"I do"

This is a picture of my sweet parents on their wedding day. They were married on August 15th. I am so grateful for my parents and for the love they have always shown to me and my brothers and sister. As I think about how much I love my family and am grateful for every person in it, I thought I would share some memories of each of my siblings weddings.  I am so glad that my parents started it all - and stuck with it - even when times were tough! LOVE YOU MOM & DAD!

 My sister Ashley is the baby in our family, but she was the first of us siblings to actually "tie the knot". Her wedding to Mike was on August 8th - and it was SUCH a beautiful day! My sister has always been one to enjoy the spotlight (as opposed to me who doesn't like being in the spot light AT ALL!), and I am so glad her special day was such a great day to celebrate her and the choices she has made in her life. She was married to Mike in the Salt Lake Temple, and even though I wasn't able to actually attend the sealing, it was such a special feeling waiting outside the temple and seeing how happy she and Mike were when they came outside. The day was so beautiful and warm! One of the funniest things I remember about Mike and Ashley's wedding was that for years we had told Ashley she would be late to her own wedding, because she was ALWAYS late for EVERYTHING - well sure enough that prediction came true - she was a few minutes late to her own wedding. They had a really nice reception and everyone enjoyed dancing. It was such a fun day and I am sure grateful for Mike and Ashley's example - and am sure happy to have added such a nice brother in law to our family! LOVE YOU MIKE & ASHLEY!!

My brother Ryan, who is just younger than me was the 2nd sibling to get married - however it felt like just another reason to celebrate the sweet sister in law we had already adopted into our family. Ryan and Ashley have been together so long that they practically grew up together! Ryan and Ashley were married on May 22nd in a beautiful ceremony in their very own backyard. They had worked so hard to get their backyard looking beautiful. Ryan had created a pond with a waterfall, and the grass was so green. The backyard was decorated so cute in white and purple. The day started out a little iffy-weather wise, but the rain stopped just in time for the ceremony and the rest of the evening was so pleasant. There was fun with dancing, music, food and lots of good friends. I am so grateful to have Ryan and Ashlie in my life. Ashlie is the sweetest girl you could ever meet and is such a giving and loving person. I love how excited she gets about everything and am grateful that she puts up with Ryan! Ryan has always been a "tough-as-nails" kind of guy, but is such a great husband and father.  I LOVE YOU RYAN & ASHLIE!

My youngest brother Dustin was the 3rd of the siblings to get married. He and his wife Natalie were married on March 5th. Their wedding ceremony and luncheon was held at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The day was cold outside, and was a little chilly on Natalie when they went outside to take pictures, but she looked so beautiful in her dress! The cutest thing I remember about Dustin and Natalie's wedding was after the ceremony, Dustin bent down and kissed Natalie's tummy (where Morgan was patiently waiting to be born!). This was a fun & special day and I am grateful to have added another loving and giving Sister-in-law to our ever growing family! LOVE YOU DUSTIN & NATALIE!

And yes, even though I am the oldest child in our family - I was the last to get married! I guess good things come to those who wait! Paul and I were married in a small ceremony at the Lion House on March 3rd. We were so anxious to get married that we didn't plan a big production, but the small ceremony was so nice. We had a luncheon after the ceremony and were able to invite all of our immediate family to join us. A few months later in May, we had an open-house reception and were then able to invite all of our extended family and friends to help us celebrate. I am so grateful for all of you who came and showed us your love and support. Paul and I have now been married for 4 years, and of course we have had some tough times, but we have also had some amazing, fun and good times too! It has been such a wonderful thing to have a great husband and to know the joys of being married.

I am so grateful for every member of my family and am grateful that all of these marriages have brought more wonderful members to our family: nieces and nephews! Weddings are such a wonderful event and I am glad to have been able to share in every wedding with my siblings and look forward to many years of wonderful memories with each and every member of my family.

