Growth

Today, Richie and I will celebrate our 4th anniversary! My parents, maternal grandparents and Richie's maternal grandparents will also be celebrating their anniversaries as well! Big day. We plan on making our will (very romantic, yes?) and last night we went out on a real live date and went out to eat at Outback Steakhouse! Woop Woop! (gift card that we've been saving courtesy of Richie's work- thank you very much) I should have taken a picture! If you haven't figured it out already, Richie and I are...frugal. Let's face it, we're pretty cheap. . I couldn't think of anything to make this year surprisingly. So I've opted to write a post for my sweetheart. He usually doesn't read the blog, so this will be something out of the ordinary and hopefully fun.

My dear-
Do you remember that time we were at your sister's wedding reception and a certain ex-girlfriend's mom was subtly trying to claw my eyes out?? (For lack of a better phrase.) She asked if me if I was good enough for you, and while I sat there dumbfounded with my mouth open, you heroically stepped in and told her that in the last year that you had known me, you had grown more than you had in your entire life. Well, I've been reflecting on the past 4 years since we got married and I wanted to share how much I've grown because of YOU, and remind you of how much we've accomplished together. We are a force to be reckoned with!!


Since June 26,2007 we have:
*Gotten sealed for time and all eternity
*Both graduated with our bachelor's degrees
*Had 2 children
*Moved 5 times
*Held 12 jobs between the two of us
*Bought 1 vehicle
*Accumulated ZERO debt
*Been in 4 different wards
*Held 7 different callings
*Traveled through UT, ID, WY, NE, IA, IL and TX

Because of you and the family we've created I have learned:
*How to make bread
*How to can some things
*Basic Gardening
*Minor Sewing skills
*How to effectively budget
*How to SWING DANCE!
*How to get a toddler out of a running car he's locked himself in
*Some pretty creative ways to cut an energy bill
*How to be a DI/thrift store shopping guru and decorator
*How to calm a crying child (mostly, just hand them to you :)
*How to Modge Podge
*Some sushi is de-dang-licious!
*How to paint a room
*my way around Eastern Idaho...kind of
*How to cut guy's hair!
*How to control a room of 25 6 year olds
*How to do a back flip on the tramp
*How to kiss ouchies better
*How to check the tire pressure and fill up the tires with air
*The anatomy of car brakes
*How to shave my legs while 9 months prego (you don't!)
*How to speak several dialects including husband, baby, and toddler
*How to help a migraine
*How to handle croup
*How to do an underdog
*How to play Frisbee golf!
*How to play Canasta
*That some people are downright dishonest and mean-hearted
*Likewise, some people are genuinely sweet and good.
etc etc etc etc etc


Together we have learned the value of:
*A Dollar
*A good ward
*Good friends
*Service going both ways
*A double stroller
*A mild climate
*Staying up late and talking to my best friend
*A hug after a long day
*Wonderful nursery teachers
*Paying your tithing
*A hotel after traveling for hours and hours
*Those who came before us, especially our parents

I wanted to find some of our engagement and wedding day pictures to post on here, but they're not on the computer and the prints are in storage. Nevertheless, enjoy this short walk down memory lane.

Shortly after engagement, visiting SG. Shaka.



Engaged. Right after end of the semester before I left for SG and you stayed in Rexburg. Aka, longest 3 months of our lives.


Coming for a visit in SLC


Just barely married, first camping trip!


First day of school our first semester being married. "I'm just a kid!"



First Christmas


Rach Gradumatated


Our "Hot" Picture.


Here comes Miles


Family of 3!


Richie Gradumatates!


Happy Family


Here comes Gwen!


Ta-Da! We're really good at making beautiful children, in case you haven't noticed.


Even Happier Family!


Most recent family pic



Thank you for helping me to become a better person. To paraphrase you 4.5 years ago, I have grown more in the past 4 years than I have throughout my entire life. I know I've told you this before, but I'm so glad I married my best friend. It makes this whole marriage thing so much better and easier. I'm especially glad that my best friend is a good-lookin, hard-workin man who pushes me to be better, but knows when to stop pushing me when I get annoyed and frustrated, and who loves me despite the extra baby weight hanging on and my hair changing colors mysteriously. :) You're my favorite. I love you (and the first wrinkles on your face full of "character"). Happy 4 years! Can't wait to see where we'll be in the next 4!
-Rach

DI Couture

I was reading a talk from Elder Holland recently about parenting and motherhood and, to paraphrase, he brought up the fact that for the first several years a couple is married, many couples are forced to be extremely frugal and decorate their homes with such styles as DI couture etc. I thought, "this is me". When I look around our apartment, I can find only one piece of furniture that we bought new, a bookshelf for $50 from Staples that we spray painted incorrectly, and now it looks like it was a hand-me-down. Everything else is second hand. So lately, I've been working on more projects to make the most of our...style. It's super fun for me, like a game almost. One day, when we're millionaires, I think I'll still shop at DI and other thrift stores for projects. If you want to read the entire talk by elder Holland, look up "Because she is a Mother". It's one of those talks I should read every day.

In the kids room I....

