Merry Christmas!!!

I'm back to work tomorrow, after a nice Christmas break. (This is the first year that I have taken the day after Christmas off and it was SO nice but it's REALLY hard going back) We had a great Christmas and hope everyone else did too. I have TONS of pictures so stay tuned....

This weekend was CRAZY. We had a really good weekend but I am glad it is over. I had a billion and one things to do so it went SO fast. On Friday Kaiden had his sing-around at school at 1 so I left work to go to that. I LOVE going to Kaiden's school things and haven't missed one yet, but it gets a little crazy at times, especially if I am going from work to his school and back to work and home again. I knew that the storm was going to be coming and thought hard about just taking the rest of the day off but I still had tons to do, so Kaiden and I headed back to work after the program. Just before we were getting on the freeway I was talking to Paul and he hadn't been able to stop for lunch so Kaiden and I turned around and took him some pizza. I was So nervous that we were going to get caught in the big storm. I HATE driving when it's blowing and snowing. If I were the only car on the road it would be fine but since there are other cars driving on the road with me, I HATE IT!!

As we were leaving the job site Paul was on, THE STORM HIT. I so wanted to just drive home and forget about work but all my stuff was there and I had told my boss that I was coming back. SO, we raced back to Provo with the storm blowing right in behind us. I must have been complaining out loud or Kaiden overheard me on the phone because he was so cute and said, "Mom I would drive for you because I know it would make you feel better, but I can't" (I'm really not sure if that would have made me feel better, but that was cute that he thought that)

I wasn't sure if I was making him nervous by what I had been saying, so I told him that I could drive in the snow. It was just a lot harder and you had to pay a lot of attention to all the other cars.

I'm thankful for.....

I've really been slacking on my posts lately. I have tons of pictures to add but it seems like I can't find enough time to get them posted. Anyway, my point to this whole post is that I never wrote about all the things I am thankful for, around Thanksgiving. I think I take a lot of things for granted especially when I am going through tough times and seem to forget all of the many blessings I have in my life. I have so many and I am going to try a lot harder to remember all the great people, experiences and other blessings I have. I know I am going to forget A LOT of things but here are a few of the things I am thankful for........
The priesthood I am so grateful to have the priesthood in our home and to have a husband who honors his priesthood, who is so humble and is such an example to me.
My calling in RS I love all of the ladies I serve and serve with. My great neighbors and visiting teachers are part of this too. I have the best ward ever!
For our kids I love being a mom! I think being a mom is one of the greatest blessing I have been given.
My family I have the best family ever! I am especially lucky to have some of my family as my best friends.
Paul's family. They can also be considered as my own family. They have made me feel like I have been part of the family forever.
All of my friends I have been blessed with some of the best friends ever! If you have ever heard the saying about people coming into your life for different reasons, I totally believe in that.(Sorry I don't know the exact quote) I have friends that I have known since I was growing up. Some that I don't talk to a lot but that I can go to lunch with or talk to once in a while and it's like we just saw each other. Others, it seems like I have known forever. Some you would swear we were the same person, because we have been through so many of the same things. All of my friends no matter how long we have known each other, are such strengths to me. I love all of them. (Wow, this wasn't suppose to turn into a friends post, I just have some great friends.
Last but not least is Paul I have alot to write about Paul so I will get back to this.
I have so many other things that I am thankful for . Maybe I will add some more later...

Black Friday

Yes I was one of the crazy ones that was out this morning before 4:00 a.m. JJ's girlfriend, Debbie and I hit the after Thanksgiving sales. AND then I went into work when we were done. I was pretty loopy the whole day but I got A LOT of great deals.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving break! On Thursday afternoon we went to the Warner family Thanksgiving, at the Aults beautiful home. Thanks to the Ault family and everyone that decorated, set up tables, brought yummy food and everything else that was involved in the wonderful day. I think there were over 70 of us there. Crazy I know, but it's fun that Paul comes from such a big family. It turned out really nice!!
After semi-stuffing ourselves there, we went right over to my mom's and dad's to stuff ourselves some more...We missed having Brayden and Kaiden with us but it was still a really good day. JJ's girlfriend Debbie came and of course the rest of us were all there. Hopefully that's how it will always be, since all of us live so close.
All of the kids went and played football with Paul and JJ. Debbie was even out with them for awhile.

