7 Years and still in LOVE!!

Sometimes there are times when words just aren't enough to describe how you feel. Today is Jonathan and I's 7 year anniversary-and when I think about him and our life together the past 7 years-words just aren't sufficient. I know that those of you reading this and who know him already know how incredibly LUCKY I am to be married to such an amazing person-and believe me I truly feel this every day! Sometimes I am brought to tears when I think that he is the one I get to be with FOREVER! We have the best time when we are together and I never once have ever felt like I need a break from his presence-in fact I always feel just the opposite and wish there were more hours in the day to spend together. I knew when I married him 7 years ago that our life together would be good-I had NO idea that it was going to be this good! I love you honey-Happy Anniversary!

7 Years ago


Current

The Nutcracker

The day after Christmas we went the the ballet The Nutcracker. It was SO much fun. All of the kids loved it-we couldn't believe how still even Austin sat through the whole performance. When I was younger we would go every year-so I have been wanting to take our kids for a long time. It was just as magical as I remember.

Ally even got her picture taken by a real life Sugar Plum Fairy-she was in heaven. At one point she leaned over to me and whispered, "Mom, I can't believe I am here!"-it was so sweet.

We lost Isaac with about 10 minutes to go and right beofore he fell asleep he said, "Mom, I'm ready to be done with this!"-he did so great through the whole thing until he crashed!

Santa found us in Arizona!

Yep, he came-it was such a great day!! We all loved every second!

More Christmas Eve Events

After a yummy dinner and the nativity performance we all donned our matching pj's for the 2nd year in a row, sang some Christmas songs, read a story and each opened 1 present. Jonathan and I opened ours together which was a darling calendar that Ally had made in school for us. She was SO excited for us to open it-she could hardly stand it. She had told everyone else what it was but kept it such a good secret from us-it was so cute and we loved it. The kids each opened a present that one of their cousins got for them-another tradition we missed not being in Idaho! A big, pink princess chair for Ally, a Dino-sketcher for Isaac and a baseball mitt and glove for Austin-they all loved what they got! Thanks Logan, Macee and Colby!! We then set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and tucked them all snug in their beds. It was a perfect day and night.

Again-sorry this is so dark-we were kind of doing everything by the light of the Christmas tree.

Nativity

This year we weren't able to be with all of Jonathan's family for the annual "cousin" nativity-so we decided to do our own little family one! We had a lot of fun doing it together on Christmas Eve! Cast: Mary-Ally; Joeseph-Isaac; Baby Jesus-doll; Shephard-Austin; Wiseman-Uncle Jamison; Angel-Rachel (a very pregnant angel we might add!); Narrator/Piano Player-Jonathan. Sorry that the video is a little dark. And for the record I am NOT the opera singer you hear in the background-it is one of Jamison's friends who took the video for us-not that there would be any confusion-but just in case!!

Sunday Best

We couldn't get a picture of all of the kids looking or with their eyes open-but they still look cute!

A New Tradition!

Every year we make gingerbread houses. While I am neither patient or talented enough to make them cute enough to want to display them for a long time, we started a new tradition with them this year. Since I knew that I didn't want them around the house for a long time, we decided to do them late in the season. We had such a fun time making them-with a lot of snacking of course! After we were done and I was trying to think of some place they could sit for the next few days, one of the kids came up with the brilliant idea of eating them right away. Jonathan and I both looked at each other with the exact same thought in mind when they asked if they could-GREAT IDEA!! So about 1 minute after they were complete, they were being destroyed-happily. We definitely will continue this tradition in the years to come!!

A fun day at home!

Ally is now out of school for Christmas break and it seems like all the Christmas hustle and bustle is slowing down. We had such a fun day at home-I love those days! Jonathan was even able to be home for some of it until he had to go in to work the night shift. The kids had so much fun just playing together. This is a picture of them playing house. Ally is the mom and Isaac likes to be the dad but it bothers Ally that he's not as tall as she is-we always have to have a talk about how that doesn't matter and he ends up being the dad despite her unliking- she is so funny about stuff like that. Austin is of course the baby and always ends up in Ally's doll stroller-he loves it as much as they do. I'm not sure where the Santa hats came into the picture-but I thought it was cute anyway! We are loving just being at home!

