We Celebrate!

My family has always done holidays BIG!!! Usually a holiday, Birthday, anniversary... really any kind of celebration never just lasts one day. A celebration in my family can be dragged out for weeks. 

For some reason we have always celebrated to the extreme. 

Sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming but for the most part, I LOVE IT! 

This year, mine and Steven's anniversary lasted a whole week. 

And it was marvelous. 

We kicked off our anniversary week with a little play called Wicked!!!

We left Winston home with a baby sitter and from what I understand he was very good. 

He is a good child. 

We shall keep him. 

3 years ago, almost to the day, we saw Wicked on our honey moon in San Fran for the first time. 

Here we are 3 years ago about ready to see the show. 

So excited, young, in love, and good looking. 

{2009}

 And this is us now. 

Still excited, still young, much more in love, and even better looking. And some said it couldn't be done.

 Also, we are almost in the exact same pose in both pictures. It was not on purpose. 

{2012}
We loved Wicked back in 2009 and we LOVE it now.
We were even able to sit next to some of our favorite friends, Ken and Maddie, and my parents and brothers were there as well, a few rows away.
I can't even say how much I love Wicked. There are no words. 

 On Wednesday, March 14 we celebrated our actual anniversary. 

We decided that the best way to celebrate our 3 years together would be to go to the temple where we made it all official.

Every time we go to the temple we have a rare opportunity to kind of "renew our vows" if we choose to do so. By doing this we are able to hear the exact words that were spoken at our wedding ceremony, the promises we made to one another and God, and the wonderful blessings that come from keeping those promises. 

It is great to be reminded. 

It is especially great to pretend that we are doing it all over again. Looking deeply into my husbands baby blues while he promises his love to me forever and ever makes me kind of weak in the knees. Luckily we can do this as often as we want. It was just especially special to do it on our anniversary. 

*I am very proud of myself because I planned this last part for over a week and I never even hinted about it to Steven. Big accomplishment for me.*

The Friday following of our anniversary I told Steven that Winston had an Dr. appointment so that I could take our only car for the day. I lied to Steven about Winston having an appointment with the Dr. He did, however, have an appointment with my family for a sleepover. 

I needed our car to drive Winston down to my parents house to drop him off. After doing that I drove all the way to Scottsdale and picked Steven up from work. 

As soon as I saw him walk out of the office building I jumped out of the car and told him that Winston was not going to be with us for the night and that we were going to go on a date.

This has been the first real surprise that I have been able to successfully accomplish since we have been married. Steven usually figures out anything I want to surprise him with...

He was sooo excited about our date. Way more excited than I anticipated. 

It has been a while since we have gone on a date, just the 2 two of us. And by a while mean like a month. Which really is not bad...

We decided to hang out in Scottsdale and go to Indulge Burger for dinner and a movie, The Artist (2 thumbs up).

All in all I have to say that this was a very successful anniversary. I am looking forward to sharing many more!

3 Years!

I can't believe that another year has gone by! 

When I think about our wedding day (which was THE happiest day of my life) there are some great memories that come to mind... 

Like when we stuffed cake in each others faces. My dad has admitted to me that this was his favorite part of day. 

I am glad we did this... because this was the only bite of cake we both got. And it was dang good. 

 Our first dance as a married couple. Steven picked out the song, which was "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You" by Michael Buble. And he sang every word to me. And I loved every second of it.

 That day I remember not being able to take my eyes off of my new husband. I was one giggly and extremely happy girl.
When something in your life happens the way you always dreamed it would, nothing can beat that feeling.

My favorite thing about this day is that Steven took me to the temple and married me there. The ceremony was spectacular, full of love, beautiful, intimate, and better than I ever imagined. Yep, hands down the ceremony was my favorite part... and that time we took a nap before the reception.

I love this man. 

He truly is my better half. 

Lesson learned.

