Happy Valentines!

Kind of...yesterday was Valentines Day and me and Wesley were sick with the flu! We still had heart pizza with juice.  It was sad, Wesley has been wanting heart pizza and to light our heart candles since the day I got them out, and I kept telling him we would light them on Valentines day.  Well, he was so sick that while we ate he laid on the couch sick and sad. So we will have to do a redo dinner.

Mike's sister Sarah had baby Elsie on January 17 (I think).  She is so cute and everything went as planned.  That's always nice.

That makes me a Aunt for the 25th time!

 We need to get us one of these. :)

 She is so cute, and we are glad to welcome her to the family.

We took Emily (Mikes little sister) to the MTC on February 6.  She is going to be such an amazing missionary. She is going to Birmingham Alabama, Spanish speaking.  She has such a strong testimony, and she is so good at talking to other people. 

 The kids are sure going to miss her.

 Maybe almost as much as Mike is going to miss her.  They like to have salsa parties. While they talk about politics and school work. I think Mikes going to miss all the Math homework he used to help her with. :)

I don't think anyone will miss her as much as her Mama. They are so close...it's cute.

We put our house up for sale on Monday, February 11. We had one person come through that same day.  Then on Tuesday we had 3 different families come through. After the last family came through Mike called me and said that he had a really good feeling about them.That night their Realtor text Mike and said his clients wanted to make an offer. So on Wednesday morning we accepted a full price offer!

 We are pretty excited.   Today they came through and did their inspection.  Everything went well.  We are going to keep our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.  It's bitter sweet.  We have loved this house, and all the amazing people we have met here.

We feel extremely blessed.  I know that the Lord is watching over us, and that he answers prayers.

 

Christmas Catch UP

First I want to say how much I love Mike, he is amazing and I'm so glad that he is mine! Second, this is a super long post, just be warned.

Us in 2005.

 We had such a good anniversary.  He took me to Salt Lake for the weekend. We saw a couple movies, ate at some new places, the Lion House being one of them. We went to the home show and a gun show, and to the Off Broadway comedy show. That is always fun.  Then on Sunday we went to the Spoken Word. It was such a good weekend.  He had planned to take us ice skating, but it was way to cold. I also got a really nice pair of sapphire earrings. Who wouldn't love this guy!?!

 

It seems like Christmas always flies by. We had fun with the 25 days of Christmas.

 

We made our very first gingerbread house.

The kids loved it!

Santa and Mrs. Claus made a special house call. Boy were we lucky!

We went and saw the Zoo lights.

 It was so cold. And we didn't see any real animals. The lights were pretty good.

Even though it was super cold Jaycee had to ride the carousal. 

 Wesley only likes to sit on the ones that don't move up and down. I think he might get motion sickness. :(

 For my family party this year Jaime was in charge.  We did a bunch of minute to win it games.  It was a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed themselves.  It was good for the young and the old.

 On this game you had to shoot a rubber band through toilet paper and break it.  I won in my round and Mike won in his. So don't mess with us, we have good aim.

Wesley is Mikes little shadow. He's so cute.

 Most of the Bailey cousins.

 My dad won this one.

The kids really loved this one.  They put Vaseline on there noses and transferred a cotton ball across the room.

 The Borgstrom party is always on Christmas Eve. This year the kids did a little nativity. 

Look at my cute little Shepherd (Jaycee) and Wise Man (Wesley).

 The whole crew.

 Then they sang some Christmas Carols.

 

 Grandma LouLou made all the kids pajamas.

 They love them.

 Cute cousins.

 

We had such a good Christmas. Lots of food, family and friends.  That's the way it's supposed to be, I think.  The day after Christmas we went sledding, after we found out that Emily (Mikes sister) got her mission Call.  She is going to Birmingham Alabama, Spanish speaking.  We are all so excited for her.  The kids are already praying that she will come back safely.  So that was exciting.  Later we went to the movies and El Matador with Mikes siblings.  It's always fun getting together with them.

We took a trip down to Salt Lake to see the Temple lights. Once again burr! This is the coldest winter I can remember ever!

Here we are waiting in the Joseph Smith memorial building for the rest of our group to show up.

Some of the lights.

Our future missionary.

Wesley doesn't look very happy in most of these pictures. I promise Wesley is a happy kid, he just doesn't like being cold.  We bought him a new coat so he has done better.

  We spent New Years Eve with Mikes family. It's so fun to see the kids play together. They all get along so well.

 Midnight!

 The fireworks scared Wesley.

In this picture I had just told him to smile and his reply was "I am!" Funny kid. 

 Happy New Year!

