The best half of "US"

I recently got tagged. Since I failed to respond the last time I was "tagged" and seeing that these questions are mostly about my "better half" I figured I'd give it a go.



What is your husband's name: John

How long have you been married: 6 years in December

How long did you date before you got married: 9 months (engaged 2 months)

Who eats more: John by a long shot. He tends to LOAD up his plate and then before beginning to eat he sits there and marvels that "ALL THAT food" is about to fit into HIS stomach.

Who said I love you first: John

Who is taller: John is a bit taller.

Who sings better: John by a long shot. Hopefully there are no more questions about who does what better. John trumps me every time.

Who is smarter: Drat! see above.

Whose temper is worse: Oh here, finally something I'm better at.

Who does the laundry: Me...

Who does the dishes: Me...

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: With three kids, under the age of 5, I really can't say. By morning, none of us wake up where we started.

Who pays the bills: Me...

Who cooks dinner: Me...

Who drives when you are together: John. But I'm great at telling him HOW to drive.

Who is more stubborn: I'm sure it is definitely without a doubt...John. That's not even up for debate.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong: I have yet to be wrong, so, hard to say.


Whose parents do you see the most: john's dad is the only one of our parents who is still living. We love him tonnes, and try to see/speak to him daily.

Who kissed who first: John kissed me. ON the FIRST DATE!! (scandalous)

Who asked who out first: John asked me out

Who proposed: John

Who is more sensitive: I'm not very sentimental but I am the most emotional. lol. John is pretty sensitive and he definitely is the one who has the most "tact."

Who has more friends: There is not a person alive who doesn't love John as soon as they meet him.

Who wears the pants in the family: I think that is a nice way of asking "who is the most bossy." In that case...me.

Where did you meet your husband: I was YSA President in Edmonton. John moved up from BYU and to put it mildly he had a few "recommendations for improving the dances." He drafted a VERY lengthy letter addressed to the YSA committee, sighting several concerns along with many suggestions as to what we could do about it. I thought his ideas were lame-o until I actually met him. His dimples sucked me in big time. Suddenly his ideas were amazing. And of course, I would need his help implementing every one of them. Ha ha probably the only year when the YSA held structured dance classes prior to the dances.

What was the first thing you said to your husband: I don't recall. Nothing memorable obviously.

Where was your first date: At his house. John had to introduce me to the Star Wars Trilogy.

Where was your first kiss: At his house. First date...star wars...well before Luke Skywalker even joined up with Hans Solo and Chewbaca!

Where did you get engaged: At my favorite fishing spot along the North Saskatchewan River.

Where were you married: In Vegas! Jokes

Where was the Honeymoon: a ritzy resort on a deserted island. :)

Tag to: Crystal Payne, Laura Leavitt, Shauna Salmon, and Heather Rausch, and Jewel Hardy (because I know how much Kendall would appreciate this one;)

'Tis the season

There has been a lot going on this past week. We seem to be getting back into the swing of things. With a fresh new snowfall and the fact that various neighbors are getting into the spirit of christmas, we decided we'd better get on the band wagon as well.

On Monday night, we broke out the Christmas decorations and the kids had a blast setting up the tree and hanging up santa etc. We still have to put lights up outside but John and I are debating what to do. Icicle lights, or just multi-colored bulbs? Reindeer on the lawn? Santa on the roof? How will we decide?:)



I went down to Sears and picked up the famous Christmas wishbook. Abby has spent many afternoons (while sam and jess sleep) cutting out things she'd like and glueing them onto her own "Wish list" for Santa. She wrote a letter today for us to mail to Santa and asked me if she could mail all the pictures of what she wants with it. Something tells me we will have to narrow this list down a bit, AND perhaps teach her a little bit about money because let's face it, I love her daddy, but I didn't marry him for his money!


For Family Home Evening I brought out our newly purchased Nativity set and tried to teach Abby about the true meaning of Christmas. Why we "really" celebrate it. She had fun holding all the peices but she clearly didn't hear a thing. That night before bed I couldn't help but laugh as she was praying and actually had the nerve to sincerely say, "we are thankful for....Santa Claus." Yes Abby, we are thankful for Santa, and many MANY other things as well:))











Sam is keeping us busy. We took the kids swimming this past week and it was such fun. Sam however was content to just sit on the edge or better yet, "leapfrog" all around the deck of the pool.
Oh well, atleast he was saying "rriibbitt" which helped ease any fears I had that he doesn't talk. Plus, I think the little amount of Chlorine he did come in contact with helped wash some of this mess off of him.












