A Lot to be Thankful for!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. It was our year to be with the Brian's and I got to learn how to make something new. I was in charge of bringing the Sweet Potatoes and the Pies. I did some pies a couple of years ago and thank heavens my mom helped me again this year with the crusts so those turned out great but this was my first attempt at the Sweet Potatoes. I used my moms recipe and can I tell you they were DeLiTEfuL! Basically we had to baste them every 15 min in butter and brown sugar, so no wonder they tasted so great huh! It was such a yummy dinner and we as usual ate WAY too much!

Reading With Daddy!

Thanksgiving 2008

Rob and I had to speak in church the Sunday before Thanksgiving and as usual I was so nervous but I am really so grateful that we were asked to speak because in preparing for and giving my talk I learned so much and realized I have so so much to be thankful for. Lately I have really been getting caught up in the future and what I want in the future (a new house, and new car, a vacation here, etc.) and I finally realized I just need to be grateful for what I have now and the other things will come in the future. I have a home and food to eat, I have a husband who is such a hard worker and has a good job, I have a beautiful daughter who is healthy and happy and makes me laugh everyday. I have family who love me and helps me out whenever I need it. I have friends who bring me joy, laughter, and friendship. I have so much that I need to focus on instead of just wishing for and wanting things I don't. There was a quote I found that said

"It is not happiness that makes us grateful, But gratefulness that makes us happy!"

Twilight Dorks, Don't Judge Me!

The Stars aligned for Tesh and I and we got to see the Twilight Premier first hand. Cute Amber that plays Dball with us had 2 extra tickets for the junction, what could be better than assigned seats on opening night, and after some coaxing Tesh gave in and said she would go with me. We got a little concerned when Tesh saw people arriving in the prom dresses on the news, she text me and asked me to pick up her wrist corsage for her and I said only if she will put my hair in an up-do with babies breath! But really it was a site, rob was concerned that I was really leaving the house in my "Team Edward" shirt but I figured Im going so I might as well! Besides the movie, the best part was leaving to go to the bathroom with Tesh and having the previews start when we were in the lobby. Tesha screamed and sprinted to the bathroom. Hollering out to me "I don't want to miss anything!" She is hilarious, up until that moment she was so embarrassed to be there-then needless to say I was a little embarrassed that she was sprinting to the bathroom. Seriously though the movie was great, I really want to see it again so I can enjoy it more. I was just so anxious to see how everything was going to play out that I didn't enjoy it like I should have. I thought Bella was perfect and Edward grew on me. It was a way fun night thanks to Amber again for doing all the hard work to get us the tickets, and thanks Tesha for all the fun memories!

Leggo-Ouch!

Poor Blake! We have officially named her accident prone. We went to Carters to buy her some jammies last night and she insisted on playing on the Leggo table. Rob sat with her while I looked around. But, she just thinks she is so big trying to get on and off the chair by herself and playing like a big kid. Well sure enough she lost her balance and fell over on a Leggo that was upside down. What luck huh! She was crying and Rob called me over. I wasn't all that concerned at first because she falls over about every five minutes, but Rob said it was bad. Her forehead looked horrible. I was nervous at first, but seconds later she was reaching back toward the table wanting to get down. So I put her down and she stopped crying and went right on her way playing again-like her forehead wasn't indented with a Leggo block! So I'm 95% sure people who see her think we are abusive and I can't blame them (it looks pretty bad.) I have been putting on neosporin and vitamin E like every 4 hours today so it will heal and not scar. Just log this in the book of "Blakeley's Accidents" I have a feeling there will probably be many more in her future... unfortunately! (these pictures really don't do it justice.)

This Morning

This Afternoon

Tonight

Poor Girl, I think it already looks better than it did this morning. I love all her faces in these pictures.

Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween showing off our little Flower girl Blake. I was racking my brain to come up with a fun tradition that we could do every Halloween. It isn't much but I decided last minute maybe Jack-O-Lantern Pancakes for breakfast would be a fun place to start. I colored the batter orange and then made the face out of chocolate chips. They were actually really good, Blakeley loved them and shoved them in getting totally messy. We had fun seeing family too. We went to Gr and Gr Hales for yummy soup and cousin fun, then to Grannie and Papa's to "trick or treat" and last we met up with the Brian cousins! We had a lot of fun and Blakeley was really good-she actually liked wearing her costume. She of course got scared a few times, and by somethings that weren't scary at all. She lost it when she saw Rowdy, the Brian's cat and Jan put her glasses on to read Blakeley a story and apparently she thought that was scary too! I hope she grows out of this fear by next year. She is just so tender hearted sometimes. We had a fun time with Blake and just can't believe how big she has gotten since last Halloween. She was a lot of fun this year.

Flower Power!

VISIT GRANDMA AT WORK DAY!

We have a fun tradition to take the kids to see grandma at work in their Halloween costumes. It is a lot of work but a lot of fun! We went to see Grandma Jan and then to lunch. It is cute to see all the kids in their costumes.

We have Transformers-Hayden and Macguire, Wonder Woman-Kale, Marine-Hudson, Lady Bug-Harper, and of course Beautiful Flower-Blakeley!

So Suprise! Blakeley was scared of the Transformers (see previous post.) It is so sad that she keeps getting scared!

We had another Grannie to visit! Grannie Sheryl!

And then...

we went with Grannie to her ward Halloween Party! Blake had a great time.

She got to try out the Halloween Fish Pond...

Oh Yeah! I got a pencil.

That's age appropriate for a 1-yr-old. Minutes later, she stabbed herself in the eye with it, so Unky Kade went back and exchanged it for a sticker that she could choke on. jk.

