Merry Christmas to Me!

When we were done unwrapping the gifts under the tree Mike gave me my annual Christmas letter. It's a beautiful love-note and I get one every year ..... it's the highlight of my holiday! This year he ended it by saying "I want you to love your smile as much as I do, for Christmas you can go get your teeth fixed." I started to cry.

I've never liked my smile. It's hard to even find a high school picture of me smiling when my teeth are showing (case in point.....profile picture on the right). I've always had a gap and my front teeth are bigger than the rest. It's like I had a pair of rabbit incisors in the middle of my face.

I've had people tell me they don't think it's that bad, but for some reason I've always had a complex about it. I always thought I needed braces to fix the problem. Well, with as much as braces cost that's just not been an option. My dentist happens to also specialize in cosmetic procedures and at my last check-up he happened to mention that my front teeth could easily be fixed in under an hour. The price was fantastic when compared to braces, but it was still out of our budget at the time. Now, thanks to my wonderful and understanding husband this is my new smile......

A Christmas to Remember......Unfortunately.

I've just had the worst Christmas of my life. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Our Christmas involved a little of this.... that.....and LOTS of this.....
A dear friend did a blog post a while back that keeps running through my mind, I hope she doesn't mind me copying....it so adequately describes my state of mind right now.

If I dont' get this.....
or this....

or this.....

soon, I'm going to crack.

Guber

I've been feeling a lot of mommy guilt because I haven't wrote anything about this little guy in quite a while. Despite that, he's such a huge fixture in our everyday lives. He's such a cuddly bundle of sweetness! I think he's the most mellow baby I've ever had. I often find myself burying my face in his chubby soft neck and just squeezing his fat babyness as close to me as I can. We're still waiting for him to take the inititive to crawl, right now he seems content just sitting up and being entertained by his brothers. We're also anxiously awaiting his first tooth to break through, he's been fussing, drooling, and gumming everything in sight, so it should make an appearance here soon. Here's what some of his current likes/dislikes are:

Likes:

Fuzzy blankets

his Baby friends

Binky
TV (he's fanscinated, it's funny to watch!)

Going for a jog (or ride) in the stroller

Bathtime

Yogurt

Christmas lights

Kitties

Tickle time

playing with my phone

graham crackers

his older brothers

jewelry & watches

Dislikes:

Carseat

Green beans

Loud noises

the cold

I know. I know. I post WAY too many pictures. I can't help it. I just start scrolling through my photo albums and I just come across picture after picture that is just so darn cute! One last one.....my favorite!

Santa: Fact or Fiction?

All of my boys still believe in Santa Claus. For the first time though we've had to do some explaining to Caeden. He's had a few questions that have almost tripped us up! His Papa plays Santa at Christmas time for ward parties, family, and neighbors. He hasn't came and visited the boys as Santa the last couple of years because we've been worried that they would recognize him and it would ruin the early childhood belief in Santa and the "magical" part of Christmas. Fast forward to our ward Christmas Party this year. I happen to be on the Activities Committe that is in charge of organizing and planning the festivities. We happened to desperately need a Santa. I happened to know one. What to do about Caeden and Tanner though? We had a Family Home Evening where we took great lengths to weave a story about how Santa needs helpers at Christmas time and he selects very special individuals who love children to fulfill a Secret Mission for Santa Claus and find out what boys and girls want for Christmas. Once they've gone out in disguise and fulfilled their duties they report to him. We told the boys that it was a HUGE and special secret that their Papa was picked as one of Santas Secret Service Agents and they weren't supposed to tell ANYBODY about it. Caeden was really getting into all of this.....he finally declared "I'll keep it the best secret EVER. I'll tell all of my friends......(dramatic pause)..... I don't even have a grandpa AT ALL." Um.......not quite what we were looking for. But everything seemed to go over pretty well. Tanner seems a little confused by it all, he really couldn't make up his mind if he was sitting on his Papa's lap or Santa Claus's lap.
Then yesterday SURPRISE! Caeden, Tanner, and Weston all got letters from Santa Claus with a postage stamp from the North Pole. They were so excited! We read them out loud at the end of our Family Home Evening. That night before bed Caeden asked me a question about Santa "Does Santa Claus really know everything that we do?" I told him that he did. He then asked "Does he always know if we've been good or naughty?" Once again I answered in the affirmative. Then he said "In my letter Santa Claus said he was proud of me for being a good boy at school, but I'm not good at school. I call all the girls names every day. So why did Santa say I was being good when I wasn't?" Well!!! Ha ha ha. I just stammered out something along the lines of Santa knew he was trying and hoped that he'd do better.
Whew! Only 2 more weeks to go and then all these Santa doubts can be stored away and dealt with next year!

