6 YEARS (we made it!)

I can't believe that James and I have been married for 6 years! I'm sure James would say it's felt like we've only been married for 6 minutes.... under water! ;) (That seems to be a popular joke in his family.) Here's the wrap up of the last 6 years, as well as I can remember it anyway.

2003: Spent our first summer in Denver and came back to go back to school in Rexburg. James worked on the school farm there and I overloaded myself with classes so I could finish quickly.

2004: We lived in the dorms at BYU-I, our favorite place we've ever lived believe it or not! James still worked on the school farm, and graduated with his B.S in Agricultural business at the end of the year. I still had another semester of school.

2005: James lived in Rupert (without me) until April when I moved there too. (I was finishing my degree.) James worked on the family farm and I took my first summer off from school! I started my student teaching in the fall. I taught at the same high school James graduated from! I also had two miscarriages that year before I finally got pregnant with Logan. I graduated with my B.S in English Education at the end of the year.

2006: James and I moved in with my parents in South Jordan. James found his job with Pioneer Cable and I worked for Sorenson (making phone calls for deaf or hard of hearing people) until Logan was born in June.

2007: James and I moved to Wellsville to see how we liked it. James never found a great job so we decided to move back to Salt Lake County. We moved back in with Mom and Dad for two months while we house shopped and moved into our new home in West Jordan. My Dad passed away right in the middle of us moving in to our house!

2008: I got pregnant with Lizzy at the beginning of the year and had her in December. Life is quiet for us--just the way we like it!

2009: I know we are only four months into the year, but life is going great. I'm so happy to be at home every day with Logan and Lizzy. I'm grateful to James for working so hard to provide for his family so that I can stay home with the kids. I know that is an amazing blessing that I try not to take for granted.

This picture was taken on the last day of my senior year in high school.

I met James 4 months later.

This was James before he became righteous and served a mission. (I'm just kidding, he was always righteous!) He is embarrassed about the photo I chose. There were slim pickins though!

The happy couple is engaged!

The only good picture I have of us on our wedding day that isn't stuck in our wedding album!

Ok, so I just HAD to include a picture of our wedding cake. This cake seriously makes me laugh. I realize that very little money was spent on it, (we bought it at Reams) but still, I could make that cake with my eyes shut! Too bad I didn't decorate cakes back then, I would have made myself a way prettier cake.

Thank you for the last 6 years James! They've been so different but better than I imagined for us when we first got married. I honestly can't wait to see what the next 6 years (and eternity for that matter) brings us! I hope for more children and more love! I LOVE YOU PIE!

Stinkin' Cute!

I was just going through some old pictures, (in preparation for my upcoming post about our anniversary) and I came across this picture. I think this has to be one of my all time favorites! I took this picture when we were living with my mom and dad. We would mow their lawn for them every week, and Logan couldn't be left out. The handkerchief was to keep his head from getting sun burned.
If you look closely, you'll see that I am in the picture too. Can anybody find me? (Family is not allowed to participate in this "where is Waldo" competition. You have already seen this picture and it would therefore not be fair.) The prize for finding me is... COOKIES! Only because I have some on hand. If you don't live anywhere near me, then you get a plate of heart felt imaginary cookies. Oh, and if you want to play but you aren't sure you will like the cookies, I will tell you that they are pumpkin chocolate chip. If you read this post a few days after I post it and you want to play but don't want to get old crusty cookies, no worries, I have some uncooked dough in the fridge ready to bake a fresh batch. If I already brought you a plate of cookies (because I am nice like that) and you win, you get another plate of cookies. Sorry, they will be the same flavor. Umm....I think I've covered all my bases now. Good luck!

Ok, so now I realize that if the first person who reads this finds me then all the rest of you won't even play, so, if you do find me (before reading the comments to see if somebody else found me first) tell me truthfully that you found me on your own and I will give you the plate of real or imaginary cookies.

Sick Child

Be grateful that I have no corresponding pictures! I just wanted to say that up front.