On Saturday we had another Thanksgiving with my dad, at my sister's house. This time Kaiden was there but Brayden had to work (sorry Brayden, we missed you!)

Battle of the (5th and 6th grade) Bands

On Tuesday I went to one of the best Rock Concerts that I have been to in a long time (and I have been to some great ones, back in the day) Kaiden's class had a lip-sync battle of the bands for a project in Geography. Isn't it cool that they can incorporate a rock concert into learning?? It was pretty funny, because all of the groups of boys did songs that were popular when I was younger. Kaiden's group did a Bon Jovi song and I think they were one of the best ones. Two of the guitarist's (including Kaiden) even jumped off the stage onto their knees and did a guitar solo. It was cute (or cool to a 5th grader) All of the kids did a great job, it was a lot of fun!!

Halloween

I LOVE Halloween, it's one of my most favorite holidays (Besides Christmas) We had a crazy day......... First, Paul had to get Kaiden up early to spray him blue (He was one of the Blue Men from the Blue Man Group) I went off to work, picked up donuts and extra blue paint because Paul used 2 cans on Kaiden's face, hands and swim cap.

Halloween is a big deal at my work so it is always a lot of fun. There were tons of great costumes. I missed our company party because I had to race back to PG for Kaiden's school parade. I heard that the party was great though..... Raced back to work for a few hours and then back home for the nights activities to begin....

The night before, Paul cooked up some homemade chili. It was suppose to be my job but I was busy trying to make some blue paint for Kaiden's costume (which didn't turn out) so Paul took over for me. What a great husband I have! So when I got home on Halloween, the chili was heating up, I put some biscuits in the oven and we had a great Halloween dinner. (Thanks Letecia for the "Winning Chili recipe" it turned out great) We had tons of places to go so we headed out as soon as we could.

First stop was grandma and grandpa W's house. My mom always has fun Halloween treats for the kids and this year was no different.... Next, we decided to do some trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood. The weather was great, besides a few sprinkles of rain. Kove LOVED going from house to house. He kept saying, "This is SO fun I love this, I'm having so much fun." It was so cute.

Maci was afraid of Paul so she wouldn't take a picture with us.




Paul's sister and brother-in-law were doing a "Midnight Carnival" at their house so that was our next stop....... They did such a great job. There were a bunch of clowns dressed up, walking around, giving out popcaorn and cotton candy and running carnival-type games.

Flag Football

Kaiden has been playing Flag Football since September and his team played really well. Tuesday was their tournament games. His team was in the top four so they played two games, the first game was for third or fourth place. If they won they would play the second game for first or second place. The first game was back and fourth with 2 over times and Kaiden's team getting the last point, for the win!!! It was so exciting! The second game was against a bunch of Kaiden's friends from school, a team we lost to, by one point in the regular season. Both teams were doing so great on defense that the score stayed 0-0 until the last few minutes when the other team scored 2 points for the win. It was sad for our team but it was great to get 2nd place. Way to go Kaiden!!

Deer Widow's (Scrapbooking) Weekend

This past weekend Paul took Kaiden and Brayden hunting with he and my dad so I had a WHOLE weekend to do WHATEVER I wanted. It's been a LONG time since I've been able to do that, so I made the most of it. On Friday night, some of the girls from work, their friends, my mom and JJ's girlfriend Debbie had a p.j./scrapbook night at my house. We cooked breakfast for dinner, hung out in our p.j.s and scrapped the whole night. It was a lot of fun. I have great friends and family!!

On Saturday I slept in, went shopping and then went to the movie with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. We saw Nights in Rodanthe. I'm still not sure what I think about it though. It was definitely a chick flick and yes, I did cry (I'm such a baby) The girl sitting next to me me was just sobbing and couldn't control herself. I would have handed her a tissue if I had one because I felt so bad for her. It was good and without ruining it, that's all I will say.

