Love

I love this picture of Clint and I. He had just graduated from CWU- a journey that had taken so much longer than we had anticipated. We had been married 4 years, had 1.3 children, and life was still a little uncertain. Clint was working at FedEx, hoping to get on with management. He worked long hours and then he would come home and we would study into the night. Jack was a bundle of energy and we were a little uncertain about adding another one into the mix. We worried about finding a job for Clint, finding a new place to live and raising our little boy. However, we had a duplex full of love and laughter and life was sweet.

Fast forward 6 years. We now have been married 10 years, have 3 children and life is still a little uncertain. Clint is working long hours and studies for his PMP certification long into the night. We now have 3 bundles of energy who challenge us and reward us more than we ever could have imagined. We worry about finding another position for Clint, finding a home to buy and a place to "settle" and raising our 3 children. We have a loud, chaotic house full of love and laughter and life is sweet and hard at the same time. Seems very similar, huh?!?

So on this Valentine's Day, I am reflecting on the love in my life. We are not giddy anymore, we don't hold hands unless we are on a date, we don't see much of each other, much less talk to each other during the day, and the little things tend to get in the way of the big picture sometimes. However, our love has bloomed. We are content and quietly happy. We cherish the 10 minutes we have to talk in the evenings or the 2 minute phone calls. We look forward to the weekends we have to "get away" from the humdrum of life. When Clint walks into the primary room on Sundays to pick up Blake wearing the Ergo carrier while I conduct music, I think he is the handsomest man on earth. When he gets up for the 4th time with Blake, my heart melts (if I'm awake to hear him :)). Each time he plays with Jack and Lindsey, my love for him grows. And whenever he walks out the door to another church meeting, I smile ( okay, not always!) and am grateful for a husband who honors his priesthood and magnifies his calling.

Love is a wonderful thing. And I love watching it change and deepen the longer we love each other.

Happy Valentine's Day to all you lovers out there.

Continuing with the birthdays....

Clint and Jack celebrated their birthdays by going to Mariners FanFest where they hit, caught, pitched and had a great time at the ball park.

Dinner at Red Robin finished off the big day.

I can scarcely believe this boy is 7!
7 Reasons why I Love Jack:
1. He is smart and remembers EVERYTHING!
2. He is a great big brother
3. He is athletically gifted (I'm convinced he got all of my family's athletic genes that seemed to pass over me :))
4. He has a tender heart
5. He has a sense of style
6. He will still hug and kiss me
7. He laughs at my corny jokes
Happy Birthday Jack!

For Clint's birthday, we spent 24 hours together sans kids. Some great friends took all 3 of our children for 24 hours so we could veg, watch movies, play games and Kinect, sleep the WHOLE night through and eat lunch at the Space Needle. It was heaven.
Not the greatest picture, but the food and scenery was fabulous!

32 Reasons Why I Love Clint:
(just kidding, that would take a long time to read and write, so I will give you one and it is a corny one)
1. He is my life

Happy Birthday Clinty!

Oh and have you missed this little guy?
( hiding in the cabinet- I have NO idea how he got in there...but he was happily munching all kinds of cereal when I found him :))
He's still not sleeping and still not walking and we have discovered that despite all his layers, he hates the snow, but he continues to be the cutest little guy we've ever seen :)

The Month of Birthdays!

Lindsey turned 5 and had her 1st birthday party: a breakfast pajama party! She had 5 of her closest buddies over for breakfast, playtime and a doughnut cake.

She also had a special date with Grammy and Papa (shopping and McDonalds)

5 Reasons we love Lindsey Lou:
1. She is spunky, spunky, spunky with her own sense of style! ( and I love this now that I have chosen to accept it and not worry about what anyone else thinks :))
2. She is funny and keeps us all laughing
3. She keeps us all on our toes and makes sure life doesn't get too boring at our house
4. She owns so many purses (and uses them all) that we had to install a hook on her bedroom wall to hold them all
5. She is very social and averages about 4 playdates a week
Happy Birthday Lindsey!