2010: NEW YEARS, BAYBEE!

Oooooh, man. I can't believe that another year has scrambled away from us. I had SUCH big plans for 2009, but I was pregnant, and nothing counts when you're pregnant. Chocolate? Bring it. Exercise? BAH! -Too uncomfortable with another PERSON in your body.



Well, Becks... that person is out. No 'but it's the HOLIDAYS' excuses either! This is the year of a NEW ME!!!



I must say, New Years Eve was a great kick-off point, but I have some decisions to make. I took Sabrina and Mia down to Layton to spend some time with my brother Dave and his family at his house -along with the rest of the family coming too... We had an absolute blast!Grandmother had a great time kicking it with Bri-Bri. Where was Ella? WITH LANCE!! WOO! He wound up with the night off (unplanned), and preferred to spend time with his family (and me, mine, so I don't blame him!) so he kept Ella and we texted at midnight. ...Romantic.

Lovely Mom.

The "kid" table was a SENSATION!!!! These kids thought it was the coolest thing they'd ever been a part of!

Burnin' the midnight oil, we played some freakin' FUN card games. Noah is a die-hard. :)

This is the demonstration for the "wild-Indian" round at the end of the game. Thanks, Lex! NOW we get it!

Here's Rach!

...And Dave! *It was SOO hard not to revert back to olden days when I used to call him "Beavis", but I didn't do it. You're welcome, Dave.

I told you, Die-hard! ...This pic was taken AFTER midnight!

Rachael's magical math. She won. Legit? I don't know, I don't want to do the math!

There's me. My glasses are ski-wamp. Are they always this way? Someone freakin' tell me, yo?

Here's Noah protecting the two babies! Sabrina is on the left, and Phoebes on the right. Lily isn't feeling the lack of control over the situation.

Here's my Brina-Babes in the BUMBO! ...She loves it.

Took this angelic shot a little later. ...Such a love.

Okay, so resolutions? I'm still debating on whether or not to actually blog them! There's waaaay too much accountability involved... But perhaps that's what I need? You know you can't start resolutions on the weekend, so I thought I'd wait until today. I didn't start today. Well, if you had to go all the way into Sam's Club with an unhappy baby and only buy 2 gallons of milk, you'd pick up a soda too!!! GRUFF.

Resolution #1: no more soda.

Resolution #2: serve a veggie with EVERY dinner I make

Resolution #3: okay okay okay, BABY steps. I will reveal more resolutions as I put together my game plan. I can't just come up with a list of new "rules" for myself, or I won't last a stinkin' week. ...To be revisited.

Hope you all had a fantastic new year celebration!

January 3, 2004

Lance, the day I met you I knew you were the HOTTEST thing I'd ever seen! You know the story... I figured you were waaaaay out of my league, but I decided I'd go for it anyway! ...So with all my ridiculous intensity and ego I hit on you. :)

You had no idea what you were in for...

Babe, I sincerely believe that as our story is no fairytale, it still counts. Every couple has their story. Six years of my life have been yours to share, and never have I stopped loving you. If it all ended today I can honestly say that you are the love of my life. Thank you for our children. Thank you for our life together. Thank you for loving me and growing with me. We're not up the mountain yet, but I can't imagine taking this journey with anyone else. We are meant for each other.

I love you, and happy anniversary.

thoughts

I became inspired by a blog post from a dear friend. I wondered what I’d tell my past-self about how her life ‘turns out’.
I’ve always said that I can’t stand it when people say they have no regrets in life --because I have a MILLION. My hind-sight seems to have no problems, but steering clear during the storm is quite a different tale.

I don’t know that I’d really have much to say to my younger self. I’d tell her to go to college.

