Aidan's 1st day of Pre-school

Aidan has been so excited to get to go to school and have a backpack of his own. It leaves me with a little alone time with Baby, so we enjoy it all around. It has also been very fun to see what he is already accomplishing.

Happy Birthday Madelyn!

We have loved every single day for the last year. Every time I look at you I know that God has a purpose for all of us, and if we trust Him, have faith, and follow the promptings of the Spirit, things will be okay. I know this because I have you and what could be more perfect than that?

Madelyn's 1st Birthday Party!

Since we will be gone right after Madelyn's birthday, we celebrated her party a little early. We had the families over and got her into her cake. She was so funny. She was very excited; she kept clapping her hands and squealing, but wasn't sure she wanted to touch the cake. When she did, the texture bugged her. Eventually, she ate a few bites, but was very modest about it. A little lady all the way. (Don't judge me on her cake. Things didn't work out so well and then the frosting all fell down the sides. It's about how it tastes that matters, right?)

I love my beautiful baby girl and am so grateful that we have been blessed to have her in our lives. It took a while to have her join our family and we thought sometimes that we would never have another baby. I would go through all the wait and heartache again a million times to just be able to have Madelyn's beautiful, sweet, loving spirit in our family. We love you Baby Bear! Thanks for being our little angel! Happy Birthday.

Mish-Mash of Life

This post is a little random, but there have been a few things going on that are random that I wanted to post on.

Spencer's brother Jeremy went into the MTC on the 27th. We are so happy and excited for him and the experiences that he will have during this amazing time. We were very grateful to have been able to be there with him during this wonderful time in his life.

Our family went to the Timpanogos Temple to help the kids feel the Spirit and get them familiar with it what we need to do, and not do, to be able to enter the Temple. The kids seemed to enjoy it and were excited to see the Temple where Spencer and I were sealed.

Any time our friends and family come over we round them up and play Rock Band. It is so fun to feel like you are jamming with your loved ones. I love to sing and drum the most. Spencer is the expert guitarist and drummer. Sienna is really good at singing and the guitar and is improving constantly on the drums and will soon become a pro. I had to post this since we do it all the time.

Spencer's softball and more...

Spencer has always been great about letting me get out to do fun things like girl's night out, bunko, and scrapbooking, but he never takes the time out for himself. Our good friend Jeff plays softball on a men's team and asked Spencer to play. He was able to rearrange his work schedule so he could have Wednesday nights off so he could join. I am so happy that he is able to get out and do something that isn't work, school or family related. We all need a little time for ourselves, even hubbies! Plus, I get to hang out with my ladies and our little ones running amok while we watch. Pure bliss! I had to take a few pics to document.

Also, for those of you that know me well, you know that I despise white walls in my home. After living in our home for over 6 months, Spencer and I buckled down to paint over dirty looking white walls. The poor walls had never been painted since it was built in 2003. I thought I would put up a before and after to show off all our hard work.

Before

After (note that it is at night so it looks darker.)

Pictures from St. George

We found our camera that we "lost" in St. George, (thanks Spencer!) and I wanted to put up some pictures from that trip.

Hangin out at Zions lodge

Jenna and Houston

The boys on the bus

Sleeping water baby While I am at it, I should mention how lucky that I am that I have the best friends in the world. I am so thankful that I have someone that knows the real me deep down and still likes me for it. I feel so blessed to have these amazing people in my life who support, encourage, entertain and inspire me. This is a shout-out to my gang: Jenna, Bekah and Siomara. I love you ladies!!!

Oh no she didn't!

The horrible parents that we are, we didn't notice that Madelyn was crawling around with a pencil. But luckily (or unluckily I guess) she found a way to entertain herself with it. By coloring on the walls! Yes, my 11 month old baby is already coloring on my walls!




I had to take some pictures of it, just to document her vibrant personality, even from such a young age. I love the one with her looking at me, like she knew she had been caught doing something naughty. I love you, crazy bear!

1st day of 4th grade

I can't believe my baby is in 4th grade! It is so weird to see your kids at a time in their life and be able to remember when you were that age.

Our cruise!

To celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary, Spencer and I went on a 3 day cruise to Ensanada, Mexico. It was such a blast! We made friends with a great couple that we were seated with. You guys were awesome Michelle and Andy! It was a little scary with tables assigned, not knowing who you were going to be with but we all got along and really enjoyed one anothers company, (although we missed you Jim, Lori, Kelly, and Evan. It wasn't the same without you guys!). Just hanging out with no children, eating yummy food, watching fun shows, seeing new places, getting fake tattoos and laying out and reading books were so fun and so recuperative. It can be so easy to forget how much you enjoy each others company with all the distractions from work, school, kids and daily life. I am so proud of us for making it this long, but also for doing it while still so happy together.

Spencer, you began as my best friend and you still are. We started it out a little rough and we truly have been through a lot together, but I think it has only made us stronger. Thank you for everything. Thanks for putting up with my impatience and my nagging. Thank you for always being willing to work so hard to provide for your family. Thank you for making me laugh every day. Thank you for being such an amazing father to our children. I adore you and I thank Heavenly Father every day for blessing me with you in my life. The next 10 years will only be better. "It's gonna be fun!"

My bike souveniers

So I am totally clumsy and I fell over with my bike several weeks ago. I got pretty bruised up and scraped, but I thought they were cool so I took a couple of pictures. Note that I didn't crash into anything, I just pretty much fell over while I was attached to the bike. The picture is what the gears did to my leg. I have always fallen while riding a bike, so being attached just makes the chance of a fall slightly higher.