Hung some stuff on the walls finally. I found this flower/branch/wall hanging thing at DI. It was really gold and cheesy, but I fell in love with it, so I brought it home and painted it. I got the idea to make a mobile from a website, but had to tailor it to what I had on hand, which was string, embroidery hoops, paper and hot glue. :) Fancy right?


On Miles side, I found a small shelf at a garage sale and painted it, stacked some cool DI books and Richie's old pinewood derby car on it. Found a small map of Oahu from Richie's mission. I also found a big map at DI and placed it in the "travel" corner next to his 2 suitcases (also courtesy of the DI) and his horse. The circle things are actually embroidery hoops that I found at the DI. I painted them and used scraps of fabric I had on hand to go in the middle. We didn't want to put lots of holes in the wall hanging them up, so I figured I could use that blue sticky tack. I'm rethinking that choice every time I get Miles out of bed and he has a chunk of it in his hair I have to cut out....any suggestions?




Remember this bookshelf? We didn't want to put huge holes in the wall at this apartment, so we opted to make it a planter on our front steps! I really like it that way! Never mind that half of the flowers are dead, I took this picture after we got back from our trip, so they probably didn't get enough water.


A friend of ours was moving and was getting rid of things. She graciously let us take this entertainment center so we could set our TV on something somewhat substantial instead of it teetering on a little block. I sanded, painted and distressed it.

Nauvooooo!

This trip has been a long time coming in my family and we were so happy that after 4 years of being married, we could finally go on the annual family trip! Here's the run-down.
Friday:
*We woke up at 4 am and got on the road by 5.
*Passed through Star Valley, the place where my Grandma Hinckley was born and raised, and I got all emotional.
*We learned that after Star Valley, Wyoming is probably one of the most boring states to drive through in the entire U.S. Sorry to any of you WY natives. We saw the place where trailer homes go to die and followed a huge truck that carried only pig's blood in it. Ugh, Wyoming.
*Nebraska was refreshing with it's tree filled landscapes and classic American scenery like red barns and milk cows grazing. We drove until about midnight and arrived in Omaha, found the closest hotel and shelled out more money than we should have to sleep in a bed and use a shower and toilet.

Miles thought this bear was real. There seemed to be a lot of parks on the way with trains. When we grabbed Miles in the morning we didn't put shoes on him. They were packed away on top of the car, so he was barefoot at all of the parks etc. We are such mean parents.



Saturday and Sunday:
*Richie took Miles swimming in the hotel pool and Miles fell in love.
*Drove to Council Bluffs and tried to find Winter Quarters. Got lost and frustrated after being in the car for so long, and gave up trying to find it. Headed to Ames Iowa.
*Ames gets a thumbs up, we liked it. Met up with some family there and stayed with my bro and his family and had those all to often thoughts of "Will we ever have a house? Will we ever be able to afford _______?"
*Miles makes friends with his cousins Izzy and Theo and takes over Theo's train set and Woody Doll.
*Did the whole church thing.






Monday:
*The last leg of the trip to Nauvoo begins, and on the way we stop in Iowa at the "American Gothic" house and take some sweet pictures.
*Settle in to our temporary home, the Hyrum Smith farmhouse, meet up with the rest of the fam, and have an awesome FHE learning about our Ancestors who were part of Nauvoo.
*Both Monday and Tuesday night were full of thunder and lightning storms all night. Miles was scared of them and I secretly loved pulling him in bed with us to comfort him.






Tuesday:
*Because of the thunder and lightening, the power was out Tuesday morning, which resulted in a shower in the dark and wet hair to go to the temple with.
*Did a session in the Nauvoo temple with my mom and dad, all of my brothers and sisters and all of their spouses. Pretty cool. The Nauvoo temple is incredibly beautiful.
*Toured a few houses in historic Nauvoo
*Got some good reading in, played at a park with Miles, and Richie played "ball" with the boys.
*Miles made friends with more cousins playing in the hot tub.








Wednesday:
*Richie went with all the other priesthood holders and helped do baptisms at the temple for the older cousins.
*We visited the Carthage jail where Jospeh and Hyrum were slain.
*While trying to explain to Miles what happened there, he must have gotten confused and kept saying, "Jee Cry" (Jesus Christ). Once he understood we weren't talking about Jesus and that we were talking about Joseph Smith, is turned into "Jo Emis" :)
*We walked the trail of hope down Parley Street, the same steps the saints took when they were pushed out of the city and had a family testimony meeting near the banks of the Mississippi River.
*What would any trip be without some frisbee golf? Richie managed to cram some of that in.






Thursday:
*Toured a few more spots in historic Nauvoo and then hit the road!
*Found a hotel somewhere in Nebraska and paid a little less for the convenience of a bed, toilet and shower.





Friday:
*The home stretch! Once again, Wyoming was disappointing, but we did stop at a gas station that gave us a free ice cream cone just for filling up!



In case you were doing the math at home, we spent a total of 52 hours in the car, minimum, this trip. The van has officially been broken in. I was impressed with how well the kids traveled, how well the van ran and how un-humid it turned out to be in the mid-west. All in all, it was one fantastic trip!