Four Years, Two Kids, and...

STILL SO IN LOVE!!!

Jared and I celebrated our fourth anniversary this week. It was a day much like our actual wedding day. It was overcast and cloudy and began to snow in the afternoon. Then after a long exhausting day, of work not fun, we came home and fell asleep watching the Olympics. Its kind of fun to think that every four years we can spend our anniversary watching the Olympics. ;)

Anyway, I was so excited to give Jared his gift. I think it was my all time favorite gift that I have ever given him. It made it even more special that he shed a few tears when he opened it.

We have always followed the traditional gift list for our anniversaries. Well, this year the gift was fruit. I remembered Jared had an awesome painting that he had done and has wanted it framed for a long time now. So I snuck it out of his portfolio and had it framed. It happily lives on our dining room wall now. Cayden had fun helping Jared hang it.

Last night to celebrate our anniversary we went to a place called Color Me Mine. It is a ceramics studio where you can pick a piece, paint it, they fire it, and then you bring it home. It takes a week for them to fire the pieces though. It was so fun. It is the only art related thing we have done together other than scrap booking. We had a great time and had the studio all to ourselves. It was awesome!!!
I am so thankful to have the amazing husband that I do. These past four years have been so wonderful and I look forward to the many more that we have together. I love you Jared!!!

A little side note before I go....Our little Jacob is now 2 months old! Its amazing how fast time goes by. I'm sure you can tell why I am losing weight as quickly as I am. He's quite the chunker. We love him so much!!!

~Love To All~

Brotherly Love

I am so thankful that I have such a loving two year old. Cayden is such a great big brother and loves Jacob dearly. The other day we were in my mom's car coming home from breakfast. (We went to breakfast with Mikey before he went back home.) I was sitting in the back seat with Timmy and Cayden and Jacob were in the seat in front of us. All of a sudden Cayden pulled Jacob's blanket up so he could see him and said, "Hi Jakey boy, hi Jakey boy!" Then he reached over and did this...He held Jacob's hand all the way back to the house. It was such a sweet moment.

What a Great Weekend!

This weekend we had lots of family come into town for Jacob's blessing. My brother Mikey came from Florida. My sister, Kimmy, and her family came down from Loveland. Jared's mom and sister, Jess, and 2 of her kids came from Utah and his oldest sister, Jenny, came from Georgia. It was awesome to have so much family in town. It was nice to spend time with everyone and have those that hadn't yet meet Jacob. It was a very special time.

Cayden and Rylee watching a movieJess brought Jackson along so we got to meet him too!!!

Sunday was a great day! Jacob was blessed in Sacrament meeting and the words Jared spoke were beautiful. It was really special because it was also my grandfather's, who Jacob is named after, birthday. I never knew my grandfather but if he was anything like my dad he was a fantastic man. My dad and Grandma always speak very highly of him and I'm so glad we named Jacob after him.

Jacob on his special day

It was a long day ;)

After sacrament meeting we went to my mom and dad's house for lunch. (Thanks for hosting our big bunch mom and dad, YOU ROCK!)

The weekend was full of fun times. Thanks to everyone who helped make it special. Special thanks to those who traveled to be here for Jacob's special day. It meant so much to us to have so much family to share this special time with us.
~Love To All~

Family Outing Night/Home Decor

So Friday was our second official Family Outing Night (F.O.N). We had so much fun! We are a part of the "5 Buck Club" at our local theater so after a movie has been out a while if you flash your card you can see it for $5. SO we FINALLY went to see The Frog Princess. It was a cute movie and Cayden lasted about an hour before he got up and started moving around. Then he learned that if he said "Potty Time" Jared would jump up and run him out. After 2 times of that Jared caught on. So Cayden sat in his lap and watched the last 20 min. of the movie. I really enjoyed the movie and the boys said it was "ok". Jacob slept through the whole thing!

After the movie we headed to Chili's for dinner. Cayden drank so much of Jared's soda at the movie that he was asking to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes while we waited for our dinner to come. While I was sitting at the booth alone with Jacob I looked over and saw a man at another table that looked kinda like my dad (all I saw was the back of his head). I looked to see who the man was sitting with and it was my sister! We had no idea that my dad and sister were going out to eat too. We chatted with them for a few min. until their food came. Then when they were done they took Jacob so I could eat. It was a fun evening. We finished it off with a good ole Chocolate Molten Lava cake. CAYDEN LOVED IT!!!

He scraped the plate clean!

Saturday morning I went to a baby shower but when I came home it quickly became a work day. We have been in our house now for almost 4 months and still had not put up all of our pictures on the walls. So, that's what we spent the afternoon doing. I love the way the house feels now. It feels even more like home. Its awesome. Cayden was excited to have a picture on his wall and his mobile, that Jared made for him, hanging from the ceiling. I still don't feel like we are 100% organized but we are getting closer!

On a different note...Cayden is doing SO well with potty training. Its been a long process but I think he has finally got it. It's very exciting!!!!

Playing at Aunt Kimmy's house

Potty training buddies!

~Love To All~

New Nephew!

Very late on the 20th Jared's sister, Jess, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. I don't feel bad that it takes us an hour to name our babies because it takes them longer. We later found out that they decided to name him *Jackson Ryan*. We are so glad that both he and Jess are doing well. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

He is so dang cute!

We love you guys so much and can't wait to meet him!

