Thankful..........well EVERYDAY

We just got back from a week long vacation. Lucky me! I got sick the last few days of vacation and I feel even worse today. I didn't even do my hair or put on makeup today so you must know I am not feeling well. Since I have been pretty much all by myself today since Jason took Makayla to church and Kaden took a long nap, I have had a lot of time to think. For those of you that don't care about the inner workings of my mind you can go ahead and stop reading now. There will be no pictures on this one and it will be kinda long.............I know yawn right?

Jason and I have been married for over 6 years now. I can not believe all the things that we have endured in our short life together. I was looking at old pictures of myself and man I have changed! The once skinny me has now filled out in so many places! Filling out in so many places was worth it as I look at my two little kids. How lucky I am to have two very healthy little kids, and how lucky I am to have a husband that loves me inspite of all of my flaws. So lets reflect over the past 6 years!

1-Jason and I were married on April 5, 2002. We welcomed a baby girl into our lives just shortly after on July 20, 2002. We moved out into our own appartment (which cost us $500 a month, man I wish that was all it was now!) and tried so hard to be good parents. We didn't make much money but we made do with what we had. The appartment was HORRIBLE! The wall in the kitchen was stained from water leaking in the bathroom. The floor in the bathroom was stick on tiles and they had no more "stick" left in them. We would place them back in their spots every time we used the bathroom. I was young and so was Jason. We had no idea what we were getting into! Jason lost his job and we found ourselves looking for work for a good 2 months. He finally found a job with the company he is still with today. We had two cars at the time, my white honda civic and Jason's green honda civiv that he was well known for. The green honda died on us less than a year after we got married. That was a trial all on it's own. We made do with the white honda.

2-We decided it was time to move and we found a nicer appartment in Orem for $625 a month and that was a huge stretch for our little budget! We also pruchased a new car and we were proud that we were able to get it on our own. It was a Toyota Matrix and we just recently sold that this last december. The appartment was not that much nicer than the one before but at least this one had real tile in it, no more stick on tiles for us! Our relationship struggled a bit and we found it hard to balance work, family and every thing else life throws at you.

3-We decided to move again! What were we thinking? Well we moved to a three bedroom duplex in south Orem that needed a lot of work! We painted, cleaned carpets, repaired things, you name it! We worked really hard to accomplish all the things we did although we didn't really have much to show for it. We gave Makayla the best we could. I found out I was pregnant with Kaden.

4-We had Kaden January 10, 2006 and everything changed for us! There was something so different this time with him. He was the glue that put our damaged little family back together! We spent more time together, we enjoyed our kids more and we had more time for family!

5- We moved to our new home in Provo April of 2007. It felt really good to be able to provide a good home for our kids! The place is much bigger than any of our appartments and much cleaner! During this time we also started to prepare for the temple. I strongly believe that (I know this is going to get churchy but hang in there I promise it gets better!) preparing to go to the temple is what saved our marraige! Jason and I fell in love all over again. I can not even express the deep bond that was created as we shared this very emotional experience with each other. Everything started to fall into place. I had a great job, he had a great job and we finally had money to take care of our family! September of 2007 we were sealed for time and all eternity to our two little ones. I know Jason will say the same but suddenly life felt right. It felt like the last piece of the puzzle was finally found and we could breath again.

6- We have had so much fun this year as a family. We purchased a camping trailer and have been able to go on a few camp outs in it. The kids love it! Jason and I have taken up movies and we watch a lot of them together. We even started a new TV series called Lost I am sure you have heard of it. We BBQ, have family over all the time, had had promotions at our jobs and things just keep getting better for us. The best thing out of all of it is that I have grown to love my children and husband more than I ever had before. There is a deeper connection with each one of them that can never be taken away. I appreciate my husband more. He is an amazing man. He works so hard to provide all that he can for us. He is my emotional support along with my physical and mental support. He loves me for all of my imperfections and knows that I am trying to be the best person I possibly can be. That doesn't mean that I am perfect because there is so much I can work on but I know that I have the support of my husband as I overcome all the challenges in my life. He believes in me 100% and I could not ask for anything more.