Four Years = Eternity

So, on Wednesday it will be Cory and I's FOURTH wedding anniversary and I am utterly stunned. I cannot believe how fast it has flown. Plus, it seems to just be going by faster now that we have our munchkin. Anyways, we are going out of town on Wed. to Salt Lake and I am SO excited! We are are leaving Araleigh with my sister and are going away for 3 days. Wow, we have never been away from her before so its going to be a real challenge . . . mostly for me. But I am excited. I think Cory and I need this. It's been a while since we have actually spent time together . . . without the thoughts of parenting and work. So hopefully it will be a good time. Anyways, so I thought I would write a bit on our story . . . just for my sake since its a tribute to us!
Cory and I met when I was 15. We were both sophomores and I had absolutely no interest in him. To be honest . . . it was my friends that were all chasing him. Which is funny now. Anyways, I was dating someone else and one day Cory messaged me on MSN. Kinda funny . . . cuz thats how our relationship started. He messaged me and we just started talking . . . online. Kinda nerdy. But anyways, so after our little online relationship which was pretty much just friendly. We started hanging out a bit at school. He started coming over a lot to my house and hanging out. Then on my 16th birthday, Todd and him came and took me to dinner for my birthday. It was so sweet . . they brought me candy and balloons. Pretty much made a big deal out of it! Anyways, Cory found out that my at the time "boyfriend" wasn't going to take me out. So he filled in I guess. Anyways, it was fun and I remember him flirting with me and trying so hard. I think about a week later, I broke up with the boyfriend and Cory was on my door step almost daily after that! It took him about 2 months to get me to admit that I liked him . . . then on New Years we had our first kiss. It was such a dramatic night . . . I guess it had to end with a bang! haha (some will know what I am talking about!) Anyways, he was actually pretty sweet about it. Cuz he tried a lot to get me to kiss him . . . and I just never wanted to. (I was a bit old fashioned. Pretty much only liked to kiss if I was dating them consistently) But we were in my drive way leaving to go to a New Years Party . . he walked up to me and BAMM laid one on me. It was a bit shocking but I obviously liked it (I married him, didn't I). Anyways, we never truly broke up after that. So after many ups and downs, he finally picked me over everything else. We got engaged on my birthday. I was living in Pocatello and had come home for the weekend to see him. He worked in Blackfoot . . . so he called me and told me to go to his house and have his brothers put my present in the trunk so I wouldn't see it. So I did . . . and when I went to leave to meet him in I.F. his silly brother put it on my seat . . . STILL in the bag. So I pretty much had my engagement ring within grasp and decided not to cheat myself by looking at it (I didn't know what it looked like cuz I only picked out the setting NOT the center diamond). So I put it in the trunk and acted like it never happened! I didn't want to spoil his plans . . . and I wanted my ring! Anyways, he took me to a nice dinner at Jakers and then we were driving to my sisters house (her father in law died that night and she needed someone to come be with her kids) all of the sudden we took a quick left and were at the I.F. Temple. lol I was so nervous cuz DUH I knew what he was doing. Anyways, he got me out and walked to over to it . . . and proposed. It was sweet and we were both really nervous. Anyways, then April 2 we got married. It was such a crazy day for us and when I think about it . . . it was so much fun. After 3 years of dating we were finally married and we were happy. We decided to move to Utah soon after that and thats when our life truly began together. I am so grateful for those people who helped us grow and helped us on our road to an eternal family. We were sealed in September of 05 and had the most amazing experiences through those times. I am grateful for my husband and for the support he has given to me and our family. He is a hard worker and I know someday he will achieve his goals that he has set. Happy Anniversary!!

American Idol

So I don't watch American Idol very much . . . but I usually go watch the performances the next day. So I was watching the recaps today and HOLY cow did you see David Archileta's performance. WOW! He is absolutely incredible. If he doesn't win . . . I will be utterly SHOCKED! Anyways, he is pretty much my favorite . . . plus he's from Utah . . all the better!! :)
Anyways, if you want to see the performances they are on americanidol.com and you can just go to the video section and the recaps. Anyways, these people are incredible. Especially him!

Easter!

