Happy Anniversary!

This picture was actually father's day, but I thought it was so cute!
It was our Happy Anniversary this week!!! 8 Years already I can't believe that it has been that long, seems like yesterday! Then again it feels like I have known him my whole life!

You know these posts are always sappy, I'll try to keep it reader-friendly, but its very hard because I just love him so much. I know that the Lord must have been involved in getting us together because I really could never have known how perfect we would be for one another. I have never had to be anyone but myself with Mattie and he makes me feel like I am more than good enough.
I think that Matt got the short end of the stick though, he has to put up with a lot. I mean just add up the months of living with a pregnant wife! Okay, I can't take all the credit there. But he didn't marry one of those "cute girls", not so girlie at all. Most days he comes home and I look like I'm headed to the basketball court.

Anyway I am glad that Mattie likes plain old me and that we have so much in common. A perfect evening would be a playoff game, popcorn and some sweet Matt lovin! Sorry to offend anyone, but those of you who know us well are already well aware of how we are!! I just can't get enough of the man! I am so lucky to have married my best friend and my hero all in one. He is a wonderful husband, fabulous father, great provider and like I already said fantastic with the lovin!!
Thanks for the best 8 years of my life Hoss! You have made me the happiest woman around, thanks for putting up with me! And by the way, thanks for asking!

Who needs rides when you've got Mattie around? The girls love him to throw them around.One more story- Matt has really bad sleep apnea. He just got his breathing machine to help us both sleep better at night!! No more snoring, yea! He has to wear a mask and he was afraid that if the girls came up to him in the night that they would be scared. So when we got it, he showed them what it looked like on.
That night for family prayers, it was Bailey's turn. She said "Thank you that Dad showed us his sleep machine, so that we don't think he is an alien at night!"

I like this little alien though!

Kids say the funniest things!

All kids say funny things, but it seems like 2 year olds are the most fun! Here are some of our favorites that Taitem has said just this week really.
*Taite is very polite, when she needs to get by she says "excuse me" but when she sneezes it becomes "ex-sneeze me"

*We have this huge love sac in our basement that the kids love to jump on. Taite climbs up high and then yells "Watch out belownie" I thought she was just yelling watch out below me, until I heard it a second time and nope she was calling out for some bologna apparently.

*The other day she fell pretty hard on the cement outside, off the front porch right onto her bum. She jumped up and cried "Mommy, mommy my puttocks my puttocks" The other girls were laughing, I wasn't aware that any of them even knew what buttocks were.

*Praying in our house is a big deal for the girls, they love saying the prayer. We are constantly trying to get the girls to understand that while it is great that they love to pray, they have to take turns and fighting about who gets a turn is really counter productive. So the other night when Matt called on Ellery, Taite was not happy. She pouted through the whole prayer (which with Ellery can be very lengthy) After the prayer Matt said "Thank you Ellery" Then we hear this pouty, slightly sarcastic little voice "And thank you TAITEM!"

*We had a friend over the other day that Taite doesn't know very well. The little girl had a hard time remembering everyone's names. She asked Taitem several times what her name was, she asked her again what her name was and Taite looked at her "I Taitem.... no, no, no ummmm I Cinderella!!!" Her face lit up at the thought like, wow I just moved up! She called herself Cinderella the rest of the night

*Taite has quite a sweet tooth and is constantly asking for treats, which we really don't have that often, but she holds out the hope I guess. She had been asking for days for M&M's and I, being pregnant and wanting chocolate most of the time myself, caved in. I didn't have M&M's of course, but I broke out a bag of chocolate chips. We ate some and she was satisfied. However my loving hubby has a major weakness with chocolate chips and ate the entire bag that night after the kids had gone to sleep. The next day Taite asked for some more chocolate chips and I kept telling her no. That wasn't working so I opened the cupboard and showed her that they were all gone. She looked dejected. She said "Where my chocolate chips go?" I said that Daddy ate them. An angry scowl came across her face. She paused and then went and got my phone. "I call Daddy now" I thought this could only get funnier so I called him immediately. She impatiently waited and then when he answered laid into him big time. She went on for a few minutes with only every 5 or so words understandable, but she was furious, lots of no no Daddy, Naughty naughty Daddy, Taitem's chocolate chips! It was so hilarious, this was quite a while ago though and honestly at least every other day she will come into the kitchen and get the same scowl "Daddy eat my chocolate chips all gone, naughty naughty Daddy!" She will not let it go. She told me the other day after asking AGAIN for chocolate chips "Mommy, chocolate chips wanna live in my mouth!" We don't have any remember Taite? "Oh Mommmmmy"




Bailey has had some funny ones lately-

*She is very expressive and the other day she started saying Hufongous, every thing even slightly large is HUFONGOUS! I think we will all replace humongous now.