Our "not-so living" Christmas Tree

Since this is our 5th December living in Arizona, but only the 1st Christmas we will spend here, we thought it would be so much fun to get a real Christmas tree instead of using our usual fake one. So the Monday after Thanksgiving we went and picked out our beautiful, real tree. It was so much fun to set up and we loved the way it looked and smelled. About 2 1/2 weeks after we got it, it just started to loose is freshness and we noticed that in fact it was almost completely dead. We made sure it had water every day-but it still died. Seriously-how terrible! So on Saturday we took all the decorations off and Jonathan took it back to where we got it. He picked out another tree and brought it home. I watched him take it out of the truck and stand it up and just as he did, about every needle on the tree fell onto the sidewalk. I thought I would die laughing-there was seriously only sticks on the whole top 1/4 of the tree. So off he went again to return the second tree. They gave us our money back since every tree on the lot was just as dead as the two we brought home. By this time it was getting late on Saturday and we had a TON to do, so we just figured that instead of going tree hunting we'd just set up our old, trusty, fake tree and save the money. So we set it up and put up all the decorations for a 2nd time this year. Buying Christmas trees in Arizona must just not be quite the same! We're just glad to have a place for Santa to put all of the presents when he comes!

Now about our Christmas tree. Since Ally was born we decided to start the tradition of letting each of our kids pick out an ornament every year to hang on the tree. So we have everything from pink and blue baby shoes, baseballs, dinosaurs, Barbies, Buzz Lightyear, Ariel-on and on, on our tree. We write their names and the year somewhere on them and hope to one day pack up all of them and send them on with each kid as they have their own trees. As much as I would love to have a beautiful "themed" tree, I love the memory of when I was little and getting out each of the ornaments and the special meanings that were tied to each of them. We decided that one day when we have a little bigger house we will have 2 trees-one for show and the other for memories and fun. We love our tree and the kids love to look at all the ornaments over and over-real or fake-it makes no difference to them!!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to our brother-in-law/cousin Nicholas who just found out he got in to medical school!!! Their little family will be packing up and moving to Yakima, Washington this summer to get ready to start in the Fall. We are so excited for them-he'll be an awesome doctor!

FYI: For those who don't know, my littlest sister married Jonathan's cousin-yes, we set them up!

We're seeing PINK!!

We just went to the doctor today and found out that we will be having another little GIRL. We are all thrilled-especially Ally, she can't wait to have a sister. It's always so much fun to add a new baby to the family and we are very excited (even though May still seems SO far away!).

The nude chef strikes again!

Well this time he actually did have clothes on, but Isaac thought he would expand his culinary skills into using real food. The other day my friend and her little girl were over. She and I were sitting in the living room just talking away while the kids were playing in the other room. All the sudden we noticed that things had been very quiet. Just then, Austin came around the corner holding a half gone yogurt and had what looked like an egg shell stuck to his foot. I ran in the kitchen to find Isaac standing over the biggest mess I think I've ever seen. He had taken all of the remaining eggs that were in the carton (probably at least 1/2 dozen or so) and cracked them(or crapped as he calls it) all over the huge griddle that he managed to get out and onto the floor. He must have put them in the pitcher first and mixed in milk, raisins and yogurt before dumping it on the griddle. I wished that I would have taken a picture of the disaster-it was everywhere-and for the record, eggs are VERY hard to clean up! Needless to say, he spent sometime in his room-mainly for punishment but also so he wouldn't see me laughing at his little mind. He said, "I was just making some eggs". Oh boy, you never know what he is going to come up with!!

Apple Dumplings with Bumpa and Granny

A few weeks ago Jonathan's parents came to visit for one last trip before they head off on their mission to Scotland. They were a ton of help since I've been so sick and the kids had SUCH a fun time. Bumpa Brett made his famous apple dumplings fresh from the apples off of their tree in Idaho-yumm!~ It was so fun to have them and Isaac asks about every day since they left if Granny and Bumpa are coming. Luckily we will be there for Thanksgiving which will be a happy/sad time since they leave the Monday after.

