My Valentine!

I have to take a few moments to comment on my wonderful husband Joseph. We have been married for almost 12 years now. (I know, where did the time go?) He is such a wonderful man. Since it's technically been 11 years of marriage, here are 11 reasons I love him, in no particular order:

1. He is thoughtful.


2. He cleans the bathroom. (awesome right?)


3. He loves our children.


4. He supports me in my decisions.


5. He is a wonderful provider.


6. He is a hard worker.


7. He's hot.


8. He listens to me.


9. He wrestles and plays with the kids.


10. He works at being the best he can be.


11. He has a testimony of Jesus Christ.


12. He tells me he loves me.

Well, I could keep going. I did add an additional one on there just for good measure. Don't I have the greatest Valentine EVER!

Goodbye 2010...Hello 2011

It's been about a month since my last post. A lot has happened in that amount of time. There have been a few things that happened that have been good and some not so great. Joe's dad fell in the middle of December and has been in the hospital ever since. He hit his head pretty hard and suffered some brain damage. We also fear that since then he has been having mini-strokes. We just heard that he will be going home and will have in home care from Hospice. We will most likely be making a trip down to Utah in the next month or so to spend some time with his dad before he passes.

Christmas Eve was spent at our dear friends the Holloways. It was fun going there. It had been a few years since we had done this so it was nice to spend time with them. Christmas was fun this year. It was pretty much our family Christmas morning, my dad was there, and then my sister and her husband and Kade came over. It was nice having them join us. We had a lazy day in our PJ's and just ate snacks and watched movies and played games. We had Christmas dinner of prime rib, which was so good. Definitely a new tradition.

I had New Years Eve off so we got pizza and watched movies with the kids. We stayed up until midnight and that was pretty much it. For the New Year I decided that it was time to change some things in my life. We got a Kinect system for our XBox 360 which is awesome. I also purchased the Biggest Loser game and have been exercising with it. That is the change I am making. I am going to get this weight off of my body this year. As an incentive for this Joe and I are planning a trip to Hawaii for 14 days. It will just be the 2 of us. I'm so excited about this I can hardly see straight. Talk about motivation. My goal is to lose 100 pounds over the next year to year and a half. I don't know where I'll be in Aug (that's our tentative date for Hawaii) but I know that I will be closer to my goal then I am now. I'm happy to report that I have exercised everyday (except Sunday). I have lost 6 pounds since I started and I know that I can do this. I'm actually enjoying working out. It makes me feel good about myself and yes I do have more energy. I still struggle with eating completely healthy but I'm working on it. The new year has been good so far. I know that there are some sad times ahead but I will keep strong and work hard.

Christmas Came Early

We had Christmas yesterday! It was so much fun. Brooke and Evan are visiting from California so everyone decided that it would be fun to do our family Christmas early this year. We were all together, except for Brent who is on his mission. It has been a lot of fun spending time with everyone. We spent all day Saturday together starting with breakfast followed by sledding, while others went shopping. We then had dinner and then our family gift exchange. We each have a sibling that we buy for. It's lots of fun to see what everyone will get. This year we had Breanne. We got her some children's books and a new outfit for when she starts teaching next year. I'm so proud of her and her accomplishments. She will be teaching K-2 I believe. Bev had us this year and she got us the perfect gift...a date night!








Movie tickets, dinner and babysitting! I'm so excited to use it. Date nights are the best. The kids got to open presents from their aunt Brooke and uncle Evan. Then they got to do stockings. It was so nice to sit and talk to my brothers and sisters. I'm glad that we have good relationships with everyone. Family is such a great blessing.

Christmas Day Dec. 25TH
Christmas day was super nice.  We had a quiet one with just our little family and my dad in the morning.  Bev and Demarco and Kade came a little later in the morning for breakfast.  It was nice to be together and spend the day as a family.  The kids played with there new stuff, and they got a lot of it.  It seems that whenever Joe and I try to do a small Christmas we end up with way more then we thought.  Next year we will stick to our guns and not go stir crazy.  Yeah right :p 
Here are some pics from Christmas morning...

                                          Brynwen and presents.

                                           Joe's Kindel.

                                           Brynwen

                                           Brynwen and her race track.

                                           Prime Rib Dinner...yummy!

                                            Gabbie opening a present.

                                           Cordin opening a present.

                                           Gabbie showing her stuff.

                                           Cordin

                                            My dad.

                                             Christmas tree before.

                                                     Kids and the tree.

 

Brynwen

                                           Gabbie excited.

                                           Cordin excited.

                                           Gideon and his present.

Family at the tree.

                                           Gideon with his movies.

Off!

I have today off. This doesn't happen very often . Normally I'm at work on Saturdays and only get to have the mornings with my family. Today we get to spend the whole day together. We are going to go shopping for a suit for Joe and then I'm taking Gabbie to see Tangled. I'm so excited to see the movie. I've heard really good things about it and it looks cute. So, I get to be home today and I don't have to stress about going to work. I'm so happy about this. Oh, and I have tomorrow off too!

I'm thankful for work free weekends with my family!

Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving was nice. We had a small one this year which seems to be a tradition with us. We never have the big numbers that used to happen when everyone lived here. It was my family and my sister Bev and her son Kade, my dad and Joe's niece Kayla and her husband. It was very nice and very small and very good. We went the traditional route and had turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, yams, rolls, mashed potatoes and jello. Like I said very traditional. It was fun having everyone here. We set up the Wii and played some games and watched Toy Story 3. I had to go to work at 5:30 last night. It was really slow and very boring. I was so happy when my shift was over and I got to come home.

I'm thankful for my family and the chance to spend time with them. And, even though I don't like my job, I'm thankful that I have it.

It's COLD!

We had a blizzard! It snowed pretty much all day Monday and all day Tuesday. We probably got 10-12in of snow in that time period. It's now really cold outside. I woke up today to -6 and it's supposed to stay cold all week. We are also getting more snow over the weekend. So far, it looks like all the predictions are coming true, another bad winter. It's days like this that I love to wear my sweats and sweaters, and don't forget the warm wool socks. Staying cozy and warm in number one on my list of things to do today.

I'm thankful for a home that has a heater!

Snow, snow and more snow!

It's snowing, and has been for the last 16 hours.

Crazy snow that has accumulated to 10 in.

Snow that has closed the schools for the day.

Which means that all of the kids are home. It has

been a crazy day. My kids are wild and excited that

they get to stay home from school. I have a feeling

though, that this is just the beginning of many

snow days. What will I do with my kids? It's like

summer break but COLD. Even with the crazies,

I love having my family around me. They're great!

I'm thankful for snow days with my kids and husband!