A Great Birthday Weekend

My husband did a great job on treating me wonderfully for my birthday...he does a great job at treating me wonderfully every day but he went above and beyond on Saturday. I really only wanted 1 thing for my birthday...a membership to 24 hour fitness. Getting a gym membership from your husband on your birthday is a tricky thing. He was so worried that he would be put in the dog house if he got it for me that I had to convince him it is what I wanted! Wahoo for the membership.....
Then he totally surprised me with gift number 2! I was not even expecting it but love that he got me the Wii!
Justin my cute boy made me a beautiful card that is sitting above my Wii. He gave me lots of hugs and promised to be extra good...no arguing or sassing all week long...it was a big promise for him.

Now my cute Sariah was suppose to only give me one present. She bought me a super cute dress that I love and will post pictures of later. But then she decided at about 11pm Saturday night to give me another present....a weekend and the week thus far of no sleep. Wahoo! She started crying at about 11ish saturday night and did not stop crying till about 4:30 am...yep that is 5 hours of crying. Then she slept for a few hours and woke up and slept and woke up...each time waking up with a pleasant cry. We made it to Sacrament meeting at 1pm and only stayed for that meeting before we headed for home. She did sleep for a little bit Sunday night but woke up many times screaming crying and it was just soo much fun.
Right now she is still awake at 10:45pm and I am hoping she will get some sleep tonight that won't require me holding her. She is playing on the floor right now without crying...it might be a good sign? I think she is teething but has yet to break a tooth thru that pink gum line of hers.....but she has tons of snot...a low grade fever....chews on everything....and is so cranky. She also might have a cold since I have a scratchy throat now...but my scratchy throat can be attributed to no sleep.
Anyway, I am alive and well, I had a great birthday...hopefully by next week I will have some better pictures to share and a sleeping baby again.

Birthdays, why are they so important to women?

So last night as I was nursing Sariah to sleep and then again when I was driving home from working out, I came to a conculsion of why birthday's are so important to women. Well I should not say all women, I am one woman who can not speak for all women. There must be at least a few women who feel this way, so I am going to claim it for all women every where....and if they want to join in on what I think is a really good explanation then more power to them!
Anyway as I was driving home from working out, I looked at the clock and noticed that it was only a few hours until I would officially turn 31. I thought of what I was doing last year at this time and remembered how I was pregnant with my cute little Sariah. Then the thought went to her birthday and how I would never forget the events leading up to the time she was born. Seriously those moments are seared into my brain with vivid recollection of pain and joy all mixed into one emotion. Then I picked up the phone and called the one person who I knew would remember what time I was born and where they were at that exact moment...my mother. I thanked her for not giving up and going through the arduous process of labor and delivery to bring me into this world. I thanked her of for eating healthy and taking care of herself so that I could come into the world and be the person I am this day. Basically I just told her I loved her and was thinking of her on my birthday. We discussed how now there will not be a birthday go by that I don't remember how my kids came into my life and the emotions and pains that went along with getting them here. Each birthday that we celebrate will help me remember why I love them and why I am loved.
That is why this birthday and every birthday to follow will be important to me...someone had to go through the process of getting me here. It wasn't easy...seriously it wasn't easy! Each of us came into this world through a mother's womb...I know this will start to be debatable soon with things they are doing with test tubes and cloning and such...but for now we all have a birth mother who brought us into the world. I am so blessed to be able to have children and even more grateful to have a mother who took the time to bring me into this world. Births are miraculous adventures that begin at conception and never end, that is why they are so important to celebrate.

Family Photo Shoot

During the vacation time in Utah my Mom and Dad had a family photo shoot. It was nice to have everyone there for the picture. Actually the family picture is missing one brother and his wife who had to work and were unable to come for the picture. It is sad that they are missing and hopefully we will be able to have another family picture with everyone. Here are the pics from the photo shoot.

Grandma and Grandpa

The whole family minus Truman and his wife Vanessa

Grandma and Grandpa and all of their Grandkids...number 10 grandkid should be born in late February so the picture will need to be taken again once he is here.

The Fraze Fam! I think my kids look great in this picture.

Red Load of Laundry

So I just have to post this really quick before I go to bed.
Laundry seems to never end. Seriously how can I get all of it clean if they are still wearing clothes?
While I was posting my 2 blogs this evening I was also doing laundry.
For some reason I find it very odd that I get so much enjoyment out of the fact that I now have a full load of reds to do each time I do laundry. Who gets excited about that? Me that is who!
I must be going crazy or really love being a mom and housewife to find so much enjoyment out of laundry.
As a single person I only had a few items of clothing that would be considered appropriate to go into a red load, so they would end up in a load of darks. When I married James my cute little man Justin added a few red shirts to what I had and it still didn't even come close to making a full red load.
Then our cute little girl came into the mix 8 months ago and presto chango we have a full red load with all the pinks and purples she has added to our laundry. Wahoo!
Seriously I think I need to get my head examined for even sharing this bit of information...who rejoices over laundry?
But as I am sitting here and thinking about my red load of laundry and where my life has come from within the past 2 years, I am so grateful for my laundry and all who contribute to my red load. The Lord has blessed me beyond what I deserve and given me so much more then I ever thought possible when he placed James in my life. I feel blessed this evening as I finish folding my red load and get ready to go to bed, I wanted to share that I am grateful for my red load and my beautiful family.
The simple pleasures of life, laundry, and lovin'.