The Incredible Manwarings

This year for Halloween we decided to all dress up like the "Incredibles" since our family had just the perfect "make-up" (Mr. Incredible, Elasti-girl, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack). We all loved it! We went to our ward's Halloween chili cook-off/carnival/trunk-or-treat. We got way, way too much candy!! I have no idea what we will do with it all! We were so grateful that one of the awesome residents that works with Jonathan offered to cover for him for a few hours so that he could come spend some of Halloween with us-we just wouldn't have been complete with out the most incredible of all!! We were all so glad he was with us!! Hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween!!

A Real Life Kindergartner!

Well, we just got school pictures back and it just made it seem that much more real that we really do have a kindergartner!! We thought she looks so cute and so grown up that we had to share. Sorry about the fuzzy faces on the class picture (it's kind of freaky I know). They really are all such cute kids but I didn't pass out a release to all their parents to make sure I could post their pictures on the internet :). Ally is loving everything about school! It's so fun to see how much she has grown up. And even though we miss her like crazy while she is gone, we are so glad she is also loved at school and learning so much!

Our little basketball star!

Austin LOVES, LOVES balls of any sort. Tonight he's been working on his lay-up. It took him a lot of tries, but he finally was able to make a basket-and now he can't miss! It's so cute to see such determination already. Maybe one day he'll make us a lot of money!!

The Next Iron Chef

And so, this is what goes on at our house. I'm not sure there is any real explanation. He is a crack-up for sure!

Living with Angels

OK, I'm not trying to overly brag about how wonderful my kids are...but they are so, so sweet and I can't help it. Ever since we've told them that we would be having another baby they have been extra helpful and understanding of me being sick. Now that Ally is in school all day, Isaac has really turned into a "big boy". All day he plays with his little brother and is so sweet to him. He finds games that he knows Austin will love and doesn't seem to care as much when Austin ruins his forts or towers. He is so patient with me and always cleans up right when I ask-even if it is not his mess. It just seems like all the sudden one day he woke up and decided that he was going to grow up! He is so very sweet!


We have been known to refer to Ally as our perfect child. It just seems like she has always had a desire to do exactly what is right, and loves doing it. Now, that being said, she does get insanely upset over hair and clothes. But really, truly other than that-I'm not sure she does anything wrong. She is such a natural little mother. The minute she gets home from school she opens her lunchbox and gives her brothers anything leftover from her lunch-they LOVE this! She is also so eager to help me. Honestly ANYTHING I ask her to do, she does. It doesn't matter if she is in the middle of playing barbies or drawing a picture, she always just goes right away. The other day as I was so pitifully laying on the couch being sick, Ally came and said, "Mom, I have a surprise for you that you are really going to love." I didn't want to get up, but I closed my eyes and let her lead me to the "surprise". When we got to the bathroom I opened my eyes and saw that she had cleaned the whole thing for me. She was so proud of herself and of course I broke down crying "happy tears" (as Ally calls them). She so special!

So as you can see I am very fortunate to be living with real life angels. And for this reason, in the mist of being sick-I am so grateful to be having another one!!!

And 1 more makes 4!!!

Yep, it's true! We are having another baby and couldn't be happier about it!! We went to the doctor yesterday and found out that we are a little over 7 weeks along and Due on May 19 (ummm, that seems a long way away). We are all thrilled!! I'm totally sick and miserable at the moment, but supposedly that is a good thing-right?! It's always a long ride, but definately worth it!!! 4 kids! Wow!

YES! They really are poisonous!

The other night while we were at our friends house the kids came in holding some mushrooms that they had picked. Of course we told them the same thing that our parents told us when we picked the forbidden mushrooms, "Put those down, they are poisonous and will make you very sick if you eat them". That night, about an hour after we got home, Isaac started complaining that his stomach hurt. Well sure enough he started throwing up repeatedly until about 4:30 am. In between his head being shoved in a bowl I asked him if he had eaten any of those yucky mushrooms. His reply was, "No, I just ate the yummy ones". So obviously we drew our own conclusions as to why he was sick. The hard part was knowing if he ate them before he was told not to, or after-in that case I wouldn't have much sympathy! Who knows, but one thing is for sure, I guarantee he won't eat them again! It was a long night! He's lucky he is such a cute, nice boy and we love him no matter what trouble he finds himself in!

Primary Program

This is a video of Ally saying her part for the primary program. She memorized it so well and was so cute as she stood up and said it with all the confidence in the world. We were so proud! You may need to turn your volume up!!

Viva La Lucha Libre!

