Happy Anniversary to us!!

I just can't believe how fast time has flown by! All the ways we have grown individually and as a couple.

Indulge me for a minute. I must publicly share my feelings about Ben. Even as I type, I know he will be embarrassed by this post, but guess what? That's too bad! :) See what a good wife I am?

I am so proud of my husband. He has been nothing but generous and outstanding in every aspect of our marriage. He is an amazing father and so much more patient than me. He balances me out in almost all areas. He is a honest, hard working man. I can honestly say he has never raised his voice to me or spoken to me with an ounce of unkindness. How? I don't know! I can't say the same for me. I have depended and cherished his ability to bring the Spirit into our home, to quietly reprimand me when I'm not the best. I don't know how he does it, but he motivates me to be better because he is better. I will stop now, but I needed to get this out of my soul.

I am so grateful that we were sealed in the temple and are forever linked if we are faithful to our covenants. What a journey it has been. It's hard to imagine what our lives will be like in another 9 years...(Princess will be 17!!! AHHHH!!! :) It's the best choice that I ever made and I'm so thankful for a Heavenly Father that knew the potential that we would have together. Love you babe!



This is the only picture I have in my computer right now...pre-digital age!

Ikey is 2!!!

Has it really been 2 years already? What did I ever do without him?

Ikey was a really easy newborn. I don't know if it was just that I was in a good place mentally or more tolerant to sleepless nights, or if it was hard but his little smile and dimples made me forget!

Ikey is strong willed, outgoing, rambunctious, active!, and so so curious! He is always thinking of something to get into or explore. He doesn't have much to say but he ALWAYS lets us know what he's thinking!

I was in labor with him for about 2 hours. I had him Au natural!



His antics always make us laugh













Yesterday we had a memorial day BBQ/birthday party for Ikey and his little cousin Jacob who was born the day before him.



Here's a picture of them side by side in the hospital. Ikey is on the left, Jacob on the right.

It was fun to have family come to eat and play. We had cupcakes and ice cream. Ben, his brother's and sister Janette along with the nephews had a trampoline trick contest. How many of you are sore today?? :)

I can't wait to see what the next year will bring us...we love you Ikey!

Princess's Baptism Pictures

It's taken me a while to get these up! It was such a special day. She was baptized on her actual birthday and that was really special! We are so proud of you Princess!









Princess and her primary teacher

My sweet Princess...

Princess turned 8 a few days ago and I feel there is so much to tell about this little girl! She has always been sensitive to the people that surround her. She is curious about life and automatically thinks of others feelings. She is quick to laugh and giggle. She is spunky and learns quickly.

When she was little she would snuggle and need to tell us from a very young age all about the littlest details in her life. She is wonderful at explaining what she is feeling in her heart. She also has the ability to sense what others are feelings.

She loves bugs...as long as they aren't in the house! She loves when her brothers want to play whatever game she is playing. She is excited if they will be as excited as she is about the game, although that increasingly isn't the case, what with G-man having an opinion lately. Why can't barbies play with transformers? It would be a perfect world if that were to happen.

We remember when she was a baby she would burrow her body against yours, and want to be close. She's always let me do her hair however I wanted. When she was just getting her hair in, we would put little bug piggy tails in and we would call her "K"-bug.

She always reminds us that her toys have FEELINGS too! She was always concerned about her toys and if they felt lonely.

She has never been scared of strangers. In fact, if she doesn't know you, you are a likely target.

She still likes to be tucked in and we're happy about it!

She is a wonderful reader and is starting to love to read the scriptures. She also spells well and almost always gets 100% on her spelling tests at school (I get to brag :)

There is so much more to this girl that I'm not able to put into words. We love her SO much and couldn't live without her.

IF YOU POST A COMMENT, TELL YOUR FAVORITE STORY OF PRINCESS!!

Weekend Happenings...

