Where Has Time Gone?

6 years. We have been married 6 years today! Where has the time gone? When did the last 6 years happen? I love my husband so much! I never thought that my love for him could ever get stronger, but it has. Each day, each trial, each event, our love has been strengthened and has grown. A lot has happened in the last 6 years and it is only the beginning of our Eternal Marriage. I look forward to every day that I have with him and to the amount of time I will always have with him through eternity. I am so grateful for my temple marriage and for the bond that we share through it. Happy Anniversary honey! I love you infinity!

Merry Christmas!!!

Today was absolutely wonderful! Actually, this whole week has been great, we had Christmas on Sunday with Jared's family and they got us some amazing things! We had Christmas Eve with my Dad's side last night and then with Jared's Dad's side this morning and then my Mom's side today. It was a blast, our families are such giving individuals, it's amazing! Thank you all for all you have given us and shared with us! Have a Merry Christmas! We love you! Here's a little peek of what we did this morning as a family!

Andy looking to see what Santa brought him! He was totally shocked! He loved every bit of everything that he got from us and from Santa!

Our Christmas Eve present! It was an accident that happened at my aunts house last night. Total accident that my uncle and Jer had, they didn't even see each other.

Jared's deep fryer he wanted for Christmas! He was way excited that he got it. It was his favorite thing the whole day!

The book that my boys bought me! I love it and can't wait to try it!

The boys' matching pajamas!

In Reference to #6:

So, my husband at 12:30 tonight was ever so calm in walking Andy down the stairs and into the living room to tell me some very important news. Andy had decided that he wanted to make something with my craft supplies and in doing so had taken my feather pen that was used in our wedding reception, which had made it through like 8 moves without even a feather missing was now in several pieces. They calmly explained this to me, trying to keep me very calm. Which I wasn't doing so well at inside until my husband had informed me that Andy was trying to make something special for me with my crafts, then I did the only thing I could think of was to smile, thank Andy for his consideration and try to rationally and calmly explain to a 3 year old why it is important to leave Mommy's stuff alone. I had Jer take Andy upstairs and not touch anything and leave just as it was. I calmly took pictures, walked Andy into the room, made him watch me clean it up and explain how special that pen was to me almost breaking down into tears. He saw this emotion and almost cried himself and immediately hugged me saying over and over, "I'm so sorry, Mommy. I just wanted to make a costume for you." I realized when they first told me that these are just possessions and I'm sure that I broke many and things of my parents that meant a lot to them growing up. I told him he's not allowed to play with his brand new toys tomorrow, which immediately made him cry. Then I firmly said that next time he decides to cut up some of Mommy's favorite things, I was going to go into his toy room, find a favorite toy of his and cut it up. He didn't like that because he wants me to take care of his stuff, which then gave me an opportunity to talk to him about it. I really think he understands, I sure hope he does. This is the only reason why I hate that all of my craft stuff is in our bedroom with easy access. In our other house we had a whole separate room just for crafts and office stuff. Man I miss that house sometimes. Oh, and don't worry! I made sure all of the needles that Andy said poked him were taken out of his bed. Oh, and don't you just love his sheets? I sure do!

Something To Think About

Here's some of the things that have been going through my mind lately:

1. How do those mothers out there who look perfect, their house looks perfect and their children look perfect do it? I want to know their secret! I barely have time to shave once a week and to pluck my eyebrows about once every couple of months (about the time I think I have a caterpillar on my face). I want to know how they have the perfectly put together make up, outfits, have the perfect figure and never look tired. I don't know how that happens...any ideas? How are their kids so clean all of the time? I think it's a phenomenon, there aren't many out there, but those who are out there, how do they do it?

2. Why is it the moment you get behind on housework, that's when you get really busy with other things and keep getting behind? Then, when you finally decide to start cleaning up and catching up on the housework, you get a room done and the room next to it looks way worse than it ever did before, so you clean it and then you walk into the room you cleaned before and it looks like you didn't do anything at all?

3. Does anyone else after cleaning a room tell your family, "Don't touch a thing!" Take for example today, I cleaned Andy's toy room and told him he was only allowed to play with the toys that he already had out in the living room and wasn't allowed in his toy room. How long can I possibly keep that up?

4. Why is it when you are trying to be good about what you're eating that's when you crave the stuff your trying NOT to eat? Why is this?

5. Why is it when you start a new hobby, like the Mandolin for example, that's when you don't have time to practice it and you're trying to do question #2? I've been trying to find time to practice my mandolin for a week now and have only been able to do it one night.

6. Why do kids feel as if they have to get into everything that's not theirs? I found scraps of a whole couple of yards of unopened ribbon today in Andy's toy room, along with cut up cards from a game and glue and marker all over the place. Did I mention that I found embroidery thread strewn about through Andy's closet like a trap to catch monsters, emptied glue sticks in his bed to keep his blankets down, craft scissors in various places; don't ask what he cut up, a candy thermometer in the diet 7-up, the other piece of the candy thermometer in an empty cup in his toy room, and half a bag of fluffy filler in an empty clothing basket and all over his bedroom floor like he was trying to imitate snow? Oh, and this is just the beginning of the list! I had to pour out the whole 2 liter of 7-up just to get the thermometer out and I hated seeing a whole thing of ribbon being thrown away today! What drives them to this curiosity? Did I have this curiosity as a child? I do remember catching one of my Barbie's hair on fire by accident and giving one of my dolls a hair cut because I thought she had ugly hair, but I don't remember much of anything else. Is it a boy thing?

