4

Even though we had a play date because it was his birthday .....

I think it was me that really need him this week.

There aren't words that could do this little one justice.

He is getting older and more grown up every time I see him, which is something I can hardly take in knowing that the older he gets, the less he is going to let me steal him away. I fear gifts and happy meals are only going to be good bribes for a few more years, but for now I will savor the little moments we get together.

Happy birthday little Zayners!

last month

Did I miss March?

Time is going by too fast. We are busy. I think about doing a blog post, but then I think about making cookies....or catching up on the DVR.....or scrapbooking somebodies wedding pictures(1 week!!). And clearly all those things turned out to be better options.

First things first.

Easter.

It came and went. We celebrated a week early with my family and turns out we were divinely inspired, because I wore flip flops while the rest of you who celebrated a week later froze.

The kids went crazy when they found a letter from the Easter Bunny telling them he left eggs for them to find to practice for the real Easter.

How was I ever entertained before these kids got here?

It was the perfect ending to a chapter in our family story. (More on that later)

The day before Easter, we celebrated with Cole's family. As always, we colored a million eggs...such a fun tradition

Cole takes egg coloring very seriously.

Sasha and J.R.

And we can't forget Dan on his yearly quest to make the ugliest egg.

Mission accomplished :)

This is Bella. She is the newest addition to the family. Well, not our family, but Sasha's. They got her a couple months ago and she is such a sweetie. Crazy but sweet.

March also brought Miss Mylee's 2nd birthday. We enjoyed cake and ice cream and good company while she slept through the fun. She finally woke up just as soon as we were all about to leave and we got to see her open her presents.


Lastly, my parents moved away. It has been a bittersweet time in my life. I have been spoiled for so long working just minutes away from their house and getting to have lunch with them every day.

I have so many memories in the house that I mostly grew up in. I didn't think it would be hard. It is. I don't get attached to things and I'm not a super sentimental person. But, I guess I am.

With the end of this chapter brings an awesome new one. They patiently waited while their new house was being built and it is finally done! They love the neighborhood, they love the house and my dad loves being closer to work.

I am sad they are farther away, but happy that its close enough to see them often. With the way that it has all fallen into place, I have no doubt that this is where they are supposed to be.

One last family picture at the old house

That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

My lesson has hopefully been learned because April is and will be CRAZY!!!!! Lots of fun things coming up, so check back later :)

name them one by one

I feel bad.

I had a pity party in my last post, and I'm pleased to say the party is over. This time of year, there is no excuse for me to be a bitter person. The truth is, I couldn't be more blessed and my life really is good.

I had a bad couple of days and I needed a serious reality check....and got it.

Just when I think I couldn't be any more of a snot, a little bird whispers in my ear and tells me to count my blessings.



- I certainly don't make $100,000 a year, but I have a job which can be hard to come by these days. Plus, I have a job at which I learn new things every day and enjoy most days. Hard to beat.


- I might not have a fancy camera or a camera at all, but I have a family who I love and who love me back, a husband who loves me even when I'm a snot and bends over backwards to make my Christmas special every single year, little nieces and nephews who I couldn't adore more. All who I make memories with every single day. Camera or no camera.


- I have a home. A home that I enjoy being at. It might not always be plowed of all the snow, but just enough that my car hasn't gotten stuck once yet. I love where I live and love that we have a place we love. Again, hard to beat.


- We are healthy. What a blessing it is to have health. You don't realize just how much of a blessing it is until one you love isn't well. Last year, I posted about this little angel. It is a blessing to have a reminder that Heavenly Father loves us so much to send us miracles when we least expect them.


-I live in a country where I can celebrate the birth of Christ. Possibly the best blessing He could give us. We are lucky.


So I will celebrate. No matter what, I have reason to celebrate.


Merry Christmas!

Muchas Gracias

I have much to be thankful for. So much that the list could go on for a page.

I am so blessed.

We are so blessed as a small family of two.

The spirit of Thanksgiving is already long gone with Christmas well on its way, but I never forget how Heavenly Father has blessed my life.

This video warms my heart.



P.S. Our Thanksgiving was FANTASTIC. I love family and shopping like nobodys business. And a new camera is on the way.....which hopefully means more reason to blog!

Tis' the season!

Missy Miley

This cute little girl turned OnE on Monday!

She could totally pass for my child (and I'd gladly accept!)

She was so into the idea of a birthday party. She dug right into her pink cupcake, squeeled and giggled after every gift she opened and danced around to her musical stroller from Grandma & Grandpa all night.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I knew all my kids would turn out as good as she is, I'd have at least 12 of them! She is one of the best babies alive. She never makes a peep and has a constant smile on her beautiful little face. She loves jewelry and chocolate and all things GiRLy, but loves to be included in EVERYTHING her brothers do.

If I had the power, I'd stop her from growing right now...she is just perfect.

LoVe YoU BaBy MiLey!!

The One All About Christmas....

I love love LOVE Christmas...but I seriously feel like I could take a nap for a week and still not be rested enough. This year was super stressful. I even got the Christmas hives for the first time in my life! Even though I was itching my body away, this was one of the best Christmases ever!

We'll start with Christmas Eve.....

My family always does everything on Christmas Eve, so it works out very nicely for us. We spend Christmas Eve at my parents house and Christmas Day with Cole's family. This year was especially fun because all the kids are at the BEST age. They went absolutly nuts for presents this year. When they'd unwrap a box, they would say "oh wow!!!" before they even knew what it was. I could have watched them open gifts all night!

Before we opened gifts, we had a YUMMY dinner with prime rib and ham, potatoes and sooooo many delicious salads. I look forward to the dinner more than the presents!

