A Tribute to a Real Hero

A hero, as defined by dictionary.com, is a man (or woman :) of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his (or her) brave deeds and noble qualities. When we think of heroes, we tend to think of athletes, firemen, doctors, or other notable professions. Or, if you are a three-year-old-girl, you may think of Princesses, such as Cinderella or Belle as 'heroes' (although hardly heroes, they are more like helpless damsels in distress, but these are the things that my 3-year-old aspires to at this point in her life :) We sometimes overlook the everyday heroes, the people in our life who mean the most to us who, as the definition of heroes describes, display 'distinguished courage' and 'noble qualities.' When asked who my hero is, I without hesitation will tell you that my hero is my darling mother-in-law, Sharon. In the almost 7 years (wow, time flies!) that I have known her, I have grown more and more convinced that I could only hope to pattern my life after hers. I have never met anyone with more love, compassion, and concern for every person that they come in contact with. The only word to truly describe it is charity, the pure love of Christ. Through watching her, I have learned just what that really means. She is a wonderful mother, and of course by her fruits this is evident. All four of her children (Matt included, most days :) are wonderful, sweet tributes to her life and love. She is a devoted grandmother to her 10 grandchildren, she has rarely missed a soccer game, football game, school play, or ballet recital. She has such a fun spirit, and a love for life - she even volunteers to ride the teacups with the grandkids EVERY Disneyland trip (since mom and dad can't handle the spinning :), how many grandma's would do that? She also maintains a talent that is almost lost to this world of modern conveniences, she writes letters. I have a shoebox full of cute cards and letters that I have received from Sharon over the years. Letters of thanks, letters of love, and sometimes just a cute little note in the mail to say 'have a good day.' We tease her that she is keeping Hallmark in business; you see I am not the only one blessed by her dedicated letter-writing. She religiously sent Matt letters every week (or more) on his mission, her neighbors, my high-school best friend (and her parents), and my aunt (whom she has only met once or twice) have all received letters from this sweet woman. She and Frank served a mission in 2005-06, and since have received wedding invites, visits, cards, phone-calls, and letters from so many of the missionaries who loved them so much. She truly goes beyond the mark to make everyone around her feel loved and important. She welcomed me into their family from the first moment I entered their home (when Matt and I were very first dating). She loved and accepted me and made me feel like her own daughter, loving and accepting me for who I am (all of my quirks included :). She is the one I call when I need a pick-me-up, and of course we find every excuse to visit them (how many people can say that of their in-laws? :) In September of 2007 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. For me this came as a reality check, that this angel of a woman was subject to the challenges of mortality. Through it all, she was such a brave example to our family. Although she was sick and couldn't attend some of the grandchildren's events, she was always sure to call (no matter how she felt), and ask how everyone ELSE was doing, without concern for herself. A true measure of her wonderful life is evident in the cards, letters, flowers, phone-calls, and visitors that came pouring in as word spread of her illness. Anytime we would visit her in her home, the phone rang continually and at least 3 or 4 visitors came by to express love and concern - almost to the point where the poor woman couldn't get any rest! With the love and support of her family and friends, as well as her strong fighting spirit, she was able to fight through the chemo treatments. She is now regaining energy daily, and is of course back to her dedicated work of serving others. I have never been good with words (I can write MUCH better than I can speak), but I wanted her to know just how much I love her and how thankful I am for her. I feel so blessed that my children have such a hero to look up to, and to aspire to emulate. Here's to a wonderful mother, loving grandmother, inspired friend, cancer survivor, and a real true hero. We are so grateful to have her in our lives as a wonderful example of strength, faith, and true charity. We love you Sharon! Happy Birthday!

Good Clean Fun!

