Oh, What a night!

Our Anniversary could not have been any better.
Eric came home from work with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers that was so big I almost did not have a vase big enough to put them in. Our house just permeates with their wonderful smell.

We then took Tyler to Daycare and headed out to eat. Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, we headed to the Slocum House. Talk about elegant. Its this older home that has been converted to an upscale restaurant. There were lights in the trees, winding steps leading up the house, and believe it or not, chickens running around. We just loved it. The setting was elegant and quiet and we could look out the window and see chickens perching on the railing. It was great. We have been to a couple of elegant restaurant during our marriage, but nothing compared to the food we had.

We started off with an appetizer of Bleu Crab Cakes. Divine! Then I had Almond Crusted Salmon with mussels on a bed of butter and fennel with a gourmet salad. Eric had Filet Mignon with sauteed onions. The best part of the night was when Eric received his entree. Next to the Filet Mignon was these three huge Mushrooms. I am talking about 5 inches in size. We were quite shocked. Eric is not a huge fan of mushrooms so I told him I would eat one. He handed me one once the waiter left and when I cut into it, I was surprised. It was not a mushroom at all. It was a potato cut into the shape of a mushroom. It must have been the lighting because we were so deceived. It really looked like a mushroom until you observed it really close. We had a great laugh.

For desert I had a Banana Cheesecake with creme whip and a carmelized banana over carmel sauce. Eric had a carmelized deconstucted banana split. It was all the ingredients in a banana split sundae separated and put on a plate except the banana was sliced with a carmelized glaze, the chocolate was a ganache, and the strawberry was a strawberry gelee. It was really good!

Everything we ate was just delicious. It was one of our favorite anniversaries and we have found our favorite restaurant to celebrate at.

Now that I have your mouth watering, go eat some ice cream.

Happy Anniversary!

Yeeeessss! 5 years!
When its your wedding day, you can only imagine what it would be like in 5 years from then....kids, a job, a house. You imagine it to be so wonderful.
You know what?
It is!

5 years ago today, we entered the Oakland Temple, and were sealed together forever. We made a commitment to always love and cherish each other, to talk to each other no matter how mad we were, and together keep God and our Savior in our hearts and our home. Today, thinking back on that special day, I did not know then what the future would hold, but I did know that as long as we were faithful to our commitments that the future would be great. Today I could not be happier where we are as a family. We have a beautiful child, two dogs, cars , and a home. Though we probably thought Eric would be out of school by now and working, I am glad that we are able to support ourselves and that we have a wonderful family.

I am truly thankful for the gospel and the blessings we have received. I really believe that if it was not for the knowledge that we have and the blessings that we have received from being married in the temple we may not have had such a strong marriage. I am especially thankful for a husband who is so supportive, caring, loving, hardworking, etc, etc. I won't get too sappy.
Happy Anniversary!
Can't wait to see what the next 5 years will bring.

Latest Hobbie.

Michaels was having a clearance event today, So Tyler and I had to check it out. I got some great deals on beads. $0.98-$1.99 for them. I love Michaels! You can buy a whole coordinating ensemble of beads and just add the earring hoops and clasps and you have gorgeous jewelry. While Tyler was sleeping today, I made some cute jewelry.

I have too many craft projects going on right now, but I just had to make time for this.I was excited to find something to match these cute earrings that I had.


This porcelain bead it really pretty in person.


A packet of these flower beads was less than a $1. Love them!


I will make a matching necklace next with the rest of these black flowering beads.


I have been beading for many years and have built up a pretty good supply of hardware to make my jewelry so that when I find the beads that I like, I can make them pretty quick. Each set of earrings takes only about 5 min. Here is some jewelry that I made a while back and that I love to wear.
These are my favorite earrings that I wear to work because they match my blue scrubs. I also love them because they are vintage beads from 1970's.

Ty's Birthday.

