a new pair of eyes...

Christmas came early for Spencer this year because yesterday he got eye lasik surgery - again. He had it done about 5 years ago and this past year his vision started to fade. So for Christmas he asked if he could get the surgery again. It's been about 24 hours since he was on the operating table and he can't stop telling me how much better he can see. I'm pleased to say that all went well and I have a very happy, no glasses wearing husband.

(Before)

(After)

Holiday Fun

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Holiday Fun

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Happy Birthday Mama!

Today is my Mama's 78 Birthday. I can't really express how much I love this lady. She is the most loving, selfless, spirited grandma out there. From her amazing cooking skills and never being too old to bust a move on the dance floor to her love for family and for the gospel. I absolutely adore her with all my heart! Happy Birthday Mama!

Christmas in Idaho

We were up in Idaho this past weekend for Christmas with Spencer's family. It was lots of fun opening up gifts and watching everyone else do the same. We came home with a bunch of wonderful things. Here are some pictures.

Spencer's mom made all the grand kids these rugs. Too cute!

The next three pictures are gifts that Becky made for the kids. The younger girls got homemade bears, the boys got homemade beanies, and the older girls got homemade hair clips. All very thoughtful - to say the least.

Cory has been asking for a Scooby-Doo night shirt for the past few years and because we got Cory and Becky this year to buy a gift for I couldn't help but to make his wish come true. Here's one 4X, extra tall Scooby-Doo night shirt. I heard he wore it that night.

Spencer and Adam have had this stupid game with this hat going on 5 years now. Last year we gave it to them for Christmas and this year we got it back. Lucky us.

Happy Birthday to... Me

Today is my birthday and I'm proud to say that I'm a quarter of a century old. Yep, the big two-five. It feels the same as 24 really. I guess just more wisdom. He-he. Anyway, Spencer bought me some beautiful roses and doughnuts for breakfast this morning. Then later today we're going to dinner and shopping! Food and clothes - I love it! He sure knows how to spoil me. I also know about a handful of people who have this same AMAZING birthday so I wanted to wish all of them a Happy Birthday too. Especially Aubrey, our niece. She and I are always counting down to this special day. However, she's been more excited this past year for her birthday because she turns 8 today and we all know that 8 is GREAT. Happy Birthday Aubrey!

Catching up...

With all the exciting events of the Holidays going on I've got a few things to catch up on.

1. Kate is now in Nursery!

Let me rephrase that - Kate can go into Nursery but won't. It's sad but true, the time that both Spencer and I have been anxiously waiting for is finally here and our little "Miss Independent" won't go into nursery without mom or dad by her side - oh the irony. However, I have to say that she absolutely loves singing time. In fact, just after one Sunday of nursery she came home asking for "popcorn", 'book of morning", "all-gator", and "head and toe-toes". Needless to say both Spencer and I have sung these songs about a million times to her in the last week. We even added Itcy-bitcy Spider, a hand song, and 10 Little Indians to have a better variety of choices. I really need to film her asking for a another song because after we finish singing she says, "how 'bout..." it's too cute. Look for that video in a future post.

2.Eat it, eat it!

Brooke, my sister's little girl, loves food. Maybe this is how most children are but it just seems so strange to us because we live with anorexic Kate. Anyway, I believe Brooke's new mission is to get everyone else around her to eat as much as she does. She made a little pretend mixture and fed everyone this past week. Kate took a few bites but alas, she won't even eat pretend food either. Brooke - keep trying - I'm sure one day she'll crack.

3. Saturday Dec.6th
First of all I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my Dear Mother! She's such a fantastic lady in every way. I look up to her and hope that one day my children will admire me as much as I admire her. Also that day we had Hannah and Logan come over to watch the SEC Championship football game. Go Gators! Hannah and I worked on some little treats which turned out really good. Hannah's were better than mine - she was very careful to stay in the lines. In the end they all tasted yummy. (Ya, Hannah we ate one only because I accidentally dropped it and it broke in half. Don't worry it was one of mine.) Last of all, we attended our ward Christmas party that night too. We sat with good company and had a great time.

4. Some random pictures of Kate and cousins.

18 months old!

Kate and I attended her 18 month well check up yesterday. As always she's doing great and nothing new to report. She received two shots. I'm not sure which role is harder to play - getting a shot and then a candy to make it all better or having to watch your kid get a shot and knowing it's going to hurt them. I'm going with role number 2. Not only did she get a candy cane to help her forget about her shots, she's milking the "Poor Kate" act by telling both Spencer and I that her leg hurts with this adorable sad little face. What a ham. Here are her latest stats:

~

Length: 30 1/2 in. - just above the 10th percentile

Weight: 18 lbs. 14 oz. - below the 3rd percentile

Head Circ.: 47.3 cm - above the 50th percentile

~

There you have it...she is growing. Even though everyone I tell this to doesn't seem to believe me. She's moved up in length from below the 3rd percentile to now just above the 10th - Can I get a Hallelujah!! We love her so much and just can't believe how wonderfully we have been blessed to have her in our lives.

Oh Christmas Tree...

Saturday we went out and got our Christmas tree. Spencer will only allow "real" trees in our home. I'm glad he is so persistent because now our house has that wonderful smell of pine. I love it! Here are some pictures of our new Christmas tree.

While I decorated the tree Spencer went crazy with putting lights up around the house. Kate loves all the lights. Everyone that knows her knows how she is a little OCD about lights. So this holiday should be perfect for her and her and her strange obsession.