We do a babysitting co-op on Friday nights for 'Date-night' with a few couples from the ward (and the old ward :). We have LOVED it! One couple watches all of the kids for 3 1/2 hours every Friday night on a rotating schedule, which allows for everyone to have consistant date-nights out with our husbands. We were never very good a scheduling babysitters, so this has worked out to be SO convenient. We have done it for over a year now with the same couples, so by now the kids are so used to seeing each other every Friday, they have all become such good friends (and we have had so much fun wathching them grow up so fast!). Last night we played outside for awhile, but the kids were disappointed that we had emptied out the sandbox (the lid have been left off, so most of the sand had blown away, but what was left was pretty gross, so we dumped it). We'll get new sand in the spring, but for now it's empty. The kids all wanted to play with the sand toys, but that's not very fun without sand. I had an idea - uh-oh :). I pulled out a couple of empty shallow under-bed storage containers and put them on the picnic table, then filled them with a few inches of water. The kids then played with the sand toys in the water, filling buckets, sifting water, and having fun. Yea for moments of genius! It provided a good hour of entertainment for six kids! Another favorite game was to play 'monkeys' on the jungle gym (shown in the back left corner of the photo). The zookeeper had to keep all of the 'monkeys' in the 'cage' - which proved to be very entertaining for Matt and I, as well as the kids. I tried to take pictures of that game, too, but it was getting dark and they didn't turn out. Anyway, thought I'd share my easy cheap entertainment idea :)

What she's doing now...

As I mentioned, I haven't had as much time for 'real' blogging lately, so no deep thoughts today. We have been super-busy (as well as TV-free), but I wanted to keep the family (and friends) updated on the kiddos. The next couple of posts are VERY brief updates on Mason and McKinley. Kinley is very excited for her 4th Birthday (which is STILL almost 2 months away!), and she is LOVING preschool. Today was Evelin's turn to teach, and she did an AWESOME job! They learned all about camping, played in a tepee-style tent, and made cute 'campfire' pictures with tissue paper, grass, rocks, and leaves - SO FUN! Kinley was SO proud of her picture, she wanted me to take a photo of her with it. Mason's not one to be left out, so he held up her picture of the letter "D" from when Kinley learned about Dinosaurs (by the way, Kinley is wearing her PJ's, not a dress-up-dress, she refuses to even wear jammies that involve pants - such a little princess!). I was a little hesitant to do the neighborhood preschool thing, but I am so glad I did, all of the parents have been such great teachers, Kinley comes home and tells me all about what they learn each week. She is growing up way too fast! She loves to read with mom, look at books, play Barbies (she can play Barbies for HOURS and make up elaborate stories with them), help cook, and take care of Mason - she even goes into his room in the morning and helps him out of his bed while I finish getting dressed for the day. She is such a big help, and SO much fun! She may have gotten a little bit of her Daddy's daredevil spirit, though, she has NO fear of pretty much anything! She climbs on and jumps off of anything she can find, every day I cross my fingers and hope we can make it just another day without visiting the ER :). She is such a fun-loving free spirit, though, so we can't help but laugh as we scold her. We are so grateful to have her!

Mary Poppins, here I come...

Katie tagged me a LONG time ago, but I haven't had time to dump out my purse and photograph it. Well, here you go, this is the infamous 'carpet bag' - as Matt refers to it. Believe it or not, all of this stuff fits into this bag with room to spare :)Here's the rundown: Costco brand baby wipes, 2 tubes of the same mascara (not sure why I have 2 in there, but it IS something I can't live without), 3 tubes (in 3 different shades) of Victoria's Secret lipgloss (again, not sure why I need 3), 3 sets of keys (yes, they are ALL to the same car... are we seeing a pattern here? Sadly, with 3 sets of keys in my purse I STILL can never locate my keys when I am trying to unload groceries from my cart to the car), several gift cards (I pretty much collect them, I can never decided how to spend them), Trident Extra Care gum (for 'brushing' on the go :), wallet stuffed with receipts - do you think I should clean that out sometime?, hand sanitizer (of course, germ freak!), pens and pencils, ipod, camera (a must-have at all times), cloth diapers with carrying bags, epi-pen bag (a bag within a bag, it holds the epi-pen for Mason's food allergies, a list of what he's allergic to, Benadryl, syringe, chapstick, sunblock, and the emergency number to Mason's allergist - Mason is NEVER without this bag!), my to-do list (written on a piece of junk-mail, I need a PDA phone!), cell phone, umbrella, sippy cup, water bottle, a bag of goldfish crackers (not shown in photo, Mason took them away before I could get a shot), and lots of little crumbs and pieces of paper in the bottom of the diaper bag. Well, thanks to Katie, the crumbs are all cleaned out (and the fishies), and everything went back in the bag slightly more organized (for now). Now to pay it forward, I tag Janette B., Jossie, and Alecia. You're welcome :)

