A Decade

Roses are red
Violets are blue
10 years ago, today
I married you

I've cherished each minute
Of every day
You make me so happy
I just wanted to say

I love you so much
And I know you love me too
Thanks for all of the memories
My life is blessed- due to you

 Then

And now

10 Years, A History:

10- Years we've been married
9 - Times that we've moved
8 - Temples we've gone to together
7 - Cars we've owned, as long as you count your work vehicle
6 - Times we've been pregnant
5 - Sets of couches
4 - Mattresses we've shared (not counting the kids')
3 - Crazy kids
2 - Dogs we didn't keep
1 - Happy Family
0 - Regrets

Happy Anniversary Pie!

My Sleeping Beauties/Blessings

James has got to be the most helpful husband and father on the planet. I have yet to meet another husband that does as much to help me and the kids as James does. (I'm sure they exist, but I'm totally partial to James.) I don't know why James is as great as he is, because from what I hear, his Dad lived to work and not much else. He was the type that literally changed zero diapers.  To contrast that, sometimes James gets mad at me when I won't let him change a diaper. Or do the laundry. Or clean the dishes. No joke. 

With all that being said, I feel a lot more frazzled lately. Spring has sprung, and that means James leaves at 6:00 in the morning, and doesn't get home until 9:00 or later, at night. I've lost my helper. 

This has done two things to me. Number one, I've become just a little more crazy and earned more gray hairs, and number two, I've had to focus a lot more on my kids and I've grown to love them just a little bit more. 

Logan

Logan is the king of arguing, bargaining, etc. Holy cow is it annoying. But he is also very sensitive to when I am over my head crazy and can't handle his "not listening" a second longer. He knows when to give a much needed hug and will often vow to listen better and be the best boy he can be. He begs for one of us to cuddle with him at night and just talk. Oh boy, how I hope that never changes. 

Elizabeth

She is the cuddle bug in our family. This girl is so touchy feely that you don't know if you want to scream because she keeps stroking your face, or if you want give her the biggest bear hug in appreciation for loving you unconditionally. She will cry at the drop of a hat if you say something mean to her, but if she nearly cuts a limb off, she is basically as cool as a cucumber. The girl can take pain. She is our sensitive, tough child. 

 Siri

I was thumbing through my sparsely written in journal the other day, and noticed something. A lot of my entries mention how much Siri cries. {sigh}  It can be so draining. When this (nearly 2!) baby isn't crying, she is cracking us up. She has got the most amazing facial expressions and she knows how to use them to her advantage to get what she wants. In fact, she is most often referred to as the face she is currently making. "Crazy Face", "Naughty Face", "Mean Face", "Happy Face".  She has the most nicknames of anybody I know. She is one smart cookie too. Perhaps that comes from being number three, but she catches on to things very quickly, and I am crazily contemplating starting potty training. We're going to give it a go in about 2 weeks. She is so spunky and she keeps us on our toes, in a good and bad way.  

Speaking of my kids, it's time to feed them lunch. 

New Life

For those of you who haven't caught on yet, we moved our family to Idaho during the Thanksgiving break. James grew up here and is now working for his brother on the family farm. James worked on this farm his whole life, so in every way possible, he is returning home. 

How do I feel about this, you ask?  Yeah, a lot of people ask me that. Well, I don't know exactly how I feel about it. If I don't over analyze this question and just offer my gut reaction, I would say I am liking it a lot. Just take a look at my surroundings!

I walk out my front door and all I can see is fields.  To be more specific, the Mickelsen's fields. It is spring, and that means James is working a lot, but I can easily keep my eye on him, and even drive out to say hi or drop off a kid. Logan spent a lot of his spring break in the tractor with James while they planted the wheat.

It's not a farm that people picture in their minds with the big red barn and tons of animals. In fact there are only 4 animals on the whole farm and they are these 4 cows. 

They are just past our front yard and it is James' job to feed them every day. They are not milk cows, so nothing exciting happens with them, but the kids still enjoy visiting them every once in a while. 

For whatever reason, the cows really like Siri. One got a good lick on her face. All that gunk on her face is cow tongue residue. Lovely.

We live in a cozy house. It's small by most peoples standards, but it fits us just great. The house we live in was built by James' grandpa, and nearly every person in James' family has lived here at one point. Some of them longer than others. It's been updated a time or two, but still needs some TLC in certain spots. 

The most important thing, to me, is that our kids are happy. Since we've lived here, Logan has fallen in love with The Phantom of the Opera music. He even bought the movie with his own money. 

 I started the soundtrack one Saturday morning, and Logan and Lizzy got all their blankets and pillows and got comfy for the next hour just listening to it.

 I have two beautiful, happy girls. I guess Lizzy looks a little drugged up in this picture, but she's not. I promise. She's dying to go to school, but she has one more year. I promised I would put her in preschool.  Luckily, there is a great preschool teacher way out here in the country. We are both looking forward to it.

 Our bald baby, Siri, is finally growing some hair. Not all of it is growing, but there is enough that we can make her look like a girl by adding a "palm tree". That's a term my mom used when I was a kid, and I have carried it on. Lizzy tells me every day that she does NOT want a palm tree in her hair, but she loves them on Siri. Siri is our most challenging child in many ways, but the worst way was her lack of sleeping. Soon after moving here, we put her in the same room as Lizzy, and her sleeping habits have improved 10 fold. I take that as a sign that she likes it here too.

 Logan, Lizzy, and Siri generally all play well together. Their latest craze is pushing Siri around in this baby stroller. Logan and Lizzy fight over who gets to push her. They run her up and down our LONG hallway at full speed.  You can also see James napping. That's something he did a lot of this winter when he had no obligation to do anything work related for a solid two months. Yep, his job is that hard.

 Logan reached a big milestone since we moved here. He lost his first two baby teeth!  None of his other teeth are even remotely wiggly yet...

 We had a happy Easter Sunday, despite the look on Siri's face. I really enjoyed this Easter. My mind was very focused on what it means that our Savior has atoned for each of us and that he broke the bands of death. I was truly touched by that sacrifice and miracle. I couldn't have asked for a better day, seeing as we got to spend the whole day with our small and extended family.

Back to the question I am asked frequently, "how do I feel about living here"?  I hate analyzing that question because I get just a little panicky.  Neither James nor I know what the future holds. Will James work for his brother just this year, or permanently? If he doesn't work here next year, where will he work?  If we do stay, that opens up a whole new list of fears that I don't want to address. I really struggle with this. Truth is, I just worry too much and don't put enough faith in my Heavenly Father.

Truth is, I have no room to complain. I see too many people who are significantly worse off than we are. We have everything we could possibly need and more. We just have uncertainty looming over our heads. No big deal.  The real truth is that I am happy because I have James. James gave me my beautiful children. My life is wonderful. I'm happy to be living here and I'm thrilled to see James happy with his job. I also love, love, love, living by so many family members. All of them are my in-laws, which society tells me I should hate, but I don't. They are too good to me.

I'm a lucky gal.

Ok, so farm life it is. That means I need to plant a big garden and get some chickens. No horses. James said no horses. I didn't want them anyway.