Happy Anniversary!

13 years ago today is when it all began. My mind keeps wandering back to our wedding day. It was a beautiful April day (even though it had snowed the day before and again the day after). When Jeremy arrived at my house to drive down to Salt Lake, he was in a panic because he'd forgotten to bring his ring so we drove back to get it and made it to our wedding breakfast at the Lion House a little late. After eating with friends and family we went across the street to the temple and had a beautiful wedding ceremony and a reception in Layton later that day. What I keep thinking is that way back then I would never have guessed that 13 years later I'd be raising four kids and living in Chicago! We never know what lies up ahead for us. We've been through some really hard and stressful times and had a lot of fun and excitement also. If I had my life to live over again, I wouldn't change a thing about our marriage. There is no one else I'd rather be going down this road with!
We celebrated our anniversary in February with a trip to Mexico so we're not doing anything special or exchanging gifts today, but I did make a list to give to Jeremy and I want you all to see what a great person he is.
What I love about Jeremy
1. He's patient with me.
2. Plays with our kids.
3. Works hard to provide for us.
4. Does the dishes on Sunday.
5. Supports my hobbies.
6. Honest
7. Great back rubs!
8. Puts family first.
9. Good with the deacons.
10. Smart.
11. Is respected at work because of how he acts.
12.He understands where I'm coming from.
13. Enjoys the outdoors.
14. Forgiving.
15. Involved in our children's lives.
16. Likes cooking with me.
17. Shares my dreams
18. Tries to make me laugh.
19. Let's me have a break when I need it.
20. Fun to play games with.
21. Humble enough to admit when he is wrong.
22. He apologizes when he needs to.
23. Fair.
24. Always tries to better himself at work.
25. Likes to learn.
26. Good Kisser!
27. Tries hard to keep promises.
28. reliable.
29. Shares his day with me.
30. Says nice things about me when I'm not there.
31. Teaches the kids to respect their mother.
32. Respects his mother.
33 Gives credit where it is due.
34. Gives me more credit than I deserve.
35. Likes to try new things.
36. He has a wealth of knowledge.
37. Still a kid at heart.
38. Responsible.
39. Can function on very little sleep.
40. Cheerful in the morning.

I love you Jeremy!!!

Happy Birthday to Gray (and Happy Easter)

I've been feeling guilty that I haven't gotten Gray's birthday pictures up on the blog yet. I got Alex's birthday pictures up right away, but poor Gray has to wait and wait. And what is even worse is that I only took a couple of pictures of his little party. I promise, Gray, I do love you as much as I love Alex. So here it is. Gray turned two on March 27th. We just had a little party with the family. He has recently discovered Curious George and so I made him a cake that looked like a monkey (Kinda...I gave it my best shot anyway!). He blew out the candles on his first try. We gave him a little wagon with some blocks in it and he thought that was great. Happy Birthday to you Gray! We all love you and get a kick out of watching you do all of the cute things you do!




We had a fun time dying Easter Eggs last Saturday. Gray got really into it and was a little rough with the eggs. He kept dropping them into the dye and splashing all over. It was nerve wracking with all those cups of dye and all those little excited hands, but we survived with not one spilled cup! Easter morning the kids searched for the eggs as is a tradition for us. We were surprised at how quickly Gray picked it up. No one had to show him, he just started grabbing eggs as fast as he could find them. Then we all worked together to get our traditional Easter breakfast ready. I is a recipe that my mom made when I was growing up. I don't know if it has a name but it is basically deviled eggs with a cheese sauce on top...you put it in the oven until it is all bubbly. Yummmmmmy!!!

Ok, so I know this isn't the most exciting post, but my next one will be much more exciting. I have some great news to share, but need to wait a week or two to make sure everything goes smoothly and I won't have to eat my words later! So stay tuned....

Still working on the tile.....we still need to grout and then put the final seal on. Why do our projects always drag on for so long? Oh yeah....time. We don't have any. I have a calendar up on the wall that has everyone's activities color coded. It is amazing how full it gets. Saturdays are especially crazy. We usually have multiple over lapping activities that we have to decide between. Today it was a Primary activity at 9....Savannah and Jeremy had a fishing trip with the Girl Scouts from 9:00 to 10:30. Micah had Soccer pictures at 10:45 then we all met at home because Alex and Jeremy had to help out at field day for baseball. Savannah had ballet from 12-1, Alex's baseball game (Jeremy is assistant coach) at 2:30, then of coarse Jeremy and I will need to fit in a work out because we are doing P90X together (I'll save that for another post) and well, you see how it goes! This is just Saturday. Jeremy is also working about a gazzilion hours a week. So maybe we'll get this tile done before summer?