The Many Dramatic Faces of Mason

First of all, I had nothing to do with what he is wearing, he picked that out himself (with Kinley's help of course :). Mason gives the best grumpy faces, thought I'd share for the benefit of those who haven't had the 'pleasure' of making Mason mad! Lately Mason is bursting with personality! It's actually quite funny, especially since he still seems so little to me (he IS my baby :), but it does require a LOT of patience some days. He has to do EVERYTHING himself. I am not even allowed to try to help, he has to try for 10 minutes until he either succeeds or decides ON HIS OWN that he WANTS help. He has an opinion on what he wears (luckily he's not AS picky as Kinley, but he does care if he is wearing a baseball shirt or a football shirt - it has to be a sport, but ONLY the one HE chooses!). I think he may get his stubborn-ness from me. He really is such a sweet boy, and freely gives hugs and kisses to anyone who asks. We are so grateful for our little stud!

The Sweet Sound of Silence...

Well, I thought I would update you all on our TV-free zone. IT'S GREAT! We ACTUALLY spend time together as a family, enjoy our meals together, and TALK to each other. Okay, I exaggerate a little, we did those things before, but we do them a lot more now. The biggest bonus is the strange but welcome quiet. No background noise, no yelling, no muffled banter, no depressing newscasts, just conversation, and then quiet. I get up early and run, shower (sometimes :), and eat breakfast all before the kids are even awake. It's really great, but since I have already eaten, I usually pour the kids some Cheerios and McKinley turns on Curious George (or whatever is on at the moment) and zones into the tube while while I straighten the house (I know, if you have ever stopped by unannounced it doesn't look like I EVER straighten, but I promise I try, it's like pouring water in a sieve, you just keep trying :). This is what our breakfast table looks like now...NO more TV zombies!!! I love it! I still eat breakfast before they are awake, still pour them Cheerios that they eat while I straighten the house, but instead of TV they look at BOOKS! What a novel (hehe) idea! I pull out different books every morning and they spend their morning sharing books and pointing to the pictures rather than mindlessly watching television. That's not to say that there aren't benefits to educational television programs, but all in moderation, and we're not very good about the moderation part. Another bonus to the TV-free family room: less time spent in front of the TV equals less mess to clean up in the room. I rarely have toys to clean up in the family room, kitchen, or entry-way! Yea! However, I will say that the only 'negative' side-effect of the TV-free thing is that we have spent so much more 'quality' family time rather than TV time (games and books require more mom interaction than the TV, go figure :), that I have had less time for blogging - which explains my lack of posts since the Television Eulogy. Not that any of you have missed me, I won't kid myself into thinking that anybody's life revolves around my blog, but in case anyone cared (it's the people-pleaser in me) that was my attempt at an 'apology' :)

Look what the West Winds blew in...

Grandma and Uncle Ted! Hailing from warm sunny Southern California, Grandma and Ted stopped in for a quick visit. Grandma ran the Top of Utah Marathon (yeah, that's the full 26.2 miles, exactly two times the longest distance that I have ever run, impressive to say the least). She had a very quick busy trip, but we were so glad that they were able to come by and say 'hi', McKinley was so excited to see them! Here are a few photos:

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree :)

