Just some thoughts today

Things I love about Shane:

He vacuums for me and takes out the trash and will clean up after meals when I ask him, and often washes the dishes when I'm at church.

He always wants me to take breaks- to get out of the house while he watches the kids. Whether I'm going to the store by myself or flying to another state for the weekend to spend time with a girlfriend. I always feel like he wants me to be happy and get a break to just be me.

He exercises- likes to run and hike and go on bike rides and I think that is really attractive.

He would rather be with his kids than anything else. He's not an ignoring kind of dad. He's either wrestling with them, talking with them and getting to know their personalities because nothing brings him more joy, or hiking with them or watching movies with them, or playing video games with them, or reading books with them, or taking them on drives to see beauty and nature. He is a hands on dad and they know it. They know how much he loves them.

He is my perfect mix of sensitive masculinity. He loves to watch musicals with me and talk till the sun comes up, analyze song lyrics, play the guitar like a true musician and sing with all the sincerity of his heart, philosophize and LISTEN. He loves my girlfriends and is completely interested in what they have to say. He tears up at movies and music and So You Think You Can Dance, and at things his kids say. But he also loves to watch football, and knows how to start a fire and ride a motorcycle and break a horse and take care of our cars. He can call someone out that is being inappropriate or a jerk and be ready for a fight if it comes to him. He also knows how to diffuse a fight and get along with just about anybody. He knows how to sweep me off my feet and kiss me really good.

He is introspective- completely unthreatened by the need to change and improve. He embraces it. It seems to be his motto in life to try to do better.

He is deeply affected by kind words and compliments. And he gives compliments freely. He does not speak negatively about people. He is an amazing judge of character, and if someone strikes him as insincere he just avoids them.

He is neat and clean and organized.

He is an amazing people person and an outstanding instructor. Almost everybody at work just LOVES him, and if they don't then it's always because they are negative and critical by nature, which Shane is not.

He is humble, not stubborn. He is confident but not egotistical.

He is obsessed with being financially smart with our money, but he isn't extreme in his tight-wadded-ness. He wants to save as much money as possible but also enjoy life now.

He really truly is my best friend and I can talk to him easier than anyone else on this earth.

And that's just a start.

What the heck?

Geez has it really been A YEAR since I blogged???

Here's a rundown of what's been happening since a year ago:

Sam graduated from preschool last June and turned 6. He took swimming lessons all summer which he loved. We hardly traveled last summer because we felt so drawn to enjoying a whole summer in Jackson Hole, which is our idea of PARADISE! (Especially in the summer anyway.) Sam started kindergarten in the fall, and has done amazingly well. He's in the top reading group and seems to thrive on the structure of school. Tho he IS ready for summer vacation at this point! (7 more weeks.) I'm really glad with his summer bday that we decided to wait 1 year for kindergarten.

Katie finally, and reluctantly, allowed herself to be potty trained in July. It was only due to her desperately wanting a Cinderella dress-up dress that gave us any amount of success. She was 3 ½ at the time. She started preschool in the fall and turned 4. She weighs 28 pounds and prides herself in being able to scale ANYTHING, ANYWHERE. You name it. Watch for broken arm updates.

Shane got a night job last summer waiting tables at an upscale restaurant, just to save a little money (a.k.a. lazer like focus and gazelle intensity to be a Dave Ramsey disciple.) We decided it was time to give up that job about a month ago. 40 hours a week is plenty and we missed him. Bye bye Cadillac Grille! http://cadillac-grille.com/ He still loves being an instructor for Skywest customer service computer-y type stuff and they have plenty to keep him busy.

A year ago I wasn't working at all, but thanks to my super savvy good friend Tamara that lives here in Jackson I have THREE jobs! I babysit her 3 year old on Fridays, give piano lessons to 3 members of her family (plus 2 more students now), AND took over cleaning a crazy wealthy family's second home twice a month. The cleaning job only panned out for about 5 months- the crazy wealthy (by the way "crazy" is meant to describe "wealthy"…not "family"…) family decided they couldn't afford professional cleaning since their home was not renting as planned to skiers for $800 a night. Go figure.

We just went to Phoenix for spring break- our 3d year in a row, and it's always a much needed break from SNOW with seemingly no end in sight. Plus we LOVE seeing family down there!!!

I think I'll break the following pics into seasons- just some favorites from the last year! So there are 4 different posts under this one for the die hards who really want to be caught up to date with us!

