Thanks!!!!

So, I decided I am not going to wait until I have something brilliant to say or something amazing happens before I write something else on here! As if I wait to say something brilliant in real life before I say it! Since it was Thanksgiving yesterday, I thought I would at least share some of the things I am grateful for. I am grateful for:

• My wonderful husband. Lamon is so positive and fun, and does goofy things all the time on purpose to make people laugh. I am so thankful to Lamon for making me feel loved, comfortable and safe. One of my friends teased me the other day telling me that Lamon was my favorite subject, and it is probably true. I never get sick of telling people, and Lamon, how much I love and appreciate him. He is such a great father to our children, and makes me so happy. I don't think I could ever get sick of being around him. He is such a hard worker. He does so much for our family. He is a great provider and he is a great leader. And okay, lets be honest . . . He is pretty much hot. Not that that is important! He is funny, and tender, and just has good character. I wonder a lot of times how I was lucky enough to get him! I'd rather spend my time with him than anyone else on Earth!
• Drew. I am so grateful for Drew. Drew is so creative and imaginative. He brings so much life to our household. I don't think there is ever a boring day with Drew. It is so easy to stay in touch with the child within with Drew around. I am so grateful for this fun age where I get to play with him. He lets me put on a cape and be batgirl, run around the house and play hide and seek, and share and read stories with me. I am thankful for the hard days when I have to discipline Drew for doing something he shouldn't do, because I love watching him see and realize the things he does wrong, and for those gospel teaching moments we have. Drew is very inquisitive and bright and can be so sensitive and loving. I just love him. He also teaches me by the way he is so passionate about things. If he is doing something he wants to do, nothing can detour him from it until he has finished it to his liking. And he is very confident in his work which makes me so happy!
• Hayden. I am thankful for Hayden. It's hard not to want to just grab him up and squeeze him a zillion times a day. He is so darn cute. His little voice coupled with the funny things he says and the adorable faces he makes while he says it . . . makes it impossible not to just love that kid. He is so fun. He's got his nursery teacher wrapped around his little finger. She has told me that her and her daughters keep eachother entertained often with "Haydenisms." They love quoting things that they have heard him say to eachother. On my birthday Hayden said something off the wall funny and gave me a funny smile, and I said, "Hayden . . . I love you! You are so cute!" Then Hayden smiled and said, "Mom . . . I love you! . . . You're a good camper!" That same day in Nursery they were taking about fish, and Sister Hahn was talking about small fish and big fish and Hayden blurted out, "Oh . . . Oh! I know! Like Free Willy! Free Willy has two wheels." She couldn't stop laughing about that. He just says all of these things with such an all knowing serious face.
• Ada. I am grateful for my little girl! She is so different from my boys. She is so . . . girly! Which I am grateful for. I think that is an area I struggle with sometimes. Ada has been helping me learn to be "girly" again. I painted her toenails the other day and curled her hair in little ringlets . . . and it was surprisingly very fun! Ada has such a strong personality. I think that she will be a girl who knows what she wants! She certainly knows what she wants on many occasions and she loves to point at what she wants and say, "Uuuuh." I will be grateful for the day she will know how to communicate what she wants so I don't have to point at everything in the house saying, "This Ada? This? ?????" ! I am especially grateful for her sweet and tender spirit. She is such a cuddler. Sometimes when she is so fussy during the day, all she wants for me to do is to come and let her sit on my lap and be with her. She will sit in my lap and listen to me read books. My boys didn't do that until a lot later. I love it. She loves the boys and wants to do whatever they do. Lately at night she has climbed in bed with them after prayers and pulled up the covers looking up at us like, "Okay, this is where I belong Mom." And she will whine when I take her to her room.

Wow I'm long winded! I need to go to bed and I just got through my little family! I had better continue my thankful list throughout the week!!