The last week in Utah (Day 11 thru 18)

So our last week in Utah and I can fit all the pictures I took that week in one post. I must of taken too many pictures the first week we were there and ran out of energy with the picture taking finger. Anyway. Enjoy.

Sariah, Me, and Rachel before she boards a plane for VA.

These pictures of Abe and Sariah are great because they not only are both wearing cute brown outfits that match (and it wasn't planned) but they are drinking each other's sippy cups. They kept doing this through out the time they were together, trading sippy cups or finding the other person's and taking it. It was funny to be and they are just so cute together.

My little impish princess.

Can you believe that they are only 6 months apart?

Pops and AJ making the same face...it is so darn cute!

Dad, Patty, and the girls came down to Tallies on New Year's Day to play. It was a lot of fun just hanging out playing games and chatting. That is when we came up with Pops and Honey, which is what they wanted to be called instead of Grandpa and Grandma....Patty is just too young to be a Grandma. :)

I was able to go up to Park City twice while in Utah to visit some friends in my old office. Sadly I only took one picture out of all my friends that are up there I only took one. I can't believe it. I also did not go skiing while up there which I can't believe I chose not to do...what was I thinking? But I did get to see my friends.
Me, Sariah, and Deby

While I was up in Park City with Sariah Justin opted to stay at home with his Uncles because they were soooo much more fun then driving in a car. One day he was out playing with an Uncle (who shall remain nameless) in the igloo. They were poking sticks back and forth to each other thru the igloo walls. Well one of the sticks got poked right into my little man's eye. Good thing it didn't poke an eye out and only required a butterfly bandage and no stitches. Boys will be boys and what might seem fun, isn't always the brightest thing to do.
Notice the bandage on his left eye.

Grandpa loves to hold the babies.

My cute friend Jenny who lives in Oakley was able to come down and visit for a bit. It was so nice to see her and her husband. They have been great friends for a good long time. Since like 2002...which is a long time in my book. Jenny took the pictures at our wedding...which are amazing. (wedding pics are here if you want to see)

Kurt is in the background of this pic...you can tell that I am not the greatest photographer.

Sariah is just so adorable in her very first hair bow picture. I love this headband and flower clip. I can't believe it took me 7 months before I started putting things in her hair...what is my problem. She should be a baby model.

On our way out of Utah there was a massive snow storm which had us waiting in the airport for a little bit longer then expected. The kiddos had a fun time playing together.

Sunday in SLC (Day 10)

So I took a few days off from uploading pictures from our trip and I was almost done! So I will get these off the camera and onto the blog before another day goes by and I find another excuse.

We woke up Sunday morning in Pocatello and had to get going to make sure we made it back down to Salt Lake City for James to catch his flight back to Texas. We left so early to make sure that he wouldn't miss his flight that we had extra time to spend at Temple Square*. We enjoyed our last few hours with James going thru the visitors center and taking some pictures. We sure didn't want him to leave so we were glad we had a bit more time with him all to ourselves.

Here we all are in front of the Christus which is located in the North Visitor's center.

Down stairs of the visitors center they have done a whole bunch of renovations. I was so impressed by all the new stuff they had down there for people to view. Justin loved watching the videos.

Baby Girl and Daddy Man (aren't they so cute)

She loves spending time with Daddy

It was very cold in Utah for us Texans so we tried our best to stay inside mostly while we were at Temple Square. I was able to capture a few pics on the way back to the car of the crew and the temple.

All bundled up

Justin and I in front of one of the waterfalls at the Conference Center

Justin was the photographer for this one...I love the pole coming out of James' head.

A far away shot of the Temple.

*Temple Square: The geographic center of Salt Lake City, Utah. Temple Square is the location of the Salt Lake Temple, the Tabernacle, and Assembly Hall, as well as two visitors’ centers. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs in the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

Get Back Up!

This was an inspiring video that I saw on a blog. We each need to get back up no matter what we might struggle with in life. Very inspiring.

Giffords In Pocatello (Day 9)

So we drove up the afternoon after Christmas to Idaho to spend time with my Dad's side of the family. It took us so long to get up there we didn't really get to hang out with everyone until the following day. It was so much fun to see everyone and to have most of us there.

Ian Ray and Patty (aka Honey) being goofy.

Cutie Tootie Laurel Loo.

Ian and Me

Justin and Brynn

Miss Menleigh

Grandpa(aka Pops) and Sariah

The girls with Grandma...Tallie was missing in this one

Pops gettig attacked

Great Grandma Gifford and Justin

Me, Sariah and Grandma Gifford

4 Generations

The Namesake's Family
We have called my brother Ian the Namesake since he is the only Gifford boy to carry on the Lavaughn Gifford (my Grandpa Gifford) name. Ian has done his job of having a son and now Sean will be called the Namesake.

Nick and AJ

Justin is always wanting to hold Sariah

Playing Games at Grandmas

Brynn was totally into the game.

See I told you he is amazing! He changes diapers and I have proof.

The next 3 pics are of Great Grandma Gifford with all her Great Grandkids. I posted all 3 of them because Grandma is only looking at the camera in the last one and all the kids look great in the first 2.
In the front you have Sean. On Grandma's lap you have Sariah and my cousin's new daughter whose name starts with a K and I can't remember it cause I am a punk. Then to the right of Grandma is AJ and Kiley. And then on the left is my cute Justin.

The Namesake and his son.
Ian and Sean

Tallie and her son AJ. Grandma and her son, my Dad.

Kiley and Sariah

Grandma and Sean

My cutie boys!

Katrina, my cousin, and Marco's little family.

Honey and Justin