December in Review

Where has the time gone? November and December flew by and Christmas came and went. Jason and I spent two weeks in November visiting my friend Kasey who had a set of twins. We had a great time. The weather was divine and it was a good break from the day to day routine, although we were both ready to come home and get back to the routine. When we got home Kim had bought Jason a small white Christmas tree and he LOVED it! In fact when people asked Jason what he wanted for Christmas he would say, "A Christmas tree"!

December was filled with parties, graduation, family, friends, and more parties. Kim and I attended two ugly sweater parties. Although, I am ashamed to say that we only dressed up for one of them. I was a little unprepared for the first party and I ran out of time and energy so we went as our normal selves, which shocked many because usually we are the ones promoting costumes.

Here are a few pics from our ugly sweater party that we did dress up for.








December 19th Kim graduated from BYU-Idaho. It was an amazing spiritual and emotional experience. Elder Richard G. Scott spoke at both the commencement and the convocation. What a great opportunity it was to hear from him twice!! I am proud of Kim!! It has been a long, rough, and sometimes emotional ride but he stuck it out and made it through!! It is no small task to attend college, work part-time to full-time, raise a family, serve in the church, take time for hobbies, house projects, care for the yard and garden, etc. meanwhile maintaining sanity and not wanting to throw in the towel.

I am grateful for the challenge of attending school and raising a family. It has a had a great impact upon Jason. Even though he may not comprehend the full scale of the importance of education, he does understand that education is something we should all do.









Christmas day was crazy and fun. Jason enjoyed unwrapping his gifts. He didn't really understand the Santa Claus concept, which is fine with us. All in due time!! We got a camcorder for Christmas so I used that instead of taking pics with my point and shoot. So we will end with these pics. So cute!!

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.