Sunday I went to church and found out that I have to teach the RS lesson this Sunday. ( That was never in my description when they called me to be the secretary two years ago) and I am FREAKING out. I can teach anyone under 18 (maybe 12) with no problem BUT I AM NERVOUS enough having to ask someone to say the prayer in RS, LET ALONE TEACH THEM SOMETHING!!!!

To make it even worse, I was getting my newsletter ready for church this last Sunday. I was looking over the lesson that we were going to have, trying to find some songs that would go with it. It was Love letters from Joseph to his family and was pretty much all letters, nothing else. I thought "Wow, that looks like a hard lesson, I wonder how A is going to present it" When I got to church and found out that I was teaching the next Sunday, I also found out that the lessons were switched and I am suppose to teach the letters from Joseph lesson. Aaaaaahhhh!!!

I did go home and try to get some ideas together so hopefully this coming Sunday goes well. I think I am going to pretend the ladies are 5 year olds and see if that works......

Camping

My Baby turned ELEVEN!!

(Don't tell Kaiden that I called him my baby, he hates it.) Yesterday was his 11th birthday!! I can't believe that it has been that long since my 3lb 13 oz baby boy was born, 7 weeks early. It's still crazy to think about all that he went through when was born. Not only was he early and under 4 lbs but then to almost die, have surgery and be in the hospital for over a month. I knew that he was a fighter and there was a big reason that he was suppose to stay on this earth. If it was only to help me, that was a big enough reason. He has helped me become a better person, to want to be a good example and to be strong for him. I love being his mom, it's one of the biggest blessings in my life. I don't know what I would do without my little Kaiden....

He had a party with a bunch of his friends at Nickelcade and then all of them came back to our house for pizza, cake and ice cream..

This Old Man....

Okay, Paul really isn't that old. Especially since he is the same age as I am now. (Which is 29 ;o) His birthday was on the 27th (I know, I am almost a month late. I was going to do this great post for him but I have been slacking off on my postings lately.)

I think it was a pretty good birthday for him. ....On Friday night we went to dinner with my family at Outback (I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pics) On Saturday Paul and I woke up REALLY early (for me and a Saturday morning) because Paul had to go to AF hospital and have an MRI. Not the funnest thing to look forward to on your birthday but he has been having some weird neck and chest problems. With the tumor he had on his lung, we don't want to take any chances, so we do what the Dr. says.

It didn't take us that long at the hospital and we were back home around eight. I was SOOO tired that I hopped back in bed. Paul kept teasing me to get up but he ended up sitting on the bed by me and watching tv. I asked him if he wanted me to make him a birthday breakfast. He said , "No that's okay." and then, "Well, I guess you could, what do we have?" I started rattling off "bacon, eggs, pancakes....." and the next thing I knew, I was waking up and it was TEN O"CLOCK!!!! (that's even late for a Saturday) I felt so bad that I had fallen asleep and Paul hadn't gotten anything for breakfast. I asked him if he wanted me to make him something but he had told my dad he would come over and help him with some stuff. He just got a bowl of cereal and went over to my dad's. I felt really bad. I know, I am losing wife points but I did make it up t0 him later in the day....

While Paul was at my dad's I cleaned the house and then my mom and I went to the Holy Cow. I called Paul around noon and he met my mom and I at Kneader's and we had lunch there. Paul REALLY wanted to go golfing. I was not so excited about playing golf. Actually, I haven't played "real" golf before. Since I had bombed on the birthday breakfast I knew I needed to make it up to him some how and so I went along to the golf course....

Anniversary Part 2

I guess I should write a little about what we did for our anniversary.... Paul made arrangements with my dad to take ALL the boys on the Saturday before. (My dad was SO brave to do that for us) We headed up to ParkCity to stay at the Mountainside Marriott. We stayed there on our honeymoon so it was fun to go back there again.

