Sleep, what sleep?!

Once upon a time i used to be a good sleeper. Until i got married and had kids. I used to be able to sleep through the whole night without waking up once. I had wonderful night sleeps. Shane, oh Shane... his mind is like a spinning wheel. It never stops. He tosses and turns through the whole night.
1.Some nights i wake up to a shaking bed b/c he is figgiting his feet b/c he can't sleep.
2.Other nights i wake up to him saying "Are you AWAKE?!!?" Well, now i am. :)
3.Every night he wakes up to go to the bathroom, which i NEVER have to do unless i am pregnant. And since i am pregnant i have been waking up to go pee too...half the time i go when Shane wakes up to go. It is funny b/c i am grumpy in the night if i do wake up or get woken up. i don't know how to smile in the middle of the night. When i go in to go pee after him he acts like its the middle of the day. He is WIDE awake. He hugs me and says, "Hi honey!" hahaha. It is hilarious to think about it. His cheery face at 2 in the morning. How does he do it?! I can't do it. I am grateful for those cheery smiles even though in the middle of the night when he does it i think "what in the world?!"
4.OR there are the 4:00 in the morning runs he decides to go on b/c he can't sleep. Yup. Can you imagine. He goes down to run on the treadmill. In our old house you can hear every footstep, every sneeze, cough, whimper. So, imagine a 200 lb. person running on a treadmill in this house and the sound it makes in the quiet night. Plus, the ceiling is low, so occasionally his head HITS the ceiling. Not kidding. So, i hear the treadmill, the head banging, and the music playing.
5.OR he sometimes wants to cuddle me in the night. So, he comes up behind me and squeezes me, which obviously wakes me up(which is a good way to wake up IF i HAVE to)...BUT it isn't just a cuddle. It is like i am his body pillow. He lays half of his body on me. Not too comfortable. I get smooshed. :) haha.
6.Other nights i wake up to his loud gas he decides to let out at 2 in the morning. hahaha. Yup.
7. Then there were those early mornings not too long ago where for about 2 weeks straight Shane would wake up at 4 in the morning, which would wake me up. We both would be wide awake at 4 in the morning and not be able to go back to sleep. So we would get up and go watch tv together. Luckily that only lasted for 2 weeks. I don't know what that was all about.

Anyway, do you get the idea of what kind of sleeper he is? Well, it is rubbing off on me. I wake up a few times in the night. I toss and turn and figgit. And now that i am pregnant, last night was my first night to experience the sore hip from laying too long on one side. Great. It is already starting. I already wake up a few times in the night and now it is going to turn into me being half awake all night. When the baby comes it will be 3 hours of sleep at night. I need to mentally prepare myself for this. :) Truly,these are great memories, i know. If i can already laugh about some of this as i write it then years from now i will love reading this post. :)

{Reflections of Christ}

A fine art photographer, Mark Mabry, created beautiful images of Christ. If you have not seen these yet PLEASE you have to look. These beautifully captured images bring the life of Christ to life more than i have ever seen from any other picture of him. Just beautiful. It is a slideshow of the art he has created. Since i am striving to be a better photographer everyday, these images he has captured really helps to inspire me. They are beautiful. If you have volume, make sure you turn it up so you can hear the music with it...it makes it even better. PLEASE, go down to the very bottom of our blog and push the pause button on our music so that you don't hear our music mixed in with the song on the video. Also, if you want to see the pictures more clear and sharp then go to www.reflectionsofchrist.org. Click on "MultiMedia" towards the right. Then click on VIDEO. It should play the video "Come Thou Font". I would go there first if i were you. The images look so much better and will make your first time experience of seeing it so much better! :)

Merry Christmas...

Putting ornaments on the Christmas Tree. It is a magical time for these boys. They love to turn the Christmas Tree lights on as soon as they wake up.

{Aaahhhh...just breathe} just blabbing

It isn't a good combination when you have a husband in the middle of FINALS and a wife that wants to be...LAZY. :) I like to be supportive. I like to help out. I like to make sure the house is clean and dinner is on the table when Shane gets home. It just feels good to be able to do that for him and for me. It makes our home feel more like a home. Well, i have been doing good about making dinner. I make dinner every night. Most people say "oh go eat out. Go pick some pizza up." I like to eat out like once a month. That is it. I feel gross when i eat out. I much prefer to cook. It feels a lot healthier to me. I think if most people knew how much fat they were consuming every time they eat out they would slow down a bit with it. Even when you think you are eating healthy, it isn't so healthy. ANYWAY, there are times when i can't stand cooking. During those times i just cook pancakes OR toast with eggs, something VERY easy. :)
I lack soooo much energy lately. I try to keep the main part of the house clean - the dining room and t.v. room...oh, and my studio. My kitchen for the past few days looks like a tornado went through it. UGH. I can't find the darn energy to want to clean my kitchen. It is like the last thing on earth i want to do. BUT i LOVE to have a clean kitchen when i cook. AND since i cook every night, well, with a dirty kitchen it just makes cooking not so fun. During my lazy days i have been watching A LOT of The Food Network. I LOVE watching them cook. I LOVE it. LOVE IT. It makes me dream about one day when i have a bigger kitchen and nicer utensils and pots and pans to work with. I will be in the kitchen cooking a great dinner every night. AND having fun doing it. Now, don't get me wrong. I won't be in the kitchen all day. I will be in there just for dinner, since that is the only meal i cook. I cook once a day. I don't cook breakfast or lunch. Just dinner. Good thing i put love and thought into my dinner's otherwise i might get some complaints around here. :) The kids eat cereal, most days, and toast with a banana. The only time i cook oatmeal is if we are running low on cereal and i haven't been shopping. I never make pancakes for breakfast. Never bacon or sausage. If i do that it will be a BIG treat. For lunch, well, it is pbj sandwiches OR chicken sandwiches with yogurt and usually one other thing. That is the way i grew up. I liked it. I didn't mind it. I LOVE cereal. So, that is how i do it.
I love my boys. BUT you women know how it is... when you are pregnant and your hormones decide to make you really irritable one day. Yeah. Well, those days i just try to keep my distance from my boys. I tell them to go play upstairs. I try to give them something to do to keep them occupied for awhile. I do that b/c i have no patience. I don't want to be mean. So, if i keep my distance i won't be mean. :) (side note: they just came into my room pretending to be dogs. They are panting with their tongues hanging out. It is really cute.)
I don't really have a point to this post. I just felt like typing out what i am feeling. It is a relief for me to write down my feelings.
Now, somehow i am still able to find the energy to workout. Okay, i must rephrase that. I don't have the energy, i just force myself to do it b/c i want this pregnancy to be different than my other ones. I am determined. I am doing an "experiment". I have been consistently working out for 2 years now. I have never consistently worked out like that in my life. I don't think. Anyway, they say that if you workout during pregnancy that you won't feel as many aches and pains and that it will make labor and delivery better for you, and recovery. So , i really want to try it and see if it works. I really don't want this one to be as painful as it was when i was pregnant with Tanner. So, we will have to wait and see if it works. (fingers crossed)
I am hungry. I am gonna go eat now.

{Kids and their words}

Gavin: "Mom, did you buy apple juice this time?"
Mom: "Nope, i didn't buy any."
Gavin: "You are crazy for not buying any juice. I just want juice."
He has never called me crazy before. :) It made me laugh.

