6 Year Anniversary

This weekend we were able to celebrate our 6 year anniversary. An engineering degree, 5 different homes, and two kids later our lives have changed so much from that early morning day that Mo took me to the Salt Lake Temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. Our relationship grows stronger every day. I love Mo so much more now than I ever thought possible ... and I am thankful everyday that I have such a great husband. He gives his best at trying to make sure that I am always happy and I know that it is not always easy to do and I really appreciate him for that. He is my very best friend and I love spending time with him. Time doing the things that we love to do, and time just hanging out at home with each other and our two boys. Mo is such a good listener if I have something that I need to talk about, and he is always receptive to the thoughts and concerns that I have for our boys. We both want the best for them. He is really funny and he is always making me laugh with his corny jokes. One of his old seminary teachers told him that girls like corn and he really took it to heart and he is still trying to impress me with it. I enjoy being with Mo more than anyone else. For our anniversary Mo surprised me with staying a night at the Alaskan Inn in Ogden Canyon. But before we went there he took me to my absolute favorite place to eat... Tempanyaki's. There is nothing better than the Samurai Special. The Alaskan Inn was so fun. Our room was the Bears den and they had chilled sparkling cider and chocolate dipped strawberries waiting for us when we got there. They also had fresh chocolate chip cookies. They really know the way to a girls heart. We had so much fun just relaxing, watching movies, and hanging out without the responsibility of being parents for the night. Mo told me that he was in as long as I was because he thinks he has a pretty sweet deal. What he doesn't realize is that I am the one who has the sweetest deal. Love you Mo!

Christmas 2008

The month of December goes by faster than any other month for me, and I can't believe that Christmas is already over. We took our tree and Christmas decorations down today which is a sad moment for me and a time of celebration for Mo. I always tease him that he has a bit of Scrooge in him. I know for sure that he will be happy not to listen to the FM 100 month of Christmas songs on the radio in the car. We wanted to make Christmas this year really special because it will be the first Christmas that Jackson remembers. I couldn't even sleep the night before in anticipation for him to see all of his Santa presents on the couch Christmas morning. I felt like a little kid again. Recreating the magic that I believed in for so many years for our son was really special. He was so excited to walk into the family room. We had been telling him all about Santa coming on Christmas eve night all month but I don't think he really understood until he walked in and saw all of his presents. He wanted to touch and play with everything and then all of Benton's things too. He was even excited to get socks. Jackson was really easy to buy for this year because he only asked Santa for one thing... a spiderman webshooter and costume. Mo gave me a great surprise- I told him that I think our family gift for Christmas should be a camcorder and he had convinced me that we needed to spend more time shopping around for one and that we could get one later. I was really disapointed because I thought it would be so fun to have one on Christmas morning. So what a suprise when my first gift was an awesome camcorder. Thanks Mo! After enjoying Christmas morning at home we got ready and headed up to my parents for breakfast. It is the one day of the year that my dad makes us his special omletes and they are delicious! We also had blueberry pancakes, hashbrowns, and bacon. I think Jackson ate 4 pieces of bacon... he loves it. Breakfast is his favorite meal. Christmas at my parents is always big. They always make sure that everyone gets what they need and usually everything they want for Christmas. We have always been spoiled and this year was no exception. I can't even think about one thing that I even thought about getting that I didn't get. Jackson got some really fun toys and Benton loved laying on the floor in the middle of the wrapping paper to play. He thought life was great. Colby and April gave the best present. They were so excited to have my parents open it. We are all so excited for them. They will be great parents. After presents at my mom and dads we went to Gary and Kathi's. Most of Mo's family was there and that was good because holidays are really the only time that we see most of them. His grandparents were even up from Salt Lake. All three of the babies are getting so big. Tabitha might be even bigger than Benton. We visited at the Palmers for awhile and then headed down to visit my grandma and grandpa Vogt. Christmas just wouldn't be the same without going to their house. My grandma always has plenty of good food set out for everyone to eat and of course their singing christmas toys are in full force. It is really hard to see them getting old- especially my grandpa... I hope he can make it for at least one more Christmas. Christmas night was spent back at our house playing Mo's big Christmas gift Rock Band. We are great- especially with me and Sha on the vocals... What a great Christmas! This year I really wanted to help Jackson to learn that being willing to give is really important at Christmas so I took him to All a Dollar and let him pick out one present for everyone for Christmas. I didn't provide any guidance, I just let him pick out what he thought that everyone might want. He did a really good job...the first thing he grabbed was some light blue colored Foot Splash for my mom and then he wanted to know where the toys were for his dad and grandpa. When I thought he was all done he did the cutest thing. He picked up a thing of lotion and he said,"and I want to give this to you mom." When we got home he wrapped his presents himself and he knew exactly what he got everyone. He had a hard time letting them keep their presents though, especially the ball he gave my dad but we had to start somewhere.

Ski Season 2008 has begun...

