Christmas 2009 Best of...

Hope you ALL had a Very Merry Christmas!!!!

New update on Jackson's love life...

Yesterday we went into the dental office to get some sealants on the kids' teeth. After the kids were done Jackson chose a girl bracelet out of the toy basket and said he wanted to give it to a girl at school. Today when I picked him up from school, this is what was said:

Jackson: So I gave my bracelet to Stella (If you remember this is the girl who he no longer has a "crush" on).
Mom: Stella huh? Why did you choose Stella?
Jackson: Because she had pockets and the other girls didn't have any pockets to put it in.

Isn't he such a romantic??

Jackson's moving on

Today after I picked Jackson up from Kindergarten we had a conversation that went a little like this...
Mom: How was your day Jacks?
Jackson: Good, except Stella and me don't have a crush on each other anymore.
Mom: Oh yeah? Why not?
Jackson: Well, I just have a crush on Bailey and Sydney from my class now.

I guess he figures why settle for one when he could have two.

And last night at dinner while explaining to Jackson we need to eat our meat so our muscles will grow big, our conversations went a little like this:
Jackson: We are like a T-Rex because we eat meat.
Mom: Yeah, except the T-Rex is just a carnivore and we are omnivores.
Dad: Yep. We don't only eat meat but we eat plants and other humans too.
Tanner: Ewwww, nooooo...we don't eat plants!!!!

I always knew Tanner had an interesting palate.

I'm Thankful for...

Here are a few things I am thankful for: (Disclaimer: just because my dad is a technical writer does not make me anything close to that!!! And this may take a while to get through!!)

TANNER


Here are some reasons why I'm thankful for and love Tanner:

He forgives VERY easily. If I overreact he's more concerned about me being mad or disappointed in him than going to time out. Even when he's in trouble he wants to make sure I am "Happy at him" and he wants to make sure I'm not upset for very long. He always says "I change my attitude Mom. Are you happy at me now?"

He adores Jackson and hates when he gets him in trouble. For example, if Jackson hits Tanner, I put Jackson in time out. Tanner can't handle the fact he got Jackson in trouble and will quickly come tell me Jackson didn't hurt him so Jackson can get out of time out.

He loves to give me kisses. Even if it's all the way across the soccer field and the ball is right next to him, he will take the time to find me and blow me kisses.

He knows just how to melt my heart. I can never feel bad about myself or be angry for very long while he's around because he's always right there to tell me I'm a princess or that he thinks I'm "so pretty."

I love how as soon as we get home every day he runs to his room, locks it, and comes out sporting a swim suit (even when it's 30 degrees outside) or his "fire-bird ninja" costume.

I love that Tanner picks Care Bares or My little Pony over Ninja Turtles 90% of the time.

I love how he'll choose crab or edemame over pizza and hamburgers any day.

I love how independent he is. He doesn't always need someone or something to entertain him. He's very active and curious but he's also very content with whatever is going on around him.

I love how generous he is. He's so willing to share everything he has with Jackson or his friends. He's generous with his love, his smiles, his kind words, and his laughter!

I'm thankful for all the fun and laughter he brings into our lives we all love having Tanner in our family!

JACKSON


Here are some reasons why I am thankful for and love Jackson:

To me Jackson was the perfect baby. He was a beautiful little baby from the start and he was so mild tempered! I loved that he'd let anyone hold him and he rarely fussed as a baby.

I love Jackson's laugh. We have video of him at 4 months where he is laughing out loud like he's an adult. Jared and I about passed out from laughing so hard listening to him laugh at such a young age. He's always found things very funny and has a very contagious laugh.

I'm grateful he makes friends so easily! Since he was just a toddler he would come up to me and tell me about all his "friends". Whether it was at a playground or a doctors office he would find another kid and walk up to them and be instant friends with them.

I admire how intuitive he is of others. He's always seemed to understand that there are so many in this world who don't have the luxuries that we do and he prays for them often.

I love that when he prays it's never "please give us" it's always "thank thee." A common thing for him to say is something like "We thank Thee that we can go to Chuck E Cheese tomorrow." Even when we are most certainly not going to Chuck E Cheese tomorrow.

I love how meticulous he is. He is VERY slow doing things but he does things with care and intent.

It makes me happy how much he loves music. He LOVES to dance and he LOVES to listen to music. He loves to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" and "America's Best Dance Crew" and he'll try doing all the "awesome" moves. He also will get upset if you turn the car off before he finishes listening to the song "Jai Ho."

I love that he'll choose watching Food Network over Football any day.