What I’d really like right about now is some advice from my 60-year-old self. I’d love to hear about how the girls turn out. Did I completely screw them up? Did I stay with Lance through a rocky -yet loving marriage? Do I ever make it back to church and re-prioritize my life to center on what is truly and sincerely important: Jesus Christ? Did I instill the values of what I was raised with in my own girls? Can I say that I am proud of the moments I had all alone? Can I say that I cherished every special piece of raising my girls, knowing that there are no more babies waiting for me beyond the veil? Did I exercise and eat right and set an example for how to take care of myself -ultimately giving the gift of my own physical availability to my family? Did I make every effort to look beautiful for my husband and thank him all the time for how hard he works for our family? Did I ever manage to somehow inspire his own journey toward discovering God in his life? Did I let my friends know I love them? Did I stand by and support those who needed me?

I would love the advise from Rebecca with gray hair and wrinkles around her eyes. I would love to sit down and chat with her about my fears, my joys, my regrets.

What would I tell young Rebecca? Hell, I don’t have any more answers now.

Merry Christmas, 2009!

This has been such an incredibly beautiful holiday. WARNING: there are a bazillion pix on this entry, but I had to document the love -and steal some of the great pictures Mary took too...

Here's me and Lance on Christmas morning. I love this picture. This is our little family posed at my parent's house before the song we sing as we march into the tree... This has been a family tradition my whole life. There's always a picture, but this time, we have Rach in the back posing for Mia. :) Back to chronological order to keep my OCD brain straight, here is the scoop. Christmas Eve day we spent a little time with my family -and Grandmother (Dad's mom) had come for the holiday. She was very gracious and loved loved loved to hold Sabrina.Chaedon has created a bit of a monster with Ella now posing all the time with her tongue out. No bueno.This is a Christmassy-festive Mia-babes! Me and Lance. Sabrina had quite a bit of excitement and took a snoozer. ...Note the painted nails? I got all three girlz done (It's CHRISTMASSY!!!), but my own took one for the team. :(The evening with spent at Lance's family's home. ...This was new, as Christmas Eve is usually done on my side. I committed to this though instead of being sad about what I missed with my family. We had a splendid time and the food was divine (typical)!We had the whole family gift exchange. Here's Mia with her new robe! Chaedon dispensed gifts and opened all his gifts here, as he spent the night/ next day holiday with his mom. I promise, Ella's hair was cuter at the beginning of the day! Ella -future rock-star- got a little recording studio deal. It's a freakin' awesome toy, and she absolutely LOVES it! Funny picture, here's Ella and her cousin Aneesa. :) Christmas morning! MY TREE HAS NEVER LOOKED WORSE!!! This season has been ROUGH on the tree. It's been re-decorated a few times after Mia rearranged things, but I couldn't keep up. Next year it'll look totally different (maybe with a gate around it). After opening gifts, Lance's parents came over to check out the loot and have some of my yummy holiday breakfast casserole. Good times! This is a funny picture of Mia -probably opening a gift with more clothes! :D Lance looks adorable in this picture -he must have been thinking about how charming I am! Here's one of my crafties! All three girls got a magnet board with their names on them. ...Obviously she got "Candyland" too! We decked Sabrina out for the day. ...The dress is a classic Ella number. She's so stinkin' smiley, I LOVE it! Here's Ella --typical schmootz on her face to boot! *Look at those shining eyes! We went to my parent's home and played some Christmas Yahtzee!

I liked this shot -it's me and Lance during gift-opening at my parent's home.We got some great pictures of my beebeeBri!

Granny-Loo! (That's Rach's hubby Seuao in the background)

Mom surprised Dad, who has now joined the technological world of POWER snow removal this season, and Dad surprised Mom with a trip to Florida this spring (Grandmother is holding my cute Sabrina in this pic)!!

CHRISTMAS JOY! ...AND MORE FACE SCHMOOTZ! *Everyone had nose issues, btw. Ella hurt hers in the garage when dad got his gift, Sabrina had hurt hers a few days earlier toppling off the couch (woops), and even Lily got swiped at by a dog (see last picture)!

Me and Lance. :)

Ella and myself -after she converted me for a funny-face picture.

Me with Ella and Mia. Geeze, I just don't notice the crap on Ella's face until it's put on the internet for forever-keeping!

Here are a few more fun pix of me and Bri.I hope your holiday was wonderful. Christmas ROCKS.