10 Awesome Years

We're back! And we had the best weekend ever! So, here's the whole story. We had originally planned to go to Mesquite to visit my parents over UEA weekend. We planned on hiking in the desert and going to Hoover Dam. But then, I was surprised with tickets to Mama Mia at the Mandalay Bay and our plans changed! We left here on Thursday and drove to Mesquite, stopping at Cove Fort along the way (which is way cool.) We got to my parent's house late Thursday evening. The next day, Friday, we kept our promise to the kids and went hiking in the Valley of Fire. I love that place and Doug had never been there, so of course we had to go! That night we had a weeny roast at my parent's house with my cousin Joseph and his wife, Andrea. They brought their new baby who has more hair than I do and he's only 3 days old!

Then on Saturday Doug and I got all gussied up and went to Vegas!! Most everyone knows that I have anxiety issues when I'm away from my kids. I don't really like leaving them, but I have to admit that it was soooooooooooooooooo wonderful to be alone with my husband! We arrived at Mandalay Bay a little early and wandered around. I gambled a little and won $11. I felt dirty in a good way.... Anyway, then I discovered how poor folk like us could afford a show in Vegas. Apparently my father, now a shady Nevada resident, had made a new "connection" with the Mandalay Bay Theater manager. Here's how it went down, we had to go to a certain spot at a certain time to call a certain number and say a certain thing. We were then given directions to go to a certain door at the theater and ask for a certain person who led us to the theater manager who told us to go through a certain door at a certain time to find him. Doug even gave him one of those suave handshakes that resulted in a huge tip for the manager..... Anyway, all the cloak and dagger shannanigans resulted in VIP BOX SEATS! We not only got to see a show in Vegas but we got to do it in style! It was awesome to sip our $100 diet sodas while we watched the show. And let me tell you, it was sooooooooooo much better than the movie. The singing was amazing and it was completely hilarious. My anti-musical husband even loved it!

I'll spare everyone a description of the rest of the evening but let me assure you that it was the best anniversary ever! I love my husband so much, more than I did 10 years ago. It's amazing how much he's become a part of me, he's in everything I think and do. He's what I breathe and dream. I never thought, in all my messed up formative years, that I would deserve what I've found in Doug. We've been through some tough times and some hard things, but we've learned to grow together and now whatever crazy things come our way, we're able to deal with them together. And of course, I love him more and more for giving me my beautiful children.

Ok. I'm appalled at my cheesiness so I'll stop. To sum it all up, we had an awesome weekend.

Thank you to my parents who played with my kids while we were in Vegas! And thanks to the Cox's for lending us the car top carrier so I could pack a variety of wardrobe choices!

TEN YEARS

I am so excited that I can barely contain myself! Friday is our TEN year anniversary and we were planning to go to Nevada to hike in the desert. However, last night I was surprised with tickets to Mama Mia at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas!! We're going to have the best weekend ever. We're still taking the kids to the desert (no we won't leave them there....) and then we're going to Vegas after that.

Yes, I have the best husband EVER. I'm continually amazed that he has put up with me for 10 years.

Here's what's gonna be happening in Nevada this weekend:

Yeah baby!!

Sealing

Today we attended my baby cousin's wedding in the Manti Temple. This is the second time I've been to that temple, the first time was for my sister's wedding. I'd forgotten how gorgeous it is!

I call Kairon my baby cousin, even though he's very far from being a baby now. He's over 6 feet tall and a returned missionary. However, his new wife, Autumn is probably barely 5 feet tall. She's so tiny! They make a cute couple. I am so happy for them! Although it was very strange for me to be sitting in the sealing room, watching Kairon sit across from his bride. He got this look on his face that he used to have when he was little and it made me cry. He grew up too fast!

During the sealing ceremony, the officiator compared our sealing ordinance to canning fruit. He made a couple of really good points, the first being that there is a lot of preparation and crucial ingredients to properly canning fruit and the second point is that you don't seal empty jars. In marriage, there are crucial ingredients, you need a man and a woman, love, commitment, and patience. There is also preparation, which is something that Doug and I had to learn the hard way before we were sealed to each other and to Ethan. The officiator said that there's a lot of work and patience that goes into canning and of course we all know that there's a lot of work and patience that goes into a successful marriage, especially an eternal one. Just because we get a piece of paper saying we're sealed for eternity doesn't make it so. We have to put in the effort, we have to obey the commandments, serve our Heavenly Father and each other, and strengthen our faith in and knowledge of gospel principles. We have to do our part in making our marriage an eternal marriage.