 On Friday the 11th of January we had a huge snow storm. Jaycee had the day off of school, so we played, and worked in the snow. I swear me and Mike shoveled snow for 3 hours! Next year I think Santa will be bringing us a snow blower.

 This is Jaycee's snowman.

 About an hour and a half after we went outside Wesley decided to join us. 

 They played on the swings, and went down the slide.  The snow was up to my knees.  It was so cute watching them try to walk in it.  Jaycee was trying to make a path for Wesley. 

 She is such a good big sister.

We are so blessed to have these two in our lives.  They are happiness! I can't imagine life without them.

After we shoveled all the snow we took the kids to Trevor and Katie's for a sleepover. And we went with Emily to the Salt Lake Temple, such a neat experience. Then on Saturday morning we went back to the Salt Lake Temple to seal Mikes mom to her family. That was also amazing. The gospel is true, families are forever!

Amen.:)

Happy Anniversary!

I wanted to Hijack your blog for a day and let you know what a wonderful wife, mother, and person you are.  We were sealed in the Manti temple 7 years ago, I can’t believe 7 years have passed so quickly. Happy Anniversary!  I’m sure you remember when I used to write you corny poems all the time, because you always mention how you miss it.  So here you go…I think I've gotten worse, if that is possible.

Seven years have come and gone,

And somehow we still get along.

I can’t imagine my life without you,

I know that you feel the same way too.

Remember the day I had to sell my car,

And walk to catch a bus, which was pretty far…

Just so we could afford our first house, what a deal!

And still we didn’t know if we could pay the bill.

I remember the day that Jaycee joined us,

Our lives were forever changed and blessed.

Wesley came quickly, and gave us a scare,

We learned the fragile nature of our lives and power of prayer.

Now we want more, and it’s not looking so great,

But if we have faith, I think we can wait.

Until the time that is right, if it is to be,

We don’t know God’s Will, we’ll just wait and see.

Whether the Mother of two or of eight,

Me and the kids know you will always do great.

You are the best person, Mother, and Wife,

You are the most important person in my life.

You are such a great Mother.  You are always doing fun things for the kids, just in the past couple months you have taken hours to create a Thanksgiving Turkey for the kids to dress up, and a Felt Christmas Tree for the kids to decorate.  You planned 25 things to do as a family for Christmas.  You never complain about having to take care of the kids, even on their most difficult days.  You know what a blessing they are in our lives. 

You are a thoughtful and caring wife.  You make me feel loved and appreciated.  I was so surprised when I found my own 25 days of Christmas in my office.  25 reasons you love me.  It was a lot of fun to see what you came up with for each day.  And to realize that many of the reasons you love me are the same reasons I love you.  You support all of my random crazy ideas to work towards a better future, even though I can’t seem to get anything beyond an idea. 

I love your dedication to God.  You got us started on reading the scriptures each day as a family.  I think it has been about 3 years that we have kept up that practice. You have been so dedicated in each of your callings, including Young Women's Counselor and your willingness to work towards your own Young Women’s Medallion.  I know that you see the Lords hand in all things and that you turn to prayer in times of difficulty and times of gratitude.   

You come from a strong family unit, where everyone still sees each other at least weekly.  You do things together, like play on a soccer team and go to movies.  My hope is that unity continues in our family as our kids grow.  I love how you have created Halloween costumes themes for the family.  So many things we do, we do as a family.  I see and hear of families that pull apart and go there own way at the earliest opportunity, just waiting for a chance to get away from the family.  With Satan's influence attempting to destroy families it scares me a little, but I know we can hold on to our family unity with you at the lead.  

You do what is hard for so many people to do, avoid gossip.  You recognize it, are disgusted by it, it and you change the subject to get people to stop gossiping.  You understand that everyone has their own trials they are dealing with, and you do your best not to judge them, and I love that!

You won’t accept failure…in potty training for Wesley, in learning sight words and reading for Jaycee.  Sometimes remaining patient is difficult, but when you know something is good for the kids or me, you keep pushing until we get to our goal. 

You are still athletic and concerned about how you feel and look.   You sill play soccer, and you are amazing at it, and look for any opportunities to get a little exercise.  I wish I had a little bit of that enthusiasm, but my commute most days is from my bed to my office downstairs, and if I had an elevator, I would probably take that.  You encourage me to walk and play basketball, and one day soon, I’ll take you up on that again.

There are so many things that I love about you, but most of all I love that I have found an eternal companion that loves me in spite of my weaknesses.  You are beautiful inside and out.  You are strong in the face of trials; you find humor and joy in everyday things.  I once heard the advice to marry the person that makes you want to be a better person; I took that advice 7 years ago.  Still seven years later, each day you make me want to be a better husband, father, provider, priesthood holder, and individual. 

I love you! Happy Anniversary Chelsea!