Happy Birthday to Alex

Alex has been counting down to his big day for months now. To every one's relief March 20th finally came. We had a very small party on Friday, and gave Alex his gift; a rocket ship. The real fun was on Saturday when friends came over for a Mad Science party. We made exploding volcano's, slime and then lemon juice rockets. I made a lovely volcano cake, which I'm sure I couldn't make again if I tried. While we ate cake and ice cream Jeremy did the experiment where you put Mento's in diet coke. For those of you who haven't seen this before, if you put Mento's in Diet Coke it explodes 30 ft. into the air. We were lucky to have a nice day and had the party outside. Alex got several Bokugan balls (I'm still not sure what they do or how to play with them, but it's all the rage around here). Last night Jeremy took Alex to the store with some of his birthday money from grandparents. He's had his eye on a new light saber that automatically extends when you push a button. We already have several light sabers but this one is clearly superior to the others. Now Micah wants one......a few more months until his birthday though.

I can't believe Alex is 7 already! He's such a good kid with a quick smile. He's easy to please and still gives me good hugs. He's always been very smart and amazingly coordinated, strong and agile. I love you Alex!

Still working on the tile back splash.

Sunshine on My Sholders

This is attempt #2 at this post. I had it just about done last week and then Jeremy accidentally closed it without saving. So here goes again....

It is finally feeling like spring most days here in Chicago. We are actually playing outside!!! Whahooo! Gray had a blast jumping in puddles. That kid can really jump! And the big kids had a snow ball fight with the last bits of snow on the ground. I've had a chance to run outside a few times and it's all so refreshing.

Savannah sold almost 100 boxes of girl scout cookies! Way to go Savannah! I think I've eaten a few (boxes) too many; hence the running outside.




Jeremy and I decided to start a home improvement project last weekend. I'd like to know from everyone else; Is it just me, or does every project have to have some unexpected problem? We decided to put up a tile back splash in the kitchen. Simple enough, right? We pulled of the old Formica board back splash and found a giant gap between the counter and the wall. So we came up with different ideas to try to get around the problem, but in the end we just put a bunch of mortar down the hole and let it dry. Because of the set back, we didn't get to finish our project, but hopefully this coming Saturday after Alex's birthday party we'll get it done. So here are the before pictures and I'll get the afters up later.




On St Patrick's Day, the kids were very disappointed when they woke up and found that a leprechaun had not come to mess up the house while they were asleep. Wen they got home from School and went out to jump on the trampoline, they found confetti and a pot of chocolate gold coins. They were ecstatic and all is well in their world!

World's worst blogger!!!

Ok, Ok, I know I'm really bad at keeping my blog current. I get a little behind and then a little more and before I know it, I'm so far behind that it's too overwhelming so then I put it off a little longer.

Where to begin??? I guess I'll start off by saying we had a wonderful Christmas. We spent two weeks in Utah visiting family and friends. Savannah, Alex and Micah learned how to ski and they were fearless! I was impressed that they could just zip down the mountain without poles. No crying or anything!
Here they are with their cousins.


We brought our Wii with us and everyone had fun with guitar hero. Jeremy's brother, Dan was a complete addict. Jeremy had a great time staying up with him until the "Wii" hours of the night several times.
Here we are on Christmas Eve. The kids always get matching pj's.

All in all we had a great time!


