Lucky 13....

Generally 13 isn't seen as the luckiest number but today as I celebrate 13 years of marriage to my best friend and companion it seems like the luckiest number of all.

In 13 years we have been through so much, loved, laughed, cried, fought but still it's been the most amazing 13 years of my life. It seriously feels like I was just planning my wedding, like I was just wearing that white dress and professing my eternal love for my husband. The years have only made that love grow stronger and I realize there really isn't anyone else on this planet that I would want to spend forever with.

We aren't perfect. Oh boy that would be the biggest lie in the universe...we don't even come close BUT we get each other. We understand each other so deeply and with all our many quirks and faults we just click. We were meant to be together and I'm so glad that I have Jeremiah and that he has me.

With our move and a new baby coming and all the pressures and craziness of real life we hadn't really planned anything special to celebrate. We decided to go on a quick lunch date this afternoon to a restaurant we've never been too called the Elephant Bar. It was fantastic and even though I got lost and arrived late our time together could not have been more perfect.

Happy 13th Anniversary My-My! I hope for a million more!!

Here we are celebrating 13 years of marital bliss over a quick lunch date!

30th Birthday Celebration Vacation...

*Adorable birthday gift made by my friend Melinda

All year long I've been thinking about how I wanted to celebrate my 30th birthday. To be honest I can't remember what I did on my 20th birthday but I had already been married for nearly 3 years and had 2 children by then. My 21st birthday was spent in the PICU (Pediatric ICU) with Brinton as he recovered in critical condition from his 3rd surgery in 3 months. For this reason I really wanted this new decade to come in with a bang and I really wanted to have lots of good memories to carry with me throughout my 30's. As the day drew closer and I had nothing big planned I started to feel a little disheartened and then I had the miscarriage which turned into an abdominal ectopic pregnancy which turned into me feeling close to death and two surgeries later I was starting to recover. I hate to be all "poor me" but I started to feel like my 20's were going to end in crap and my 30's were going to start in crap. I decided right then and there that I needed to do something BIG for myself. There had been enough tears, enough sadness, enough stress, enough craziness, I just needed to get out and enjoy life for a weekend. Relax and enjoy. I had a week to think about it and I decided a weekend Birthday Celebration Vacation to Branson, MO with my hubby was exactly what I needed.

We stayed at the Welk Resort (as in Lawrence Welk...don't tell me you don't know who that is...I'll tell you that you lack PBS Culture...and polka knowledge). Our room overlooked the pool and there was a nice flat screen TV. We don't have cable or basic television at all so this was a perk for me. lol. They have this great little indoor/outdoor waterpark located at the hotel called the Splash-atorium. We had so much fun on the waterslide like we were little kids! We went down there 3 times and I kept forgetting to bring my camera. So sad, because I really wanted a picture of me coming down the slide. Oh well. Typical Alida.

We went to the Titanic Museum which was super, super neat. You aren't allowed to take any pictures inside which I thought was pretty lame but they had TONS of Titanic artifacts and a whole recreation of the Titanic grand staircase. I totally felt like Rose Dawson walking up the stairs....and I couldn't help but remember the scene at the end of the Titanic movie when Rose dies and you see her back on the grand staircase and everyone is all together there welcoming her the captain the crew, 1st class passengers, steerage, and Jack. Jack was waiting for her. *tear* Yes, I know Rose wasn't a real person and neither was Jack BUT when you enter the museum they actually give you a boarding pass with the name and short description of a person that was actually on the Titanic. You carry it with you through the whole museum and at the end you find out if your person lived or died. I was Sarah Stapp one of 23 female crew members. I survived. Next year is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. At the museum they had a memorial filled with red freeze-dried rose petals. In honor and memory of those people on the Titanic we were asked to take a rose petal from a large glass case on one side of the room and place it into the glass case on the other side of the room. Next year on April 12th, 2012 the US Coast Guard will be traveling with the rose petals to the site of the sinking of the Titanic and they release them over the ocean. It was so amazing to be part of history and to honor the memory of those people in such a way.



