40 is the new 30

For Darren's 40th birthday I stole Jamie's idea and came up with 40 things (among thousands)

I love about Darren. Here they are (in no particular order).

1. He is clean (I promise they are in no particular order)

2. He is always willing to help

3. He loves his Wife and kids (if there were an order this would be #1)

4. He is very supportive

5. He honors his Priesthood

6. He loves to be social

7. He will eat whatever I make for him (even if it takes 10 drinks to wash it down)

8. He will eat Ramen and Mac & Cheese (see #7)

9. He loves to do anything if its with his family

10. With the exception being cars, he can fix anything

11. He loves to play just about any sport, he says he better at some than others, I think he's being modest

12. He loves to wrestle with his boys, and they love it just as much.

13. He is a sucker for his girls, and we love that too.

14. He is quite possibly the smartest person I know.

15. He is incredibly good at his job, I worked with him a while back so I know first hand.

16. He is also incredibly good at his calling, probably the reason he's been doing it so long.

17. He would do anything for anyone, just ask.

18. He loves his parents, its always his idea to stop over for a quick visit.

19. He also loves his siblings, it is so important for him to visit them as often as possible too.

20. He is the king of useless trivia and facts. (but its great at parties)

21. He will always call it exactly how he sees it, which is really great for clothes shopping.

22. He is not easily offended, something I'm trying to learn.

23. He is a fantastic teacher, and knows how to explain it so it just makes sense.

24. He is incredibly insightful. He is great to go to with any question, he'll know just what to say.

25. He loves to have fun and joke around but,

26. He knows when its time to take things seriously.

27. He is very forgiving, which comes in handy for all my faults.

28. He is also very understanding.

29. I love how involved he is in my life and our kids lives.

30. And, He is not only involved, but hands on. 

31. He will rock- paper- scissors me for a diaper change, and be a good sport if he loses.

32. He is not in the least bit shy, and loves to meet new people.

33. He is very confident, but at the same time...

34. He is also humble.

35. He knows what he likes, but.... 

36. He is always up for new things. 

37. He is very spiritually minded and those things always come so easy to him.

38. He is responsible which again is handy because a lot of the time I am not.

39. He is so darn cute, and sweet, and handsome, and fun, and good looking, and amazing, and hot, and incredible, and gorgeous....well you get the point. 

40. He is a million other things and reasons why I love him, but there are still more birthdays to celebrate so we can't give them all away now. 

Happy Birthday Darren, I love you so much and am so thankful for you in my life, you are such a blessing to me, and more than I deserve. Thank you for being the most amazing husband, father and friend anyone could ever imagine, you are the greatest. I want you to have the best 40th birthday ever, so.......................................Let's go car shopping! 

"You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose...

But you can't pick your friends nose."

Rod Amussen

Ive always tried to live by my dad's inspiring words of wisdom, and look how well its paid off. I have some of the greatest friends in the world. When we get together we always have the best time, even at 2 a.m. Our "girls nights out" seem to be getting later and later but all the more fun every time, just as long as there aren't too many per week, we are none of us 18 any longer. This was our movie night for Kellee's birthday. I can't recommend the movie we saw, but the company was worth it. 

This is book club night, and yes we did talk a little about the book before we pulled out the movie, and all the yummy treats. Thanks Kim! 
Kellee and I at another "girls day out" and no she is not getting fresh but I was about to fall and she was saving me, Thanks Kellee. 
I am so lucky for all the friends in my life. I wish I had pictures of all of them, my friends from the wards we've been in, my fabulous basketball friends, they are all the best. How lucky am I?

Early Mothers Day

Lucky 7

So I pulled out the old 8mm of Spencer's birth and I can't believe that it was 7 years ago we had so much trouble getting this kid here healthy and safe. After pre-term labor, Intra-Uterine Growth restriction, months of bed rest, bi-weekly NST's, bi-monthly ultrasounds, being admitted to the hospital for longer than I ever care to be ever again, an amniocentesis, an induction, heart rate issues, emergency c-section, 2 week stay at the NICU, and a few subsequent surgeries for him and you can imagine why I thought that pregnancy would never end. But here we are all this time later with the greatest little 7 year old I could ever have hoped for. My Spencer is one of the sweetest boys you will ever meet, he is genuinely a good kid, always trying to make good choices, and do what's right. He is such a protective parent to his brother and sister, if they have the slightest chance of getting hurt he is going to prevent it at all costs. He is incredibly smart, does not like to get in trouble, and always wants to make everyone happy and be everyone's friend. He has the biggest most tender heart you can possibly imagine and he uses it for good everyday. My Spencer is really such an amazing kid and Im so grateful the Lord saw fit to make me his mom, I really dont deserve him. 

