8th anniversary !

This year marks our 8th anniversary!

It feels like it's far and few between the times where I'm not nursing a baby or quite pregnant that we get to go somewhere alone so it was extra special.

A huge snowstorm came in Friday, the day we were meant to leave for Provo, darn it! Lucky we were able to make it work that weekend or I would have been oh so sad! So instead we left Saturday morning after we dropped all the kids over at Brad and Nan's house , they were so sweet to say yes to watching the kids for us. It really meant a lot and we are so grateful they would do that ofr us.

We had a wonderful drive down to Provo! We mostly just got to chat and chat and chat, UNITERRUPTED catching up on small things we wanted to tell each other, stories, thoughts, opinions, I could just talk to Casey all the freaking day long. I love that man.

We got to Provo and started at Sweet Burrito, a new place and it was really delicious! It's often hard to talk Casey into going and trying a new place but this one was a definite winner that we'll come back to! We parked in Casey's favorite parking spot for the BYU football games, and then walked to the BYU bookstore to look for a Christmas present. Then walked over to the football game! I've loved getting to go to the football games with Casey again, this year and last. It was just hearing about the experience of the football games casey had with each of the kids; he's such a a fun dad and you can can tell from his words that each boy and him had such a great time together. BYU football is totally crap this year, ha. But we still love trying to cheer them on. We left right before half time. It also was FREEZING! We were in the shade at first and I was dying, once we moved to an area of sun it was much better. Got our beloved cougar tail but we couldn't even eat it all! Go cougs. Better luck next year though, ha.

We quickly went to the temple and did a sealing session which was fun! I love getting to do temple sealings for our anniversary month to remind of us of the words!

We picked up some quick things Sam's Club.

Dropped our stuff off at the hotel.

Ran over to Olive Garden. Casey was so happy for that chicken alfredo and breadsticks and salad! And it really was super good! I trie the Zupa Toscano soup this time around and it was awesome. While sitting at the table we answered random couples questions back and forth which is always fun to get to know each other more.

We quickly ran back over to BYU to catch the basketball game! We got lucky and some random guy gave us sweet tickets. Row 9 and nice padded seats! Again, the team wasn't so hot but it's alwsways fun to just be there cheering on BYU.

Came back to the hotel and I was so stinking tired from the day's activities! I got 10 hours of UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP. that felt stinking amazing. We did church in Evanston back to our kids and our marriage/love cups were definitely filled up. So happy I got to spend som alone time with my wonderful eternal companion. How I love him to the ends of the earth!

A 6 year anniversary

We celebrated out 6 year anniversary this year! It was super fabulous. Let's see in years past, the first 2 anniversaries we didn't have kids so let's be honest, every day of marriage was like an anniversary, (do what you want! no responsibility! alone time 24/7). Our 3rd year I was LARGE with child and we were eagerly awaiting his arrival and that was the main thing on our mind. Our 4th year we went to see a movie real quick and took Max with us to dinner. Our 5th year, newborn twins, pretty much didn't go anywhere ever for 6 months. So when our 6th anniversary came around this year I was STARVING for some quality alone time with my dear husband over here. No newborns, no large pregnantness, we were bound to make it awesome.

Our awesome friend Katie (always a big shout out to that girl!) volunteered to watch the kids, we left near dinner time (I think after we even fed the kids, ha). Anytime I get in the car with Casey alone I feel like a free woman who wants to crazy, ha, I love my children but you need breaks from people you love sometimes.

The first item on our checklist was mattress shopping! Mattress looking really. We want and need a kind size bed so badly, one day we'll find one that's a good fit and price for us, it may be after graduation, but it was still fun!

We stopped at Olive Garden for dessert...and then while sitting Casey couldn't stand the smell and ordered dinner, ha. 

We booked a night at a hotel nearby (with a king size bed!). Best 10 hour of non interrupted sleep of my life in YEARS! Love that dear husband of mine.

We awoke in the morning to go to a matinee showing of Hunger Games on its opening weekend. After experiencing recliner seats at a theater, I will never again go to a normal theater, it was so insanely comfortable! (If you can't tell in the pics, our feet are up, ha, and you can cuddle in the seats, so great!

