15 Years Down, Eternity To Go!

So this past weekend was Roberts and my 15th wedding anniversary. And how did we celebrate it? At the hospital with Faith and home with sick kids. Isn't real life wonderful. What a better way to spend an anniversary though doing the things you do all throughout your marriage! So with all the sleep deprivation and sickness we totally forgot to even celebrate it at all! This was the first time in 15 years that has happened and I have been thinking for months of things to do for this day. How pathetic! I plan to take him out tonight to make up for it though.

So in order to celebrate here are 15 things I love about Robert:
1. He is always very loving to me.
2. He works extremely hard to provide for our family.
3. He is always willing to help anyone out that needs it.
4. He is always willing to help out with the cleaning or anything I need at home.
5. He is always concerned about how I am feeling.
6. He loves being with me.
7. He listens to all my complains.
8. He likes to have fun.
9. He is very tuned into my feelings.
10. He puts up with all my moods.
11. He gives up his plans to go along with what I want.
12. He wants to teach our children strong values.
13. He supports me in my goals and aspirations.
14. He always knows when I just need to have an ice cream break.
15. He loves me and isn't afraid to show it.

Robert I love you so much and am so glad I get to spend my life and eternity with you. Thank you for all you do dor us!
Robert and I while we were dating (1993) Robert and I on our wedding day (1994)

Robert and I in 2006

Robert and I 2009

An Amazing Weekend!

This has been a great weekend full of some fun expressions of love for each other. It started out on Friday with Little Learner Preschools Valentines Day party. We had fun playing games, making cards, eating snacks, and checking out the Valentine's our friends gave us.Throughout the past few weeks, members of the family made Valentine's for each other and we hang them in the doorway for all to see. It was fun to see all the fun Valentine's everyone made. So after the party and lunch, it was time to quickly clean up the house and pack up the family for the night. The kids were going to spend the night with our amazing and dear friends the Ortons so Robert and I could get away for the night. Tyler was going to spend the night at a friends house so she bounced between the Orton's and her friends house. Shortly before it was time to leave the boys came running in the house saying someone was here. It was a delivering woman with a 1/2 dozen red roses and this beautiful sign from Robert. He had also given me a dozen yellow roses that morning. So I combined all the roses for this beautiful bouquet. I felt so spoiled!So then we dropped off the kids and went to our dinner reservations at the Mona Lisa. We have been wanting to try out this restaurant for years, but never had the money or took the time to do it. It was wonderful! The experience was amazing and the food delicious. It will probably be a really long time before we ever make it back, but it was worth the money. All I can say is thank you tax returns!Next we headed to the Anniversary Inn in Boise for the night. We stayed in the Enchanted Forest room. It was a very quaint room with trees throughout the room and a beautiful rock tub and shower.

We had a wonderful evening just enjoying the time together. With Robert's work schedule we have so little time together and we decided it was time to just take the time for us. I am so glad we did. We decided that this was our Valentine's gift as well as our anniversary gift to each other this year. Our anniversary is this summer and we will be married for 15 years. Wow that seems crazy! I am so glad for all the time Robert and I have had together throughout the years. I love Robert so much!

So this morning we took our time getting up (which we never get to do) had a great breakfast and then headed to the temple to so some sealings with our friends the Ortons. It was a great end to our date!

When we got home we made a special Valentines dinner for the family (Thanks Tanya for the idea!). We had individual heart shaped meatloaves, with heart shaped bread, mashed potatoes and salad. We then opened up our Valentine's to each other and watched a movie. It was a great weekend!

I just want to let my family know how much I love them! This is such a wonderful time to celebrate the love we have for each other!

How We Met

I submitted the story of how Robert and I met to a great website on Strengthening Marriage. They Will take all the submission and make them eligible for a night at the Anniversary Inn. That was plenty of incentive for me to submit. So our story was posted on the site today and if you want to know a little more about Robert and I, go check it out!

Help! Cast Your Vote

I signed up to be a part of a Valentine's Day card swap with Little Birdie Secrets. So I created two cards tonight and would like to know which one you like better. If neither really appeal to you, please let me know so I can keep working = ).

