A Dozen

Jon and I had our first date in January 2004. We went to Taco Bell and saw Cheaper by the Dozen in theaters. (You've all heard this story, I'm sure.)

Fast forward 12 years, and it is 2016! Typically on our anniversary we re-watch Cheaper by the Dozen and eat Taco Bell, or go see a new movie in theaters and eat fast food of some sort. Just a throwback to our first date in some fashion.

But THIS year was number 12! A dozen years. And since we saw Cheaper by the Dozen the very first time we really hung out together, this just had to be a bigger year. "12 is our number." -Kate Baker, Cheaper by the Dozen

Our family, 12 years after our first date :)

My awesome friend, Jordan, came over to help me plan. Since Jon had Friday off of work, we made it the anniversary celebration day! We had a list of 12 things to do, including taking a family picture, which Jordan did for us ^^ :) 

On Friday morning I gave Jon a dozen eggs:

A dozen balloons:

A dozen hearts, spelling out "A Dozen Years!"

 A dozen drawings, full of a dozen things:

thanks for all your suggestions on facebook! (see: a dozen meatballs, a dozen hot wings, a dozen flowers, etc...)

 Two of the pictures were of our first date... to now
















For breakfast I cooked 12 strips of bacon (they were only half strips. and since we haven't eaten bacon in months it was a little much! haha!)

Then for lunch we had a dozen things from Taco Bell!

Kate picked this picture for the blog. She said it is silly ;)

Amongst the 12 things we did throughout the day were:
-Going on a walk
-Giving high fives
-Writing letters to each other to open in 12 years
-Watching Cheaper by the Dozen
-Baking a dozen cookies
-Painting a picture together!

We already had a blank canvas sitting around, so we asked the kids what they wanted to paint a picture of, and Kate said, "We want to paint with our feet!" So we did...

 Don't worry, I got in on the action too! The purple paint is from my foot.













After bath time we went up to the temple to watch the Sunset together. :)

It was such a fun family day, and I'm so glad that we spent year number 12 all together!

Happy 12 Years of dating, Jon! I'm excited to see where we are 12 years from now. :)

Just to be Clear

Just to be clear: Jon works damn hard for our family.

Working in retail is not the most glamorous thing you could be doing. But when the school you are teaching at in one state closes down, and you move far away from your friends and family with no prospects of anywhere else hiring teachers--ESPECIALLY not full time ones--it is completely reasonable to take a job, ANY job, that will let you work for trade of pay.

Because of Jon's hard work, we are out of debt, we have been able to get through college without any loans, and our family is taken care of each month with a place to live and food to eat. Because of his patience, he was able to get his foot in the door as an adjunct faculty member at BYU-Idaho. In the meantime he writes, and submits his work for publication, and researches doctorate programs, and runs a literary journal. His first priority is to care for our family, in whatever ways he can, and then still tries to pursue his dreams and not give up on being a full-time writer someday. I don't find anything more respectable than a person that can humble themselves and stick with a job they don't love, in order to provide for the people they do love.

So for anyone who feels that they "can't respect" someone who is working 60+ hours a week and putting aside their wants for true needs, take a look in the mirror and tell me what you would do in the same situation. This is the real problem with America. And it's not about respect for your elders, or respect for your teachers, or respect for the government, or the government's respect for you, or any of that. This is about respect for each other, and realizing that when you say something, there is a human being at the other end of those comments, and this goes in all directions. It's not about respecting _____, it's about respecting people.

Heavenly Father doesn't love someone less because of where they work, and neither should we.

When you graduate from college and realize that jobs aren't always just handed to you, come back and see me.

Edwin @ 22 Months

At the end of January Edwin hit 22 months! I don't know where he was looking in this picture, but it was still super cute :D

He gets more and more handsome every day. :)

Edwin loves to "read" and enjoys looking at books when we go to the library each week. I always let the kids pick out a couple books to bring home. Last week Edwin chose, "I love my Mommy Because..." :) this was not a surprise. Edwin is the most loving, mommy-attached kid around.

He also loves to color, and it's been fun to see how he follows along with what Kate does. Here are the pictures they colored this week in nursery:

Kate colored Jesus' face, and so did Edwin...

Kate colored the door of the church, and the faces of the family, and so did Edwin...

Edwin is still very much a mama's boy and needs to be around me all the time. Here he fell asleep on the floor with his leg over my foot while I was writing in my journal. haha! :D























He is my little Linus, carrying around his blanket and sucking his thumb. :D I have tried to catch a picture of him snuggling nearby, but he is elusive. While I was preparing for class the other day, he sat on my lap at the computer with his head down on the desk in front of me. He is just too cute!

Edwin says small sentences like, "Mommy, help me!" and "More, please, mommy." He is stringing words together and can acknowledge when something belongs to another person in the family, "Kate's blanket" or "Margo's crate".  He also loves to tell us when things are funny.








































His favorite foods are bananas ("banalalas"), yogurt ("ro-grit"), toast, cheese, Larabars ("lo-bar"), oranges, apples, waffles, and cookies. haha!

Cutest of all, Edwin LOVES to pray. He insists that our bedtime routine is prayer FIRST and then a song. And he always has to be the one to say, or at least lead prayer-time. I'll leave you with my favorite Edwin prayer that he actually gave the other night:

A Prayer: by Edwin

January 27, 2016

Edwin: "Fodder" (Heavenly Father)

Mommy: "Yes, Heavenly Father. We are thankful for this day."

E: "day! church!"

M: "ok, and church."

E: "nos" (snow)

M: "and snow... and we are thankful for our family."

E: "daddy!"

M: "and daddy."

E: "daddy!"

M: "and gram"

E: "gam!"

M: "and nonna and papa"

E: "papa!"

M: "and..."

E: "nonna!"

M: "and grandpa"

E: "nonna!"

M: "and grandpa"

E: "nonna!"

M: "and..."

E: "gappa!"

M: "we ask thee to bless us."

E: "church!"

M: ...

E: "nos!" (snow again)

M: ...

E: "eggs!"

M: [laughing] "please help us to sleep well."

E: "waffles!"

M: [laughing harder] "and help us to be safe."

E: "safe."

M: "In the name..."

E: "name!"

M: "...of Jesus Christ..."

E: "Christ."

M: "amen."

E: "YAY!!!!" (followed by hand clapping)

Happy 22 months, little man!