So Thankful!

There are so many wonderful things I have to be thankful for this year that I wanted to share!

First...the love of my life! Ricky is my sweetheart and best friend. He works long, hard physical hours in all weather conditions so that I can stay at home to raise our wonderful kids...I will get to them in a min! What a guy! He is so selfless. He loves being able to use his talents to help others any time he gets a chance. He complains less than anyone I have EVER met! Anyone who knows him knows that I really have a gem!

Second...my kids!! What can I say? They fill each and every day with sunshine. They are best friends! I LOVE listening to them play together and just sit and giggle at each other! Kassi is the best little helper. She loves to help me clean, and do her chores and help with Tyler. She is so lovable and so outgoing. She loves to sing and dance, and I love to be part of her life! Tyler is getting SO BIG! Every day I am reminded that he is becoming less and less of a baby and more and more of a toddler. Sad, but exciting! He still loves to give me kisses and blow kisses to me from across the room. He is such a happy little boy! What a blessing it is to be a mother and to have such wonderful little babies!

Ok, third is a bit of a bigger group. This is for all of my and Ricky's families. Ricky's parents are so wonderful! If I could have picked my "in-laws" I definitely couldn't have picked a better set! They really have helped and guided us in these first few years of our marriage and have taken me in like one of their own. It is great to live close and to be able to spend time with them. Ricky's siblings are the same! They are great and I love them all so much! The older, married couples get to spend time together and it is so fun and for the most part we all get along really well! My mom and dad have been a huge rock for us to lean on in hard times as well. Though they live in Tennessee...(moving to CO)...my mom is one of my best friends and I call her almost every day. :) Sometimes more. They are always there for me to help me and I appreciate all they do for my family. My brothers and sisters are amazing as well. My older sister and I are both married with kids, and being on the same level has made us really close. I love it! I am so grateful for our wonderful families and I am so glad to know that families are forever!!!

I am grateful for all of you...being wonderful friends! I have had the opportunity to move many times in my short life, yet I have been touched and blessed by wonderful people everywhere I have lived. I am so thankful to have so many incredible people and examples who have inspired my life for good.

I am grateful for my Savior and all the little blessings I receive daily. For a home, food, material blessings, to go back to school...everything that I am is owed to Him. I am eternally indebted and so grateful for his tender mercies in my life, through all the good times, but especially through the trials. I am truly blessed and have so much to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Day 2!

Ok, one major detail I forgot to mention about why watching my sister's kids is a little more effort than your everyday boys. Andrew has type 1 diabetes. I thought that with me wanting to go into nursing that I would do alright...but I really don't know much about giving shots or type 1 diabetes. So this morning when his sugar levels were low, and this afternoon when they were high, I was panicking that I was going to kill my sister's son! Thankfully...we made it! Giving the shots actually came really easily. I had to call poor Amy on vacation to help me calculate how much insulin to give him each time I gave him anything to eat, but since I was keeping him alive and healthy, she was ok with it. Sorry Amy. :(
Besides the fact that each of the babies had like 4 stinky diapers today and Landon had two accidents (too much fun at my house I guess!) we had a fun fun day! We went to the park since it was nice weather.(I forgot my camera) That was an adventure! For any of you that think about taking 5 kids to the park, two being babies...you might want an extra set of hands for help...but they were really good and we all had fun. Then we came back and jumped in the tub (only because of the accident) and then had a PIZZA PARTY! Yeah, I know! I'm the coolest aunt. After the pizza we watched Cars. Ok, not the coolest, I made them sit at the table to eat and we only watched the movie after they were done. :) Here are the pics of our fun night!

Pizza party at aunt Kimmie's house!

Ty making a mess...what's new? Hmm...I hope Ricky doesn't see the pink bowl, I will get in trouble! oops...sorry buddy!

Getting ready for movie night!! On today's menu...Cars!

Andrew...NOT camera shy!
Landon! This is what you get when you tell a 3 yr old to say cheese.
Kassi...ya she just wouldn't look at me....if she saw this pic she would say "it's scary Kassi!" haha
They practically sat on top of each other the whole movie...taking turns of who was on top of course
So much for looking at me for a pic...they are obviously watching the movie at this point!

What a fun weekend! Great kids, lots and lots of fun!!