Doug and I have our off days, we often joke that we've been together for 10 years and it's been blissful for 8 1/2! But we love each other enough to make sure we're each doing our part to ensure that the other is happy. I am so lucky to have Doug. He is such a good daddy and he's an adoring husband. There's never a day that goes by where he doesn't tell me that he loves me and why.... sometimes even sending me eyebrow raising text messages while I'm at work.... He also does sweet things like doing all the prep work for dinner on the nights he has to work so all I have to do is heat it up. He still leaves his underwear on the floor BESIDE the hamper but somehow I wouldn't trade that away if I could. Next week we'll have been married for 10 whole years! Crazy!!

Thank you to all the people who watched my kids for us today! It was so nice for Doug and I to have a day ALONE. It's a rare phenomenon.

Cowboy Up, Cupcake

I'm in a really bad mood, so I decided I needed to sit down and really think about something positive. When I do that, my thoughts always turn to my grandmother. Her name is Joyce and she is absolutely amazing. She's in her mid-70's and a total firecracker!

I was able to spend last weekend with her. Doug had to work, so I took my kids up there on Saturday, in between conference sessions, and spent the night with her. She totally spoils us when we go visit. She made yummy meals and planned fun activities for my kids. It was completely relaxing. One of my new favorite memories of her will be cleaning up dinner with her whole listening to the beginning of the last session of conference.

Let me tell you a little about my grandma. She's a beautiful woman who has accomplished many great things. I watched her tackle some enormous situations with strength and grace that most people could never pull off. On Christmas day of 1994, my grandpa passed away from a heart attack. He was 65. Two years later my uncle (her youngest son) died at a wedding from a major heart attack. He died 5 days before his 40th birthday. She was there when he collapsed on the dance floor and she watched him die. About two years after that, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a masectomy which was extremely difficult on her because she does not deal well with anesthesia. However, her doctors discovered they didn't get all the cancer and had to remove her other breast. To make matters worse, when she underwent reconstructive surgery, she came down with a nasty infection and had to be hospitalized for that. She did this while still grieving for her husband and son and she had completely uprooted her life, moving to Layton, UT. She had sold some property and her business that she had built from the ground up, and left her home of almost 30 years in Jackson, WY.

My grandma had many experiences before all this tragedy that I think prepared her to deal with these events. She not only raised 3 children, but she always worked full time in an era when most women stayed home. She did this so my grandpa could go back to school. She served cheerfully and willingly in the church, and their home was ALWAYS the site for major church parties.

Later she helped my grandpa acheive his childhood dream of starting a "western adventure" business in Jackson Hole, a place where my grandpa had spent his summers when he was growing up. They purchased my grandpa's family homestead and started a chuckwagon dinner show, a 7 day packtrip adventure and a 4 day wagon train. They built their first covered wagon in their driveway in Provo. By the time my dad bought the business from my grandma, they were running 10 wagons twice a night for their dinner show. My grandma was featured in tons of magazine articles, including County Woman and Family Circle.

When I was in middle school, my grandma brought her father home to live with them. At the same time, my great-grandmother on my grandpa's side had passed away and he had brought his father to live with them as well. Her father had alzheimers. I watched her care for these two aging men while she was running a business and serving in the stake relief society presidency. She eventually had to put her father in a nursing home because he became too volital. At the time, the decision was so hard because she couldn't afford the nursing home in Jackson so they had to send him to Rexburg which was about an hour and a half away.

She has had a full life and I love to hear her stories. And she keeps on living her life. She has traveled all over the world and continues to do so. She has volunteered at the hospital and she now serves a mission at Temple Square in SLC. She has always been a central figure in my life. We lived right next door to her on the same property until I was 16. She is one of my best friends and one of the best examples to me. My memories of her are sweet and strong.

In Conference, Elaine S. Dalton stated that she has a plaque that says she can do hard things. When I forget that I can do hard things, I think of my grandma who has done more than her fair share of hard things and I simple have to tell myself to "Cowboy up Cupcake" and get on with it. I was raised by incredibly strong women, my mother, my aunt and my grandmother have given me peices of themselves and because of them I know I can do anything.

Carter's Owie

So, I get a phone call from the school this morning saying that Carter had fallen and hit his head. The secretary thought it would be a good idea if I came to evaluate Carter myself. I rushed over to the school and found Carter sitting next to the principal, Mr. Jensen in the office who had been checking his eyes to see if they were dilating properly. Carter was holding an ice pack to his head and when he lifted it, he had a HUGE bump on his head. It was a little bigger than a golf ball but not quite as big as a baseball.

Carter has beautiful, huge greenish blue eyes with the longest, thickest lashes I have ever seen. He looked at me with his sad eyes, his lashes looking way longer because they're wet, and my heart broke. Of course I take him home, calling our pediatrician on the way.

Apparently Carter was riding on a scooter in Gym and face planted on the floor. He's fine now, the bump has shrunk but it turned into an ugly purple bruise. So sad. Luckily there's no concussion and he says it doesn't hurt unless someone touches it.

Little boys are going to be the death of me!!