This past Thursday and Friday, I posted a schedule for Ben to follow, wished him luck and ditched out on life. I attended Women's conference at BYU and let me tell you, it was amazing! I went with my good friend Sonia and it was just SO great! I needed the spiritual reminders to be a better wife, Mommy, friend, sister, and to do better in my calling. After the weekend I've had, my feet were pretty sad though...a couple times the contractions (I think braxton hicks, but whatever) started up. I had to sit and rest for a little bit. It was totally worth it!



A big shout out to my honey who came through with flying colors! He is appreciative of what I do during the day though, which isn't bad :)

2 hours after I arrived home from women's conference, we had 13 giggly girls over to our house for a Pajama Birthday party!! Princess was SO excited! We started out with a couple games while Ben made homemade pizzas. Then we ate some grub, opened presents, decorated draw string bags with glitter paint and foam stickers and had cake and ice cream! It was really fun and Princess felt very special...


Princess and her friend R

Opening presents

The next day (Saturday) Princess was baptized. It was truly amazing to see my little girl so grown up and ready to take that step in her life. It was such a crazy day, my mom took tons of pictures, so I'll post some once I get some from her.

After the baptism, we had a brunch and had mine and his family over for Crepes and muffins. It was rainy outside so it made it a bit crowded, but there was tons of food to go around!


Just my crazy brothers Jake and James


Sweet aunt Emily


Aunt Janette and Grandpa Al


Grandma Suzie and aunt Jenny

After the brunch, we went to see my sister Becca get her endowments out at the temple. It was so great to see her partake of those blessings. It's only less than a month until she is married!!


Love ya sis!


David, Becca, and me

Sunday, we had a bridal shower for Becca and it was fun to see all my cousins, aunts, and uncles. David's family came too and I think some of them were a little overwhelmed with the sheer numbers and craziness that is my extended family.

Whew! I'm tired typing out everything that we did!

Today, I crash :)

A walk down memory lane...

Becca and I were going through MILLIONS of pictures that my Mom has organized into photo albums, and I came across these pictures.

Setting the scene, Ben and I started dating in the first part of September 1999. By Halloween, we were REALLY serious, as you can tell! We were bored, it was a couple days before Halloween and we raided the costume box. These were my little brother's costumes from when they were three! Ben had to really squeeze to get into it! Ben's glasses were my Dad's from college...ENJOY!







After taking funny pictures at my house, we went over to Ben's house. I'm thinking his parents must have thought..."Who is this crazy girl, and what has she done to our respectable, quiet son!"

We had so much fun together. We were engaged less than a month later! Our kids got a huge kick out these silly pictures!

Catch up!

The funnest news ever! My cutie pie sister Becca got engaged a couple weeks ago. He is awesome and actually the brother of my brother's wife...confused? My brother Jake married a girl named Emily. Becca started dating David, Emily's brother, and now they are engaged. Still need more? We've known Emily and David's family forever. Our parents went to dental school together! Crazy huh? They are the cutest couple and he is really sneaky and really surprised her! We were all in on the secret...you'll need to ask her for the full story!



Ikey has figured out how to get out of his crib!! So he likes to sneak into bed with G-man. G-man is so loving and kind, he doesn't mind having someone to snuggle with. I snuck in last night and took this picture. Cute huh?



Speaking of Ikey he is full of it. Anyone who's around him knows that his little mind and body are going all the time....this is a cute picture that we took about a month ago. He was eating chocolate cake and INSISTED that he wear these glasses. He wears them all the time. Silly boy! I love his guts!



Last weekend, I hosted a few, yes only a few, of my cute cousins at my house while the boys were at the Priesthood session of Conference. Aren't we all so hot? We had delicious food and the kidlets played and watched Nemo while we chatted it up! It was so much fun!! I'm grateful I have such a great family.



Last but not least, we seriously have a really retarded cat. He is so sweet but he isn't very bright. I don't know how, but he got himself stuck on the roof. Duh. Get down how you got up stupid cat. I had to take out a screen on the top level and he climbed in that way....whatever!