Tanner loves Christmas Trees. He pronounces it just like this "dee-dee tee." When he sees a tree that looks like a Christmas tree or when he see's Christmas lights he says, "OH, dee-dee Tee". It is so cute. We love hearing him say it.

Calling all Candy Lovers...

I have been on the look out for those cinnamon bear candies for years. I haven't ran into any. Does anyone know where i can find Cinnamon Bears?! I have been wanting some for years! You know, they are those gummy, chewy, stick to your teeth, red bears that taste like cinnamon. So?? Do they exist anymore!?

{This is it...not very many!}

Bathtime.

Gavin being silly.

The HUGE donut! There is a bakery down the street that makes GIGANTIC donuts. VERY GOOD. They had tons of good stuff there. I could have bought the whole store!

The boys walking down the street with papa to watch the sunset. The sunsets there are sooooooo beautiful! The sky is an orange, gold, bronze, firey color. Not like anything.

This is all i have from Thanksgiving! haha. My mom has a lot of pics. One night we had a little dance night. We played a bunch of up beat songs and danced crazily all through the house.

My dad burns the end of corks and makes it so they can put crazy black marks on their faces like Indians. They did that and loved it.

We ate TONS of yummy and fattening food. My weight went up a few pounds just in that week and a half.

We talked a lot to Uncle Brion on skype. He is in Europe studying abroad.

Now i need to figure out how to get video clips onto the computer. :)

Christmas Greeting Cards...

Well, i finally finished my Christmas greeting cards. I originally had planned to handmake them. I finished a few and then realized that i procrastinated the other 20 up until now. I knew i couldn't do them in time. So, i decided to make digi cards. I usually like the handmade ones i do b/c they seem more original and made with more love. Well, i proved myself wrong. I really feel like this one(made in photoshop) is original and made with just as much love as my handmade ones. :) I've been meaning to make some of my own style of baby announcements and greeting cards for months and months and months, but just haven't gotten around to it. Well, this has motivated me. :)
As for my family, i know you've been waiting for me to post pictures. Well, i was going to post our Christmas Greeting card, but i can't do that! It will give it all away and take away from the enjoyment of first seeing it. :) Sorry. BUT i am getting ready to post a few pics i took over Thanksgiving, which isn't much of anything, but it will have to do, right?! :)

{Coming soon...promise}

More about Thanksgiving...

I am very proud of myself. This Thanksgiving i did majority of the cooking and let my mom sit back and relax for once. :) I cooked the Turkey, the stuffing, the rolls, the wassail, and the green bean casserole. My dad did 2 sides and the only thing my mom had to be in charge of was the potatoes. I really enjoyed cooking. It was lots of fun. It is especially nice when i have nice utensils and pots and pans. It makes it easier. I am now determined to invest in a few really good cutting knives. Their knives were so sharp that i could cut any vegetable with extreme ease. That is my next purchase. I LOVE cutting and chopping food IF i have a good knife. :)

Black Friday morning Shane got up a little before 5:00 a.m. to go to Wal-Mart to get a few things. He came home with a few things for our house and for the boys. Well, when i woke up we decided to go back. We came home with a few more things that time as well. It was fun. It is funny how early people get up to go shopping! I did a little shopping online! I obviously need sweaters. Well, there was no point in buying sweaters since i am pregnant and can't even wear them. So, i decided to do some maternity sweater shopping. They had pretty good deals on GAP(a site i frequently visit in search of good deals). I bought a few sweaters and just got them yesterday. I like them a lot. :) My stomach is sticking out, but the maternity sweaters still look baggy on me. I have to wear them though b/c i don't have winter sweaters and it is getting in the 20's now. :) yikes.

We had our annual Texas Hold'em tournament. It was me, Shane, my dad, Stephen, my cousin and his wife, playing. My dad gave the winner $40, second place $20, and third got $10. I got second place this time. Last year i won first! I am pretty good at this gambling thing. :) haha.

Well, my next post i will be sure to put up some pictures. My mother-in-law reminded me that it is about time i put up some pictures. :) I agree. I think i will have to post some later! :) I am kind of mad at myself b/c i didn't take ANY pics over Thanksgiving. I used our camcorder though. I might have to put up some live action from that too. :)

Our drive home...

Ugghhh...What can i say. First of all, in the past we have hated going through Chicago b/c the traffic has been horrible, but the past few times we have gone through we haven't had to sit in traffic. So the next thing to hit us in Chicago is Tanner's car sickness. He vomitted on the way to Minnesota and on the way home as well. As soon as we hit Chicago he gets sick and vomits about 3-4 times. Poor kid. I feel bad for him. I kind of felt bad for myself, but when your kid is sick you have to help him even if you feel like absolute CRUD yourself. I just about puked again. I get car sick too. Plus i am nauseated throughout the day with morning sickness. Then when i have to help my child puke in a bag, looking down and over at him(if you get car sick you know you mainly have to look out the window otherwise you get sick) well, you get the picture. The rest of the trip i was miserable. Now, don't feel sorry for us. I am not telling this for you to feel sorry for us. This is just our story. I want to remember it. :) Me sitting in between both of the carseats is uncomfortable enough. I am squished. On top of that Gavin started gagging when he saw Tanner puke. He is a gagger. He gets it from his daddy. :) Anyway, i thought at first that he was going to vomit too. I was about to have a total and complete breakdown. Oh what a day. Oh what a ride. At that moment i decided we will not drive again. Of course i will change my mind as soon as i can forget that feeling. So far, our traveling definitely hasn't been as memorably good as i remember when i was a kid! :) Maybe when they are a bit older! :)
Aside from that, we had a great Thanksgiving with my family. It was so much fun. I didn't want to leave. We ended up staying a day longer than we originally planned b/c we didn't want to go home yet. :) Thanks mom and dad! :)

I am sad..

I got my hair chopped off. :( I went in to get a simple trim of about 1-2 inches. The lady ended up chopping off 8 inches. :( I already miss my hair so bad. When i first went in she looked at my hair and said i should chop off 6 inches. I lost a lot of hair after my pregnancy with Tanner. A bunch has grown back. So, as a result, the bottom 6 inches of my hair is very stringy and thin. She showed me the difference. So, she told me if i cut off those 6 inches that my hair would look a lot healthier and fuller. So, i decided "FINE, i will do it".... I was very hesitant. She ended up chopping off a bit more than she said she would. The result is that i miss my hair now. Terribly.

Yup, it's true...

We are pregnant with our third. I know, i know...I told some of you we were waiting until we were done with school to have another one. Well, Shane and I changed our minds quickly and with a little help from above. We decided to pray about it...be careful what you pray for my friends. :) haha. No, i am j/k. Anyway, really one prayer did it. I think one week after that little prayer is when we conceived. Funny how that works out. Now we are pregnant with number 3. We are very excited though. If you would have asked me a few months ago i would have said, "no more for now." Anyway, i am in my 11th week. Almost done with my first trimester. aaahhh. Now, i just have to say this to make myself feel better so that you all know. I get HUGE during my pregnancies. I usually look 2-3 months further along than i am. Okay, i am serious. No jokes here. I mean, i already look 4 months along and i am only 2 1/2 months. I am not showing right now, i am just really bloated, and so i look pregnant. Sickening i know. So, as the months go on try your best to not STARE at me all the time. I feel fat enough as it is. Anyway, just wanted to get that out. Some people have noticed my floating baby so i figured i would announce it. :)
And we got rid of Bentley, our little dog. We got Bentley to help get rid of our baby urge. Well, that didn't work. When we found out we were pregnant, it was either the baby or Bentley. The baby won of course. Bentley went to a very good home though.