So that was our 6 year anniversary celebration, it was so beyond wonderful. I love love loved every minute. Happy anniversary my dear sweet husband!

Anniversary activities

So Casey and I celebrated our 5th anniversary with very mundane activities that were a big deal to us because we don't do them often. As you can see:

Picked up Jimmy John's for lunch. Delish.

Braved our first car family outing to the mall. All I kept thinking was "how in the world am I going to get out of the house by myself!" It took so much effort to get there and well as transition into the actual mall, ha. Hopefully in time it will all get easier.

Picked some(incredibly overpriced) pretzels up to enjoy. 

Babies performed their job perfectly but not making a peep the entire trip.

Attempted family picture at the mall.

As we walked around the mall he found a real tractor and cow;don't have been happier.

Babies!

QB

B

And we ended the night with remembering what our new family of 5 looked like on our 5th anniversary.

5 years

A very joyous and happy FIVE YEAR anniversary to us!

Holy heck, I really am baffled that it's been 5 years.

I think what I'm most surprised is where we are now 5 years later.

You know how you always fill out those goal lists of "where will you be in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years etc?" If someone had told me I'd have 3 kids I'd give them a deer in the headlights stare and shake my head NO WAY! But here we are; 3 kids in 5 years! Along with that is 2 bachelors degrees, 7 moves, 2 cars, 3/5 of dental doctorate, and so much more but those are the big things that come to mind (mostly that 3 kids thing is the HUGE surprise)

Casey took his test this morning (he didn't fail, wahoo!) he came home and we popped in the that dusty wedding video of ours. Let me say it was the best. Gooey cheese all around and we were swimming in it. While we watched our skinny, young selves smooching it up the TV, Casey rocked/bounced Bryson and got him to sleep, I kept putting the binkie back in Quinn's mouth, Maxson was cuddled at my side entranced by this "movie." It was as ideal as I could ever picture spending our 5th anniversary. 2/3 of the way through Maxson got bored and began begging/whining for a "baaahh?!!! baaaaahh?????!!!!" (translated bath). We told him when the movie is over. He then began whining/crying "awwwww dun! awwwwww dun! awwwwwwwwwwwww dun!" (all done). Quinn woke up crying and I tried cuddling him close to me and after awhile gave him to Casey to rock and try to get to sleep while I kept pulling Maxson away from the eject button on the XBOX that was playing the movie. Nearly as soon as the movie was done both babies began squeaking and squawking in hopes to eat.

Like I said, it was the best 25 minutes of our morning watching our wedding video while living our crazy lives.

I love you babe, XOXO

engaged 2009

an anniversary

we had the most wonderful anniversary this year. the first 3 years we celebrated our anniversary were fun but let's be honest, it wasn't that much different than the other 364 days of the year. it was just us and it was always just us. but for the last almost year, we've spent a lot of our time and energy helping a certain little boy grow and survive. so this  year it was a day to really really  focus on US. OUR marriage. OUR love. OUR attention on one another. not that the other 3 anniversaries haven't been special but we are in a different league of anniversary's now, i love it so very much.

like all our other years we continually talked to each other during the day of "what were we doing 4 years ago at this exact time." i love doing that. while another single girl friend of ours from dental school watched maxson, we sneaked away to HuHut grill, one of those Mongolian places that cooks the asian food in front of you. we had the sweetest time together asking one another to list the most BLANK in the last 4 years. best road trip, scariest road trip, best activity, best food, biggest regret, and best decision. it was so good to just sit alone with one another, laughing at past experiences and focusing on each other.



we raced home to our sweet little maxson (because an hour away from him was quite enough;) we put him to bed, i baked some cookies to share at the baby shower i then went to for just a little bit. i left the shower early to race to the theater with my sweet husband to watch the new hunger games movie, catching fire! there's something so endearing about holding hands, running through the snow, racing into the theaters together. we were surrounded by college students (very likely single and a little drunk) on all sides, we made up silly stories about the groups and giggled to each other so glad we were married. we held hands and cuddled (as much as you can cuddle in those ver separated movie chairs) riveted by the movie at every point. suddenly it was 12:15 am and our movie was over! we loved it. go see it!!!



we came outside to another more snow dusting the cars and sidewalks (i'm making this sound all peachy perfect, romantic and wonderful but it was FREEZING outside and i was hating nebraska humid winters, that cold just BITES you!). but the night was fantastic. we were reminded how lucky we are to be married to our best friend.

happy 4 years to us, so glad we have an eternity more together!

