Nine years and Counting

We've made it 9 years. It has had it ups and downs, but mostly ups. I will always be grateful that I waited for my prince to come. There were moments I never thought it would happen, but when it did, it was amazing!!

Eric and I met for the first time Sept. 18th, 1999. We were set up on a blind date. The first date was awesome, ask my roommates :) I knew something special had happened, but was really scared to admit it. I had had my heart broken way too many times. Within that first week, we were together everyday. By the end of the week, we were talking marriage. People freaked out. But, I knew it was right and he was the one I was waiting for. So, EXACTLY, five months from the day we first met, we were married.





Four kids and nine years later, I am still happy and more in love with him then I thought I could be. He is so hard working, makes me laugh and I know he really loves me and the kids with all he has. Thanks Eric, I love you!!

MMMMMM Chocolate

Alex got his first chocolate cookie. I think he liked it. We have another chocoholic in the family. Poor kid!!

Time Flies, way too fast.

After downloading some pictures the other day, I went back to look through when Alex was first born. As I found the pictures I was looking for, I about feel off my chair. What stunned me was not Alex, it was Kelly. In 8 months time, I lost my little "baby" girl and didn't even realize it. It took the pictures for me to see what was staring at me every day. What have I done?? I feel like I have missed so much of Kelly growing up I was almost crying. It made me realize that I needed to pay more attention to her. I have been so caught up with Heidi going to school and helping her with homework and reading. I also have been helping Amy with preschool and on occasion doing preschool a few days a week every seven weeks. Then of course there is Alex, who is constantly needing me to feed him, hold him, change him, etc., etc., etc. Poor Kelly has been lost in all of this. I know it is hard with 4 kids and all, but it is so unfair to Kelly for me to not pay attention to her like the others. I am grateful that I found these pictures to help me realize this. The last couple of days I have stopped to pay more attention to Kelly. I didn't even realize how well she is speaking now. She says full sentences and loves to sing songs all the time. I have also tried to read to her more, and sing with her. This time with these young kids goes by way too quickly and I feel as the role of a mom, I really need to get my butt in gear and do better at my job. I have made a new goal to spend more one on one time with ALL of my kids. Unpacking has been put on the back burner for now, my kids need me and I for sure need them!

This was the picture that almost made me fall off my seat. Only eight months ago.

This is the picture that I compared her to. What a huge difference!!!

Back to Normal

At least that is what I am hoping is happening. We have all been sick in January with this awful cold that we past onto everyone. Poor Alex and Kelly had it twice. That was no fun for me. If was hard to feed Alex with a totally stuffed up nose, plus, sleeping was not happening either. But, it is over with for now, and we are feeling somewhat settled into our house.

Cute Alex, getting way too big!

Standing all by himself.

Alex's favorite place, bottom of the stairs.

This picture says it all. Get me away from Kelly, aahhh!!!

Alex is almost 9 months, when did that happen???? He is crawling all over the place, and loves it. He pulls himself up on anything that he can and tries to pull himself along. I just really don't want him to start walking yet. That brings in a whole new set of worries with a little one. He also loves to try and climb up the stairs!! He usually can get up on the last step and gets stuck, then will sit there and cry. It is kind of funny, but scary at the same time.

Cute Kelly.

Kelly is finally off her bottle, yeah I know. Bad mom, but it was my crutch more than hers, especially at night. I needed sleep!! She is about ready to be potty trained too, but not quite. I have just learned to do it on their own time, it is much easier on us all when it does happen. Less messes and tears on both our parts.

Pretty Heidi.

Heidi is still going to school in Layton. I make the long 20 min drive every morning (it really is not that bad). It makes for a good excuse to keep going to aerobics at my old ward house. I am actually starting to lose some weight and I want to keep going. Plus, on Mondays and Wednesday, Amy is still going to the neighborhood preschool. She has loved it so much, plus she has developed such great social skills with it, I wanted her to keep going.

Amy being goofy!

Eric is still working hard and long hours. He actually switched to a better trucking company that pays better and has more hours. Plus, it is a smaller company which gives Eric and lot more room to grow into better positions. The Lord has yet again looked out for us. A week after Eric moved to this new company, his old company did major changes and started to give less hours, took away the 401K and froze raises. So, it was a great blessing for us. I am very grateful for the Lords hand that He helps us in so many ways, and we don't even see it until after the fact.



As for me, I am keeping busy and staying out of trouble. I have my days where I am about to pull out all of my hair and others where I laughed so hard with the kids. Variety is a great thing.




So there you have it, our lives on a single blog.