Nutty November

Yo. November started and ended the same week, it felt like. Dax started his new duties as wildlife manager and has been adjusting to spending much more time in the office than out in the mountains which is very different for him. He has been working a lot and figuring out his new job and has been a bit stressed but doing great.
I also started a new thing this month: teaching piano lessons to 5 kids in my neighborhood. So with Preslie and Hunter (who I have taught for over a year), I have 7 students, bam, just like that. It has been fun! I pay Preslie to watch Mack and Quinn for me while I am teaching. I am still doing cub scouts but my assistant den leader had surgery so I have been managing all eight 8-year-old boys by myself once a week. I finally joined the rest of the planet and got a cell phone. I have been without one for 6 years (and survived just fine!). I am still behind the times though, because Dax's new job came with an iPhone. The kids love playing with it.

watching tv on Dax's iPhone

Dax's dad came to our house and did a bit of framing in our basement to get it all ready for drywall. He is a wonderful giving Dad and always wants to help out his kids. We have plans to finish Preslie's room and the bathroom downstairs for her.

We enjoyed Hunter's 3rd grade program. His Grandpa was able to be there to watch also. At the end, the whole 3rd grade sang "We are the world, we are the children.." and of course I teared up. They are so sweet. Hunter especially!

 Mack has been going to preschool and I think he is way too smart for it but I hope he is learning to be in a structured class with a teacher so he can prepare for kindergarten. It is also a nice break for me. I have been really trying to figure him out and love him for who he is and not wish he is something he's not. I want to help him be the best Mack he can be. A cute thing he said this month when we were all munching on some fresh pineapple..
"One time I ate a bunch of pineapple and my mouth got really buzzy." We all laughed and and I said, "Mack you have a way with.. everything." then he said,
"That's because I go to night school while you guys are asleep."

Dax and I celebrated our 12th anniversary this month. We took the kids and ate pizza at a way cool park and then went swimming at the Rec Center. It was a fun day. I have loved being married to Dax; he is the guy for me. So grateful for a good man.

Mack got some horrible puking virus and a few days later, we all got it except Preslie. Then we went to see my family in West Jordan for Thanksgiving and that night, Preslie puked her guts out and was miserable the rest the time. After we had a nice visit (except Preslie) and went home, EVERYONE in my family got sick and puked. I felt SO horrible and so embarrased and mad at myself for infecting everyone. My parents got sick, my sister and her husband and kids, my pregnant sister-in-law, my niece who goes to BYU (and all her roommates), so many people! It was a bad one.


Grandpa training up his littlest grandkid to play games. So cute!

 

Trent chasing Bowser with Quinn. She loved it.

Whenever my Dad falls asleep, someone puts the ET doll on him and takes a picture. I don't know why but we think it is way funny.

Uncle Lance took Mack to the store and let him put whatever candy he wanted in the shopping cart. Great on so many levels.

My sis and her wonderful fam. My kids went nuts all month that they were going to see these cousins.

You're never too old to snuggle with your Mama!


The weather has been beautiful and I put up my Christmas lights. It doesn't feel like it should be Christmas. For starters, it's too warm, and it just feels like December came too fast.  I really like to surprise people.. As soon as I think of some good gifts, I will start to get excited. Better hurry!

date night

Last Sunday was stake conference, but we didn't realize that until we showed up to our 9 o'clock church (at 9:05, of course), and our ward wasn't there.

We made it to our 10am Stake Conference on time! And although it is always a physically/mentally exhausting experience to keep 4 kids sitting down and quiet for 2 hours, it was worth it; The talks were so good. One in particular stood out to me. Tad R. Callister of the Seventy spoke about marriage and how husbands and wives should commit to each other and work together and love each other. It seems like common sense, but I think so many go into marriage thinking "what can this marriage do for me" instead of "what can I do for this marriage". Elder Callister related a story about Winston Churchill and Nancy Astor. Lady Astor, who was unimpressed losing patience with Churchill said, "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd put poison in your soup." To which Winston replied, "If I were your husband, I'd drink it."

I don't remember many of the exact words from the talk, but I remember the feeling and the main message, which was that a good marriage takes commitment and hard work and humility and is the most wonderful and rewarding of life's relationships. I came away from the meeting feeling good about my marriage and my relationship with my husband. There is always room for improvement, though and one thing that was touched on in that talk was that couples should continue to date and have regular date nights. We do go on regular dates twice a year: on my birthday and on our anniversary. I am thinking we can/should improve on that!

Since it was our anniversary this past week, Dax and I went on a date and it was so nice to talk and enjoy uninterrupted conversation! Wow. It was a simple but perfect date.