This year for Tyler's birthday we spent not one, but two days celebrating. His birthday landed on a Tuesday so we decided that he should have a slumber party with his cousins. We ate pizza, played in the water, and watched movies. Then on Saturday, he celebrated with his entire family. Tyler is at such a fun age where he can open presents on his own and his reaction to any new toy is a high pitched squeal. He was showered with so many gifts that each morning thereafter, he would come out the living room and it was like it was Christmas again. He is so excited for all the fun toys that he gets to play with. Thanks to all who celebrated with occasion with him.Ty and his cousin teaching him to blow out the candles.

Yummy ice cream cake.

Ty's new Cars race track. He is such a boy!
(Notice the cool shirt that Mommy made just for him)

He received lots of Home Depot tools from Grandma and Grandpa.

Ty was so excited to receive a Mack truck that he just stood their and admired it before he actually played with it.

Tyler had a pinata for his birthday last year, but the difference was that he could hit it this year. All the kids had a fun time.

His new water toy from mom and dad. Now he likes to water the dirt path so that he can walk in the mud. At least it will motivate us even more to finish fixing up the back yard.


Ty wore himself out on his birthday. With his new pajamas and of course Mack he is ready for bed.

Family Photo Shoot.

The day of Tyler's Birthday party I decided that since our family was going to be in town that we should take some family photos. My friend was gracious and patient enough to take the photos for us and endure the chaos. It was a hard day. Tyler decided (like he did the last time we took some family photos) to be a pickle. He was a little upset leaving the house in the first place and decided that when we arrived at the park that he was not going to walk, but be held the entire time. I thought going to a park for the pictures would make him jump for joy, but that didn't happen. In the end we got some great photos and even some with Tyler smiling. Here are a few of them. This is the same pose that we used when we took engagement photos.

My family.

Eric's family


I just love this picture of my niece. Her eyebrows give her just the cutest expression.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Tyler!

AAAugghhh! How did 2 years go by so fast? How is it that my baby is really 2 years old.

Tyler:
I love the way you squeeze my cheeks and gives me a big kiss. I love the way you grab your little blankie, get your sippy cup, run to the couch and climb onto our lap to snuggle when you are ready to go to sleep and make sure that you are touching both of mom and dad. I love the way you hold my finger when we walk. I love how you meticulously line up your cars in a perfectly straight line then crashes into them laughing at what you just did. I love that you sit on top of the desk when I am on the computer and give me presents you find or make funny faces. I love when you eat something you like and say, "mmmm" then nod your head in approval. I love when you says,"bye " to everyone every time we leave a store even if you just threw a tantrum. I love when I lay you down in your bed at night how you lift your hand up to stroke my face and poke my nose. I love when you say, Mom or Dad.

I love my little Tyler!

Happy Birthday, Bubba!1 day old.

1 week.

7 weeks.

5 months.

10 months.

18 months

2 years old!

Idaho Vacation

From Utah, we traveled to Idaho. Eric was quite the driver and we made excellent time. Like Utah, we had so much fun with family. Tyler just had the best time running around with cousins who were closer to his age. It was so funny to see Tyler become so comfortable that he really did not need mom and dad to entertain him. In fact, he pretty much wanted us the leave him alone so that he could play with his cousins.
Little Cousins.

They seemed to cling together all the time.

Cousins playing at the water park.

Here Tyler sitting on a fountain, but it looks like he is doing something else.We went the the zoo and let the kids go wild.

This is the most adorable girl even with big ears.

I am glad Tyler did not inherit these big ears! Ha, Ha!4th of July was spent partying with lots of people. We watched fireworks in this huge culdesac with lots of other families. Ty loved the sparklers.

Eric worked hard trying to help keep the boys from running into the street towards the fireworks. By this time is was nearly 10pm and it was way past bedtime.

