11

Alright this is the last planned post for February.
But, I posted so much today a few of the posts
got pushed to the next page, so when you get to
the bottom hit "Older Posts" to see Paris' Birthday.

Jon skipped classes to be with me on our "sorta"versary.
He's the one that insists I call it that! Weirdo! I don't mind
calling it anniversary. Anyway, We didn't do much during
the day. We just chilled with Lex and Winter.

But for our date,I had originally wanted to go on an over
nighter to Park City or at least SLC, but my mom was in
Colorado, so we had to figure out different sitter arrangement.
Luckily I have an awesome brother and friend that happily
volunteered. We ended up just going to dinner and a movie,
our favorite thing to do anyway!

We went to Tucanos again. I've kinda been craving red meat!!
And saw I Am Number 4. It was good. From the writers of
Smallville, so if you like Smallville you will probably like this,
it has the same sort of "feel."

Jon has been so good to me and I know I said something on
his birthday, but I just want everyone to know, if you don't
already, just how wonderful he is. He is so fun to be with,
we have had a pretty fun 11 years of marriage. Nothing has
been bad as long as we're together. We keep each other in
check and know we are two parts of one whole, one can't
function without the other. It's a great partnership. And don't
even get me started on what a great dad he is. Words can't
express the love I have for him in that role! Ooo, if Dr. Fawcett
(marriage enhancement professor) could hear me now! Anyway,
enough mush, and yes I would like some crackers with my cheese!!

For the other half of the anniversary, see the Ultrasound pictures above.

I made this slideshow last year and I love it. So for my sake, I'm
posting it again. I'll have to update it next year with another kid.
Enjoy, I sure will!

Happy Hearts

I say it every year, We don't celebrate Valentine's day.
And, every year it's a lie!
Jon and I say our birthdays and our anniversary are
good enough, why do we need a Halmark holiday?
But then we say, well the kids can be our Valentines,
they like to celebrate and they have fun parties at school.
So I'll get them some chocolates and a little stuffed animal
or something, and Jon will get a dozen roses to split.

It works out perfect ( not sure how 12 is going to divide in
to 5 next year, yikes) And he ALWAYS ends up getting
me some flowers too. Did I say that I love that guy, yet?
Well I do. He also bought me a movie, and unbeknownst
to him I bought him a Star Wars Omnibus...don't ask!
So I guess we do celebrate, I should stop saying we don't.

Every year Jon has to work on Valentines night and so I
usually do fondue with the kids, but he had to work a million
hours around Valentines and actually got the night off.
So he got to join us for fondue this time. It was fun.
The kids aren't big on fondue for dinner, so we grilled some
steaks and had their favorite asparagus. A new addition this
year was our virgin strawberry daiquiris (basically just strawberries,

lime juice, Sprite, and ice) with the glasses rim dipped in red sugar,
they liked that too. Then we got as much junk food as possible to
dip in to chocolate.

It was a blast.

Too Sweet for Words

Decade

I figure, since Jon and I have been married for a

DECADE now, I should blog about how we met

and our life and adventures together. Don't

worry I summarized a lot so it's not TOO long.

We both sang in the Madrigal group in High School,

but officially met through some mutual friends.

We got to know each other at group movie outings

and parties and eventually started sitting back to

back (Like Forrest and Buba, "I'm gonna lean up

against you, you just lean right back against me.

This way, we don't have to sleep with our heads in

the mud.") when we'd hang out with friends before

classes. At one Madrigal party in January '97 after

an afternoon of ice skating, sledding and snowball

fights, a little group of us decided to hike to a little

spot called Monkey Rock to watch the sunset. Jon

and I sat back to back as usual, and watched the

beautiful Colorado sun set behind the mountains.

(awww) Well, Jon leaned over and gave me a little

kiss (AWWW) That was it, we were pretty much

inseparable after that. Our first date was to Denny's

and the movies to see Star Wars (re-release special

edition). For those of you who know Jon, this is

where his "geeky-ness" started.

We were totally spontaneous and we love to look

back and laugh at all the adventures we had.

We were in lots of plays together, and even cast as

a couple in Hello Dolly. I guess we were a pretty

cute pair...wink,wink! We had lots of ups and downs

and a few break-ups the next 2 1/2 years, family and

friends know all too well. But, we just couldn't stay

apart for very long, we always ended up back together.

After he graduated, he didn't go to college right away,

but even now he's not sure why he did that. So after I

graduated, we both headed to UNC.

A couple weeks into classes I found out I was pregnant.

I left school, and he followed soon after. It was a rough

few months dealing with how plans had drastically

changed, but Jon ultimately stepped up to the plate and

asked me to marry him...

...We were opening Christmas presents from each other,

and I was sure one of them was a ring. None of the boxes

were the right size, but I figured Jon was being true to his

trickster self. I got to the last one and low and behold...

no ring. I tried not to be too disappointed, and went about

looking at my gifts as Jon left the room and came back

with a little grey box. I knew what it was and was so excited.

I opened it ... and all that was there was a little sticky note

that said "I O U one ring." I think Jon learned his lesson that

day on not messing with a pregnant lady's emotions! Not to

worry, he did have the ring and he got on one knee and asked

me to marry him.

We had a little wedding at church, that turned out

beautifully thanks to some family friends, and got a

nice "honeymoon" at the luxurious Broadmoor resort.

