Look at these beautiful kids

Kid update from a proud mommy:

For all the days that seem long, never ending and very tiring, there are 3 more that just make you smile.


Spencer is speaking more and more words every day. He loves to repeat or copy people and has even made complete sentences when asking for something. He is just Happy all the time - he has this amazing and infectious smile that helps us overlook his scream that accompanies him throughout the day. We even get comments every where we go about how cute he is. His favorite thing to do is to walk around the house wearing just his diaper and some shoes. It doesn't matter whose shoes, anybodies will do. He also LOVES baseball - go figure....

Alyssa is such a great helper with Kady, always willing to hold her, or help mommy with anything. I don't know if I could get through the day without such great help!
Her latest thing is to collect everything Hannah Montana, she has even produced a few talent shows at the house with a lot of HM songs sung on her HM guitar.
She's anxious for summer to be over so she can start school. She asked me just yesterday if she could start kindergarten sooner than her birthday cause she just can't wait. We have even began to shop for her back to school supplies starting with her Hannah Montana pencils and folders.

Kady is already 6 weeks old and growing so much everyday. She is very "squishy" as she has been called by many - I say she's cuddly and of course cute with those Chubby chubby cheeks!
It is hard to think that this is our last baby. We are trying to enjoy every moment of it, Even the crying moments. :) She does smile for us occasionally but not in any pictures yet.
We are still trying to figure out how to control the spiky, wild hair - so I use headbands a lot just so there is no confusion that she is a girl.

We just finished another appointment at the University of Iowa with the behavior specialists for Chandler, we have 3 other departments that are going to be assisting us in evaluations so that we can have the best plan possible for him. He continues to do well on his medication for the ADHD, now if they only had one that helps kids listen to their mom and clean their room.
Lately he thinks he is a wizard and can do magical things like open the automatic doors at the grocery store and stop the rain. When I asked him to use his wizardry to help him clean his room, he told me that there wasn't a spell for that yet. Smart.

He was playing a video game in this picture so it was hard to get him to look at me. He has lost about 8 or 9 pounds since December so his clothes that used to fit him are now too big on him. It is a challenge to get him to eat anything during the day, so if you have any ideas - we'd love to try them.

My Best Friend

It's hard to believe that it's been eight years. Eight years, four children, numerous moves (two of which were across country), and four amazing and beautiful children.

Eight years ago today Melinda and I were married in Minnesota, following a courtship that lasted about fifteen minutes. Over the course of a year, Melinda and I developed a friendship that I was positive that I could not live without in my life. We never dated, but she was in my life every day. We car pooled together, we ate dinner together every night, we spent every non-working hour shopping, going to movies and watching television at each others house. You know, things that people who date do.

When I had made the decision to move back to the Northwest from Minnesota to be closer to my family, I dawned on me that I didn't want to move back with out all of those things listed above. I could not imagine my life without her in it - so I sent what would become known in our family as "the email".

Most of the time, I would use this wonder of technology to ask Melinda to do things for me. When sending emails where I needed her to do something, the subject line would always read, "would you". I would follow with whatever it was I needed in the body of the email. That trend continues to this day, by the way.

This time, however, the body of the email said "Marry Me?". I think she thought I was kidding, as I didn't get a response. That night at dinner, I asked her again (you see, when you do it in person, there is more of a personal touch - who would have known that?). As we examined our relationship, it was clear that we were more than just friends. She agreed to marry me, and a few weeks later on June 27th, we were married by the Stake President in Melindas' Ward.

Why not the Bishop you ask? Well, you see, the Bishop was called the previous Friday and had not yet received permission from the state to marry people. It could not have gone better, as during the ceremony we were blessed with the "pitter patter of many little feet" from the Stake President. I thought he was crazy.

It was the perfect scenario. I had the chance to be with my best friend every day for the rest of my life, and then into eternity. To this day I marvel that it only feels like we have been married for a short period of time, and how blessed I am to have found her.

We have had only one argument in our marriage, and while my work schedule is not ideal, I could not ask for a more supportive companion. As her Father put it - we walk together, equally yoked through life.

I am blessed to have found you and to call you my wife. You are the most amazing wife and Mother. Watching you with our children humbles me. The next eight years will be amazing, the the 80 after that. I am pretty sure that I won't be blogging 88 years from now though, so enjoy this one.

I love you.

Eight Wonderful Years , 4 1/2 Kids, and a Great Marriage!

So today is our 8th Anniversary, and today we both decided to blog about it, not realizing the other was doing so. Cory told me later he had done so and I had yet to post mine because I wanted to add a picture. After reading Cory's I decided that I wasn't going to post mine because they were so much alike. Then I realized that I should because they are so much alike. It is a true testament to our marriage that we both picked this day to blog about and how we both feel about it. So read on - they are both similar, yet written separately and without the other knowing. Enjoy.

Would love to look like this now!

Exchanging rings- sorry for the poor picture quality, we didn't have digital back then :)

Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 7:00pm, Cory and I were married for Time in a Burnsville, MN Relief Society room by the Stake President. It was a small crowd with 2 Bishops, the Relief Society President, my home teacher, and my boss.

