Handsome Pants turns 2

Today my little Sparky turns 2 years old. It's so amazing to me how in just 2 short years one can go from not being able to do a single thing for themselves to walking, talking, eating, going to the bathroom in a potty, (when he feels like it), how to love and knowing who to trust and who not to. Parker has always been such a sweetheart. Here are a few reasons why I love Parker so much.

1. I love how he gets right in my face and says, "mom" then squeezes my cheeks and gives me a kiss.
   
2. I love when he goes to the bathroom and whether he actually goes pee or not he always needs to flush. Or in Parker's case, "shlup".
3. I love, as messy as it is, that I can always count on him to throw all of his food on the ground while he's eating. It's just what he does.
4. I love right before I'll put him down for a nap and he'll lay on my shoulder. He's never been a cuddly guy but I get so much love from him when he does that.
5. I love when he doesn't really want to nap but I'll put him down anyways and he just sits and talks to himself for two hours. He never really cries.
6. I love that he gets into the pantry for "Naks" aka snacks.
7. I love that he loves his daddy so much and can't get enough of him.
8. I love that he loves his brother and that the two of them get along so good, (most of the time).
9. I love when we say prayers and he'll fold his arms for a matter of 5 seconds while we pray and then he runs around the rest of the prayer.
   
10. Mostly I love Parker.
    

Roll 'em over, lay 'em flat, pin his shoulders to the mat!

Let me begin by saying that Brady is a very emotional child... of course we love him none the less. So when we couldn't figure out how to teach him to be tough when things got rough we decided that putting him in wrestling would be the best option. So far a lot of tears have been shed in Brady's eyes due to disappointment. If he doesn't win then the world is over. He gets a lot of this emotionalism from his father. For example:
Sportsmanship video

Wasn't that fun. If you're not sure what you just witnessed, that was little Robbie losing. That's what I have to deal with on a daily basis from Mr. Brady. Thank you Robbie Law for instilling that in our son. Best quality ever.

Last Friday, despite all the tears, we decided to put Brady into his first tournament. Robbie and I were so nervous for him. I was literally shaking. I love my little guy so much and I didn't want him to get hurt physically or emotionally. We located the kid Brady was about to wrestle in the crowd and said, "oh crap." He was so good. Butterflies were building up in our stomachs when it came time for Brady to face his fate. The ref blew the whistle and before you knew it he had taken Brady down. You could hear him start to cry. I felt so bad for him. I wanted to get him out of there so bad. The whistle blew and the first round was over. Brady never let the kid pin him. We called that match quits. The boys shook hands as Brady bawled.
After that we let him watch some other matches just so he could understand that there has to be a winner and a loser and it doesn't matter what the outcome is as long as you try your best.
So after what seemed like an eternity it was time for his second match. The boys shook hands, the whistle blew and bam...Brady took the kid down! Of course not more than 10 seconds later did the kid got on top but something different happened. No tears! It was a miracle. Brady made it through every round without a tear and without ever being on top. I've never been prouder of him. When it was over he had the biggest smile on his face. He was so proud of himself. I think wrestling is going to be a good thing for my guy.

My favorite

Today Robbie turns 30. I wanted to let him know how grateful I am for him and all that he does for me and our boys. He is such an amazing man and I can't get enough of him. So for his birthday I wanted to jot down a few of my favorite memories of us. I'm only going to recount the first year of our relationship just because a lot of those memories are my favorite and because they are really long. Enjoy.

#1. First memory. Rob and I met in foods class in 1997. We both caught each others eyes and we knew we both felt something but were both to scared to do anything about it. One day we were walking down the hall in school towards each other and I smiled at him as we crossed paths. After we passed I looked behind me only to find him with his head in his hands and him shaking his head. He wanted so badly to talk to me but wasn't able to do it and immediately regretted it.

#2. First dance. This memory takes place in an after school dance. I was there with my friends and we were dancing and having a good time when all of the sudden one of Robbie's friends girlfriends comes over to me and tells me that I should ask Robbie to dance. I asked why he wouldn't just come and ask me and she said he was to scared. So when the last song came on at the dance and he hadn't come over yet I figured I better do something about it. I walked over to him and grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor. Thats were we had our first dance. What was the song you ask? It was End of the Road, by Boys to Men.