On our way there, we went up South Fork canyon where Paul's class was having their 15th year reunion. Paul wasn't so sure about going because he had only found out about it two days before and didn't think any of his friends were going. I told him that it wouldn't hurt to stop for a few minutes since it was on our way. He teased me, saying that he knew I really wanted to go, because I LOVE chit-chatting with people and stuff like. (I guess I've been good at fooling him so far because I hate going places where I don't really know anyone.) There were only about 20 or so people there but both of us found a few people we knew and talked to them for awhile. When we left Paul said "See I told you that you love that kind of stuff, you talked to more people than I did and it was my reunion." (I'm still doing a good job at fooling him)

We stopped at Claim Jumper in Heber and had yummy steak and Salmon. For as long as it has been there, that was the first time I had ever eaten there. The crazy thing was, I think the salad was my most favorite part of the dinner. It was all really good but there was something about that salad!!

We got situated in our room at the Marriott and couldn't decide if we should head down to the outdoor hot tubs because the weather was a little over cast. They have 4 or five of most amazing hot tubs ever. I know it sounds stupid but they are so neat. All of them are shaped like rocks and have different waterfalls dropping into them or off of them into another one of the hot tubs. Some of them are out in the open and some are tucked back in, like they are in their own little cave. Anyway, we decided to head out there and hoped that the weather would hold out for us. We got lucky because the weather made it even better. The sky was over cast and we could see lightening off in the distance so it was even a little romantic LOL (There were a lot of people outside with us, so it wasn't THAT romantic) Every once in a while we would get a few sprinkles here and there but it was so toasty in the hot tub that the light rain felt really good. Our luck only held out for an hour or so and the clouds started getting darker and the lightening was getting closer so we decided to go back inside.

Before going back home the next day, we did a little shopping at the outlets and then decided we better make sure that my dad had survived with all the boys. He said that they only had a few incidences but nothing too bad. It was so great to get away with my Hottie husband and even better to go back to one of the places we went on our honeymoon.

Happy 1ST Anniversary to the BEST Husband!!!

WOW I can't believe it's already been a year since Paul and I were married. I know that seems funny, especially since a lot of my friends are celebrating 5, 10, 12 and even 15 years of marriage. One year is a big deal though, especially since I was single for SOOOO long. I think that most of my fam, friends and even myself, had lost faith (in me) that I would ever get married again.

Deep down, I knew that ONE day I would find THAT great guy but for some reason he just wasn't coming along when I wanted him to. I knew that the guy I was going to marry had to be different than all the rest. The thought of getting married again, scared me and I had this HUGE list of the kind of guy I was looking for (some things kind of stupid but others very important) I remember telling my sis "I need a lightning bolt" so that I really knew the guy I was suppose to marry. She thought I was crazy..... I just meant that I really needed to know from God, that this was HIM. So, I put my Faith in God and waited and waited and waited....... Then I met Paul....

Things just fell into place. After our first date, at the end of June, we were together EVERY day. Any other time, I would have FREAKED out but I felt more peace with Paul than I had ever felt. After dating for only 2 weeks, I felt like I had known him forever. He felt the same way but didn't say anything because he knew how scared I was about getting remarried. As soon as I told him how I felt, we knew that we wanted to marry each other. 2 WEEKS IS CRAZY I KNOW!!! but when you know in your heart that it's right you just know.

This year went by SO fast. We have had a little bit of a crazy year...... blending four boys, dealing with exes, getting used to each other's way of doing things and all the stuff that comes with remarriage has had its challenges but every day gets a little easier. I wouldn't want to go through any of this with anyone besides Paul. I am so thankful for him, for being my best friend, for his example to me as a parent, for his testimony and love for the Gospel, for loving me as much as he does, for being patient with me and for all that he does for all of us. I love you!!! (I'm looking forward to the next 50 years) This is going to be our year babe.....

