So...I'm Into

Lately I am into...

 

Cards.  Lots of cards.

There's something about a small package of pretty cards that makes me so happy. 

I find myself in the card aisle of every store I walk into that has one and almost always

walk out with a stack.  Or two :)

 

Here are some of my favorites. 

 

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 Cheap Sunglasses

Old Navy $5                      Charming Charlie $12

Charming Charlie $12                  Forever 21 $5                     Urbanwear $7

 

Yes I have more.  Yes I have a thing for American Flags.

 

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Gold Jewelry

Not pictured, but ever present in my closet.  Lots of earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and now a watch (haven't worn a watch in y-e-a-r-s).  But I am a huge fan.  And yes, of course, like my sunglasses all the jewelry is pretty cheap :)  I like buying stuff too much

 

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Running!  Lots of running! 

           

Once again it is training time for the American Fork Half Marathon - my favorite. 

This time around we have a group of six that run every M/W/F/Sa mornings.

I absolutely love running.  Running is my favorite.

And I can't wait for it to warm up and lighten up around, say, 6am every day.

 

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Summer Mix 2014

Love it.  Listening to it right now.

And Imagine Dragons - really into them, or should I say, him :)

 

I just love music.  Love love love.

But believe it or not, I do not love listening to music while I run.

Hate hate hate.

 

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 Flat Shoes

Lots and lots of flat shoes.

More American Flags.

 

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Aztec Print

Shoes.  Bag.  Shirt.  Pillow.  Cards.  Rug.

Love it.

Kind of obsessed

 

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Family History!

By far the coolest thing I have done in a long time is find family names that need temple work done - like hundreds of names! - and go to the temple to do the work.  So very cool. 

And now I'm kind of obsessed. 

 

I love searching familysearch.org for family members and am so excited to get all of their work done.  I am set for the next few years!  And have plans to get my family members to work as well ;)

 

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Date Night

I love date night.

I love that we have date night.

I love that it is a priority.

I love having it to look forward to every week.

I love how it makes our marriage better.  And stronger.

I just love my husband, and I love spending time with him.

He's my favorite.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

My Family

These guys are my world.

I've never loved being a wife and a mom as much as I do now.

Seriously - I'm not just saying that.

 

There is so much joy that comes from raising a family and committing myself to these people.

I wouldn't trade this life for any other.  I feel so very blessed.

 

I am a strong believer in families.

Families are central to God's plan, and yes, He has a plan for us.

I believe that.  And I believe we are meant to have joy.

And my family brings me joy.
So much joy.

 

 

 

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So...Memories Mix::Summer 2009

Memories Mix
Pour Some Sugar on Me::Def Leppard
Smooth::Rob Thomas
Viva La Vida::Coldplay
Two Step::Dave Matthews Band
Fool In the Rain::Led Zepplin
The Freshman::The Verve Pipe
Walking In Memphis::Marc Cohn
Mr. Jones::Counting Crows
Machinehead::Bush
Better Man::Pearl Jam
Senorita::Justin Timberlake
Livin on a Prayer::Bon Jovi
Satelite::Dave Matthews Band
You've Got a Friend::James Taylor
Piano Man::Billy Joel
Bye Bye Bye::NSync


This is a mix that I made for my siblings in the summer of 2009.  Every song reminds me of one of my siblings - I love listening to it.  Living so far away from them, I really like having anything that makes them feel a little closer to me.

There a two songs that are missing though:
The Gambler::Kenny Rogers
Blue::Eifel 65 (totally reminds me of Little Brother)



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So...The First Girl Mix Ever

Girl Mix 2009
Didn't Tell You This Tonight::Samantha Mumba
Lucky::Britney Spears
Breakaway::Kelly Clarkson
Rich Girl::Gwen Stefani
Pocket Full of Sunshine::Natasha Bedingfield
Boyfriend::Ashlee Simpson
Can't Get You Outta My Head::Kylie Minogue
No Air::Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown
I Was Born to Make You Happy::Britney Spears
No One::Alicia Keys
Sweet Escape::Gwen Stefani
Get Out (Leave)::JoJo
Big Girls Don't Cry::Fergie
I'm Like a Bird::Nelly Furtado
Unwritten::Natasha Bedingfield
Pieces of Me::Ashlee Simpson
Behind These Hazel Eyes::Kelly Clarkson
Sometimes::Britney Spears
One Step At A Time::Jordin Sparks

And the legacy began...