*My parents have a pool that we love taking advantage of. I should preface this story by saying that Matt is famous for his Canon Ball jumps off the diving board. It creates the most hufongous wave and splash ever! My kids are so used to their Daddy's size and the "fun" it creates, they love taking their float tubes out right where he is going to jump and riding the wave in. Water spills up over the edge of the pool every time. But there is a problem this year with the pool and they are working to get it fixed, a leak somewhere I guess. The girls were bugging us to go up to Papa's pool, Matt said that we couldn't go because the water is coming out of the pool or something like that. He walked away and Bailey said very smart-assy if I do say myself "Well maybe Daddy should stop doing his Canon Balls all the time then!!"

*Bailey has a little problem with "the boy" Cyrus. She smothers him to death. He loves to play with her, but sometimes he really has a hard time with how much she hugs, kisses, squeezes, and generally bugs him. He is getting so big that he really gets upset with her. We are always on her about it. She says things like "I just can't help it" and "I just have to squeeze him". I told her the other day that she had him pinned down and was kissing him, that he was going to start hurting her if she didn't stop. Sure enough yesterday, she was laying on the floor and he actually came over to her and gave her a hug, but she wouldn't let go and his face was buried in her chest. She kept squeezing and squeezing, he was grunting and trying to push away. I told her to let go and as soon as I said that I hear this bloody murder scream! She jumped up and was hopping around holding her chest. "My BOOB, my BOOB!!!" I lifted her shirt, and he had almost drawn blood he bit her so hard! I told her that I tried to warn her, that he doesn't have any other way of communicating and basically an "I told you so" lecture. Here is my favorite part, 5 minutes later she was at it again.







This post is getting very long and my kids are screaming for me, but one of my favorite Ellery stories just popped into my head! We were in Indiana for Christmas and driving around somewhere. We passed this big sign that said "Welcome to Bluffton" I said, look girls this is where Daddy was born! Ellery looked around eagerly and said "But Mom....where is the barn?" I guess I have said that sarcastically one too many times!!

Ellie would jump off things all day long if she could. She also would make me take a picture of each and every one of them if I would.

I've got to add some of my boy! I love to look at Beef and his Dad, oh how I love to look at his dad!!!