I have been working part time for a project at the company I worked for before having Winston. Whew! Last week the project came to an end. While waiting for more work I have had a lot of time on my hands. Just this morning, while Winston was taking a nap, I was thinking to myself, "hmmm... I am kind of bored"
Someone heard me.
At 11:00 I got a call from the 1st counselor in the relief society presidency. Please keep in mind that I have been in this ward exactly one month, have no calling, and know probably 5 people.
I have been put in charge of putting together enrichment (which apparently is now called "additional relief society meeting"... ?) in two weeks. TWO WEEKS.
I have been asked to organize a musical/choir/ skit performance. This includes finding people and putting together a choir, musical instruments, finding people to narrate the skit, and practicing as much as possible.
I play the violin and piano. Although I love singing, I am not a singer and have never been in a real choir. Just the ward choir and that hardly counts.
Even though I am completely overwhelmed and a little intimidated I am very excited.
I am bound to make lots of new friends in this ward and this is the perfect way to do it.
This will cure my bordem and then some. This will be fun.

Sunday Talks

Steven and I have been asked to give talks in our new ward this coming Sunday. This makes me excited for 2 reasons:
1. We will finally be able to sit through a whole sacrament meeting without having to leave to walk the halls with a very energetic 14 month old. We have not been able to sit through a whole meeting since Winston was walking at 10 months. He just wants to go, go, go ALL THE TIME. We are counting down the days till he is in nursery and we will once again be able to enjoy and listen in our other meetings. It really is the simple things...
2. And the second reason is that our topic is awesome.
The topic we have been given is, "Come listen to a prophets voice." No doubt to get us all pumped for conference. More specifically we have been asked to speak on our own personal experiences with conference. As soon as Steven told me the topic I immediately thought of a conference talk that Jeffery R. Holland gave in 2005 which was originally called, "To Young Women" and has since been nick-named, "The Great and Spacious Makeup Kit."
I was in high school, and in young women, when this talk was given and I remember being so moved when I heard it. I felt like this talk was exactly what I needed to hear. Funny how some things don't change.

Here are a few of my favorite paragraphs:

In this same vein may I address an even more sensitive subject. I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not! But as one adviser to teenage girls said: “You can’t live your life worrying that the world is staring at you. When you let people’s opinions make you self-conscious you give away your power. … The key to feeling [confident] is to always listen to your inner self—[the real you.]” ⁸ And in the kingdom of God, the real you is “more precious than rubies.” ⁹ Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good. I mention adult women because, sisters, you are our greatest examples and resource for these young women. And if you are obsessing over being a size 2, you won’t be very surprised when your daughter or the Mia Maid in your class does the same and makes herself physically ill trying to accomplish it. We should all be as fit as we can be—that’s good Word of Wisdom doctrine. That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size.

In terms of preoccupation with self and a fixation on the physical, this is more than social insanity; it is spiritually destructive, and it accounts for much of the unhappiness women, including young women, face in the modern world. And if adults are preoccupied with appearance—tucking and nipping and implanting and remodeling everything that can be remodeled—those pressures and anxieties will certainly seep through to children. At some point the problem becomes what the Book of Mormon called “vain imaginations.” ¹¹ And in secular society both vanity and imagination run wild. One would truly need a great and spacious makeup kit to compete with beauty as portrayed in media all around us. Yet at the end of the day there would still be those “in the attitudeof mocking and pointing their fingers” as Lehi saw, ¹² because however much one tries in the world of glamour and fashion, it will never be glamorous enough.

A woman not of our faith once wrote something to the effect that in her years of working with beautiful women she had seen several things they all had in common, and not one of them had anything to do with sizes and shapes. She said the loveliest women she had known had a glow of health, a warm personality, a love of learning, stability of character, and integrity. If we may add the sweet and gentle Spirit of the Lord carried by such a woman, then this describes the loveliness of women in any age or time, every element of which is emphasized in and attainable through the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ

I want to be the kind of women that is talked about in the previous paragraph. I not only want to love myself form me but also for my future daughters, nieces, cousins and any other young women I might influence. I want to be the kind of women that never talks badly about herself, or puts herself down, especially around other young women. I never, ever want to hear a future daughter of mine repeat something negative that I have said about myself, about herself. Therefore, I must be a positive example. 

This talk was so meaningful to me that as soon as it came out I printed it out and carried it around with me every day. When I was going through a "rough time" (which, of course, I thought happened on a weekly basis in high school) I would get out this talk and read over it. 