I wish I could have had a video camera when we left the restaurant and Dax got into the car parked next to ours by mistake. There was an almost identical red Durango parked right next to our red Durango in the parking lot and Dax opened the door to get in until I started yelling, "That's not our car!"

I am hoping to have more frequent date nights with my husband; I really like hanging out with him!

TEN years!

"We've been a lot of places, done a lot of things, had a lot of babies."

We sure have, love. Read last year's anniversary post for a gripping recap of our marriage.

Our 10th anniversary consisted of a fast and furious trip to Salt Lake. We ate at Olive Garden and went to the Jazz game with our friends, Katie and Rob. Quinn had to tag along and shake things up but we had a fun night. Rob and Katie are fun to hang with and they even chauffeured us around Salt Lake. The Jazz were fun to watch and they even won for us!


One very special highlight was this guy...



The big lowlight of the evening was the food poisoning Dax and I got from some questionable roast beef we had for lunch. It was a miserable night's sleep and drive home the next day not to mention a lame way to end an anniversary. Luckily there will be next year. Until Forever.

Love you, Dax!

luckiest gal around

I stink at writing about our anniversary or even Dax's birthday. Nothing I write ever seems to express how I really feel about my man. Suffice it to say I adore Dax. He is simply the best match for me. A match that was truly made by Higher power.

At age 18, I moved to St. George to attend Dixie College. I had applied to numerous other schools, but when I was chosen to be a student ambassador at the college, I immediately knew Dixie was the place for me. Meanwhile, Dax was on a distant Spanish island deciding where to go to school when he returned. He had scholarships at BYU and U of U (genius), and was praying and deciding between the two. His prayers were answered surprisingly when he was prompted to stay at home after his mission and attend Dixie, an option he had not considered.

I started school in August of 1999 and was adjusting college life. A few weeks into school, the boundaries for our college ward changed slightly. My apartment building and the one across the street would now be apart of the Santa Clara student ward--the one Dax would be attending when he returned from his mission in 2 months.

My roommate introduced me to Dax one day after church. She and Dax had just met and were chatting when I walked by. She totally liked him. That was fine, because I gave no thought to our meeting after that. There were lots of fish in the sea and I loved swimming. It was pretty sweet being the "apartment girls" in a ward of people that lived at home and had gone to high school together. We were definitely the bomb.

One Sunday, Dax came up to me after sacrament meeting and asked, "Hey, would it be alright if I asked you on a date sometime?"
"Yeah!" I said.
He said ok, turned and walked away.

"Don't you want my phone number?" I called after him.

I guess he was going to just take it slow. Really slow. You know, first ask me if he could ask me out, then next week ask for my number, then the week after that ask me on a date.

Our first date was a group date with a bunch of his high school buddies. We went out to a little canyon in the red rocks, had a fire, and cooked foil dinners. It was fun! He got a little freaked out when he found out I was only 18, but other than that, the date went well.

We continued to hang out in groups of friends; the guys from the ward would come over to visit the apartment girls and invite us to do stuff with them.

I didn't have a clue who to ask to Sadies, so I figured I'd ask Dax since I owed him a date. I called him up and he said he would go with me. He sounded as excited as someone going to the dentist, so after I hung up the phone, I immediately regretted asking him. We doubled with my friend Melanie who took Mason- a guy she'd had a crush on for some time. Melanie and I took the boys to a Chinese Restaurant and then to the dance. I love dances in any form and I was pleased that Dax brought some skills; we had a fun time. I asked him why he didn't sound that excited when I invited him to go and he said he was really excited. I think he was just nervous because he liked me. Also, I've learned over the years he doesn't show excitement the way I do. He is pretty chill.

Well, of course I fell in love with the guy. He was kind, smart, funny, and so fun to be with. He worked hard and was dedicated to the gospel and also his education. It took quite a few months for me to think of the "M" word. It wasn't until our friends Melanie and Mason got married that summer that I even considered that I could marry Dax. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew there were only two options: break up or get married. I knew I never wanted to break up with Dax, and I also knew I couldn't date him forever. But still, marriage scared me. I was still young and wild and not responsible enough for anything quite so important.

So Dax remained patient. He was quietly waiting for me to come around. He knew very early on that he wanted to marry me but of course he couldn't say that or I would have run away screaming.

I did come around. At age 19 -still FAR too young to realize how important this decision was- I married Dax.
And here is a look at us through the years... (beware: very long)

Our first year of marriage was exciting and fun. I got pregnant right around the time we graduated from Dixie. As if studying and writing final papers through the night wasn't stressful enough. But we made it. Both my and his parents were there for our graduation and we told them at dinner that evening about the happy news.