11.21

happy four years to us.

marriage sure does grow sweeter with time.

my favorite quote:
"Cherish your spouse as the greatest possession of your life and treat him or her accordingly. Make it your constant goal to add to the happiness and comfort of your companion. Never permit yourself to let down in your affection, or your respect, or your faith in one another. Be excellent in every way.
Gordon B Hinckley, "The Quest for Excellence," Sept 1999 Ensign

i love it so much it hangs right above our toilet paper roll ;)



ps- i updated the links on my favorite feeding products post if they weren't working for you

three.

happy THREE years to us!

 and now it's time for us to have a baby!

wedding pictures here and here

honeymoon pictures here

other anniversaries here

highlights of anniversary day.

bowling (class),
j-dawgs (lunch),
awful waffle (lunch/dessert)
so yummy!!!! go try it yourself asap! those crepes with nutella and bananas made us feel like we were in mexico all over again!!!!!!
chili's (dinner)

 

i remember my wedding day and during the reception thinking how i loved casey way more then than i ever did when we were dating, and that at some point that loved would be something more but i just didn't understand at that time how i could possibly love him more than i did at that moment.

and now i look back and see that our relationship is so much more now than it ever was then, we truly are one unit and i love every aspect of that. our love and commitment is deeper now than it ever has been and it will only grow form here.

i would not have wanted to spend these last 2 years any different.

love you sweets.

11.21.11 aka our family birthday

today, we are 2 years old together,

precious!

what are our plans?

school

and work.

how romantic!!!!!

one day we'll do something super awesome,

til then,

we'll be celebrating low key, at home, in school, and at work.

2 hips and a hooray for marriage!

ps- remember how last year we ate our cake!?

as of recently:

 jaden and i hanging out in the yard together.
casey mowing the 5 foot tall weeds grass.
cheesecake factory with some fun couples in the area.

casey continues to study
while i continue to look for a job,
what fun.

onto better news:

happy 31st anniversary mom and dad! woot woot!
look at you two, so cute from the 1st year til the 31st year,
can't wait to celebrate mine and husband's 31 years together!

let them eat cake

ok, so other than the fact that the origin of that phrase is horrid,

i do love cake :)

in fact we ate the top of our wedding cake last week!

and guess what? it was totally yummy still!!

crazy, huh? it was so yummy a year later, i really wish i remembered how yummy it was the day of!

remember how absolutely beautiful our cake was?

if you wanted to contact the woman who did our cake,

find laura bayles on facebook, it was her mom :)

worth every penny.

one of the best things we chose for our wedding day

ps- you see in the top 2nd pic that sliver of cake that was pre-cut before we got to cut it?

casey decided that as soon as it was defrosted he was going to cut into it and eat it...by himself...

i threw a fit and stopped him till we had a camera :)

365 days later

and we still love each other
i know, precious :)

we celebrated our first family birthday yesterday

and loved it!

once i get through the craziness of today and tomorrow i'll have lots of stuff to share from last week!

Things I've learned about myself lately

-I do not like being alone even the tiniest bit anymore. Not at all.
-No matter how much I try bacon, mushrooms, olives, and pickles, I cannot like them for the life of me. I want to, I really do, but I just can't.
-When I don't have meals planned in advance, cooking is a burden. When I have it planned cooking is enjoyable and then Casey can do it with me.
-Routines are good.
It's not worth saving money buying text books online if they're only going to show up a month after school starts and you've missed all that reading
-Our job truly rocks.
-I love milk (2%). I love love love love love it. Not nearly as obsessed about it like Annalee, but I love it when I get my milk. I'd literally drink it with every meal.
-I love Sunday walks :)
-I do not pick up after myself...and I don't even realize it! Casey is helping me remember to put something away that i literally just used!! I'm so dumb- I don't know what has gotten into me lately.