No matter what age I am or what is going on in my life this talk always helps me remember who I am, what really matters, and what does not, what I need to be doing, and helps me on my way to reaching my true potential. 

Wow. I really intended this post to be much shorter... but there you have it! 
And if you have read this whole thing I am impressed and congratulations. 

My Bama

March 3rd was my Bama's (grandma's) Birthday. 

She is one of the most unique and funny women I have ever known. 

Here are a few of what I like to call "bamaisms"... 

- Bama is 4'9" and shrinking. It is a big accomplishment when one of us grandkids pass her up in height. This usually happens when we are 9 or 10. 

 - Does not matter who you are or how long you have known her, Bama will most likely slap you on your booty and walk away like nothing happened. Just for fun.
- When I would have friends sleep over at my house Bama would offer to do belly dances for us. We never took her up on the offer. Now I kinda wish we did...
- Bama makes the best spaghetti and pasta salad I have ever or will ever have in my life.
- Bama will always figure out and tell you what celebrity you look like. Most recently she told me I looked like J-Lo. Although I am super flattered I am still trying to see that one.
-  Bama has many unique nicknames for her grandkids. Most commonly I have been called:
Charlie Brown
Hershey kisses eyes
Only (for being her only granddaughter)
just to name a few...
- Bama is the best at sending cards any time of year. She is also very good at altering or emphasizing what the card says inside. For example: She will cross off words and add in new ones or underline or circle a word 1000 times to show it's importance. Then she will write on every empty space on the card to give it even more of a personal touch.
- When we get a Birthday card from Bama there is usually money inside with a message like, "Go buy yourself a big cookie."
- I can not smell cinnamon and raison bread without thinking of her.
- Even though Bama only wears mumus she knows exactly what is hip in fashion and knows ALL of the juicy celebrity gossip.
- Whenever Bama would put me to bed as a kid she would always give me butterfly kisses and then rub my nose with hers and sing "let's rub noses like the eskimoses."
- Bama loves reading. I was introduced to many classic childrens books because of her.
- One of my favorite things about Bama is that she is always singing. I remember sitting in her lap while she would rock me in my rocking chair and sing me songs like, Meet Me in St. Louis, Oh Mr. Dunderback... and many other others...

Now Steven and I rock Winston in the same chair that Bama used to rock me in. I sing him the same songs that Bama taught me and read him the same books. 

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAMA!!!

You deserve the best Birthday ever. 

Now go buy yourself a big cookie.
I love you more. 

Love,

Your oldest granddaughter, Charlie Brown, Hershey kisses eyes, Emily.

Some days...

Sometimes you have a really bad morning.
Sometimes your one year old son does nothing but hang on your leg and cry at you because he wants you to pick him up. If you do pick him up you know that he will never let you put him down and even though holding him gives you a good arm workout it is particularly difficult to do things with one (or no) hands. There are things that need to be done in the mornings. Like washing your hair, work, going to the bathroom... those kinds of things that are better done with two free hands.
But you do pick him up (because you have a heart) and he clings to you like a monkey. After a little while of this you put him down... And he cries. And screams. And follows you everywhere.
And you have no idea what to do because you have tried everything else you can think of. Even letting him get on the kitchen table. He does not want to be happy.
He moves on from wanting to be held to wanting to destroy everything he sees while you try to pick up after him as he goes. It really feels like he is destroying everything! Like your Hunger Games book he spills water on (from who knows where) and everything that was once in your purse has now been taken out and is all over your room. All his toys that you just organized are now scattered all over the floor. His breakfast of eggs, oranges, and animal crackers have all been thrown all onto the floor and smashed.
He still cries and cries and this is really weird for him to do for this long so it is kind of freaking you out and is extremely frustrating...
Then while you are trying to get ready he starts screaming and trying to put everything in the bathroom into your toilet that he now knows how to lift the seat on and flush. He does this again and again. And it makes you angry. So angry you raise your voice at him. So angry that you carry him to his room and shut the door so he can't get out.
Then you take a few seconds to breathe and send your husband a text that says,
"Do you want to come and get your devil child and take him to work with you today?"
This is not something you usually do but this day has pushed all of your buttons.
Then you realize that all your boy wants is your love. You start to feel extremely guilty. You say a prayer that you can get though the rest of your day (it is now only 11:00 in the morning) as a decent mom and be able to show your son your love while being patient.
You go to his room to get him and he is exhausted from pounding on the door.
Then YOU cling to him and rock him and tell him how sorry you are while he sniffles into your neck.
All the anger you once felt has turned to love and you want nothing more than to show your son that you love him and that you are there for him.
To show him your love you decide to go on a picnic in the backyard with dinosaur chicken nuggets and apple slices. He loves it.
While you are eating someone comes to your door and when you answer it you recognize that it is someone from your new ward. She is holding some of your favorite flowers and gives them to you just because.