Then Kader took me through the costume parade!

You can see from this picture she was DONE by then. And by done I mean CoOkeD! She was burning up in there.

Halloween Fun!

Halloween Celebrations have begun! We went to Dave and Heidi's annual Halloween party on Friday. It was a lot of fun as usual. Rob went as "Rob" Zombie, I was a "got milk?" model and Kade went as Maddee.

Karah and "Maddee"

Blakey thought Kade looked funny, she kept laughing at him!

Rob looked REALLY scary! Blakeley got scared when she saw him and started crying. How did she know he was scary? It was so weird that she knew that wasn't right. Anyway she calmed down eventually but we didn't let her see Rob again. Rob felt SOO way bad he was so worried she would remember it was him. She forgot all about it later and was just fine. Poor girl.

Then, on Sunday my mom had us play some fun Halloween games. We played play-dough pictionary and the boys had to eat an apple that was hanging from the ceiling. The Brian's dominated of course! Here are some fun pics...

Mapping out their strategies


Eat those apples!

*
Good Work Guys!

Blakey wanted to give it a try
Oh, Yummy!

Blakeley carried this apple around for the rest of the night. She ate a ton of it too. It was cooled and I think it felt good on her little teeth! It was funny.

Feeding time the Zoo

First I just Had to post this picture because I loved Blakes little outfit this day!

So look at what a cutie she is...

Okay, My buggs has really been chowing down on her food lately. There is a condition... I have to let her feed herself and she has to get as messy as possible! If I let her do this she will eat a TON of food.

She is pictured here on three separate occasions eating mac and cheese, chicken carbonara, and top ramen...




Mac and Cheese, With a Cheese!

Chicken Carbonara
This one was hilarious/embarrassing cuz we were at Union Grill!
Top Ramen

She just makes me laugh! She gets so into it and she literally can not shove the noodles into her mouth fast enough. Its kinda hard for me to let her feed herself sometimes because she gets herself and my kitchen SOOO dirty, but she eats better and I guess she has got to learn some how. At least it's entertaining!

Six Years!!

Our Invite Picture

The Night We Got Engaged! 7/29/02

Our Wedding Breakfast

We can't believe we have been married for SIX years! Last Friday the 10th was our Anniversary and we thought we hadn't changed much since 10/10/02...But then we dug up some pics and they said different! I knew age wise we (especially me) were babies but I didn't realize at the time that we looked like babies too! Hope these pics gave you the laugh that they gave us!

We were grateful to be able to sneek away for dinner this year, since last year Blakeley was only 15 days old. We always go to Maddox since our reception was at The Lodge. We had a great time talking and remembering our special day. It is so crazy to think of all that has happened since that day, although we have changed so much the important things are still the same. We both feel more in love today than we did back then, its a different kind of love though. Im sure people are grateful that the PDA's have calmed down dramatically :)! Life really can be so crazy, we have had some rough times together and some really great ones too. There is a line in the movie Just Married that Rob and I love, of course I don't know the right wording. But it is just about how all you ever see when you look back over your relationship is the pictures of all of the good times, but it's the hard times and the struggles that get you from one happy picture to the next. (if that makes any sense.) Im gonna make a point to get the exact wording of that line so I don't look like such a fool! But it is the truth you have to take the bad with the good.

Wow, I have really been on a soap box lately with this bloggy blog-sorry. Anyways we had a great Anniversary we keep teasing about next year being "the 7 year itch" but I think if we just keep taking the bad with the good we can definately have many more anniversaries in our future! Get ready to puke....

R+K 4ev!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

We took Blakers to pick out pumpkins for the porch. She had such a fun time, she loved the pumpkins-she kept patting them and squealing! It was so much fun, this is such a fun time of year. My Mom gave Blake this CUTEST spider shirt for her birthday so she was very festive!

She helped me put them on the porch, she was so excited about these things we keep calling pumpkins!

Notice how she is pointing to her belly- That is what she does when you say "point to Blakeley" She is so funny!

Birthday Week

All of the cousins on the Trolley on Main Street!
Im pretty sure my eyes are half closed, beautiful, but its cute of rob and boo!

On the lift up to the Alpine Slide

The leaves were so pretty up there

Im behind (as usual.) The last week in September is Birthday Week around our house. We have Blakeley on the 25th Grandpa Rob on the 26th and Robert on the 27th! It is fun to have them all so close together. We always go to Park City with Roberts family every year around his birthday. We had a lot of fun this year and this was a first for Blakers! We shop at the outlets, stay in a condo at Park City Mountain Resort, ride the Alpine Slide and Coster, Tour Main Street, and of course eat at Baja Cantina! We really enjoyed ourselves. We took Blake swimming and stayed up late for casino night-rob won 2nd place yeah! It was a lot of fun and Im so glad we enjoy spending time with both of our families-we are so blessed!

***A Happy Birthday Note!***

My Rob turned 28 this year. WOW huh! Neither of us can believe how old we are getting! Anyway I am so grateful for my hubby. He is just so wonderful to our little Blake he is her favorite playmate and she loves him so much. He is such a hardworker and he always has a good attitude and rarely complains. He really puts up with a ton from me and I am so greateful that I have him. We are finishing our basement and he has been down stairs working his rear end off every spare minute he has and Im so proud of him for working so hard so we can have some extra room in this house. I heared a song on the way home tonight and so I was dorky and sang him these lines when I got home, but it was really how I felt:

...love was never really love without you

life is so much better now I found you

here beside you is really where its at

what do ya say to that...

HEEEEY BOB! I love ya Babe!

I will be done cuz I know Im the only one who is finding humor/joy from reading this post!