Free Poop!!!

Haha. Guess what Chad and I got to spend our beautiful Saturday doing. That's right. Shoveling free poop. Ewwww. Why you might ask? Well, let me tell you. We turned our soil over for the garden last year, which helped the soil a ton this year... but it's still not quite where we want it to be. So we called up some nurseries for pricing on organic compost (poop) and you would not believe what they charge! So we got on Craigslist and sure enough... someone wanted to get rid of their poop for free! Yippee! So we got to drive out and spend the day with lambs (Jaedyn was a big fan), shoveling poop, and getting all stinky. Our strawberries are gonna be great though! (we'll just have to be sure to wash well before we eat!)

Happy Anniversary!

The exciting news is that we won the Anniversary Give Away this morning on the radio AGAIN!! Thank you KUPI! Woo hoo! Last year I went for my prime rib dinner 3 days before giving birth so I was 5 days shy of being 9 months pregnant. You can bet I'm gonna enjoy the dinner much more this year with my larger stomach capacity! hehe. We'll probably end up walking the greenbelt twice this time to ease the guilt (once was all I could handle last year)!

Well our anniversary was actually yesterday but I didn't get around to blogging about it then. Chad started off the day bringing me breakfast in bed! He had to work and I didn't, but he brought me breakfast... yummy crepes and orange juice. What a sweetie. We splurged on some steaks earlier this week and grilled them last night for dinner. I think Jaedyn was a little confused why she wasn't getting any food off of our plates this time but seemed content with her graham crackers. 

We have spent 4 years together. 4 interesting years: This has been the first year that one of us hasn't been in school (unless you count the grade school) and it has been wonderful! Chad has recently been considering going to grad school so we'll see how long it lasts. 4 happy years: I really have been happy! Chad has helped me fulfill so many dreams. I really am content with my life as it is now. 4 fun/funny years: Chad has a special way of making me laugh like noone else can. He has a very unique sense of humor, all who know him I think would agree. 4 loving years: There's something special about finding someone who will love you as you are, and take the good with the bad. Who loves you even when you spent half the day in your pajamas and your only accomplishment has been several chapters in a good book. 4 successful years: They've been years full of many achievements. We both graduated college, backpacked the Grand Canyon, both got new jobs in our careers of choice, bought a new home, and of course the pinnacle: Jaeydn joined our family. 

I'm very blessed to have such a man in my life. Chad is very good to me and to our daughter and I'm very grateful for his patience! Especially cuz I often lack it!

Bathtime Fun!

It's funny the many different views we obtain on certain things as we grow older. Who of you has taken a bath for fun lately? Um, is there such a thing? Every child loves bathtime and gets excited at the prospect, I'm sure when we were children we did too. Now however when I think of "bath" I think of a warm bath, relaxation, head laid back with eyes closed, maybe some bubbles, and an attempt to forget a stressful day. Would that we could return to the innocence of our youth...

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone! I hope the Holiday was enjoyable for everyone! Jaedyn sure had a fun time. We talked about the meaning of Easter on Sunday morning (not sure how much she got out of that). Then Sunday afternoon we had a little easter-egg hunt in our living room for her. We filled 6 little plastic eggs with graduates and pieces of graham cracker and then our intention was for Jaedyn to crawl around to each egg. Wellllll it sort of worked. Jaedyn was excited about the eggs but she had a hard time getting to them. The problem was that her little Easter dress was too long! She would try to crawl and she would get caught up in her dress. So she would boost her little fanny in the air and try to elephant walk and she would walk right up into her dress. Poor thing. We finally hiked the sucker up around her waist and aided her in her endeavors. She sure looked cute though, we couldn't resist a mini photo shoot.

ROOMIES!!!

