to visit this weekend, but we didn't think they'd make it in time for her party. She got lots of fun presents and got to eat yummy cake & ice cream. She had a really good day!

On a side note, for those of you wondering, you can kind of see my new hair cut in this picture. No, it's not the crappy one. My sweet mother in law took pity on me and sent me some money to go get my hair fixed. It actually turned out really cute. Keep in mind in this picture that I had been swimming so it doesn't look all that great. It's still a very common cut in this area (probably half the women in any given store I go into has the same cut) but it's 100% better than it was before and it's about all that could be done with what was left of my hair without just shaving it off.

I am

SO DUMB!

Okay, this is kind of embarrassing but I had to vent. So the other day I did something REALLY stupid. I was having a really ugly day. You know one of those days when you look in the mirror & just feel hideous and have the urge to do something, anything to change your looks? Anybody? Well maybe it's just me, but anyway I was having one of those days. So what did I do you ask? About the dumbest thing ever, I tried to cut my own hair. The keyword here being tried. As you've probably figured out it didn't turn out so well. One side was actually kind of cute, but as I tried to make the other side match, it just kept getting shorter & shorter & shorter. Eventually I decided to stop before I ended up with no hair at all. The end product was the left side being about an inch longer than the right side. I couldn't straighten it out. It was awful! I had my sister Heather even it out a bit so I could at least leave the house without completely humiliating myself. I finally decided to swallow my pride and go have it professionally cut. After explaining to the stylist how my hair ended up looking like someone took a chainsaw to it (man was that embarrassing) she went about trying to fix it without having to cut off too much more. If you can believe it I think it looks even worse. There's such a thing called "Utah hair". I know this sounds silly, but ask anyone who's lived here. It's this strange short, poofy haircut that everyone seems to have. Well that's what she did to me. I should have known not to let a stylist who has "Utah hair" herself cut my hair. It is NOT cute. I look like George Lopez with a shag haircut. Okay, so my face may be a little cuter than his (and I do mean a little) but my head looks gigantic. I'm not quite sure what to do now because I don't have much hair left to cut off and extensions are just WAY out of my price range. I'm so upset because I've got a lot of things coming up that have photo opportunities (both of my kids birthdays, our anniversary, the holiday season is just around the corner) and I do not want pictures taken of this monstrosity. Needless to say, my attempts at making myself feel better and more beautiful completely backfired. I feel worse than ever, but at least I have an amusing story to tell. It's all right, you can laugh. I would too. You've probably noticed there's not a picture of me, just my new best friend George. I'm not brave enough to take one yet, I don't want evidence of this mess up. Well I better get going. I've got to try to find ways to camouflage my giant head.