This picture was taken on our first anniversary. I was 8 months pregnant. We stayed in Park City, which is where we spent our honeymoon. That evening we ate at Ruby Tuesday, which is where I had my first drink. Dax ordered me a virgin strawberry daiquiri and upon tasting it, I knew it was about as "virgin" as I was at that point. We brought this to the waiter's attention, and through his thick accent and hand gestures, we gathered that he hoped all would be well with our unborn child.

The second year of our marriage was even better than the first. We were mostly adjusted to married life, living in Logan and attending Utah State. We had our first baby in December and life took on new meaning. I chose to be a home Mom and Dax worked his guts out to provide. It was a happy, crazy time. After spring semester, Dax took a summer job with the Idaho Fish and Game and the three of us moved to northern Idaho. It was so crazy. We lived in a house with a girl that was to work with Dax. We had no TV, no phone, and 30 minutes to an hour away from "civilization". It was an adjustment being newlyweds with a baby and sharing a house with a non-LDS single girl. She was very nice and courteous of us. And we ended up having a fun adventure there. It was bitter-sweet to move back to Logan after just three months in little Harrison, Idaho. School started back up and both Dax and I went full-time. INSANE. We were happy to get away to Salt Lake and celebrate our second anniversary. The Friday we were going to leave town, I was in class and a girl in my ward asked me what I was doing for the weekend. I told her I was going to Salt Lake and she said, "Oh! Can my husband and I get a ride with you?" I knew they didn't have a car but I really wanted our anniversary getaway to not include an awkward other couple we barely knew. But being put on the spot (and being nicer then than I am now), I said yes. So we drove to Salt Lake together, making small talk and listening to baby Preslie cry because all she could see were two strangers sitting next to her. We stayed at my sister's house and she watched Preslie while Dax and I dined and saw the movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
In the third year of our marriage, a sweet baby boy joined our family. This was also the summer we spent in a stinky camp trailer while I was pregnant. Hunter was 6 weeks old when we celebrated our anniversary. We got a sitter for Preslie and took Hunter to Winger's for a much needed date.
The fourth year of our marriage was spent in Logan. Dax was finishing up his Bachelor's degree and we were both adjusting to having two babies. It was hard work, but we were happy. Dax graduated from Utah State in Wildlife and began his Master's degree there. Dax surprised me for our anniversary and got us a room at Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake City. My mom watched Preslie and Hunter for us. It was the first time in 3 years that we'd been alone over night. It was weird being so free and light. We barely knew how to act. But eventually, we figured it out.
I really enjoyed our fifth year. This was the first year of our marriage that I was neither pregnant nor breastfeeding. Dax was getting paid to go to school and he was working half time for the Division of Wildlife. Our rent was low and money wasn't tight. Our kids were at darling ages (4 and 2), we had good friends, had Logan figured out, and just had our groove down. We decided to leave the student ward and start attending the family ward. Life was good. For our 5th anniversary, we traveled to Salt Lake and saw the play Mamma Mia! at The Capitol Theatre.

We were still in Logan for our sixth year. Dax was home a lot. His work schedule was flexible and we spent a lot of time cooking and eating good food with Dax's brother and his wife. We had a lot of fun hanging out and enjoying the beauties of Cache Valley. This is the year Dax should have been hot on his thesis writing. We are paying for it now, but at the time we were so carefree and having a great time making as much money as we do now but having no where near the expenses or responsibility. We realized during this year that it was probably time for another baby and we started trying for #3. For our 6th anniversary, we saw the James Bond flick, Casino Royale.
It took us longer than ever before to get pregnant with our 3rd baby. But in our 7th year, it happened. Dax finished his research for his Master's degree and we took a full-time grown-up career job in Vernal. We said goodbye to Logan. At that point in our marriage, we'd moved 7-ish times and every time I was excited and ready for a new adventure. This time, I dragged my feet a little because we were moving onto a new stage and I had a feeling it would be a harder one. I was pregnant moving to a little town to have our third child and my husband was starting his career. I was excited, but we loved Logan so much. We moved into an apartment we never saw until we showed up with our U-Haul. It took a few months to get used to writing our rent check. Housing was expensive because of the oil and gas boom. But we were happy just to find a place. Mack joined our family and we have been nuts about him ever since. For our 7th anniversary, we took all 3 kids to Park City to spend the night. It was a fun, refreshing getaway from all the grown-up adjustment we were making.
In our eighth year of marriage, our spare time was spent hunting for houses and building lots. Prices were so inflated and we were discouraged by what was in our price range. Then in the summer, the Lord provided and we found a lot and began construction on our first house. For our anniversary, our contractor watched the kids while we saw the movie, Twilight.