Our drive to Minnesota...

Well, whenever we go out of town we ALWAYS get sick. BUT i didn't think that it would hit us this time around since we were driving and hadn't been around people. Well, so far i have been right, BUT it hit us in a different way on our DRIVE to Minnesota! As soon as we got to Chicago Tanner decides to puke. Not once, not twice, not three times, but four. Now, you guys i get car sick if i don't look out the window. Turning around and reading books make me sick! I was thinking Tanner couldn't be sick with the flu. He must just have car sickness. Luckily that was the case, but we never experienced that with him before. Poor thing. That is the worst. Well, i had to climb in the back to clean up the puke, and the whole time i am gagging. I started getting very nauseated. It was freezing outside, but i NEEDED AIR, so Shane rolled down all the windows. We froze quickly, but he had to do that for me like ten times so that i wouldn't puke myself. Well, Tanner decided to puke a second time, luckily that time i was there to catch the puke in a bag. I was still gagging. Then later he puked a third and fourth time. The entire rest of the drive, which was 5 hours, i felt sooooo sick trying so hard to keep from puking myself. Luckily Tanner was fine as soon as he got out of the car. Me on the other-hand, i was so nauseated the rest of the day, as well as the whole next day. I have been fine since then, but i am definitely not looking forward to the drive on the way home and neither is Tanner. I will have to drive and let Shane clean up the vomit for a change. :) Oh, anybody have good ideas about how to help Tanner with car sickness? Sooo much for my great idea of building good memories while traveling. I mean, these are definitely memories...definitely something to remember as well as something that we will be glad is over with. Maybe when they get a bit older that is when it will be more fun. :)

Memories and soon to be memories...

I have been slacking some on writing posts lately. :) Everything is going good around this household. We are very much anxious to leave in the morning. We are headed to Minnesota, where my family lives, for Thanksgiving. I cannot wait to eat Turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing and all the other good stuff that goes with it. Oh yum. We are excited to get out of Ohio. All i can say is that vacations for us always seem to come right at the time we need them! Thank goodness for that. And it isn't necessarily OHIO that we want to get away from...we just want to get out of our usual routine. We need a change, a little mix up. It gets tiring having the same routine everyday. After awhile it is like, oh my goodness i need a change of pace. We are excited to see my parent's and my big brother. They CANNOT WAIT to see Gavin and Tanner. It is exciting to hear how excited they are to see them. AND it is exciting to hear how excited Gavin and Tanner get when they know they are going to see them. Plus, just that feeling of being home away from our home here. It is comforting.

We have a long 11-12 hour drive ahead of us tomorrow. We bought plenty of food and snacks so that we don't have to stop and buy anything. We will just stop to pee and fill up the car. We are heading out bright and early at 5:00 a.m. It reminds me of growing up. We drove EVERYWAY when we went on vacation. We never flew. Our most popular drives were drives to San Diego, California to see my Grandma and Grandpa Bates and the drive to Quincy, Illinois to see my Grandma and Grandpa Seifert. As a kid, those rides were the best memory makers i could have had. It was fun. Our longest trip was from South Carolina to California, driving. Yup. Very long, but so fun. I look back now and i could talk someone's ear off about all the memories. Anyway, i am sorry. I am in a very memorable mood right now. A little home sick. :) I hope that we can build memories like that with our kids...traveling memories.

We will get their right around dinner time. Ohhhh the house will smell of homecooked food- lasagna and broccoli. And the house will be warm and cozy, very much unlike our 60 degree house. There will be Christmas music playing, and the lighting in the house will be perfect. I know, that is a weird thing probably to some people, but there are so many different lights in the house and the way they choose to turn on certain lights helps bring in a more cozy atmosphere. There will be Salt City candles lit and the scent of the candles is so inviting... warm, christmas smells that fill up the entire upstairs of the house. That is what i know my parent's home as. Homie, warm, comforting, and spacious. Madison, my mom and dad's dog will be there to happily greet us at the door. She jumps all over and gets so excited. Eeww, i can't wait. By the way, did i tell you i (we) am excited to go to see my family. :) jk. Unfortunately, Holly and Brion won't be there. Holly can't leave her work here for that long and Brion is in Europe, sooooo we won't have the whole family together. More food for me. :) haha.

Then the day we have to leave will be a sad one. BUT it helps me keep going knowing that a few weeks from then we will be headed to Idaho to spend Christmas with Shane's family. That is a whole other story i will talk about before we head there. :)

Aaaahhhh, life is good.

Gavin is so funny. Every evening he gets a lot of gas and toots a lot. Well, if you know me, farts make me laugh. I can't help it. They just do. It may be gross, but for some reason i get a good laugh out of one. Unless someone does it more than a few times within a few minutes, then i get grossed out. Well, that is what happened with Gavin. Sometimes when he does it i laugh...honestly i try not to laugh b/c i don't want to teach him bad manners. BUT there are times where the situation is just too funny and i can't help but laugh. For example, Gavin and Shane were having a bonding moment. Gavin said the sweetest thing, "I am going to be just like Daddy!" One second after that he toots. It was too fitting so i had to laugh. Anyway, you get the picture. Well, the the other night it was becoming too much. I was ignoring it and finally i couldn't take hearing it anymore. I said, "Gavin, if you are gonna do that then go in the other room where i don't have to hear it." He said, "But i am Gavin, i am a boy. But mom, everybody does it(toots)." He is too smart for his own good. Where did he learn that?

DIDDO on the Happy 5th

Well this post won't be nearly as good as Ashlee's was but this will be my attempt at posting something. Ash, I would just make a card with all your scrapbooking stuff, but the last time I did that, SOME people decided to question my manliness because scrapbooking is for "girls". (you know who you are people.....uh hum......Andy) So I will try posting instead.

Well let's get right to it...no reason to waste any time....they say the eyes are the window to the soul...what are these eyes telling you?

Well sorry folks that's about the only partially embarrassing one I could find. Not much I know. This girl knows how to bury all her secrets. So Ash I will just take a few minutes to say how much I love you and post a few pictures that remind me of the great times we have had.

Remember these pictures...I was at COT and missing her like crazy so I had her send some pictures of her that I could look at during the down time. I hated being away from her but these two photos helped make me feel like she wasn't that far away.

Ashlee really likes to run...and so she wanted me to be her photographer. I should have paid the entrance fee for the race...I ended up running almost as much as she did that day. Such a cutie! It was one of those "hate to see you go but I love you watch you leave" kind of things. So I would just run after her so I could watch her longer.

Well the scooter didn't last long but it was fun while we had it.

Cleveland isn't the most beautiful or safest places in the world to live...but it has been a place where I accomplished a lot of my firsts. First time to a Major League Baseball game, and NFL game. Both were awesome, but the Browns game was by FAR the more exciting game to watch.

These next two pictures were from our engagement photo album. It seems like we have been married forever, but at the same time it seems like we were getting those pictures taken such a short time ago. Time has gone by soooo fast....