7. Why are neighbors so friendly and forward in some neighborhoods but quiet and recluses in others? Is it just because we moved in during the Winter months? Nah, because our other neighbors brought us cookies in a crystal candy dish our first week in our other house...I just don't know why neighborhoods are different.

8. Why is it when bad things happen, they happen all at once? We can't just have a bad thing happen here and there, it has to all pile on at the same time? Is it because the Lord wants us to remember the really good times and just get everything done all at once?

9. Why don't people keep their commitments anymore? Like they say they've sent a payment to you in the mail for a job you've done, but it doesn't come, and it doesn't come, but then 6 months later it shows up.

10. Why am I sitting in the dark, typing all of this stuff out when I need to get refocused on #2?

Have a great Christmas everybody!

Wanna Make This!!!!

I saw these on a post today and thought, "Wow! I wan't to make these!" This site has a great tutorial on how to make these! I'm way excited to try it!!!

Interesting Twist on a Classic

I bought this book for myself yesterday (thanks to Mom Mom and Boppie) mostly because I love the story from Hans Christian Andersen, "The Little Matchstick Girl" and I like Gregory Maguire, so I thought this could be a great investment, and boy was I right! This was a very quick read and a nice comforting twist on such a grim tale. This is a beautiful story and everyone should read it at least once. If you don't feel like reading it, you can go to NPR and listen to the story. Have fun!

Merry Christmas to Me! (from Mamaw & Papaw)

Jer said I'm a total dweeb for posting this picture, but here it is! I have spent a little bit tonight tuning it and learning to play some of the notes. It's going to be a little harder than what I thought, but I already love it! I think tuning it was a big feat in of itself today because there are two strings to each line! It was fun! I am really going to enjoy this! Thanks Mamaw and Papaw! OH and if you don't know what it is, it's a Mandolin!

Just Some Stuff

I took Andy to the Library this morning and they had Santa there. It was way cute and I overheard him tell Santa that he wants to get a soldier airship (like the one he saw at Dollar General yesterday) and soldiers and guns....too bad he didn't tell Santa this earlier! Could've save a little bit of money!

This is the pillow that I embroidered for my cousin's new baby that will be born in January. I hand embroidered and sewed the pillow. It only took a couple of days! It was way fun!

This is the cake that I made for my Dad this year. He's never had a football birthday cake and requested one when I made the pumpkin one about a month ago. I have to tell you, this was a pretty easy cake compared to the pumpkin. I had a lot of fun making it and did it all in one afternoon!

This is Andy and the "Santa" hat the he was wearing at Jammy and Pappy's house. He decided to act like Santa and was picking up all of the stuffed animals and asking them what they wanted for Christmas and would do the voices for the animals! It was way cute!
This is one of the animals that he used as a "child." He had a lot of fun and I got a ton of cute pics of him doing this, which I might eventually post, but not today! We're going to celebrate Papaw's birthday tonight, so I should have a few of those pictures to post. Andy is looking forward to seeing the dogs (all three of them) and also Lizzy the Lizard!

Things have been going well for us lately. We got to see and hear the baby, which has a really fast heartbeat. School is wrapping up for Jer and I for the semester. I'm definitely looking forward to this because I'll be taking a break for about a year. I just can't handle the stress of it all. Once I get back to it all in a year, I'll have 2-3 semesters. Possibly 2 if I'm brave enough to tackle an extra class or two during my practicum. Jer is going to take a couple of have term classes next semester, which he's looking forward to so he can focus on just one class at a time.

Reality has been hitting me lately about everything with the baby. Last night I had a hard time sleeping because of some anxiety about a possible (and most likely) C-section. My goal is to do a VBAC, but a lot of times this can be difficult to have. So, when I go to the doc on the 30th, I hope to have a very serious conversation with my her about having this procedure. I hope that she can give me some advice with my previous C-section history, current health, and so on. I will definitely be praying about this a lot throughout the next few months.

Love This Blog!

http://underthemayblossom.blogspot.com/ This blog is awesome with all of the craftiness! I just made one of the cute medallion ornaments today and it was really easy (so easy I didn't have to get the pattern).

So Far So Good

Well, went to the doc yesterday and they said the baby looks great! It had a high heartbeat of 167. You couldn't really tell a whole lot because it just looked like a little blob, but it's our little blob! Andy and I think it's going to be a little girl, but Jer doesn't. The Chinese seem to agree with their birth chart too! ;D I guess we'll have to just wait a few more weeks and then we'll see! We can't wait to see if it's going to be a little Elsie or Rhys...to be continued.