I hope you enjoy this as much as I did...

I just got some pictures that my sister Nat took on the cruise. I just had to laugh when I saw this picture. Some of you may think that there is some editing done, but I say to you 'nay'. This is my husband at his finest. THAT'S A KEEPER!!!

11 Years!

Being the worst blogger on earth I of course neglected blogging about my Anniversary. Its true, I have in fact been married 11 years. It is really strange because in some ways it doesn't seem like 11 years could have possibly passed since I married my sweetheart. At the same time I can hardly remember my world without him in it. I truly am married to such a wonderful man. We have been through a lot together, and I am so grateful for every day I have had with him. He helps me to strive to be a better person. He is such a great father and husband. He is so smart and kind. He is always looking for ways to help others. I am just so lucky to have such a wonderful man.
Now that I have blathered on about how wonderful Nate is I have to tell about our incredibly romantic anniversary. During family home evening on Monday nights we always review the calendar to see what we have going on in the coming week. At family home evening on March 31 we went over the calendar as usual. On Tuesday I called Nate at work and our conversation went something like this:

Me: "Nate when we went over the calendar did you realize we completely forgot to mention that it is our Anniversary on Thursday?"
Nate: "No, I hadn't noticed, but you are right it is our Anniversary on Thursday."
Me: "Well do you want to do something to celebrate?"
Nate: "We are going to dinner for Craig's (a friend of ours) Birthday on Friday, so I don't really want to go to dinner on Thursday too." (Nate would much rather eat dinner at home that I cook, I am not that great a cook, but he is homebody)
Me: "Yeah, I don't care if we go out either. Should we do the gifts thing?"
Nate: "I don't have anything I really need right now. Do you?"
Me: "I was going to get a magazine rack. We could pick out a magazine rack this weekend and say it was for our Anniversary."
Nate: "That sounds good."
Me: "This is kind of sad for an Anniversary. We aren't going out and we aren't really doing gifts. Have we been married so long that we've become boring?"
Nate: "No, I would like to call it comfortable. We are comfortable."
So, although we did nothing exciting Nate bought me some beautiful roses and we picked out a real humdinger of a magazine rack.
Regardless of how exciting, or not exciting, as the case may be our Anniversary gave me a chance to think about how happy I am I married Nate.

Snapshot

My friend Kari, aka "Disco Mom" does these entries she has titled snapshot. I think it is a really great idea, so here goes my first snapshot. Now, keep in mind I was a statistics major, not an English major so clever, interesting writing is not my forte. (and I don't know how to put a little accent over the e in forte).

The other day in the car...

Jake: When did you have Peter?

Me: I had him on May 14th.

Jake: No, I mean when was he BORN?

Me: Well, he was born on May 14th really.

Jake: Wow, thats awesome that you had him on his birthday.

Me: Yeah, I am pretty amazing.

And for everyone wondering if I explained to him how birthdays work, the answer is no. I just left him thinking his Mom was, in his own words, awesome.
Here is one of my favorite pictures of Jake from the cruise.

Vote for Emma!

You may have seen the link to Haylee Bean Photography on my blog. Well, Haylee is looking for a child between the ages of 5 and 10 to photograph for her new website. I entered Emma in the contest she is having and Emma is one of the 7 finalists. The way the winner will be chosen is by votes. The picture I have posted here is the picture that I submitted. So I am asking everyone to go to Haylee's website by clicking here and vote for Emma. She is number 7. Thanks for all your help! We are really excited about this.

4 Birthdays and a Cruise...

It just doesn't have the same ring to it as 4 Weddings and A Funeral, but that is basically what has taken up the last month of my life. Oh yeah, that and Christmas. So basically we have just had one big party at the Swenson household. We also squished a trip to Boise in there, so needless to say we are just going non stop in the Swenson home.
First was my birthday. Birthdays just don't have the same excitement they used to. I'm sure its not because I am getting old, right. If it weren't for the kids I would probably just get an extra Diet Coke that day and call it good. Then we had Christmas which was absolutely GREAT! I just love Christmas with kids. I am not going to post all the pictures, but here is a link to some more if you are interested. Then we headed to Boise. We went the same time as Nate's sister Natalie, which of course made it a blast for me. Nate gets babysitting duty too often when Nat and I get together because we just have so many things we want to do. We really should live closer to each other because we would always be playing. It helps that our kids are basically the exact same ages too. So, I really enjoyed our trip to Boise too. We celebrated Nate's Birthday in Boise, I guess. He isn't really a birthday guy either so we did as much celebrating as he lets us. It is on New Year's Eve, so I imagine it has always been hard to feel like it was "your special day". As you can clearly see from the picture I was a little slow on taking the shot, so I made him re-inact blowing out the candles. Yeah, he thinks he's hilarious.

