8 Year Anniversary

On July 29th, it was our 8 year anniversary. My dear mother watched the girls for a few days while we spent some time together, relaxing and not having to listen to our children fight 24/7. It was nice to say the least. Yes, this is a picture of me holding the camera. Weird but I liked it.

Thursday night we went down to Johnny Carino's in Salt Lake. It is one of our favorite restaurants but we never head all the way down to 90th to eat dinner. It was so good. After dinner, we did some shopping, came home and watched a movie. Oh yes, and as you can see from this picture, we had some bubbly. Marinelli's, my favorite.

On Friday, we went and got a "couples massage". It was heaven. I really had to talk Josh into it and tell him that it wasn't going to be weird and men do get massages. He finally came around and said yes. We sat in the "relaxation room" first, soaking our feet in a salt bath and sipping lemonade while we also had a warm chamomile neck thing sitting on our necks. (I know I sounded super smart in that last sentence.) It was joyous. We then went into the room together and both got massaged for 50 minutes. It was the shortest 50 minutes of my life. Josh fell asleep and I could hear him snoring.

Yeah, after we left, Josh was like, "Ok, we should do that every single month. That was the best thing ever!" Yeah, if only we could afford it every month. Our stress levels would probably go down.

After the massages, we went to see a movie. We saw the new X-Men movie.

That night we went out to eat at Rodizio Grill, Josh's favorite place. I had a gift certificate I had purchased for cheaper a few months back. We laughed and ate until we were stuffed and ready to throw up.

We had a great time. We got to sleep without any interruptions of our children and it was so relaxing. It was nice to come and go as we pleased and to be out late and not worry about meal times or bed times. None the less, we missed our girls. Thanks mom and dad for taking the girls so we could have a few days alone to celebrate our anniversary.

10 year anniversary: HAWAII 2013!!!

A Neat Coincidence

It was 8 years ago today, July 26, 2003, when I went through the temple and received my endowments. What a very exciting time that was.

Here it is 8 years later and I went out visiting teaching today and the lesson was about going to the temple and receiving your endowment and going back again and again.

I though it was a neat coincidence that I was teaching the lesson about temples on the exact day that I had received my own. The lesson really touched my heart and it made me think back to that day and how I felt.

I had never gone back and done Initiatories because I didn't really like it when I did it for myself and I think I was just scared. I had heard that they had changed it since then but still never went back to do them. I'd do sealings and endowments but not initiatories. I finally went back and did a couple while I was in Seattle with Amy. It was such a neat experience to be able to listen to everything and enjoy what I was doing. I wish I hadn't waited so long.

My dear aunt always calls me every month and offers to watch my kids so that we can go to the temple every month. It has made quite the difference in our lives. This whole year so far, we have attended every single month and we have been so blessed because of it. I had a hard time because I never wanted to leave my kids with a babysitter (that is young) for that long. My aunt lives in Bountiful and we have to go to that temple anyway because Ogden is closed.

What a great blessing for me, my family and my marriage.

Halle's First Haircut

Halle had her first haircut. Josh's sister, Stacie, is a beautician and she has a salon in her home. Halle did surprisingly better than I thought.

Getting it shampooed.

And rinsed.

Chloee's was cut before Halle and she wanted to sit under the dryer.

Halle is 2 and still has NO hair. I mean, she has hair but hardly any. It hit me the other day that Chloee was the same way and it started to grow more once I finally decided to have it trimmed. I'm hoping it's the same for Halle.

I couldn't believe she sat still. I thought for sure, she would move and scream about the whole thing.

DONE!!! I've noticed that it looks so much better now. I just needed to get over my horrible fear of cutting my child's hair when I felt like she didn't' have any to start with.

It ended up being a good experience for me. Hopefully it starts growing now.

Home Decor

I originally started this post for one picture and then over the course of how long it has taken me to put it up, I did other things to the house. So, I decided to make it one big post of some additions I've made to the house over the last few months.

