christmas pictures at last

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. It takes about a week to get the house decorated. And twice as long to put it all away. Michael likes to describe it like this, "it looks like santa threw up in our house!" He really is a good sport about it. This year I only put up 2 of my 3 christmas trees, not to metion the 6 ft wreath. I have so many christmas ornaments that I could have 4 trees and still have leftovers. A few years ago I let Becca and Megan decorate one of the smaller trees by themselves. The agreement was they could have a tree of their own as long as they left my tree alone. Here they are decorating their tree.


This year Becca asked me, "How old do I need to be before I get a tree of my own to decorate?" I had to explain to her that she and her sister are luckly and spoiled, most children don't get a tree of their own to decorate. Most families only have one tree. She rolled her eyes and walked a way. Some days I realize just how close we are to full blown teenager attitude. She like to tell me she's not a kid, she's a preteen. It's going to be interesting.


Michael and I didn't finish wrapping presents and putting on bows untill about midnight, then of course Lexi woke up and wouldn't go back down until 1:30 am. Then Becca and Megan woke up around 4 am. We convinced them to go back to bed for about half and hour. So there we are stumbling downstairs at 4:30 in the morning. It wasn't a pretty site. Becca and Megan had a great time they weren't tired at all.

They had to "help" Lexi open her presents, they didn't mind that at all. Lexi slept straight through the whole thing. I kept looking at her a thinking to myself, she's sleeping I should be asleep too. Once in a while I would try to wake her up, she didn't like that.

We opened all the presents, had breakfast and cleaned up the wrapping paper so Michael and I headed back to bed about 7:30 am. The moment we laid down Lexi woke up. You know that's the way it goes with a baby. We did finally get a nap before we went to our friends Kevin and Lori's (which are family to us) for christmas dinner.

Kevin and Lori's daughter, Kailey's ready for dinner

Krista and Stasha

Michael and Lexi, he's trying so hard to stay awake

Kevin and Greg

Lori

Becca is helping set the table, I hope you and your family had a wonderful christmas too.

My little angels

Lexi's Baby blessing, this is the same dress we used for Becca and Megan too. Becca is always thinking ahead, she asked me "Mom if we all used the same dress who gets to have it when we start having kids?" I told her we'd work that out later.

We had so many friends and family come to Lexi's blessing our little house was bursting at the seams. This is my cousin Jennifer and her husband Nathan, she's getting ready to have their 3rd boy.
My wonderful girls

I'm finally doing it!

Everyone has been telling me for months that I needed to start a blog. My loving husband set it up and is trying to teach me how. my favorite part of blogs are the pictures, so I plan on having a lot of them. That is as soon as I learn to take them from the camera and put them on the computer. I'm also learning that it's hard to type while holding a baby. The latest pictures I have are of Lexi's birth, so I'm going to start there.

After 12 long weeks of bedrest we were blessed with our 3rd beautiful baby girl Alexis, but we call her Lexi. Michael and my cousin Christine were with me. I couldn't have done it with out them. Michael was sick through most of the labor, Christine was wonderful and helped out with everything. My sweet cousin Amanda and her husband David were brave enough to babysit Rebecca and Megan.

Rebecca and Megan adore their littlest sister. The most common phrase heard around the house is "leaver your sister alone". I promise to get more current pictures up soon. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I don't know about you but Christmas really snuck up on me this year. Merry Christmas from our crazy family to yours!

Happy Thanksgiving

To all of our friends and family let me say Happy Thanksgiving.
You will never know how grateful to all of you we are.

As I look upon that last year I truly have many things to be thankful of.

To Elizabeth
There are too many things that you do each and every day. I know you have had a very hard year but you have done your very best to roll with every thing. I love and adore you my hart.

To Rebecca, Megan, and Alexis
I am thankful each and every day when I come home from work and you tackle me at the door. I love to hear you laugh. And am thankful for all of the help you give your mom. Keep up the good work my daughters and know that I will always love you

To Mom
I and thankful for all that you have done for us this year. I am thankful that you were able to come up to and visit after lexi was born. You and Larry will be missed this Christmas.