Next was Jake's Birthday. We weren't planning on a party, but for some reason he thought we were, so at the very last minute we threw together a Star Wars party. He loved it. It really was fun. We made lightsabers for all the kids and played games with them. It really was fun, I just would like to have planned better.

Then, Emma's Birthday! Emma had a family/friends birthday. She got to choose where to go for dinner and she chose "the divers' place" which translated means the Mayan. So, we thought we would get an early dinner and then get home and have everyone over for cake and ice cream. We did not plan the Jazz game into our schedule. So we had to postpone cake and ice cream until the next day. She didn't seem to mind though. We had a great time at both the Mayan and home for cake. Kid's birthdays are so much fun. Kids just love having a day dedicated to them, and I love spoiling them that day.

Last, but definately not least we went on our first cruise! It was a Mexican Riviera Cruise and it was great, for the most part. Here is just a taste of some of the fun we had. I will cover the cruise in detail in my next post because it was as Emma says "a doosy". Overall we had a great time though. We stopped in Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. The weather was beautiful and we saw some pretty amazing places. More to come though on that cruise.
Since he is the only one without a birthday in the 3 weeks that surround Christmas and New Years I am just going to post a pic of Peter because he is getting so big and he is so darn cute! I love this boy.

Halloween

I absolutely love Halloween with kids! They are so excited to get all dressed up and go trick-or-treating. I love thinking about what each of my kids will dress up as. It is all so fun! I start thinking about it sometime in August usually. So, for the unveiling, albeit a little after the fact, of my kids' Halloween costumes, in no particular order.... I give you
SPONGEBOB!

MY LITTLE "SCARY" WITCH!

OUR RED HOT CHILE PEPPER!

They were all so cute that day. I just loved it. It was one of those times I wish I could have stopped time and just enjoyed the day forever. Jake perfected his Spongebob laugh and kept running around saying, "I'm ready, I'm ready." I know only a select few will actually understand that, but it was pretty funny. Emma was very insistent that she was not a "cute" witch, but a very "scary" witch. She came up with all the make-up on her own. That was what made her so "scary." Pete, well he just sat on my lap in his pepper costume and smiled at everyone that came by to see us.
Our neighborhood does this great thing where we all trick-or-treat on one street. The city closes the street for us (yes, I live in small town, USA) and we all set up chairs, tables, some very ambitious people bring decorations and games and we just do all the trick-or-treating together there. There is always cider and hot cocoa and everyone has a ball. It was especially fun this year because the weather was so great. I know there are a lot of people who do the trunk-or-treat thing, but I think this everyone out walking around together is just, well, better. So, there. Anyway I hope you enjoy the pictures of my adorable Halloween kidos and I hope everyone had as great a holiday as we did. There is also a follow-up post coming soon about my obsession with Emma's costumes. It is a must read if I do say so myself. Mainly because I have some great pictures.

He's not mad, really... thats just how he looks

My sister Natalie did this blog about her husband. I thought it was really cute, then my sis-in-law Erica did it about Bob, and then my cousin, Kristin, about her husband Eric. I thought, oh that is so sweet. They all said these nice things about their husbands. I didn't really think of doing one until I was talking with one of my friends, who shall remain nameless, and she mentioned that if you don't know Nate he comes off kind of well, angry or unhappy, or ornery. Now, I don't think of him like that because I know that is just the way he looks naturally, you know like he hates the world. But I started thinking that it was probably a good idea to do one of those husband blog thingys about him because who knows how many people out there really don't know what a fun guy (I love saying that because it sounds like fungi) I am married to. So, here you have it a whole post devoted to the one and only Nate Swenson.

Who's your man? Nate

How long have you been together? Our first date was September 27, 1996 (ahhh! I'm old) So it will be 11 years on September 27.

Dating/Engaged/Married? 2 months, engaged 4 1/2 months, married 10 years 4 1/2 months.

How old is your man? 32, And still hot!

Who eats more? Nate. He isn't much of a meal eater, but he eats way more often than I do during the day. And if its pie, forget about it!

Who said "I love you" first? This is going to really show how long we have been married... I don't remember. I know Nate told me he loved me and he would just let me know if it changed.

Who weighs more? Nate. He is over a foot taller than me, he better.

Who sings better? Me, but only because Nate doesn't sing. He swears that he sings the hymns in church but I have yet to actually hear sound coming from his mouth. His Mom likes to tell us about how he starred in his first grade musical though, so I might be surprised.

Who's older? Nate, 2 years and 10 days. He was born on New Year's Eve at 10:30 at night. The doctor actually thought he might be able to wait and have Nate be the first New Year's baby, but Nate's dad wanted the tax write-off.

