26.12.11

This is the letter Chris wrote me for Christmas. Best gift ever!!!



            It all started with a bang!!!! And I loved every minute of it. You were all that I could think of and all that I thought I wanted. In fact my mind was so preoccupied with you my grades slipped dramatically.

            But I didn’t care; I knew I had to have you. After a little coxing and a lot of magnificent guitar playing I was able to win your heart, although you already had mine.

As time went on I realized that I didn’t just need you to fulfill my desires, I found that you made me more of a man. I thought I was good before, but with you I found that greatness could come, and with out you I was destined to fail. You bring out the best in me and drive me to be better every day. I learned to be a good husband, a good partner, a caring person, and to find joy in loving and caring for you. Before I thought that happiness came from what I could get for myself but I have found that it truly comes from how much I can give to you.



            Then you gave me more. I watched as you carried our first child. The pain and sickness that you felt was something I did not expect and something I don’t think I can ever completely understand. During that trying time, when your body was sore and tired, you followed me across the country and supported me in a new job, and I loved and appreciated your support. Shortly after that you gave me a gift that has brightened my life and expanded my capacity to both love and feel joy, our daughter Savannah.
 


            And I was amazed at you. Your capacity to love and understand the needs of our child was mind-boggling. I was jealous and grateful at the same time and again I began to learn from you. You taught me how to be a loving, caring, patient, and supportive father. Although I already desired to do those things you showed me how to put them into practice. I also watched as you studied hard while being home with a child finishing you degree and learned that even with trials and distractions hard work can still pay off and was able to put that into practice.




To my surprise my love for you continued to grow past anything I had previously imagined possible, I have found since then that the only limits that love has are the ones that I put on it myself, and I have decided to not limit my love for you.
            You stood by me as I became a cop and tried my hardest to continue to support and love my family as I took care of those I served at work. We both know how hard it got, and I could never have made it through with out you and your care. I am both amazed at how much I needed you and how much you were able and willing to do for me.


            For the second time now you have endured the hardships and pains of bearing our children and given me the gift of a beautiful son. My happiness continues to expand because of what you are willing to do for us. Now I feel that I have asked more of you then ever before. As you work to help support our family while I try to finish school I feel incredibly sorry that you are missing out on time with our family. I blame myself for foolish mistakes that I have made in the past that have put us in this situation, however I am continually grateful that you do not hold my past mistakes against me. I am also so grateful for what you taught me about being a parent and have been surprised, as there has been a need for me to step in and take care of our children more because of your work, the amount of incredible knowledge that you have passed to me about being a good father.
            Because I met you, and somehow convinced you to marry me, I have been blessed beyond anything I could imagine. You have strengthened and refined me into a better person. The first four years have been amazing and I am so glad that they are only the beginning. Often, at night, when I am laying in bed waiting to fall asleep I think about all of the other people I could have ended up with and I am always so grateful that I didn’t have to settle for anybody else, because anybody else would have been far less then what I got with you.
 
I love you. 

26.9.11

Birthday Cake?!

So I was listening to Pandora, for those who dont know what Pandora is, it's basically an online radio that you tell what to play. When it plays a song it usually shows a picture of the albums cover. ANYWAY. While listening to Pandora this morning this picture came up:
Savannah jumped up on my lap pointed and the picture and said, "She's messy!!! Messy like a bifday cake!" HAHAHA what a crack up!

21.9.11

"You waked me up!"

When we put Savannah in bed at night we usually have to take her back to bed a few times before she actually goes to sleep. Today she fell asleep at 5:30pm on our way to go pick up Chris from class. I put her in her bed when we got home and then had to wake her up at 7:30, which meant we watched a movie after she ate some dinner. It is now 10pm and she is just barely going to sleep. I put her in her bed and she didnt come out. She normally uses every excuse in the book,... you forgot your kiss,....you didn't kiss bear bear!....I need to kiss Brady boo!...I peed!...blah blah blah.
So when she didnt come out I became slightly suspicious. I peaked into her room, but it was too dark to see anything so I flipped on the hall light and opened her door a little more. She was laying on her bed facing the wall. She turned towards me and giggled, "what are you doin?" To which I replied, "just checking, You are staying in your bed sooooo good! Thanks that makes me happy!" Then I went over to give her a kiss, she giggled, "Mommy! You have to get out! I trying to sleep in here! You waked me up!!"

Love my funny girl!!!

20.9.11

Another year

Carrie's birthday is today. She would have been 15. Weird to think she would have been getting a learners permit!!! Happy Birthday Carrie!

8.9.11

UPDATE!

With two kids I find it hard to find time to blog! Which is really sad because that's how I keep track of the dates and such with my kids!

Braden rolled over for the first time Saturday :) and did it again today. Both times were in his crib so I didnt get to see it. Just the aftermath when he was ticked he was stuck on his face. He's got a lot of personality. He almost ALWAYS has a smile on his face. Just love him!


Savannah started preschool. She is loving it. The first morning of school I went in to wake her up, she was already awake but just laying there. She said, "Don't get me up, ok?" I replied, "Ok, but today you get to go to school so you need to eat breakfast and get ready." She sat up immediately with a big grin on her face and told me she liked school. When I came to pick her up the first day she told me to go home because she wanted to stay.

Here are a few sneak peaks of the photo sessions we have had lately. A couple are from the photo session with Braden (my friend, Bekah took the pics for us) and the family ones, and the one of Braden in the car seat were done by my cousin Rachel. Sorry these are blurry because I got them offline so they are not the originals. I am waiting to order them :)








18.8.11

Pictures of Braden








So I realized I've failed to put up pictures of Braden. I have a few that I have taken with my phone camera so they are not great, but they are still pictures. My AWESOME friend Bekah took pictures for me, but I havent gotten them yet because she was in the middle of trying to move and also just had a new baby when she took them! She was SOOO sweet to take his picture in the middle of all that chaos! Thanks Bekah, you're the best.

Savannah is going to school!!!

So excited! I went canning at Sister Hokansons with another lady from the ward. While there Shauna mentioned she and another mom from the ward were thinking about starting a preschool group and asked if I was interested! LOVE THIS IDEA! Today they had a meeting to discuss how things were going to be done. Unfortunately I was not able to make the meeting because Savannah is sick, but she called after to fill me in. There are 6 kids (including Savannah) Three boys and three girls. Each mom will take a turn being a helper and then the following week be the teacher. We are focusing on the ABC's, which is great because Savannah is READY to figure them out. She's picked up on a few of them but I haven't really taken the time to sit down with her and teach them to her.

She's going to be so excited when I tell her! She's been dying to go to school ever since seeing the episode of Caillou where his neighbor invites him to school for sibling day (I think it was sibling day...) anyway! For about a week straight after seeing that episode she would put on a "back pack" head towards the door while calling out to me, "mom, I'm going to school! going to my school bus!"

6.7.11

Savannah's impersonation of Braden

I was getting Savannah ready for bed. She had just finished her bath and we were rubbing lotion on her when she started to make this silly crying noise. I asked her what she was doing. She was crying the way Braden does when he gets out of the bath and I am rubbing lotion on him. I got out my camera and got this video of it:
What a goof! And it was a dang good impersonation too! Although he's gotten bigger since then so he doesn't sound like that anymore...they grow up too fast.