Isaac has found a new favorite pastime. He loves to put on his Nacho Libre mask and wrestle his dad. It is quite a hilarious sight!! He takes it very seriously. Maybe one day he'll be good enough to go "Pro"-every parents dream!-We are so proud!

Move over David Beckham!

Today was Ally's first soccer game! She looked so cute in her uniform and did such a good job! Her team name is the "Incredibles" and her dad is the assistant coach (poor guy came to her game right from a 30 hour shift!). Last night she said that she was just so scared that her team wasn't going to win their game. So of course we had to talk about how it doesn't matter if you win, just as long as you try your hardest. Her prayers were precious as she asked that her team try their hardest. She ran really hard but was disappointed that she didn't score a goal-but was out there and tried hard! She's come a long way since the first practice and we are so proud of her! It was fun to watch-she is so sweet!

Let's Get This Party Started!!

Just about every day we have to turn on loud music and boogie. This is just a quick video of the boys dancing one morning while Ally was at school. Austin usually breaks it down, but when I got the camera out, he all of a sudden got a shy streak. Hopefully I can catch him sometime-it's pretty funny.

Bring on the Kilts and Bagpipes!

Well, Jonathan's parents just received their mission call. They'll be on their way to Edinburgh, Scotland. They enter the Missionary Training Center on November 26th. We are so very excited for them, but will miss them a ton!

Serenity Now!

This sweet little 3 year old is one ball of energy. He plays so incredibly hard, and crashes just as hard. He is ready to go to bed at 5pm every day, luckily on most days we can hold him out until 7. "Patrick" is the dinosaur that he sleeps with and LOVES! He named him after his uncle Nicholas's horse. He got him at Build-A-Bear as an attempt to bribe him into staying all night in his own bed-thank goodness it did work! At the end of the day after picking up dinosaurs, remaking beds (over and over), having to send him to the "step" for time-out, drawing pirate ships, making a million snacks (he eats SO much), and doing "fun-stuff" (his own words)-I find no greater happiness than to watch him sleeping peacefully in his OWN bed. I can't help but sneak in at least twice to kiss his cute little face.

Our trip to Cabo

I just figured out how to make a slideshow, so I decided to make one of our trip to Cabo in May-soooofun!!!

A Love Affair with Headbands

Austin has this strange obsession with putting things on his head-so naturally he loves wearing around Ally's headbands. Sometimes he welcomes the laughs, other times he takes it very seriously and gives you a funny look if you laugh...thus the second of the two pictures.

Austin Chatting on the Phone

This is Austin talking on the phone to my sister. Yes, he thinks he is very old. I promise at the end he is NOT messing his pants-in spite of what it sounds like. He was just being super funny and of course getting lots of laughs. Now every time he watches this, he talks back to himself on the video-it's also pretty humorous!

Pachelbel Bedtime

This is the most precious song that I stole off of Elena's blog...she always finds the best stuff!! It is so funny and sweet, it makes me bawl everytime I watch it! There is nothing like being a parent!!!

I've been tagged!!

I probably wouldn't normally do this type of thing-but since it's about my husband-It's fun!! Thanks Kami!

