We are so so excited!!!

We just wanted to tell our big {definitely in age not in size}Uncle Josh that we are so so so proud of him! Matt's older brother is graduating from dental school this week and moving back to good old Utah!! Kentucky has had you guys for way to long and we CANNOT wait to have you back. Saige is SO very excited to have Abby and Parker to play with and I hope{ just hope} that Jenni will share her very extensive wealth of knowledge of anything Crafty with me!! We love you guys and get here safe!!! CONGRATS JOSH YOU ARE AMAZING!!

Miracle

Some might say that me actually making a post here would be a miracle, a yes I too agree. But there is a much mightier miracle that occurred the past few weeks that I honestly feel was the absolute blessing of our Heavenly Father's hand in our lives!!

{thanks Bon for the pic, I wasn't as lucky to get to spend the afternoon}

My Mom has been struggling with terrible headaches for sometime now. She finally decided to do something about and found that she had a small brain aneurysm on the right side of her brain. The doctor gave her a choice whether or not she wanted to have it removed because of the small size. Because she had an Aunt pass away from an unknown aneurysm rupturing she decided that for her sanity and safety she would have it removed.
Last night after several several hours of waiting she finally had a successful brain surgery that finished around midnight. The doctor came out to tell my Dad that she was just great and that the surgery went very well. He them proceeded to tell him that he was so grateful that my Mom had chosen to have the surgery. When he got inside he noticed that the aneurysm had grown to a larger size and had actually grown a second one. I am not sure of other details right now, as its only been 24 hrs since the surgery. But we are so grateful for her promptings to do something about it.
I have always admired my Mom for all of her many talents. We grew up thinking we had everything in the world. She made every birthday, holiday and party feel that we were queens for the day! She did everything she could so that we were able to do the dance, karate, singing lessons, or whatever we felt we wanted to be at the time. She would make all 6 of us girls clothes and would do our hair everyday so that we looked PERFECT! Now having a daughter I have a hard time keeping Saige clean let alone SIX girls! She is one of the most selfless people that I know and so close to the spirit. We often tease her that she has these promptings to check up on us, and I'll admit being a teenager it was a pain, but now looking back she was just telling each one of us how much she loved us!
I am so grateful that she followed those prompting and I hope this will only add on 100 more years to her life! I love you so much Mom and am so proud of how well you are recovering from this!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

{and for some beautiful pictures and even more beautiful words check out
these here and here. I love my sisters!!}

Family Pics...

We finally got a copy of the family pictures we took in August. Thank you so much Jessie, you captured my kids so beautifully. And thanks Matt for putting up with us. I love you.

do we really want this going around the neighborhood?...

We awoke to find a great new lawn ornament Sunday morning. Thanks , to whomever it was, but don't be alarmed if you find it on your doorstep. Just pass it on. (And thanks Adhis for bringing this to all of our lives.)

thanks jennica...

I normally don't do these things, but I thought why not, a moment to think about Matt, hey I can do that. Sorry Matt I know you will probably not enjoy this, but I don't think you really read our blog so HA!...
Husband Tag--
1. Where did you meet? **Note this is kind of odd and random, just hope it makes sense and you follow***I worked with his brother, Nate, and Nate set me up with Matt's friend Cj, after hanging out with Cj a few times he brought Matt to come to my house to visit. Matt was different than any other guy I had ever met, I thought he was a little odd but in a good way. A few months went by, Matt moved to Provo, and then we finally started hanging out.
2. How long did you date before you were married? After hanging out with all of our friends for FOREVER, we finally decided to publicly announce we liked each other. After all that it took almost THREE years, but then we were married.
3. How long have you been married? It was three years on June 14th.
4. What does he do that surprises you? He is always so willing to give me back rubs, and brings me a root beer for my "root beer kind of day". Also surprises me with Cabelas red licorice, Oh so yummy. We are both terrible at surprises, but i love the phone calls telling me what surprise he is bringing me!
5. What is your favorite feature of his? I agree where do I begin..... (sorry Matt, don't get upset) I love your eyes, your knobby knees, your shaved head and of course your cute buttock. (thank heavens saige got his, sorry milo you got mine, (thats a post in itself))
6.What is your favorite quality of his? I have always loved his strong will and that amazing drive and determination that he doesn't want all to know exists, but those who do know you see right through that hard exterior. I admire his ability to talk to anyone and can relate with everyone!! And that sense of humor:

SORRY MATT FOUND OUT ABOUT THE PIC HAD TO DELETE IT!!!

