HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE! 12/14

You are and wonderful husband and an amazing daddy. We are so lucky to have you in our lives. Here's to another great year! We love you!

XOXO,
Arah & Gavin

Why does this happen?

Somebody help me! I don't know why this keeps happening. Look at my post below. Every time I make a post with more than one paragraph it just automatically blends everything together. So I had to make my second paragraph a bullet point. Am I doing something wrong?

Once There Was A Snowman

It snowed on Saturday and Gavin was so excited to build a snowman. Gavin and his daddy bundled up first thing in the morning and got started. It hadn't snowed much yet so they had to work pretty hard to gather all the snow. They had to improvise on his eyes, nose and mouth. They used grapefruit for the eyes, a potato for his nose, and kisses for his mouth. He never did get any arms. But Gavin was really proud of his snowman. I had been gone all day, so I was really excited to come home and see their masterpiece. But when I got home it was devastating, the poor snowman had died. I think it just snowed so much that he could stand the extra weight and just gave up. Gavin said that he's just sleeping. I guess he's a glass half full kind of kid. We promised we would fix him Monday. But I'm kind of hoping he doesn't remember, Brrrr!

• P.S. I have to tell a totally unrelated, embarrassing story. Yesterday at church of all places I walked into the Men's bathroom. I don't know what happened. I guess I was just off in my own little world for a minute. There were 2 teenage boys and 2 little boys inside. It took me a minute to even realize what I'd done. And by the time I walked out of the Men's bathroom the teenagers were laughing uncontrollably. Needless to say I was bright red. But i'm sure they were nice enough to keep it to them selves, right?

Christmas Party Fun!

Last night was Gavin's Christmas party at Kids Village. We had lots of fun! He got to eat yummy treats, make snowman soup, and best of all sit on Santa's lap. They also had all the kids give a little Christmas performance. Its was really cute! You can tell the girl next to him is really into it. We're so happy to have found this school. Gavin loves it and is learning so much. When we left the party they gave us a little book with him and his classmates talking about their favorite food. Here's Gavin's:

PIZZA

1. Who makes it for you? My mom and dad
2. What's in it? Macaroni and Cheese
3. How do you make it? With macaroni. And some Cheese.
4. How long does it take to make? Like 45 minutes.
5. How long do you cook it for? 5 minutes.
6. How hot is the oven? This hot (Holds up 5 fingers)
7. When do you eat it? In 45 minutes

Toilet Seat Up or Down?

I haven't been that hard on Gavin YET about putting the toilet seat down when he's done going potty. But I've decided it's time because this is the lecture he gave me today."Mom you need to make sure that you put the toilet seat up when you are done going potty, so that I don't have to lift it up every time. Sometimes I forget and pee on the seat."

Thanks A LOT Lisa!

So I was talking to my sister Lisa the other day on the phone and she told me I had to DVR Sharkboy and Lavagirl for Gavin. She said it was Keely's new favorite show. So I took her wonderful advice and did and I haven't heard the end of it. He is OBSESSED with this show! He would watch it 5 times a day if I would let him. I've had to limit him to once a day, but that doesn't stop him from asking. It's usually the first thing he asks for in the morning and then again several times throughout the day. Oh, by the way, did I say thanks Lisa? So the other night after Gavin was asleep I went in to give him a kiss on his warm, rosy cheeks (I have to do this every night) and he said, "Why did you make me out of lava?" This, of course, is a line from the movie. He's always been a sleep talker, but that was hilarious! You know a child has watched too much of something when he starts quoting it in his sleep.

I kept hoping this wouldn't happen :-(

So I've been tagged. Thank goodness it's only 6 things. And if anyone ever thinks of tagging me with 100 things, you have to know now that I will NEVER do it, 6 is hard enough. Anyway here it goes...

