Happy Birthday Jerry!

Jerry had a pretty horrible birthday. In the morning he had to go to work so early that his selfish wife didn't even wake up to wish him happy birthday before he went to work. (I did hear him getting ready and thought to get up and give him a birthday kiss, but that's as far as the thought got before I fell back asleep.) He spent his birthday working 1/2 a day then driving to California for a major certification test with work. He's been studying for the test for months, so that night he just stressed, studied, and worried about the test. Great birthday huh! So we celebrated his birthday last Saturday instead. We had family over and celebrated him! It was a very fun party and I'm so grateful for him! He is such a great husband, father, and friend. He makes me laugh every day, and is so fun to be with. He is such a good man. I'm pretty lucky. We had a pretty fast "courtship" and engagement, even though it didn't feel fast at the time - (First date end of Sept. to getting married middle of Jan. - wow, that was fast, even if we had been friends for a while before dating) I realize just how much I hit the jackpot. Love you honey!

My birthday creation wasn't all that exciting this year. Last year I did make an awesome "death star" cake from Star Wars, but the frosting ended up more purple, not gray because mixing the white and black went purple. But this year, unfortunately he had to share his birthday celebration with a birthday party for two sweet 90 yr. old women in our ward. I had to spend the majority of the day on that, so I didn't have a lot of time to be creative - and he didn't have any requests. So I did make a 31 with the snickers, but that just wasn't enough chocolate on the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so I added more snickers bars.

Look at those cute kids. Hayden and Rebecca with their cousins, Joey and Tyler.

By the way - Jerry totally passed his certification test with flying colors!!! All his studying paid off, the CEO of the region that administered the test called Jerry's GM after the test and told him how impressed he was with Jerry and that they've NEVER had anyone so well prepared as he was, and they could tell he put time and effort into it. (Sorry Jerry, I had to brag about you, since I know you won't!) So that was a good birthday present for him, to hear that.

6 Years

On Saturday, January 17th, Jerry and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary! Sometimes it seems like we've been together much longer than just 6 years, and other times it seems like we just barely got married. We had a great anniversary, even if it was very casual, and we didn't do a whole lot. During the day we took the kids and went up to the temple and walked around the grounds. It was great seeing the couples that were outside getting their pictures taken, reminiscing about our special day.

That night we had a babysitter come and we went out to dinner. We had planned to go to a movie, but we aren't crazy about any of the movies playing right now, and believe it or not in Las Vegas, the city of entertainment we couldn't think of anything fun to do. The good shows on the strip cost too much, and we thought about trying to go go-carting just to see the teenager's face squirm when he had to tell a nine month pregnant woman she couldn't go. So we ended up just walking around some of our favorite stores, window shopping, and talking then we and rented a movie instead of going to one. We figure that if anyone would have been with us they would have been bored to death, but we had fun just being with each other.

Um.. Thanks??

Last night Hayden and I were watching America's Funniest Home Videos on tv. He loves that show. And there was a clip of a woman, that was kind of large, that was fixing the dishwasher but her head got stuck. All you could see of her was her big behind and legs sticking out of the dishwasher. Hayden started laughing and said, "Look mom, it's like you!" Wow - how's that for motivation? I'm hoping he's referring to the memory of me trying to fix our dishwasher a couple weeks ago, but most likely ... not. It made me laugh. So hopefully my treadmill will remember me when I get on to do a little walking today. Other than that, right now my workouts consist of chasing my kids up and down the stairs several times a day, and even getting down on the floor to play or change diapers, and getting back up. That wears me out enough right now. It will be very nice in a little bit to be able to get a good hard work out to start working off the ice cream that I've enjoyed too much during this pregnancy. :)

My Stripper

So, I'm sure you've noticed from my pictures that my kids don't like to wear clothes. It should make laundry a little easier, but for some reason we still have just as much laundry. Probably because Rebecca likes to dress herself, AND undress herself. Sometimes going through several outfits a day. Luckilly she will keep her clothes on in public, which is more than I can say for Hayden. It was a little embarrassing a couple years ago when I went to pick Hayden up from nursery and they were laughing at how he always took his shoes off (That's easy - he learned that by example, I hate wearing shoes - they are always kicked off whenever I get inside.) But that day he didn't stop with his shoes and socks. He continued by next taking off his pants. I'm glad they had a good sense of humor about it and helped him put his pants back on.

