7 years ago....

7 years ago Mike and I sat down with the bishop who was marrying us ( Mike's brother, Steven) and were advised that the odds were stacked against us. That with all the baggage we were both bringing into the marriage and the short duration we knew each other (3 weeks) that this marriage wouldn't see 2 years. We accepted that challenge.... 

And have been thankful of that advice. 

7 years has brought 

-4 kids

-4 different addresses

- 8 jobs between us

- legal issues

-many times we've zeroed out our bank account

- many nasty fights

-therapist

- addiction

-rehab

But we knew that if we wanted our relationship to last we needed to work , and work hard for us to make each day a success. 

So we made the commitment to follow God and have him be in our marriage. 

So because of that choice 7 years ALSO brought:

- laugh lines

- weight gain from eating yummy donuts together while hiding in our room

- being spoiled that we can't sleep without the other next to us

- being brought out of our comfort zone and trying new things

- learning together

- teaching each other our talents

- money management so I can stay home with our kids

-being sealed together so we now have a. "Forever Family"

-showing our kids the important of dating even after marriage

-finishing each other's sentences.... Or talking without even saying a word ( our kids think this is really weird and awesome how we can do this)

- much,much, more joy

And we are also thankful for the advice we learned from others 

"to always be newlyweds" by Angela and Jerome.

" To love whoever our spouse wants to be. " 

" Babysitters are cheaper than divorces" Utchderif. 

" Never talk bad about your spouse in front of anyone" 

"Be absolute best friends. We can just hang out and have the most fun together." By Tina Tate.

 

So 7 years seems like a blink compared to the rest of our lives. :) I can't wait to see whats in store because I know we're doing it together. 

Dr. Seuss Day

Ok.... this is my weakness. Homeschooling our kids makes me into a "Mega-Celebrator!" We will celebrate everything. I admit that I overly compensate since our kids don't have school parties so when a holiday comes around we decorate, have games, do activities, etc. 

So today we celebrated Dr. Seuss' Birthday! So when Mike got home from work we read some Seuss stories.

made some Seuss crafts,

  acted  Seuss silly

 took some photos with my Seuss frame. :) Gotta love Pinterest print-outs!

 Then ended out night watching the Lorax.

 (Red sign) Happy Birthday Dr. SeUsS! (blue frame) My favorite quote from the Seuss man

"Today you are you,
that is truer than true!
There is no one alive,
who is you'er than you!"

It was a fun family night!

Doctor Who Dance

Lily has been planning her perfect outfit for her and Mike's Daddy Daughter Dance Date for weeks. I mean it.... For Weeks!

She wanted to get dressed as Doctor Who. Mike had us all watch 9 seasons from Netflix and now everyone is in love with "The Doctor".

So I went searching thrift stores finding the best doctor look alike clothes and was blessed to the perfect outfit. With a few alterations and some quick stitching Lily had her matching Daddy/Lily outfit she wanted.

 I needed to take tons of cute Doctor Who photos of her and all her nerdy glory.

 I love these two people! And bowties are so cool!

 Lily hasn't been to a DD dance before so she was completely taken back at what was expected. So she was completely spoiled with all the treats, drinks, balloons, dancing, etc. So excited she wanted to come home and tell me all about it. I think next year I'll have Mike phone me so he can stay longer.

And of course Mike had to top himself. Besides dressing super nerdy he gave Lily a special bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. She was smiling ear to ear. I love seeing her this way. It really shows off her dimples.

PS while Mike and Lily were out dancing the night way Ducati and I enjoyed a girls night. Movies, junk food, and pedicures.

 Popcorn! Yummy!!!!

Hogle Zoo Field Trip

I love going on field trips with my kids! It's one of the top reasons why I homeschool. But I especially love FREE field trips!! 

Hogle Zoo and a few other places here in Utan have free admission during winter months on the last Wednesday of the month. Seeing it was the last day of this winter promotion I texted my sister-in-laws and we all planned a trip to the zoo with our bunches of kids. 