28x2

On Sunday it was me and Liz's 28th Birthday. I feel so young, and yet I am getting so old! Not really, but time does certainly fly. I feel like I just turned 21. I don't really keep track anyways. I haven't for awhile. It usually takes me a second to figure out how old I am when someone asks.
I remember once when I was working in the Library at BYU a girl named Dixie Millet asked me, "How old are you Mary?" I told her, "I'm 22." She was like, "No you're not! Because we went to school together and I am only 20 . . . " Or something to that effect. For a minute I wasn't really sure if I really was 22. I had to calculate and make sure in my mind. And then I said assuredly, "Yes . . . I am 22, my birthday was in November . . . etc. etc." So then that same night another co-worker came in and asked me the same question. "How old are you Mary?" I turned to her and said, "23." I was completely serious. Dixie was like, "Mary! You are not 23!" Typical Mary moment . . .
Anyway, I am pretty sure I turned 28 on Sunday.
P.S. This is an old picture of me and Liz. We are certainly hot in this picture, but we are even hotter now!! :) Just kidding. (but not really)

My favorite Birthday gift yet!!!!!/

Drew was so excited to give me an early birthday present last night. He made a card for me, and it just melted my heart! He is so cute. He is trying to figure out all of the sounds, and he wrote this message all by himself, if you couldn't tell. In case you were wondering what momIlikyo Bkooz your NIs means . He meant, "Mom, I like you because you're nice."
How cute! I am excited for all the cards in the future. And I secrectly hope I get a few more that look just like this!! Is it bad to hope Drew won't learn how to spell perfectly too soon? Just kidding. But I sure think it's adorable.

Hayden . . . Did you throw up?

So a few weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night to Hayden screaming. I was so tired and I was thinking, "Oh great!" I had to wake up early and did not want to get up. But I got up and went into his room and was confronted with a terrible sight. Throw up! Pools of it on his bed! Lovely! Hayden was just crying and I said, "Oh no Hayden, You threw up? I'm sorry. Come here, let's get your clothes off and change the sheets. LUckily his pillow didn't get any throw up on it and his clothes were okay. So I just folded in the corners of the comforter and took it off the bed. I changed the sheets and told Hayden to stay there while I went to stick the comforter in the wash. So I took it downstairs and started the washer and as I was putting it in I was just waiting to see the mess . . . but um . . . I never did. I didn't see any throw up on the entire blanket. I walked upstairs and knelt down by Hayden and said, "Hayden . . . you didn't throw up did you." He looked up at me and just shook his head and said, "no". So there you go! A whole hour of sleep lost due to my brain! I promise I don't do drugs. I swear I saw throw up! Anyway, it was pretty funny!

Husband Tag

Okay I think this is the first tag that I have ever done, but I couldn't resist this one!

What is your husband's first name? Lamon
How long have you been married? For about 5 years and 5 months
How long did you date? Lamon tries to claim 3 or 4 months, but it was less than 2 months before we got engaged. We were engaged for about 5 months though.
How old is he? 28
Who eats more sweets? No contest on this one. That would be me!
Who said "I love you" first? Lamon
Who is taller? Lamon, but not by much. Our kids have no chance.Who is a better singer? I think we are both pretty dang good. Lamon can sing higher than me though which is quite intimidating!! My family thought Lamon was pretty mellow until he randomly joined me as a soprano in the Hallelujah chorus one year, hitting all the high notes.
Who is smarter? Lamon would say me, but I would say him. I am book smart, but Lamon can fix just about anything. And when it comes to common sense . . . I am not quite there!
Who does the laundry? I do. Sometimes Lamon will move the folded clothes from the bed to the floor though when he wants to sleep . . . :)
Who pays the bills? I do. Lamon works hard making all the money though. I just manage it.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Lamon
Does he snore? Sometimes Lamon snores. When he is stressed though he talks in his sleep! I have some great stories about that! One time Lamon woke up and was kissing his pillow. I nudged him and said, "That better be me your kissing!" :)
What does he do in his spare time? When Lamon has spare time he wants to work on something! He likes to work on the yard, wash the car, and build things. He has made us all sorts of beautiful log furniture. I love that Lamon is so handy! I certainly am not.
Who mows the lawn? Lamon
What is his favorite candy bar? I don't know, but he was pretty mad at me on Halloween when I ate all of the Heath bars out of our ginormous bag of candy.
Who cooks dinner? Both. Lamon is the better cook hands down. He has mastered the Dutch oven and is great at grilling things. I always need a recipe, but Lamon just goes to town. He's fabulous!
Who drives? Lamon. I'm just proud of myself for driving period! I've come a long ways since Mr. Roland kicked me out of the car and told me I was the worst driver he had seen in 27 years!
Who is the first to say they are wrong? Definitely me. Only because I'm the only one who is ever wrong. I don't know how that happens but . . . I am pretty quick at admitting it!
Who kissed who first? Lamon tried one night but missed and hit the side of my lip! I went inside and told everyone, "I think Lamon just tried to kiss me, but I'm not sure." Lamon thought I dodged it and the next time we went out Lamon asked me if I was waiting until the alter to kiss. I assured him that I wasn't, and that night he asked me if he could kiss me and he did. It was my first kiss, and I was really bad at it!
Who asked who out first? Lamon asked me out first to a BYU football game.
Who wears the pants? Lamon and I always joke about how we both run around without our pants on most of the time. We both wish one of us would just buck up and wear them! We are pretty relaxed people.
Does he say he loves you everyday? He surely does.