I love how he treats girls with a lot of respect. He acts completely different when he's around his little boy friends versus his girl friends. I love that he knows there's a difference and he treats them so well.

I love how he tries really hard to say the right thing like when Tanner called someone "fat" Jackson hurried and corrected him because he knows that "fat" is not an acceptable word to use to describe someone so he told Tanner "No, he's not fat, he's just really strong and really old."

I always wanted a boy first and I feel so lucky to have been able to bring Jackson into our little family! He encourages me to be a better person and a better mother every day and I'm so happy he is in our lives!!

JARED

Here are a few of the many reasons why I'm thankful for and love Jared:

I love how Jared tells the same stories over and over. It used to drive me crazy but I've learned that these stories really mean a lot to him and they tell me a lot about who he is and what he thinks about all the time.

I love that he'll completely deny he was ever a dork. The other day I was visiting with my old roommate Britney and she confessed something about Jared. She had gone on a date with Jared way before I knew either of them and she said she and her roommates used to call Jared the "High Five Guy" because he always gave them high fives in a really dorky way. I told Britney that Jared would absolutely deny that he ever did that. And of course when I told Jared, he denied it and said they must have confused him with somebody else because he would never have done that. But we all know better, hee hee.

I love that he lets me tease him and he rarely cries about it.

I am thankful he recognizes his weaknesses. He will pinpoint a weakness he has and he becomes very determined in turning it into a strength.

I am thankful he is so nice to me. I love that he tries very very hard to make sure he doesn't accidentally say something insensitive. I'm sure this is a talent learned over many years of growing up with 5 other emotional women.

I love how passionate he is about things. Whether it's food, the ocean, a cool building, music, or a friend he appreciates things to their fullest.

I am thankful he rubs my feet EVERY night!

I love how he thinks anything fun, interesting, or worthwhile that the Weavers do was his idea. His most used phrase around the Weavers is "You got that from me." It's become a joke around the Weavers but he still earnestly believes he had complete influence over everything "cool" the weavers say or do.

I am thankful he is such a great example to our kids. He shows them every day how to work hard without complaining.

I'm sure Jackson and Tanner have learned how to be so nice to me and other girls because they watch how Jared treats me and his own Mom and sisters. I'm thankful for that.

I admire his determination. Jared is very unique in that he really believes he can accomplish anything he puts his mind to. He always pushes limits that seem to have been placed on him and does the impossible. I really love this about him.

I love that he is a good friend and brother. He's very good with keeping in touch with people. He spends a lot of time on the phone catching up with friends or seeing what his brothers and sisters are up to and he genuinely cares about each of them.

I am thankful Jared is so patient. He actually does put up with a lot by being married to me and I am so lucky he decided to put up with me for a really really long time!


I am thankful for many more things too but for now this is what comes to mind. Hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving!!!

A bit of a scare

This past weekend Jared had a continuing education course on implants (teeth implants...not the kind most of you were thinking of) up in Heber City. I woke up from a bad dream and started panicking that Jared might die driving in the snow through the canyon or he might fall asleep or whatever. I calmed myself down after really waking up and went on with my day. Later that evening I got a call from him with what he called "interesting" news. I asked if it was good or bad because I didn't feel like hearing bad news. He said it was just really "interesting." So being interested I made him tell me what it was and he said they did some CT scans up at the seminar for "fun" and his results turned out abnormal. He said he had a huge growth in his sinus cavity and it could be of some concern. I lectured him on what the difference between "interesting" news is and what "bad" news is because I specifically told him I didn't want bad news and that was not a very nice trick. So when he finally got home this is what he showed me.

The dark empy spaces are his sinuses. The left side is clear and the right side has a huge growth.

You can see an empty space on the left and on the right is a circle with the space filled.


After I cried a whole bunch we decided to bug my brother John who is in Medical School to see if he knew how to read CT scans and hoped he could tell us it wasn't anything serious. He was unsure and after suggesting going to the ER to have a radiologist check it out I forced Jared to do just that. He was not happy about it since he was tired and he didn't want to take the chance that he might miss watching the implant surgery the next morning. BUT I guess my sanity outweighs his curiosity and sleep so he went to see a Radiologist and they gave him GREAT news that it is just a cyst. He probably has had it a long time and there isn't anything to worry about. Whew!!

To sum up, we had a bit of a scare but it turned out to be nothing more than that. It did give me an opportunity to think about how much I need him. He is the only person who knows me so well and there's nobody in this world I want to spend my time with more than I want to be with him. He's so kind and patient with me and I just don't know what I'd do without him. I guess our little prayers were answered once again!