Little Monkey Bizness/1 Month Old

Jared decided we needed a fun family night out when he got home from work on Friday. So we talked about going to the movies, Chuck E. Cheese, out to dinner, or just somewhere fun. We finally decided to go to Little Monkey Bizness. There is a Monkey Bizness here in town that is full of inflatable slides, bounce houses, and obstacle courses. Its a little much for someone Cayden's size. So they opened up Little Monkey Bizness that is perfect for toddlers to age 5. It is only $5 from 5pm-8pm on Tue and Fri. so it worked out perfectly. Cayden (and Jared) had a BLAST! Here are some pictures from our play time.

Jared and Cayden coming down the slide.

Playing basketball in a bounce house.

Ready to come down a slide.

Playing on a rope swing.

Chillin' on a jump hammock.

Enjoying our night out.

They even have a dance floor and costumes for the kids to play dress up.

After we played for a good hour we headed to IHOP for some all you can eat pancakes. They were so YUMMY. We had a great night and decided to have a Fun Night Out at least twice a month.

So yesterday our little Jacob hit his one month mark. I can't believe it has already been a month since he joined our family. Its amazing how fast time goes by. We love him so much and are thankful to have him as a part of our family.

Hope everyone had a fabulous week!!!

~Love To All~

Mt. Fuji

So the 4th was Mikey's last day here in Colorado (until February when he comes again). He was planning on going to the movies with Timmy but instead we all went to Mt. Fuli. Its a yummy Japanese restaurant here in town. It was my first time eating there and I was pretty excited. My brothers and parents have gone a billion times but this was my first. Cayden has even eaten there before me. Anyway, we sat at the Hibachi table so we could watch our food be cooked. After all, that's part of the fun of a Japanese restaurant. We all had a blast and the food was excellent! I can't wait to take Jared there.

Cayden, Mikey, Timmy, and Chris
Our Chef
Onion Volcano (Cayden jumped every time the chef lit something on fire.)

Cayden and Uncle Mikey; Happy after a yummy meal.

So whenever you may come to Denver make sure you save your pennies to go to Mt. Fuji!

~LOVE TO ALL~

Christmas 2009 and New Year's

We had a wonderful Holiday. It seemed to go by a little too quickly but we sure did enjoy it. My whole family was able to be together.(minus my little brother Matt who is serving his mission in Honduras) It was so fun to be together. It was especially fun to have our new little addition, Jacob, to spend the holiday with us in person rather then in my tummy.

We spent Christmas morning at home so Cayden could enjoy what "Sandy Daws" brought him. He was SUPER excited when he saw all the presents under the tree as he came down the stairs. We opened stockings, Jared started the fire, ate breakfast, and then we opened presents. Cayden needed no direction to open his presents. He didn't really stop to play with toys he just wanted to unwrap everything. We had fun making a mess with the paper and tinsel. Jacob slept through everything but Cayden happily opened Jacob's presents and then would hand them to him to enjoy.

Opening up his stocking

Helping Daddy start the fire.

His tools and his basketball hoop were two of his favorite gifts.

"Baby Jake" with his loot

Playing with Tinsel

Cayden thought it was pretty great that he got more presents at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house.

We anxiously awaited a phone call all morning from my parents to let us know that Matt had called. We got a call around 10:15. It was perfect timing. We had just finished opening presents and were starting to play. We packed up some new toys, hurried and got ready, and then headed over to talk to Matt. It was so wonderful to hear his voice. He is doing well and is loving his mission. He told us some pretty funny stories and let us know he was making a name for himself on p day when they play soccer. All the natives and impressed that a gringo plays as well as he does. We also had a treat and saw some pictures that he had sent home. His living conditions are pretty crappy but its good to know that he is now trying to make the best of it. I miss him so much and just want to give him a great big hug. I am so proud of him for serving a mission and setting such a good example for my boys. If you ask Cayden where Uncle Matt is his reply is "Mission".

We spent the rest of the day opening more gifts, playing games, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner that my mom and dad prepared. It was a wonderful day spent fantastic people.

Our New Years was pretty standard except for the fact that my sisters and I had a girls outing and went for pedicures before we headed to my parents house for the rest of the evening.

Our pretty pedicured feet (I think feet are so GROSS!)

Then once at my mom and days house we celebrated 3 birthdays. My brother Mikey (12/1) and my sisters Kimmy (1/2) and Bethy (1/3). It was a fun birthday/ New Year's Party.

Spencer helping his mommy blow out her candles. (all 30 of them!)

So my mom got a cake for Bethy and Mikey to share. Apparently the cake decorator thought the cake was only for one person.

My mom and dad had all sorts of YUMMY treats to keep us snacking all night. We played some fun games and some that got a little competitive. We put Cayden to bed around 10:00 and then played more games until midnight. I laid down with Jacob around 11:30 and fell asleep. Jared came and woke me up in time to watch the ball drop. However, the clock that they all were looking at was slow so we all missed the ball drop. We gave our hugs and kisses to everyone and then headed out for the night.

Jacob sound asleep on new year's eve.

We are excited for the many wonderful new adventures that 2010 may bring. Happy New Year to everyone!

~LOVE TO ALL~

Pictures of Jacob

Here are a few more pictures of our little Jacob. Sorry its taken me so long to post them. Enjoy!!!

Coming home from the hospital 12/18/09

Chillin with Daddy 12/23/09

~Love to All~