After the Titanic we went over to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. No, Dolly wasn't there but let me tell you it was probably the best, most fun show I've seen in a long time and that's saying a lot considering I lived in Las Vegas for 9 years and got to see A LOT of shows. It's a dinner show and you are in an arena and it's like a horse show/musical show. It was great. The best part of the night was when Jeremiah and I were chosen to go down on the arena floor (a dirt arena...and me in ballet flats!) to "race horses" little did we know it was STICK HORSES! HAHA! It was hilarious. We lost but I still got a medal because it was my birthday. Sad that there is no pictures because again the LAME-o's wouldn't let us take any. We got a lot of photos outside though. :)






Other than some shopping and tons of relaxing we also went on the Showboat Branson Belle for lunch and a show. The food was good, the show was good, and the cruise around Table Rock Lake was perfect. The weather was AMAZING, the sunshine was warm and there was cool breeze off the lake as if mother nature was saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALIDA!










All in all it was the PERFECT way to spend my birthday weekend and welcome in a new decade.

Lastly, I just have to add that on my actual birthday I was kidnapped by some of my best girlfriends for a fun birthday breakfast. I was so incredibly surprised (and glad I had actually gotten dressed before I dropped Liam off at preschool that morning) Sadly, I didn't dry my hair when I got out of the shower thinking I would do it when I got home from dropping him off not realizing I was going to be whisked away for breakfast when I got back. Blah! I don't love the way I look in the picture BUT it was one of the greatest birthday presents ever!



Oh and lastly, LASTLY all of these photos were taken with my new little camera my husband bought me! Yay!! No more iphone pictures! Yipee!! Annnnnddddd.....I got these new hot pink sneakers to motivate me to work out more. Aren't they great??



The End. I promise.

Happy Anniversary, 12 years

Happy 12th Anniversary
to my best friend,
my eternal companion,
the love of my life
Jeremiah.
Thank you for making the last 12 years a spectacular adventure. It's with great excitement that I look forward to spending the rest of eternity with you.
I wonder what craziness the future will bring?
Whatever it is I'm sure we'll be HAPPY TOGETHER!

Day 4: You are my best friend....

30 day Challenge

Your favorite photo of your best friend

There is a song by John Michael Montgomery called "Home to You"

The chorus says,

"You are my best friend,

and you are where my heart is.

I know at the days end

I get to come home to you,

oh, I love coming home to you."

Along with our wedding song, "I Do, Cherish You" by 98degrees, the above song has always been our song. Jeremiah truly is my best friend. Sometimes, I'll admit, we get wrapped up in our roles of Mother, Father, Nurturer, Provider. However, all it takes is a night out or few quiet moments alone and we are able to reconnect, laugh, and enjoy each others company as best friends. I'm so lucky that I married my best friend.

Birthday Wishes to my favorite guy...

Do you know how much you make me smile?!

Well you do!

I love you...Happy 33rd Birthday!!

A WICKED Anniversary....

For our 5th anniversary we had a chance to go to Hawaii for 11 days. It was the most fun I've had...ever. I was pretty sure nothing would ever top that trip, so fun in fact that we went back 2 years later! At that point we started planning our 10 year anniversary trip. What would we do? Where would we go? It had all but been booked that we were going to take a trip to NYC, go to a million Broadway shows and every tourist spot possible. Of course, I'm from NYC but having left there at 12 yrs old I really never got to do all the "touristy" things that people who travel there get to do. We never imagined that 5 years later our lives would be so incredibly different and we'd be living in Kansas...with 5 kids...and a dreadful economy. Therefore, our grandiose plans of a NYC trip for our 10th anniversary have been postponed. Which is okay by me because I would much rather go to NYC and do everything then go on a budget and do nothing, lol.

Dinner with my husband was an amazing way to celebrate our 10th anniversary. On a date. Alone. Without children. Then my wonderful, loving husband surprised me with the most amazing gift EVER! He purchased tickets to see the Broadway Musical Tour of WICKED at the ORPHEUM theater in Omaha, NE.

I have been in LOVE with the soundtrack for a few years now but hadn't had the opportunity to see it. Let me just say that it was EVERYTHING I hoped for and more. As the show began and they chorus started singing the tears fell from my eyes. Was this real? Was I really, really here seeing Wicked? I leaned over and told my husband how much it meant to me. I pretty sure that this was by far the best anniversary present...or any present for that matter that I have ever received. Thank you Jeremiah.





I had my camera and we took photos of each other on the grand staircase but just as we were going to have a picture taken of us together the batteries on my camera died!!!! Ug...I guess photos were not meant to be.