This year was so much fun. Its amazing how much of a difference a year makes. Last year Araleigh was just a little baby and didn't know what the heck was going on. . . so this year was a blast! Holidays have always been a big deal in my family, so its so fun to finally enjoy that through my child. We colored Easter eggs on Friday, and wow . . . it was a mess. Luckily we did it at my sisters . . . so I didn't deal with the mess too much. But as soon as we pour the dye in the cups . . . I turned to get the water to pour in and in the 2 seconds I wasn't looking . . . Araleigh had grabbed the dye tablet and ate it. By the time she realized how nasty it was . . . her teeth and entire mouth was dyed green. It was so sick. She spit it back out and we still got to use it for the eggs. She was completely covered in dye. By the time she was done . . she looked like she had the chicken pox because she was just playing with the orange and pink mainly and had splattered it EVERYWHERE! We are still trying to get it all off!

Yesterday, Easter Sunday was such a fun day. I got up at 7 to get ready for church before we woke her up. At 8 we went in and I gave her an easter basket so she could find the eggs. It was so funny, she was so excited. Plus she did better than I thought. I thought I would have had to help her find them . . . but nope she just trotted along finding them pretty much herself and throwing them into the basket. When she found her baby, that pretty much put the hunt on hold. She demanded that she got her baby. She got some fun stuff from the Easter bunny! She got a baseball hat (which Cory has been DYING to get her one), 2 dresses, a stuffed animal, some shoes, and a baby with a travel system. She loved it! After church . . . which was SO LONG and tiring . . . (she was cranky the entire time) We went off to the Arnolds. Where pretty much the chocolate eating fest began. She at so much chocolate . . . then at 6 we went the my parents for dinner and the easter hunts! Araleigh went through the whole house before she was suppose to and opened each egg . . . got the chocolates out of them, ate them and then through the eggs on the floor. By the time we had the hunt .. . . we all had to re hide them because all the little ones had got to them already. It was pretty funny. All in all it was a good day, which was full of family and that was the best part. Although Sunday was purely for Christ, I am grateful that we can use these holidays to celebrate Him in these fun ways.

Mommy and Me at the SALON!!

So Araleigh and I went in and got our hair cut! It was a girls day!! This has been a LONG awaited day for the both of us. This was her very first haircut EVER and I haven't cut my hair since I was first pregnant so pretty much 2 years - eeek! Now I have had trims of course . . . but have been growing my hair out for that long. The sad part is . . is my hair grows of a turtles speed and unfortunately isn't as long as I thought it would be. So I am officially fed up with it. I am SO tired of throwing it in an ugly ponytail or just never doing it . . cuz it takes too long. So I have gone back to my roots and got my short hair back. I am a little sad cuz it took SO long to get my hair the length that it is . . . but am hoping that this will be my "feel good" hair cut to start off the new me . . . since I am going to boot camp on the 1st! So, we went in and I cut EIGHT inches off of my head. I was SHOCKED! Then she got my dye on and it was time for munchkin. She didn't know what to think. But she did pretty good. I was nervous because her hair is SO long that I didn't know what to do with it . . . so we decided to just trim it up to match the back (the top was SOOOO long) and then we gave her bangs! lol She is OFFICIALLY a little girl now . . . and definitely looks like it. It took a while to get used to but I think its cute on her. Anyways, here is some befores and afters of our day of " Mom and Me" day at the Salon! To me Araleigh looks SO different. But I will say that I can tell the difference in her already. She had her hair down all night and it didn't get in her eyes very much, because of the bangs . . so I can now officially let her hair stay down!!

Officially have signed my life away!

Okay . . . so I have Officially signed the next 8 weeks of my life away to . . . . Steven. He is my new personal trainer at the Apple. I have enrolled in the Apple Beyond Fitness Program, and I am now paid and in "agreement" with him . . . so I am NOT SLACKING. I have to officially eat healthy, weigh in, and exercise. NO MORE EXCUSES! So now I am officially responsible and am actually kinda excited to get my butt kicked back into shape! I am starting on April 1st and going for 16 classes total . . . and 8 weeks. Apparently I am suppose to lose 1-3 lbs/week if I do it correctly. So I am going to set my goal . . . to hit it hard and get skinny for summer! (okay prolly not skinny, but so I am semi- comfortable in a bathing suit) So I am hoping to lose 15 lbs. My actual goal is 20-25 but I figured that I will be semi-reasonable with myself so I don't over stress my self out. So if I do lose more . . . it will be a pleasant surprise. So now my huge decision is going to be whether to keep my membership after I am done. We will see what happens. Anyways, so hopefully I will be disciplined enough to do this and am accountable! Cuz I got Steven to tell me that I didn't do my homework and I need to lose more poundage! WISH ME LUCK! ahhhh.

