10 YEARS

So today is officially ten years of wedded bliss! Anyone who's been married that long knows how true and untrue that is. I just got back from my breakfast at Crackers & Co. with my hubby and it did not disappoint. Bret has taken the day off work today to spend with me, that is my gift for today (best one, I must say). I've decided to borrow (steal) from my sister's blog and list ten things I've loved about my marriage and Bret throughout these 10 years:
1) We are an eternal family.
2) Bret's ultimate goal is to make his family happy.
3) Bret is a great provider. All of our needs are met and then some.
4) We've built up a Heaven on earth with our 3 little ones (this changes from day to day depending on the chillins) ; )
5) He does everything he can to allow me to play volleyball at the church every Thursday.
6) He used to go to the trouble of cutting out my section of the newspaper from his section that he takes to work. Now my comics/puzzles are separate from his sports, but he always remembers to leave them home for me!
7) I love, love, love his blue eyes (and that all of my kids have followed suit).
8) He's a do-er. The man cannot sit still. This can be a double edged sword, but I'll take it over the alternative any day!
9) He keeps our yard looking immaculate and has turned out to be quite the green thumb (I wish I could say the same of me about my house, but no). I love laying out on that grass and watching my kids play!
10) He's not too shabby on the eyes. Too much? I don't think so!

Happy Anniversary, Babe!

Bret, Bret, Bret...

Everyone knows how I love surprises....er, uh love ruining surprises. Bret has pulled off another! Our 10th anniversary is quickly coming and he is doing the 10 days of our anniversary leading up to the actual day. Collective awwww! I woke up last Wednesday to a dozen red roses and a card. The day after it was chocolates, the next some pedicure gift cards. Saturday I scored an i-tunes gift card, and Sunday was breakfast in bed.

This morning he called to tell me he forgot and will give it to me this evening, unless I get to it first! Just kidding. I know he's worked hard on this, so I'll let it be a surprise, but you just don't know the temptation I'm fighting right now. It's almost as if he wants me to find out. He left the list of gifts open on the computer and I closed it without looking. Anyone who knows me, knows how difficult that was. Maybe he really wants me to find it...I should be looking for that gift right now, just to make him happy...really, I should. Or maybe I'll go make him some snickerdoodles to belay the temptation. He'll have my decision when he gets home...will there be snickerdoodles or not??!

He's a Big Kid Now

Our little Aiden is growing up! On Saturday Bret taught Aiden how to ride his bike without training wheels. He picked it up in like 2 minutes! I originally tried this about two months ago on his big bike but Aiden was having none of it. I decided this was a Dad's job so I left it to Bret.

Bret thought it would be better to try it on his small bike first and work his way up to his bigger bike. So far, Bret was right (and you won't hear those words coming out of my mouth very often). Just look at this kid go!

Pay no attention to the fact that his knees are practically hitting the handlebars as he rides; he's riding with only two wheels! It was quite cute, you should have seen the look of concentration on his face!

And his friend, Cade, was there for moral support. And Miss Mae, catching the action and some rays. By the by, she's sitting up now all by herself! We're still waiting on the hair. She's got some growing in back as you can see, but not so much on top. It's official, the mullet is on its way. What can I say, white trash begets white trash. He he.

Now, we just have to teach Grayson to use the pedals on his trike...in his cut-off shorts...and shoeless. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have giggled at the white trash comment.

Quite a Weekend

So Grayson puked all over Bret on Friday night while we were at my mom's house playing games. By the time we got him home he had a fever and chills. We spent the rest of that night waking up every 2 hours to clean up more vomit. By Saturday the vomitting had subsided but the fever persisted. Medicine would rarely bring it down and he just laid around all day (needless to say we watched A LOT of Cars). Saturday evening he was acting fine and playing with the neighbor kids. But that night he was back to being miserable and constantly up. Sunday went much the same way, but that night the puking started again. At around 10:30 Sunday night we decided to take Gray into the ER at Gilbert Hospital. His breathing had changed and he seemed in far too much discomfort. Bret took him in while I stayed home in case Mabel woke up and wanted to eat. They ran a few tests on him and it came back that he had Pneumonia!! I was thinking strep throat, ear infection...something along those lines, but no, it was pneumonia. I am truly grateful that we decided to take him in! They put him on some antibiotics and he's back to the old Gray again...fighting with his brother.

Funny side note- John, Todd, Kendra, Jay, and I took my mom out to dinner Monday night for her's and Dad's anniversary. Kendra had called to see if we were going and I told her Gray had pneumonia, but was doing better so I thought we could make it (we ended up thinking better of that idea so I went alone). Kendra e-mailed John, Todd and Kristin about it but said Grayson had ammonia. Todd replied, "Grayson has ammonia?" And Kendra replied, "That's what I said!" To her credit, she said she typed it right the first time but it looked wrong so she changed it. But I still can't figure out why she got sassy when Todd (in his usual loving mocking way) called her on it??? Good times, good times. Love ya Kenj!

A Boy and his Dog

When no one was watching...

Pillows, Corners, and Camera piggies.

First of all, as I download these pictures I have to ask, what is the deal with my kids?! They are such camera hogs! I try to take a candid picture of them and they immediately start posing...and it's not good posing either. Exhibit A:

They stand up, stick straight, with their fake grins. I get one shot and one shot only at a picture of them doing something...sometimes not even that. I'll go for the camera and I turn around, and there are my posers! This is not good for someone like me who is not so good with a camera. Well, at least Aiden is mixing it up a bit with his poses now. He will at least point to the object intended to be photographed, but he's gotta be in it (as seen in the Valentine's decoration picture previously posted, otherwise known as Exhibit B).

Second of all, my intention for taking these pictures. I wanted to show you in Gray's picture what I deal with by having a pillow back couch. If ever you are tempted to buy a pillow-back couch, I say DO NOT DO IT!! For some reason (Bret) my kids think it's great to pull all the cushions off of the couch and put them on the ground to lay on whilst watching TV. Heaven forbid they actually lay on the couch! I have picked these pillows up more times than I care to share.

And this picture was titled: "Noboby puts Baby in a corner." (Is it sad that that's the first thing that came to mind as I was snapping this? Do you even know what that's from? Of course you do, who doesn't?)

Any time I leave Miss Mabel laying on the ground, she eventually ends up in the corner. I like to think it's on purpose because that's where the toys are. Isn't she smart?!

And here's Exhibit C of CAMERA HOGS:

Aiden just had to be in the shot. "What?! is there a picture being taken that I'm not in????!!! Mommy, take my picture!" And so I tell him, "I did, Aiden." And he says, "Let me see it!" And I say, "Blast! Caught in my own web of lies." And I have to snap that one extra picture. Gotta love digital cameras. And I know what you're thinking...hey she got 2 shots without him in it. Oh, no, no. I took the first, he bolted over there to get in the picture, so I got some with his feet and legs and such, and then I waited. Like the master mind that I am, I waited. And when all was forgotten about picture snapping, I snapped again! Thank goodness Mae can't get out of the corner once she's gotten in.

Happy February to all you Lovers!

I had a request from Aiden to take a picture of our Valentine's Day decorations and put them on his blog. He thinks that because his cousins have blogs he should too. Thanks a bunch Maddy, Karli, and Logan! And no, he is not getting a blog, so I will post them on my blog and that's just going to have to be good enough.