In our ninth year of marriage, we were eyeball-deep in the construction of our house, and then about that deep with a new mortgage payment. Dax and I laugh about how we had more money when we were college students. Life is funny. We sure do enjoy our house. We like our neighborhood and our ward. And we love our family and each other. We learn from the new challenges and enjoy the new freedoms. And all along the way Dax and I have been together. I really hope I have been the friend to him that he has been to me. He is so caring and selfless. He is patient and sweet with me. He is hilarious and makes life fun. He is a great dad. He is a perfect provider. I know I complain about being a full-time Mom sometimes, but I am grateful I am able to do it and grateful Dax supports me 100%. He really is my perfect match. No other guy would kiss me as much as he does and tell me he loves me as much. No one could put up with my moods or spacey-ness like he does. I love my husband. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man.

Baby, You're the Best!

Everytime we go out to eat, I have no fail system for getting something super tasty. I ask Dax what he thinks I'll like, and he makes his recommendation. I have never been disappointed when I trust his judgement. Except for one time when he gave me a tool set for Valentines. While I love tools, I was thinking something more lovey dovey. But now, I am glad I have those tools because I use them all the time. So again, his choice was right on.

This is a pattern in our marriage that started when we were engaged and I told Dax I wanted him to pick out my wedding ring. One day we were at the library on campus studying and he asked me what kind of ring I wanted. I doodled a band with a row of small diamonds in it on my notebook. "I don't know, something simple, like that," I said. Little did I know, he had already bought my ring that afternoon and it was exactly as I pictured it in my mind, only prettier.

Dax knows me better than anyone. He knows the right answer to my questions, knows exactly how to cheer me up, how to make me laugh, when and how long to hug me, and when to let me do my thing. He is my rock, my one constant in a crazy life journey and I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else.

I am honored and blessed to celebrate eight years of marriage with the man of my dreams--my best friend. So grateful he chose me.

my thoughts on *Keeping the Spark* in marriage

I love thinking about when Dax and I were first dating. I am sure those of you that are married would agree. You know, the feelings, the excitement, the kissing. I remember getting all ready for dates. For one particular date, I had carefully selected to wear a lime green top and black shorts. I looked so cute! As I continued getting ready, I peeked out my apartment window just as Dax pulled up to get me. He got out of his car, and to my utter shock, he was wearing a lime green polo and black pants! How embarrassing to match your date! I broke speed records in changing my outfit before he got to the door. What a fun and exciting time in our relationship that was. There was a special spark. And it has been that way ever since. RIGHT?

There’s an article in the 1986 Ensign entitled, “Everyday Marriage”. In it, the author states, “When we take our marriage vows, we commit ourselves to the whole package—the highs, the lows, and the ordinary. But caught up by the delight and wonder of falling in love, we tend to anticipate that our marriages will be high romance, week after starry-eyed week. It may come as a jolt when we finally realize that more of the texture of marriage is getting dinner on the table and paying utility bills than it is moonlight and roses.” Well put. I want to know how to keep that spark in our marriage, even amidst all our daily demands.

In my opinion, the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to a sparky marriage is laughter. I read an awesome article in the September 2007 Ensign entitled, The Power of Laughter. It states, “On average, children laugh 400 times a day, while adults laugh about 15 times.” How sad! The scriptures say ‘Men are that they might have joy’ not, ‘Men are that they might be way serious and stressed out.’ President Hinckley said, “In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.” Dax is GREAT keeping laughter in our home. He is always messing with me and the kids. When we lived in Logan, I would get telemarketing calls every day and most of the time, they were for companies that wanted to fix the rock chips in my windshield. I am usually very nice to telemarketers but I was getting so tired of getting those calls. One day, the phone rang. I picked it up and said, “Hello.” And I heard (in a southern accent), “Hi ma’am. This is Darryl from Diamond Auto Glass. Do you have a rock chip in your windshield?" ARRGG! Me:“No, I do NOT have any rock chips in my windshield and you guys call me 3 times a week and I am getting sick of it so could you please take my number off your calling list?” Suddenly Darryl from Diamond Auto Glass started laughing in Dax’s voice. He totally got me!