Okay, I have been efficiently reprimanded. I apologize for my inaccurate entry on March Madness. The month was so crazy that I forgot 2 very important events (but the one about my brothers and their families coming to visit from DC and Vegas was mentioned previously... unfortunately I somehow have ZERO pictures from the get together. How does that happen?!) The other was the very IMPORTANT roomate reunion. The first weekend in March, my roomates from my sophomore year of college got together here in Idaho Falls, all except one who was in OK (We missed you Megan!). Alisha came from Texas, Trenda from SLC, Stephenie from Rigby, and Krystal and I traveled all of a couple of blocks! It was really fun to see them and fun to be together. I'll put a plug in for blogger.com now because though it had been years since we had all been together like that, we were all up to date with events in each other's lives including watching each other's kids grow up! It seemed in may ways as if no time had passed at all! Pictured are L to R: Krystal (Monson) Robertson, Alisha (Partridge) Oldroyd, Angela (Boyd) Cronin, Stephenie (Bennett) Markham, Trenda (Williams) Poulter.

Have I ever mentioned how amazing my roomates were in college? Krystal was such a happy roomate, literally ALWAYS a smile on her face, I don't know how she did it! She was genuinely happy all the time. Alisha was smart, still is. As we got together she told us stories of things that have recently occurred... she is witty! I envy that! I'm the type of person who stays up at night and it suddenly dawns on me, "that's what I should have said!" Not so with Alisha. Stephenie, one word, funny! Always a party with Stephenie around. I used to tell her, "I'm only funny when you're around", she brings out the fun in everyone. Trenda was my drill sargeant. haha. She is a salad-eating, work-out nazi! She taught me how to kick my rear in gear and never let me sleep in in the morning. Didn't matter how late we had stayed up, she would get me up to work out. Megan (not pictured... we really did miss you!) was totally laid back and always up for anything, you name it. I wish I could have learned more from her about that.

Thanks you guys for an unforgettable experience! *I think it's really funny how in two separate places somehow we lined up for pictures in the exact same order.

More Birthdays!

Last weekend we drove out to my parents to celebrate Dad's birthday. My dad is one of my heroes. I don't know if I've always appreciated the advice he had to give, but I know I value it now and did even as a teenager. My Dad came into my life when I was 2 years old so I don't remember life without him, maybe that's why I used to take the monstrous task he took on, for granted. In recent years however I've dwelt upon what it was he did for my family and have come to have a great respect, love, and appreciation for his role in my life.
For his birthday this year I wanted to do something special, something I've wanted to do for a long time. I spoke to Chad about it and he agreed that this year was the year. Many years ago my Dad had a picture that he loved. It was called "Prayer at Valley Forge". My dad is a huge history buff and this picture is one of George Washington kneeling beside his horse praying. This picture held a lot of significance for him. He had it hanging in his office and one of his employees fell in love with this picture. When my dad had to let her go, he took this picture off the wall and gave it to her to soften the blow. And that's my dad. Ever since I heard the story of how he lost this picture I have wanted to replace it for him.
And because I can't blog without posting a picture of Jaedyn, here is one with grandma at the birthday party.

Trip to Denver

What a fabulous place to live! I am muy impressed! And Natalie and Zach were the perfect hosts keeping us busy and providing lots of entertainment. I found myself really enjoying the mini vacation and only wishing I didn't have to go back to work (but who doesn't?)

We left for Colorado at about 3pm and drove straight through stopping for gas, and once to feed Jaedyn. We got in about 12:30 am and stayed up visiting until about 3. True to form, Jaedyn woke up at 7 the next morning, little stinker. Though I can't be too hard on her cuz she hardly made a peep the entire 9 1/2 hour drive.

Saturday we played a little tennis at the courts near their home. Who plays? Not I! But I played anyway and had a lot of fun. Maybe it was the sport, maybe the company, or maybe just the fact that the sun was shining and it was such a beautiful day, but I really didn't want to quit!