Labor Day Holiday! Only a few weeks late

We had a fun Labor Day holiday (How could we not, the boys got a day off from school and Paul and I got a day off of work) It was Mckay's 7th birthday and Kaiden, Akoy and Kove were invited to go to Boondocks to celebrate. Paul and I went too, to take all of our boys and to help Mandi a little (sorry Mandi, if I got a little bossy with all those boys and the little hostess. She just wasn't moving things along fast enought to keep everyone's attention) Mandi bought herself, Maci, Kove and either Paul or I passes for the bumper boats, while the bigger boys did their thing. Well, both Kove AND Maci wanted to ride with Paul-neither of them wanted to go with Mandi or I at all. They knew they would have more fun with Paul. He is the jokester and "the fun one" all the kids love him. SO, Mandi went on the boat by herself and Paul took Kove and Maci. I stood outside the gates taking pictures but ended up as wet as everyone else because the kids wanted Paul to soak me. Paul's nephew was getting baptised at 5 so we had to leave a little early but everyone had tons of fun. Thanks Mandi and Mckay!!!

Happy 29th Birthday To Me!!!

Okay I'm not really 29 (but I'm not going to remind anyone how old I really am) I wouldn't be writing anything about my own birthday but I had to thank everyone for making it a great day. I woke up to cute Kove and my hotty husband whispering "Happy Birthday," to me at 6:30 in the morning, as they snuck off to the babysitters and work, before I fell back to sleep. My cute little Kaiden woke me up at 7:03 with a tray of cereal and toast for my Birthday Breakfast. The night before, he was being all sneaky and said, "Mom do you eat breakfast before you go to work?"
When I told him I ate at work he said, "Well, if you WERE going to eat at home what time would that be and what would you want? I can make anything but pancakes-IF I was going to make something."
When I said "Wow you can even make french toast?" he replied "Yeah, I could. Well, maybe not"
I told him that I actually LOVED cereal and toast for breakfast, IF someone was going to make something for me. A little while later he said, "Mom do you think you could get me up at seven for something?"
I told him that I might sleep in for my birthday, just joking but I heard him ask Brayden if he could get him up. So at 7:03 Kaiden came sneaking into my room. Luckily I hear him and didnt make any fast moves because he tried setting the tray on my back as I slept. He said, "Happy Birthday! It only took me three minutes to make all this, I'm going back to bed," and he did. What great boys I have!
When I got to work Mindy and Letecia had decorated my office with a banner, balloons, presents and sparkly confetti. They had made me a cake (mmmm, thanks Letecia, it was sooo delicious) and made me wear a birthday tiara, sash and "kiss me, it's my birthday" button all day long. Sarah and Brooke brought me more presents and I got calls from my brothers and mom. Before noon, a dozen pinkish/red roses, a balloon and "boom boom" the monkey were delivered from Paul. My grandma even stopped by to wish my a happy birthday!

Later that night we went to Market Street Grill was my dad, sis, brother-in law and cute nieces and nephew. It was soooo good. On Saturday my mom, Mandi and I went up to Gardners Viallage and spent the day shopping. Oh I LOVE to shop it was a lot of fun. Thanks mom and Mandi!!

It turned out to be a really great birthday even though I was so dreading turning a year older. Thanks everyone for making it so great!!

SUMMER IS OVER!?

I can't believe that it is already another school year. I swear that it was just a few weeks ago that Kaiden was counting down the last days of school. Then just that fast, he was counting down to the first day of school. He has been soooo excited for 5th grade to start. Crazy, I know but I think I was that way too, when I was younger. I hope he keeps liking school even when it gets harder. This year he is Mr. Dickson's 5th/6th grade split. That means he is a little smarty-pants (He SO takes after me. Well, I guess not JUST me.) He was a little worried about missing recess with his friends in 5th grade so I thought he might want to switch to a different teacher. We made a deal that he would see how the first week of shool went and then make a decision. I was so relieved when he came home from school on Monday and was so excited about his first day of school and didn't want to change classes.

The Wheels on the bus go round and round

I have been slacking lately... Actually, I spent almost a week on a bus with my mom, grandma and sister. We went from Independence, Missouri to Nauvoo, Carthage, Iowa, Winter Quarters, Nebraska and everywhere in between. We went on this great church tour and it has taken me a little while to get back to "real life." I think all of us had a really neat experience, had lots of funny things happen to us and learned so much more about what the early Saints had to go through. My friends are bugging me to do a post on my trip so here it is.......Really, I am just going to add pics for now then I will do the rest later. I know, I am such a procrastinator but life is a little busy right now.

