2,192 Days

That's 6 years.

Plus 2 leap days. :)

***

As each year goes by Chad and I both say to ourselves, Wow! I can't believe __ years has gone by! And we mean it. Every single time. In some respects I feel like Chad and I have been married forever and it's hard to remember what it was like before we were married. But then again, I feel like we're only just beginning and I am so excited to spend the next 60+ years together. I'm grateful, and lucky, I get him forever. Not a day goes by that I don't consider myself lucky to be married to my prince, my best friend, the best husband I could ask for. You were and still are the perfect man for me. When you know, you know. :)

We celebrated our anniversary this year on a much smaller scale than last year, but it was perfect. Time with just Chad, sans kids, is always perfect no matter what we do. This year consisted of dinner at Red Lobster followed by self-inflicted torture... or a ropes course. Whatever you want to call it. I didn't think I was scared of heights (and I wouldn't say I'm terrified), but walking on a thin rope high above the ground tends to make one a little nervous and slightly nauseous. (Or maybe that was because I ate way too much food...)

Love this handsome man!

Kissy face. By the way, it was F R E E Z I N G cold outside.

A view of the ropes course. You walked on the light brown obstacles. Some were thin ropes, others were like railroad tracks... lots of different ways to get your heart racing.

Christmas Wrap-Up

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of food, family, and fun! Here are a few of the pictures I was able to steal from Chad's phone and my sister-in-law's Facebook page. I have been so horrible at taking pictures lately!

Hall Family Party

Santa came to visit and Cayden waited so patiently for his turn to sit on Santa's lap and get his present.

He was so excited! He crawled all the way up to Santa.

"Hmm... I think I will eat that."

Laura got bored shortly after Santa arrived and spent the next hour playing with wrapping paper while Santa went through the insanely long list of people.

Higgins Family Party

Cayden getting a ride on Corby's chair. Cayden was afraid of Corby at the beginning of the night, but by the end they were best buds. Cayden loved riding on Corby's chair and has asked for one of his own. Oh goodness.

There were eight babies born this past year (one not pictured and one more on the way VERY soon, making nine)! We figured out that every married couple that could have a baby did. Kinda neat. Here they are in age order; Laura is the oldest by about 10 hours. :)

Each family decorated a gingerbread house. One of my favorites is in the bottom left corner... it's the house from Up.

Our family's house - AKA Cayden's house.

Cayden showing off his house during the gingerbread house parade.

All the little kids acted out the nativity for the adults. At this point in the story there shouldn't have been any kids on stage, but Cayden felt it was necessary to point out the star. No idea what he was doing. Goofy kid.

Cute kids wearing their hats that Great Grandma Higgins made for them. I love the pom-pom on Laura's hat.

Christmas Eve/Day

 Cute kids in their Christmas jammies. Clearly Laura did not want her picture taken.

Sleepy boy got what he had been talking about for months - a Talking Thomas!

Santa had to take a wild guess as to what Laura wanted. I think he did a pretty good job. ;)

Laura was almost more interested in the wrapping paper.

After her morning nap on Christmas Laura woke up with the best case of bedhead ever! This girl's hair is out of control.

Cute kids playing together with new toys. So sweet.

Later on in the day we went and visited Chad's grandparents. Chad's grandpa loves trains! He has a whole room in his house that has a massive set up with three separate trains that run. Cayden was in train heaven and loved getting to control the Thomas train. I think Cayden and Great Grandpa could have stayed there all day.

We had a mini second Christmas the day after Christmas. We had planned on buying a tablet for Christmas, but the one we wanted was out of stock everywhere and so we were planning on waiting several weeks to buy one. Chad called me early Wednesday morning to tell me that the Orem Walmart had ONE left in stock and that if we wanted it we had to go then. So I packed up two kids and drove through the nastiest, slushiest, snowiest weather to Walmart to pick up our tablet. It was a horrendous experience getting there, but I love the tablet, so I guess it was worth it. Merry second Christmas!

A Special Message

Cayden got a special message from Santa yesterday. Kid about went nuts when he watched it. It's pretty cute so I thought I'd share. :) Too bad we didn't get a video of him watching it. He was so enthralled and couldn't get over the fact that Santa was talking to him.

Christmas Shenanigans

Here is a peek at some of the holiday fun we've been having!

SO excited to see Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas!

These kids crack me up! Laura may not have been too excited, but at least she didn't scream. :) As we were walking away from visiting Santa, Cayden stopped mid step and almost started crying. When I asked him what was wrong he told me that he had asked Santa for a Talking Thomas, but that Santa hadn't given it to him. Cute kid thought Santa was going to give it to him right then and there. We had to explain that he had to wait for Christmas to get what he had asked for from Santa.

We decorated a gingerbread train this year. You can totally tell that a 3-year-old decorated it. Not quite the picture perfect train I was anticipating.

This is what Laura does with the presents nearly every day.

And this is what the end result frequently looks like. Too bad I didn't get a picture of the present after it was mangled and before it was 'fixed' with duct tape. Who cares if it screams 'white trash'... it works! :)

We braved the rainy/slushy/snowy weather this past weekend and went to see the lights at Temple Square. Even though it was pretty cold and drippy we had a great time. As we drove around looking for a parking spot, Cayden was in the backseat squealing with excitement. He loved seeing the lights, but especially loved the temple.

 

Love this little family of mine!

All bundled up and snuggling with Daddy to stay warm... and laughing at something silly that Daddy was doing.

My Little Sidekick

Last Sunday I substituted in nursery (I so don't miss that calling) and Laura got to be my little sidekick. I thought Laura might be a little bit overwhelmed and hate it. Oh, how wrong I was! This little girl loved every minute of it and can't wait to be in there full time! (Only nine months to go. Let's hope we make it.)

Check out that tongue!

Rawr!

Love those big, beautiful eyes!

"Way to go, Idaho!" ...or Blogger

About a month ago I sat down to do a blog post only to have Blogger tell me that I had filled up all my storage space and couldn't upload any photos. Say what?! Refusing to pay for more storage I was left with the daunting task of starting a new blog. Not really wanting to do that I put off posting, and put off posting, and put off posting. Then yesterday I decided to just try and upload some photos to see what would happen. What happened? I uploaded photos and did a blog post. Way to go Blogger! You're kinda screwy!

So without further ado, here are all the pictures I should have posted ages ago but didn't because Blogger pulls really lame practical jokes. Most of these pictures (all except for the first two) are from our trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving.

Cayden helping daddy mow the lawn for the very last time (at least until next year). This is a huge improvement for Cayden who usually runs away from all loud things - the vacuum, lawn mower, leaf blowers, hair dryers... you get the picture.

Laura's favorite new face. This is from like a month ago and it still is her favorite face. Goofy girl.

Sporting glasses and chewing on a wipe.

Helping with the laundry at Grandma's house. Too bad I didn't get the picture of Laura picking up Aunt Colleen's underwear. :)

First bubble bath!

Cute girl after her bath. So happy!

Wearing daddy's hat...

...and trying to take it off!