Later that afternoon we went hiking outside of Boulder. What a place! It was a beautiful hike. Only 3 miles but pretty steep. A few of us were joking that mountains kept hiding behind other mountains. Everytime we thought we were close to the summit, another would peak out at us. I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't sore the next day. I'd like to thank my work out buddies for this!Sunday we went to church for Jane's baby blessing. Zach did a wonderful job and Jane looked so precious in her little outfit. I'm kicking myself that I missed the photo op with her in her dress. My mother-in-law made it out of the fabric from her wedding dress! But here Jaedyn is loving on her new cousin Jane. I was amazed with how responsive she was to a baby.

We left Monday morning to drive home. What was the forecast before we left to drive to Colorado? Sunny. What did I do the day before we left? Had the snowtires taken off my car. What was the weather like on the way home? CRAPPY!!!They closed the freeway up through Laramie but didn't let us know til we were to Cheyenne. The we had to back track to go up this little highway the yes was open but I'm not so sure it should've been. When we stopped for gas there was an inch and a half of rough ice all over the car. The pix don't even do it justice. Take a gander at the antenna of the car. It took 3 extra hours to get home. Poor Valerie drove through a white-out around Lava. Yeah that's right, the storm was all the way up through Lava. I never want to drive another place ever again. It was ridiculous!

But we made it home safe and sound and said long prayers of gratitude that night! We were all so exhausted we went straight to bed when we got home. Jaedyn was so glad to be in her own room and looked so happy to see her crib. I identified with her when I walked into my own room and say my bed. Though the king size bed at the hotel was quite luxurious, I was very grateful to not have to share my bed with a my 10 month old anymore...she is one bed hog!!

Happy Birthday

Right before Chad's birthday I got a call from some good friends telling me that Brian Regan was performing in Blackfoot. Who is Brian Regan? He is a comedian that Chad and I were introduced to last year that is absolutely hilarious. Seriously, his act "I Walked on the Moon" about sent me into labor because I was laughing so hard. (I was 9 months and was really disappointed that it didn't). Anway, I was really excited about sending Chad to a live performance but to make a long story short the tickets were all sold out and my "perfect gift" fell short of the mark.However, I was able to come up with an alternate plan and got him the DVDs instead, so now he can watch Regan over and over again. So the Sat before his birthday, my parents came up and Chad's sister Valerie and her husband Louis came down from Rexburg and had ice cream and watched Brian Regan. Thanks for coming guys! (I love how Chad looks like it's all he ever wanted).

The next day Jonathan, my little-big brother came down from Rexburg for a combo birthday (his was on the 7th and Chad's was on the 8th). We had navajo tacos and lots more company than we originally expected. It's kind of funny how it happened actually but Jonathan brought a bunch of his friends from school and we had a few friends over with my parents. We scrambled at the end to make more dough but managed to feed everyone. If anyone left with empty bellies it was their own fault because there was plenty of food! You can see Chad and Jonathan blowing the candles out on their cakes. It was a lot of fun. A full house, a loud house, but a lot of fun.

March Madness

No really. March was a month of Madness, I don't think I care to ever repeat it! So sorry everybody for the lack of updates on my blog but I have been going crazy trying to make sure everything got done when it needed to. Let's see, We had a birthday party for Chad on the 7th and then a birthday party for Chad and Jonathan on the 8th. Our babysitter was gone the first week in March to Disneyland (wish I could have escaped!). The next two weeks I had the office to myself while the Dr went on a couple of trips. Chad had Spring Break. We bought a car (SUV rather... and I can't wait for the good weather to take advantage!). Took a road trip to Denver for a baby blessing. Renewed our Temple recommends. Had a birthday party for my Dad on the 28th. Helped them move a house full of junk to the dump (my mom wishes more of it went to the dump... literally a house full, don't ask me to go into details... it was disgusting!). Ummm gosh, it really doesn't look that busy putting it in writing but each of these items in the list included a lot of time and rearranging of normal schedules. I don't know, maybe I'm not equipped to handle a lot but it really felt busy. We were gone every single weekend this month. I am looking forward to just hanging out at home in my pajamas this weekend! Oh yeah, and General Conference! I don't even have to teach a primary lesson this weekend! I am going to soak it up!!