Going to Cedar Pointe was the first thing we did when I got back to COT. Fortunately, Holly watched the kids for us and allowed us to reconnect for a few hours after such a LONG time being away from each other. You've got to understand...I love love love being around Ashlee. She is my better half, and I just feel at peace when she is with me. I came into this marriage with a l0t to learn and a lot of expectations that she quickly broke me of. First off, I grew up getting 3 cooked meals a day usually, and Ashlee grew up almost the opposite...they got dinner cooked but they were on their own for breakfast and lunch. So you can imagine what happened when those two worlds collided. She won...I eat a heaping bowl of cold cereal with blueberries in the morning and a PB and J sandwich for lunch. Unless there are leftovers to eat from the night before. There still is a lot to learn but we make adjustments everyday to improve our relationship. I have truly enjoyed every second of our lives together Ash (except a couple, but usually those were my fault ... except for the 2 days of heck that you caused me ... now that was all you). Thanks for everything and I look forward to another 5 years and eternities more. Love you!!

Every artist has their masterpiece...well this is as close as it gets for me...I love this picture. I took this with some coaching from Ashlee as she was telling me what settings to change here and what buttons to push there. She is absolutely GORGEOUS...always has been...and always will!!!

HaPpY 5 YeArS HuNnY...

Here are silly pictures that never made it to the blog. Normally i wouldn't put these up, but it shows a little of our personalities together. Just a little. :) When we first got our camera we took pics together and took a few of one another. Here are a couple. Shane took this of me and i can't just look normal at the camera. I always have to act like i am contemplating, have to make a funny face, or put on a diva look.

Isn't he just so cute and good looking! :) This is a picture i took of him. :)

We decided to try out the timer on our new camera so here we are! :)

Here we are again trying out the timer. :) haha.

And again. Wow, i look so bad in these pictures.

Aaaahhh, Riviera Maya together. What a good time for us to reconnect. :)

He is going to kill me for posting this picture, but I LOVE it. It shows his funny side. Always making funny faces and being dramatic. :) haha. This is when we were at Bear Lake. Taking more pics of ourselves. :)

We don't really have very many pictures of just the two of us. But i wanted to put these up even though i look like crud and shane will probably kill me for putting these up! :) I love you hunny! :)

Shane and I have been married 5 years tomorrow. Honestly, i feel like we have been married for double that. 5 years is a long time, but doesn't seem so long considering everything we've done and seen together. Shane and I were led to each other by our Heavenly Father. I know that without a doubt. We have been through hard times, trying times, sad times , difficult times, joyous times, content times, the best of times, etc. We have been through it all. I say that now and 5 years down the road i will say it again, i am sure. :) Through each of these times we have grown closer and closer. I am so blessed to have him as mine. So blessed. He has been a great source of strength for me in my life. You know, i realize i could write a novel about him and who he is. :) Simply put, he is the best. He is my favorite person in the whole world. He is my best friend. I love you hun! Happy Anniversary! :) Just a little about us...

Places we have been to together:

1. Mount Rushmore

2. Crazy Horse

3. San Diego Zoo and Sea World in California

4. Cruise through the Caribbean.

5. Resort in Riviera Maya

6. Disney World, Florida

7. Niagara Falls

8. Palmyra, New York

9. Traveled a few times from Idaho to Minnesota and from Minnesota to Ohio and back.

Things i can't forget about us...

1. Managing an 80 unit apt. complex. ugh.

2. Traveling from Idaho to Minnesota for our first Thanksgiving at my parents house and running into a blizzard. It was frightening.

3. When we found out we were pregnant with Gavin...surprise.

4. The day we got married.

5. Our first night married...i got food poisoning. yup.

6. The delivery of our first son.

7. Applying for Dental school.

8. Looking for our first home in Ohio. My mom was with us and it was such a fun trip.

9. When you cut open your foot and HOW you did it.

10. How we would fight over(playfully) who had to answer the door or the phone when we were managing. You would open the door up while i am just sitting there in the chair. You would hide behind the door when opening it and so the people couldn't see you. And it probably looked really WEIRD having a door open on its own. You punk. :) OR someone would ask you a question that you KNEW, BUT you would say to me, "I don't know...my wife does this more than me, lets ask her." That is how he got out of helping people and sneakily passing it onto me. eewwww. Double punk. :)

11. Shane's overflowing bowl of cereal every morning. He fills it the the very top, then piles on blueberries so it is actually higher than the bowl. THen when he tries eating the blueberries fall out.

12. Camping in South Dakota with my family. The winds picked up one night so bad that our tent literally flattened out with each gust of wind.

13. The way you act when you get excited or stressed out. :)

14. Our first Thanksgiving in our own home with our friends, Erik and Camille.

15. Our first kiss.

16. Our first date. My skirt completely ripped from top to bottom on the left side. Embarrassing.

17. Our second date. I fell flat on my face in the field.

18. Talking about marriage a few weeks after we met. :)

19. Your randomness.

20. Moving from Idaho to Ohio. Your wonderful idea(being sarcastic) to sell EVERYTHING...literally EVERYTHING that we owned. AND how packed we were in our little Maxima traveling from Idaho to Minnesota, and then living with my parents for 6 weeks and then traveling again from Minnesota to Ohio.

21.There are so many things, but these are just a few things i thought of right now.

Sherrie Tagged Me....

Husband TagHere are the rules: At the end of this tag, you tag 4 people and post their name, then go to their blogs and let them know they have been tagged.

What is your husbands name? Shane Alan
How long have you been married? 5 years on saturday
How long did you date? one month then got engaged and then married 2 months later. :)
How old is he? 28
Who eats sweets? We both do, but i NEVER ate them as much as i do now. I married him and he turned me into a sweets person. BUT he still eats more sweets than i do.
Who said I Love you first? Shane
Who is taller? Shane of course
Who can sing best? Shane, but i think i am catching up to him. :)
Who is smarter? Shane is definitely smarter when it comes to book smarts. :)
Who does laundry? Shane. He is wonderful about doing laundry. I do it sometimes, but he is the main laundry boy. :)
Who pays the bills? Shane. Except i pay off my own credit card. Yes, i have my own. :)
Who sleeps on the right side? When laying down, i sleep on the right side.
Who mows the lawn? Shane. I mowed the lawn all growing up, but it is easier to have shane do it. :)
Who cooks dinner? ME.
Who drives? Shane is always the driver when we're together. It is weird for me to drive with him in the car. Backseat driver.
Who's first to admit when you are wrong? Shane. He is good at that. I am working on it. :)
Who kissed who first? He went in for it, but i kissed him back. :)
Who asked who out first? Shane asked me out.
Who wears the pants? Well, we both do. We work pretty well together. One day i wear the pants and the next day he does. It is a good trade. :)

I tag whoever has not done this yet. :) Audrey. Anna J. Skye. And Ashley Jenks. :)

{Life}

Something to think about: I am reading "The Last Lecture". In it Randy Pausch just described a moment when he was a kid in football and his coach just gave him a really hard time during practice and this is how it proceeds, "When i was finally dismissed, one of the assistant coaches came over to reassure me. 'Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn't he?' I could barely muster a 'yeah.' 'That's a good thing,' the assistant told me. 'When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.' That lesson has stuck with me my whole life. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better."
Just thought i would share this. I really liked it and it made me ponder my life situations when i've had family always there to push me and who never gave up on me. :)

{The things my boys do and say}

Last night i was talking to Tanner and was trying to teach him how to answer when people ask him his name and his age. We worked on his age first and he eventually got it. Then i asked him, "What is your name?" He said in this deep, scary voice, "Batman"...it was hilarious. Gavin started cracking up, it made me laugh too. :) I don't know where he learned about Batman either. He has never seen a Batman show or cartoon or anything. Tanner is our little funny man. He can always make Gavin laugh, and he loves making us laugh. He doesn't have to try either, he just is funny. :)

Next thing, i think it is hilarious that Tanner knows who Barack Obama is. Anytime he see's him he says, "bock Obama". It is really cute.