This was supposed to be what the post was all about. I finally got this thing done and up in my front room on my large wall. I absolutely love the way it turned out.

This is in my kitchen. The girls' backpacks used to hang here until I got a better idea. I then moved all of the aprons to this spot.

I have this wall that really can't have much on it. The front door opens towards it and so does the closet. I got this great idea to do some cute hooks and put the girls' backpacks, coats and such on them.

The hooks are actually really pretty and ornate and I got them for a killer deal at Hobby Lobby.

Just one more look at how they turned out.

A few months back, I was at a friend's house and noticed she had a really pretty center piece for her table, it was flowers in a vase.

I decided to copy my friend and did one for my house. I love the different colored marble pebbles. I don't know what they're called.

Josh gave me this beautiful sign/artwork for Mother's Day. It looks perfect in my bathroom.

I found this HOME sign at Seagull book for $1, so I put it here.

Awh... yes, the best purchase yet. I LOVE this stool.

Halle also LOVES the stool.

Halle can finally wash her own hands without me having to boost her up every time or find her sitting on the counter because her sister boosted her up there. It's tall and sturdy. I can't believe how much easier this thing has made my life.

Hot air rises. Yes, common knowledge to most. Our bedroom is on the top floor and it gets HOT. Even with out AC on, we can't sleep at night but the girls' rooms next to us, stay pretty chilly. Go figure. We got a good deal on this fan at Home Depot and I'm finding that I can sleep without sweating to death. :)

The girls got a new toothbrush holder. That's part of home decor, right?

Love this idea. The baskets on the back of the toilet look good and I love that there is always some extra rolls around in case the person before you uses all of the toilet paper and DOESN'T replenish it.

I got a white board to go on the door in the kitchen from the garage. I always write things I need to do or notes to Josh so he can see them before he walks out for work. It has actually kept me more organized.

My friend did Daycare in her home and was buying a place to move her business and she was selling off the little desks they used for school. I jumped on that like a pack of dogs on a 3 legged cat. (Josh's saying) The girls love them.

I bought this at Seagull Book.

I put it in the "family" room, I figured it would go well in there, since it is for "family" home evening. Ok that was lame but still, it does look good there.

I finally got these 3 picture frames up in Halle's room.

I bought these at a garage sale. I love that it had the pink and the green.

They even came with this matching curtain rod.

I put up these curtains in Halle's room. They match really well with the frames and the decor of her room. They need to be ironed but I really don't care to deal with that right now.

There you have it, Home Decor 2011, DONE!

4th of July Celebration

We headed up to my parents' house on Sunday night. Josh and my dad go to the "Patriotic Program" that Hyrum city puts on. They go every year. We all slept over and died of heat stroke, only kidding, mom.

Let's face it, my dad is a pretty amazing person. He is incredibly patriotic and always has been. Since Micheal died in 2009, my dad runs the entire FREEDOM RUN (9.3 miles) carrying this flag, in honor of Micheal. I can hardly write about it without crying. Nope, can't do it without crying. My dad says that he'll do it even if he has to crawl across the finish line. I'm sure that as he gets older (much older), I can see Amy pushing him in his wheelchair as he holds that flag in honor of Micheal. Ok, that makes him sound senile but you know what I mean.

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to run the Freedom Run. I signed up for it, did absolutely no training whatsoever and planned to back out at the last minute but I was talked out of it.

Here is everyone waiting for us to come in.

I really wanted to do this because I wasn't able to do it in 2009 when everyone did it for my dad's 20th and for Micheal. I then, once again, wasn't able to do it in 2010, due to health issues. I am so overweight from that medication that I took after Micheal died. I know I've written it before but I gained 45 lbs in 30 days and that's after JUST having a baby! Also, the medicine would stay in my body for around 2 years. I am huge, nothing like what I used to be and I can hardly walk a couple of blocks without being winded. It's pathetic.