10 Amazing Years

10 years ago today I married my best friend. We have been through so much together...ups, downs, happy, sad, good, bad. On this day I want to say THANK YOU to my wonderful husband for all the continual love and support he gives me. Thank you for being my partner and my best friend. Thank you for being an exceptional father. Thank you for laughing at my jokes....even when they aren't all that funny. Thank you for aggreeing to disagree....cause you know I'm right anyway. Thanks for always being there for me. Thanks for the 10 years of wild, crazy, loving, happy, fun we've had so far. I pray for an eternity of smiles and laughter to follow. I love you.

46 Years...

Today my wonderful parents have been married 46 years! 46 years...holy cow! I literally just realized they had been married 20 years before they had me! I am so incredibly grateful for the wonderful example they have been to me throughout my life. I am grateful for the love they have shown each of their children and the love that they have shown each other through good times and bad. I know that because of their good example my marriage is stronger. Thanks, mom and dad...and Happy Anniversary!

Husband Tag...

I like tags, I really do. Mostly, I just like to see that people think I'm cool enough to tag. It's kind of a sad sick twisted popularity, wanna be on the in crowd thing with me. If I'm tagged it's like OMG THEY REALLY LIKE ME AND THEY CARE TO HEAR MY ANSWERS (either that or I was a last resort....just let me think I'm popular though, okay?!)

That being said I have gotten tagged 3 times over the last month....it's the same "husband tag" with a couple variations...and interestingly enough I haven't done it yet. Why, you ask?! Cause I really don't think that subject is all that interesting...doesn't that sound so conceded?? LOL. But it's not like that. I mean do you really wanna read about how I met my hubby or would you rather read about the day I couldn't get the dishes done or the day I received Eclipse...in Spanish??

Apparently, you wanna hear about the husband thing...I'm hearing those three tags loud and clear and I do not want to disappoint so hear it goes :) Enjoy!

A Cheesy Engagement Picture


1. Where did you first meet your husband?
A week before we met, my friend Michelle met Jeremiah at a Halloween Dance that he was DJ-ing in Salt Lake. The next week I went with Michelle to a singles dance in Cottonwood and she saw Jeremiah there (although he was not DJ-ing that night) She invited him to meet us over at the Dee's Restaurant(that has now been torn down...sad)After the dance our large group headed over there and that's when we got the first glimpse of each other. My contacts were irritating me (at the time I wore blue contacts,) so when I met him I had taken one of my contacts out and I had one blue eye and one brown eye. We joked and had fun. He was talking about writing a nonsense book..it was hilarious...he was funny.

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?
Ummm if I remember correctly it was something about being a Daddy's girl....

3. Where was your first date?
We hung out as friends for a couple months going various places together and with our friends. I don't know if we ever really had an "official" date. However one of my favorite first times we went out as "boyfriend and girlfriend" he took me to a music store to by more memory for his keyboard. Lame, I know. BUT it was all the way up in like Logan or something so the ride from Provo to wherever we went was long and I enjoyed spending the time with him.

4. Where was your first kiss?
We were at a New Years Party at Michelle's house. We were in her downstairs family room talking about everything and anything. Then there was a pause in the conversation and he inched closer and he looked at me and whispered "May I kiss you?" I was taken aback that he actually asked me. Of course I said yes but I'm not sure I ever actually said the word "Yes"..I do know I was nodding my head as our lips met, though.

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?
We met in November 1998 and just hung out on the weekend as friends. On New Years we started officially "dating" and by the end of January we were engaged to be married. So it all went pretty fast but I knew he was the one. We were married 4 months later in April 1999.


6. Where did you get engaged?
After asking my dad's permission Jeremiah took me on a trip to meet his dad and stepmom who were living in Las Vegas at the time. They made this awesome dinner and when it was time for dessert we were having my favorite strawberry shortcake. I was getting aggravated because everyone was being served before me and I felt like they had something against me. At last I was served and dug right in...almost swallowing my ring!! Jeremiah grabbed the ring and then knelt down on one knee next to me and asked if I would be his wife....of course you know the answer....

7. Where did you get married?
We were married at the Sharpe Reception Center in Provo, Ut and a year later we were sealed in the Bountiful Temple.

