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.

Sisters

It is becoming clear to me that I don't take pictures of Logan any more, because I don't have any of him! But, I do spend a lot of time with these two girls, and I think they are both super cute. There are no fun stories to go with these pictures per say, so just enjoy the cuteness and say thank you. 

 Both girls ready for church.

 After about three attempts at a normal pose with Lizzy, this was the best one I got.

 I made some oreos last week. I had the filling in a piping bag and I walked away from it at one point. Siri quickly found it and commandeered it to be her own.

 Lizzy wanted to play outside one day and as always I told her to make sure she put on a coat and gloves. When I looked out the window, this is what I saw. Gloves, two jackets, snow boots, and a swim suit. At least she listened to me.

Such a cute girl. James is one hundred percent smitten with her. Unfortunately, I am more jaded, but I love how much he loves her.  Every one in church has figured out who Siri is too. She stands on the bench and grins for everyone behind us. People will make face at her and she will bust up laughing. It's a bit irreverent. We do our best to keep her turned in the right direction. 

 I was trying to take a picture of the girls in their new clothes so I could send it to their grandma. I only took two shots, but I figured these were the only two needed. Siri is smiling good for one of them and Lizzy is...

well, she was Lizzy. We call these her crazy eyes, and she has been showing them off to us at random times ever since she was 12 months old.

Siri is just about 20 months old. She goes to nursery without a hitch, for which is I am so happy about it. She has also started talking!  Woot woot! She graces us with some choice phrases, like "sit down", "get down", "good night", "I love you", and some others that I can't think of at the moment. Obviously these are the things we say most often to her. My mom is the first one to notice, and I have caught her in the act too, of Siri singing Twinkle Little Star. It is more like, "duh buh, buh da la ba duh, duh mah do do la bah duh".  You get the picture.  No words, but definitely the tune. So, so cute!

Lizzy is our most loving child. She loves to sit with, on, by, me. Always me. James will substitute for her when I'm not around. She will sit by me and stroke my face, or hold onto my arm. It really is sweet, but by the end of the day I start feeling a bit claustrophobic. If I walk by her, she will lunge out to grab and hold onto me. If I ask her for a little bit of space you would think I had just killed a puppy based off of her reaction.  Lizzy makes a great little companion, and I am blessed to be her mother.

10th Anniversary Las Vegas Trip

James and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this April, but due to April being super busy for farmers (that would be James) we decided we needed to celebrate early. We also didn't want to spend a lot of money on our trip, so that morphed into a trip to Vegas.

Logan stayed with his Grandma Idaho so he wouldn't miss school, and Grandma Ward took care of our two little girls.

This cute girl fell asleep on the way to Utah. 

 The view as we drove into Vegas.  It looked much more impressive in person. We stopped to eat at McDonalds before we checked in to our hotel.  A scary looking homeless guy walked in and filled (stole) his water bottle with coke and then left again. We saw him a few times while in Vegas. He was sleeping on the sidewalk at night and the next day we saw him walking around with a pricey looking cell phone. Maybe he took that from McDonald's too.

 The first day we were in town, we went to the temple and did a session. I was happy about it too.

 James felt a stranger emotion about it.

 We found a security guard to take our picture so we could prove we were there together.

 This picture was taken to test the flash on our camera, but I kept it to show off our hotel room hall way. We stayed at the Stratosphere.

 My family lived in Vegas about 15 years ago. It was only for two years, but I still have fond memories of our house, so we drove by to take a picture.

 This is the view from the very top of the Stratosphere. This is the strip. We forgot to take a picture at night.

 This is one of the three rides the Stratosphere has at the top of the building. We bought a buy one get one free all day pass to ride the rides. Lets just say, we got our moneys worth, and the ride operators knew who we were by the end of the night.

 The next day we drove to Red Rock National Park. We went on a couple of hikes and spent about 4 hours there. It was fun and tiring and beautiful.

 I was too chicken to stand up on this rock. James doesn't understand the feeling of vertigo, and he made fun of me.  Jerk.

 After he made fun of me, he picked up a rock and wrote this message for me/us. J+A 2/14/2013. I love him.

 One of the hikes led us to a "waterfall" which was really just a trickle of water. Upon the water trickles landing, it froze. I thought the frozen water was way cool looking, so I had James take our picture together. I was getting dripped on from the "waterfall" during this picture.

 Can you find James?