I love that my girlies love music :)



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So...First Daughter's First Mix

I am such a proud mother.
My daughter has discovered the art of mix making.  And she's pretty good at it!

This is her first mix.  She is very much into music and knows all the songs and artists on the radio plus some.  She has an impressive musical catalog in that smart ten-year-old brain of hers.  She's even been making copies and handing them out to friends.  It's awesome.

She picked each of these songs herself.
And I must say - I'm pretty proud of her taste in music. 
We have taught her well :)


First Daughter's Mix 2015
Sail::Awolnation
1983::Neon Trees
Mercy::Duffy
Count On Me::Bruno Mars
Beggin::Madcon
Human::Christina Perri
Too Close::Alex Clare
Tiptoe::Imagine Dragons
Good Feeling::Flo Rida
Immortals::Fall Out Boy
Bleeding Out::Imagine Dragons
Come With Me Now::Kongos
Uptown Funk::Bruno Mars
Blank Space::Taylor Swift
Animal::Neon Trees
Love Runs Out::OneRepublic
It Will Rain::Bruno Mars
22::Taylor Swift
Maps::Maroon 5
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark::Fall Out Boy
Turn Down for What::DJ Snake & Lil John

She hopes you enjoy!

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So...Andrew's Sweet Mixes

These two mixes I made for my older brother.  The first was made around the same time as my Mother Mixes.  The second was made quite a bit later.  I think I made it about five years ago?  Anyway, they're both really good, more of my favorites, and pretty sweet tunes.

Hope you enjoy!


Andrew's Sweet Mix 1
3am::OAR
Grace is Gone::Dave Matthews Band
Miss Misery::Eliot Smith
A Plain Morning::Dashboard Confessional
Let Her Cry::Hootie & the Blowfish
Headlights::Dispatch
Window::Guster
Bubble Toes::Jack Johnson
Fa Fa::Guster
Hey Girl::OAR
Flying Horses::Dispatch
Your Body is a Wonderland::John Mayer
Nightingale::Norah Jones
If Only She Knew::OAR
Cover This::Dispatch
X-Ray Eyes::Guster
Say Yes::Eliot Smith
Walk With You::Dispatch


Andrew's Sweet Mix 2
I Don't Wanna Be::Gavin DeGraw
Dream Girl::Dave Matthews Band
I'll Do Anything::Jason Mraz
About Mr. Brown::OAR
Rehab::Amy Winehouse
Crazy::Gnarls Barkley
My Love::Justin Timberlake
Too Late to Apologize::One Republic
How Many Words::Blake Lewis
Love & Memories::OAR
The Sweet Escape::Gwen Stefani
She Will Be Loved::Maroon 5
I'll Be Here Awhile::311
Geek in the Pink::Jason Mraz
I'm In Love With a Girl::Gavin DeGraw
Waiting on the World to Change::John Mayer
Santeria::Sublime
Gots to Get Her::Blake Lewis
On the Way Down::Ryan Cabrera
Boston::Augustana
Out of My Hands::Dave Matthews Band

I love my brother lots.  I hate living so far away from him - I don't nearly have enough of him in my life.  But I love that no matter how long it's been it always feels awesome talking to him or hanging out when we can.  He's wicked awesome.


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So...12 Days of Christmas Past::2006

Live Nativity::Christmas 2006::San Jose, CA

 

In 2006 we were back to San Jose for Christmas.  I was large with child, expecting Second Daughter a few months later.  Christmas Eve we got together with family (that's Brother In-Law in the background and Cousin as Joseph) and did a living nativity.  We did not do that in my family when I was a kid so it was really fun for me to watch!

 

First Daughter was Mary, Husband was the donkey, and First Daughter's first doll (cabbage patch) was Baby Jesus - you can see her (him) in the purple crib (manger) in the lower right corner.

 

Christmas "shopping" was easy that year.  First Daughter was very excited about certain things and had very simple expectations.  I ended up wrapping some of her favorite toys, and her favorite movie (Wizard of Oz) so she could open them on Christmas morning and get excited.  She didn't have any expectation for new toys so she was so excited.  It actually was the best.

 

But we weren't complete cheapskates that year - we did buy her new stuff too.  She was into princesses so she got a couple dress up dresses and shoes, a crown and play jewelry.  We just multiplied her stash of presents by wrapping already owned gifts :)

 

That is the only memory I have of that Christmas.  My pregnant brain must have forgotten everything else :)

 

 

 

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So...12 Days of Christmas Past::2005

First Daughter::Christmas Eve 2005::Orem, UT

 

Christmas 2005 was our first Christmas alone, in our own apartment in Orem, UT, just the three of us.  It was different, much more quiet, but wonderful.  It was the beginning of creating many of our own family traditions.