If you have ever been in our house then you know that we are HUGE Boston Red Sox fans (and by 'we' of course I mean mostly Matt :). Mason's whole bedroom is decorated with a Red Sox theme, and Matt lives and dies for October... especially when the Sox make the playoffs. Well, for this story there's something else altogether that you need to know first. Matt's mom is always on top of the news. She always cuts out articles about Matt's favorite sports teams, BYU, or anything else of interest and either hand-delivers or mails them to us (although we DO get the Deseret News, it's nice to get the 'reader's digest' version cut out and in the mail a few days later, we tend to miss the good articles in our hurry :). We have always kind of joked about it, although we do appreciate being thought of, and do enjoy the articles. And of course, if YOUR name is EVER in the paper, you know you will get at least a couple of copies cut out in the mail from Sharon. Well, the other day Matt brought me this article all nicely cut out. He had been at his parents that day, so naturally I assumed his mom had given it to him. He told me it was really good and that I had to read it. Okay, okay, I'll read it when I get a minute. I put it on my desk and forgot about it (ooops). Well, a couple of days later we had my in-laws over for dinner and Sharon walked in with the same article cut-out and in-hand. I was a little confused - did she forget that she already gave Matt that one? As it turns out, Matt was the one who had cut the article out to give to ME to read. And of course, Sharon followed through with the second copy. I thought it was so funny, after all of these years of teasing, Matt has turned out just like his cute mom! I had to snap a photo of the articles side-by-side because I thought it was so funny.

I finally read the article today, and I will admit it was a great feel-good article. It's nice to know that there ARE still athletes out there who are suitable role-models for our kids. Here's the article if you would like to read it:

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Mason Taylor, of Eagle Mountain, says he's going to play for the Boston Red Sox one day. He's only 10, so for now it's just daydreaming. But he believes in such things.
So when you ask if he wants to become a third baseman like Mike Lowell, of the Sox, he says proudly, "I am a third baseman."
A Little Leaguer, sure, but a third baseman just the same.
What gives his dream wings is that he has already stood on the grass at Fenway Park on game day and stared down the fabled Green Monster. Sat in the dugout in his Red Sox jersey, chewing gum and bantering with Schilling, Pedroia, Papelbon, Lowell and Ellsbury.
But while dreaming is free, getting there isn't. That's where the story of three kids who lost their father begins. The story of their mom, Traci, who lives for sons Mason, Weston, 9, and Jackson, 4, who is autistic. And how gracious fans and a legendary team helped in the best way they could.
If ever a team knew about dreaming, it would be the Red Sox.
After all, they waited 86 years to make theirs come true.

It's easy to assume most professional athletes are jerks. They're young, rich, famous, gifted, proud. Because of the headline-grabbing antics of loudmouths, troublemakers and lawbreakers, the good deeds tend to get overshadowed.
So you think, yeah, they must all be scum.
Then something happens and you realize they, too, have families and feelings. Like late August, when the Taylor family went to Boston. The trip was to fulfill a promise made by the dad, James Taylor Jr., a St. Marks Hospital emergency nurse who also worked part time on the Arizona helicopter medical staff. Taylor died this summer following a chopper crash while rescuing a man in the Grand Canyon.
Taylor loved his job, his family and the Red Sox. He had committed to one day taking his family to see his favorite team, having visited Fenway as an adult and seen its timeless allure.
When he died July 4, after several days in intensive care, it seemed the trip to Fenway would never happen. Mason said as much at his father's bedside.
But then fate, or perhaps something bigger than fate — Red Sox Nation — intervened. Taylor's sister, Laurie Brady, posted a letter on a fan forum, asking if someone could help get her nephews to a game. Funeral expenses and a single income had made it unlikely they would ever see the Green Monster in person.
But Sox fan Tom Nardozzi saw the message and quickly offered to buy eight box seats for the Taylors and some relatives. Soon donations were pouring in from Boston and other far-flung locations. JetBlue contributed round-trip plane tickets. A fan shop near Fenway donated jerseys, baseballs and other gear. A restaurant refused to charge them for meals.

Before it was over, the entire trip — meals, hotel, transportation, tickets — had been covered.
Despite the notion Red Sox fans care more about their team than anything in real life, that apparently isn't true.
That day they cared most about a family that was hurting.
They cared that a father's promise be kept.
The Sox had been briefed beforehand that the Taylors were coming, so when they arrived, the team made it special. Curt Schilling, out with a shoulder injury, handed each child an autographed Red Sox jersey. When Traci asked if Schilling could sign a photo of her husband "because he was part of the trip, too," Schilling humbly asked to keep the picture for himself. A sort of reminder of what real heroes do.
Weston and Mason were named honorary bat boys. The kids toured the field, posed for pictures with the mascot and checked out the batting cage.
Dustin Pedroia, Mason's favorite player, called out, "Hey, there, buddy!" before signing baseballs and the back of the boy's Red Sox shirt.
Others such as Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Lowell and Jacoby Ellsbury dropped by to sign autographs, pose for pictures and chat. Ellsbury put his arms around the boys.