(Need i say more?)
7. Does he have a nickname for you? Buddy. It use to endearing but he now refers to everyone like that, so not so much, but anytime anyone says "hey buddy" i think of him and laugh. So its still good.
8. What is his favorite color? (I agree Jennica, is this even a real question?) browns or greens. Anything neutral and earth tones.
9. What is his favorite food? Sushi
10. What is his favorite sport? His sports are a bit different then most guys. He loves to watch football, basketball, etc. but he doesn't really participate in them. He is a hunter. Bow hunter. Need I say more?
11. When and Where was your first kiss? After he moved to Provo at his house on 8th north and I don't know the date, and I know Matt has no idea.
12. What do you like to do together? NOTHING! We both usually have a million things going on, so if we can just sit and talk that is our favorite. Sitting watching Saige, usually laughing at her shocking things, tickling Milo. And cooking together, Matt is a great cook.

13. Do you have any children? Yes, Saige 2 and Milo almost 9 months! Having them so soon in our marriage makes up for the 3 years of dating right? that is what i tell myself!
14. Does he have a hidden talent? He is an amazing singer, but i love it when its just for me. Also he has great knowledge of the scriptures, which I am getting to pick his brain even more. (He never wants to be the know-it-all who talks to much!)
15. Who said I love you first? He did. We both felt it long before we said it, but were both too stubborn to say it first. Ha I won that one.
16. What is his favorite type of music? Best way to describe his music is... coffee house. He likes acoustic stuff, but if the lyrics of any song have some great deep meaning he is all for it. Ben Harper is his love and secret crush.

17. What do you admire most about him? His ability to work so hard everyday, come home and be the best Dad he could ever be. He tries so hard to help me out, and makes sure that I am doing ok. He makes me laugh and i appreciate that more then he could ever know.
18. Do you think he will read this? Only if someone tells him about it, he doesn't really know how to log on to our blog!!!
I LOVE YOU MATT!!
I Tag--- Natalie Smith, Jen Barney, Bonnie, Sadie and Jo, and anyone else!

IRON CHEF... MCDONALD??.....

For my Dad's birthday we decided to follow his wishes! Every year he makes it hard for us to get him anything by saying, " Don't get me anything, I don't need anything!" or "just a hug and to see my kiddos is good enough for me!", so WE DIDN'T get him anything! Instead Candace came up with the idea to have
" Iron Chef McDonald" (in my best chairman voice)

Instead of having three groups make a main course, dessert and side, we decided to have each group make one the choices and eat one magnificent meal. The secret ingredient being RASPBERRIES, my Dad's favorite thing to eat, made things a bit different and exciting.

My group, Bobby Flay, :

picked the main course, and I knew we had to make it fun, different and somewhat simple, we only had a hour after all. After some searching we constructed a simple recipe of stuffed chicken breasts that we would pan fry for the yummy flavor and roast for a bit in the oven to melt the mozzarella cheese that we stuffed inside and placed on top.

Team Kat Kora:

had the sides, and made a delicious cold raspberry soup,

and a yummy raspberry and greens salad, with candied nuts (yummmmo).

And team Morimoto:

had dessert, and they made TWO desserts, one a raspberry upside down chocolate cake, which was amazing (and i don't really like chocolate), and the other was a German ( i think) dessert with peaches. (Candace you'll need to refresh my memory on what it was called!but it was oh so delicious) Plus a raspberry drink, and artisan bread for us all to enjoy.

I had such a good time, I am a lover of good food and great company and the night was filled with both. It was such a nice time to be with everyone, learn from everyone and laugh. For once not one person had slaved the day away making the meal for us all, except Candace did put in some serious time doing all the shopping and setting up (thank you candace!). Thanks for not wanting anything for your birthday Dad, i believe we all gained from your love and kindness and for just wanting to be together! We all love you!!

(and some how by the end of the night Saige ended up on top of the pot rack begging not to get down..... hmmm)

No Fear.....

I've always considered Saige a bit fearless, but yesterday confirmed our thinking. Adam and Natalie took us out to Utah Lake to play, and Saige had a great time. She immediately jumped right in, something Natalie and I both wouldn't have done because it was just too cold, but it didn't seem to bother Saige one bit.

Adam then pulled out the wake surf board and was showing us some tricks, quite impressed with Adam's skills I must admit.

Then Matt tried and did well for his first attempt, but if Matt would fall Saige would say, "OK Mom, its my turn!", or "I want to jump in now!" So we let her try! Adam took her out with him, got settled on the board, dropped the rope and she surfed away!!! She loved it too! Didn't want to come back in.

And Milo was quite content sitting with the girls, eating candy, two of his most favorite things in the world. He's such a chubby guy!!

Thanks Adam and Natalie we LOVE having you live by us now!! (Just don't get too sick of us!)

I ask to take a picture of both children and I get completely different responses!! Does Saige remind you of someone else?