We were watching a video on our television of the boys which was a recording from the camcorder. When Gavin saw himself up on the television he started cracking up so hard. I have never seen him laugh so hard in my life. It is the most hilarious thing i have seen.

I love how sweet Gavin is to me in the morning and evening. He just loves me and i love it. This morning i walked out in the front room and he was just coming down the stairs. He saw me and said so sweetly and excitedly, "Hi mommy!" Then he came over and gave me a hug and a sweet little kiss on the cheek. I hope he always loves me like that. :)

Your Inner Color is Blue

Your Personality: Your natural warmth and intuition nurtures those around you. You are accepting and always follow your heart. You in Love: Relationships are your top priority, and this includes love. You are most happy when you are serious with someone. Your Career: You need to help others in your job to feel satisfied. You would be a great nurse, psychologist, or counselor.

What's" Your Inner Color?

Crazy Eights TAG

Crazy Eights TAG
I am tagging myself b/c i feel like doing a survey. I tag Lauri, Mandi, Amanda and Alison H.

8 TV shows I LOVE to watch:
1. LOST
2. 20/20
3. Dateline
4. Dancing with the Stars
5. The Today Show
6. So You Think You Can Dance
7. Ellen
8. The View

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Cheesecake Factory
2. Outback Steakhouse
3. Cafe Rio
4. Applebee's
5. Texas Roadhouse
6. Olive Garden
7. Gosh, i can't think of the name. That chinese place that is soooo good.
8. Well, i obviously can't think right now, BUT Tulsa was the city of restaurants. They had everything and they were all sooooo good! This one place that was Mexican was sooooo good. I can't believe i am having such a brain fart right now!

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. We had thunderstorms
2. Watched Television
3. I ran
4. I cleaned
5. Watched TRANSFORMERS
6. Got upset
7. Cooked dinner
8. Thought about yummy Thanksgiving food.

8 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Thankgiving and seeing my family.
2. Christmas break and seeing Shane's family.
3. Twilight movie
4. Christmas decorations, music, goodies
5. Saving money so i can buy some dang clothes
6. Next summer's vacations.
7. Tonight's coverage of the election and seeing who our next president will be.
8. When LOST starts again.

8 Things on my wish list:
1. Clothes
2. Vacation
3. shoes
4. Be a doctor or nurse
5. hhhmmm...
6. Become a REAL professional photographer
7. Have my own studio with tons of backdrops.
8. Ohhhh, to be able to decorate my house one day exactly the way i want it. :)

Halloween and the day before...

We had lots of fun raking leaves, throwing the leaves into the wagon and then pulling them to the front yard and putting them where the city can clean them up. We also made caramel apples. They helped me take the wrapper off the caramel...well, Gavin did. Tanner just ate the candy. I didn't take any pictures on Halloween day. Sad, i know. It was tons of fun though. We walked down the same street we did last year. Our street is great for trick or treating. The boys filled their pumpkins about 3/4 full of candy. They got tons and it will last until christmas or later!!! The boys loved trick or treating. We came home and Gavin poored his candy out onto the floor and sifted through it all to see what he got.
Gosh, my pictures feel so naked when i don't throw them into photoshop. Here are my straight out of the camera shots. Hope you enjoy. It is about time i post some pictures from Halloween.

Question...

To those who are great sewers and can sew just about ANYTHING...Would you be willing to sew something for me? I would pay you of course. I want to present you with a plan and you tell me whether it would be cheaper for me to just buy it or for you to make it for me. If you are interested email me and i will email you back with what i am talking about. ashspassion@hotmail.com Thanks so much!!! :)

Feeling the need to type...

I just finished reading Sherrie's blog and Audrey's blog and after reading through it it totally made me think of memories that i wanted to write down. Thanks ladies!

1. My kids feel the need to vomit on me when they are sick. Not kidding. Everytime they are sick they vomit on me. Ever since Gavin turned 3 he stopped doing it, but before that he did and Tanner still does. Example, a few months ago we were in Once Upon a Child. Tanner was acting exhausted(i didn't know he had heat exhaustion)... As soon as i pick him up he vomits all down the inside and front of my shirt. It was so disgusting. I had more down the inside of my shirt than the outside. Everyone around us looked at us like we were the most disgusting thing they had seen in awhile. Not only that, but my In-laws will remember this...TWO separate times when we were at their house Gavin got sick. I think they get sick everytime we visit. It's horrible. Anyway, everytime Gavin puked, he puked all over ME. Not kidding. We were even able to laugh about it in the middle of me getting puked on. There is something about me or something about my boys. As soon as mommy holds them they puke.

2. We were driving down a street in our neighborhood the other day that is getting torn apart by the city. They are doing construction on it. Gavin said, "I don't know why the city won't fix the road!"

3. Today after preschool Gavin said to me, "I love you m-o-m." I couldn't understand what he was saying so i told him to say it a little louder. He acted so shy everytime he said it. Anyway, he spelled out "mom" rather than saying it. It was so cute!!

4. Gavin has two friends that he just loves. Avery and Talmage. He tells me all the time, "Talmage and Avery are my best friends."(of course Jocelyn is too, but since she isn't here he forgets.) He will role play talking on the phone with Avery. It is so funny how he can be two different people. This is what i hear, "Hi Avery. Hi. We have preschool today. Oh we do?! Yeah! Are you gonna come over to my house today. Oh yeah, i will. Okay. HUh? Oh, okay. Bye. Bye." It is just so funny. He puts his hand up to his ear like their is a phone there. He will just have conversations with all kinds of people.

5. He told me the other day, "When we hear pretty music the Holy Ghost comes into our minds." He really likes to talk about the Holy Ghost.

6. I totally had other things in my mind to write down, but have forgotten them already. I will have to add more as it comes to me later. :)

Sort of Tagged....