Lamon is the most amazing husband. I think anyone who knows me would agree that I can't stop talking about how wonderful he is. I am always randomly telling Lamon how wonderful he is. He is always like, "Mary you are so cheesy!" But I never want him or anyone to ever doubt that I love his guts!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I tag Katie, Kate, and Brenda.

Trains, Trains, Trains!

I don't know if everyone was aware of this or not, but my children are obsessed with trains. If you were to come to our house on any given day you would be able to hear the sweet sound of my childrens voices mimicking train sounds as they play. Okay, so not so much sweet sounds, but more like high pitched squeaky voices and a lot of crashing sounds. That accompanied with an overusage of the word, "No" and "Mine!" They play well together for a good portion of the day but it seems like I've been opening a lot of cupboards in our kitchen lately with a forgotten train at the top from an earlier squabble where Mom or Dad had to confiscate the item of contention. It's amazing how many trains we have here!
Anyway, we have been trying to help the boys behavior by rewarding them with pennies when they are good and the kids have been really getting into it. Drew wanted to get a Thomas the Train movie with his money and he saved up his pennies. We found one for a dollar at Savers and he was super excited. It was fun to see him give the cashier his money that he had saved.
Well, Drew woke up the other day and said, "Mom, I want to ride on a train." I said that I thought that would be fun, and maybe someday we would do that. He kept asking me when we would ride on a train though, and for Family Night on Monday we did. Well, we sort of did anyway. We rode on the Trax train in Salt Lake. The kids didn't know the difference. They were loving every minute of it. Maybe sometime when we are really rich we will take them on a real train.

Oh the Weather "Inside" is Frightful

When we first moved into the house we experienced some problems with our Air Conditioner, and we lived without air conditioning for awhile. But we set up a few fans throughout the house, and we made it through. And thanks to our cousin Bill we got the Air Conditioner up and running. We were relieved. We were so happy to have our air conditioner we didn't really think to check if our heater was in working condition. Well, it's been getting pretty cold in the early morning hours and the kids have been waking up in the middle of the night really cold in the last week, but the past two or three days have been bitterly cold and . . . no heat was coming from our heater! On Saturday the kids and I were at home and the thermostat read just below 60 degrees or something like that, and that was in the middle of the day. We dressed the kids in multiple layers of clothing, and at night put two pairs of pajamas on them including a warm sleeper. So last night after having a lovely dinner at my sister Karyns house, Lamon lit the fireplace, and set up two space heaters and Drew Hayden and Lamon slept downstairs. When we woke up this morning it was like ice in the house, and the ground was covered with snow outside! We went to church, and when we got home the house was about mid 50's. We bundled up downstairs, and finally Lamon with his manly brains figured things out. He switched the thermostat and there was Heat! I am absolutely sure now that after we have experienced lack of heat and airconditioning, that I would definitly rather have heat!!!! I am so thankful for a Heater!! Although it was pretty fun to hang out next to the fire with the kids!