My parents are always so genourous and giving and spoil us probably more than we deserve. Cole got a game for his Playstation (that we've been playing non-stop), The Dark Knight, seat covers for his car and a charging thing for his night stand (thank goodness for organization!). I got a beautiful necklace (which I just happen to be wearing as I blog), a bunch of stuff to make jewelry, a couple pairs of shoes and cooking stuff.


The kiddos were so spoiled this year and all of them made out like bandits, but I think they almost liked all the wrapping paper more than the toys they got. They were CRAZY!!!!

Here is a video of Trev rolling in the wrapping paper....he loved it!



This was little Allie watching Trevor roll through the wrapping paper. She was in pure amazement for 15 mintues straight. If you knew this girl, you would know this NEVER happens.

We had so much fun this year! I am looking foward to all the coming years with all these fun kids (and hopefully lots more), Christmas is just so much more fun with all the kids around!

On to Christmas Morning.....
I love having Christmas morning just the two of us. Every year, I wake up to a sweet letter from Santa with a Christmas slice of cake. This has been my favorite part of Christmas since we've been married. It really is so special and something I can't wait to carry on for our kids.


Cole always goes above and beyond on Christmas. Even though we were supposed to "go easy" this year, he can't help but spoil me rotten. He did way more than I could have ever asked for this year.

Beyond all the things he got me, he suprised me with an iPod Touch!

I LOVE IT!!!! I'm still trying to figure it all out, but it is too cool!

Cole's big gift from me was his fish tank. A few years ago, I got him just a little 10 gallon one, so this one seems enormous to me!!!

This is after he got it filled up and decorated. Now we just need to get a few more fish!!!!


After opening all our presents, we headed to Cole's parents to start.....

Christmas Day .....

Cole must get going "above and beyond" on Christmas from his mom, because this is what the living room looked like when we got there


WOW!!

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas for Cole without Whitty opening her presents first....

Cole's family opening some of their gifts.....

Cole had NO clue what he was getting this year. He was totally stunned when he opened a computer :)

I was also completely suprised this year with everything. I got a Kitchen Aid and Shampooer (?) for my big gift. So excited!

Cole and I with our Christmas stash. Spoiled kids.


After we opened presents with Cole's family, we got to go visit the grandparents. It is so nice to have grandparents around. I am lucky enough to have my grandma come down to visit almost every Christmas. We are both blessed to have those special people in our lives.

Even blogging all this makes me tired. It was such an exhausting day, but it was one of the best Christmases we've ever had. Both of our families are amazing and treat us so well. We love every minute we get to spend with them. Especially on holidays.

Thanks to everyone who made our Christmas such a sweet and memorable one! We love you all!

Christmas Miracle

Today my little nephew Vincent turned 5. As he opened his gifts and blew out his small number of candles, I couldn't help but be so overwhelmed with emotion that this little one is here with us blowing out candles on his 5th birthday.

2 1/2 years ago, he wasn't feeling well and hadn't been feeling himself for awhile. He had been taken in for an ear infection and a number of small things before he became really sick. He was admitted into the hospital for pneumonia the beginning of July in 2006. Cole and I went to visit him on the 4th of July and nothing seemed right. It didn't seem like it was something so small and I just had a gut feeling that something wasn't ok.

Just days after that, he was taken to Primary Children's for something that no one could figure out. After weeks of test after test, doctors still had not found the answer to what was taking over his body. On two occasions, my parents were called down to say their "goodbyes". I can without a doubt say that those couple of months were the absolute hardest months of my entire life.

After a couple of certain tests, several doctors had a conference and had an idea that it could be a rare disease called CGD or Chronic granulomatous disease. Basically, Vincent had no immune system. So when he got pneumonia, his body had no way of fighting it off. A doctor (or I'd like to think...angel) who had spent a lot of time studying this disease finally came into the picture. They knew what it was, but had a hard time fixing it. In what seemed like his last minutes of life, the doctor called a colleague of his for any ideas he might have to help before it was too late. He suggested a steroid treatment that ultimately saved his life.

It is truly a miracle that this little one is still here with us. There were so many times in those months that so many of us felt like we could not go on.

Although he has had Christmases with us before this one, he is a continual reminder that Heavenly Father lives and loves us enough to give us miracles when we've almost given up hope. There is no better time of year to be reminded of the every day miracles that happen in our lives. Every year Vincent will always be my little Christmas miracle.

Here are a few pictures of our little celebration we had tonight....

I love you forever buddy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a fun but busy weekend...so busy that I forgot to bring my camera just about everywhere we went....nice.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was a nice and relaxing day. We went to Cole's parents house first for a Thanksgiving lunch. The food was delicious and we were lucky to spend time with Cole's grandparents this year.

Later that night we went to my parents house for a Thanksgiving dinner. Again, the food was nothing short of amazing and it was nice to have a house FULL of people. Holidays are so much fun when you have tons of family around. We couldn't be more thankful for the families we have.

Friday, we woke up suuuupppeerrr early (3:30 am) and hit the stores. We've done this the last couple years, even though every year we say it will be our last. But EVERY year we find the best bargains....and I'd be lying if I said I didn't love running and pushing my way to get what I want.

That night, we had reservations at The Roof restaurant.

This was the view from our table...so beautiful. Of course the food was excellent, but we probably could have picked a better day than the day after Thanksgiving....I think we were all still a little full from the day before. Even though we couldn't fit much food, it was fun to see the lights turn on and temple square is just a neat place to be.

I mean, could this possibly be any more beautiful or majestic???

After dinner, we walked around temple square to look at the lights...

Seeing the lights is one of my favorite traditions, so it was really fun to go the night they lit them. We are getting soooo excited for Christmas!

Oh...and I chopped my hair. Can you tell? It makes me feel very grown up. Not very good pictures of it....but yes it is short and most days I love it.