We are Sealed!

Together Forever! There is nothing to describe this day. Here's some pictures...

Tag, I'm it!

Brooke Black tagged me and it looked fun… here we go!

What I was doing...10 years ago: That was May 1998 and I was crying my eyes out. Jon had left on his mission and was only 3 days out! I was also getting ready to graduate and go to college!

5 years ago: That was May 2003 and I was just figuring out “motherhood”… or so I thought I was! Brayden was 3 months old and Jon and I were living in our first house in Sandy. What a great house!

5 months ago: January… hmmm, what was I doing? We just got back from a trip to Puerto Vallarta for New Years. Brayden and Jack started the second half of their preschool year, and Anabelle and I were hanging out!... Jon was working MAD hours!

5 things on my to do list…
-Do laundry… when we get home I want to have all our clothes clean!
-Pack… we leave Utah and go back to Arizona on Sunday… wahhh!
-Go watch my dad jump out of an airplane (tomorrow morning).
-Go out to dinner with mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and Jon.
-Go running

5 snacks i enjoy...
- Molten Lava cake from Chili’s… oh so good!
- Ice cream (peanut butter and chocolate)
- Hot chocolate- Postum
- My kids fruit snacks!

5 Things I Would Do If I Were Suddenly a Billionare...
-Get a houseboat
- Buy a bigger house
- Buy Jon his dream theater system.
- Travel, travel, travel!!!!
- Get a housekeeper!
- Hopefully I would give back.

5 Bad Habits:
- Biting my finger nails
- Not folding the laundry as soon as it's dried. Can't find your clothes? They're in hamper somewhere and will need to be ironed. Sorry.
- Snapping at my kids more then I should.
- Bragging about the wonderful Arizona weather in the winter… don’t worry, I’m about to get mine! We’ve already reached 109 this year… YIKES!
- Not calling people back… sorry if this has happened to you… I’m lame!

5 Places I Have Lived...In particular order:
- Draper, Utah
- Rexburg, Idaho
- Provo, Utah
- Sandy, Utah
- Gilbert, Arizona

5 Jobs I've Had...
- Hot Dog on a Stick girl… don’t forget it Ash! WE ROCKED!
- Preschool teacher at Small Wonders and New Castle.
- Legal Secretary at Rulon T. Burton and associates
- Assistant to the CEO of DPAir Corporation
- Office Manager at UniShippers
And who could forget DOMESTIC GODDESS, right?! Trumps all the others.

5 People I Tag…
- Milli Charles
- Mandy Koford
- Kassie Esplin
- Amber Wardell and…
-Ashley Kearns,
and anyone else that wants to do it!!! It’s pretty fun!

"SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER"

Our little preschool graduate! Brayden can recognize and name 24 out of the 26 letters and make out 22 of the 26 sounds! He can write his name and is starting to sound out words.

We are so proud of you Brayden! Full day kindergarten... here we come!

My Boys

This is for all the great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, etc... that live away, we miss you! Here's Jack and Brayden's 07-08 school pictures... aren't they handsome?!?! We sure love these boys.

Happy 29th Jon!

Jon's birthday was on the 7th of May so I'm a little bit behind with this "Ode to Jon" post! But I just want to talk a little bit about how wonderful my hubby is... not perfect, but wonderful!

10 things I love about Jon, in no apparent order:

#10. He listens better than any man I've ever met!...
#9. He's HOT... just look at him, he's sooo handsome!
#8. He loves ME... all my flaws and moods and all... he actually loves me... and believe me, he knows EVERYTHING about me!
#7. Best DAD EVER! The boys love rough housing with him, they adore their dad. And as for Anabelle, she just stares at him the moment he walks through the door.
#6. He's hilarious and doesn't even know it! I don't think I've stopped laughing since I met him, sometimes with him, sometimes at him... but he laughs at himself too!
#5. He's honest. He's honest even when he knows he's going to be in BIG trouble!!!
#4. He checks my blog and leaves comments... I don't know, I just think that's cute!
#3. He treats me sooooo good! Every night, and I mean every night, he plays with my hair until I fall asleep.
#2. He has a relationship with God and I love that about him. He has a strong testimony and strives to do the best he can in this crazy life.
#1. I love him just the way he is. I am so lucky because I got "one of the good ones".

One of my fondest memories of Jon:
Okay, back to senior year when my life was OVER! Here's the scenario... There was about a week left of high school, my freakin' softball team just got knocked out of the state tourney by Mt. View (yes we were suppose to take it that year), Jon was leaving on his mission in about 3 days... and I thought I was going to curl up in a ball and DIE! Anyway, I was feeling pretty sick about being out of the state tourney and Jon could tell. He called my dad and they talked about different ways to cheer me up... I couldn't be cheered up! Jon explained to my dad that they had to do something "real big" and "unforgettable" so that I would never forget it. Well, my clever dad and cute boyfriend came up with this plan...
On Friday night Jon told me that on Saturday he had some plans for us but that I had to wake up at 6:00 am... my response... "NO"... my plan was to fall asleep and never wake up... I was so dramatic! So on Saturday morning, with my alarm reluctantly set, I woke up, and when I woke up Jon was sitting there waiting for me. He told me to hurry up, jump in the shower, that I had 45 minutes until we were leaving. About 30 minutes later Jon told me that my time was up! I climbed into my dad's car and then my mom and dad got it too... what the?!?! We got on the freeway and headed to Salt Lake. I was trying to guess what we were doing but I never would have guessed that we were going to end up at the airport and fly to Las Vegas for the entire day! We went on EVERY RIDE they had. Ate all the yummy food. And my dad even gave me a quarter to put in a slot machine... I got in trouble of course, I looked like I was 14! And then around 5:00 we flew home, just in time for Jon to take me out to dinner at a really nice restaurant. This was a day that I'll NEVER forget... how cute is Jon? How cute is my dad and mom? This was and still is one of the greatest days I've had... it was flawless!

