Daily Thanksgiving-Mawage

Mawage, is what brings us together today....said like the priest on the Princess Bride.

13 years come and gone and still going strong.

Some  highlights and maybe low lights of 13 years.

1999- Got my job at SkyWest and that meant no more driving to Canada to visit Ben.
2000- Ben transferred to BYU
2001- We bought our first house in Harvest Hills (124,000)
2002- Andrea was temporarily transferred to Fresno, California for two weeks, during the Olympics.
2003- Alivia was born, Andrea found out she was pregnant again, Ben started at the American Fork Target and Ben got a bionic leg.
2004-Cooper was born and we had 2 under 2
2005-First trip to Europe. We decided to put our house up for sale and sold it in 3 weeks, thought we were going to move to Salt Lake County but houses were too expensive so put some money down on a bigger lot in the same neighborhood.
2006-Bauer was born
2007-Andrea turns 30, we celebrated on a Western Carribean cruise. Ben went to STL interviews. Passes off to be a STL for Target.
2008-Andrea had an emergency c section and Kessler was born (we had four kids) HOLY COW!!
2009-Ben was a temporary STL
2010-Ben turns 35, celebratory vacation to Vegas. Ben went back to the store he originally opened as a team leader and was now the Store manager he also gets nominated to be a district manager and starts the training/interview process.
2011-We were married for 11 years at 11:11 on 11-11-11
2012-13 years today!

Daily Thanksgiving-Friends

I am thankful today for a lot, but want to send a shout out to all my amazing friends.

I may have mentioned this before but my friends growing up, saved me. Their friendship saved me, their parents examples saved me, I had really great friends growing up and they helped me stay on the right path when my parents weren't too involved in what path I went down.

I hope my kids will always have great friends, they have been so blessed in their short lives to have amazing examples at every turn and in things that I lack, their friends parents have in abundance and I am thankful for that.

I am thankful for my friends that let me be me, and still like me:) I am thankful for friends who try to be my friend, who sacrifice time and energy "checking" up on me.

I hope that I can always be a good friend and that it will be easy to have me as a friend.

Lots of good friend quotes but this is one of my favorites.

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." 

-C.S Lewis

Daily Thanksgiving-freedom

I am thankful for my freedom even though it is not free. I am thankful for the rights I have in my life and the abilities that I have every single day that I take for granted to often.
I do know that our freedom can be taken away from us, I don't anticipate it being taken away however, I know it can be stifled by good being seen as evil, and evil being seen as good. And recently, especially tonight, I feel as if some of our freedoms are being taken away by debt, evil, disasters, not standing up for what is right and many more things.
But for tonight I will be thankful for the majority of amazing freedoms I do have.

Daily Thanksgiving-desire

That kind of made me giggle when I typed in the heading, but it is a desire to try and do my best. I don't always do my best, but I do have a deep in desire to be a good mom, a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend, a good neighbor, a good employee and a good citizen. I also am thankful for the desire to be healthy although I still have some much needed improvement I always have the desire to learn more, improve and get stronger. 

Daily Thanksgiving -the boys

 Cooper

 Cooper

 Bauer

 Bauer

 Alivia and Kessler

 Cooper and Bauer

The boys are what makes life a little more exciting around here. For this post I wanted to ask them a few questions and see how they respond.

What is your favorite treat/snack? C-brownies B-Fruit snacks K-Graham crackers
What is your favorite video game?c-star wars B-transformers K-Lego Batman
What do you like to do for fun?C-trick or treat B-play with friends K-Play outside
Do you like sports, which ones?C-baseball B-football K-Bowling
Do you have a favorite animal?C- Lion B-Tiger K-monkey
Do you like to sing, what songs?C-don't have one B-we will rock you K-somebody call 911
Where would you go for your dream vacation? C- Hawaii B-New York K-Las Vegas
What job would you never do and why?C-Police B-? K-not doing chores
What is the bravest thing you have ever done?C-never be scared B-Jumping high on the tramp K-doing monkey bars
What is your favorite T.V. show?C-sponge bob B-Amazing spider man K-Super Why and Ninjago
Do you have a nickname? What is it?C- Coop B-bee K-Messy Kessy
What subject do you like best in school? C-Math B-Journals K-playing with toys
Who is the smartest person you know?C-Zach W. B-Gentry K-Mattew?
What food will you never eat? C-Poison B-salad K-alligators
What do you worry about?C-stuff a lot B-my dog K-i don't know
If you were in a band, what instrument would you play?C-guitar B-drums K-whistle
Are you afraid of heights? C-yes B-Yes K- yeah and sharks
Are you ticklish?C- yes laughing B-Yessss K-no
What should you never forget?C-our home B-our family K-show and tell
Are you a cat person or a dog person?C-cats B-dogs K-dogs and cats
Describe your best friend. C-Dallin B-Gentry K-Samuel
If you could turn invisible, where would you go and what would you do?C- hide from bad guys B-kill bad guys K-stay away from lights?
Have you ever pretended to speak another language?C- no B- yes Spanish K-yeah, really quiet and no one can hear me
What is the best thing about being in your grade?C- having a nice teacher B-getting new friends K-listening to my teacher
What was your favorite vacation?C-Orlando B-Las Vegas K-fishing

Daily Thanksgiving-the girl

 2004

 2005

 2006

 2007

 2008

 2009

 2010

2011

                                              2012

We are very lucky to have this not so little girl in our family. 

She loves to play with friends and tease her brothers.

She loves art class in school.

Her favorite color is light green and turquoise.

Her favorite meal is Lasagna.

She can be really grouchy if she doesn't get enough sleep.

She loves animals and instead of doing "girly" things she would be out there with her brothers trying to catch lizards and toads.
LOVE HER!!

Daily Thanksgiving-Ben

Ben is a mysterious guy to those who don't know him and I think he might like it that way:)

I have tried to debunk the Ben-myth in previous posts over the years and sometimes I don't think words can explain what a great guy he is.

First he is a great dad, he doesn't mind if I he has to stay home and parent the kids while I am out and about, whether at work, with my friends on a walk or a girls trip to California. 

I usually come home to a clean house, and re-organized pantry, his side of the closet organized and the kids out and about playing at times of the day I don't usually let them play:)

He is a great boss, now I don't really know this other than what {most} of his employee's have said to me and how hard I see him work when I go visit (which is often).

He takes immense pride in being a great person to work for and with and I am so glad that he continues to provide so well for our family. He was in the right place at the right time and was blessed to have got his job when he did. He has continuously climbed the ladder at Target and has been happy at every stage is what I love most about him.

He is a fun guy, believe it or not. He is happy, loves to take his kids on vacation when some parents would rather go on a couples date or vacation he loves being with the kids. He dances when the music is loud, likes to watch the kids have fun and try new things.
Picture above Ben and Alivia 2004