Busy Weekends

Hi!! The last couple of weeks have been completely insane! My boss signed me up for a tax class that I started last week! It's twice a week and it's kicking my butt. It's interesting and not necessarily hard, but on top of work deadlines and being a mommy and a wife, I am finding that I have NO time. To make matters more interesting, Ethan and Chase were both sick last week which meant I lost TWO days of work. So.... I'm feeling the pressure. Luckily my fabulous hubby does not have to work at his second job this week, so I've been able to catch up on some things. I'm currently trying to work through a mountainous amount of laundry.

Despite the craziness of my week, our weekends have been really fun. Two weeks ago we went to Logan for Doug's grandpa's 88th birthday party. Doug was not able to go with me, so it was just me and the kids. We stayed with My father-in-law and his wife Gloria, whom I love. Actually, everyone loves her. It's hard not to. Anyway, we stayed the night with them after a wonderful birthday dinner that Gloria put together for Doug's grandpa. On Saturday morning, my father-in-law made us a huge pancake breakfast, even breaking out the chocolate chips for the kids. It was really sweet of them.

Gloria, Grandpa Paul and Carter lighting birthday candles.

On Sunday of that weekend, my former aunt Linda invited us up to her house in Park City for a family BBQ. Now, let me quickly explain my relationship with Linda. She is my deceased uncle's ex-wife. (They were divorced long before he passed away.) She was remarried about 12 years ago to a nice doctor named Larry. They live in Baltimore, Maryland in an incredibly beautiful home. About 3 years ago they bought a home in Park City because two of her sons live out here and she wanted to be closer to them, plus Larry loves Park City because he loves to ski. What is cool about Larry and Linda is that they had my family, my brother's and sister's families, my cousin Jennifer's family and my grandma and my aunt Sandy all up to their house for this BBQ. All of these people are family of my deceased uncle. How weird would that be for me if I were in Larry's shoes? Very weird, but he is extremely gracious and they are both amazingly generous.

So, we went up to their gorgeous home in Park City, where they not only have a huge house with game room and playground but they also have a little putting green. My kids were in heaven and my husband got to follow football games on the big screen TVs while playing pool and practicing his putting skills.

Kids playing on playground at Linda's house

Mckenzie on the putting green

After an incredibly busy week last week, we took the kids on a much anticipated trip to Lagoon. I hate going in the summer, so we wait till the fall. It was a beautiful day, it didn't get very hot at all! The kids hit all the kiddie rides and then Mckenzie and Chase shocked us by going on several of the roller coasters. Their favorite was the Wild Mouse which makes me cringe just thinking about it. I think we went on almost everything except for Wicked and the Fire Dragon.... not because we didn't want to.

My dad and I got in line for Wicked. The line moved very fast and just as we were almost to the top of the stairs, the line stopped for about 15 minutes. Then someone came down and told us that the ride was experiencing electrical problems and was shutting down for a little while.

So we headed over to the Fire Dragon and didn't have to wait long at all. We get up to the gates and the coaster comes in. But in the seat where my dad was going to sit was a man and a woman, the woman looked like she was dead. I was a little freaked out because Mckenzie was with us and I didn't want her to see that. But it turns out the woman just passed out, apparently she was anorexic. However, the ride had to be shut down while they got her evaluated and off the ride and then park managers had to come in and do a mandatory saftey check of the ride, so we weren't able to go on that one either. For whatever reason, my dad and I were apparently being protected from something! So we gave up on the roller coasters and went back to the kiddie rides.



We've had really fun weekends! And there are more to come! This weekend we're going to stay with my grandma and the next weekend my cousin is getting married and the weekend after that is our TENTH anniversary. I'm so excited!

Tag

My friend Joy tagged me, so here it is!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Planning my wedding
2. Buying a new car
3. Working as a housekeeper for a vacation rental company
4. Living in Jackson, WY
5. Making out with Doug every spare minute I had

Five things on my to do list today:
1. Do laundry
2. Buy present for my niece (who is 3 today)
3. Take Mckenzie to dance class
4. Clean
5. Go to my niece's birthday party

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Bear claws
2. Pringles
3. Peanut M&Ms
4. Popcorn
5. Chips and salsa

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Get myself out of debt
2. Buy a house
3. Set up college funds for my kids and my nieces and nephew
4. Get my siblings out of debt
5. Help my parents and in-laws with whatever they needed

Five places I've lived:
1. Jackson, WY
2. Driggs, ID
3. Firth, ID
4. Orem, UT
5. Layton, UT

Five jobs I've had:
1. National Elk Refuge Sleigh Rides
2. Mini-Mart in Jackson, WY
3. Typewell Transcriber for UVSC and USU
4. Diamond Peak Construction
5. J&A Accounting

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog

Five People I'm tagging:

1. Brooke Babcock
2. Mindy Ige
3. Becca Hamblin
4. Jenn Fager
5. Neika Boulter