 

1::Christmas jammies - both Husband & I had this tradition in our families growing up, but this was the first year that we bought them for our own little family and for our own sweet daughter.

 

2::Christmas bear - this tradition kind of created itself and it started this Christmas with First Daughter.  First Daughter's nickname has always been "Bear," so I was so excited to get her a Christmas bear for her first Christmas.  Husband's family had a tradition that they each had a Christmas character (Husband's was Santa) and they had a stuffed animal/pillow with that character and then got ornaments that went along with it.  Getting the Christmas bear was my attempt to keep that tradition continuing, but it ended up just turning into Christmas bears for all the kids on their first Christmas.  The bears have the year embroidered on their paw so we can always remember when their first Christmas was.

 

3::Baum's Christmas trees - we bought our Christmas tree that year at Baum's, a local tree lot that was recommended to us by a friend.  We bought our tree there every year since.  (Actually, this was our first year not getting our tree there - it was kinda strange - especially since I am definitely a creature of habit/tradition).

 

4::Christmas book - we get a family Christmas book every year.

 

5::Christmas movie - we also get a Christmas movie.

 

6::Christmas card - this was our first official Christmas card.  Well...I think we sent out Christmas cards that first year after we got married...but this was our first take-a-family-picture-for-a-Christmas-card experience.  It made us feel like real grownups :)

 

Having a baby made Christmas morning a little different.  First Daughter had no anticipation waiting to see what Santa left her, and she was a champion sleeper, so we didn't get up until after 9 or so (which was normal for her).  We had a wonderfully relaxing morning opening the few presents that we had.

 

Family memories are the best, and the first memories of our sweet little family feel magical.

 

 

 

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So...12 Days of Christmas Past::2004

Well...I know I don't really need to say the obvious, but blogging doesn't seem to be my strong suit these days...my attempt to do the 12 Days of Christmas Past leading up to Christmas obviously didn't happen...BUT - I've never been good at letting a "goal" stay unfinished/open ended, so I'm just gonna do it anyway, even though Christmas is over.  Hopefully I get through them before the next holiday comes around...well, New Years doesn't count cause that's, like, tomorrow...or the next day...

 

Christmas Eve with Husband's side of the family::San Jose::2004

 

Christmas 2004 was with Husband's family in San Jose, CA.  I was pregnant with First Daughter and we had just found out she was a girl days before we arrived.  We brought a video (yes, it was a VHS) of the ultrasound with us so that everyone could watch and see if they could guess the gender.  Of course nobody could because ultrasounds don't really look like anything.  We thought it was such a clever way to reveal the gender, but looking back it was a little silly :)

 

This was my first time being somewhere relatively warm for Christmas.  It was different, but fun.  It was my first Christmas not being with my own family.  But being there felt like home, as it always did, and we had a wonderful Christmas.

Mother In-Law got us all matching jammies.  The sweatshirts were GDI (Husband's dad's company) sweatshirts, and I still wear it to this day.  I love that sweatshirt. 

All of Husband's family was there except one of his younger brothers who was serving a LDS mission in Washington at the time.

Christmas Eve dinner was at Husband's aunt's house who also lives in San Jose.

It was my first Christmas experiencing the traditional Christmas Brunch that Husband's extended family does every year.  It was fun and yummy and it's a tradition that we still look forward to every year.  We have one out here in Utah with his family members that live here.

I remember that we were there for a really long time.  Perhaps the whole two weeks of our winter break?  We watched lots and lots of movies, and I learned how to knit. 

My memories of that Christmas are pretty sporadic, but I do remember it being wonderful.  I have always loved being with Husband's family.  I am a very lucky woman to have married into such an amazing family. 



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So...12 Days of Christmas Past::2003

Brother & Sister In-Law::Christmas::Boston::2003

 

Sadly, I don't have very many pictures (two, to be exact) of our Christmas in 2003.

I actually don't even have any of Husband and I :(

But those were the days before we owned a digital camera, so we 1) didn't take very many pictures, and 2) have probably lost a lot of the pictures we actually have.  In fact, this picture may have even been taken with a disposable camera (remember those???)

 

Christmas in 2003 was at my parents' home in Needham, MA.  It was our first Christmas as a married couple, and the first Christmas for my brother and sister in-law (shown in the picture) as a married couple too.  We both were married in 2003 - them in May (right?) and us in October.  Christmas that year we all gathered together in MA.  This is the last (and only) Christmas we have all spent together.