To Kevin and Lorie,
There simply are no words. You guys have been there with us. You have brought many smiles to my face, and many hairs pulled out of my head. I look forward to the years to come.

I am thankful for Elizabeth cousins who have looked out for us while we have been here in Utah.

To Christine
I could never say thank you enough for coming to the hospital with Elizabeth and me. For all that you did. I and so grateful you were there we never could have done that with out you.

To Jennifer
Thank you for always inviting us to family activates and the like. We very rarely get to go due to life but harts are always there.

To Amada
I thank you for watching the girls for us while we were in the hospital having Lexi.

To Mike
I am thankful to you for all of the emails as well as the phone calls. As you know I am truly bad at calling. This is not because I don’t think to call. It’s just that for me talking to someone over the phone that I don’t get to see only reminds me just how very much I miss them. You are truly my oldest friend and that is not an easy thing to. I know because if I had the choice I would have stopped dealing with me long agoJ.

I Love you all. Many your thanksgiving be a great and Glorious day surrounded my those you love and those who love you.

Michael

Family Pics

I added a slide show of some pics to the blog

Life

As we struggle through the some times difficult roads of life. It can be hard to remember and to be grateful for our choice to take the first step on to that road. I sometimes try and think what it must have been like in the preexistence. I know that we were made aware of the pain, sorrow, and hardships that we were taking upon ourselves. What joys, what happiness must we have seen to make the pains of this mortal life worth it? I can only image the love me must have had for our heavenly father, for Jesus Christ, and for each other that we would choose to come unto mortality.
Life has a funny way of lifting you up only to seeming kick you in the groin. For the last few years my family and I have struggled. With both health and with money, and we have tried and tried to make our lives work to the best we can. As I look to the future I wonder what storm is heading our way. My lovely wife, who has been the bread winner of the family for so long, is now faced with the struggle I have endured for so many years. I understand the internal struggle that one goes through looking for a job. I wish her all of the love and support I can.
I have often thought of how I could have changes our lives. I could have sought help for my emotional problems; I could have gone to, and finished college. As well as many, many other things. All of these things would have changes our lives but whose to say if it would have been for the better. After all I should have been in class that day I met my wife. How empty my life would have been with out her. When I look at my girls faces I am reminded that I chose the road I am walking on. it’s walking on that road that made me who I am. To take one step on another path would change every thing about me. I am grateful for my trials even if I am not always happy about them.
We chose to come here. We chose to accept the trials that come with the road we took. If I found out the they only joy and happiness I was to find by making my choice was that I would meet my wife and have my kids, then I would do it again, again and again. in the last 11 years I have know more joy, more happiness, more of what it means to be a human being, and a man. Then in all of the years before.
I used to say that I lived in darkness. Devoid of warmth, love, and of happiness. Well if that was true then my wife and kids are as BLAZING SUNS. They have chased all Darkness out of my life.
Don’t live in fear of the challenges the lay ahead. For I know that though times seem tough and forboding. Our trials shape us and make us who we are. Take what ever comes your way and let it wash over you. Do not let it stand in your way.
I know that Jesus is the Christ, That GOD is our eternal father and that he loves all of his children. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. That we have been blessed to have a prophet in these latter days. I know that through god out eternal father all things are possible, if we have faith in him and love for him and a belief in oneself to be worthy of those blessings. And this is my testimony and I say it unto you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I know my writing is not the best I hope the meaning can be understood.
-Michael

Our First Post

So as the days go bye and the kids get older we ask ourselves how in the world have we found our way here.

What had started off as a chance meeting in the walnut institute some 10.5 years ago has managed to work its way to a happy marriage and three beautiful daughters. This is not to say that we have not had are fair share of troubles. We have struggled financially for many years and Michael's well know problem with employment. However through it all we have strove to cling to one another for love and support. We could not have done all that we have, with out the love and support of each other, our friends, our families, and of course our faith and love in the Gospel. To all of you who have been such major part of our success we say with all our harts THANK YOU!!!