Day 1

My amazing older sister Amy has been married for over 6 years. She has a loving husband and three beautiful boys, Andrew age 5, Landon age 3, and Trevor age 11 1/2 months. In those 6+ she has NEVER taken a day off. Ok...maybe a day, but she has never left the kids overnight for any reason besides being in the hospital to have more babies! :) Aaron, my brother in law, has a medical convention in Las Vegas this weekend...no kids invited! So today I met my sister in Salt Lake, loaded all 5 car seats into my car (thank Heaven I have a huge gas guzzler!) and brought the kids to my house for a few days! How fun! The night started out so fun. The cousins all played and ran around the house, laughed, sang, and had a super good time together! (they don't see eachother often enough) As the evening wore on, the overwhelming appearance of exhaustion took over, but going to bed was still pretty easy, and I have survived the first day. We'll see how everyone sleeps...so far so good! :) It was a pretty crazy night though too...Kassi and Tyler both experienced some "firsts"...


Trevor, Landon, Tyler, and Andrew...all 4 boy cousins! So cute....poor (spoiled) Kassi :)

Trevor LOVED my tupperware...

The babies had so much fun pushing it all over my house (don't look at my ungly kitchen floor! can you say new flooring w/ tax returns?!)

Cute, cute cute!!!

Ok...so Kassi has helped me make those sugar cookies that you just have to put on the pan and bake. She has fun doing it! I let her help me tonight...and yeah....she decided she likes cookie dough! Out of the 9 she put on the pan she took bites out of 7!! I think she will need a little more supervision from now on! :)

Remember how I said Tyler being a monkey was very appropriate? Yes, he is sitting on top of Kassi's table. He can climb up there FAST too. I turn my back for a second and there he is! I thought that was bad enough, but then...

Little stinker! I thought this pic was pretty funny cause it looks like he's singing on a stage. Boys... :)

So we made it through the first day...I will be sure to post about tomorrow as well....goodnight!

New Addition to the Family :)

Ricky and I are so excited to announce that we will soon be welcoming a new member to our family!!! Last night we bought a piano! ;) We have been wanting one since we got married and it just hasn't happened. Last night I had about a half hour before I could put the kids to bed, and jumped online to dream. Living in Tremonton, the idea of driving very far isn't so attractive, so I was about to give up. Then I saw it....Tremonton! I called and left a message. I then went and started brushing kids' teeth to get ready for bed. She called me back. She said that she has dropped the price so many times because she is having a hard time selling it. See, like me, people don't want to have to drive all the way to Tremonton. So, it was down to $300. We could totally do that! I told her I was very interested, but since I wasn't REALLY looking to buy a piano right now I was going to have to think about it and I would call her in the morning.
Less than 20 min later, she called me back. Apparently another local had called her and wanted to go look at it in the morning. I babysit on Tuesdays, so the earliest I could get over there would be around 4. My heart sank. By now it was 8:30 and the kids usually are in bed at 8, but were still up....SO, I asked if I could come look at it right now! She agreed. She actually lives in my parents-in-law's ward and my mother in law is an excellend pianist, so I picked her up on the way. Kids and I in our pajamas and ready for bed, we went to check out the piano. My mother in law sat and played a little bit, inspected it, and told me it was a steal at $300. So, I wrote the check and sealed the deal before I left the house! I wasn't about to let some other person get the deal before me. I couldn't believe that after having it for sale for over 3 months that there were 2 of us that called the same night!! I had to make a quick decision. I didn't even talk to Ricky about it until after it was a done deal. :) He was really excited, as I knew he would be! Now I just have to wait until Friday when Ricky comes home from WY so I can actually have it moved to my house! Here it is!!

Quirks

Quirks

Here are the rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you, thanks Jen...
2. Mention rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
5. Leave a comment to let them know.


1. I am oc about our money. Seriously. People who know how obsessed I am probably make fun of me so much! I check our account at LEAST once a day. I always know exactly to the penny how much money we have in the bank. I keep a register and record everything. Ricky was probably pretty annoyed when we first got married and I required his receipts from every purchase he made that day, but I think he's used to it by now. I also keep a register for our credit card. I guess I just want to know that every single purchase is legit and I want to know exactly what our payoff is. I used to keep a register for our savings, but since I check our accounts every day and nothing comes OUT of savings, I decided this was pointless.

2. I can only chew gum for a few minutes. If I have a piece of gum in my mouth for longer than five or ten minutes my jaw hurts and really I am just sick of chewing it. Again, Ricky probably is annoyed that I "waste" so much gum, but I don't chew it very often.

3. I LOVE being pregnant and having babies! :) I debated for a long time whether or not this counted as something weird...but I think most women probably think this is pretty abnormal. I love the feeling of the cute little bump. From the time I find out I'm pregnant I always lie down and try to feel my enlarging uterus. I just love it! I love when you can start feeling the baby move, and kick and hiccup! I love giving birth and having that brand new baby in my arms. (this may only be because I've never had any serious complications and could change in the future...)

