8 years

8 years ago today was the day that I married my sweetheart. I definitely can believe it's been 8 years, we've been through a lot together, but then I also can't believe time has passed so quickly. In the last 8 years we've survived

* Lived in a studio apartment for 10 months (teeny, it was a hotel room converted, the walls were thin, and we were on the staircase of the busy stairs... our apartment always shook).
* Lived in a small 1 bedroom apartment for 10 months or so
* Bought our first house for my 21st birthday :) (lived there 4 1/2 years)
* Struggled with infertility
* Spent many nights crying in Ray's arms about wanting a child
* Driven 7 cars... been in 3 car accidents together, all male drivers and none our fault (2 semi-serious... the cars were totaled)
* 3 pregnancies
* 1 premature birth and NICU stay
* 2 amazingly normal births
* 1 surgery of a cleft pallet
* 2 seizures and praying our son wouldn't die in our arms
* 8 years of school (and still going... he's started his Masters degree)
* Being jobless
* 3 years of teaching
* Many laughs
* Dozens of bouquets of roses
* Standing by each other as equal partners despite opposition that wants to tear us apart
* 1 grandmother's untimely death
* Countless priesthood blessings for comfort or healing

I'm sure the list could keep growing to include me keeping a few lbs on after pregnancy, Ray and his gimp knee from basketball so many years ago, and even crazy looney family members who are determined to make our lives miserable (his family). None of that really matters though...

What matters is I'm married to such a wonderful man. He works so hard for our family and tries to provide us with what we need. He works hard so hard for us so that I can be a stay-at-home mother and take care of the needs of our children. He takes care of us and loves me so much... sometimes it amazes me that he can put up with some of the trials we have but he comes through them so well. He is a rock, he is the one who holds strong when I'm ready to fall apart. He is the priesthood holder of our family and takes that responsibility seriously, I'm grateful for that. He is my best friend and I have no doubt we were meant to be together and have the children we have. I am so grateful he's given me the gift of a forever family and I love him so much. Happy Anniversary honey!

Our engagement photo (hey, no laughing! lol)



8 years later and happy as can be (sorry, we don't seem to have any of just the 2 of us but I like it that way... lol)

Vent about contest

I'm so annoyed. I was in a contest for scrap-kit makers and I swear these contestants cheated! We were given a color pallete and told to make a vintage scrapkit with it. Mine turned out beautiful if I do say so myself. Well a few people took it and made a PINK color with it when there was not even a light pink in the freaking thing. I think they cheated and am really pissed about it but hey, if they have to cheat to win then I don't want to work with them anyways. Oh well right? Had to vent...

Vent about contest

I'm so annoyed. I was in a contest for scrap-kit makers and I swear these contestants cheated! We were given a color pallete and told to make a vintage scrapkit with it. Mine turned out beautiful if I do say so myself. Well a few people took it and made a PINK color with it when there was not even a light pink in the freaking thing. I think they cheated and am really pissed about it but hey, if they have to cheat to win then I don't want to work with them anyways. Oh well right? Had to vent...

Busy but good

Things are busy here but we're doing well. I have started selling my digital scrapkits and gosh, made some nice money in the last 2 weeks or so (shocked the heck out of me). I don't think it will last but I'm not relying on it as an income but rather some play money so heck, keeping that going! We recently went to a Stake Festival celebrating the Pioneers who settled in San Bernardino so many years ago, not the most fun ever but the kids enjoyed it and I loved watching them have fun. (We were cold the first night and sweating like crazy on Saturday... go figure). Jill harassed me for not blogging lately so here I am. :)

By the way, for those wondering we do want another baby and have started trying to get pregnant. I am not telling you this so you can call me once a month to ask how it's going with that, we all know that my body is finicky and won't always do what it's supposed to. It's in the Lord's hands and we are patient... for now. (laughing). We really have our hands full anyways right?

The kids are good, Alex is doing well in Speech and we're working on enrolling him in Preschool. It scares me to death but I think it's extremely important before he's old enough for Kindergarten so we're trying. Problem is he's not potty trained yet (yes, 4 1/2 and no, it's not my fault although I blame myself a lot). He's just been through a lot, not sure why it's not there but when he does it finally it will be in his time and not from a lack of mommy trying.

Ariana is great too, although she's fighting me on the same issue (not potty trained). She's been really loving and a total bossy girl lately, wants to be the mommy and has started calling Alex her younger brother because he's gotten shorter than her, even though he is in fact older. He gets mad, they both fight over the "biggest sibling" spot. (sigh). They do get along great though, don't get me wrong. She's excited about wanting another baby (not sure where she got that idea) and wants a girl in mommy's tummy right now. Goober.

Camden is walking better every day, today he was practicing like crazy. He still crawls like a Spider monkey though and even can crawl sideways like that. It's the fastest thing I've ever seen, I've really got to post a video of it because it makes me giggle and I know he won't do it much longer.

Ray and I are great too, he's enjoying work this year and staying busy with that and running a club after school. Catherine is living here now and working hard to pay her bills, we're proud of her and the kids are really eating it up that she's here.

Well here are a few photos for you. :)

Here are my kids having an orange juice break... same thing every morning...

Camden my Spider monkey... yes... this is how he really crawls...

School is in... no wait... this is a fake school house

Alex and his cousin Dennis... the only boy cousin they have of the 9 cousins

Ray and Ariana making rag dolls... notice she's not even looking... lol.

**Ooh, I found a really funny video of Camden**