Locked in!

So I just needed to write this down for my own keeping, but it's pretty funny. So all of the sudden Araleigh has decided to grow up and act like a little girl. She carries purses around everywhere and everytime she leaves the room she has to yell "bye" and then she'll come back in and yell "HI!" and then she'll go and grab her cell phone and jabber on it a minute then go get her baby and kiss her. It's pretty funny, but recently she has had an overwhelming obsession with saying "bye" and then trying to get out of the door. So she is obsessed with doors. Everytime she runs into a room she hurries and slams the door . . . and then she waits for us to come open it up with her gleaming smile right behind waiting for her to yell "HI". Its pretty cute, until today. So she went running into the bathroom . . . which I usually leave closed (because of her obsession with the toilet, GROSS) anyways, she runs in . . shuts the door and then all of the sudden I hear the opening of a drawer. I quickly yell "oh crap" and run to the bathroom. See our drawers are right next to the door . . . therefore if one is open . . . there is no way to get it. So I could get the bathroom door open about 2 inches and freaked out cuz then she started to cry yelling "momma" . . so of course Cory was laughing and I was mad . . . so he came over to our rescue and slowly scooted the drawer until it fell out . .. then we slid it over and could open the door. It was so SCARY. I thought for sure Araleigh was gonna live in there. Anyways, just thought I'd share our morning adventure before I forgot!

P.S. Camera still MIA . . . . I am not sure where to look now . . . but now I am nervous cuz our keys were missing ALL WEEK and luckily my nephew got cold and went to put on his gloves and Araleigh has stored my keys in one of his gloves. I would have NEVER found them. So its interesting all the little places they think up to stash things.

My Nephew's sad day.

So my sweet nephew, Kiesan, who is only about 6 wks old is in Boise right now having surgery. He was born with a cleft lip . . .which was a complete shocker to us. We had no idea. But luckily it was ONLY the lip and nothing else. And to be honest, for him having a cleft lip . . . we couldn't have asked for a better outcome. It pretty much just looks like someone took scissors and snipped it in half. It didn't affect ANYTHING. So it is all cosmetic. Anyways, I have been at my sisters house this whole week watching her 3 other kids. Which has been a CRAZY adventure. I now know how it feels to juggle 4 kids around from school to kindergarten to piano to cheer and back for dinner. CRAZINESS. I am not sure if it has been good birth control for me or not . . . although I will say that I am pretty proud of how well I have done. Anyways, Kiesan had his surgery yesterday and it went well. Sadly, they realized he had a severe tongue tie . . and had to give him a frenulectomy . . so he not only has his layers of stitches from the plastic surgery . . . but he also is sore from having his tongue clipped. My sister has been so upset . . . because he cannot eat well and his hands are restrained in casts so that he will not touch his face. The poor little man. I got some pictures sent to me yesterday of him in his casts . .. and he looks like a little airplane. Its so sad. Poor little dude has to be in those for 3 weeks. Anyways, I am just so grateful that he is okay although he is in a lot of pain. I am finally done playing mother of 4 today as I am sending them off to Boise with my parents to meet up with their parents. Now I am just on the hunt for my car keys to get home. The two little girls were playing with them and have placed them somewhere UNKNOWN. So that is my goal for today. The picture is of my sister and Kiesan, his photos were taken by Annalee Taylor . . and she did a great job!

Tag I am it!

What are 5 things I have to do today?
1. Shower...for me and the rest of the world....categorize as get ready for the day.
2. Take Morgan to School
3. Take the girls to cheerleading
4. Make dinner
5. Pack the kids for Boise.
(If you are wondering who I am talking about . . . I am watching my nieces and nephew while my sister is in Boise getting surgery on her baby.)

Where was I 10 years ago? I was in 7th grade and was always in trouble. Good thing it only took a year to grow out of that stage!!

