Thanksgiving/Anniversary

This year, our anniversary fell on Thanksgiving which wasn't as "bad" as it sounds. When we picked our wedding day, I knew it would occasionally fall on Thanksgiving but it didn't bother me. This year as we explained to some people that our anniversary would share the day with a big, national holiday we got weird comments like "Hmmm... didn't think about THAT when you picked the wedding day did you?" or "That sucks". Really, it made no difference. It was fun because we got to be around our family most of whom were there for our wedding day anyway so it was fun. It was a busy week leading up to Thanksgiving since we were going out of town and all. Wednesday was pure chaos but we made it to Thursday.
Thursday started early and after not much sleep. While Jason was packing the car, I came out to notice a few things were different. I had just cleaned the car out the night before so when I saw a roll of Jason's work trash bags strewn over the two front seats and a permanent marker in my seat, I knew something was wrong... our car had been broken into. Jason took my car to WalMart Wednesday night but I am positive I heard him lock it when he got home. No windows were broken out thank goodness. They picked the lock. Our car is remote entry and there is only ONE lock on the entire car which is the drivers side door. Sure enough, there were scratches all around it (we've never used a key to open my car). They thieves made out good. We had THREE portable DVD players in the car, 10 DVD's, TONS of CD's (mostly from Jason's mission which we can't replace), and they took my Moby Wrap among other things. Once I realized my Moby and Jason's mission CD's were gone, I broke down. I felt personally violated. Oddly, I felt most sympathetic for David. He knew his stuff was gone but didn't understand why... How do you explain that to a two year old?? Our police station was mysteriously closed for the holiday so I couldn't file a police report until Friday. Thankfully our home owner's policy will be covering the stolen merchandise. Still, every time I look out the window and see someone, I wonder if they're to blame.
It took my a good hour before I was determined to not let someone's mean/rude/selfish actions ruin my day. I DID have so much to be thankful for. I was celebrating 4 years of absolute BLISS with my husband. We've had our moments, but being married to Jason is by far one of the best things in my life. He is my everything. I can't imagine my life without him. I am so lucky to have him by my side through this life and the eternities to come. We have two AMAZING children. My kids are my world. I am truly blessed to be their mommy and to be able to learn from them and teach them. We have a house, a car, Jason has a terrific job and is progressing in nursing school. We are healthy and happy and those are things that no one can take away from us :)

The bare minimum

Last week was a difficult week for me. I'm not going into specifics because I've put it behind me and am looking forward. I stayed off the radar for most of last week including my school work. This semester has been especially difficult with how much our lives have changed recently and I needed a break. I did the bare minimum all week. I worked on the house but pretty much just let life happen. I'm catching up this week... dishes, laundry, diapers, sewing. There's a lot to do, but my break last week was great therapy and wonderful family time :)

Birthday recap

It was my birthday yesterday! As a mom, I find that birthdays are just kind of another day. Diapers will still need to be changed (Jason did all but one of them, though) and babies will still need to be fed (not something Jason can do, lol). It was a pretty good day. I didn't bother setting an alarm so when I woke up, I was in a bit of a hurry to get ready for church though I didn't bother rushing - I got out of the shower 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave. We only left about 5 minutes late, though and still made it in time to take the Sacrament. We had a great time at church and came home. We ate lunch, put the kids down for their naps and couldn't decide what we wanted to do so we painted the dining room. Our best friends came over after they got out of church later in the afternoon so we hung out with them for the rest of the evening. That was really about all we did, lol.

My gift was one that I picked out and ordered for myself on behalf of Jason. I've always wanted a mother's ring and found a beautiful one on Etsy. Both kids' names are hand stamped on the band with their birthstone set next to their name. I LOVE it! It's simple and not annoying. There's also room for definitely one more, possibly two more names for future kiddos. It is perfect :)

I was quite surprised when neither of my parents wished me a happy birthday yesterday. No call or anything... I was particularly bummed that my dad didn't call. I'm just grateful for Jason working so hard to make my birthday amazing. I am so lucky to have the best husband EVER!! :) ;)

I keep meaning to continue the 30 day blog challenge but my Ipod is dead... seeing that my next entry is supposed to use my Ipod, I'm stuck. Honestly, I'm not loving the topics of the "challenge" anyway.

