10 Years

You know when you are in High School and you document and remember every date for everything (was that just my friends...) Anyways... Yesterday was Jason and mine's 10 year anniversary of when we first became "boyfriend and girlfriend".  It sounds silly when I say it out loud, most people don't remember when that happened for them, and they surly don't celebrate it.  But for us, this date usually means more to us than our wedding anniversary.  Our wedding date was just an obscure date that our reception center happen to be free and a day that things became "official" - but we had decided long ago that we wanted to be married.  And July 29th symbolizes that more than November10th.

Here we are.  10 Years ago.  16 years old.

Jason and I met through mutual friends attending the Jordan River Temple to do baptisms.  There were a group of kids that went every Saturday morning at 6:00 am.  Jason was one of the "organizers" and I got invited by another friend to go (Bryan Roylance).  I went, and that is how I met Jason.  I started going every Saturday (we did this until we all left for college) and Jason and I formed a friendship.  We became good friends... best friends... for about 2 months.  And then, well, as the saying goes... the rest is history.

For our anniversary I wanted to do something sentimental.  So I surprised Jason and took him to do baptisms at the Jordan River Temple on Saturday at 6:00 am.  It was so fun and sweet.

Here we are, about 8 years ago, at the Jordan River Temple, right after doing baptisms one Saturday morning at about 8:00 am.

And here we are years later,,about 8:00 am, and just waiting for our fourth to be born.  Who would have known?  Well... we did.

Afterward, we went to breakfast with our old high school friends that were the "regulars" at the temple.  We hadn't seen some of them in years.  It was so fun and nostalgic, I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.  Also, fun to note, I thought FOR SURE none of the same temple workers would still be there - 10 years later still doing the exact same shift.  Well... there were.  There were 3 workers there that remembered and recognized us.  It was so cool.  

Car for Van

We finally got our van.  It is everything I had hoped and dreamed for :)  I am so glad we held out and waited for what we wanted at the price we wanted it for. 

But before we get to the van, I want to pay tribute to my Accord.  This car did us good.  It was a 1991 Honda Accord (that is 20 years old... seriously).  We bought it for $3,500.00 - 7 years ago!  At the time we said we would be happy if it lasted us just a few years, at least until we graduated.  It did much more than that.  We had some trouble with it the first year.  It seemed something was always breaking, but after that initial first year, we have not had one problem with it since.  It passed safety and emissions every year with out a problem.  We were truly blessed and often talked about how it was our cruse of oil. (1 Kings 17:14-16)

I actually cried a little when we sold it to Carmax yesterday.  I sat in our van and watched the workers take the license plates off and put their stuff on/in it.  I thought about the person who would be buying the car and what they would think of it.  I thought about our years in the car and the evolution we had gone through in it. 

I knew the new owner would never know that this is what the car meant to me...

And how I loved looking in my rear view mirror and seeing these faces back at me.  I am pretty sentimental when it comes to this stuff and I teared up thinking about how the new owner would never fully appreciate all I had been through with this car.

But on to bigger and better... right?  This is our new van!  2008 Toyota Sienna. 

Now, let me show you my happiness.  Why I HAD to have an eight passenger.

For a little bit better view.  I wanted to put the eighth seat in and take the captain seat out.  That way the bigger boys had a pathway that they could get to their back seats with out having to go around Megan or the new baby AND since Noah still needs help buckling in and out, I don't have to go around them either.  Perfect!

Once I am out of the "all my children are in car seats and need help buckling in and out" stage we will take out the middle seat and just have the normal captain seats.  I keep the captain seat in my trunk (along with a double stroller, umbrella stroller, and a pack n' play - I am lovin' this extra space) that way we can pop it in if we want to take some friends somewhere.

I am having a hard time having the kids so far away from me.  We are all having to go through that adjustment.  I am chucking snacks and sippy cups back to the boys, sometimes they catch, sometimes they don't.  I am trying to come up with some sort of pulley system, I am thinking some string, safety pins, and a clothes pin or maybe some small basket.  We will see.

Alone

I went to church on Sunday all alone with the 3, well 3 and a half, children.  I was alone all day - Sunday's are our hardest day - so to be alone the WHOLE day on Sunday was a big deal.  I was nervous at first.  Our church is at 9:00 am, we like to be there about 5 minutes early, and it takes Jason and I both working together every week to pull this off.  I wondered if I would be able to get us all there: dressed, ready, everything packed, on time, and especially early. 

It turns out I learned something about myself that I think I have always known, just never said out loud.  I thrive under these conditions.  I think that is why we have structured our family the way we have.  I do so much better with a lot to do.  Before we had children Jason was planning on attending Medical School, and while I am so glad that didn't pan out and I love having him home and the children definitely benefit from having a mom AND dad all the time - I totally could have done it - and could have done it well.  I like having a list of things that need to get done and just going from one thing to another with out a break, and I do much better when I am by myself.

