Newlyweds

When Brad and I were first married we found a basement suite that fit our budget of pretty much nothing, close to where Brad was going to college. It had two rooms: a living room/kitchen and a bedroom. I would say it had a bathroom but it was more like a closet partitioned off with a piece of cardboard. The ceilings were low, the floors covered in a practically burlap carpet and the walls were fake wood panelling spotted with greasy handprints. Our landlord was a very fat, very old man with a German accent who after some months confided in us that he had worked for the SS under Hitler and had killed several people in that role. Perhaps it was a form of resourcefulness picked up in the army that led him to manage to squeeze two illegal suites into that basement.

We had a neighbour.

I washed off the handprints, furnished it with things we had given to us or found in the garbage (literally), hung up our picture of Jesus overlooking Jerusalem and a Harley Davidson calendar and made it our home. We played Tony Hawk video games and Dance Dance Revolution, ate pan after pan of homemade brownies, let the dishes pile up and had just-married sleepovers every night.  I worked full time and Brad went to school. We had our future to work towards and we did so with determination.

A Korean friend of mine gave us these special souvenirs meant to bring happiness to marriage.

Brad made me a birthday cake

Eating the birthday cake

Our first Valentine's Day

One day our basement suite was broken into. They took our laptop, playstation, a snowboard, a bunch of video games, some change we had been saving and Brad's favourite sweater. We brushed it off and I started locking the door.

We quickly found out our neighbour was an alcoholic. He was a tall man with a moustache who clomped around loudly in big cowboy boots. He had a rough and very loud voice. I was scared of him. I would skirt past him as quickly as possible whenever we crossed paths, usually in the dark, shared storage/laundry room. He would stare me down and stomp past me-loudly-in his boots. One night I woke up to the sound of our neighbour right outside our bedroom window. He was cursing and saying the foulest things I'd ever heard. It was so gross I thought I would throw up. This started happening regularly. It went on for months. At three o'clock in the morning, we would hear his cowboy boots coming up the walkway. Clip-Clomp. Clip-Clomp. Clip-Clomp. Then he would stop in front of our bedroom window and start his vile rant.

On one such occasion he finished his rant, stomped loudly down the stairs, cursing as he went, shut the door to his suite, and turned on country music so loud we could hear it as clear as if it were playing in our own apartment. On this night, it wasn't going to end. I nudged Brad-"go tell him to turn it down." He refused. I begged. He still refused. I threw off the covers. Brad watched laughing as I put on my shoes (I wasn't going to face those cowboy boots barefoot) and declared, "I guess I'll have to be the man of the house!" I was shaking as I opened my door and crossed the crowded storage room to his door. I knocked loudly. No answer. So I banged on the door, hard. I shouted "Turn that down RIGHT NOW!"

Then, it was silent. He came to the door and opened it. I screamed at him, don't you ever curse at our window again, don't you ever turn your music on so loud again, don't you ever wake me up again or you will be sorry you did! I was pointing my finger at him. When I was finished I looked at him. He suddenly seemed smaller. He was scared of me! His eyes glazed over and he said, sorry Ma'am, it won't happen again, I promise.

It didn't. From that moment on, he was quiet as a mouse.

Christmas came. We had lived in that basement suite for over a year and a half, and I was pregnant. Our landlord gave us a bottle of wine for Christmas. I'm not sure if he knew we were Mormon but we thanked him for it.  We went away to visit family for a week and came back to find mouse droppings in our bed. With an odd bittersweetness we gave our notice to the landlord. We gave the wine to our neighbour, and moved the same week.

Back

My dear, dear children.  I'm grateful for how you've grown this year in all of your activities and school. But I'm also so grateful we can spend more time together now that most of it is done! Every moment I spend with you is precious. I'm so enjoying our bike rides and walks and reading together and I can't wait for a summer of listening to Jesse talk about the world with total fascination, watching Breanna burst with creativity and love, and seeing Afton bounce around life with confidence and ease. This is everything to me. Yay summer!