3 adults and 8 kids. It was tougher than I thought to wrangler these vibrate and adventurous ( I mean wondering) bunch. 

But it was worth it. My kids had so much fun! See my little birdies. Cati wanted to tweet for me. :)

The weather was perfect! So perfect that the zoo was packed but that didn't stop us from having a great time. We enjoyed our packed lunches while we waited to see the sealion show. My nieces and daughters loved sitting by the tank to see the sealions....or seals... whatever.... swim by. 

Plus we all enjoyed the extra cousin bonding time. My kids LOVE living so close to their aunts,uncles, and cousins. I never knew how much we were missing out on until now. 

I'm happy we went. I'm more happy that we had company :)

My kids and I all look forward to more homeschool/ family times :)

Lazy headache days

I have been totally lazy these past few days. Not by choice but since I've been having major migraines that are lasting me 3 to 5 hours at a time. Which in turn just drain me to the point where I just want to sleep or lay around. But on the bright side I'm trying a new formula of essential oils. So far some days are better than others. So while I'm crouched  on my couch my kids have been doing school lessons, reading to me, coloring a lot, and helping mike make dinner. I'll get back on my feet as soon as my head stop pounding. :( 

Somewhere Hike

Living in a new city has helped us grow in more ways than we thought. Our old town we lived blocks away from the mountain trails. A small trail was right behind our old house. We could see deer running on the mountainside from our own backyard. We miss this convenience. So living in our new house in our new town it's mostly farmland. Ok it's 99% farmland. It's nice to see horses running fields, picking up local produce from the farm down the street, and being able to see more stars at night than we've ever seen. But our family have missed the trails. 

 But yesterday Mike and I loaded up our kiddos and drove until we found a trail. It shouldn't be that hard since Utah is surrounded by mountains but finding a trail near us was just a stroke of luck. Mike drove straight, then turned a few streets which he had no idea where he was but just kept heading straight until we found a trail. Yeah!

 Our family was so excited to hit the outdoors again. Ducati is our family river jumper. She's brushing up on her skills :)

 Something about being outdoors that just calms the spirit, cleanses the mind, and connects our family.

 Mike and Hailey had a nice daddy-daughter chat the entire 2 hours talking about everything and anything that came to mind.

 Mason and I are the family laggers who trail behind everyone. That's fine with us :)
It was so nice to just get out and enjoy nature at it's finest. I look forward to our next mystery trail hike. :)

Ogden Dino Park

I love this weather. I love this fresh air. I love finally getting out of the house! And I love Groupons! They had a deal for 50% admission price to the Ogden Dino Park so I just had to do it!

 Since we homeschooling this gave Mike and I a chance to mix history, geography, art, science, and P.E. to be wrapped up all into one fun afternoon.

 My hubby totally enjoyed the Jurassic Park.

 He's always testing himself so he had to challenge himself to stand on the horn of this dino playset.

 So to ensure that our kids just didn't run around wild we assigned each kid to learn 3 "new" facts on dinosaurs. This was a challenge for Mason since he's an expert dino man.

 But they found out that the biggest dinosaur was the Giganticsaurus. That was easy right! It was even bigger than the T-Rex which was hard to believe for Mason. They learned that the Rabbit Dino which Ducati wanted to take home and cuddle.

 Lily learned about triceratops and their horns and skin. Which she now wants to find one and keep as a pet since they are so cute

 After looking around at all the dinosaurs outside we went inside to take a look at all at the indoor museum. This is where I made Mike a Valenetine.

And where Mike made me one too. Great minds think alike! ♥

(haha... Mike and I taking a selfie while our kids ran wild.... it's a benefit to having the museum to ourselves)

My little girl wanting a picture with her momma dino. I'm not sure if I should take that as an insult that I'm prehistoric old or compliment that she's getting into the dino mood. I'll take it that she loves me ♥