8. How did the reception go?
Awesome!! There were so many people there we couldn't keep count. We had a line and we stood in it for HOURS!!! (my feet hurt so bad) We had so much fun, there was food, cake, dancing (tons of it) It was an amazing day.

9. How was the honeymoon?
After the wedding we drove to our new apartment in Murray, Utah and enjoyed our weekend together but he had to go back to work on Monday. About a month and a half after the wedding we went on an official honeymoon cruise to Mexico. It was a lot of fun to spend that time with him without having to worry about him leaving to work or anything. It was just me and him and the 15 ft swells on the ocean.

So there you have it...not that interesting huh?!

P.S. If nothing else my husband added a super sweet comment to this post :) Go read it!

.

Hooray for DATE NIGHT!!

The cute little Young Women and their leaders sponsored a date night last night at the church from 6pm-9pm. Jeremiah and I have not been out together without our children since waaayyyy before Liam was born. In fact, the only time we actually got a real babysitter we went to two seperate places (I went to a Relief Soceity Activity & he went out for a daddy-son night with Brinton) Imagine our excitement when we realized we were gonna get a chance to go out without the rugrats?! It's hard to find a babysitter for 5 kids...well 4 really because Liam was with us but still...soooo...we planned a fun night of dinner and bowling. Unfortunately, bowling didn't work out so we went to Chuck E Cheese to throw down a few tokens in the Street Basketball game...head to head...I won of course (Miah will tell you otherwise but don't listen to him..he's delusional) ;) I love being able to spend one-on-one time with Jeremiah. I love him so incredibly much!!

Cheese...It's US at dinner...


Jeremiah waiting to get beat in basketball...


Let the b-ball begin....



Aaaahhh...talk about a ticket monster!!


I got tickets, yes I do...I got tickets how about you??


Awwww the happy couple!


It was so out of the ordinary but we had tons of fun and I started thinking about what other neat, fun, cheap date nights we could do. So as a comment leave a fun date night idea you've tried...we'd love some suggestions!!!!!

Happy Father's Day Jeremiah! :)

Dear Jeremiah,
Thanks for all your love and support through the good times and the bad. For always loving me, even when I almost bit your arm really hard when I was in labor with Liam. (yes I am totally in labor in that 1st pic don't mind the hair & no make-up)
Thanks for being a great husband...

For being a worthy priesthood holder and baptizing our first born.



For spending hours and hours on your...I mean Brinton's super awesome Optimus Prime pinewood derby car. All the time you spent with him planning, sanding, painting, and shaping left lasting memories.


For never being to old to get down on Lisey's level and just play.


For making sure that even though Julianna didn't get any eggs at the Easter Egg hunt she got the pretty pinwheel--that was way better than any silly plastic Egg anyway.


For whispering "I love you" into Liam's ear and the tender way you look at him when he is fast asleep in your arms. For shushing when he cries.


Thanks for being such a good dad...

We love you for all that you do and all that you are...Happy Father's Day!

Happy Anniversary, 9 years.

9 years ago today, April 17th, Jeremiah and I were married. I honestly can't believe how incredibly fast time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday! Each day I grow more and more in love with him and my respect for him has only become stronger. He has been a wonderful husband and a great father to our children. Alot of people doubted whether our marriage would even last but as time grows by those doubters now know that Jeremiah and I were truly meant to be. So in honor of this anniversary since I am so far away from the person I love, I wanted to write a little list of 9 resons why I am so happy we are married: (in no particular order)

1. I can't even picture my life without Jeremiah in it as cliche' as it may sound he completes me. There is no Alida without Jeremiah and vice versa.

2. Saturday Mornings ;)

3. I always have someone to accompany me to the temple. Its so nice to be able to sit with him and enjoy the amazing peace I feel when I am there.

4. We are best friends!!

5. I always have someone to fight with! Sometimes I just get in these moods where I wanna pick a fight and he is always there with full battle gear on! :)

6. After fighting, I always have someone to make up with!! ;)

7. I don't ever have to sleep alone...(Well except now because he is in Kansas...but in general I never have to sleep alone.)

8. He is finally coming to understand that I am smarter than he is....lol!

9. We are partners in everything and I love the ability to be able to be an equal and not just a "wife." He listens to my counsel and I listen to his and we make decisions together. I love that.