"They were just regular guys who play baseball," said Traci.
Like his dad, Mason is a Red Sox fan for life. He already has baseball cards of Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and other famous Boston players. His room looks like it could be the Red Sox Hall of Fame.
It all should come in handy when he joins the Sox in a decade or so.
For now he wants to go to Florida for spring training. He might just get there, too. Dreams live.
Traci says she'll never be able to repay the Sox or their fans for their kindness.
"I'll never get tired of telling the story, what they did for us," she said. "I'll tell it to anyone who wants to hear."
And anyone who wants to dream.

To My Old Friend, So Long and Fare Thee Well...

I have an old friend, one whom many of you may know. We eagerly welcomed him into our home with open arms. We gave him a place to stay. We made him the focal point of our home. We listened to his advice, often staying up late into the night to hear him out. He entertained us, filled gaps in conversation, influenced our opinions, and gave our minds rest from thought. Well, old friend, your welcome has long-since worn out. Your voice became the loudest at the table, and dominated conversation. We allowed you to bring suggestions and words not suitable to little ears into our homes, right before our watchful eyes. We corrected you not. We not only tolerated, but embraced your extreme liberal opinions, silencing others to hear clearly. We protested not. And so it is, my old companion, that it is time to say goodbye. So long, JVC, and farewell. It is not your fault, you have much good to offer, but in moderation, and in another room maybe. I regret to say that you will not be missed at your place in the center of our home. We must retire you to a better place (on craigslist.com :). Your place has been filled with meaningful relationships, musical talents to be developed, culture, and reminders of the things that matter the most in our lives. I hope you understand, this is for the best for us all.
NOTE: No, we have not completely gotten rid of the TV (yes, this is what the post is about). We still have our bigscreen in the basement, but it is in it's own room, and not near where we eat dinner, cook, or spend the majority of our time. The other day Matt and I were reminiscing about our first 9 months here in our current home. We spent almost every day outside, even late into the evenings. We talked, played games, and spent quality time as a family. Then we remembered why. For the first 9 months that we lived here, our street was not set up for cable. We had NO TV. No antenna reception. No cable. Not even basic channels. Nada. It was GREAT! We complained, but we vowed that when we did get cable we would still watch it sparingly, and spend most of our time outside. No TV during dinner. Our kids would NOT watch PBS all morning. All good intentions, but alas they only lasted so long. And so it is that we realized one day that we had allowed the TV slowly over time to take over our lives. Finally it occured to us that we COULD just remove this disraction from the center of our existence. That is how we came to the conclusion that it was time for the good old TV to move on. And I will say, it has not been missed (although sadly, McKinley cried when we told her we were moving it out. That was a good indication that we were making a wise choice. She hasn't said anything about it since :).

Before: This was a photo taken by our realtor when we were considering selling our house last year - notice that the TV is ON during our house-showing photo, SAD!

After: Ahhh, much better!

What (NOT) to Wear!

The other day I sent McKinley to help Mason get dressed (we were in a hurry). They were in his room for awhile, so I went in to see how they were progressing. This is what I found :).Obviously Mason is thrilled about this. McKinley is working very hard to put his socks on.Mason's lovely ensemble. Notice the baseball necktie matches the baseball t-shirt. Gotta give the girl credit for that! The green argyle socks (size 6 months, maybe a little small?) are a little bit of a mystery, not sure what she was going for with those :).And now for the perfect shoes to complete the outfit! Watch out Stacy and Clinton, McKinley is rockin the fashion world!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

A friend of ours put together a neighborhood 'Old Mens' softball team to play in the local city league. Matt LOVES sports, and jumps at the chance to do anything active, especially softball. I go to the games, but I will be the first to admit that I am more interested in chatting with the other wives than watching the game (I have a short attention span ;). The other night I caught some photos of Matt playing and thought I'd share. What a STUD! Mason LOVES going to the games (as you can see in the photo :). Actually, the kids both love to watch their dad play! Mason was just mad because he spilled his M&M's on the ground :). It's the perfect time of year for softball right now (we have done leagues through the middle of summer in the sweltering heat), so we really have enjoyed watching our neighbors and friends out having a 'ball' (haha!) Way to go team!