1. I think I'm a little OCD. And here are just a few example of why:

• I change my pillow case at least 3 times a week. I can't sleep if I feel like my face is lying on germs and bacteria.
• I get totally grossed out by things with a lot of seeds, like pomegranates or kiwi. I can still eat them as long as I don't look at them too closely.
• I hate it when homes or buildings have ivy or some foliage growing on it. I feel like I need to get a large spatula and scrape it off.
• My towels have to be folded a certain way. If I ever have company and they fold my towels, I have to go back and refold them. I can't stand not having them exactly right.
• I am obsessed with not getting germs. I wash Gavin's and my hands constantly. And I carry Wet Ones and antibacterial gel everywhere I go. But I think this is a good obsession. Hey, we hardly ever get sick.
  

The lists go on, but you get the picture.

2. I love to read! It's actually a bit of an addiction I would say. When I'm reading a good book, it consumes me. I literally can't put it down and everything in my life gets neglected. Laundry piles up, dishes go unwashed, furniture goes undusted, my husband goes unfed... It's really a problem. I'll try to pace myself, but every time I walk by the book I can seriously hear it calling my name. So I have to limit myself to how many books I can read a month.

3. I HATE saying "I'm sorry". Steve will attest to this. I guess you could say I have a little bit of stubborn streak. (I wonder where I get that?) Even when I know for sure I was totally 100% wrong, I can't do it. I would honestly rather eat a bar of soap. But hey, the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?

4. I kissed Mark Mcgrath, crazy! When I was 19 years old, I was at a Sugar Ray concert and he pulled me up on stage and laid one on me. Steve likes to tease me about it. Whenever we see him on TV he'll say, "look, its your boyfriend." Oh well, guess I'll never live that one down.

5. I love dogs, and I don't think my husband will ever let me have one. He HATES them! I had a dog named Charnise growing up. We got her right after my big brother, Mike, was born and she died a month after he left on his mission. She was a member of the family. It was really hard on all of us when she died. But I was happy to have had her in my life.

6. I was 3 weeks away from going into the MTC when Steve and I got engaged. I had a calling to Independence, Missouri. It was one of the hardest choices I've ever had to make. I was so excited to go on a mission, and I never was going to be one of "those girls." When I decided to go on a mission, that was it. Nothing was going to deter me. But then this great guy from my singles ward asked me out because he new I was going on a mission and thought he was safe (ha,ha). And 2 months later we were engaged, and 4 months after that, married. Although this was a very hard decision for me, I've never doubted for a second that I made the right choice. And here I am, 9 years later with an amazing husband and our wonderful boy. Obviously God knew what he was doing.

I don't know what the rules are, like how many people I'm suppose to tag. So I'm just tagging Laura, b/c I know how much she loves to talk about herself and Julee, because she never updates her blog. Also Steve was tagged by the same person who tagged me, so stay tuned.

Tree Hunting

We decided to get a real tree this year, since my whole family (except mom and dad of course) is going to be here for Christmas. We always had one growing up and I was feeling nostalgic. It was a last minute decision, so we got to the tree farm about 15 minutes before they closed. And that was way too much pressure to have to decide so fast. Plus all the really good ones had been tagged by the early birds. We were freezing though, so we probably wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. I hope it looks okay once we get it in our living room. We're crossing our fingers.

New York, New York!

I just got back from an amazing girls weekend in NY with some awesome friends, Lisa, Jana and Emily! We did a lot of shopping, eating, laughing, talking and saw a couple of shows. We were also able to hook up with a friend of ours that lives in New York, Emily D. It was wonderful to spend so much time with such fun girls. I forgot my camera, so you can go to Lisa's blog to see pics and read more about the trip.

Thank you girls for the belly laughs and pillow talk!

A Great 2 Weeks!

I know it's been a while since I posted, but things have been a little crazy around here. We just had our whole family here for 2 weeks. My mom and dad are leaving on a mission to Australia on the 12th and everyone came to spend time with them. Gavin had lots of fun with his cousins. And Steve had a lot of fun hiding in the basement with Dad and his brothers in law watching sports and playing XBOX. Luckily the basement was finished in time or we all would've gone nuts. It was really great to have everyone. I always love spending time with the family. We love you Mom and Dad and will miss you very much!!



P.S. Lisa finished her slide of the trip first, stealing the best song and the best pics. So I copied her song and used some of the same pics. If you want to see more pics you can go to Lisa's blog.