What are 5 snacks I like?
1. Chips (mostly just plain . . but I love the Cheddar Sour Cream ones)
2. grapes
3. Cookies . . a little too much I am afraid
4. Apples and Peanut Butter
5. fruit snacks. . . I love the ones that are like pastel colored for some stupid reason. (The ones that are like 1 out of every 5 in a pack)

What would I do if I was suddenly a billionaire? First I would pay off all my debt, Give my parents money for all the help that they have given to us- including let my mom do whatever she wanted to fix her house up.), give all the rest of our families money for things that they need, pay a lot of tithing and fast offerings, build our final home, put some money in savings, and the rest in investments. Also I would by myself and the rest of the family food storage (great idea lacee . . never would have thought of that sadly)

What are 4 bad habits I have?
1. eating when I am bored
2. biting my nails
3. Spending unnecessary money ( this is usually in the clothes or home decor sections)
4. Baking goodies all the time

What are 5 jobs that I've had?
1. Teachers Aide during summer school
2. mac operator (invitation designer) at Artco
3. dental lab tech
4. Wife
5. Mother

DO I know anyone famous?
I don't KNOW anyone famous but I have met a few famous people.

Have you started any trends in that last year? I am definitely out of the trend loop. And I am certainly not the one to set them . . . more like follow them!

If I were a pizza topping what would and be and why?
Probably the cheese that fell off the pizza and is on the floor forgotten about. AHAHA (Okay, this was Lacee's answer and it cracked me up and totally reminded me of what I should write for my answer cuz I AGREE!!)

What is your favorite clothing trend? probably shoes. I LOVE SHOES even though I don't buy them often. I am always coveting a cute pair when I see one.

My newest favorite commercial: This is a hard one for me because I don't watch tv often . . its always on disney channel or baby einstein. So I will tell you of my ALL time favorite. It was a condom commercial that was the funniest thing I have ever seen. (okay, sorry but its true) I can't remember the brand cuz it was on the "Funniest commercials of 2005 or 2006" but I have never forgotten it and won't tell you what it was about . . . lets just say that me and my family were rolling around it was so funny!

Which Napolean Dynomite character do you see yourself as? Kip . . . because I blog online with babes all day. ahahaha

Tag Your it: Whoever wants to do this!

Long Saturday

So today was a long day for us. My brother in law received that M. Priesthood last week and so he blessed his baby today. He didn't want to do it in church so we had a private family thing at their church. It was really good. I am so proud of my sister and her family. They have come along way, as have we all. Anyways, so my day started with Araleigh waking up at the butt crack . . . of dawn. I think 6 am. LUCKILY, I have my husband back to recover me . . . as he was kind enough to get up with her and let me sleep in. So I got up at like 8:30 and had to start my BAKING SKILLS . . . that I have been boasting about. I had to make chocolate chip cookies for the event at the church. So I baked all morning. Then we decided to get ready for the day at like 11. Which is always a long haul, for some reason it takes FOREVER to get us all ready. I take forever getting my hair figured out, cuz its long now . . .and I don't know what to do with it. Cory just takes like 45 minute showers for who know why, and Araleigh . . . just never wants to get dressed or ready. So its always like a 2 hour task to get our family ready. Anyways, so about 12:30 we were off and decided to go find somewhere to eat cuz munchkin was screaming (she gets hungry at noon on the dot!) So we ran over to Wendy's thinking . . . fast food. YEAH RIGHT, more like SLOW FOOD with incompetent employees. We get there and the line was long and the workers were slow. I don't even think there was a person at the cashier for like 15 minutes while we stood there. Then it was so annoying cuz its like all the workers were running around like chickens and freaking out on each other. It was nuts. Then this lady in front of us got into it with the grumpy cashier . . it was crazy. The worst part was when this girl that was making our food dropped something on the floor and bent over to get it . . .her butt crack was almost completely exposed. It was so nasty. Then of course Araleigh was grumpy and tired and wouldn't eat anything. So it just was bad. So we finished there and ran over to my sisters, then to the church to set up. Araleigh had a total blast. There were so many kids there and she just ran around with all of them like there little shadow. Its kinda funny seeing her tag along with the older kids now. She is still pretty little so I get nervous about letting her go free . . . but she did really well. Then at 5 it was my nieces birthday party. That kinda sent me over the edge. She got lots of fun stuff . . . and Araleigh just didn't understand why she didn't want to share. Cuz Araleigh didn't want to share either. So it was a REALLY long day . . . now I just got done with my lesson for tomorrow and have realized that we now have to turn our clocks forward. So now this long day just got shortened and I get to lose my wonderful hour of sleep. UGH. Anyways, just thought I'd write about today. It was overall a good day. But I am officially pooped.
P.S. STILL can't find my camera . . . I am convinced Araleigh hid it somewhere . . . I will die if we lost it for good.