Easter 2010

This Easter was really mellow - especially since I have been working and didn't really have any time to do the things I wanted to (what else is new, right?). It was nice that it was conference weekend, which helped bring the true spirit and meaning of Easter into our Easter weekend. We spent Saturday night at Olivia's birthday and then came home and dyed Easter eggs. Easter morning we woke up, found Easter eggs and the kids' easter baskets and ate a pancake & egg breakfast. After the second session of Conference on Sunday we went out to my parent's house for a yummy Easter dinner and the kids got to hunt for more eggs. My mom is so nice to have everyone out to her house - It is my favorite! She also got the kids bouncy balls and sidewalk chalk - she is the BEST Grandma Honey EVER!! I tried to bring some spirituality into our Easter by doing the plastic eggs filled with things that signified an event that happened the last week of Christ's life. I sat all the kids down and let them open an egg and we showed a picture and told the story of what happened. It was a really nice weekend and I am so grateful for the time I get to spend with my family.

My Dad and Paul dressed up in matching pastel colors to show some Easter spirit!

Our new adventure

Well, if you read my blog at my Census job, you would know that because of a recalculation of child-support we now owe $500.00 more a month for ONE child (don't get me started!!!) Anyways- in order to find this extra money, in addition to me taking the census job, Paul and I have decided to start an engraving business called Heartmark Engraving. Paul is REALLY excited about this - and I WISH I were excited about this. Growing up I saw my Dad struggle to own his own business and it scares me to think what this will be like. I hope it will turn out ok, and if nothing else, hope it will provide the extra income we need each month. I know Paul has a great mind and would love to get away from having to work for someone else, but for the time being he is staying put  - which I am thankful for! We have purchased a laser engraver that will engrave just about anything - plastic, glass, wood, metal, rubber, tile, even paper - so if you have a need to get your casserole dishes marked with your name, get a dog-tag for your pet (including children) or if your company does name-tags or name plates give us a call! And for any of you out there that have now/or have ever had your own business...any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!

How do I top that?

The past couple of months have been filled with lots of FUN birthdays! My sisters go WAY overboard and create such a fun birthday for their kids - I am not sure how I am going to compete. Jaedyn's birthday is just a few weeks away and I need to think of something good....Here are a few highlights from the past few birthdays:
Gracie turns 4 and celebrates with a Pizza/DJ Room/SpongeBob/Classic Roller skating party!

Then Tavin celebrated his 4th birthday with a Pirate Themed Party - Ashley really got into the whole theme and everything was SOOO cute!!

And finally just a week ago Olivia celebrated her 3rd birthday with Tinkerbell (Jaedyn was SO Excited). Tinkerbell was as cute as can be and I think the kids really liked her (well, except maybe Tavin).

What fun! I'm so glad I get to celebrate these fun things with my nieces, nephews and kids! It is so fun to see them grow-up and I am glad that they all have each other - I hope they stay close and are good friends when they grow up!

No good deed goes un-punished

Last July Paul and I took the kids to the Pre-parade float exhibit for the 24th of July - and at the exhibit there was a table set up for the Census. They had flyers advertising the fact that they need people to work for the census. Well, being the patriotic girl that I am, I took one of their flyers and thought that it might be fun to be part of history and also earn a little extra cash and apply to work. I thought for sure I would get one of the part-time jobs where you go door-to-door and get people to fill out their census. Easy enough, right? Walk around, get some exercise, be outside, work a few hours a day....well, boy was I wrong! I guess because I got a 100 on the test (by a mere fluke - might I add) they wanted me to work in the office. Which was o.k. due to the unfortunate events of child support recalculations that now require us to bring in an extra $500.00 a month - anyways, this job is FULL TIME - plus OVER TIME, working in an office making phone calls to hire other people to do the job I orginally thought I was going to have. This has caused some strain on our family - the kids having to go to the babysitter, Kelsi being the surrogate mother, and the fact that I am so busy that I haven't had time to grocery shop, clean, do laundry or any yard work. This is a temporary job  - but it so - NOT what I had in mind.