 

My mom got us all Christmas jammies like she did when we were kids.  It was fun :)  My other brother and sister in-law had just had their second baby only three weeks before.  Now that I'm a mom, I understand how amazing, and probably difficult, that was for them.  My sister was living there with her family and she had one daughter that was 1 1/2.  My younger brother was 13, but didn't look like it - only months before he was mistaken to be my fiancé :) 

 

I can hardly remember our family like this.  It really seems like a lifetime ago.  All of our families have grown so much - sister::2 kids, brother::5 kids, brother::6 kids, me::5 kids, brother::married - we've dispersed across the country, and have had many different life experiences. 

 

Our extended family was so new at this Christmas.  We were still getting to know each other and still trying to adjust to our new family members - four of us got married in three years, and Husband and I had just been married 1 1/2 months before this Christmas.  Everything was still new. 

 

Thinking back to this time and our family experiences through the years since, I wish that I had done better to connect with my in-laws and establish a better foundation for our relationships.  11 years later we could all be a lot more close than we are.  We could have loved and tried to understand each other better as we made different life decisions and had different experiences and trials.  But - we were all very young when we got mashed together in one big family, and I can't speak for everyone but I sure know that I have learned a whole lot and grown up a lot in those 11 years.  Back then I really didn't know much and was really still a kid and was pretty selfish.  I have learned a lot (and am still learning) about family relationships and how to love and accept people for who they are no matter what.  Sometimes I think I am doing this, but I have learned that actions/words can be interpreted very differently by different people and family relationships are the most sensitive and the most important relationships.  And I am learning how to say sorry and how to forgive.

 

Family is all about showing love - no matter what - and forgiving each other for being imperfect - and being there for each other no matter how far away you live and no matter how long its been since you last saw or spoke to each other.  Family is family.  Always.

 

I love my family so much.

It has been a very long time since we've celebrated Christmas with anyone in my family, and every year I miss them.  All of them. 

 

This year my parents will be here with us and we are very excited about that.

And thanks to online shopping and Facetime, we can feel a little closer to the rest of the family even though we are thousands of miles apart.

 

 

 

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So...Let Me Catch You Up

So...obviously I haven't been doing a whole lot of blogging lately.

But a whole lot has been going on.

In August the kiddos started school.

First Daughter - 4th, Second Daughter - 2nd, Third Daughter - Kindergarten.

They love school and are doing great. 

In September I celebrated my 31st birthday.

I went out to breakfast with a bunch of friends, had lunch with my sister in-law, and had Red Mango with my family for dinner.  It was perfect!  I felt very loved and loved all the yummy food and wonderful people.

We completed another busy soccer season.
We were lucky to have beautiful weather throughout the season.  I sure love watching my kiddos run around that soccer field.

A new daily activity for us is to go watch the trains.  Son#1 absolutely loves trains and we have found a few spots where we can get an up close view of the trains going by.  It really is a highlight to our days.

The girls are taking piano lessons from me this year.
I was really nervous about how that would go, but luckily it is going amazingly!  So much better than I expected.  We really enjoy the one-on-one time together, and they all are doing really well practicing and progressing.  This is the first year for Third Daughter and she is doing great!

At the end of September, Husband and I broke away for a couple nights to go to CA for one of Husband's friend's wedding.  We were able to go to the temple with his family that lives out there and that was wonderful.  Even though it was a very quick trip, it was very nice to be kid free for a little while and enjoy family and friends (and beautiful CA weather) together.

The day we got back from CA was the Ogden Temple dedication.
It was a special day for First Daughter because she is now old enough to attend the dedication.  I really loved going with her and our cousin Andrea.

We have been having the most amazing weather, and the most amazing sunsets and sunrises!
I really love the view every night and can't help but take pictures.  I send them to my mom because she loves clouds. :)

Speaking of beautiful weather, the kids have been spending most of their afternoons outside with friends.  First Daughter loves to ride her ripstick and the others love to ride their bikes.  This weather won't last for much longer, so we're soaking it all up while we can.

 We really love fall.  Son#1 has discovered leaf piles and he just loves to lay in them.

Two weeks ago I ran my fifth half marathon.  It was the Pink Series half in Park City.  The weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful.  As for the course - not my favorite.  It was pretty hard.  But the company was fantastic.  I have loved training with these ladies and so proud of how our little team did!