This is in front of the Nauvoo temple and yes, our heads are cut off. Mandi and I did a session in the temple and when were done we thought we would have time to see the baptismal font before the bus came, so we ran down and saw it. Well, when we got outside to get on the bus, there was no bus. There wasn't anyone else in our group around, except Mandi and I and this older couple. We knew we had been left.... All of us thought that the bus would come back for us so we wandered around and took a few pitures while we were waiting. The older man that was waiting with us took this pic. When he took it he said, "I couldn't see very well, I'm not sure if I got everything. Take a look." I looked at the picture and oops, we had no heads but I said, "Oh it looks great!" I think that I was nervous because time kept going by and our bus had not shown up yet. I just wanted to hurry up and figure out what we needed to do. So we have this great picture without our heads....
AND NO, the bus never came back to get us!!! After 25 minutes all of us decided to start walking. We knew that we were suppose to be eating at the same park that we had eaten lunch but we really had no idea where it was. We headed down hill because we thought that seemed familiar. As we walked in the 104 degree, muggy heat, I kept thinking, they have to come back for us, didn't anyone notice that we were missing? Why hadn't my mom made them go back? They really can't expect us to find our way around in some town none of us had ever been to, can they? Still, no bus came. I tried calling my mom's cell phone about 50 times but she didnt answer. We even tried knocking on someone's door and joked that they probably knew we were LDS and didn't want to let us in. It was at the same time that Mandi was knocking, that my mom called me back. We were so relieved and thought it was pretty funny when we found out that we were just across the street from the park.

Red, White and Blue

This is a picture especially for Sunny. I promised her I would post a pic of Miley.

Wow We look really spent. (I'll blame it on the real windy night we had)

We had a really fun Fourth of July Holiday!! On Thursday night Paul, Brayden, Kaiden and I went to a BBQ/Waterfight in Paul's old neighborhood. I think over a thousand water balloons were filled, gallons of water was thrown from buckets and watercoolers and squirted from hoses and waterguns. There were over fifty drenched kids (and adults) running all over the place. We had a great BBQ with a lot of delicious food and ended the night with their traditional "Cul-de-sac of Fire" with the biggest "legal" foreworks show I had ever seen. All of us had tons of fun!!

Friday we started the morning off with one of Kaiden's most favorite things to do, PULL WEEDS!!! I'm sure it can't just be my son but Kaiden absolutely hates weeding! I have told him a billion times that if he just got in and did it as fast as he could then it would be done before he even had time to complain. He is getting a lot better but we still have to stay on him so he doesn't take ten drink breaks, or check out the neighbors house too many times and to remind him to snap out of his daydreaming. We were only out there for about an hour (even though to Kaiden, it probably seemed like 6 hours) Our front yard looks great now!! Thanks for all your help Paul and Kaiden!!

We weren't planning on going to the Stadium of Fire but I was lucky enough to get tickets from my boss (I LOVE my job!!!) Kaiden, my mom and I have been going for eight years straight and Kaiden was so excited that all of us (including my mom) were going to be able to go again. He and Brayden weren't so excited that Miley Cyrus was there though. The whole night, Paul kept teasing them about having a crush on her and having a hard time controlling their excitement for Miley to come out. Both of them were getting so mad... I was actually really disappointed in her performance. The sound was so awful and you could barely hear what she was singing. The rest of the night was great though, so I won't complain. I am so grateful to be an American, to have all the freedoms that I do and for all of the men and women who are fighting in other countries.

The rest of the weekend we visited with family, relaxed at home and went out to eat a FEW times (Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a hard time spending money on eating out so this was big for us) Last year at this time, Paul and I had been dating about 2 weeks. We already had our Stadium of Fire tickets so we spent the holiday apart. This was a great "first" Fourth of July for us. I can't wait for many more to come.....
I have a lot of great pictures of the holiday but my home computer is DEAD so I will post them soon...