Halloween 2009

Kim and I had a Halloween party Friday night with some friends. We had a great time! We ate yummy food, had our fortunes read, shared lots of laughs, and completed a scavenger hunt. Thanks to all you who came!! Here are some photos from our night.

Jason Turns 3

Wow...it has been awhile since I have posted. This could indicate that our summer was eventful or that I was just too lazy to be online and enjoyed being outside more than inside on the computer. Whatever the reason, I figured it was time to get back in the mode.

Jason turned 3 years old two weeks ago. It was a bitter sweet experience for me. I am sad that Jason is 3 however, I love watching him grow, learn and change. He is such a sweet boy who brings me so much happiness.

Here are a few of Jason's favorite things.
Favorite color- Blue
When asked "What do you want to eat?" he often answers "Blue"
Favorite thing to do- Play in the yard with his dog Sadie or go swimming
Favorite food- pancakes
Favorite songs- Rock around the clock tonight, Ring of Fire, Jingle Bells, and anything by Sugarland (random songs I know)
Favorite character- Elmo
He is a great helper and loves to help his mom clean or cook
Jason loves people and is quite social
He loves his "blanky" and can't go anywhere without it
Jason loves to walk around the house with a purse over his shoulder and high heels on his feet. This absolutely kills his dad!!
He loves music and can snap his fingers better than most adults
Jason loves to read books and can remember almost word for word each book. If I miss a page or say a word wrong, he is sure to correct me.
Jason can count to 20 and he knows his colors and the alphabet

Funny things he has said:

When I walked in the door from coloring my hair (going from semi-blond to dark brown) he starred at my hair and asked, "What did you do to your hair?" I replied, "I colored it. Do you like it?" He replied very honestly, "No."

When my dad asked Jason if he was a big boy, Jason replied, "No. I am a boy. I am not a girl. I smell good though."

I bought a pair of shoes at DI and I was putting the shoes on one day and he said, "Mom are those your DI shoes?"

I was wearing a necklace and Jason asked, "Can I wear that?" I said, "Sure!" I took it off and gave it to him and he put it on and said, "Oh, mom look how gorgeous this necklace is!" It is apparent he hangs around his mom too much! I keep telling Kim that he will grow out of it...let's hope so!!

When his dad peaked through the window last week at nursery, his nursery leader was telling them about the Book of Mormon. She held a copy of the book up and Jason started to clap and yelled, "Yeah!!".

It is never a dull moment around this house with Jason. I am so grateful for him. He has so much love to give and is usually very considerate of others and their feelings. He often tells me that he loves me and when laying next to him for naps he asks, "Mom, do you have enough room?" He is such a sweet, sweet boy! I feel so blessed to raise such a special spirit. My life would not be complete without this little man in my life!

Here are his 3-year old pictures.

Watching our Garden Grow

Back in April we planted our garden. We knew it was a little early but we figured the hardy seeds would be fine and were we right!! Our garden is blooming!! I can't wait to eat all the yummy veggies from our garden. We planted peas, lettuce, carrots, green onions, red onions, white onions, red potatoes, green peppers, tomatoes, and pumpkins. (I can't find my pictures of our garden...it is late and I am tired. Maybe I will get around to posting them tomorrow.)

We added another pet to our family...a fish. I have to be honest, I hate pet fish but Kim insisted on getting one and he thought it would be fun for Jason. As always, he was right. Jason named the fish Gravel and he loves it. Everyday he climbs up on his chair and folds his arms placing them on the counter and talks to Gravel.




We headed to St. George for the Memorial Day weekend and enjoyed our vacation thoroughly. We hit some garage sales, went swimming, went golfing, did some shopping, ate great food, and went to Zions National Park. Jason had a blast playing with his cousins.



We are enjoying summer and the Idaho weather so much! We have spent time out on Grandpa and Grandma's farm visiting the chickens, bunnies, kitties, dogs, horses and the new pony. We have also made several trips to the library, gone on numerous walks, gone fishing with dad, and nourished our relationship with some of our greatest friends (Bubba, Sara, Lola, Kasey, and Aiden).

5th Year Wedding Anniversary

Kim and I are celebrating our 5th year of marriage today. Even though it seems like we have been married forever, it still is amazing to me how quickly five years can go. We have had quite the life the past five years. I wanted to write down some of the things we have done, accomplished, failed, or otherwise have deemed important the past five years. Here is the list.

