Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

I know it was crazy for us to get married a week before Christmas, and that December was a terrible month to be outside for pictures in Nauvoo, Illinois.  However, that was the day we chose to get married, and now 6 years later, Mark and I couldn't be happier together.  Sure, there are tough times, but we work through them together, and the Lord has always put us on the right path...somehow.

This past Saturday was a really nice day.  It would have been better if I got to sleep in, but with a baby that refuses to sleep in himself, that was just not going to happen. I wasn't sure if I wanted Mark to open his gift at our date out, or at home...but I decided that I couldn't wait any longer.  So after we ate breakfast we exchanged gifts.  He knew that I spent several many hours working on this present, but Mark wasn't really planning on getting gifts for each other this year.  So I told him that all I wanted was for him to do something romantic... it didn't matter if it didn't cost anything.  Well, he totally pulled through.  It was simple, but it made me cry.  He had written a short paragraph telling me how much he appreciated being married to me and then listed 10 things that he loved about me.  (Just so you know, he actually told me that it was a much longer paragraph, and the list was originally about 35 things, but he couldn't get it to look good on one page.  So he had to crop it and take out all the funny parts and just make it more serious.)  He used my scrapbooking software and printed it out onto card stock, and then he rolled it up like a scroll and tied a ribbon around.

 It was very sweet.  It made me cry! :-D

Then it was his turn to open my gift:

I took his box of pictures from him mission, contacted his mom for any other materials I needed from his mission, and I went through all his mission stuff to find anything that I could to make it a great scrapbook. I even covered the binder all by myself with that Chinese fabric I bought at Joann's. 

 I started working on it General Conference weekend, and I finished it with about a week or so to spare.  I was so excited when I finished it, and I think he was pretty pleased with it.  In fact, after he looked through it for the first time, I saw that he was a bit teary-eyed. YES!!  That's what I was going for!  He thought it was such a great present that he went and got a couple Christmas presents from under the tree to give to me as my anniversary gift instead.  "They were gifts that put me over budget on what I was supposed to spend on you for Christmas, but if I give them to you for our anniversary, then I'm not going over budget on Christmas!  Besides, these are the best ones to give for an anniversary anyway!"  He got me those Dead Sea Mineral Body Scrub and Nail Pampering Kit.  I was really excited because I knew that I really like that kind of stuff, but I wouldn't ever spend the money to buy it for myself.  That was a really great idea to give me!  Woohoo!  He felt like he had to make up the difference because my gift was so much better than his.  Whatever!  I'm was just so happy that really appreciated that gift.  (In fact, he liked it so much that he wanted to bring it to Church to show off...which he did...as did I!  We are both so excited about how well it turned out!)  Check out the slideshow on the right sidebar to get a closer look at the scrapbook. (Sorry for the glare in most of the pictures, but the camera will never be a good substitute for seeing it in person.)

 Mark and I had talked all week about what we might want to do for our anniversary this year to celebrate, but it wasn't until that day that we finally just made a decision and ran with it.  Our friend Laura Hawley from our ward had us watching her daughter the day before, so she was happy to watch Canon while we went out to eat.  We left as soon as we could to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  It was a great meal, and the waiter was just dandy, but the wait to sit down took too long.  We ended up missing the showtime for the movie we wanted by about a 1/2 hour.  The next showing of anything that we might have been interested in wasn't for another 1 1/2 hours.  Also, Mark was starting to feel a bit tired, and we had a Netflix movie waiting to be watched at home already, so we just decided to not spend any more money and just go home. Besides, cuddling on the couch is so much more comfortable than those seats at the theater...even on our awful couches.  We had dinner and a movie, and didn't have to worry about the responsibility of putting the baby to bed.  What a great night!

Thanks for a great night, honey, and for an amazing 6 years!  I love you!  Let's do it again next year! :-D

November Went by Too Quickly, And December Is Halfway Over!!!

I apologize to all those who were sitting on the edge of your seats... waiting for Kat to update her blog.  November really got away from me, more or less, I just didn't find time to go online.  In all honesty, once Canon turned 1 year old at the beginning of the month, he started working on the whole "walking" thing for real.  A week later he was actually walking, and he's been keeping me on my toes ever since.

Also, I've been spending all (and I mean ALL) my spare time (an no, evenings with Mark don't count as my spare time) working on a "secret project."  Okay, okay!  So it's really only been a secret from Mark.  There are a ton of people from our ward and family who know what I've been doing, but I can't mention it here... not until after this weekend.  If you can, wait a week for me to post  about it on the blog.  However, if you're dying to know, just give me a call.   Our 6th wedding anniversary is this Saturday, and I spent hours and hours on the gift I am giving him.  I started working on it the weekend of General Conference, and it took me 2 months to complete.

There have been a few wonderful events that have happened since Halloween that are worth mentioning.  Canon's birthday came and went, and we had a really fun party for him (and that was posted on the baby blog in a timely manner... unlike this post).  Later in the month came Thanksgiving.  We were hoping to be able to host this year since we didn't host last year because Canon was only 3 weeks old.  Well, we ended up not finding anyone who didn't already have plans and were happy to accept an invitation to our former neighbors' place- the Stoutenburgs.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with their friends.  Canon had a few new people to play with, which he absolutely loved.  Mark had new people to talk sports and politics with, which he seemed to love too.  And I truly appreciated a chance to get together with a group of people who were of devout faith, but not part of my own religion.  It was great to be able to share my testimony with those who were open to hear what I had to say.  Thanksgiving this year was a day to reflect on the blessings I've been given, and I gained a new appreciation for the blessings of the Gospel, my country, and my family.

Then, early in December there was a FABULOUS weekly special on Delta.com.  Mark's mother and Aunt Colette were able to fly out here for a weekend.  It truly was a whirlwind of a visit, but it was amazing to have them here.  We did a ton of Christmas shopping to be able to send our gifts with them instead of paying for shipping them to Utah. We had so much fun with them that I pretty much forgot to take any pictures.  I took a  bunch while Colette was cutting Canon's hair (his very first haircut ever!!), but that was it. Sad! :(  Thank you so much for the lovely visit.  It just makes us more homesick for family to be around.

Once all that was over it was time to prepare for the Ward Christmas Party.  Technically my calling has been disbanded by the leadership of the Church, but since we already had this party in the works, the bishopric decided to let me run with it for this event.  We held our ward party on Dec. 10th, and it was a pretty successful event.  We had over 150 people for our ham dinner, and our Variety Show had over 25 acts.  It went a little long, but the whole ward seemed to really enjoy themselves.  We also featured a Giving Tree for the ward.  For 2 weeks or so, the ward has an opportunity to serve each other by picking an ornament with a gift idea, purchasing that gift and giving it to the bishop, who would then distribute those gifts to the people in the ward.

As of right now, we're getting ready for our anniversary celebration this Saturday, and then it's Christmas!!  I'm sure there will be more posts soon.  Until then, enjoy the holiday spirit of Christmas!