My friend did this on her Blog and tagged whoever wanted to do it... I tag whoever wants to do it too! :)

**18 questions about my ONE and ONLY!
1. Where did you meet? In the Hart Building at a basketball game in Rexburg, ID.
2. How long did you date before you got married? 3 months, yup. We sure didn't waste anytime.
3. How long have you been married? 5 yrs. in November.
4. What is your favorite feature of his? eewww, his lips and bum. :)(this will probably embarrass him. sorry hun)
5. What is your favorite quality of his? His compassion for everyone.
6. Does he have a nickname for you? Hun or Ash.
7. What is his favorite color? Blue
8. What is his favorite food? Lasagna, a good steak, mashed potatoes.
9. What is his favorite sport? Basketball
10. When & where was your first kiss? On the steps of my apt. on our first date.
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Watch movies, lay in bed together talking and laughing about silly things, etc.
12. Do you have any children? 2 boys
13. Does he have a hidden talent? He has tons of hidden talents..oh my gosh. He can cook, which he doesn't like to admit. He has an amazing memory. He can sing. He is really good at speaking spanish for never having been on a spanish speaking mission.
14. How old is he? 28
15. Who said "I love you" first? He did. He said it in spanish. I love when he speaks in spanish. He does it so beautifully. :)
16. What is his favorite type of music? hhmmm...good question. OOohhhh, 80's music! Eurasure! Is that how you spell it? All kinds of 80's music.
17. What do you admire most about him? Wow, so many things.I admire his drive. He accomplishes whatever he sets his heart on. When he wants something he gets it. He knows how to succeed in everything.
18. Do you think he will read this? Of course.

{Gavin William}

Gavin is turning 4 in a couple months. I can't believe it. Seriously. We are no longer in the terrible two's and are heading out of the horrible three's. I can't believe we are past those stages already. He never really was a horrible three year old though. Two was a lot harder. I just wanted to post a few things here that he has been doing lately!

1. I was saying goodnight to him and Tanner last night. I turned the light off he said "mommy, there are skeletons flying around my room!" Maybe it is b/c of Halloween that he thinks that. He said, "I see them flying around my room at night."
2. For some reason he has been calling me "Momma" instead of "Mommy".....Maybe it is horrible of me, but when he calls me "momma" it drives me nuts. Why you ask? I have no idea. I just prefer mommy. Don't worry, i say it as nice as i can to him that i prefer mommy. I don't know where he picked up "Momma".
3. If we EVER forget to say prayer at dinner he ALWAYS reminds us. If we take ONE bite he quickly says, "WAIT, WE HAVE TO SAY PRAYER!" I am so glad he helps us out! What a good little reminder he is!
4. He always asks for snacks at lunch time. I tell them it is time to eat lunch and all he wants are snacks. I don't know when he will learn that lunch is not snack time. It never has been, but he still asks. :) AND about 2 hours after he eats lunch he comes to me and says, "Mom, we never ate lunch. I am hungry." haha. He must think i won't remember that they ate lunch. :)He wants to eat all day. Just like Tanner.
5. He loves to talk about the Holy Ghost. If anybody ever gets frustrated or upset in our house he is quick to tell us, "The Holy Ghost just left." It is so cute and it quickly makes us smile. He is our little peace maker. :)
6. He can be pretty demanding and high maintenance. He needs something to do all the time. There are a few times where he and Tanner can play all day upstairs together, but sometimes he just acts like he is going to die of boredom unless i have something planned for him every minute of the day.
7. Oh, he is so fun and so funny. He just makes us laugh everyday. He brings us so much joy. And he is the sweetest little boy ever! :)

{Did you miss me?!}

Gavin and Tanner can be so sweet with each other. They have little tizzies once in awhile, but for the most part they love each other and show it. Today i picked Gavin up from pre-school and when he got in the car he said to Tanner, "I missed you Tanner, did you miss me?!" Then Tanner said, "Yeah". They are always so excited to see each other. Tanner starts kicking his legs and making squealing noises when we pick Gavin up. They couldn't live without each other. They always have to be with each other. Tanner is always calling Gavin's name if Gavin didn't follow Tanner into the other room with him. They are each other's shadows. When Gavin is in pre-school Tanner is always calling Gavin's name out. He must think he will appear around the corner or something. It is so darling. I love those two munchkins! :)

{Need an excuse to go shopping?}

SOMETIME AROUND MAY OR JUNE: Sometime around May or June i went through my closet and got rid of a bunch of clothes that i don't wear. I filled bags full of clothes that i would go put in those bins all over town that send them to places like the Salvation Army. I also needed to put away my winter sweaters for the summer that i wanted to keep. So, I filled a bag full of my winter sweaters that would go into hibernation until fall, and filled 3 other bags full of stuff i was getting rid of.

SOMETIME AROUND YESTERDAY(cold weather): I went upstairs yesterday to find my winter sweaters so that i could be WARM! I searched and started to wonder why i wasn't finding them. They weren't in the attic. We searched anywhere else they could possibly be. No sign. You are probably realizing what happened to my sweaters by now. We must have accidentally grabbed my bag of sweaters that i wanted to put in the attic and thrown them in the car with my bags of clothes that i was getting rid of. Yup.

END RESULT: I have NO winter sweaters. I am not talking about pull over hoodie sweaters. I am talking about the nice sweaters that cost a lot to buy no matter where you go. Wool sweaters, fleece sweaters, winter sweaters. Luckily about a month ago i bought two winter type shirts that i found a good deal on. I can't believe what has happened. Sure i would love to go shopping, but how in the world do i replace everything lost when i have been trying to save my money for other things I REALLY NEED? Goodness gracious. I had the thought at first of blaming my husband and then maybe he would buy me some sweaters because it would be all his fault, and he would feel bad and buy me some(that was a fleeting thought). haha! Isn't that horrible!! :) But i realized that i am an idiot and that they are my clothes and my responsibility. So, maybe I need to win a shopping spree. That's it! I will try to win the lottery or a shopping spree. Wish me luck. :) Desperate times call for desperate measures. haha. OR, i have another idea....if you have been wanting to get your family pictures done, maybe this will be a push you need. You will get those pics done you have been meaning to call me about for awhile and in the meantime you will be doing me a favor...not only will i get the privilege of being able to take your pictures, but your payment for pictures will be going straight to my "Need clothes" savings. How wonderful. So, if you have been wanting those family pics, don't wait any longer. Get up off that seat and give me a call! :) Ohhhh, how horrible. What a way of advertising.

{Pumpkin Patch}

We went to the pumpkin patch over the weekend. It was a bit chilly. We enjoyed the BEST apple fritters i have ever had. They were sooooo scrumpdiddlyumptious. haha. We didn't last long there because Gavin fell off the hay stacks and hurt his cut. He popped a stitch, but luckily the cut seems to be doing okay and Gavin is fine. We enjoyed the yummy smells of the donuts, the kettle corn they were cooking up outside and all the smells of the apples. It was a real Fall day. It was fun even though we weren't able to pick out our pumpkins yet. We will have to go this week to get them. :)

{Tanner's new outfit, Gavin's stitches, and their new Beds}

Here is Tanner new outfit that he got from his Grandma and Grandpa for his B-day. He looks so cute in it and the pants look great on him. He needed pants so bad! He loves his new outfit. Thanks!
Here is Gavin's new bedspread that he picked out all by himself. He loves it. He says that Optimus Prime will protect him from the monster's in the night.
Tanner just got a new big boy bed and a new bed spread that he picked out all by himself too. We did have him laying on his crib mattress in the corner in this same spot. Now with his big boy bed it looks a lot better AND he LOVES it. He gets excited to go to bed at night.
Here is a picture of Gavin's stitches. Looks like it hurts huh?! Poor thing. He gets terrified when we take the bandages off to look at it. He starts shaking with terror. It is so sad.