"For it so falls out, that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it; but being lacked and lost, why, then we rack the value, then we find the virtue that possession would not show us while it was ours." -William Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing

Halloweeeeeeeeeen

The last couple of weeks have been full of Halloween festivities. Here's an overview:

Jennifer's party for the cousins (2nd cousins to be accurate) sadly, all of our boys 1st cousins on this side live far far far away...wish they lived not so far far far away. hint hint hint!!!


She had a pinata for the kids and after one of the kids with power arms knocked the pinata down Jared took it on himself to hold it. I wondered if this was going to be the last time we ever saw Jared...smiling.




Later that evening we drove up to North Logan for their annual Pumpkin Walk. This is a tradition Jared and I both love. We also get to see my best friend Amy so it makes the whole evening super fun!









They usually have a theme at the pumpkin walk. I think this year's theme was advertisements. I'm not sure though. Either way this was our favorite scene.


Then last Friday we went to the Weaver family ward trunk-or-treat. Mom and Dad Weaver DJ'd which meant there was a lot of dancing and a whole lota fun!

The boys groovin


Aunt Sharidee (pretty impressive I'd say)


Uncle Jonny (even more impressive) I didn't know the Weavers were such good limbo-ers.


And FINALLY....

Last night for Halloween Jared and I thought it would be funny to be the witches from the musical "Wicked" you know Glinda and Elphaba...well, it turns out we got Elphaba and a freaky drag queen. Around here 50% is pretty darn acceptable so we we're happy with our results, at least 50% of us were :) Before we left Jackson said "Mom, Dad is going to be super popular and you're just going to be super wicked." True, so true. Jackson and Tanner loved dressing up. I am an idiot and completely forgot to take pics of them individually!! Anyway, here's our family:


The rest of the gang at the Halloween pre-trick-or-treating party:

Mick, Tiff and Addy


Jason, Heather and Parker


Jennifer and Stanton


Paul, Cindy and Marcus


All the kiddos


Janet recording with Grandpa in the background


The whole gang


One of these days I'll learn to do those collage type things that won't take all day to scroll through!!

Drum roll please.....

I am all blogged out! Woo hoo. This is the last and final post to be caught up.

We went to Gardner Village a few weeks ago with my parents for family night to see the witches. We got to go on a hay ride out to the witches house where they showed us how they live and the boys loved it. We also went to Archibalds for dinner after and it was great because I got a free meal for having a birthday this month!



For some reason the other pictures won't load sooo there are more witches to come....

Oh Tanner, Tanner, Tanner.

A few weeks ago I asked my dad to take our fall family pictures. The ones we have up in our living room were taken exactly three years ago by a friend in Virginia and we were finally set to get our pictures done. This is what I found two days before we were going to get those pictures done.

This is Tanner after I yelled (maybe a bit too loudly) at him and he ran away and fell asleep crying.


This is after I shaved off all his hair. He's peeking over the tub apparently still a little afraid of me and my yelling. Tanner is such a sweet little boy and it's actually hard to get upset with him because he always knows how to melt my heart. So even though I was really upset at first my anger didn't last too long.


One of the many other mischievous things he does while I'm not watching. I'm not sure what he was trying to get but I'm sure he got it.

Fall!!!!

I LOVE the fall! I can't explain the excitement I feel when I get to go up in the mountains on a fall day and smell the pine and the leaves that have fallen and feel the cool crisp air on my face. I feel like we had ONE day where it was warm and the trees barely started changing colors before the temperature dropped ridiculously low. We were lucky enough Jared got off work early on that day to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon and walk around Silver Lake.

Soccer

Both boys got to play soccer this fall. Jackson has turned completely around and LOVES to play. He's still a bit timid so he doesn't make many goals but he's great at defense! Tanner on the other hand still finds sticks, grass, friends, clouds, whatever else catches his eye more interesting than the game. Either way they both had a great time and got some really cool trophies.








Apparently a couple of girls on Jackson's team had a little fight over him. The girl's mom's told me that they argue over who likes him more. They had a conversation where one girl said "Jackson's totally into me." and the other girl said "no, he's into me!!" I thought that was pretty funny. At one of the games one of the girls even got gutsy enough to try to kiss him during practice. Of course Jackson is a typical 5 year old boy and dodged it! I asked Jackson what he does to all the girls that make them all like him so much and he said "that easy mom, I just say nice things to them." hee hee. And so it begins....