Of course, my fabulous sister and best friend, said she'd run it with me and help me. Once again, here come the tears. She was so sweet to me. There were points where I was crying and I wanted to break my leg just so I wouldn't have to keep going, 9.3 miles is a long way to go for a fat girl who hasn't trained.

Amy is waving and smiling and I'm in brutal pain, ready to collapse. Sad!

As soon as I saw Josh and my sweet little girls, I started to cry, uncontrollably. In that moment, I felt like I had conquered the entire world and I knew how proud they were of me. This was a big thing for me and something I really wanted to do. I realized that even though I hadn't crossed the finish line yet, that I was almost done and I can't explain what my emotions were doing at that moment.

Amy was a dear and she wore that camelbak for me so that I could have water and she was used to wearing them and one less thing for me to have to carry. She also, let me sprint up and finish first, even more tears, now.... just remembering it.

Yes, we finished it in 2 hours and 18 minutes but I FINISHED! I didn't even make it a goal to not come in last because I knew that was very possible. I think there were only 3 people behind us and I really don't care.

Amy had ran the Seattle marathon the week before and told me that she would run it with me because her legs couldn't take the beating to race it but I really know that she did it for me. I know that she probably could have walked the entire thing faster than we did it together. I know she could have done it faster, not racing it even, but she stayed back with me and helped carry me and she is the reason I was able to get through that race.

We laughed and cried together as we ran. I actually walked most of the first 4 miles and then the last 5 miles, we almost ran the whole thing. There was a couple miles in there where I didn't stop to walk at all and we only walked a few blocks in the last 5 miles. I could not believe that I ran that much of it. That was way more than I ever thought I would be able to run. Of course, I walked up the hill and that stretch to McDonald's was brutal.

My period was pretty much over but the running brought it back and I leaked through my pants, lucky for me, I was wearing black. I had to go to the bathroom at the first. I ran off the road, into the bushes and peed, on my shoe, of course, why wouldn't I? Amy and I laughed about songs we were listening to, we pretended to be surfing, danced as we ran and inhaled Gatorade through our noses.

When I finished, I was shaking and ate about 9 oranges or more.

Thank you, Amy, for the great memories that were made that day. I love you more than you can possibly imagine.

Me and my girls.

I thought it was so cool that it was the 4th of July and MY number was 4!

Amy, myself and my aunt and cousins who ran it too.

The kids did the Main Street Mile. My dad is in charge of it and some parent decided to start it early without any one's permission. Some people.

Here is Joshua (Marie, my sister who went to Seattle with us... her son)

Kai looks good.

Surprisingly, these are the ONLY pictures I got of Kennet running.

My brother, Matt ran with Chloee. That was very sweet of him. This girl has got running form.

She was so excited to run this again.

Amy ran with Sarah (Marie's other child)

She did such a good job. I seriously don't know how Amy was even walking around, let alone running after the Freedom Run that morning. Oh, yes, she's in shape, that's how.

Thanks Matt for running with my sweet Chlo, I really appreciate it. Even if some jerks were rude to you for helping your niece, I appreciate it.

Amy and her boys. That is one proud mom right there.

Joshua and Sarah. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of them with their mom.

After that, we headed down to our regular spot to watch the parade. This was Halle's permanent position. On her haunches, opening candy. I don't think she ever actually sat down.

The kids got so much candy.

I took one more picture of my cool tag when I got home. I literally could not walk for days. No joke, I rolled out of bed and would lay on the ground. I struggled to go to the bathroom, like sitting on the toilet and I couldn't go up and down the stairs, down was worse. At one point, I actually used sleeping bags to ride down the stairs. I am NOT joking. I was so sore. I can't remember EVER hurting that bad. EVERY muscle, bone and tendon ached. It lasted for 4 days. That is a long time to walk around like I'm 80 years old.

We had a good celebration. We came home and watched the West Point fireworks from our tramp. It was perfect.