The team after the game - they WON, can't you see how excited they are! :)

Backyard Adventures

Our kids LOVE to play in the backyard! They could spend hours out there creating adventures together. They were being silly on the teeter-totter the other night, so I nabbed a quick video of the monkeys at play. They are too funny! They live in their own little world. PS - I have no idea how McKinley knows who Hannah Montana is, she's never seen her show or anything (at least not that I know of), but she is obsessed with her. That's who she is pretending to be in the first video :)

Tough Crowd

I was trying to get a picture of Mason during lunch the other day, but he was NOT cooperating! He launched grapes at me while I tried to get a good photo. I managed at least one decent one while being pummeled by produce! By the way, we have NO idea what happened to his face! He was being tended last weekend and came home that way, no one knew what happened. He doesn't seem too bothered by it!

Validation, please

No, I'm not talking about parking validations, although don't get me started on how much I HATE dealing with parking validation downtown, especially at The Gateway! Anyhow, I am talking about life. I am talking about finding value and worth in yourself. We are raised, or rather 'trained' to need validation. As children we learned quickly that if we did something well, we received praise. We liked this idea. We would work harder and do even better to elicit more praise. As Paula quoted recently on her blog, "energy flows where attention goes." This applied in all areas of our lives. Play a new song on the piano, receive validation. 'A' grade on a paper, 100% on a test, first place in a track meet, promotion at work...validation, validation, validation, validation. Then, suddenly, some of us find ourselves in a wonderful position as a wife and mother. It's what we wanted, it's what makes us happy, but yet we are missing something. Validation. Let's face it, no three-year-old says 'you did a great job dealing with my melt-down at the grocery store today, thanks for not losing it.' There are no raises or promotions for excellent diaper-changing skills. I didn't realize it at first, but over time it became clear to me that I still needed that reassurance. I needed to feel like a valuable human being capable of contributing to society in a worth-while manner. The more women that I have the privilege of knowing, the more I realize that I am not alone in this. The more thought I put into it, the more I realized that there ARE ways for me to find validation in being a mom. I just had to dig a little deeper and recognize it in its different forms. No, I don't utilize my years of dance, I no longer know how to play the piano, I probably could not write a literary analysis paper (my forte) if my life depended on it, but the years that I spent learning and developing those skills are not wasted. I learned other skills through those. I learned how to work, how to make friends, developed character, developed a love for classic literature (even if half of it would go right over my head now :), these things are all a part of who I have become. My validation now comes in the form of a hug from my 2-year-old, a 'you're the best, mom' from my 3 1/2-year-old, a phone-call from a friend, a note from a neighbor, a blog comment (I recently ran across a blog that had titled the hit counter 'I Need Validation,' and I realized how true and honest that was). I realize now that the more involved I am, the more invested I become in the lives of my family and those around me, the more validation I feel. I will say that I do take some 'me time' to develop my 'talents' (okay, that's kind of a joke, but I TRY :), and that definitely helps, too. So, for those of you who (like me) have ever felt the 'what's the point?' new mom identity crisis, don't feel alone! Every day is not a praise-fest. There will definitely be bad days, days where you wipe sticky hand prints off of the entry wall for the 20th time that week and wonder if you are really doing anything beyond going through the robotic monotonous motions. But in the grand scheme of things, those are just moments, and fleeting at that. In the end, the measure of a life isn't determined by cooking skills, salary, marathon race-times, or 'baking the perfect bread' (as Brother Degn put it). The value of a life is seen by the lives you touch during this journey that we call mortality. Every now and then I have to stop and remember that! Thanks for putting up with me and my random thoughts, I have to write them down to make them make sense sometimes! Here's to being happy where you are at, here's to being comfortable in your own skin, and here's to FREE BLOG THERAPY :).