Another thing that keeps us laughing is our funny journal. It is just a cheap little journal that I make an entry in every time something funny, cute, or amusing happens in our family. Most of the entries in it are about our kids, but Dax has a few gems in there, as well. Like when he said to me, “Don’t worry honey. No matter how fat I get, I’ll always love you.” Last night, he was at the computer and just as I walked into the room, he was typing in a search on YouTube. I watched as he typed ‘smash car with rock’ I was practically brought to my knees in laughter watching HIM laugh hysterically at videos of cars being smashed with rocks. Here is a guy who has not grown too old and serious!

Life is funny. There is so much out there to enjoy. We should enjoy things and laugh together often. My favorite quote from the article, The Power of Laughter is, “We tend to like people we have fun with”. True, true. If we want to like our spouse, we need to have fun with them.

And the perfect venue for having fun is dating. We have to date our spouse! It may seem like we have less and less time for each other. That is why it is so important to keep dating regularly. Whether it’s once a week or once a month, write it on the calendar and treat it like any other commitment you have because marriage is the MOST important commitment we have and our marriage is worth every effort we put into it. I asked a few of my friends for ideas on this topic and here is what I got:

Visit the temple together, read together, ask him on dates in crazy ways like we used to do for dances, turn off the phone and the TV, do new things together like batting cages, comedy clubs, roller skating, fishing, or anything the two of you have never done before, sit on the porch and talk, exercise together, do something your spouse is into (I have hunted with Dax and he has scrapbooked with me), do a project together or learn to do something new together, have a planning meeting once a month so that on your dates, you can gaze into each other's eyes rather than talk about each other’s schedule or dentist appointments coming up.

Our spouse should be number one on our calendar because we love them more than anything else we can spend our time on.

The Book of Mormon teaches about true love. I’m of course talking about charity, or the pure love of Christ. I have our engagement picture tucked in Moroni, chapter 7 right next to the verses about charity because I think Moroni 7:45 describes the perfect spouse:

“And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

Don’t you want to be married to the person this verse describes? Don’t you want to be that person? When we practice charity for our spouse, we are patient, kind, we are happy for our spouse’s successes, we continue to learn from them and about them, we are concerned about their comfort and happiness, we forgive quickly and easily, and we think kind thoughts about them. That is what true love is. That is what charity is.

And the thing I like most about charity is found in verse 47: “But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever.” I think everyone enters their marriage hoping that their love will last forever. And we can have that lasting love if we do what verse 48 says and “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.”

Pretty much I am no marriage expert, but our Heavenly Father is. He and Jesus Christ are the biggest advocates of marriage there are. Jesus Christ has shown us the perfect example of how to love. Pray for inspiration. Heavenly Father will inspire us if we ask Him for help. Then when we get an idea, we should pause and act.

I am so grateful for the chance to be married! It is such a wonderful blessing and privilege to be on this fun, and wild life journey with someone I’m crazy about!

the perfectly imperfect blend

We're not newlyweds anymore. It hit me when I threw away our rusted cake pan that I got at my wedding shower. It then dawned on me that we'd also replaced our vacuum, hand mixer, and VCR--also wedding gifts. I don't consider myself suddenly way experienced at being married now that it's been 7 years, because with each year, Dax and I experience things that we've never experienced before. I still feel like a newlywed in that respect and for the fact that I love him just as much (more) as when I married him. I am grateful for the chance to be married in this life and even more thankful that I scored the man I got.

It is always interesting to me just how different Dax and I are, yet how great we go together. I find evidence of how different we are by things that are in our home, and while our things don't necessarily go great together (the designers on HGTV would have a coronary),



I love that we are able to appreciate each other and allow for the other person to explore separate styles and interests. And while I would love to have a shed out back to put all of Dax's antlers in, the pile in the corner of my living room reminds me just how lucky I am to have him. I hope he feels the same way about me when we get a house and I paint the walls orange.

My One And Only

Valentines with a newborn can be a bit challenging. He sleeps in the same room as us, hel-LO. But it is cool that we are going to have just a chill Valentine's day. I know my hunny loves me and I love him right back. I definitely appreciate a day that celebrates that. I feel like I have it so good in the man department. He cooks, will watch chick flicks with no protests, he enjoys shopping and snuggling (back off, single ladies, he's married). He also hunts, fishes, hikes and plays basketball. But the best thing about my guy is that he is a genuine person. He is kind. He is a loyal friend. He has come to my rescue (physically, emotionally, mentally, spriritually) more times in the past six months than I can count. I love this guy with all my heart. I count him as one of my blessings every day and thank the Lord for him every night (when I don't fall asleep first). What a cool thing to love and be loved; there is no feeling like it.