In other news, today's weather was heavenly. We woke up to thunder but no rain came until about 2 in the afternoon so it was beautifully overcast with a little breeze and barely dropped temperatures, so nice.

So for daily praying, Casey and I decided that instead of consistently asking each other "Who prayed last, is it your turn or my turn?" that instead, we'd just take odd vs even days. So that's what we do. I'm even bc I like even numbers. Casey is odd bc that is what was left over :) So yesterday in the morning we said, hmm what day is it?...It's Sept 21! Happy 10 months to us :) We had a quick little kiss and then went on to prayers. It was nothing special except that it was fun acknowledging the fact that it was.

The other day, this woman got mad at me at the library bc the sign above our Library Security office says "University Police" (bc we are a department of them)...she was mad bc the sign was "misleading" bc it wasn't the University Police headquarters...lady, it doesn't say headquarters. Unnecessary attitude was given.

That's it for now from this side of the fence :)

we did

11.21.09+6 months= 6 month family birthday :)

i heard someone call it that and we've now adopted that language because i  we thing it's cute

hip hip, hooray!

i know it's not really that monumental but, it's fun for us to celebrate

celebrations included,

a. kimber refusing to get up this morning to work out with casey even after all of his pleadings, so he crawled back into bed :)

b. work work and work

c. lunch at a local mom and pop mexican restaurant called mexican delicious haha

d. more working (though kimber's was intermingled with a ridiculous amount of time blog stalking...ehem)

e. eating ice cream out of the carton together for dinner

this is happines

happy anniversary babe,

best 6 months of my life thus far :) 

ps- in the background is the desktop computer that i bang on sometimes when it stops working and makes me super mad, literally, i've nearly done exactly what this guy has done...or at least the hitting all the keyboard keys really hard part :) happy to say mine and the computer's relationship's is getting better as each day passes

a little milestone

happy 2 months to us!

here's a sneak peak of what we got today!

other great things that happened on this date of our little milestone:

(1) casey found our pots and pans! we thought we had lost them (ones that he got as a grad present years ago) and have been using old ones of my mom's for quite sometime now bc we couldn't find them anywhere! but casey looked once more at his old place and found them way up high in a closet! so hooray to new pots and pans!

(2) the frame of our little futon broke. boo :( but casey found a free futon frame on craigslist after looking for a few days and picked it up today! hooray! now he's trying to take it apart as i type this because the sharp turn coming up from our stairs was just too sharp for the couch :( boo. but casey is doing great trying to learn how to use his new tools! i keep hearing grumblings of "this is stupid! how do i use these?! hehe"

***update: i just tried helping casey put it back together int he family room, that was a joke! we put it together backwards! so tomorrow we'll start all over again with it :)

(3) i went to gold's gym today and got an application. yay for me :)

(4) we got to see our wedding day photos on an online gallery today! loved them! i'll give you the site/password soon :)

(5) bought casey some birthday presents today that he's a gonna love!

(6) casey texted me today saying "get me a gym membership for my birthday. all these health classes i'm taking make it seem like i'm going to die soon"

(7) i have a little pea plant growing in my window sill for my living with plants class. i feel like a proud mom as i look at it each day!

that's it

we're really tired right now.

i'm going to go snuggle up next to husband and fall asleep.

good night.

happy one month!

December 21

it's been one month since the day casey and i were sealed for forever!

i can't believe how fast it's gone even so far!

we are absolutely loving married life, it couldn't make us happier!

we are so happy that we took the marriage enhancement class at BYU prior to getting married,

we've already used so many of tools, ideas, elements of the class to smooth it all out!

i am so in love with this man :)

Happy one month husband!
this pic is from either from my couain danielle or my bro weston :)
gotta love scott in the background