One of the most "Jon" moments:
So we were dating and it was my senior year. I was in this seminary play that he came to watch one night. Anyway, after the play we went over to Joe Ghiz's house to hang out with everyone and ended up staying pretty late. It was March and there was snow all over the ground... it was freezing. Jon was taking me back to my car which was parked at the church right by Alta. It was after midnight when he dropped me off, and being the gentleman he is, he dropped me off and drove off before I got into my car. So there I was, in this dark parking lot, freezing and I couldn't get my key in the key hole. Once I worked that out, I couldn't turn the key because the key hole was FROZEN. After maneuvering that for a couple of minutes I managed to get in my car... Jon was probably half way to Provo by now. Anyway, I got in my car and turned the key and "click"... nothing but a click., My car wouldn't start! Luckily I was one of the only people in high school with a car phone (more like a car brick) so I called my dad and he had to come save me! Oh Jon, what a guy! I COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! I swear they made a CSI about this exact situation, but the girl didn't have a car brick!

One of the sweetest memories from Jon:
Okay so he's going to kill me but there are 2 I want to tell people... the first one is that for Valentines Day one year after we were married, he got me this gorgeous journal, and inside there were strict orders that we were suppose to use this to write things that we loved about each other in it. To this day, I find this journal hiding in crazy places and when I open it there is a letter to me from him telling me the things he loves about me... so cute! The second is this story... One random day Jon came home from work with a couple dozen roses for me. I was so surprised and happy! He then proceeded to tell me a story about a man who was traveling by bus with a dozen roses. There was a girl who was intrigued with the roses and kept staring. Finally the girl asked who the roses were for and the man explained that they were for his wife... but seeing how much the girl loved the roses he offered them to her. The girl said "won't your wife be sad" and the man told the girl that his wife would be so happy and proud of him for giving them to her instead. The girl took the roses and was so happy and excited. Just then the bus stopped and the man got off, it stopped at the cemetery, his wife had passed away and he was taking the roses to her grave. So I looked at Jon with teary eyes and asked him why he sucked so bad by telling me such a sad story. He didn't say anything just lead me to the car where we drove to an old retirement home. When we got to the front desk he told me, "Tice, we're going to brighten someones day". Just then he took a rose from me and handed it to an old lady in a wheel chair. She cried. We proceeded to do this 24 times, until all the roses were gone. What a day, what a guy! Now he's going to KILL ME!

So that's a little bit about my husband! I was trying to think of an embarrassing moment of his but I can't... what's wrong with me!!!??? I'll think of one and post it later. Jon, I just want you to know that I love you so much, even though you are an old fart! You are my perfect match!

SPUDETTE!

It's about time they finally post this... I've known for as long as they have!!! For the BEST NEWS EVER click here... http://uvtcharl.blogspot.com/2008/04/spud.html. Love you Milli and Travis!

Ever felt like this?

Maybe I'm a little too emotional or maybe I'm getting ready to start my "girl thing", but I'm feeling really down today. To give you a visual, I need someone to come over with a spatula and scoop, scrap, and dig me off of the floor... any volunteers?... it will NOT be pretty!

So sharing these feeling with the world leaves me feeling vulnerable, especially since there are a few people out there that I would rather not know about my blog (still working on the private thing). If you are a friend of mine then don't worry, it's not you... but believe it or not I actually have some people I don't really like, that I'm sure they don't like me either... so why check my blog if you don't like me?!?!

Anyway, I was reading my friend Kassie's blog and some things she said struck me. She talked about how we can't change anyone but ourselves so sitting around waiting for others to change, whether its their view of me, my family, my friends... or rather it be bad habits they have or mean things they say... well I can't do anything about it, only work on myself. I'm going to try to focus more inward so that I can be at peace with myself.

Lately I feel like I've been falling so short in every aspect of my life. Spiritually I feel somewhat disconnected from God and it's really bugging me because we are getting sealed to Anabelle soon and I really want to feel connected. I know what it takes to get connected but if I'm a human puddle of mush how do I start... I can't even scoop myself up!!! Mentally I feel like a crack head!!! I have so much going on in my life that I can't even sit down and make a list of priorities because everything seems like a priority!!! It's so much easier to just stay in my pj's all day and mope around! Physically... urgh... where do I start?!?! I feel like a blob! I haven't been working out as much since I'm not doing that sprint triathlon anymore, I've just kinda fallen off the wagon. I really enjoy running but with Jon's crazy work schedule I haven't been able to find a lot of time to hit the road... again, if I put forth more effort this would happen... but it all goes back to feeling like that pile of mush! As a mother I see what I want to be, and then I notice what I really am. I could be such a better mommy to my kids, and I aspire to be, but it takes so much effort and support and ENERGY! And as for being a wife, I wish... I wish... nah, I'm a pretty perfect wife!!! Huh Jon?!?!

Anyway, I'm totally rambling and feeling so sorry for myself but being real!!! Have you ever felt like this? How did you take care of yourself? 

I have a feeling this is what God would be saying to me now...