Evey was born a month later, and changed our lives

completely. She had Jon wrapped around her tiny

finger from the moment he saw her. He became the

best daddy and hubby anyone could ask for. We

spent the next year and a half in Woodland Park,

but decided that we needed to move on from our

little mountain town. So, we moved to Utah to

broaden our horizons. We had two more kids there.

Then, we decided to be incredibly spontaneous and

move to New York. That was a huge, expensive,

adventure! So we came back to Utah and had

another kid, and here we are now. We absolutely

love our little (well, not so little anymore!) family.

Jon and I have a great partnership and a friendship

that has continued to grow over the years. We love

to be together, and love every part of our relationship.

We just fit perfectly, we complete each other (yes,

I would like some crackers with my cheezy!) 6 months

ago we were sealed to each other and our children, and

any more that may come, for time and all eternity.

I am so blessed to have Jon as my eternal companion.

He lives his life for our family. He is incredibly

unselfish, and patient, and just plain fun to be around.

I love him with all my heart.

I made a slide show one year for our anniversary, and

I think I even posted it last year, but I thought I'd make

a better, updated one for this "sorta"versary, since it's

a big one. It took me forever to go through our loads of

pictures to find these, but I love the video, I watch it at

least once a day.

Strawberries and Roses

We like to claim we skip Valentine's Day,

not because we think it's over-rated or

mushy or whatever, but because we have

so many birthdays and our anniversary,

that we just decided it wasn't that important.

Funny thing is, we always do something

anyway. We generally get stuff for our cutie

little Valentines. This year we got them

roses and made chocolate covered strawberries

(so yummy) and Jon the sweetie he is got me a

dozen beautiful roses too. I had pics of everything,

but my memory card goofed up and I had to

re-format it and lost all my pictures. So frustrating.

But here's a couple that didn't get lost.

Happy Love Day!

3 Weeks!?

I think I'm all caught up on blogging now. Phew! Now

to make baby stuff and wait for her arrival! At the Dr.

appt last week I had lost another pound. It's been so

nice to loose weight over the holidays!! And, they

tested for group B strep, a little infection that can be

passed to the baby as she is being born. No big deal,

they just put an IV in my arm with some antibiotics

and all is well. I had it with both other girls, but not

with Lex. I find out on Wed (1/6) what the result is.

I'm really hoping for a negative because I want to get

out of the hospital as fast as I can. The will keep us

for 36 hours if I have Group B. The hospitals and OB

offices are all on "super freak-out" alert for the H1N1

crap, and so no kids under 14 are allowed to the offices

or up to see babies!! Boo, Boo, Boo!!! So I will be

attempting to make record time with this one and get

her out to her anxiously awaiting public, and siblings!

I decided that I wanted cute baby belly pictures for this

one. All of the others I forget and then we get one as I'm

in labor in my beautiful hospital gown, So I dragged mom

out to help me with some better shots. I set up the cam

and made her pose for me so I could focus and get the

lighting and settings I wanted then we'd switch and she'd

press the button. She wants to take credit for the pictures,

but I'm only allowing her partial credit! Yeah, I'm stingy!

Anyway, I think they turned out reasonably well.

There's a resident herd of deer at this location and they

decided to be out during our little shoot. So cute!

Enough with the belly hearts , I know. I think they're cute. DEAL!

Eternity

On Saturday we were sealed together as a family for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a pretty perfect day. It had rained earlier and so when we got to Salt Lake it was a perfect temperature. Not too hot for a mid-August day in Utah.  We walked around the Temple grounds for a little while and took some pictures, sometimes we had to wait for the millions of other wedding parties to clear out so we could get a good shot. 

Then we went into the Temple and took the kids to a youth room where they got to play while Jon and I took care of a few things. Just a little background info; We were married civilly, "until death do us part" 9 1/2 years ago. We dressed in white and went into the sealing room and were first married and sealed to each other for Time and all Eternity in front of some of our wonderful friends. Then they brought the kids in to us. They opened the door and the kids ran in and there was a collective gasp from all in the room, they were the most precious sights in the whole world. Lex came in first all in white, and immeditaely shows us his white pants and white tie. The girls were so beautiful in their white dresses and had beautiful bows in their hair. They were like little angels! I had been able to keep my composure and tears to a minimum until this point, then I just couldn't contain it any more. We knelt together, held hands and were sealed as an eternal family, along with the baby waiting to join our family and any others that we may be blessed with in the future. We then looked into eternity mirrors (two huge mirrors, on opposite walls) and we could see our reflections go on forever.  I am so thankful to know that our family will be together forever.

I'm so glad that the kids were able to share in this experience and that they are old enough to remember it.

 Paris asked me later if we could go back tomorrow, and when I told her we wouldn't go together again, but she can go when she's older, she cried; Lex loved his white tie so much he asked for one for his birthday; and, Evey was old enough to understand everything that happened and is excited to be married and sealed to her family in the future (not too soon!).I'm so glad that it was so special to each of them and that they want to go back someday.

Happy "Sorta-versary"

V

2nd Anniversary

8 years!

Hair Cut

I told Evey I would give her $20 if I could cut her hair. We decided to send it to Locks of Love, so we had to cut at least 10 inches. It ended up to be about 12 after I evened it all out. We both cried a lot. She loves her long hair, and I do too, but it really need a trim and it will be so much easier to manage.  She wrote a cute little letter to go along with her hair.