The Big Move

Finally, we're in our house! After many hours packing, cleaning, loading, unloading and pulling our hair out....we are in our new place! For me, moving is one of the hardest and worst things ever but this time it was a means to an end. We hope to stay here for many years to come. (I'm sure my family and friends will appreciate this since they have had to clutter their address books with a bazillion different addresses for me over the years.) We are still in the process of putting things away and it is feeling more and more like home each day. Thanks soooo much to all of you that helped us move! We appreciate it!

I took the kids to their new elementary today to get the paperwork for registering them. We walked around the school and explored a little. They are so excited for the school year to start and to begin making new friends.

We attended our new ward and met about 1/2 of the members. They were all so friendly and made us feel very much at home. It will be nice to get to know all of them more and make our place in the ward and community.

I would post some pictures of our place, but Jason has my camera at work. As soon as I get it back I will update again on what is going on at our place.

rEaLLy LuCkY dAy

Ok, so I had the coolest thing happen! The other day I was listening to the radio and they were giving away tickets for the John Mayer & Colbie Callait concert for tonight. I like Colbie Callait, so I thought I'd call in and try to win. Well, I was caller #10 and won 2 tickets. I rarely win things, so I was pretty excited about winning something. The tickets ended up only being for the lawn at the Usana Amphitheatre, so we weren't going to be too close, but maybe it would be fun. A couple of days went by and I got to thinking that I would rather have money instead of going to the concert, so I posted the tickets on ksl.com. This morning I sold them for $75. About 30 minutes after the guy bought the tickets the phone rang and it was the radio station telling me that I had won the drawing for FRONT ROW seats to the concert!!!!! 2 of them!!!!! I was completely surprised! Though it would probably be fun to watch Colbie Callait from the front row, I'm not so hot on John Mayer. His mouth freaks me out. I kind of have a phobia about it. Anyway, I decided to post these tickets online as well. Money is much better than watching someone sing for a couple of hours. I did some research and found out that front row seats sold for $350 EACH! Are they kidding? Holy crap! Who has that kind of money?! I really wanted to be able to get the tickets sold so I posted them for $250 EACH. I had a guy call about an hour after I posted them and he met me in SLC with $500!!!!!!! Seriously.....this has been the best day ever! I pretty much made $575 off of being caller #10! Wooooo Hoooooo! This couldn't have come at a better time since we are closing on our house Friday. Blessed.

All about the love of my eternity....Jason

Since this is Jason's birthday month, (he was born 7/7/77...how cool is that?) I thought I would do a little feature on him. Happy 31st birthday hottness!

Something that I learned about him right off is that he has a genuine love for others. He enjoys getting to know all about them....all the little details of their personality and what made them who they are today. Not only does he listen to them, but he commits it to memory. You'll never wonder if he's just asking you questions to keep the conversation going.....he really wants to know about you and he cares what you have to say. This is one of the qualities that makes him loved by everyone he meets.

He's the best therapist. (and free!) :) He takes the time to listen to everything from stories about a disfunctional childhood and mistakes you've made to the everyday stresses that sometimes have you at the end of your rope. He's really good at helping others look at the brighter side of things. One of his favorite things to tell me is "Fake it till you make it." Which basically means, even if you are having a bad day, week, month...whatever, you should fake that you don't feel that way....count your blessings.......try to think more positively and eventually you will make yourself that way. This also helps to not bring those around you down. I must admit that he is much better at this than I am. He has a good understanding of people and how emotions and experiences play in to who they are and why they do the things they do. I really think he was meant to be a therapist.......or at least my therapist.

He's a very hard worker. When I met him he was working 2 jobs, which totalled up to about 70+ hours per week. He had maintained this schedule for years, during which he also took care of his 2 kids. He survived on very little sleep but always had a positive attitude and always made sure to support Ammon and Alyssa in their interests. He was a soccer, baseball & ballet dad. Any project that he takes on, he does so with 100%. He doesn't cut corners and will only do quality work. He sees things through to the end. When someone would ask Jason's grandpa if something was good enough, his reply would be, "Is it perfect? Perfect is good enough." I think Jason does everything perfect. Grandpa would be proud!

He loves the gospel and has a strong testimony. He sets such a great example for me and our kids. He's always teaching them about gospel truths and helping them to be better each day.

He's extremely unselfish. He puts his family first and will do anything for someone that has a need. Because of his concern for others that I mentioned before, he truely wants to make others happy and will do what is needed to accomplish that. I think this is something that has really blessed our marriage and helped us to have the amazing relationship that we do.

I could go on and on about all of Jason's wonderful qualities....as I'm sure many of you already know. He really is the most loving, compassionate and perfect person I've ever known and I am sooooo grateful to have him as my husband and eternal companion. He helps me to be a better person everyday.

Happy Independence Day!

What a crazy hectic week we've had. Traveling to Logan for a funeral (my step gma), the 4th of July, preparing for and having a garage sale, traveling to visit with my sister and her family in Mapleton and then Jason's birthday. I feel like we've just been running from one thing to the next, but hopefully this week will be a little more relaxed. First off, we had so much fun on the 4th! We walked up to Main Street for the PaRaDe, then we enjoyed all of the fun things to do at the city park. (Ammon and Alyssa were the only ones with us. Ashlyn and McKenna were with their dad for the day.) The kids tried rOcK cLiMiNg, the fIsH pOnD, and then the bEaN bAG tOsS where they won little gOlD fIsH. Later that night we met up with Jason's family and had a cook out at his brother's home. The food was great and it was nice to meet some of Jason's family that I hadn't met before. The kids played in the little pool that his brother had set up and had so much fun splashing each other. (Well, most of them enjoyed that, McKenna didn't like that part so much, as seen in the picture at the bottom.)