Our Second Home . . .

So my family LOVES to make fun of me because Cory goes out of town A LOT, so I choose to drive up to Sugar City and stay with my mom usually when he does. Okay okay . . . it might sound like I just am a "Mommy's girl" which might not be far off . . .but I am going to plead my case! I find it EXTREMELY lonely and often pushed into the direction of insanity when I have absolutely NO interaction with adults. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely adore being at home with Araleigh to watch her grow. BUT after 8 hours of Baby Einstein on Repeat . . . . many diaper changes . .. lots of snacks . . . no cleaning . .. and no time to fold laundry. I get a little insane. So its always nice to have Cory come home to put Araleigh to bed at 8 pm SHARP and just have some me time with someone to talk to. Well, when he leaves me for a week each time he leaves. . . I GO NUTS! Hence- me going to my moms. Plus, it always is wonderful not having to cook a huge meal for one . . . but it being cooked for muah! :) Anyways, enough rambling on my excuses. So I have been up here staying at my mom's for a few days and Araleigh has officially become a stinker. She has learned the art of stealing toys from others and doing everything that she isn't suppose to. Its so hard, because you can't help but laugh every time she goes to stick her finger in a socket or her hand in the toilet . . . . just to find her . . .waiting . .. and waiting until I come find her to tell her "no" and pretend to get mad at her. She just laughs and giggles with her conniving smile only to run back over and do it again. UGH. Anyways, she has officially mastered many new words in her vocabulary (including doing ALL the signs to itsy bitsy spider . . I was so proud!). A few of those words being "night night" and the next one being "Oh Shoot" . . . .although this one doesn't sound like the correct word . . if you catch my drift its more "oh sh%&". Now every time she says it . . .anyone who hears her laughs because she is supposedly "swearing" followed by them provoking her to say it again. GOSH PEOPLE! I have found it so interesting to watch how much she has learned. Its crazy because although babies cannot speak well . . . they know what we are telling them. Its incredible to watch. Today I told Araleigh to go get the phone cuz it was ringing . . .(and I was kidding) and she just waltzed into the other room and ran and brought me the phone. I am officially convinced I am raising a genius! Anyways, one last funny thing that I wanted to write down so I wouldn't forget. Tonight my mom and I were telling Araleigh that it was time to go "night night" and noticed that every time we said those specific words she would say "night" and then throw her head sideways (to rest on her shoulder) and pretend to close her eyes. It was so funny that she mocked the motions of going to bed. She was laugh as hard as we were. It was great. I did get it on video on my phone . . but have absolutely NO IDEA how to get it OFF of my phone and onto a computer. So any input there would be great. Anyways, it has been quite the week. I cannot believe how fast they grow. It almost makes me want to cry the she is 17 months. And she will get to go to nursery next month. I can't believe that we have no excuses not to go to Sunday School anymore. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. :) Anyways, this is long so I better stop. I would have put a picture up . . . except I have a 22 lb thief that likes to stash things in places that I have no idea where she finds! So hopefully soon I will be able to find it!

Betty Crocker . . . has nothing on me!

So I have officially decided that I am addicted to sugar. It's kinda funny because as I was talking to my mother today . . . I had mentioned to her that I have become a cooking queen. But then I had to take that back and state that I was a "baking queen." I guess I have realized that I have a problem when I can't think of ANYTHING to make for dinner, yet I always seem to pull something sweet out of nowhere to bake for dessert. . . so, just so you are aware of how bad I am. This past week I have made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, homemade bread, pumpkin cake, and at my sisters we made Peanut butter bars. So I am officially stating, "I am Nicole and I am addicted to sugar." ahahaha You would think I would stroke out from an insulin coma or something. But I have realized my problem and am shooting for not baking THAT many things next week! But I will have to say, I haven't had any complaints so far from all the people on the receiving end of my goodies! So maybe its not so bad. As long as I don't just sit on the couch and eat nothing but heavenly sweets all day! hmmmmmmmmmm . . I am thinking that my apple membership is calling me and probably should be used soon, since I am spending all my time making sweets and just THINKING about exercise!