1. Who is your man? Jonathan Holley Manwaring-hands down he's "the MAN"
2. How long have you been together? Well, we met in high school (11+ years ago) but we've been "together" since July 2000.
3. How long did you date? 5 months-we were engaged in 3 months and married that December (only 5 months from when we actually started dating)
4. How old is your man? 29
5.Who eats more? Luckily he does, but I definately am not far behind!
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did after a wedding reception. My response was, "I know" and then I said it right back of course!
7. Who is taller? He is, although he is not 6 ft, which is what he told me he was on our first date! He's the perfect height at 5'11.
8. Who sings better? Easy, easy....it's him FOR SURE. He is very musical and has an awesome voice!-He plays the piano too!
9. Who is smarter? Of course I think that I am and I would NEVER in a million years say that I wasn't-just in case I need to be right about something. I have rightfully earned my spot as the family "know-it-all".
10. Whose temper is worse? Mine is for sure. I don't think he even has a temper! I know it doesn't seem possible, but he really doesn't get in bad moods and is fun and nice almost 100% of the time.
11. Who does the laundry? I do, he hates folding clothes (admittedly-it's not my favorite either).
12. Who does the dishes? I do more so now but when we were first married, he did them all the time (so nice). He still definately chips in when I need him to.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does right now, but we occasionally switch-long story.
14.Who pays the bills? He does. I've offered to take over the bills a few times and his answer is a very quick, "Oh, it's OK, I think I better do it." I just get told that there is nothing there so don't worry about it-so I don't.
15. Who is better at the computer? Jonathan, He really does know quite a bit-I'm always surprized.
16. Who mows the lawn? He does-I never, ever have. It would be funny to try.
17. Who cooks dinner? I do. Luckily he loves everything so he's easy to cook for.
18. Who drives when you are together? He does.
19. Who pays when you go out? He does, he's usually the one who has his wallet.
20. Who is more stubborn? Me...no comment.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? He does all the time. Another small thing that makes me feel like the luckiest wife in the world. He'll even admit he's wrong-even when he's not-what a stud!
22. Whose parents do you see most? His-they come to visit us a couple times a year and we are so glad.
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me on our second date-we haven't stopped since!
24. Who asked who out? Neither. We were doublely set up on a blind date that turned out to not be so blind (since we had actaully met in high school)
25. Who proposed first? He did.
26. Who is more sensitive? I think I am, but it is probably a tie. Whenever I get teary-eyed about something, I look over and he is also-I love that.
27. Who has more friends? He does, he is a very social person-much more so than I am. Plus everyone who knows him, loves him.
28. Who has more siblings? He does, 7 siblings. I have 2.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? I would say for sure he does. He really makes all the decisions, but I am more vocal when I have an opinion.

It was fun to think about all of these questions. Thanks again Kami. Now I tag, Emily Hill, Elena Manwaring, Amber Manwaring, Odelsa Taylor, Katie Forsberg, and Becky Ward.

I've also attached a funny video of Jonathan trying to go down a "make-shift" waterslide on his feet!

I love this man!!!

Ok, I'm usually using this blog to brag about my kids, but with the long residency hours coming...the person I am really thinking about is my AWESOME husband. I knew when I married him that he was "good", but I had NO idea he was this good. When I was in high school I had made a list (all on individual note cards) of all the qualities I hoped my future spouse would have. There were at least 75 different cards, all listed very detailed with lots of explanations and reasons as to why these were important to me. Everyone who ever saw the cards always laughed (in a nice way) and said that it was impossible for me to ever find someone who possessed all of those qualities. Well I can honestly say that I did find him-I knew I did 7 years ago, and I know it even more now! This is just a very short list of a few of the reasons why I love him and why I feel so lucky. Of course he has all the basic qualities that every GOOD husband does, but these are a few extras. I love him because....

1-He is a huge HUNK.

2-He loves being a dad as much as I love being a mom-and is so good at it!

3-He stays up with me until 3 am just talking about life.

4-We share almost the exact same views on just about everything (but not exactly everything so that conversations are still interesting).

5-He dances and comes up with the most hilarious moves you've ever seen.

6-He is confident enough, but definitely not cocky at all!

7-He makes silly faces when he shaves.

8-He always smells good-I know it's weird, but it is true-I can't figure it out!

9-He cries when he watches Little League.

10-He is dedicated to EVERYTHING he does.

11-He doesn't care that I make him wear matching holiday pjs.

12-He's athletic.

13-He is so social and can make conversation with ANYONE-ANYWHERE!!

14-He likes to play games.

15-He laughs hard.

16-He makes DANG cute kids.

17-He watches stupid reality shows with me.

18-He likes to take time off to play with us.

19-He buys me those dumb gossip magazines that I shouldn't be reading.

20-He never comes home and just sits on the couch and wants to be left alone.

21-I've never had to mow our lawn.

22-He's up for anything.

23-He always tells me everything-believe me, he really does!

24-When he's home he always helps with "home" stuff.

25-He keeps me calm and sane.

26-He hardly ever gets in bad moods.

27-He kisses me every time he leaves the house.

28-He loves me and tells me a lot.

29-He always does everything he should and always follows the rules!

30-I love that he will be so embarrassed that I wrote this and posted it for everyone to see!!

There really are a million more reasons, but I didn't want to take up too much space. I mainly just want him to check this blog when he in on long hours at the hospital and remember how much he is loved and missed at home! We love you honey!!!