Happy Birthday Spencer boy. 

Go Go Gadget Book!

Have you seen this thing? I must have it! Its called the Kindle 2, it is a book reader that uses Sprints 3G network to download books right in the palm of your hand, no service fee's, no wifi needed and 230,000 books plus magazines and newspapers. I know, if only they paid me for such advertising. Darren came home the other day telling me about a few patients who come in with these things and after looking into it I was sold. He has no one to blame but himself. Its true that my iphone can do something similar but I've found the books are limited and the screen is so small. Also, my favorite feature of this thing, if you for some reason have to stop reading but you are at a critical point in the story, you can have it start reading to you. What?!? I know! Are any of you as sold as I am? Well, Im thinking early birthday, maybe Mothers Day, or is it customary to give someone a St. Patricks Day gift? If not, it should be, I already know what I want. The Inspector could only be so lucky for such a gadget. 

(JJ, you know you want one....)

Huggies free is the way to be

Would you look at me....2 posts in 3 days, sometimes I amaze even myself. But this post will not be a travelog like most of my others, I really should branch out. This post is a Im-taking-the-plunge-and-keeping-myself-accountable-to-all-of-you post. I have officially purchased my last pack of diapers and my first pack of pretty pink princess underwear. There are blankets covering every inch of carpet in the house, and Im trying to confine Riley to whatever room is closest to the bathroom. I have fully accepted that nothing else will get done this weekend as we do our 20 min off 5 on routine, but lets hope this is a success and it will not be a weekend wasted. It may be wishful thinking that we get any progress done over the weekend, but can I say potty training my boys was an absolute dream. From beginning to end the process was one week, one week and we were RELATIVELY accident free (not totally because what kid ever is) but none the less, they were great. That, and I have never in my 2 kids potty trained ever purchased a pack of "pull ups". Like I said these boys were fantastic. So are there any of you out there who have potty trained both boys and girls and can give me any hopes that this girl will be as easy as my boys? Or am I in for the long haul and have my work cut out for me? 

The crazy thing is that when you have a 7 and a 5 year old and no newborn to remind you how little babies can be, a 2 year old still seems so young. But its time, Im ready, hopefully she's ready and seriously is there anything cuter than a tiny 2 year old butt in little pink underwear, I ask you?

Like a kid loves candy and fresh snow

I hesitated admitting to all you Utahans out there reading my blog (the two of you) that we were in town this month, because the odds are we didn't get a chance to see you this trip. But there is really no need to take it personal, it was a short trip much of which was spent in Park City, Darren had a conference up there to get his CME's, so we joined him for some fun in the snow. We spent the first day with my parents in Salem for some foosball, ping pong, sledding, and fort building. The ping pong win goes to me, but as you can clearly see by the pictures Dad wins the sledding match. Maybe even two points for this one.

Spencer and Mason had their first go at skiing that weekend as well. By the end of the day they were pro's thanks to their own personal ski instructor Dad. 

And just like that, they all out ski me.

After a day of skiing they were ready to try some of the ski jumps at the Olympic Park, or maybe just some bobsledding. Not a bad looking team, right? Vancouver 2010 here we come.

We got in some practice with the torch running too. 

Although Im not sure if Riley's holding the torch or its holding her?

We also got to celebrate my little baby's second birthday in Utah. How amazingly cute is she? I love this little girl so much, she is more fun that I could imagine, and keeps me laughing all day. She is a little chatter box these days and it is the cutest thing when you can figure out what she is saying. My personal favorite, when you tell her "no" to anything she gives you an "Oh man!", its hilarious and I end up giving her whatever she wants anyway. Mom's a sucker what can I say. But who wouldn't be for this sweet thing, she has such a personality and with two older brothers has learned how to fight for what she wants. And has also learned that she has all the men in this house wrapped around her finger tighter than most. They would do anything for her and she milks it for all its worth, (at least she's learning something from her mom). I love my little Riley girl, and it was fun to celebrate her birthday with some of my fam. Thanks guys!

Ok, and now, seriously, we are done with the vacations for a while. The kids have already missed too much school, Darren has missed too much work and I have missed too much bowling, and basketball. It was a sacrifice for all of us, but a fantastic trip to the old home state all the same. It was incredibly great to see those of you we did get to see, and the rest of you, sorry, next trip I promise. (or you could always come to Cali?!)