Guess who is 50 today...

Yep, can you believe it... this handsome guy is 50-years-old today.

Lucky ME... I get to call him MY Dad!!

Don't get too jealous... but seriously, you kind of should. He is AMAZING!

And are him and my mom not the CUTEST couple you have ever seen!?

There are definitely more of these pictures that I am dying to share but for now lets celebrate 50 years of life!!

Love you dad!

Side note: Jared's dad would have celebrated his 65th birthday today. What are the odds that both of our dads were born on the same day!?

Christmas in the Snow

I have been looking forward to Christmas for a LONG time.... I think that our whole family has. Cade loved pulling the rings off of his paper chart he made at school(even if that meant more than 1 ring a day was "accidently" ripped off), Beckam loved looking for Buddy the elf every morning, I couldnt wait to see my family, and Jared was looking forward to a much needed break from the craziness of life.

We loaded up the car...jam packed the car really... and headed out to Utah. We told my family we wouldn't be in until the wee hours of Christmas morning so I was brimming with excitement to surprise them early. We were all happy and smoothly sailing... until we hit Beaver... Dang Beaver.

Jared and I were just about to switch driving duties when I heard him mutter and pull over. I looked in the mirror and my heart sank... police lights. The police officer came to the passenger side of the car and started to lay into Jared. I was totally baffled that the officer was on such a power trip and neither of us had even said a word. We did as he asked, some nicer than others, and waited for him to come back. He found a few other issues to exhort his authority, handed over the paperwork and then started back to his car. I was SO irritated that he had been so mean and did everything in my power not to slap the guy. As we walked away I said, "Merry Christmas," and started to roll up the window. He then, TURNED BACK around and made Jared get out of the car to "talk about issues". I was livid. They spent 30 minutes outside, in 11 degree weather, Jared without a coat, so that the officer could continue his power trip. I may or may not have gotten out of the car and told him we was being ridiculous... Once the officer was done scolding Jared for saying that he was "a good mormon boy from provo" he (the officer) grabed some plastic badges out of the police car and brought them to the boys. Using a nice, friendly, I am the good guy tone. I hate Beaver...

Needless to say we listened to Cade for the next 2 hours talk about being a good guy. He would stick out his chest with his badge on it and say, "look, I am a police officer. I am a good guy!"

Anyway...

Once we made it to Salt Lake the party started. My mom was near tears and my dad was speechless when we walked in... the tears happen often the speechlessness does not. It was so exciting and I could barely wait for the morning to arrive.

Cade was so excited that Santa had come. Everything was an excitement to him... even opening underwear made him jump for joy. (It did help that they were transformers)

Beckam wasn't too sure what to make of it all. He mostly followed Cades lead but didn't understand that he had his own boxes to open... he just wanted to open Cades.

Cade was pretty pumped about his star wars costume that a very clever Santa picked up after Halloween for practically pennies. However, Santa seemed to out smarted when we realized he had grabbed a boys Large rather than a small like he thought. Oops... it will last for a long time :)

Beckam was beyond excited about his bouncy ball and football. He did not put them down all morning. Once he had the balls he was not interested in any other gift. So much for wrapping all of them.

Cade practiced being a Jedi all morning. Pretty sure all of us got hit at one time or another "accidently."

Beck spent the morning in his football stance saying "down, set, hike" and then running in circles dodging everything in his way.

Beck also got a pretty sweet ride that I am not sure if he or Cade was more excited about.

Cade-o got his Leapster and has gone through 3 sets of batteries already.

After the gifts were all done we headed to the kitchen for some traditional buttermilk pancakes for breakfast... There might have been a diet coke or 2 enjoyed by everyone except me. I really do need to catch onto the craze...

Cade passed on breakfast... due to the ridiculous amount of candy he consumed while opening presents and headed out to the snow. The whole drive to Utah he kept asking me if we were going to "the sunny Utah or the snowy Utah." All he could talk about was making a snow angel.

My mom got the grandkids matching jammies. She was so excited to put them on the boys and had talked about it for weeks. The boys were rather happy to be nice and snuggly and really enjoyed just being together. Beckam couldn't get enough of Maddux and just wanted to squeeze him. Which I cannot say I blame him... look at those cheeks... so squeezable.

We had a fantastic Christmas. It was so nice to be together as a family, to relax, to eat, to laugh, to enjoy. We couldn't have asked for anything more.

One

It was one minute ago he crawled up and snuggled on my lap.

It was one hour ago I heard him talking to himself in bed, after a nice long nap.

It was one day ago he covered me in slobbery kisses while playing tag.

It was one week ago he fell asleep while on a 4-wheeler ride through the snow.

It was one month ago he started insisting on doing "big boy" stuff on his own.

