2 year anniversary!!

Two years ago this month I quit smoking!  I believe that although it was one of the hardest things I have ever done, it was the best decision I have ever made (besides my children :)).  I know that not only was it the best decision for me but also the best decision for anyone who cares about me (which I like to believe is a lot :)).  Watching someone you care about die from lung cancer or Emphysema is not fun for anyone, especially the one dying.  Most importantly though,  I hope that this decision affects my boys the most and they will choose to not smoke because neither Josh or I do.

One fun fact is that I have saved $3285.00 by not smoking these past two years, I have also added 3 years back on to my life.  This is by far my greatest accomplishment!

A new endeavor...

I am both super duper excited about this and sick to my stomach nervous!

 In a couple of weeks I get to start volunteering at West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell.  I will be there every Monday from 8:30-12:30 and I get to work in Labor and Delivery, ICU and Women's Unit.  I will be running things for the nurses and checking to see if patients need blankets, snacks, water, etc.  AND after I have been there a few months they will put me in ER as well.

I am so excited to get to be around what I am going to college to do and I am also excited to get my foot in the door with West Valley.  I really want to work there when I get my RN and I have been told this not only looks really good for my application to the Nursing program but also really good for employment with them. 

One thing I learned is you do not just walk in and start volunteering... there are background checks, blood tests, interviews and a 4 hour orientation you have to go through and that is all before you even start.  I will have to train for a couple of weeks and then will be on my own to volunteer away. 

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to volunteer my time and this seems like the perfect fit!

Searching for our Christmas tree

There was lots of sledding!

 There was a friendly game of see if Josh can throw the cheetos into his sister's mouth.

 There was snowman building.

There were self-portraits.

There was the search for the perfect tree.

Someone was seriously tired on the way home, obviously not the dog!

And someone is never tired.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of our trees.  I will take one of ours here at the house and put it on here.

Jace is 9...

If you want to know how I feel about him turning 9, just see the post a couple places down.  Nine years ago on the 20th of November I was induced at 7AM (my brother beat me to the hospital and I think thought I would have that baby before he had to be at work at 8).  It was a long day of labor and at 6:04 PM he was born by emergency c-section.  He was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen in my life.  I knew the very first time I held him, I would never be the same person.  I was absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of love I felt for such a little thing.

Nine years later we celebrated his birthday with a friend sleepover and a day at Wahooz.  We all had such a good time!

I really love these boys and am so happy Jace has such good friends.

On Sunday he was going to have his family party but during church he became very sick and by the time we got home he had the full blown flu.  We called off the party and I felt awful about it but some were nice enough to still drop his presents off to him.

Family Pictures

Love, Love, Love our family pictures!  LOVE THEM!!!!  Did I mention that I love our family pics?!  If you love them and are looking for family pics, this gal is amazing!

Sigh....

Pictures like these make my heart heavy.  I have been known to find a picture like this and out of nowhere have a break down.  In fact, if I have anything to do that day... I don't find pictures like these.

Isn't this the cutest little one year old with his upside down Cheetos bag?  Look at that face!

Or how about this little Easter egg hunter with his red hair and cute little face, whos absolute favorite word was "Ouside" and who, by the way, is going to be 9 next week.

I love that I have some independence now, I can remember thinking when they were this age and going through sleep deprivation or major stress that it was never going to go away, they would be little forever.  I swear that was just last month.  I love that I am able to start doing things for myself again, that my husband and I are able to start spending more time on our marriage again, that I have a different relationship with my children then I did in these pics... a  more mature one,  BUT I sure do miss these sweet little babies.  I wish I had known then what I know now, how fast it would all go.  I think I would have cherished moments a little more, not wished there little lives away so fast.

Sigh....If only I could have one more of these sweet little things!

Halloween 2011

There was Halloween parties and lots of trick or treating.  We had so much fun this year!  Rylan even won the City Halloween costume contest with his robot costume that my sis-in-law made for him.  He was so excited! 

A busy weekend

On Friday evening the High School Drama Club was putting on a fundraiser that consisted of what they called "Spooky Alley".  Jace really, really wanted to go and since it was the HS putting it on I thought, how scary can it be.  It was creepy and Jace ended up being up all night with nightmares.  I learned my lesson on that one!

On Saturday we got up and drove to Linder Farms and did the corn maze and pumpkin patch, the boys had a great time!  We then went to my brother-in-laws house and spent the afternoon carving the pumpkins.



On Sunday, we went up to where Josh is going to go elk hunting next week and set up his camp.  He does this every year because it gets so crowded up there.  It was a beautiful day and we had alot of fun!

Update

Gosh, I can't believe it has been 6 weeks since I blogged!  Alot has been going on... Jace and Rylan are both in flag football and that is consuming every Saturday for us.  I am half way through the semester at school and can't believe how fast each semester goes by.  Really, just life has been going on.  Lots of little details that I am not sure are blog worthy.  I will leave you with this video of our little rockstar.

First day of school - 2011

WOW!  I have a 1st and 3rd grader this year.  Both of my kids are in school all day long.  I am so happy I am taking college classes or I would be bored stiff!  I am still driving bus and got a FT route this year, but that is only in the morning and in the afternoon.  I have all day in between.

I dropped these 2 precious boys off at school and they were both just fine leaving me for the whole day.  One mom said, "do you think it is worse when they cry and won't let you go or when they have no use for you?"  I think that latter is harder for us mommas.  As I was hugging Ry good-bye, he told me "I love you like crazy girl."  It is very possible that I have played the song Crazy girl a few to many times.

How did my babies become boys?!

Caldwell Night Rodeo

Apparenlty this riding thing is going to become a normal thing around here......



Steer riding

Check out this cowboy.... how cute is he?!

Check out what this cowboy did Thursday night.... how brave is he?!

Check out how much this cowboy takes after his father?!

Fair week 2011

What a great fair week we had.  I am sad it is over... although it will be nice to sleep again.  Ry showed his goat on Wednesday and Jace showed his pig on Friday.  Both of them did great!!  Then on Saturday Jace sold his pig and it went for much higher than we could have ever expected.  Thanks Champion Produce!!  And the other 3 who were bidding on it!

Some pictures of our week.

It was a little harder then I thought to say good-bye to Sammi the pig but we got throught it.

Family Pics 2011