4. I am always baby hungry! I really hope this goes away SOMEDAY or I'll end up with like 20 kids! This is really unfortunate since I love being pregnant. For reals, I have to talk myself out of getting pregnant and having another baby ALL THE TIME!! It's hard, cause if I were to tell Ricky that I wanted another baby, he would be all for it, all the time! He loves being a dad and can't wait to bring more sweet spirits into the world, so it's all up to me to convince myself that we need to wait. It kinda gets annoying. Instead of convincing myself to have another baby I have to convince myself that I'm not really ready. Hello! I have a 2 1/2 yr old and a 1 yr old (just barely!) I still have 2 in diapers!! I know...we're nuts.

5. I hate other people's feet. I could never touch them! I babysit occasionally and decided to paint the girls' toenails. I trimmed Kassi's toes (she's my daughter...it's different) and then I thought for sure there was no way I was going to trim the other little girls, but they were really long and needed it. :( It was seriously one of the hardest things I've done in my life! On the other hand, I trim my toe nails and scrub/lotion up my feet every night before I go to bed. ??

6. I brush my teeth all the time. I brush them at least 3 times a day, more if I leave the house. I HATE the feeling of anything on them or if I feel like I don't have fresh breath. Ricky really makes fun of me for this one, but at least my mouth is always clean!

7. Ricky and I don't ever really fight. He is SO laid back and easy going. He is the best and easiest husband ever! Being married is so natural for us because he is SO good to me!! Our first year, which most people say is the hardest, was so easy and natural...and after 4 years, they have only gotten better. If we pay all the bills and only have $50 for groceries for the next 2 weeks, he just thinks it's great that we can pay all our bills. He is perfect for me since I stress about everything! The only time we ever really have a disagreement is when I think he doesn't care ENOUGH! :) What a great guy! Since I despise contention...Ricky is a perfect fit for me! Thanks babe for being so great!

8. I have always wanted to be in a beauty pageant. haha. I know! I'm not sure WHY, but the idea has always intrigued me. Ever since I was like 10! I thought when I got married my chances were gone forever, but oh no! They have Mrs. Utah pageants, and you don't have to have a talent! Oh ya! I've looked into it. Little crazy since I don't consider myself real "beauty pageant material", but don't to be too surprised if I do it someday just so I can stop thinking about doing it! Wow...I never thought I'd let my little secret out! haha!

oops...I was only supposed to do 6, oh well!

I tag: Charise, Karen, Shaunna, Kallee, Bonnie, & Loretta :)

Birthdays!

The last couple of years, my birthday has been a "special day" in one way or another. Two years ago, my Great Grandpa Stromberg, whom I was close to passed away. At first this seemed like really bad timing. I was so sad that it happened on my 21st birthday. However, as time passed and I thought about it more, it now seems like a special connection that he and I share. On the same day, we both stepped through the veil...just different ends of it.
Last year, my birthday was on a Sunday. Tyler had been born on September 27, so he was just over a month old. It worked out perfectly to bless my beautiful infant son on my 22nd birthday. This was very special to me. Both sides of my family were able to gather together to join the celebration of his birth, and nothing could have been a better birthday present! That was a great day!
This year, it was "special" in a different sense of the meaning. Yesterday, we were able to cast our votes for a new President of our country. All year people have been counting down to Nov. 4th. For me, they were just reminding me how many days until my birthday! :) I had an enjoyable day, amid the election chaos.
Birthdays are your special day, and I've been so grateful to share my special day with so many historic events, both personally and nationally. However, I think I am excited for next year to have the day to myself!

Halloween fun!

Halloween with a 2 1/2 year old is SO MUCH FUN! It really started Thursday when I took her to dance and she was allowed to dress up. To make a long story short, she wore her costume all day Thursday and we had to convince her to put her pajamas on for bed. First thing Friday morning..."where Tinkerbell?" So I let her wear it all day Friday too. She loved dressing up and she even held really still while I put her hair up into "Tinkerbell bun". As for the trick-or-treating...she did really well. The first couple of times she thought it was "scary" but once she realized that they were going to give her candy it didn't take long to catch on! Tyler thought it was great too, I guess. He mostly rode in the stroller, but he was a super cute little monkey and was really good the whole time. We had a fun fun evening!

My cute little TinkerbellTyler the monkey....SO appropriate!

Ricky was a cowboy and I was the devil...not so fitting since I really am an angel! :) haha

Proud papa with his cute kids!

Our family for Halloween 2008...aren't we cute?! (and for those of you wondering...yes, Kassi is picking her nose! haha...life with a 2 year old!)