For example, as I mentioned, most Sunday mornings it takes both Jason and I working together to make it out the door.  But even on these weeks breakfast dishes are often left on the table, the bathroom is a mess with wet towels, bath toys, make-up, and Megan's hair stuff, and all the halls are cluttered with pajama's, diapers, and toys.  On THIS Sunday, my alone Sunday, I left with the house perfectly clean, all the dishes were done, counters wiped off, everything in the house put away.   I had Megan's hair done cuter than I usually do, and I was as ready as I wanted.  I was so proud of myself (and we were 10 minutes early), that I decided to snap a picture of our "final product".  I don't know why I do it better alone.  I just do.  But I am grateful I don't have to do it alone and Jason makes EVERYTHING better. 



Church went fine.  I never had to take Megan out (except for one diaper change) and I just got one of my Young Women to hope over and sit with the boys.  I actually got to hear a lot of the talks and had a few spiritual experiences/inspirations.  I know this post is pretty braggy - but hey, it's my blog.  And at the end of the day I was pretty proud of myself.  But glad I don't have to do it next week.

Little Things

It is amazing how sometimes it is the little things that can make you feel better about your life.  Last summer I got 3 new shirts (first time in several years and hasn't happened since) and it literally made me so happy and changed the whole out look of my day when I wore those new shirts. 
Last week I was feeling really down and overwhelmed.  I hated my hair, all my clothes (MATERNITY CLOTHES) were getting too small and uncomfortable and my to do list before baby comes was getting longer and longer with no hope of ever getting it done.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw some finger nail polish that the RS gave me as a present for helping out with something.  I hadn't painted my nails in probably 5 years.  I thought, "maybe if I had pretty fingers and toes I would feel better."  Totally worked.  I would be cleaning up spilled milk on the floor with my hands and I would think, "whose pretty hands are those? - oh right, mine!" or "these fingers look so pretty scrubbing this oven."  Weird.

And today my sweet sweet sweet younger brother came over to help me tackle some things on my list.  Some times it is easier to boss around a brother than it is your husband, he has no opinions and just does what I say - plus he has a pretty chill life right now - so I didn't feel too bad making him work.  He cleaned my carpets and washed my windows - inside and out.  I am walking around my house just smiling.  I just stood and looked outside my kitchen windows for about 5 minutes. 

Strange how sometimes it is the littlest things that can make me so happy. 

Fourth of July

I took way to many pictures for the fourth of July.  Truth be told - I will make confession.  I broke my camera.  I am so devastated by it.  I have been keeping it a secret because I didn't want to tell Jason - I just thought I could get it fixed with out him ever knowing (not because he would be mad - but because he has been so stressed lately with work, van, baby, tests, finances etc - I just didn't want to add to it.)  But it would cost more than the camera is worth to fix it.  I could cry.  So while we were at my mom's for  the fourth I borrowed their camera - I finally got some pictures.  (Camera has been broken for almost a month - and with an adorable 14 month old - hard not to take pictures at that age.)

The day started with a wonderful breakfast at my parents house.

And then squirt guns in the backyard.  Jason and I actually took off after breakfast to go look at some vans - no luck.

Slip n' slide in the afternoon.  From what I am told - my boys would not participate (this picture was forced) - both my boys are pretty big wusses when it comes to water.

Then we had a bbq with the whole extended family after naps.

Here is my cute Fourth of July girl.  She actually picked her outfit out herself.  Hard to believe but I swear.  This girl is particular about her clothes.  I had a bunch of clothes (red white and blue) in a pile and I was tying to figure out what I wanted her to wear.  She grabbed this skirt and shirt and started hitting me with it.  I tried putting other things on her and she would cry and pull at them until I took them off.  Everytime she sees the shirt she tries to wear it now. 

 This girl of ours has no idea that she is not 3 years old.  She 100% thinks she is just like her brothers - and throws a FIT if you don't treat her like it.  She is fiercely independent and strong willed - she is very assertive and can definitely hold her own.  I think these qualities are great for her - especially with 2 older brothers. 

 The fam

Megan and her cousin (well - really she is my cousin) Millie

 Millie and Noah

 Jason took this picture of Megan - this is what Megan does to Jason if he is not holding her. 

 And now she is happy as a clam

Then we did the slip n' slide again after the bbq/before fireworks with all the cousins.

As mentioned before my boys are way lame when it comes to water.  This is not true for Megan.  She loves the water - she especially loves it being sprayed in her face - weird.  She played on the slip n' slide all night.  She got soaked.  She loved every minute of it.

Megan and Noah fighting over fireworks - pretty typical for them - btw: Megan is always the one to start it. 

Cute story: After this photo was taken, Megan won the battle and successfully stole Noah's box of sparklers, Noah started to cry while Megan ran away with the box.  Brock hopped off his chair and ran after Megan, took the sparklers from Megan and gave them back to Noah.  Then he took his sparklers out of his box and gave the empty box to Megan.  He realized she didn't care about the sparklers just wanted a box like everyone else.  He is definitely the oldest child.