Who's smarter? Probably Nate. His mind is like a steel trap for facts and data. He knows a little bit, or a lot, about everything. I know I am smart, but like my sister Natalie said about herself, I say dumb things. Often I know that it was dumb to say, but I don't realize that until after it has come out of my mouth.

Who's temper is worse? Mine, by far. Nate is very even tempered. I don't think I have even heard him raise his voice.

Who does the laundry? I have addressed the laundry issue in a previous post. See, I have really good intentions so I start it but usually it takes Nate's prompting and help to get it done. I almost always fold and he puts away. It works.

Who does dishes? Me, most of the time. Nate will help if I ask, but I am a very controlling person about how my dishwasher is loaded. My friend Becky and I suffer from the same dishwasher control issues and have concluded it is most of the time better for our husbands to just let us load. In fact unloading is touchy too because I like my cupboards a certain way. I guess he just can't win.

Who's feet are bigger? Definitely Nate, although after so many pregnancies my feet aren't as dainty as they once were.

Who's hair is longer? Mine, mainly because I have hair. I don't think Nate's thinning hair bothers him because he is still 'so good looking.'

Who's better with the computer? This is pretty funny, uh Nate, duh. He swears the only phone calls that are for him are computer questions. That is not true at all because he also gets calls with bishopric questions.

Who mows the lawn? Nate. He really needs a riding lawn mower, but he has been using the push mower all summer without complaint. I did try half the lawn once but it takes me way longer and looks way worse. I would be willing to do it though.

Who pays the bills? I pay them, but Nate works to support my rock-n-roll lifestyle.

Who cooks dinner? Me. I really don't mind fixing dinner, it is the grocery shopping that drives me bonkers!

Who drives when you are together? Nate, unless he is having low blood sugar, then either no one is consciously driving or hopefully I am driving.

Who pays when you go out to dinner? Always me. I think Nate just doesn't want the hassle, and I don't mind.

Who's the most stubborn? That is definitely a hard one. We are both pretty stubborn, but I am just passive aggressive and he isn't. So, basically it's obvious when he is being stubborn, I act like I am not being stubborn. It makes decisions difficult needless to say.

Who's the first one to admit when they're wrong? I am. Nate has better logical arguments for things than I do so even if he was wrong he can make me think he wasn't. Also, he makes fun of me all the time because I apologize for EVERYTHING. Even things I have no control over, I apologize for them.

Who's parents do you see more? Probably mine. We see my parents more often for shorter periods of time, and we see his parents less often for longer periods of time. I don't know if it evens out or what.

Who kissed who first? Nate, and frankly it felt like it took him FOREVER.

Who asked who out? I actually asked him out. I had been hanging out with all his roommates for a while because they were the "hotties" of the ward, but Nate was working nights on a campaign, so I hadn't met him. I had my eye on one of his roommates, but then the first night I was still at their apartment when Nate came home from work my mind was changed. He was so funny and charismatic that as I walked home with my roommate Emily I told her I had to ask Nate out, and I did. He wasn't even sure which of us (me and my roommates) it was that had asked him out when he said yes.

What did you do?We went to a corn maze. I kind of think those are lame, but I hadn't been to one before. Then we went and had desert. Nate said I didn't act like I really liked him, but he was wrong. I really wanted to go out with him again, but I had been asked out on dates for the next two weekends, so it took a couple more weeks before we went on another official date.

Who's more sensitive? Me! Sometimes Nate can't even walk in the door without me getting my feelings hurt.

Who's taller? Definitely Nate. I am 5'1" and Nate is 6' 1". But I wear heels most of the time, so many don't know how tall I really am.

Who has more friends? This is a hard one because it has changed throughout our marriage. When we first got married I would definitely say Nate because he had "the guys". I mostly had friends that were guys when we got married, so I didn't have very many close friends after we got married. Nate has often said he is happy with the friends he has and he doesn't need any more. He has a few really close friends and I have a larger group of not as close friends. It is funny because where we live right now it seems like we just have a ton of people around that both of us want to be friends with. Its great.

Who wears the pants in the relationship? Nate, but not because he is bossy or anything. In fact he would rather not, but I just have such a hard time saying what I want that he ends up having to make the decisions. I am working on it though.

Nate really isn't angry you just have to get to know him well enough to look past his angry eyebrows. I wanted to date him because he was 'so gooood lookin' and because he had such a great sense of humor, and I guess that is something that only a chosen few of us have gotten to experience.
I love you Nate!

Oh, I just had to add a picture of Peter because he is changing so much so fast!

Just kidding, 2 pictures.