Cory wore a nice navy blue suit and I wore a white blouse with blue skirt.
The ceremony was a lot like a class in Sunday School at church. We began with an opening hymn "Families can be Together Forever" and then a prayer.
The Stake President spoke for a few moments on marriage and then asked us to stand in front.
I remember seeing that the Relief Society President tried to make the room look nice, she covered the chalk board with a white table cloth and added a vase with flowers on the table next to us. The Stake President spoke to us about marriage and the many little stones we would have tossed in our way. He promised us the pitter patter of many little feet, and blessings of happiness if we put Christ first.

The ceremony was followed by a nice reception at my boss' home. His wife stated that it was a practice run for her since her daughter would someday be married. I don't remember a lot about the reception, except that Cory and I both promised not to smash cake in each others faces and then he did. :)

One week later we would be driving a Uhaul across North Dakota, Montana and Idaho to return to Washington State.

We have since been sealed for Time and Eternity in the Portland, Oregon Temple. It would be almost 5 years later exactly. (June 24, 2006)

As I think back to these 2 great events in my life, none of them would be possible if it wasn't for the "email"

Cory was always emailing me while we were both working. Because of his busy schedule, they usually consisted of a "to-do list". So when I received an email from him that had the words "Will you" in the subject line, I assumed when I opened it, it would be followed by " pick up my dry cleaning" or " go to my house and check on my cats" or "think of some place to go for dinner tonight" To my surprise it said "Marry Me?"

I thought this was a joke and if I ignored it, then that would be the end of the subject. Later that evening at dinner he told me he was serious and wanted to know my answer. We hadn't really been dating, we had always done everything with each other, and spent all of our free time with each other, but we were just really good friends. It was almost like something hitting me over the head when I said yes, the light bulb came on. We had been dating, and who better to marry than your best friend?
I believe to this day, that Cory and I get a long so well and have such a great marriage because we had over a year of just being friends. There was no pressure to impress and we saw each other for who we were.

I do have to say that our choice of dinner that night was Italian and both Cory and I got food poisoning from the food and were sick for 2 days after that, but the moment was nice.

So here we are, 8 years later, 4 1/2 kids (including Sarah) and a friendship with the most wonderful man I know. I love you Cory. Thank you for being my Best Friend, a fantastic Husband and loving Father. I know that marrying you was the biggest blessing in my life and I thank Heavenly Father every day.

We continue to kick those small stones out of our way and we have definitely been blessed with the pitter patter of many little feet. I don't know what our future holds, but I'm sure it will also be a blast!

Smile

Thanks for sharing Lisa!

I Don't Like it!

I also feel like this! Except not as cute.

I should start out by saying that I have been working very hard this summer to teach the kids to use Kinder words. Instead of "I hate it" - we use "I don't like it". Instead of "Stupid" we use "Silly" and so on. It doesn't always work, but I have to try. So from the title of this entry, I am only being a role model, But I really don't like it!

I don't like it when Cory is gone all week at work and travels all weekend, just to get home in time to start his work week all over again and then travel the next weekend. I have been home alone with All 4 kids pretty much all of June. Now I know that there are families (military and such) that do this a lot longer and more frequently than I have to and I look up to you for your sacrifice, but I didn't sign up or marry military or such.
I feel guilty saying all of this since Cory just finished saying what an understanding person I have been with the demands of his job and career, but I can only be great most of the time. WE all have our limitations and I've hit mine - Times expired.

I just finished a phone conversation with Cory where he got done telling me that his flight has been delayed in New York and he probably won't be home until 8am Monday. I realize that these things happen, but I am so worn down and tired right now - I think my arms just might fall off. I have joked about being a single married mom in the past, but this time it feels worse. We are still experimenting with Chandler's medications so his highs and lows are all over the place. We were supposed to see the specialists in Iowa City at the University last week, but of course the Highway was flooded and we weren't going to make it unless we took a 3 hour detour. It has since been re-scheduled, but that doesn't help me today. Aly has been starting to act a lot more like a 13 year old, always saying something beyond her 4 years (not necessarily nice either). Spencer still has the high pitch scream, which he uses whenever he doesn't get his exact way, or just to get my attention - and then Kady has decided that while dad is gone, she wants to spend quality time with me from Midnight until about 2:30am wide awake. Needless to say, I'm tired and crabby.

We have one more weekend of travel to go this month- Cory has a 4 game home stand this week and leaves again on Friday for 4 days. This time to Miami. He will return home during another 7 day home stand. We are supposed to get 2 weekends out of July with him - so we are going to keep our fingers crossed. Then no more travel until August.....

Grandma has mentioned that she might try and come visit us in a couple weeks - and it would be a much needed visit, but no pressure grandma :)

And Kirk (Cory's Boss) if you read this - I know its not your fault, but you could send him home early at least one day this week.... He's kind of stubborn, so he needs to be told and he has stopped listening to me when I ask :)

Evacuation at work

I spent the first half of Fathers Day cleaning out my office and moving all of my belongings to the third floor of our stadium, as the Mississippi River rose to 20ft high, about 6 feet above flood stage.

Today's game, of course was cancelled, and our staff was evacuated for at least 24 hours, but most likely 48, and it could end up being 72. Good thing this is the All-Star break this week.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day Daddy - We Love you!! You are the Bestest Daddy in the Whole Wide World!

Love, Chandler, Alyssa, Spencer and Kadence

I could not have asked for a better Husband or Father - you are amazing in all that you do. Thank you for your support and love! I'm so glad we have Eternity!