{Stitches and the Debate}

Yesterday while i was getting dinner ready Gavin started crying this terrified cry upstairs. I ran to see what was happening and he was standing at the top of the stairs with blood just gushing down his arm. It was all over his shirt, the floor, his arm. I was surprised by how much blood there was actually. I took him to the bathroom, looked at it quickly and could tell it would need stitches. It was quite a cut. I don't think i have ever cut myself like that. It was right under his pinky finger. We didn't have gauze so i wrapped it up with toilet paper and put pressure on it and waited for Shane to get home, which was just a few minutes from then. We took him to the Hillcrest Pediatric ER. They ended up telling us that he cut an artery. When the Doctor looked at it it started squirting blood on him. It was so weird. AND it wouldn't stop bleeding unless we kept pressure on it. Even after 30 minutes of pressure, once they took that pressure off it started dripping blood. Sorry for those of you that can't handle blood stuff. I am just describing it the way it is. :) Anyway,they ended up giving him VERSED, which makes a person very drowsy and makes it so they won't really remember what happened later on. If you have ever gone into surgery, they usually give this to you through an I.V. before the surgery. It is a weird feeling. Well, it did make Gavin's eyes VERY droopy, BUT it made it so that he couldn't stop laughing!!! He was laughing and laughing. It was HILARIOUS. All the nurses wanted to be in there to watch b/c they thought it was so funny. Tanner was feeding off of Gavin and so he kept laughing as well. It was about an hour of laughing. Much better than crying!!! :) It was an eventful evening. He ended up getting 5 stitches. He woke up this morning crying b/c he wanted the bandage off. They wrapped it up for him. Anyway, he wasn't happy this morning, but he is doing fine now. :) I must add: I LOVE hospitals. There is something so comforting for me when i walk into one. I think part of it is b/c my dad is a Doctor. Everytime he came home he always had that hospital smell(NO, it is not a death smell.). I love that smell. It's a clean, sterile smell. I would also go in to visit my dad at the hospital and sometimes i would go into surgery with him to watch procedures. So, maybe that is a huge part of it. AND everytime i walk into one i realize how bad i want to be a nurse or even a DOCTOR!! Maybe one day when the kids are in school! :) Anyway!!! Onto other things...

And as far as the debate last night. McCain totally sealed the deal for me. He won. I have been wishywashy about who to vote for. I only watched the last 45 minutes, but in those 45 minutes i realized what an extreme liberal Obama is. How could i vote for him?!!? I am very much PROlife. People say, "what about girls who get raped?!" Well, what about the morning after pill? I think the morning after pill would solve that problem. Once the heart starts beating it is human and alive. EEeewww, then when Obama said he would "look into" protecting the babies from being aborted in the last trimester. SICKENING is all i can say. That alone changed my mind about him quickly. There shouldn't be a question. It shouldn't be allowed. That is horrible. Then he said,"we have to consider the mothers health." Whatever. Someone needs to have a voice for that baby and that is McCain. Anyway, can you tell i am passionate about that? McCain's plan just made more sense to me last night than ever before. He explained things the way i needed to hear it and he was definitely on the offense. He made Obama have to explain a lot of things and i didn't like Obama's explanations. McCain it is. It makes perfect sense. Now, we don't know if either of there plans for healthcare or the economy will ultimately work, but i am willing to take my chances on McCain's side before i would on Obama's side. AND what about putting Government in more control as Obama wants! Who wants that?! Seriously. The GOVERNMENT??! Like McCain said, he wants us to be able to decide and make the decision and not have the Government decide for us. Makes sense to me.
UPDATE:SORRY ALL...I realize that i forgot to put HOW he cut his finger!! :) sheesh. He was throwing the ball around upstairs and it hit the light fixture on the ceiling...it broke into pieces and came falling down and he says that one of the pieces sliced his finger on the way down.

WANTED: Those with mixing and matching skills...

We are redoing our boys room. They now share a bedroom, and the room across from their room is the toy room. We want to make it really cute and fun for them. We recently organized the toy room and it is a cute toy room, but we really want to do something fun for their room. We just let them pick out there own bed comforters. Gavin picked Transformers and Tanner picked Cars. Now click here to see the color of their carpet. http://www.buyaurapaint.com/sw-6509.html... it's a blue color. Their bedspreads have red, blue, yellow, black, and grey in them. What color should we paint the walls? Their is moulding in the middle of the wall. So we could paint just the part under the moulding or we could use two different colors. The ceiling doesn't have corners like your family room would...instead it rounds off so there isn't a crease to stop us from painting the ceiling. Does that make sense? You see that alot in attics here and in upstairs bedrooms. So how would we paint that!? There beds and dressers are a dark wood color. Should we paint those or leave them that color? I just can't decide what to do!!! It is a hard room to figure out!
Here is what i have thought...i thought of painting their dressers a country red color...you know the kind that isn't bright red...its like a dull red. I thought that would look good on the dressers and bed, but then what color would i paint the walls? Maybe paint the wall a dull yellow color? Would i paint just the lower section of the wall the yellow and leave the upper part white?! Please, i know there are a lot of creative minds that read this, let me know what you think!! :) I have also thought of sky blue or grey for the walls, but then what color would i paint the dressers? Maybe the grey walls would look good with the country red dressers and bed?!

{That's Life}

Well, we haven't been up to much lately. BUT our Saturday this past weekend would explain otherwise. We weren't able to go out as a family on Saturday because there was lots of busy stuff going on. I had the primary activity on Saturday morning.

Here is my story. I woke up at 6:30 a.m. like i do every morning. I ran, showered, ate breakfast and fed the boys. Then Gavin and i left for the church at 9:25. I stopped at Giant Eagle to get donuts and Chocolate milk. They didn't have enough donuts so then i stopped at Amy Joy Donuts. I got to the church. Helped set up the activity. The activity was great. We raked leaves, decorated little pumpkins and ate the donuts! Yum. I didn't get out of there until 12:20. I had a photoshoot at 1:00 at the Botanical Gardens and i had not eaten lunch yet. I dropped Gavin off at home. I didn't have time to eat. I changed my clothes.(By the way, i wore heel boots to this activity. Wrong move. The next day my legs were sore. Who knew that your legs could get sore from heels!) Suddenly i realized my ticket to get into the Botanical Gardens was missing! Oh my gosh. I searched for 10 minutes or more. I was also panicing because i knew i was gonna be LATE! How horrible! Finally i found the DARN ticket. I headed to the Gardens and 2 minutes down the road the thought popped into my head "You don't have your SD card". CRAP!!! I turned around, headed home and grabbed that card(you have to have this in order to take pictures!). I headed down the road back to the Gardens again. I got there about 20 minutes late!! eek. The nice thing is that when i went to go into the Gardens i had no idea who to give my ticket to. There was nobody anywhere waiting to take my ticket. So, i still have my ticket. I will have to take my boys now! As soon as that photoshoot was done i headed straight to another one at the South Euclid Library. That was at 3:00. I got there 5 minutes late. Mostly on time. After that i went home, hurried and sat down and ate a salad. Then the boys tell me they are ready for dinner already. Soooo, i make dinner. Yippee skippee. Sometimes i HATE cooking. TRULY. Then after dinner we of course had to clean up everything spotless again. Shane is tired of having a home that is dirty occasionally. HEY, i don't like a dirty home EITHER,who does, but it is nearly impossible to keep it clean all the time! BUT HEY WE'LL TRY!!! :) And i should mention that he cleaned the whole house while i was gone the whole day. How sweet. My husband is such a good helper. :) After that we took off to Target to get Tanner his Birthday present from his Grandma Jenks. She had us pick it out and so we got him a cute NEW outfit! It is fun being able to get him new clothes b/c all his are hand-me-downs. He loves his new outfit. He feels soooo proud wearing it. Anyway, Tanner started throwing a HUGE OLE FIT in Target so we left. We came home and did the bedtime routine, which sometimes isn't fun depending on how busy the day was, and in this case it was a busy day. Bedtime can be the time when the boys are the sweetest. I love it. BUT sometimes i am not in the mood to hang around for it. Ever feel paniced to get something done so bad before you lose your mind? That is what it was like for me . I was just ready to put them to bed so that i could sit down and relax!!!! Now people, i do my best to find Joy in the Journey, BUT i am NOT super woman. Yes, this definitely sounds like a day where i could put my "food for thought" to good use(the stuff i have posted recently from my book). But i find that there will just be days like this. That's life.:) Finally at 9:30 p.m. Shane and I sat down and were able to relax.
aaaahhhhh...