The first card has red hearts stamped with black paper over the top. On the black paper is a red ribbon with a heart charm and a red hugs and kisses saying. On the saying and some flourish designs and some sparkles.The second card has black hearts stamped on the bottom half with a ribbon and a bow. The top half has the word LOVE spelled out with sparkles in between each letter.

Gratitude

I have been thinking a lot about gratitude lately. Last year I made a Thankful Turkey that sits on our table throughout November and everyone adds feathers to it with what they are thankful for. It has been fun to see Jesse this year because everyday he will grab several feathers and add them to the turkey. He has such a sweet spirit! I wanted to take some time and share some of the things I am grateful for today.

* The gospel of Jesus Christ

* My children and the great joys they are in my life

* My husband and the hard workers he is

* Temples and the sacred ordinances and covenants made there

* The technology that allows us to communicate worldwide

* Our Saviors atonement

* The love of my family

* Being raised by great parents

* Wonderful brothers and sisters

* myweightlossteam.com

* The ability to grow and learn spiritually and in education

* Fantastic friends and sisters in the gospel

* The wonderful walking group I am a part of

* The health of my family (it could always be worse than it is)

* The ability to teach and help others

* Service

* The students that I have

* The work that Heavenly Father has blessed our family with

*My extended family

* The beautiful world we live in

*My scouts that I get to have fun with

There are so many more things, but here is a start.

What a Great Night!

Thanks to everyone who was able to come over Saturday night. It was a great night to relax and enjoy friends. I was excited to see everyone come, and missed those who couldn't make it (hopefully next time). We shared some great food, great stories, great games, and a lot of great laughs (sorry not much detail about the stories we promised not to share). I am looking forward to the next Girls Night!

My First Assignment

Well I picked up Fascinating Womanhood this weekend and began reading. I stopped when I got to my first assignment. It seemed to fit in so well to Sister Bradford's lesson today at Super Saturday. The first part was to list 25 things you like about your self. Man was that hard, I felt like I was really stretching it to come up with that many. The second part was to pick one of the qualities from "Angela Human" to work on for a week and to record your husbands response. I chose the quality of a domestic goddess since I am so not one and yet it means so much to Robert. This should be a struggle this week, but hopefully it can produce some good results.

The Fascinating Women

Recently I was browsing the blog Modern Molly Mormon when I decided to check out one of the contributors blog. The blog is called The Fascinating Women. At first I wasn't really impressed, when I look at blogs I am looking for some mindless enjoyment not having to think. However I was drawn back to the blog the next day. As I started to read it more deeply it was very intriguing. It is about how we can improve our marriages by being a more feminine women. The blog is based on the book Fascinating Womanhood. I decided that I would go through the exercises in the blog and probably get the book so I can more fully understand the principles. I figure no matter how good a marriage is, it can always be improved. The author of the blog has an amazing story about how this book saved her marriage. If you are interested, try it along with me.

-50 and Counting

Well about a week ago I hit the next milestone in my weight loss journey. I have now lost 52 pounds which means I earned a new outfit. So I headed to the store on my own for some stress free shopping. I had a hard time picking between a few shirts so I ended up getting all three (they were on sale), a pair of pants, and a skirt. My next goal is -75 where I earn a manicure.

In a Funk

I want to apologize to everyone today. The past several days I have just been struggling and hope that I have not put anyone off or offended anyone. I think a lot of it comes down to Robert being gone so much. I had Robert give me a blessing last night and in it he said that I needed to share what I am feeling with others. I really don't want to share with him right now because he already feels really guilty that he is gone so much, so how do I add to his guilt by tell him that I just feel so alone right now. So I decided to share with my friends in the blog. It isn't easy to tell others that you are just lonely and just need some fun adult times. It feels isolating to not be able to attend social events without your husband and when you do you feel like a third wheel. When we found out Monday that this extra overtime was going to last the rest of the year, all I wanted to do was cry instead of thanking my Heavenly Father for the job security right now. So I hope that through this I have not hurt anyone as I feel sorry for myself. I do love and care for you all and thank you for your support in everything.