Utah Vacation

Our next part of our vacation, we stayed with close family in Utah. We had such a great time going to a pancake breakfast, a Rodeo, playing with the slip and slide, and staying up late with the adults. The best part was just spending time with family having Tyler meet his cousins for the first time. Little CousinsAren't these just the cutest little girls?...And Boys?Tyler falling out of the kiddie pool.

From now on our vacations will have to include seeing family because these are the most momentous.

Summer Vacation- Part 1

This year our family was very blessed to take a 12 day vacation and visit family in Utah and Idaho. It was one of the vacations that we never wanted to end and that we would remember for a long time.
Our first day we drop to Elko, NV and stayed at this motel that looked "alright" on the outside, but we were pleasantly surprised when we saw how nice our room was and how comfortable the beds were. We were on a restricted budget so the Hilton was not on our list.When we arrive to our Hotel, we turned on the TV and heard, "Massive Thunderstorm alert in Salt Lake City and Windover and crossing I80; 70 mile/hr winds, Take cover". Next we heard, "Grasshopper invades Lehi, Ut neighborhood."(That was where we were headed.) Then next we heard, "Micheal Jackson passes away at age 50." The first thing I thought was, " This is going to be a very interesting vacation." We were already stressing about traveling with a 2 year old, but thankfully we didn't encounter the massive storm and we saw very few grasshoppers in Lehi. IN Elko we visited a large park and Tyler met some new friends. A 4 year old girl took on the role of Tyler's mother and made sure that he was safe and secure on all the play sets. Tyler took to her too and when it was time for her to leave, he walk after her like he was leaving with her. When he realized that they had to go their separate ways, he was a very unhappy boy and our little park visit was over.

When we arrived in Utah, we visited the Salt Lake City Temple Square. The last time we had been to Utah was when Eric and I were engaged. It was such a beautiful sight. The Salt Lake Temple has always been one of my favorite temples and being in Temple Square was a majestic experience.
We toured the visitor center and tried to see all the exhibits. Tyler was a very active boy and after spending 3 hours in the car, he could not wait to release his energy. Keeping up with him was a little difficult, but he did let us spend at least a couple of seconds in each area.The Christus in the visitors center.


The one time Tyler was actually still was at the water fountain where he just sat and wanted to play with the water. We met a very nice Elder who was serving with is wife at Temple Square. He took our picture and told us some wonderful stories. Afterwards Tyler did not want to leave and getting back into the car for another road trip was hard for us all. Tyler refused to leave so he hung out with the groundskeepers mobile.

So far our vacation was very pleasant.

Our Other Children.

Daisy and Zoe

There is a reason why dogs are called Man's Best Friend. Our dogs are our children also. We carry them, feed them, love them, and play with them. If you knew our dogs, you would see why. Our dogs are spoiled. If we are sitting on the couch, it never failed that we either have a dog or Tyler or all of them in our laps.
As I have been contemplating all the blessings we have received in the last 5 years, I have realized that beside, Tyler our dogs have been one of the biggest blessings. Zoe was such an odd looking puppy that she was adorable. When we first saw her, her sister in the litter was double her size looked nothing like her, and Zoe would hide in between her legs with these huge ears that would stick out underneath. She was all ears.= . As Zoe grew older, her odd looks made her the sweet, shy, and one of a kind dog that she is.
Daisy is the complete opposite dog that Zoe is. Daisy is outgoing, energetic, and times a pain in the butt. When we first brought her home, she was so tiny and cute. Little did we know that she was the Alpha female of her litter. Although she was small, she have very sharp teeth and a mean personality. She thought she was my master and punctured my finger and lip once when she became angry. I was even afraid of this tiny puppy. She eventually calmed down and I found ways to manage her and show her I was her master. Of course, with Eric's help. Daisy has surprised me the most when I look at her today. She is so kind and playful with Tyler. She puts up a lot with his behavior. Its amazing how dogs sense children and how their behavior changes as if they are extra careful with them. Today I look at our other children and I am so glad that they are part of our lives.

Daisy and her first day home.

Sisters.
Cuddle buddies.