I felt a sense of accomplishment yesterday when Rebecca kept her clothes on for a whole 30 minutes - in a row!!! I guess I could fight them on it, but it's one of those situations where you choose your battles, and this is one I don't want to fight, because if you saw me trying to dress Rebecca you'd realize that's exactly what it is - a fight. This is how Rebecca decided to dress the other night. Those are her shorts that she put on over her head. She is so funny. Last night, I don't know how she managed it, but she got her pajama shirt on upside down. So the neck was around her waist, and the larger part was hanging down around her neck. Let's hope my kids learn how to keep their clothes on before they get much older.

Family Bowling!

On the day after New Year's we had a great family day. (I think it was the 2nd - the whole weekend kind of meshed together.) We went shopping a little bit, then Jerry's parents were great and watched the kids for a little bit while Jerry and I got to go on a little lunch date. (Even just an hour away with my honey helps keep me happy.) Then we went bowling as a family.

This is the first time Rebecca's really tried bowling and she loved it. Hayden is already a huge bowling fan. We had a great time. I was a little worried about bowling since I look like I'm hiding a couple bowling balls in my tummy already that I might send myself down the alley, but I actually managed to get a couple strikes and spares. However, I'm so out of practice that it was either all or nothing and I didn't even break 100 - pretty pathetic huh. It was still a lot of fun and it was great to have a fun family day.

Hayden was excited that this is the first time he got to wear actual bowling shoes, but Rebecca was even happier that she got to wear her "McQueens" - Shoes that used to be Hayden's but she decided she wanted them and started wearing them, even if they are still too big for her. She's lucky she doesn't have a brother that put up much of a fight.

They had been playing all day and were excited to sit at the big counter in the bowling alley to eat popcorn. (Please tell me they clean those counters well.)

Happy New Year!

These are my cute nieces Allison and Andy

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I am so behind on my blogging, so I'm going to catch up a lilttle today. We went out to Jerry's brother, Barry's house to ring in the new year. We were only planning to stay till about 10:30-ish because we didn't want to be driving home across town with any drunk drivers. But when those Ewell boys get together it is too much fun. Jerry's brother, Brian and his wife Jennifer and their kids were also in town from Phoenix. The party was so fun and before we knew it, it was almost midnight. We had a lot of fun playing games and eating too much. Thanks Barry and Amy for hosting, it was great.

Jerry made it to midnight, but it was hard after working a long day. Rebecca of course keeps going and going if there is any type of a party going on. She wasn't about to slow down if there were others awake.

Poor Hayden made it until about 11:40 and he couldn't go on any longer. He zonked out on their couch. He was so exhausted that all the noisemakers, screams, and even his cousin Phillip telling him Happy New Year couldn't make him budge. We had a blast. I'm excited to start out the new year. I think 2009 will be a great year! I hope it is for everyone.

He Came!

Christmas morning was so exciting. Hayden and Rebecca actually slept until 8:00!!! Shock. I think that was their Christmas present to me - unfortunately a day I was fine with waking up early. They were so excited to see their presents. Of course every present that was opened had to be taken out of the package ASAP before they wanted to open another present.

Hayden was of course spoiled with a lot of Star Wars stuff and a fun camera.

Rebecca loved her baby doll with the stroller, a Fur Real Kitty Cat, and dress up shoes.

After we opened presents we had our traditional huge Christmas Breakfast. It was delicious and fun. Then we got ready and went to Grandma and Grandpa Ewell's house to open more presents. So fun. We were spoiled again. We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so fun spending time with family and just relaxing. What a great day!