Thanksgiving Day

It has been tradition for the last 3 years to spend the Thanksgiving holiday up in Idaho. With the Turkey Bowl, a Glenwood Turkey and some really nice weather it was another successful Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures - enjoy!

... because every guy has to hold a football.

You might think that is what Spencer ate for Thanksgiving but it's not. He only took half. :o)

We even got Kate to eat! Not a lot by any means but she had a bite or two here and there.

Yep, that's Kate being buried in leaves. The cousins were having so much fun playing in all the leaves and throwing them up in the air. Good thing I was there to make sure we didn't loose Kate in a pile of leaves after all was said and done. We also played some family football. Sorry no pictures - I was busy scoring a touchdown, blocking the ball and taking down Ebony, Spencer's mom. Sorry about that again Ebony :o)

As always it was tons of fun and as I close this post I can't help but to count all my blessing and give thanks to my Heavenly Father for blessing my little family so much every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Twilight Movie

Last night my cousin Veronica, my sister Rachel and I watched the much anticipated Twilight movie. I really enjoyed the girl's night out and even though the movie was not at all like the book, I still really liked it. I mean what girl doesn't like a story about a damsel in distress and her knight in shinning armor coming to rescue her. It's been engraved into our minds since we were little girls with stories like Cinderella and Snow White. So naturally all my dreams last night involved a vampire, me (as Bella), and us running through the woods. It was great!

1st Hair Cut

My poor little girl's hair was one of the funniest things - only because she's got Spencer's crazy callics and my thin wispy strands which make for an "Old Man's Mullet" hair do. Not pretty. Don't get me wrong she's very cute nonetheless, it was time to do something about that hair. So today before her bath I decided to cut it. I got a little sad because it's my baby's very first hair cut but I perked up real soon because her hair looked so much better when I was done. However, due to the fact that it was my first time and that I'm not a professional it ended up being a little shorter than I wanted. The wonderful thing about hair is that it grows back -soon I hope! I took some before and after pictures for every one's enjoyment.

Wedding Weekend

Friday November 21st, Logan (Spencer's younger brother) and Hannah got married in the Idaho Falls Temple. It was a beautiful wedding and both Spencer and I are so happy we were able to watch them as they committed themselves to each other for eternity.

We rolled into Shelley at 11pm on Thursday. Why so late you ask? It's so much easier to travel anywhere with Kate while she sleeps these days. Friday morning we were invited to a brunch with the immediate family of both the Bride to be and the Groom. It was great to get a good, hot breakfast and to see everyone. Logan and Hannah received a few presents at the brunch and there was one I knew all too well. Becky makes everyone an Afghan blanket for their wedding and these two were no exception.

At 2:00 we headed over to the Temple for the ceremony and then took pictures on the Temple grounds with family. It was so cold outside and while we waited for people to show up for pictures we kept warm in the Visitors Center. After pictures were all done, Logan and Hannah were off on their Honeymoon and the rest of the French family went over to Spencer's parent's house for some dinner.

After dinner was cleaned up the adults played a belly buster game of Apples to Apples. It's a very simple game and great to play when everyone has children interrupting them. It was so funny to play with Cory and Becky. It didn't matter what their green card said, everyone just threw down what Cory and Becky would like - regardless of weather or not it made sense. We all got a good laugh out of it.Miss Kate was very tired after such a long cold day and was ready for bed at 7:30. However, she was able to muster up enough energy to put one last jig on for everyone before she hit the sack. The girl loves to dance just like her great grandma, Mama.

It was lots of fun like always. Try not to miss us too much everyone in Idaho - we'll be back in just 4 days for Thanksgiving. Thanks to Clint and Micah for watching Kate while we were in the Temple.

Anniversary Dinner

Spencer and I celebrated our anniversary by going out to dinner. He let me pick our place of dinning. It took me awhile, but I finally decided on Teppanyaki. It's a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you. So it's like a dinner and a show. We shared the chicken dinner so we'd have room for dessert - Creamies in our refrigerator back home. Very Yummy!

Thanks Rachel and Anthony for watching Kate.
For those of you who don't have a sister / family memeber you like and trust close by I would suggest getting one - they come in very handy.

A very long Post

November 18th

Happy Anniversary!!!
Today is our anniversary! It's been 3 wonderful years since Spencer and I got married. It hasn't been a long time in perspective but, it's been amazing to see how much more I've fallen in love with Spencer in this short time. He is my perfect match in every way and the most amazing father to Kate. In the past year we have...
Survived another Turkey Bowl and enjoyed a tasty Thanksgiving in Idaho...

Celebrated the Christmas Holiday Season with Kate and family...

Stayed awake for another "Bori New Years" party...

Found lots of eggs at Grandma French's Easter Egg Hunt...

Sang (off tune of course) Happy Birthday to Kate...

Toughed out the wilderness and went camping...

Took a much needed vacation to Florida...

Watched and cheered Spencer coach Special Olympics Basketball...

Attended the Annual Spud Day festivities...

Set sail on a Cruise to Mexico...

Dressed up for Halloween...And we are about to do it all over again!

I couldn't be happier and more in love with this guy. You're my best friend, my boyfriend, my loving husband, and my all. I love you so much and I'm grateful for all the wonderful blessings you've brought into my life. Happy 3rd Anniversary Spencer!