 All in all, we really liked Red Rock, and we will definitely go again if we are ever in Vegas again.

That night, we got spiffied up and hit Fremont Street. I read reviews of it online and learned that there would be lots of weirdos on Fremont Street. The reviews were accurate. Almost right off the bat, a man dressed as Austin Powers asked James if he could buy his jacket off of him.  We saw a few local people who came with their little "act" as a way of asking for money. This guy was our favorite.

 Yes, this is a guy.

He was dancing and asking for tips. Another favorite was a guy dressed as cupid, with the butt cut out on his pants.

We were on Fremont Street so we could attend a comedy magic show by a guy named Mike Hammer. It was a fun, clean show, which we really appreciated. Mike would include people in the audience to be part of his magic tricks. I got to go on the stage so he could hide my cell phone and make it reappear  Sadly, James was so entranced with the sight of his beautiful wife on stage, that he did not think to take my picture.

We managed to steer clear from any sin like activities, including gambling, and we had an AWESOME time.

18 months of Crazies

We've celebrated a big milestone in our family this month. Siri turned 18 months. All you lds church goers knows what that means!  Of course, we're still working on her to stay in the nursery both hours without us...it will happen soon.

In the spirit of my baby turning into a toddler, I thought I would post just about her. Let me start you off with this cute video of my dancing Siri Crazy Girl.

She has recently discovered that she can start music on the piano herself, so this has been a common sight the last few weeks.

Our little girl thinks that she's a little boy. She plays hard and laughs in the face of danger. When we first moved here, about 2 months ago, she climbed up the stairs on the bunk bed and tried to get off the top bunk without using the stairs. We waited a few days before taking her to the doctor, hoping she would start using her arm, but she didn't, so we went. After a long day chasing down a few different doctors, it was confirmed that she broke clean through her humorous bone. No cast though.

A favorite game around our house is to turn out the lights, run around and scare each other. We call it Creeper. Siri LOVES this game. She runs around the house squealing in absolute delight. One night our creeper game transitioned into dancing like hooligans with the strobe light. Siri ran through the kitchen, screaming in delight, slipped on the linoleum floor, banged her head on the kitchen cupboard, and screamed in pain.

 As you can see, she earned herself a nice sized goose egg.

Oh Siri...you exasperate and delight us. I could give countless examples, but I'll share just one.

Siri has always struggled to sleep through the night, or to sleep past 5:00 in the morning. About a month ago we decided to move her out of the pack n' play onto a mattress on the floor, thinking that it was more comfortable and would help her sleep through the night. It worked for 2 weeks!  She slept like a champ for basically the first time in her life. Then it stopped. She wakes up crying several times a night. We rarely do anything, and eventually she stops crying on her own. (Sometimes she needs a pat on the head.)  This exasperates us. But, what delights us, is when it's 7:30, and time for bed, we tell her to go get in bed, and the good little girl that she is, takes off running for her bed, hops in, and pulls up her blankets. All by herself.  So cute.

 Siri, your dad named you Monster the day you were born. It was a self fulfilling prophecy, I'm afraid. We often comment to each other that it is a good thing that you are so cute. :)

 You are a little obsessed with cereal.

Every morning you get out a bowl and whine to us until we let you fill up your bowl with cereal YOURSELF!

All of your craziness is easily forgiven, because you love us.  You give us plenty of loves and kisses. Thank you for that. And thanks for being our Monster Crazy. We love you to pieces.

Our Family Has Grown...

by four paws.

Lizzy asked Santa for a puppy for her Christmas present. She was totally un-phased when she opened her present that had a picture of our new dog, Twix. Regardless of her dud-like reaction, she loves him to pieces. Logan is always nervous that Twix will bite, but he still loves to play with him and take him on walks. The person who should show the most fear of Twix is the one that shows the least fear of him, and that is Siri. He has nipped her a few times when she's tried to sit on him, poke his eyes, or pull his tale. They are getting used to each other though.

I'll admit that I might love Twix the most. I love dogs. Always have. It just feels right to have him here, but I still feel anxious about his presence because James hates that we have an indoor dog. I think Twix feels James' hate, because he has a tendency to leak pee when James comes near him. He's never done that with me.

Twix is a pure bread shih tzu. He seems a bit dumb, but he is potty trained, and that's all that I really care about.  We have fun with him and I think he is happy here. He likes to check out the cows, and the last few nights he has sneaked into our room to be with us. I think that's a good sign that he likes me at least.