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!

New Years Activities

Kim's brother Kody went to Logan for Christmas to be with his wife, Marlaina's, family. They were back in town for New Years and Kim's parents took all of us out to eat on New Year's Eve. We went to Stockmans (formerly the loft restaurant). And all I have to say is DELICIOUS!! The food was outstanding. Kim had all you can eat steak and believe it or not, he put three whole steaks down plus part of a bake potato and some sweet potato fries!! I had a scampi dish and some cheesecake for dessert. It is the best meal I have had in a really long time. I recommend it to anyone who lives in the area.

After dinner we went to my parent's house and played games. We had a good time laughing and sometimes crying (because we were laughing so hard).

My dad and nephew Kaden during a game of quarters.

Kody, Kim and Marlaina.

And to close, a picture of what Jason spends much of his time doing lately. Oh how he loves water and his toothbrush. If life were only this simple!!

Happy New Year!!

December in Review

Wow!! Did the month of December fly by or was it just me? Although time did go too quickly for me, we had a great month and a great holiday. I think the month really started when Kim finished the semester on 12th. We had a nice relaxing three and a half weeks. We were able to get a few more projects done on the house however, not as many as I would have liked. But I am grateful for what we did accomplish. We had plans to go see the lights at Temple Square but never made it down to Salt Lake due to the crazy weather. Nonetheless, we were able to enjoy our break by hanging out with family and friends, going to see Twilight (I would have been completely fine with just watching the movie and not reading the book...plus I really felt like I was at a tween movie....I know, I know that is how it is suppose to be...I guess I am just not a big fan!!), snowmobiling, shopping, watching movies at home, eating, etc.

Our friends, the McDonald's, came into town on the 15th and we were able to spend almost the whole day with them. It was good to be reunited with them again and for Jason and Lola to play together. We had received a good amount of snow a day before their arrival so Jason and Lola had fun playing on the sled.

Lola in her pink snowsuit. Kim thought she looked like a little marshmallow! Under all that stuffing is a tiny little girl! So cute!!

I thought this was a cute picture!

Here is a picture of the "sledding" crew. Shannon was such a sport. She would drag Jason and Lola up and down the sidewalk...running in high heels! What a woman!

Jason was laughing so hard and it was making us all laugh. He absolutely loved being pulled on the sled.

Christmas Eve was a little unusual for us this year because usually we head to my parents for a big party with my family, but this year my brother who lives in St. George, UT was to arrive in Idaho on Christmas Day, so we decided to hold off on the party and wait to hold it until Cody and his family arrived. However, due to the threat of the weather Cody and his family left Utah on Christmas Eve and made it to Idaho before the terrible storm that hit. So on Christmas Eve we went to dinner with Kim's parents to Texas Roadhouse and then headed to my parents for secret Santa. Secret Santa has been a tradition in my family for years and we all love doing it. So of course we had a good time despite the cold and windy weather. We finished our activity around 11:30pm and Kim, Jason and I headed for home. We made a bed on the living room floor and all slept by the tree with the Christmas lights still on. Right before I fell asleep I said, "Merry Christmas Kim. Merry Christmas Jason." And Jason responded without skipping a beat, "Merry Christmas mom."

Christmas morning Kim and I woke up at 6:00am (Kim is like a seven year-old at Christmas time and I tease him of it and his only reply is "You can't hear the bell!!" I am grateful that Kim is still young at heart because it keeps things fun!) and exchanged gifts. Jason didn't wake up until 9:00am so Kim and I put in a Christmas movie and watched that to pass the time. At 9:30am we received a call from my mom telling us that her road was completely blocked off due to snow drifts. I was hoping that would happen and it did!! We were able to ride our snowmobile out to see our parents. It was a nasty day to be on a snowmobile but, nonetheless, it was fun. After stopping at my parents we headed to Kim's parents. Then at four we met back at my parent's for a Christmas dinner and the party. We had a great time and it was fun for Jason to play with his cousins. They sort of made him the spotlight and he was eating it up. We taught him the first couple lines of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. He put his own spin on it and his cousins thought it was hilarious!! It was fun watching them play together. We all wish they lived closer so Jason could have more family members his age to play with. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

Jason and I during our Christmas party at my parents. Caleb is the cute little boy with the Binky in his mouth. Caleb and I share the same birthday....only 28 years apart!!

My dad trying to help Jason get Elmo Live out of the box. This was probably his favorite gift, or at least the one he plays with the most.

Jason trying to put his new Elmo slippers on. Can you tell what character is popular at our house? Oh yea, the toothbrush...Santa left that for Jason and he wouldn't put it down most of the morning.

Can you see the enthusiasm? I think Jason was too young to really understand the whole Christmas and gifts thing. I guess we didn't really help the situation because we didn't take the time to teach him about Santa. I figure he will learn soon enough.

Jason and Jessica in their new Christmas PJs. Thanks Grandma Howells for sharing. They really came in handy!! Jason and Jessica are only four months apart in age. They had a great time playing together.

Jason as Joseph.

Mary, Joseph and an angel.

Mary and the angel.

My brother Cody and his family.

My brother Ryan, his wife Jan, their daughter Tallie and our niece Anna.

My sister-in-law, Chandra, playing us some Christmas songs.

Kim and Jason after riding the snowmobile.

My parents on Christmas day.