I had to post these two pictures as well. Both are of the kids' bedroom door. Abby has been doing so much art work, at home and school that she has begun taping her best work to her door. I personally think she just enjoys using the tape all by herself, but whatever. It made us laugh though as we went to bed the other night, we glanced at the door and something caught our eye. She had actualy taped the roll of TAPE onto the door. Goof.



This second picture shows what has become a daily routine in our home. Because there is a good inch or two of a gap between the door and the floor, this is now what happens. Every afternoon when Sam wakes up from his nap he crawls out of bed, onto the floor and lies there watching us all until we notice that he is awake. Sometimes he will stick an arm or a leg out when he really wants to be noticed. For the most part though, he just lays there...watching. Creepy.




Oh yeah, this is a terrible picture but I'm very proud of this quilt that I made. I don't sew, (if you don't believe me just ask my seamstress/sister, jewel). But I did do this quilt for my Mother-in-law. It has all the handprints of her kids, their spouses, and her grandkids on it. I had hoped she'd get to use it lots before she passed away, but I barely got it done in time for her to use it for a few days. Still, it meant a lot to me to do this. Probably the one and only time I'll sew in my entire life:))












Well that is about it for now. The tree is up. decorations up? ...check. Nativity out? ...check. Stockings hung?...check. Christmas is comin' fast. Am I ready for it?...not even close!

I had posted an entry yesterday about the recent passing of my Mother-in law, but I deleted it last night. I guess I feel like I cannot adequately express my feelings, nor the love and admiration I have for this woman. For the past year she battled pancreatic cancer in, at times, an almost heroic way. Now that she is gone it seems a little bit weird to just pick up and carry on with things. John is back at work. All of the famiy have returned to their homes, and now we are trying to get back into our normal routine. The only thing is that Marilyn was such a part of our daily routine. This amazing woman meant the world to us. I will miss her very much. My heart goes out to John, his Dad and all of the family. Love you all.

Congratulations!!

John's brother just called and told us that he's engaged and we are thrilled thrilled thrilled. Congratulations you two. Another amazing sister-in-law!!! AHHHHHH!! Yippppppeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (Did we mention how excited we are?)

Winding Down

How was Halloween for us? Picture this. A beautiful little "Dorothy", a "scarecrow", a "very cute witch", a "tin-man", and ...a Frog? Yes a frog. After working endlessly on these costumes, and then spending a week trying to get sam to wear his...Sam refused to be the lion and instead dressed up as a frog. There is no FROG in the wizard of oz!! Ruined! My theme...was ruined:)) Perhaps I may have tried too hard:) Note to self: Next year...don't sweat it as much. (Luckily I did get some photos last week of everyone dressed up so scroll down to see them.) Notice i'm NOT posting pics of my little frog today. grrrr.

Having said that, it was definately a fun night. John celebrated his 32 birthday as well which made festivities extra great. Gotta love the moments when ya get to celebrate "John"!! I think I have the best husband in the WORLD! His parents came over for crepes and of course the tradional 32nd annual "Ghost cake with flaming eyes".

After dinner...time to Trick or Treat.
Abby...and I had been looking forward to this for weeks. Infact there may have been moments when I might have been skipping right alongside her I could hardly contain myself. Sam and John joined us for a bit of the evening. By the end of the night I think Sam started to grasp the concept of Trick or Treating. For the most part though he wanted only to hold his little chocolate bar (his first of the night) tigthly in his little fist, and heaven help the person who tried to pry that little candy away from him. When it came time to taking more candy he wouldn't because he refused to loosen his grip on the one he already had. Talk about missing the forest for the trees! Oh well. Sam is content.

Today has been much quieter. (is that a word) Took down the decorations because let's face it, after the holidays... decorations just look bad. Died my hair...dark. Bought some of these from Bellababies , Ate the last peice of John's birthday cake, but mostly just tried to get back to a normal routine.

Noticed some Christmas commercials today. Already? ... Can't wait.





John- Happy Birthday! XOXOX