Here's to 10 YeArS!!!

Ten years ago today I married my best friend, the man I adore, cherish, and love with all my heart, my dear husband ... Ben. Life has many twists and turns that none of us can fully understand, but I know through these experiences we can be strengthened. We had planned to go to San Diego (where we got engaged) for our anniversary, but it has been temporarily postponed due to an unseen change in plans. On Sunday Ben had a sudden attack of illness. We thought if he got on antibiotics quickly he'd be better to make the trip ... come to find out he has pneumonia and we won't be going anywhere for a few weeks (except for us to visit him in the hospital). :(

Have you ever had something you were so looking forward too? Well, this was one of those trips for us and it felt like it all kind of came crashing down. The kiddos have been sick too, and well it's just been one of those crazy (what in the world) kind of weeks! Anyhow, this isn't to throw a pity party for myself, this is to say that life is absolutely wonderful! We will get through this. Despite trials our family is so blessed. I am blessed to be married and sealed to a man that loves me and truly loves our children. So grateful that relationships and families are eternal. Ben you are the most amazing man! Thanks for making the last 10 years of my life the absolute best ever. I love you!!

DeCeMbEr ReCaP

December was a month of fun for our family. I just LOVE the Holiday season. We got dumped on a week or so before Christmas so we decided to make a snow day out of it. Isn't our snowman lovely? I'm pretty sure I haven't ever built a snowman this big! We had much fun.

I wanted to get our family in the right 'Spirit' for Christmas so on the 1st of December we headed up to Salt Lake City and attended the Festival of Trees and then went to Temple Square. Yes, it was cold but it was well worth it! The Festival of Trees was a first for all of us. If you've never been I highly suggest going. It was absolutely fascinating, not to mention fun for the kids. It was fun to walk around and just enjoy the sheer talent of so many people. And Temple Square was just beautiful. All of it was AMAZING!!!
This lady did oragami. She could make just about anything and we were all transfixed with her talent. Josh & Jake were thrilled with her dragon making abilities.

Temple Square
My dear husband celebrated his 33rd Birthday on the 20th of December. I was able to pull myself out of bed early enough to decorate the kitchen with colorful pictures and banners that Josh, Jake, & I had colored for him. But, the day wasn't too exciting for him because the children's choir, C-Minor (that I play the piano for) had a concert that evening. :( I tried to make it special for him by making a delicious dinner (chicken parmesan with homemade marinara and noodles), but it was rushed and didn't turn out just as I had imagined. BUT, everyone helped me out at the concert by singing Happy Birthday to him. Yes, he was embarrassed, but it was fun.

We decided to get a real tree for our basement this year. The kids had a great time hanging up the ornaments and decorations wherever they wanted them to go. I am a little OCD so I ended up moving things around just a little bit. :) The babes had fun with the tree too. They enjoyed the colorful lights and Kaden, our little mischievous one, would just rip the ornaments off the tree. Good times.

Santa Claus had no trouble finding our house. Josh and Jake tried hard to be extra good (and were pretty successful in their efforts). Both kept asking Santa, the 3 different times they saw him, to bring them skateboards. Our children can't even ride bikes yet, so I figured the skateboard thing probably wasn't a good idea. Santa was smart and ended up bringing them scooters (which they were super excited about). They also got a Wii, some serious extensions to their train track, and some pillow pets.

Jake & Josh riding their scooters around in our basement.

Bekah & Kaden mostly just roamed around during the Christmas festivities. They weren't too thrilled about opening presents but they did get excited for some of their gifts. Bekah loved her pretend jewelry box and Kaden loved his little tool bench.

Kader found the M&M's in someone's stocking. Watch out! He's a sly one.
Bekah loved her pink pants that her cousin Kayson gave her.
Our boys are all about Dragons these days.
The babes were more interested in the treats from the stockings.

Santa set up an extension to the train track we already had around our Christmas tree. That Santa's quite an engineer!

Ben & I had a great Christmas too! Ben never ceases to amaze me with his sheer talent of selecting clothes for me. He's really getting good at this shopping stuff. :) He was excited about getting a new watch and dress shoes as well.

Christmas was wonderful! We had fun just being together as a family, hanging out with family, and most of all reflecting on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. How thankful I am for His humble birth and His life. Hope that your Christmas season was filled with lots of love and laughter!

Free Christmas Cards!!!

I heard through my cousin's wife about this deal that is currently going on with Shutterfly. Shutterfly is offering to give you 50 free Christmas cards just by blogging about how wonderful their products are. I, personally, have yet to use Shutterfly, but everything I've seen produced by them is absolutely amazing! My friend has used them for personal photo books and each book she has made through them have turned out fabulous. She's been so impressed with the quality she completes photo books each year for her 3 children. Every book is beautifully unique. She's shown me that Shutterfly offers so much variety. And she's actually told me that it makes scrapbooking enjoyable rather than tedious (which it sometimes is). Any size blog can participate in this offer. They offer you the best quality and there are multiple options to choose from. My friend told me that they get your products to you in a very timely manner as well. I look forward to using Shutterfly and hope if you haven't yet, you can too. If you don't want to miss out on this offer get your order in by Dec. 14th! The following are links to view some of their cards:

· Christmas photo cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards
· Holiday cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
· Birth announcements http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birth-announcements

If you're interested in this deal and getting 50 free cards let me know and I'll pass on this information to you. Also, if you'd like a Christmas card, send your address my way. Happy Holidays!

Happy Day of Birth and Thanks!