This fall park season has been really fun for Son#2.  He can climb up the stairs, walk around the park, and he loves going down slides.  Playing at the park is one of my favorite things to do with my family.

Last Saturday Husband and I celebrated our 11th anniversary.  Things didn't exactly go as planned, but we were able to spend the evening together anyway and that's all that matters.  We spent some time talking about what we love about our marriage.  It really made me so grateful looking back on our life together, how we've grown, and what makes our marriage so incredible.  I love this guys more than ever and still feel like he is my greatest blessing ever.  I stand by that statement.

And last but not least...

Third Daughter lost her first tooth!  And as a matter of fact, she lost her second one just today!  She was so excited to get a visit from the tooth fairy, even though our tooth fairy is pretty forgetful and almost always doesn't come the first night.  Oh well...we forgive her :)

 

Well, now I've pretty much caught you up on all that's going on around here.

Life feels pretty good.

I am loving being mom to these kids and wife to my husband.

Which is good, because I spend a whole lot of time doing those two things :)

 

 

 

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So...Two More Kid Dates

For Third Daughter's kid date in September she chose Chuck-E-Cheese - of course!

It was such a blast being there with just her.  She couldn't believe that all the token were just for her!  Although, she was very sweet and shared with us.  She would hand us a token or two and tell us which game we could play.  It was very thoughtful of her. 

 

It was so fun to watch her move from game to game, totally independent and in child-gaming heaven.  Her favorites were playing air hockey with mom, and playing ski-ball with both mom and dad.  She also won over 200 tickets so she got some pretty sweet prizes. 

 

The absolute best part of the night was when she said, "this is the best night of my life!"

These kid dates are truly the best.

Last night we took First Daughter on a date to a local corn maze.  It was kind of spooky going through that corn maze in the dark.  I'm not gonna lie - I was pretty nervous.  I kept thinking that people (or animals) were going to jump out of the corn.  It was too quiet, too dark, and we were too alone.  But thankfully Husband was the navigator and got us safely out.  First Daughter thought the whole thing was hilarious and kept trying to spook me.  It worked.

 

We also got to do zombie paintball!  It was so fun and so hilarious!  I couldn't stop laughing.  It was perfect for First Daughter's age.  We rode in the back of a tractor, through the farm, and shot florescent glow-in-the-dark paint at lots of targets and goofy "zombies" (really just kids covered with padding - not very zombie-esque) that would run at us and get shot down.  We thought that would be a pretty fun job. 

 

And of course we ended the night with a treat - blizzards. 

First Daughter was in heaven.

We had so much fun with her.  She is an amazing kid and really makes us laugh.

 

 

 

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So...Zoo Date

This month was Second Daughter's turn to go on a date with mom & dad, and she got to go with her best friend too!  It was so much fun to double with our friends and their daughter to the zoo and out to dinner.  Second Daughter was so excited and the night ended up being all she imagined it would be :)  This time with her was so great.  It's important to break away from all the craziness and have a chance to reconnect and remember all the things we love about each other.  Dating (including my kids) is awesome.

Best buddies.

I love these two.

Best monkey buddies - look how their tails are braided together!  So sweet.

 I found this hilarious.  As if a sloth isn't lazy enough, let's give him a hammock.

 

We decided to throw kid dates into the rotation of our date nights and it has been fantastic.  Some friends of ours have been doing this with their kids for years and we always knew we wanted to do something like it too.  We used to use date nights as incentive to encourage our kids to do good things, complete chores, etc., but we decided we didn't want our kids to have to earn time with us.  We want to just give it to them.  We want them to know they are important to us and that dating isn't only an opportunity for mom & dad to get away from the kids.  Dating is a way that we can strengthen our relationships by having fun together and creating great memories. 

 

Since our Sons have come into our lives, we have noticed some of our children needing a little extra attention and reassurance, and we haven't always been able to meet those needs as often and consistently as we want (and need) to.  These dates have been such a great thing for them and a way to fill their "love tanks."

 

Second Daughter still talks about how much fun she had, and has already started making plans for her next date.  Actually, she started planning the next before this one even happened :)  Love that girl.

 

Speaking of date night...

Husband and I get to go out tomorrow night just the two of us.

It seems like it's been a very long time since we've had a date night to ourselves.

We've had a blast going out with friends, family, and our kids, going to the temple (and sitting far away from each other), but we are excited to have some one-on-one time tomorrow night.

 

I really love dating my husband.

I really like him.  :)

 



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