Now some not so great news. My Grandma Decker passed away on February 7th. She had been in a nursing home for 5 1/2 years after having a paralyzing stroke so in some ways this is a blessing and I am so relieved that she is no longer a prisoner in her own body. But I will truly miss her. She and I were two peas in a pod and had a lot in common. I feel so blessed to be her granddaughter and to have spent so much time with her. I was fortunate to be able to travel back "home" for the funeral. (Jeremy and I had a trip to Mexico planned so I had to do some schedule switching) My sisters and I made a floral arrangement for the funeral. We choose flowers that reminded us of picking wild flowers at the cabin with Grandma. It turned out beautiful! I had a great few days visiting with them. It's not often that I get to spend time with my sisters without all the kids running around.
The funeral service was beautiful. There was so much that could be said about how wonderful Grandma was. She was an artist, great cook, immaculate housekeeper. She had a strong testimony and showed us all what it means to endure faithfully to the end. I know that I was her favorite grandchild and I'm sure the rest of the grand kids feel the same. (I really was though:)) Grandpa wouldn't leave her side during the viewing and when it was time to close the casket, he was helped up out of his wheelchair to stand and kiss her goodbye. He kissed her so gently and said "Goodbye, Bernie. I'll be with you soon." We had all witnessed a love story. There was not a dry eye in the room. We were both heartbroken for Grandpa, but so grateful for the plan of salvation and the knowledge that Grandma and Grandpa (and all of the rest of us) are sealed for eternity and will be together again. This is what it's all about.



I also had the privalege of meeting the newest member of the Wallace family. Ben and Megan had their first baby about a week after we left and we were sad that we wouldn't get to see her until....well, who knows when.

Introducing....Maria Elizabeth Wallace. She is a cutie with nice round cheeks. We can't wait to spend more time with her in the future.




From Utah I went straight to Mexico to meet up with Jeremy and his Brother, Seth and sister in law, Mandy. It was warm and relaxing and just what we all needed to thaw us out from all the snow. (ok well the truth is that Seth and then Jeremy got terribly sick with fever, chills, body aches, and then congestion and coughing. Turned out to be Bronchitis and a Sinus infection for Jeremy. Mandy also got congested. But we'll focus on the positive!) We rode on a crazy jungle buggy to some caves to snorkle. On the way back the buggy got stuck in reverse so we had to get on a different one. We went on an all day trip to the ruins at Chichan Itza and then to a cenote to swim.



And of coarse we got to go SHOPPING!!! Good thing I had Mandy with me since Jeremy and Seth were less than thrilled to be shopping. All in all it was a great trip. 10 days without my kids was not, however, great. I missed them horribly by the end and was ready to come home and be a mom again! Thanks to our amazing Moms who flew out to cold, cold Chicago for a few days each to take care of our kids. When we got home, Gray wouldn't come to me. He would cry for Grandma every time I tried to hold him. I guess that means they did a great job spoiling the kids. Yes, I was a little sad (ok, maybe more that a little!) that my little guy didn't want me, but we are back to being best buds again so all is well.

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving we had our good friends, the Cheneys' over for the weekend. Jeremy went to high school with Ben and we have kept in touch with them over the years. They now live in Wisconsin. Jeremy started the day by playing football with the other old guys in the ward. I wasn't there, but rumor has it that Jeremy was the star of the game! We had a delicious and huge dinner as usual then stayed up late (1:30 am) playing Settlers of Catan. Then Rachel and I got up to go shopping on Black Friday. We got some great deals and had a blast! On Saturday we kept our tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree. There are not any national forest close enough to go truck through to woods out here so went to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree. We saw a real reindeer, and took a hay ride to the field where we cut our tree. It was very muddy, but at least it wasn't a blizzard like last year! We also got to visit Mrs. Claus in her little house and she taught us a few things about Santa. Did you know that his favorite kind of cookies are the colorfull ones? We also got to put the kids names on the "nice" list! All in all it was a wonderful weekend.
As I was cleaning the house to get ready for company and Thanksgiving, Micah came up to me and asked if his hair looked any shorter. Of coarse that question made me stop what I was doing and look. Sure enough he had cut a lot of hair from the top of his head and he cut it SHORT!! So I had to try to even things up by cutting off all of his beautiful golden curls. Very sad, but it will grow back.......eventually.


P.S. I somehow deleted all of the blog addresses for all of my friends. Will you all please leave a comment with your blog for me? Thanks!!

Catch up!!

Kids with the coats we collected.

I'm playing catch-up now.
We had a fun Halloween with the trunk - or - treating and the trick-or-treating! I was able to help out at Savannah and Alex's class parties. Then we went to our friends, the Temples' house for a party. All the kids went trick - or - treating together then we ate and chatted with everyone. When it was over we lugged at least 25 lbs of candy home (ok I'm exaggerating a little but they really got a lot of candy). The candy is now gone.
For our family service project in November we did a coat drive in our neighborhood. We colected over 20 coats along with some hats, snow pants, gloves and boots to donate to a family shelter service. The kids had a great time and learned a lot.