Late Spring 2010

Mom came to visit us last April/May which was wonderful as usual! The kids had never been to a play before and we decided to experiment on the local high school production of "Beauty and the Beast." Did it EVER go over well! They loved it. Shane and I love theater so much and are so excited to have finally entered the phase where we can take our kids to performances! Katie is proudly holding her ticket below.

Sam looks ready to reprimand me for using flash photography.So, Katie loved it SO much that we had to drag her away kicking and screaming (well, no, just actually melting in a puddle of tears.) You should have seen her face when she met the teenagers who played the Beast and Belle. Total awe and rapture. For months, every time we passed the high school she would beg to go in and see it again, as if it were a movie we could just press play on.

This is Sam at his last day of preschool- the year end program. Which is a test of endurance for him. He mostly stands stiffly and looks at the parents very suspiciously while the other kids sing and dance around and in spite of him. It's true, my boy is not (yet) a natural born performer. It beat the previous year, where he stood up there and just quietly cried the entire time. I was so proud of him (BOTH years) for not running away, screaming. (Side note: it's almost a year later now- and he is practically a different boy. He willingly and happily participated in the Kindergarten's ABC Dance Performance recently, which of course made me beam and blubber!)

A little light fishing with Dad, in June.

Katie my earthy bug girl- ewww. Sam and I wouldn't touch the bait, so we relied on Katie. She is fearless.

Summer 2010

Katie has become the clown in our family- she loves to make her parents and brother and close friends laugh. Anyone else is a different story- you can hardly get a word out of her! (Does this remind you of anyone, Mom?) She has become the girl with a thousand silly faces.

Sam learned to drive last summer. He's super advanced, what can I say? Oh wait, maybe Katie is driving?

Sam is dressed up as Link from the Legend of Zelda (with a makeshift sword and shield), as he was almost every day last summer. Katie found this dress hanging in her closet- a dress I used to wear when I was about 5, and she wanted to wear it constantly. I can't tell if Link is being a protector, or is grinning maniacally after putting a spell on the maiden?

Last summer was spent mostly at Teton National Park chilling with friends at the many lakes to choose from, at fairs and amusement parks, and in our backyard. Good times.

Fall 2010

We got our very own double rainbow!! This pic is taken from our deck out back. I won't show you the video. What does it mean???

Sam and his cousin Easton- hanging out Labor day weekend and being very ferocious. I believe Sam has an Indiana Jones whip, and who knows what kind of weapon Easton has. But I wouldn't want to be on the other end of it! Katie started preschool in September- this is her teacher Kathy who did SO much for Sam. Katie wasn't too sure about me leaving her on that 1st day. Or the 2nd, or the 20th... It's better now. Which is so WEIRD that she pulls this shy side out of her when she is a girl who thrives on fun and socializing and friends. What can I say, she loves her mama.

Shane ran a 5K in September (on his bday in fact) along with our friend Gary- it's a charity run they do every year in Jackson.

Shane's brother Kody is in helicoptor school and got to fly up to Jackson with his instructor. Sam had been given "Q-Bear", a kindergarten thingy where you take the bear home for a weekend and write about his (or her- we weren't aquainted long enough to figure out the gender) experiences. I bet it was Q-Bear's first time in a helicoptor! (You can see him sitting in the chair next to Sam with headphones on)

My best friend from high school Jenna and I met up in SLC in October- we hadn't seen each other in ten years which is ridiculous and embarassing, considering how much I've been back to Indiana- and we end up meeting up in Salt Lake instead! I'm lame. Katie was enthralled with pretty little Jenna! I finally got to meet her husband and she finally got to meet my kids.

Nice, Sam. Who knows what his brain was wishing he could be doing at that moment instead of posing with a beautiful woman. I give him props for trying... this picture cracks me up!

Katie and I got to spend an afternoon in October with my awesome mission friend LIZ and her super hip son Sam, who has learned young that it's all about the hat.

Winter/Spring 2011

This brings us to current. Handsome Sam home from school! We stayed with Shane's sister Tia in SLC right before we went to Phoenix for spring break, and Sam became obsessed with their treadmill: he ran on it during the day and slept on it at night!

We stayed in Phoenix (Maricopa actually) with Cory and Holly and their kids Olivia, Lily and new little Toby, who is a mini-me of Cory! Bliss.Shane got to do alot of this.And I got to do alot of this.Katie and cousin Olivia sharing a moment with their sugary frozen deliciousness.

They just put a climbing rock at one of the parks in Jackson, and Katie just scrambles up and down it like a spider monkey.

This is Quinn- a baby we watch every so often. Katie suddenly has developed an interest in being his mother. And she does a pretty good job!

Our blue-eyed boy and brown-eyed girl...