Then, as is tRaDiTiOn, we all drove up to Farmington Pond to watch the fIrEwOrKs over Lagoon. It's so pretty to see the reflections in the water. The weather was perfect and it ended up being a really nice day.

Our garage sale was scheduled for Saturday morning, but Friday night as we came home from the fireworks we noticed that all of our garage sale signs had been removed from the posts. There were only 2 out of 12 remaining, so I had to wake up early Saturday morning to go to the store for more posterboard, make new ones, post them and then get everything out of boxes and ready to sell. To make matters worse, McKenna woke me up about an hour before I had planned on getting up because she had thrown up in her bed. :( Ahhhh, the life of a mother....the joy! All in all things ended up working out pretty well and it was a good thing that I was able to wake up a little earlier since some garage sale-a-holics think it's alright to show up over an hour early! We made about $400, then loaded up the rest of the stuff and took it to the DI. It was good to clear out our garage especially since we will be moving soon. I have no idea how we ended up with so much stuff!

Yesterday was Jason's 31st birthday! We went to his office for cAkE & IcE cReAm with his family, then hit McDonald's for dinner (yes....eXtRaVaGaNt, I know.) Then he and I stayed up playing Speed Scrabble. We played it for the first time at my sister's house Sunday and had so much fun that I thought he needed the game for his birthday. (Ok, so it was one of those convenient situations where I was able to get something that I wanted and call it a "birthday present for him.")

Our First Home Together

Jason and I put an offer on this home in Farmington earlier in the week and it was accepted yesterday. We are soooo excited! We're hoping to move in about a month from now. The kids are excited to have a yard to play in and because it is located in a cul-de-sac, they will be able to ride their bikes all over the place without worrying us so much.

The home has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large family room, brand new carpet and paint, 1/2 basketball court (you'll know where to find us in the evenings), food storage area and a beautiful view of the mountains. The neighborhood seems very nice and so far we've noticed a lot of younger families like ours on the street. We both feel really good about this home and are excited to open up that next chapter in our lives. After all the moving we've done over the last few years, it will be nice to settle into our own place and stay. Jason and I were counting up all the times that I have moved in my life, and it was somewhere around 25! In my 30 years of life, that averages out to moving every 1.2 years! Eeeekkkkk! I am looking forward to staying in 1 place for a long, long time. I think it will be good for all of us, especially our kids. They've had enough changes and offering them more consistancy is important to us as parents.

We drove the kids by the elementary that they will attend and they got really excited to see a pool and waterslides. Unfortunately for them, that was just the city pool next door. :)

I know it has been a while since my last post again. I've been really busy with work and kids and Jason injured his back a couple of weeks ago while helping the neighbor lift some heavy outdoor pots that they had just purchased. He felt his back go out and barely made it back to our house. He managed to crawl up the stairs to our room where he remained until we had an ambulance come pick him up the next day because he could barely move and wasn't able to get out of the bed. He was so embarrassed to have to be taken out that way, but it was the only way that we could get him to see a doctor. They shot him up with all kinds of stuff and sent us off with a few prescriptions. Between those and chiropractor visits, he's doing much better and was able to go back to work this past week. We're so glad that he's feeling better and he's happy to be able to do things other than laying in bed watching tv.

The Big Day

A little over a year ago, Jason proposed to me on this bench at the Bountiful Temple. Life has changed so much since then!

On Saturday, June 7th, Jason and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Bountiful, Utah temple. It was a great experience and one that I am sure will be with us forever. I'm still unable to find the words to express my feelings about that day. It was something so spiritual that it's difficult to describe yet it was such a wonderful experience that I wish I could. I feel so blessed to have Jason as my eternal companion and best friend. He truly makes me want to be better everyday and be the best wife, mother, friend and sister I possibly can be.

After the sealing we held a lunch at North Canyon Park in Bountiful, which has a beautiful view of the valley and has become one of our favorite places. We were surrounded by friends and family which was a really good thing since it was fairly cold. The sun would peak out every once in a while and we would enjoy it while it lasted. Jason and I want to tell everyone that came to the sealing and/or the lunch and all of those who helped out with the lunch and pictures....THANK YOU! You really helped to make the day special and it was great to see all of you! To all who weren't able to come, you were in our thoughts. We missed you and hope to see you soon.

Our First Anniversary!

June 1, 2008 - 1 Year Anniversary

Have you ever found yourself somewhere you thought you would never be? A place that is bEyOnD anything you ever thought possible? A comfortable place where you cHeRiSh every moment and try to tAkE iN as much of it as you can? That is where I am. I am overwhelmingly grateful for the blessing that Jason is in my life and for the perfect husband and wonderful father that he is. I've told him before, that I would consider myself lucky just to know him, but not only do I get that, but I have the opportunity to be his wife and eternal companion! He makes me feel grateful, peaceful, gIddY, happy, secure, cHeRisHeD, appreciated and most importantly......LOvEd. This last year has been so much fun and we have learned so much about each other and ourselves. This has been an amazing experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. I look forward to each moment, each day and eTeRnItY together..