Free as a Snowbird

As a tradition, Matt and I rotate whose turn it is to plan our anniversary. This allows us to suprise each other without worrying that the other one will plan a suprise on the same day. It has worked out sooo well! This year was Matt's turn to plan (always scary when you have a man planning :). He did a great job, it was perfect! He arranged for our kids to stay with my sister-in-law (thanks a MILLION Kim, Darryl, and the gang)! We headed up to Snowbird (one of the ski resorts located in Little Cottonwood Canyon) to enjoy some time all to ourselves. It was like a short honeymoon all over again, who doesn't need that every now and then? :)

Matt sent me flowers while I was at Janette's house for lunch with the kids. Awww, how cute!

We went to dinner (by ourselves!) at The Aerie - look at that VIEW!

Matt was a little disappointed at the portion size, but the food was amazing! Quality, not quantity babe.
It almost looked too pretty to eat... almost!

On the deck at The Aerie - it was sooo beautiful up there, and such a perfect night!

We took the aerial tram to the top of the resort for a breathtaking view of the moutains and valleys. Unbelievable! The tram was pretty cool, although I will admit I was a little freaked out to be swinging in a little car (that could hold 125 people!) from cables above the canyon. It dropped us off at the top of the mountain where we hiked around, enjoyed the views, and took a million photos. The perfect afternoon!

Typical 'me' pose :)

Matt tried to figure out the timer on our digital SLR for 20 minutes. He had it set up on this rock all ready to shoot the perfect photo of the two of us. We had finally given up and decided to use the little camera (I know how to set the timer on that one) when a hiker happened by and asked if he could take the picture for us. Where was he 20 minutes eariler? :)The photo that we tried for 20 minutes to get. Totally worth-it in the end! These mountains are sooo beautiful! I was raised a California beach girl, but I will admit that I have been converted to the majesty of the mountains, I'd take moutains over the beach any (warm) day!We stopped in at Snowbird's Oktoberfest - this is what happens when our kids aren't around to keep us in check! :)This guy was playing "It's a Small world" on the bells at Oktoberfest. Not very good video (sorry), but he was pretty funny, and seriously FAST!

It was such a great get-away! By the end of our little trip, I will admit that I missed our kiddos. They had so much fun, they really didn't miss us at all! Thanks so much for a wonderful anniversary Matt! He did such a great job planning and suprising, I think he should be in charge EVERY year ;)!

Trojan...DOG???

I debated as to whether this was too inappropriate to blog about, but decided that it was funny, so what the heck. Please try not to be offended :). I was getting dressed Friday morning while Mason whined at my legs. Monty (our dog) was in his kennel in our room still, since he hadn't yet been let out for the morning. In order to distract Mason, I asked him to go say 'good morning' to Monty. He did and I was able to do my hair in peace. Then some time passed and I realized Mason hadn't come back. Uh-oh. I peeked around the bathroom door and could barely see Mason sitting in front of the dog kennel. I could hear Monty licking what I assumed was himself. I asked Mason what he was doing. "Feeding Monty" was the response. There is nothing for Monty to eat in my room. "Feeding Monty... what?" I asked, not sure I wanted the answer. Mason proudly held up a strip of Trojans. Several of them were opened and the contents missing (when did he figure out how to do that???). Yep, that's right, my son was feeding my dog prophylactics (that's me being politically correct :) He must have thought Monty needed protection. :) Two-year-olds, what can I say? Fortunately, the dog spit them out (gross!), so he is just fine. Now we hide the Trojans a little more carefully.

The First Day of the Rest of our Lives

Five years ago today, Matt and I were joined together for time and all eternity.

We started out on our

journey together, so young and

full of dreams (okay, not THAT young :)

So in love and ready to take on the adventures that surely awaited us around every corner Promising to take each other to have and to hold...
Through thick and thin (this is the 'thick :) - this should also count as my embarassing photo tag since I am huge and only about 7 1/2 months prego with McKinley)...
through the sunny days, and the rainy times, too...
to embrace every moment together, to share both our joy and our pain (sometimes those were one and the same)...
to love each other unconditionally, forever, for always, and no matter what. This day is and always will be remembered as the best day of my life. On this day, 5 years ago, I married my best friend...
and well, we all know just how this story ends! Happy 5th Anniversary Matt! I love you!