Memorial Day: Remembering Emma

I love these pictures of the girls with their cousins Logan and Megan! These are all pictures from our visit to the cemetery this year with Oma, Papa, Uncle Lloyd and the kids.
Our family loves Memorial Day because it is such a wonderful lesson for our little family about Eternal Families. I think that most people who know us know that our first little daughter was stillborn. It was such an amazing experience that I never could have been able to understand then how it would come to be such a blessing for our family.
Matt and I met on a blind date and were engaged very shortly after, and married very shortly after that. We were only married weeks and got pregnant. Everything happened so fast! But it was wonderful and we were excited! But we found out early that something was not right with our pregnancy. At the 20 week ultrasound we got devastating news that things really looked wrong. After many visits with specialist, tests and ultrasounds, the outcome didn't look promising at all. There was a small chance that she could survive, but sadly everything
seemed to be pointing in the other direction. They talked about options for her while she was still within the womb, but each visit and new ultrasound showed that she was getting worse and worse. It was a hard time because we were really just waiting for her little heart to give out. We had many, many weeks to prepare ourselves for that end, but the wait just seemed agonizing. But what was really happening was the Lord was giving us a very unique opportunity to choose to turn to Him and choose to turn to one another as a new companionship.
I remember after that first ultrasound, everything was so shocking and the technician and doctor unfortunately weren't very kind to brand new expectant parents, I left feeling completely overwhelmed at the thought that I would loose the baby at any time. I remember Matt pulling the car over and looking at me and saying that we have a choice to make right now, we can either come together and find the blessing in this or it can be nothing but heart ache. He had obviously made his decision and I think it was my first real glimpse of what a wonderful, valiant man I had married. I knew before that he was a physical giant of a man, but I soon realized how much he was a spiritual giant as well and how lucky I am. I had this best friend who became so much more to me.
After many more weeks of waiting and going each week to see if she was hanging in there, we finally saw that her fight was over. I can't explain in words how close Matt and I became through this experience, we had been married for such a little amount of time, I was almost 7 months along and yet it was wonderful. And Emma was beautiful!
Now as each year has gone by and our family keeps growing each year, more blessings keep coming to our family because of Emma. Our kids have a very real experience and example of an Eternal Family with one of our members already waiting up there for us. We always discuss what we have to do to get to be with her again, and our little children get excited about the thought of a sister already home with our Father in Heaven.
I just never could have imagined it would have been so bonding for Matt and I as husband and wife to experience loss very early and that it would continue to bless us each year! The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Some fun picturesThis is Ellery with Miss Anstead, she loved her Kindergarten year! Ellie is very smart and had a great time!
Here is Bailey with her wonderful teacher on Circus Day. Bailey loved Mrs. Flack and will miss her so much, but on to Kindergarten we go!Taitem was loving Elle's hat from her program at the end of the year! And of course snacking through the whole thing!
Now this next picture makes Matt very happy, This little boy and Cy are the same age! It reminds me of the other day when Cy and Taite were wrestling. She was on the floor on her stomach and he climbed on top of her and was really hugging her at the time. He wouldn't get off though and Taite nicely asked, "Cy Cy- get off please, Cy Cy get off please" Then almost out of breath she yelled, "BEEF, get off my Taitem!"

Just for laughs!

Cy has a funny face that he makes when ever we laugh at him a certain way. We tried so hard to get it on camera. Now he does it all the time, we've even started calling him "Squints"
Cy is a great kid and I love how much he loves his sisters. They are all little Moms to him and they take really good care of him. They run to him when he cries and help me with him all the time. But on the other hand, they love to wrestle with him and push him around. He will be no cupcake with these three older sisters. They wouldn't allow it. He and Taite probably play the best together, maybe because of their ages, but he loves being with her. They sit next to each other in the car and I turn around all the time and find them holding hands, then the next minute poking each other and laughing their heads off! Sometimes he grabs her shoe and pulls on her leg, it makes her laugh so hard, one day I snapped a picture.
I feel so blessed by our Heavenly Father, I don't think I could ever have guessed how much I love being a Mother. As hard as it most of the time, it is still so worth it. Each one of them has such a fun and different personality that there is never a dull moment around. They amaze me with their capacity to love and forgive, to be kind and have fun, to be crazy and be calm (somehow those moments are pretty few around our house!) The most amazing thing to me though is their ability to understand spiritual things. Their young testimonies help me realize I have a lot to learn. They are so sincere and innocent.
Ellery got to give a talk in Primary last week and we sat down to prepare. I got out some paper for me, and she looked at me a little confused, she said "I need to write it Mom" So I gave her the paper and read the topic, I asked her some questions and she wrote down her own answers and wrote up her little talk. She picked out some pictures to go along and was done, all by herself. It was simple and sincere and right on the money.
Thank Heavens I have a companion who values his role as a Priesthood holder so much and makes it easier for me to try to be a good mother.
The other day Matt and I were trying to figure out the last time that we really went and did something "fun" We just have so much fun around our house and our kids that it doesn't really matter. Our kids are our favorite entertainment!
Sometimes I can't believe that we are having another one, ALREADY, but then again of course we are! When this baby is born, Ellery won't even be 7 yet and we'll have 5 little ones! Now that is going to be a fun time! We can't wait! I really can't wait, this pregnancy has been quite a bit harder than the others. I am just so tired! What a whiner huh? I am lucky to have good little helpers and of course Mattie.
Enough rambling, a few more fun pictures, especially for our wonderful family in Indiana and Mamau in Oregon, who we don't see near enough! Love you all!
Actually, one more funny. Bailey was eating toast the other day, probably her 5th piece and I said, "Careful, you are going to turn into a piece of toast." Bailey looked at me and said, "Mom, maybe you need to come to my primary class with me, we learned that Heavenly Father makes us look like Him, NEVER a piece of toast!"