Naughty or Nice?

Caeden had a homework assignment last night that was so funny.......I just had to share.

The assignment: To write something nice about each of his classmates. His teacher is going to compile them into little booklets for the kids so they have nice things to read about themselves over Christmas break.

Here are some of the more hilarious responses Caeden wrote to a few of his classmates:

Girl #1: She's not naughty all of the time.
Girl #2: She's not as naughty as girl #1
Boy #1: I like him a lot, he' s nice. I think he needs to invite me to his house to play.
Boy #2: He's a bad guy (he means this as a compliment actually, he's refering to him playing the "bad guy" at recess, afterall, every superhero needs a nemisis!)
Boy#3: He's Boy #1's friend and I like Boy #1 a lot

and my all-time favorite:
Girl #3: Her eyes sparkle.

And yes, I did make him go back and change some of his "compliments" to something more appropriate!

10 Wonderful Years....

Warning: This post is full of girlie gushing and sickly sweet sentiments. You've been warned, proceed at your own risk....

Ten years ago today I knelt across the alter in the Salt Lake Temple and married the love of my life for time and all eternity. Since that wonderful day 10 years ago we've experienced three beautiful boys, lots of laughter, more than a few tears, plenty of chaos, a couple of road bumps and unmeasurable amounts of growth.


I didn't grow up surrounded by happy marriages. I'd seen several close family members experience miserable marriages full of fighting that inevitably ended in divorce. I was so scared to take the leap of faith required to pledge my life to another person. When Mike proposed to me I was thrilled, excited, and more than a little anxious. I remember feeling like I was on cloud nine the night he proposed......until I got home, then I cried my eyes out. What if we couldn't make it work? I had no disollutions about how hard marriage could be. What if we didn't have what it takes to stay together? We both came from broken homes and according to the statistics the odds weren't in our favor. I spent a lot of my engagment pouring my heart out to my Heavenly Father to help me feel calm and at peace. We decided to be married on December 4th, 1999 while Mike was on Christmas break from school. Like most brides, I can only remember parts of that special day. I remember sitting in the celestial room waiting to be escorted to the sealing room. Mike had his arm around me and I was overcome with feelings of so much love for him I thought I would burst. I remember kneeling across the alter and feeling both of our hands shaking as we listened to the temple sealer give us council (nope, don't remember any of the council). Afterwards we walked around the temple grounds and had our pictures taken......it was freezing! We had a wonderful reception at the ward house that my step-mother had put together. It was beautiful and tons of fun! I've heard of brides who don't have the greatest memories of their wedding day and I'm so grateful that our day was everything I could have hoped for.


We're two imperfect people and so our marriage isn't always perfect, but I can honestly say these last years have been the best of my life. Mike is still my best friend, my confidant, the person I turn to in all things, and the man I admire most. When I was twenty I would have never guessed that a marriage could be as happy as ours has been. Our fights are few and far between. The good times outnumber the bad. We still can't keep our hands off each other. There are times we still stay up late just talking. We tell each other "I love you" at least once everyday. We're partners in parenting, providing and caring for our little family and home, and in teaching and learning the Gospel.

Mike is a strong Priesthood holder, a gentle and caring father, a sensitive and protective husband and he helps make me a better person. I admire his willingness to not only serve me and the children, but also extended family and neighbors. He's such a hard worker and there are many times he works himself into exhaustion and falls asleep sitting on the couch. Most people who know him think he's quite and serious. I'm priveleged to see a wonderful side of him that not many others do. He has a goofy sense of humour and he loves to make the boys and I laugh. I couldn't have chosen to spend my life with a more wonderful person!

Happy Anniversary sweetheart! May the next 10 years be as wonderful as the first! Here are the beautiful roses that I found sitting on my kitchen counter this morning.....