{ Brothers}

I haven't posted pictures of my boys in awhile. I can't believe how fast they are growing! Gavin just got his Optimus Prime Costume from his Zsa Zsa. He loves it and wears it all day around the house. Tanner just continues to show more attitude everyday. :)

And here is a quote that is so true. When i read it i totally realize that our little family is soooo this way... " It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them". There is nothing more fun than seeing your kids or husband doing something ridiculous or weird. It gets the biggest laugh and brings pure enjoyment.

Micromanagement...

I found another good thought in my book Eat Pray Love. This is for the micromanagers of the world.
"I have searched frantically for contentment for so many years in so many ways, and all these acquisitions and accomplishments - they run you down in the end. Life, if you keep chasing it so hard, will drive you to death. Time - when pursued like a bandit - will behave like one; always remaining one county or one room ahead of you, changing its name and hair color to elude you, slipping out the back door of the motel just as you're banging through the lobby with your newest search warrant, leaving only a burning cigarette in the ashtray to taunt you. At some point you have to stop because it won't. You have to admit you can't catch it. That you're not supposed to catch it. At some point, as Richard keeps telling me, you gotta let go and sit still and allow contentment to come to you". Here comes the part for those who feel they need to be in control of every situation....
"Letting go, of course, is a scary enterprise for those of us who believe that the world revolves only because it has a handle on the top of it which we personally turn, and that if we were to drop this handle for even a moment, well - that would be the end of the universe. But try dropping it. This is the message i'm getting. Sit quietly for now and cease your relentless participation. Watch what happens. The birds do not crash dead out of the sky in mid-flight, after all. The trees do not wither and die, the rivers do not run red with blood. Life continues to go on. Even the Italian post office will keep limping along, doing its own thing without you - why are you so sure that your micromanagement of every moment in this whole world is so essential? Why don't you let it be?
I hear this argument and it appeals to me. I believe in it, intellectually. I really do. But then i wonder - with all my restless yearning, with all my hyped-up fervor and with this stupidly hungry nature of mine - what should i do with my energy, instead?
That answer arrives too:
Look for God. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water.

Earlier this author quotes Walt Whitman, which has to do with what i just typed up. "stand apart from the pulling and hauling...amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary...both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it all."

I am sure i will have more to post from my book later. :)

General Conference Weekend...

I know there are some of you that read my blog that are uncomfortable with spirituality. Well, that is what i am talking about during this post sooo i just wanted to let you know so you can stop reading if you don't want to hear it. :)
I felt the Spirit of this General Conference so strongly. I felt inspired and motivated. I felt like almost every talk had something i needed to hear. My favorite talk was by the Prophet in the third session. I still feel touched and filled with the Spirit today even after a busy morning! :)

Things learned during conference...
1. One thing Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said is that when we experience trials , hardships, here is what we can do...
Laugh. Instead of getting angry, laugh. When we can laugh we create cherished memories. Example....We went to California with Shane's family during our first year of marriage. We were on the highway and took a wrong turn, so we pulled off at the next exit, got back on the highway, sure we wouldn't miss the ramp we had to take again. Well, we missed it again. We all started cracking up. It was hilarious. We couldn't stop laughing and even right now i am laughing about it. Laughing about it made life more enjoyable for ourselves and those around us. It became a cherished memory.
2. The Lord sends Angels to watch over and protect us...Heavenly Angels and Mortal Angels. More than anything they are family and friends, and maybe those we don't know that have come into our lives as angels to bear us up in hardships.
3. Jesus Christ is the way. The truth. He is the way to happiness and fulfillness. He is the Bread of Life. He is the light of the world. He is the Savior of the World. He is our one true constant.
4. We live in perilous times. We are faced with many hardships, trials, worries, stress, anxiety. We cannot let this stuff get the better of us. We need to remain positive and optimistic. We need to stay close to the Lord. We need to have faith and hope. If we fall we need to get back up and learn from our mistakes and hard times, and become stronger b/c of them.
5. We are so blessed to have been born in this country of opportunity. We are so blessed to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
6. Follow the Savior's example. When we feel like we are being mocked or harrassed or questioned b/c of what we believe in, respond as the Savior would. He is our greatest example of how we should respond. Silence, meekness, and forgiveness is not weakness. That is faith, strength and courage. Be compassionate and tolerant. In this case, we stand with the Savior.
7. My favorite was when the Prophet spoke in the third session. He talked about CHANGE. Nothing is as constant as change. We must deal with change throughout our lives. Good or bad. Changes take place subtely and slowly. Here and now is our one and only chance at mortal life. Don't let those most important things pass you by. Find joy in the journey now. Don't dwell on the past, make most of today. We should not let stress get in the way of what is most important-family. We should always let family know that we love them. Our regrets will come if such things are omitted. Always express thanks. It is so easy to take others for granted. "The bitterest tears left over graves are words left unsaid and deeds left undone." One day each of us will run out of tomorrow's. Love one another. We need to find the meaning and wonder of life while we are living it. Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with our gratitude for our blessings. Don't focus on what is missing from our lives. Focus on what you have. We can experience heaven on earth when we do this. Whatever God has blessed you with, take it!

These are just a few things i learned. I loveD this General Conference. I feel so grateful in my heart for the Church, my Savior, and my family. Those three things are my life. I don't know what i would do without them. They each fill my heart and make me whole. I hope you all enjoyed Conference as much as i did. I am sure you did. I love our Prophet. I love my Savior. I am so grateful that i was born into this Church. I wish General Conference could be every month. I love it and always look soooo forward to it. I love the messages, i love the peace and calm it brings for the whole weekend, i love hearing the talks by these wonderful men, and i love the spirit that is felt. It is the best feeling. It motivates me, strengthens me, inspires me, fills me with love and with the spirit, and makes me try better everyday at everything i do.

Over the weekend...

Over the weekend we went rock climbing with a couple of friends. It was a lot of fun. On my way up i had to ignore all the spiderwebs b/c there were a lot of them. I made it to the top though and so did Shane. Too bad it is getting cold outside. We will have to go find an indoor climbing wall that we can climb during the winter.


At the place where we went rock climbing there was an awesome area for pictures. I will have to go there again soon. It is hidden and it would be hard to do a photoshoot b/c of the climb, but it was a very pretty area.