Tag, I'm It

*10 years ago I:
1. was 23 years old
2. lived in eastern Idaho while Robert was in Korea
3. had 2 children
4. started going back to college
5. struggled to get through each day

*5 things on my "To Do"list for today/tomorrow
1. fold laundry
2. go to cross country meet for Ty and Brit
3. teach preschool
4. help kids with homework
5. do something fun with kids

*5 snacks that I enjoy
1. ice cream
2. fruit
3. 100 calorie packs
4. granola bars
5. string cheese

*5 things I would do if I were a millionaire
1. pay off all debts
2. reduce Roberts work hours
3. take a family vacation
4. build a preschool center
5. pay for kids college

*5 places I have lived
1. Caldwell, Id
2. Downey, Id
3. Tacoma, Wa.
4. Pocatello, Id.
5. Flagstaff, Az.

*5 jobs I have had
1. teacher
2. daycare
3. fast food
4. retail store
5. pampered chef

I tag:
Rachel
Kyla
Kristen

MWLT Virtual 1 Mile Race

Well this morning my team on myweightlossteam.com decided to have a virtual 1 mile race. All who were able to set out at a designated time to walk/jog for 1 mile. It was great to get out and "race" with my friends and teammates. Robert joined my and soon lapped me as he ran and I walked the race.

Womens Fitness Celebration

This past Saturday, Tyler and I participated in the St. Lukes Womens Fitness Celebration with some friends. We walked with our good friend Carmen and her family as well as our good friend Kristen. We had a lot of fun dancing, walking, and hanging out in the rain.

Our day started at 6 am when I got up to get ready for the 5k. Tyler and I got ready and shortly before we left it began to pour outside. We went and picked up Kristen and then met at another the Cole's house to carpool to the mall. At the mall we stood in a line for quite a while in the rain waiting for the shuttle to take us to downtown Boise for the race. When we got set in our place for the race we all danced in the rain to the music while we waited for our waves turn to head out.

At 9:07 we began the race, yes it was still in the rain. We walked and even jogged for a few minutes here and there through the race course and finished 50 min. later soaked to the bone, energized, and loving every minute of it!

This is my second year participating with Tyler and my friends and I love it! There is nothing like the sisterhood you experience as you work together with about 13,000+ women to accomplish a great physical task. By the time we were done with the finish line party and waiting for the bus back to the mall it was around 11:45 and we had been out in the pouring (not sprinkling) rain since 7:40am. We were cold, wet, tired, and ready to do it again.

Later that day we had a baby shower for a friends sister, another great time to celebrate being a woman! It was a great day!

Happy Birthday

Monday was my 33rd birthday. Robert had to work, just like everyday this week to make up for taking Saturday of for rappelling. The kids wanted to make me a cake, but I asked them not to since I am working on my health. Tyler and Britain understood, but Jesse didn't. Overall it was a pretty low key day, the kids were home from school, I talked with a few of my sisters on the phone, we visited my friend Carmen, and just hung out at home. Robert did get me a dozen roses, a card, and this Sapphire ring. Another wonderful gift was that I won an online hair blog contest and will be getting some beautiful bows for the girls hair!

Rappellin'

It's hard to see, but this is Robert rappelling in his favorite style, Aussie style, which is going face forward!

Robert took the elders quorum rappelling this past Saturday. Unfortunately it was a back weekend and only a few brethren could make it. Robert was set on me joining him. I have not rappelled since we were dating. At that point I was 15 years younger and a lot thinner. Needless to say I wasn't that excited about going.

So knowing none of the other wives were going to make it, I took my time going to the temple before heading to Black Cliffs. After resting from the hike to the bottom of the cliffs, we headed up the cliff to rappel down. It had been so long that I forgot how to do everything. I finally headed down and was pretty nervous doing so. However, I made it and went down a few more times before it was time to go. We will have to go again sooner that 15 years so I can do it without freaking next time!

Robert heading down Aussie style.

A New Do

I have been working at losing weight the last few months with the help of a fabulous website called myweightlossteam.com. I set up a reward system for every 25 pounds I lose. So this week I earned my first reward and got a new haircut! It is the easiest hairstyle I have ever had so I love it. I now am working towards a new outfit.

Jesse's Blog: My Family

I like my family. I want to play the bass like my brother Britain. I like my sister Tyler, she plays the cello. I like my mom, she teaches children. I like my daddy, he goes to work. I like Faith, she is a baby.