Yesterday for Christmas Eve we were able to carry on a tradition that we have had for as long as I can remember. We went skiing at Snow Basin. I have so many fun growing up memories of skiing together. Now that we are older and have our own busy schedules with family, work, and school we don't get a chance to ski together very often so it made the ski day extra special. I am so glad that Mo loves skiing as much as I do so that we can continue that tradition together and with Jackson and Benton when they get old enough to ski. When we asked Jackson if he wanted to go he said,"maybe next year." It was a great ski day to start the 2008/2009 season with. It had just dumped the day before and the snow was still so good. My only frustration is that I can't keep up with my 58 year old dad.
When we were done skiing we went back to my parents for dinner. My boys had a really good day with their grandma and I am so thankful that she was willing to watch them for us. Before dinner my mom dressed Jackson up as a shephard, Benton up as baby Jesus, and Shalee as Mary and read the Christmas story from the bible- it was really cute. Jackson didn't want the head part of his shephards costume on and so he took it off and said, "Shephards can wear their costume like this with the top part off."
After dinner we headed back up to Snow Basin for the torchlight parade and fireworks and then home. We were all so tired- Jackson fell asleep in the car and Mo said that he wished that he could do that. What a great day!

The Fancy Feast

Last night our youth had a Christmas dinner (The Fancy Feast) for some of the people in our ward. We do the dinner every year for the older couples in our ward, the inactive couples, and couples that have just moved in recently. This year the dinner was special for me because at our dinner we had the debut of my dads band. They were really great- Mo's dad did an awesome job singing and my dad is such a good drummer. The songs were really fun- a lot of the older people at the dinner were clapping along and tapping their feet. I am so glad that they were willing to come play for us because they made the dinner a big success. I was really proud to be able to say that my dad was the drummer. What a cool dad =).

Great Grandma Vogt turns 81...

On Saturday we celebrated my grandma and Jackson and Benton's great grandma's 81st birthday. Jackson loves his great grandma Vogt. She tended him for me while I worked from the time he was 6 months old until he was 2 and 1/2 so he was able to get to know her and experience the wonderful grandma that she is first hand. We couldn't have asked for a better grandma. She is so kind and loving to all of her grandkids- she really has a way of making you feel special. When I was a kid she always spent her time playing with us. She would play hide the spoon with us, dress up(in her square dancing clothes), beautician(she would even let us do her hair and make-up even if she had just go her hair done that day), color, read stories, and she would even jump on the tramp. She is also famous for having the best junk food and sweets to eat at her house. She is also very supportive of her grandkids. I remember her coming to see soccer and softball games, school choir concerts, and talks at church. If she knew about it and she could come she was there. When I lived with her for a few months I would wake up to hot breakfasts, come home to a warm dinner, and my room was always picked up and my laundry was done (including ironed socks). She was also there when both my babies were born and she brought dinner and called everyday for the first week to ask if I needed anything. And, she never misses a birthday...I always look forward to my early morning call and birthday song. At 81 she still gets down on the floor and plays with her great grand kids and she still knows how to make them feel special. I hope she had a happy birthday. I know that we had fun celebrating with her- and Jackson loved helping her blow out her candles. We are so thankful for her.

Christmas Season 2008

The Christmas season has officially begun. We went to the parade on Saturday with my mom and dad and then to the lights on Monday with our friends the Waltons. I am so excited for Christmas this year- it is so great to watch how excited Jackson is about all of the Christmas lights and songs and of course Santa Claus.

This is Jackson in his favorite parade watching spot.

Benton really liked his spot too.


After the parade Jackson got to get in and drive the Christmas train. You can see how happy this made him.

Here are the boys at Christmas village. We had a lot of fun looking inside all of the little houses and Jackson loved talking to Santa. We are glad that the Walton's could come with us... they are such good neighbors and friends.

The Dentist and Doctor visits...

Jackson had his first official dentist visit yesterday. He was such a great boy- he did everything he was asked to do with a smile. He thought getting his teeth cleaned was pretty cool... especially the tube that he could drink out of. He also loved the orange glasses, he told the dental hygenist that his mommy had some like that(I guess my glasses look like that to him- I hope they don't look like that to anyone else :)). He had a few cavaties which makes me feel so bad because now at his next dentist visit he is going to have to have them filled. His first visit was such a positive experience I hope that his next visit won't make him hate going to the dentist for life.

This is Benton watching intently as Jackson was getting his teeth cleaned.

The dental office was perfect for kids. They had a playroom filled with fun toys, all the walls were painted with storybook characters, and they had cinderella playing on the tv. I don't know a kid who wouldn't like going to this place. I should have taken Jackson a year ago before he had so many cavaties.

We took these pictures last night of Benton on the day of his 6 month doctor's visit. He is still a really big baby- 95% for height and 80% for weight. The doctor said that everything looked great and he gave us the official okay on starting to spoon feed Benton(he has actually already been eating food for a month). At 6 months he can sit up on his own. He loves to roll around on the floor, and he loves to have all of his clothes off. I think he likes his clothes off because it makes it easier to play with his feet which are his very favorite toy. He is very ticklish, he loves to play boo, and he loves stories and songs. He is such a happy baby and a special member of our family...we love him very much.

Jackson had his 3 year old doctor's visit yesterday too. He really likes going to see Doctor Hom- especially when he doesn't have to get shots. He is a just a little bit below average on height and weight but that makes a little bit more sense for a child of Morriah and I. The doctor said that he is a very healthy 3 year old. Hopefully he won't have to go to the doctor again until he is 4. He really liked the incredibles sticker and book that doctor Hom gave him. Jackson is such a very active boy with tons of energy and he keeps me busy all day long. He is so much fun- he makes us laugh every day... life wouldn't be the same without him.