That's when you realize that there is someone watching out for you too. He is aware of you and knows your heart. He knows how hard the morning has been for you (no matter how minor it may seem) and he wants nothing more than to show you His love too.
I am so thankful for this kind women for being an instrument in the Lord's hands and coming by my home at just the right moment. I don't know if she will ever know how much her visit meant to me.
Needless to say I am feeling much better now.

* Please keep in mind that days like this hardly ever happen to me. I don't usually let my one year old onto the kitchen table and I never put him into his room by himself where I shut the door and he cries and pounds on the door. Today was just an extra special day and I was extra frustrated and moody. Please don't call CPS on me. 

My funny Valentine.

I love Valentines Day. I always have and always will. I think that it is important that you show your love on a daily basis, however Valentines day gives us an opportunity to not only show your love but to celebrate it. And I think it's awesome. I really seriously and truly do not understand for the life of me how someone could hate Valentines day as so many claim that they do. A day to celebrate love is the best! Anyways...

Steven and I have decided that we are going to alternate who does Valentines day. This year was Steven's turn.

Steven has been really wanting to get a new bigger and better TV. I don't have a problem with the one that we currently have and don't see a need in getting a new one. However, I am not against the idea. Getting a new TV is just more for Steven than me. 

The night before Valentines day Steven told me that I had to go into our room and not come until the morning so that he could set up a Valentines surprise for me. 

I got in bed and read while I waited for him to do whatever he was doing. 

He came into the room acting like he was so tired and said,

"That was  heavy."

Then snuggled up next to me and whispered into my ear,

"You wanted a 42" right?"

... I immediately sat up and angrily asked,

"Did you really just get ME a TV for Valentines day? ME?"

He just laughed and said I would have to wait till the morning. 

The morning came and as I walked out from our room I looked over at the entertainment center fully expecting to see a brand new TV there. Instead I found these sitting on the kitchen table...

So tricky... and AMAZING! He actually went and picked everything out on his own and he even remembered my size. And the best thing is that he picked out things that I LOVE. 

So in total there are:

4 shirts

1 pair of pants

2 pairs of earrings

2 necklaces

and 2 pairs of shoes. 

He makes me feel so loved everyday and I kind of love it that he spoils me. 

Oh... He also got Winston something that I do not have pictured yet. 

He got Winston... baby crocs. But not just any baby crocs. The fuzzy kind. 

Uh my heart!

The fuzzy crocs makes everyones (even babies) feet smell so, so, soooo bad. 

I must admit though that anything that comes in baby sizes are adorable. But these crocs... They are so ugly that maybe they are cute? I don't know... but I am seriously having a hard time putting them on my kid. Give me time. Maybe. 

Anyways Steven came home and made one of our favorite meals that will most definitely give us heart attacks- hot dogs wrapped in bacon drenched in sauce. Heaven. And I made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry whipped cream frosting- a Valentines day tradition in our home. 

The best thing is that our Valentines celebration is not even over yet! 

Tomorrow we are dropping the kid off at my parents for a sleepover and we are going to do whatever the heck we feel like... Probably dinner and a movie. And stay out as late as we want (probably no later than 10:30) and sleep in as late as we want (probably no later than 7:00). It will be magical. 

Then Saturday our guy friends and kids are coming to our house while us ladies enjoy a "Galentines" night out and treat ourselves to mani/ pedis and dinner. 

See? How could Valentines Day be anything less than magnificent when you are married to Steven Hale.