Yesterday I painted. ALL. DAY. The upstairs is pretty much done. I have the baseboards in Ainzley's room to do and the doors and door frames. Also the stairway needs to be painted but I don't know how we're going to get that done - it's two stories tall! Even though we have a ladder tall enough, we have to position it ON the stairs. I might just wait until my aunt comes down to help with that part. Our last major project of the year will be installing the fireplace. We're putting in a gas fire place because our house is heated electrically and Springfield is prone to ice storms... if we lose power, we would be stuck in an ice box. It wasn't something that was originally in the plans, but we're making it a priority because of the winter storms we get here. Besides that, our plans for the year are pretty much complete. We put up our exterior Christmas lights last Sunday because the weather was so nice we couldn't waste the day... we have NOT turned them on yet and won't until after Thanksgiving. We haven't decorated inside yet because I want to finish painting and get the fireplace done first.

So with my birthday 2 days away and our anniversary coming up, Jason wanted to surprise me with my gift. He set me up a consultation for laser hair removal. I'm excited because when I get pregnant, I get infected, ingrown hairs on my legs that turn into MRSA. It's happened with both kids and there's no sign of it stopping. I only get it when I'm pregnant so it's weird. Anyway, I'm excited by the possibility of not having to deal with that anymore, but I'm not sure if I'll go through with it. The price will be a big factor for sure. I don't really like spending money on myself and I'm sure it would be a moderate expense. I mean, we got Jason lasik surgery when we were first married so I think I should have the opportunity to spoil myself... but i don't really know. The consultation is free, though so there's no harm in getting all the info. I'll post more details later.

We got family pics taken a couple weeks ago and we just got the CD of them yesterday. Oh they are so stinkin cute! I can't wait to post some!!!

I guess that's all for now. I like this kind of posting way more than an assigned topic :)

Day 11 – What's in your makeup bag?

Lots of makeup, lol. I don't wear make up too often. I typically go all out on Sundays and maybe put a little something on on Jason's days off but even that rarely happens, lol. I'm just not a big make up person anymore. When I was in high school and in show choir or doing pageants, I was almost always made up, but I'm much happier with the way I look without make up.

Side note: So I'm watching Ellen and those two British girls that sing Nicki Minaj are on the show again and they are so dang cute!!!

Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to eat.

My absolute favorite place to eat is at home. I LOVE to cook for my family. My mom started teaching me how to cook when I was four and it's been one of my favorite things to do ever since. It was hard for me living in the dorm because I rarely got to cook. There was a kitchen in the building but we had to share it with everyone - 5 floors and 4 wings of people to share with. Anyway, I love to cook. Eating out is good every once in awhile, but home is better :)

Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased.

I am in love with Avocados. I've been craving them for days and on my way home from the fabric store, I decided to pick some up. Tonight, we're having blackened chicken tacos topped with salsa and avocados - yummmmmm

Day 8 – A song to match your mood.

The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars.

So last night I woke up at 3 am to an AWFUL smell. I immediately woke Jason up and asked him if he knew what that smell was. To me, I thought it smelled like sulfur and possibly skunk. It completely filled the main floor of our house. I don't know what natural gas smells like, but we called the gas company anyway. They came out and said that our gas lines were fine and that it was probably a skunk in our crawl space. The gas man left, we cracked a couple windows and went back to bed. It was dang hard to fall asleep with that smell!! Both of the kids slept through all the commotion - it didn't smell upstairs at all. In fact, my kids slept until 9am. I did too... but I am completely spent! I got entirely too much sleep and feel blah. I really want today to go by quickly since Jason's gone all day but I have almost no motivation. Hence, The Lazy Song. I don't even really like that song, but the title alone says it all for me today.

Day 7 –Your wedding

I LOVE talking about my wedding. It was a fantastic day. For November, it wasn't too cold, the sun was shining and I married my best friend. We are married for time AND all eternity. Forever. There is no greater comfort to me than knowing what's next and knowing that Jason and I will be there together is a dream come true.

There was a lot of family drama surrounding my wedding but I was determined to focus on the good that day. I had two terrific bridesmaids come to St. Louis for my wedding. They came to town the day before and we had a blast. We stayed with my soon to be brother- and sister-in-law. I woke up that Saturday morning and fought with my hair, fought with my make up and was dealing with an ulcer in my throat but, again, stayed focused on the good :)

The temple ceremony was beautiful. It was everything I had ever hoped. Our reception was terrific. We had a mini honeymoon in a gorgeous hotel and had a wonderful start to our new life together.