#3. First kiss. Robbie finally asked me out on a real date on Oct. 30, 1997. We went to a haunted house and then went and got hot chocolate at the circle K in Provo which is no longer there. Then we went to the wordperfect hill...you know what I'm talking about. He sat behind me and kept trying to kiss me but for some reason I was playing hard to catch. I should have kissed him then because our real first kiss was not nearly as cute as that would've been. The next day was Halloween and he told me to come over to his friends. So of course I went. All of Robbie's friends were there and we being in high school and not that smart decided to drink. Yes I know...we were stupid. So after that we all piled into Robbie's 4runner. Oh how I miss that car. Don't worry, we had a designated driver...Ben Hill. There were so many people that somehow Robbie and I ended up in the very back. It's funny because we were talking about something and then in mid sentence Robbie just starts making out with me. Romance was in the air.

#4. The Incident. We had been dating a few months now and things were going good. Us and all of our friends wanted to go up to Sundance where we had a cabin and have a little get together. Little did I know that the whole school heard about our get together. We get up to Sundance and literally 75 people are waiting for us to take them up to the "party". So we decide yeah it'll be fun...bring em' on up. People in high school are so stupid. We told everyone to never answer the phone because 1. We weren't supposed to be up there and 2. I told my mom I was sleeping over at my friends house. Apparently my mother did not recall that conversation because she ended up calling at 2 in the morning and some drunken high school kid answered the phone. We were told to leave the cabin and come home immediately. We picked up the cabin as fast as we could, kicked everyone out and booked it home. He dropped me off at home and said goodbye as though we would never see each other again. I was grounded for a week and he was grounded for a month. The next day at school I was so scared to see him I thought he was going to break up with me. But the first thing he did was come around behind me and give me a big hug and kiss on the cheek. I was relieved to say the least.

#5. Breaking up. Robbie and I being the average high school couple went through our share of breakups. One in particular comes to mind. It was the last day of school and we were at our friend Brian's house. Brian, being the good friend that he was, told me that Robbie was going to break up with me. So I pulled Robbie aside and with Guns N' Roses playing in the background asked him if this was true. He said yes. I was devastated. He said he wanted to enjoy the summer. What a douche.

#6. Reno. Amy Reno was a whore. At least thats what I thought. Even though Robbie claims we were,"on a break", I believe he is wrong either way. Robbie made out with this girl and I was all torn apart inside about it. The day after I found out about this fiasco we all decided to go camping. Because both Robbie and I were friends with all the same people we all went together and so did Reno. So we get up to our spot and for some reason someone brought a canoe...and a bebe gun. We were all sitting around the fire and I look over and see Robbie and Reno climb into the canoe together and set sail for the middle of the lake. I was not happy with this. So what do you think I did...of course I grabbed the bebe gun and started shooting in there direction. It seemed like the only logical thing to do at the time. Don't worry nobody got hurt, unfortunately. A few weeks later we got back together.

#7. SUU. Robbie was a grade older than I was, so when it was time for me to start my senior year that also meant it was time for Rob to go to college. He had received a scholarship to SUU. The day he left for Cedar City broke my heart. My mom let me stay home from school that day just because I was so depressed. I still get choked up just thinking about it. Luckily my mom was pretty cool so she let me drive down literally every weekend he was down there. Eventually he got so depressed from being away from me that he moved back and went to UVSC. We've been inseparable ever since. Except of course when he has to travel...every week. But at least I know I get to be with him on the weekends and for the rest of eternity for that matter.

I have so many wonderful memories of Robbie and I wish I could write more down.Maybe another time. I'm grateful for everyday I have with him and am so looking forward to our future together. Happy birthday Robbie. You are my favorite.

It's not you...it's me. Actually it's all you.

So I know this post is a little belated but I really wanted to give 2009 a proper goodbye. Let's just say that last year was not the kindest to me in so many different ways. From broken legs, heartbreaks, bitterness, falling-outs, debt, therapy, arrests, more debt, death, moving, losing Christ and finding Him again, more debt and so on and so on...09' put me through a roller coaster of emotions. I must say that not all of the above list of things happened to me personally but they did affect me one way or another.
I was going to do a negative and positive list of things that happened, but the more I thought about it the more grateful I became for all of those experiences. Yes of course it was hell going through many of those but in the end I became a more wise and more experienced person.
So thanks 2009 for the memories, but now I must bid you adieu and pray that 2010 is a little kinder to me. Peace out.

10:14

Well, here it goes again. This will be my second blog attempt. The first one didn't go over so well. Mostly because I spelled the site address wrong. I'm smart. So my New years resolution is this...to blog and make a book at the end of the year about our riveting lives.
I have about a gazillion photos that sit on my computer and do nothing. So I may as well do something productive with them and with my time. Enough for now. Hopefully I'll blog again soon since it being my resolution and all. Wish me luck.