Yesterday was fun... Logan woke up with a temp of 101 and it just went up from there! For the rest of the day his temperature hovered between 103-104. He finally threw up around 4:00 PM. Luckily, (yes, I do mean luckily) he threw up all over me. None of it got on the carpet. I kept pumping him full of drugs, but they never seemed to bring his temperature down. I woke him up at 10:00 PM to give him more tylenol and to take his temperature again. It had spiked to over 105. We got him up, undressed him and started feeding him otter pops and forcing him to drink juice. I also called a lady in my mom's ward who is a nurse. She offered me a bunch of good advice and it felt good to talk to somebody who knew what they were talking about. At 10:30, Logan threw up again, all over himself this time. (I'm so glad he spared my carpet!) I gave him a quick bath after that, but he started shivering right away, so it was a super quick bath. We took his temp again and it had come down to 102. We put him back to bed and I woke up at 2:00 AM to take his temperature again, just to make sure it didn't spike again. Like magic, (I think it had to do with the blessing James gave him) his temperature was 98! He has a slight temperature this morning, close to 100, but he seems to be his regular self!

The only reason that I find this post newsworthy is because this is the first time Logan has ever been sick! He's never even had an ear infection before! So, this was a new experience for me--to be thrown up on etc. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that Lizzy doesn't get sick from whatever Logan had!

Cake Pops and Spaghetti Sauce

So, I decided I wanted to make a lot of spaghetti sauce just to have in the freezer for a day when I am not in the mood to cook dinner. I bought bell peppers, mushrooms, used the tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, onions, garlic, and other random ingredients that I already owned. It only took me about an hour, not bad right? I made the equivalent of 6 jars of store bought spaghetti sauce. After I finished, I sat down and calculated about how much my homemade spaghetti cost me to make. Can you guess? I was shocked--about $12! That means it's 2 bucks a bag. Is that really a good deal? It seems like I could find it cheaper in the stores. (Sigh.) Oh well. The consolation is that mine is fresh and tastes better.

Ok, so my friend Jocelyn hired me to make 200 cake pops. She used them to promote a product at work. Making 200 cake pops is A LOT of work, but I did it! And here is the proof!

This is what you would look like too after eating a bunch of black frosting! Don't judge me.

The product that was being promoted is called... can you guess? That's right; ZIT! Those are bulls eyes on the other cake pops.

This is what 200 cake pops look like. May I also say, that it is difficult to keep cake pops away from a 2 year old? Logan managed to steal one when neither James or I were paying attention. Luckily, the one he picked was a mess up! Amazing.

Rotten Children, Actually, Just One

This child is rarely rotten, in fact, she is extremely sweet! She doesn't smile a lot, but she loves to sit quietly and is a great cuddler. I have no memory of taking this picture of her, so maybe James took it and just never told me. Actually, I have a fishy feeling that it was me and my memory just doesn't exist anymore.

So, I know you can't see it very well, but this picture is showing what a rotten child Logan can be. (He too is very sweet, just for the record, but he has his nasty side.) I accidentally left an open container of hair goop on the bathroom counter. I was on the phone downstairs when that thought occurred to me. I motioned frantically to James to go see what Logan was doing. This is what James found. Like I said, you can't see it very well, but that hair goop is all over his head, the counter, and the cupboard doors. It was also on the rug! James was bemoaning his son so I told him, "At least it wasn't magic marker"!

Later that same day, James and I were in the kitchen cooking. I looked down at Logan and he was coloring a piece of paper that was on the fridge with, what else? A magic marker! Luckily our fridge is black, so you can't see where the marker got on the fridge. I have no clue where he found the marker, so that is frustrating as well! (sigh) I love my children.

Cake Pops!

I will admit that this idea was not my own. I stole it from bakerella.blogspot.com. I just thought they were so stinkin' cute, that I had to make them too! I'll be taking them to my enrichment meeting tomorrow night.

It's a happy village of cake pop people! If any of you are interested in making these, check out bakerella's site! She's done all kinds of cake pops that are way more cute than mine. James and Logan thought that they were the bee's knee's. They were way too sweet for me though. James keeps asking me if he can eat another one. Too bad I didn't make them for him!