It was one year ago that our lives changed forever... because of his surgery.

How thankful I am for the journey we had to travel and even more thankful that time truly heals all wounds. I feel honored to be his mommy and to have learned from his silent strength.

If you were not here with us on our journey of craniosynostosis you can read more about it here, here and here.

And if you were here for the journey thank you for your love, support, prayers, and words of encouragement. We couldn't have made it without you.

I love my little Beckam and know that this experience was one that not only changed his life forever but many, many others as well.

We love you our little Beckam and are so thankful for you!

*yes, I did rewrite this post. The previous one just did not sit right with me and do the whole situation justice. It was truly an uplifting journey with little moments of heartache not one of complete despair and desperation. We truly felt the arms of the Lord around us the entire time and feel blessed to have had this entire experience.

Seriously...

Can I ever get them both to smile at the same time....

Nope.

Gotta love brotherly "love"

Cade Originals

-Cade was playing a game on Jared's phone. He won. He took the phone to Jared and said, "look dad, I won!!" Jared says, "Wow Cade, that is great!" Cade responds, " I know.... I am just awesome."

-We were playing memory and it was Cades turn. I look at him and say, "now think really hard because I know that you know where some matches are." He looks and me and says, "I know mom, I am just thinking about them in my smart brain."

-We were on our way out the door, a little late, to preschool. I had already gotten Beckam in the car and turned around to see Cade still on the sidewalk. He was drawing something and so I called to him and told him to hurry. Once he made it to the car I asked him what he had been doing. He said, "I was drawing X's on the ground so if anyone wanted to know they would know where to find me." When I made it back home, sure enough, there were X's all the way from the car to our front door.

-Cade has PJ's that have a shark on the shirt. He pulled them out the other day and informed me that he would be wearing them to a sleepover with his cousins because, "they would totally freak out if they saw his shark."

-It was snack time and I asked Cade what he would like to eat. He thought for a moment and then informed me that I would need to guess what he wanted. He said, "I will give you a clue. It is round and sounds like muffin." I replied, "would you like a banana muffin." His eyes light up, he points at me and says, "that is correct!!"

-Cade told me a fib and I said to him, "Cade, we do not lie." He looked at me smugly and said, "But we can trick and I was just tricking."

Check it out!

Now is your chance to win some SUPER cute Christmas cards... honestly, does it get much better!?

My cute sister is having a give-a-way that you do not want to miss.

Check it out... you wont be sorry!

Halloween Surprise

Halloween brought something different to me this year. Among all the screams, guts, ghosts, and monsters I found something unexpected... love. I have always loved my boys... adored them really, however I had also, unknowingly, fallen into a "tasking" mode. I had all my balls up in the air. All my duties, chores, and errands were lined up and checked off by the end of the day. Even though I might have been productive and I still loved my babies at the end of the day, I never realized how much I had missed... until I got sick. This past week I picked up some type of stomach bug. I was so sick, so tired, so dizzy and so consequently I spent a lot of time laying down. Literally being on the boys level allowed to spend more "slow" time with them. Time that I heard their tender words, their funny jokes, their witty comments, their new found words. Time that I saw their smiles, their new found independence, their growing understanding. Time that I felt their slobbery kisses, their big bear hugs, and their snuggles.

I have read many blogs over the past few years and have come across a couple of moms who would gush about how much they love their kids. Something that, honestly, kind of bugged me a bit. I didnt know if it was because I thought they were painting too "rosey" of a picture or if it was because I felt a tad bit guilty, I am not sure. However, something clicked inside of me this halloween season. As I spent this unrushed, uninterrupted time with my boys I started to realize how much fun they were. I found myself having more funny stories rather than frustrations. More laughs than time outs. More yeses than nos. And it was as we were walking the dark halloween streets, begging for candy, it donned on me... I am totally in love with these boys.

Are there still days that they make me crazy... yes.

Are there days that I am ready to turn in my "mom badge"... absolutely.

But am I totally in love with them... without a doubt.

How thankful I am to have realized, even if it was a little late, that their childhood is not coming back so I must enjoy it now. Now is the time to sit down and play games. Now is the time to roll the ball back and forth. Now is the time to listen because I will miss it if I don't take the time. Now is the time to soak them in.

(Bumblebee Transformer)

Halloween was great. Full of candy, candy, candy. I got to take the boys trick or treating. Cade would go as quick as he could from house to house and then stop to have a "candy break." Beckam insisted on walking. It took him FOREVER to get from house to house but he would get SO excited once he made it to the door. He would smile, speak some kind of gibberish, and then wave goodbye. He could make it for about 5 houses until he would just plop down out of sheer exhaustion.

It was a good holiday full of treats for us all.

(Boxing champ)