 

Jesse turns *8*

When Jesse was born I changed because his happiness became more important than my own. I was willing to sacrifice anything to help him succeed and thrive. Of course looking back I did a lot of it wrong :) But I do feel like Jesse accepted my offering and knows how much I love him and we have a deep connection because of that! When he came back from Houston the other day he ran straight into my arms, gave me the biggest hug and cried! I was so glad that even though he had so much fun he still missed me.

We had Jesse's cousin Lucus over to play the other day and Jesse played with him for hours. He took him down the slide and chased him and made him laugh. It reminded me of how his Uncle Dallas has played with Jesse since he was a little boy.

For Jesse's baptism I had his Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles and some cousins write a short letter to him. As I glued them into his journal I read those letters and my heart filled with love for my family. It confirmed to me how important family is in his life and mine and how connected we are. I know the goodness and love of the people in my family have helped Jesse to develop his natural goodness that will bless him and everyone. He's funny and so much fun too!

Here are a couple of his journal entries I want to share:

"March 16, 2014: Yesterday I got baptized. It was the second time I felt the spirit! It was a good feeling. I know that God lives. And I know that I am on the path to heaven. I know that if God did not live our lives would be a lot harder. Today is Sunday and I get to go up on the stage!"

"March 30th, 2014: A few days ago I got to go to Houston. I got to see my best friend Hunter's baptism! I told him all the things that he needed to do. I told him how special it was to me and Jesus (smiley face) that he got baptized. Even though I got baptized before him he is still older than me. Haha! I also got to go to a BIG aquarium in Houston. It was awesome. I loved the sharks!"

Jesse was so excited, for so long, to get baptized. I know he was ready and his testimony grew and solidified when he was baptized and when he saw his cousin baptized.

I love you Jesse! We all do.

Christmas

I'm missing many photos of this Christmas! But just believe me, it was a wonderful time. We spent LOTS of time with family, which I have discovered over the years of my life to be THE most important thing in the WORLD. So, even though my pictures don't reflect it, we enjoyed cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmas and grandpas and had a lovely time. I am very blessed to have lots of family, I am very blessed that the family I have consists of solidly good people.

We did our usual traditions of sleeping under the Christmas tree, a Christmas puzzle, going to the Nativity pageant, building gingerbread houses, reading the Night before Christmas on Christmas Eve, getting Santa pictures at the mall, opening pajamas on Christmas Eve, and that was all before the real party began!

 My sister and her family came up from Texas and my Grandma and Granddad came from Pincher Creek. We also had two new babies in our family this Christmas, Christian and Jacob. I will never forget this year's talent show- we had lots of great talents, but I'd have to say my sister Candace's took the cake. I'll just say, glow sticks, dancing and What does the Fox say? My talent was lame for everyone else but pretty dang awesome for me...I have wanted to be able to do a pull-up for years, and I made a goal to do one for the family talent show and I did it. I was SO excited when I finally did one (my body composition makes it very difficult for me). I ran around the house cheering and jumping up and down. My kids were witnesses and they were excited too. Here's a bit of what we did!

Gingerbread Houses

The tree fell down a few times before we finally got a new stand. The first time it fell you would think someone had died with how the kids cried! haha

Breanna and I went to the Nutcracker, yay! I had to post this because I love my outfit and my lipstick (even though you can't see my boots they're awesome)

Sleeping under the Christmas Tree after the Nativity-favorite tradition!

 Christmas Eve night! The excitement builds!

Afton got a new bear. We were a tad worried about her loyalty when she had this conversation with her old bear:

Afton (to old bear): "you're not my favourite anymore"

Old Bear: "Why?"

Afton: "Because"

Old Bear: "oh"

Thankfully, while she loves them both very much, I think she still prefers the old one :)

Sibling Love

One of Jesse's favourite presents came from Breanna-he got to excavate real gems. He loved it. He really is SO into gems and archaeology and mining. I'm so curious to see where this kid ends up in life. I hope his dreams come true!!

 The Christmas puzzle: 1000 pieces-we don't joke around!

After Christmas we all got sick for about 2 weeks-colds and ear infections all around, which brings us to about now.