1. We have lived in three different states- Utah, Idaho and Arizona
2. We have traveled to nine different states- Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Alaska and D.C.
3. We have both completed our Bachelor degree (well almost... Kim will be done in July)
4. We have been poor, comfortable, extremely comfortable, comfortable, and poor again
5. We have owned five different vehicles and have sold all of them but our little Honda
6. The first addition to our family was our dog Sadie
7. We have lived in two different apartments
8. We have bought two houses
9. We have lived with my parents twice
10. We owned a cat named Pedro- he is sorely missed!
11. We have laughed together
12. We have cried together
13. We have watched maybe a total of four chick-flicks
14. We have watched countless action films
15. The second addition to our family was our son Jason
16. We both have contemplated graduate school (Kim will probably end up getting his masters before me...not fair...but wise!)
17. We have hiked Zions National Park
18. We have met, talked to, or saw up-close and personal Pete Rose, Cedrick the Entertainer, Randy Johnson, Brandon Webb, Orlando Hudson, Steven Drew, Matt Holiday, and Glenn Beck.
19. We have been to nine MLB games
20. We have been to one NBA game (sad I know)

So here we are, five years into our marriage. I never imagined we would be where we are, but I am glad it has worked out the way it has. I am learning to find joy in the journey. I have learned at the end of the day, the only things that matter are what I hold dearest to my heart.

I look forward to the next five, ten, fifty years with Kim. He is a great friend, husband, lover, companion and dad. He always makes me laugh and pushes me to do what is outside of my comfort zone. I love him so much and I am glad I made the decision to marry him.

March Madness

I have been a HUGE slacker lately in the blogging world. My life has been consumed by helping Kim with his homework and keeping up with Jason.

Here are a few pictures from the month of March. We had to be very creative indoors since the weather would not cooperate.

Jason laying down for some leisure cell phone manual reading!!

Jason's art work after helping dad shave!

Jason playing with his "mixture"! He loves to pretend like he is cooking and is actually a pretty good helper when it comes to helping me cook.

This can get quite messy but oh how he loves it!!

Dad and Jason spraying off the driveway at Grandpa and Grandma Howells' house.

Our St. George Trip

Over President's weekend Jason and I skipped town with my parents and headed down south. Kim had too much homework and felt that if he went, he would fall even father behind. So he was a bachelor for 5 days. It was a getaway and the weather was delightful. It was between 45-55 degrees but that seemed like a heat wave compared to the 15-20 degree weather in Idaho.

Jason had a blast playing with his cousins. And was sad to leave them. He still asks if we can go back to St. George and see Cody, Chandra, Anna, Ali, Jessica and Caleb.

This is Jason with Anna and Ali playing "chef". Jason loves to pretend he is cooking and has loved playing with pots and pans since he was old enough to crawl!!

Jason and Ali waiting patiently to go swimming.

Jessica and Jason sharing hugs. Jessica gave Jason the biggest hug when we first arrived. It was the cutest thing. I wish I could have captured it on camera. They were so excited to see each other!!

Grandma, Caleb and Chandra at Pirates Pizza.

Grandpa, Jessica, Caleb, Cody and their dog Max.
We had a hard time being in doors because the weather was somewhat decent and there was not two feet of snow on the ground.

We attended the Parade of Homes and it is always fun to see million dollar homes and to see the latest trend in home decor. Here are a couple pictures of my favorite homes.

This house was 15,000 sq. ft. house. The entry way was 28 ft. high. It was beautiful!!

The pool and spa area.

My dream kitchen. I am always looking at kitchens. Hopefully someday I will have a decent size kitchen that is FUNCTIONAL!!

I loved the way this kitchen was set up. It was very open and spacious. The view from the kitchen into the backyard was spectacular!

Thanks Cody and Chandra for a great weekend!!

The Little Things

I am fully aware of my slack-fullness in blogging lately. Frankly, there just is not that much to blog about. Either that, or I have been too busy and tired to come up with anything creative to blog about. Everyone who knows me knows that I HATE January and February in Idaho!! They are the most awful months out of the year. I hate January and February because of the freezing cold temperatures. If it was somewhat pleasant...say 40-50 degrees, I wouldn't mind these two months so much. But I HATE the cold!! Beside that, it is very difficult to keep a two-year old locked up in the house for two months. Jason has been fighting a cold for about six weeks now and can't seem to kick it. The doctor did some blood work and found his white cell blood count was down. He suggested we not take him to nursery or playgroup or anywhere he could come in contact with other children who may be sick or have a cold. Even more reason to be upset about January and February in Idaho!!

Anyway on a lighter note, I don't have any pictures to post so I "borrowed" some off the net to capture our lives.

This is what it looks like outside



Kim has been doing a TON of this lately


Jason has been doing TOO much of this lately


And if I would allow it, his dog would be doing this with him every day


He lets our dog Sadie in the house about 10 times a day and I want to scream!! She stinks and her fur is shaggy, which ends up everywhere!! Even though it tests my patience every day, Jason loves her so much!!

I have been doing a TON of this lately


And this


Hoping one day I will look like this


Wishful thinking I know!! You can tell that Miss Keira has not breastfeed before. I would like to believe that my boobs looked like that before my baby!!

Also, I have been trying to do this but I am not getting very far


Hope you have a great week and weekend!