I have no idea where this last year has gone, but it has gone by in a hurry. Rebekah and Kaden turned 1 on Thanksgiving Day. It was a Happy BirthThanksgiving Day for us! They are both doing so well and have been pretty healthy babies so far. Both are close to walking. Kaden will take steps on his own and probably goes 3 or 4 steps before crashing down. Bekah is content to just stand in place or walk behind her walker. They are so much fun and we've been blessed so much! When Ben & I were first married we wondered if we'd ever even be able to have children and now looking at our beautiful family, it's completely overwhelming to me the amount of love I feel from my Heavenly Father. He has blessed us with four beautiful miracles! Thanksgiving day was indeed a day of thanks.

Bekah loved her little 'Lady'.
Kaden & Bekah love to play with my cell phone so we decided to get them their own. Kaden saying "hello" on his phone.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with The Ericksen side of the family. It was fabulous just being with family and eating waaaaaay past when your stomach's content. :) Thanks mom and dad for the wonderful food. It was all delish!

The day following Thanksgiving we had a little birthday celebration with the other two sides of the family. We had cake and ice cream and serenaded our little ones. There was a joint effort in making Bekah & Kaden's birthday cake. I woke up early Friday morning to hit some of the sales (my first time doing this), so Ben made the cake and when I got home I decorated it. It turned out really good and tasted great too! By the way, black Friday wasn't too bad. I had imagined it being really horrible, and I actually had an enjoyable time. Thanks to my sister-in-laws Kim and Tina.

The joint effort birthday cake. Our babes really love dogs so we decided to do a puppy cake.
Posing with the cake. If I look a little exhausted it's because I was! Definitely not used to waking up at 3:40 in the AM.

Ben & I with our adorable little one year olds! Happy Birthday Kaden & Rebekah!

All said, the Thanksgiving holiday was simply marvelous!

Halloween Festivities!

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. We sure did! Halloween season wouldn't be complete for our family if we didn't attend Grandma & Grandpa Ericksen's annual Halloween Party. Each year we have dinner, oodles of treats, & carve pumpkins. We were thinking that maybe this year Josh & Jake would be a little more help with carving pumpkins, but as you can see by the look on Jake's face they weren't too into it. Ben of course was threatening to wipe pumpkin guts on Jake if he wouldn't clean the seeds out! :)

Grandpa Jim helping Josh clean his pumpkin out. Josh wasn't quite sure what to do with his hands once they were covered in goop.
The Halloween gang. What a group!
The final result of everyone's pumpkin carving talent. Ben & I did the pumpkins on the front row furthest left (the scarecrow & monster). It was fun, but man it sure takes some time.
Fairview Elementary holds a parade every Halloween. The kiddos walk up and down main street collecting candy from the various businesses and people. Josh & Jake were able to be in the parade this year. Ben was able to come during his lunch break to watch the boys parade up main street too. We had the Star Wars theme going on this year for our family. Josh (darth vader), Jake (Storm trooper), Rebekah (Princess Leia), & Kaden (Luke Skywalker). Ben & I at the parade with Bek's & Kaden.
Darth Vader approaching.
And Storm trooper Jake.
The dark side.
The good side.
A fabulous Halloween!

Family Firsts

I'll be the first to admit that I am an extremely lame blogger. But, I felt I needed to post some of our families happenings over the last few months. Josh & Jake started Kindergarten the end of August. It's hard to believe that I already have children old enough to be going to school. Where did those years go?

Josh posing for the first day of school.
Jake smiling for the camera.
Their first bus ride home. I can't believe that they're big enough to be riding a bus. Our babies are growing up soooo fast too. In about a month they'll be celebrating their first birthday. CRAZY!!! Just thought I'd share some cute little candid pictures of the baby tweeners.

Our beautiful Bekah Lynn.
Rub a dub dub it's Kaden & Bekah in the tub!

And our adorable Kaden Roy.

Summertime Fun Continued...

I'm playing catch up, but I hope you enjoy the pictures anyway. I missed putting these pictures in when I was originally loading the photos, and darn it that you can't put them in the order after the fact. Anyhow, just keep reading to find out more. This first picture is of Amy with the babes at Steins. Aren't those babes adorable!

Me & Jess swimming.
We visited Ben in the hospital when we went to Steins. I wished he would have been able to come with us for he was missed! I was happy we were able to stop by and visit him for awhile. Honestly, those 2 weeks he is in the hospital are always the longest for me. It truly makes me appreciate him and all he does to help out when he's home.

Back to the 24th of July ... My husband's band 'Upside' performed at the local car show. They did great! From left to right Dax Higgins, Ben (my hubbie), Kenny Cox (in the very back with the drums), and Spencer Cox. It's so much fun to watch my husband doing something that he loves and something that he's so good at.

My husband wasn't the only one having fun at the car show, Josh & Jake kept themselves entertained with the rock wall. Josh working his way to the top!

Jake just getting started. I wish you could see a close up of his hat. The hat has these fire flames on it with a car (thanks to the car show giveaways). Jake was so excited to get a prize and wouldn't take the hat off for days.
Near the beginning of the month of August my cousin Trevor and his now wife, Amanda, were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Ben was in the hospital during this time so I recruited my trusty baby-sitter/friend, Amy, to help out. We headed up to Park City and stayed a few nights (thanks to Uncle Russ). I didn't get a lot of pictures because most often my hands were full with babies, but I did get Josh & Jake in the hot tub (which they considered to be their own personal pool).
Taking advantage of the last few weeks of summer we decided to pack up, head down to Manti, & go swimming.
Me with my boys, and my sister Alyson's kids. From left to right: Vance, Josh, Emily, Me, Jake, & Jared. Good times! My sister Jessica was there too, but she was the photographer.