We just did sparklers at my mom's house because we went and did fireworks with our neighbors.  Megan needed to go to bed.  The boys had remembered sparklers from last year and were really excited to do them.  On the first one Noah got burned (just enough to scare - not actually burn).  This freaked Brock out and he wouldn't do anymore.  Noah couldn't care less and kept doing them.

We ended our night at the Jones/Adams houses doing fireworks.  We stayed out until 10:30 - that is a record for our boys I think. 

The group:

Me and Boo

Natalie and Holly with their babies - Jillian and Warren - such troopers - Megan was FAST asleep at this point.

Outside

We have been spending a lot of time outside in our yard.  I have always been the type to want to get out and go places everyday with my kids - but when you have a yard, bikes, and neighbor friends - it makes it hard to get motivated.  My kids have just has much fun playing outside with their friends as they do on our "outings". 

Megan just loves to play in the dirt - this would also include eating the dirt.  I gave up on this fight when Brock was about 14 months old.  If it won't poison them or choke them - I just let them do it.

  

My boys love to climb.  We had two pretty big apple trees in our backyard that were great for them to climb on - then we chopped them down.  Our pear trees are not big enough for them to climb - and I have yet to find a swing set/climbing structure for them.  So one day I looked in my backyard and saw this...

 oh brother... they will climb on anything.

We have also been outside a lot because of my WONDERFUL mother-in-law.  After we finished our backyard she felt that our front yard should be done as well.  When I told her it was not a priority nor in the budget, she took matters into her own hands.  She came up for 2 full days with trucks full of dirt, compost, flowers, and bushes.  She worked like a mad woman.  She is like that - such a worker.  She mostly did the entire thing by herself.  (Jason helped move some rocks when he got home from work.)  I kept looking out my window seeing her work in the middle of the day, in the high heat, and was just amazed at what hard worker she is,and completely selfless.  She is a better woman than I  - there I some things that are just a man's job in my opinion.  I should have gotten a picture of her working - but I didn't.

But the kids liked to play in the sand.

I didn't take any before photo's.  So I went through my archives to see if I could find any that showed my front yard.  Here are a few that will give you an idea of "before".

 Right when we moved in.  You can see the "flower bed" off to the left - straight, lined with bricks, and overgrown. 

Here is a shot later in the summer.  Actually Jason's mom and dad came right after I had Megan last summer and cleaned it up to look like this.  So they have done this twice!  They pulled weeds and threw in some nice compost.  The roses, rocks, and bricks were already there.  You can see off to the right of the picture how under my bay window looked.  Basically nothing, but two layers of pavers.

This is a picture from last summer (another child eating dirt).  I never did anything with it.  I just kind of let the weeds grow.

And the after:

 Wow right?  You should see it in person.

She took out the pavers and made it all curvy.  It is actually hilly too (you just can't tell in the pictures) it ebs and flows from one plant or rock to another.  She added a bunch of beautiful bushes and ground covering - I can not wait for next spring/summer to see it really do it's thing.

 It is so sad to me to note that some of it is dying.  I have no idea why.  I have done everything she has told me to do and been diligent in watering.  These were my favorite ground coverings too.  I water them everyday still in hopes they will recover.

This is Brock's plant.  It bloomed yesterday and he was so excited.  He got a seed in primary awhile ago and he has been taking great care of it.  I was SURE we had killed it and I didn't know how to explain to him that although he took care of it - it still died.  Especially since he said his faith was like the seed.  I am GRATEFUL that this thing bloomed - there was definitely a higher power involved.

 Another shot of the beautifulness.

She added this whole bed - it used to be grass up to the fences.  You can't see but there are some great flowers and bushes that will get big in a few years - and some ivy too.

And then my mountain.  I was the one that really wanted this since I moved in - but figured it would be a few years.  I wanted a rock mountain for my kids to climb - and I thought it would make the bay window look nice.

This is how it will look for now.  Phase two will hopefully be next year.  We ran out of rocks, dirt, plants, and will (and by we I of course mean her - she did it all). I have some ground cover planted in between the rocks - so hopefully that will be SO pretty next spring.  And...yes my kids love to climb on it.

 We have this "well" on the left for now.  The sprinkler system valves and box were in the bed and we didn't want to move it so she put bricks around it.  I will eventually extend the "mountain" and rocks around it so you won't see the "well" from the street.  The "mountain" will wrap around the side of my house and die out into the bed that she made in the corner.  It will be wonderful.

After the first two layers of rocks I am going to plateau it and put some flowers and foliage and then it will go up one or two more layers of rocks - then with some bigger bushes and flowers on top. I really want one of those small gnarly trees - but my mother-in-law says you shouldn't put trees that close to your house. Sad.

I am so grateful to Debby for doing this.  She is awesome.  I love looking out my bay window, pulling up in my driveway, and going out n the evenings and watering.  It has been so fun for us!