Thirteen.

I don't have a picture of just the two of us from this weekend when we celebrated so you'll have to settle for one taken in August by my good friend, Ashley, as we ring in year 13 of marriage! That's right, 13 years ago today, December 5th, 1998, we were hitched...

1) by a Reverend who talked about the end of the world during the ceremony and made me scared...

2) during a heat wave in December where we broke a record (which since has been broken again) with a temperature of 70 degrees so my sleeveless dress was no problemo...

3) as we celebrated with 150 of our closest family and friends...

4) and after which we got to drive away from the church in a very plush Rolls Royce and thought we were soooooo fancy...

5) and planned our great escape to Hawaii... aloooooha!

It's hard to believe that many years have gone by. So much has changed and still so much has stayed the same. We know how fortunate we are to have each other and to be in a relationship as blessed as ours has been. Here's to another 13 years... and more!!!! Happy Anniversary to us!

Happy 7th Birthday to Maxwell!

Max is 7 years old today. I feel like 7 is old! Do you? Makes me sad. Yet I'm so happy with the boy he is!

I think back to the struggle of pregnancy, the early labor at 23 weeks, the months and months of bed rest-and-worry-and-wonder-and-hope-and-prayer, the due date of Christmas Day, the fact that he came 4 weeks early, the week in the NICU, etc. Max is a miracle and it's no surprise to me at all that he has the sweetest spirit of any man, woman or child I have ever known. No one else can bust into my room at 7am and still put a smile on my face. No one else can make me laugh so hard at the funny things he says. No one can impress me more with the things he knows. No one else can cheer me up just by dancing! Max is one of a kind for sure!

To celebrate "7" we had his party with friends last weekend (as you know from the previous blog post). It was grand! We celebrated with family on Sunday evening; we had slices of pizza and cookie pie for dessert and Max wished big as he blew out his candles...

This morning, on his actual day, he woke up to find Santa had sent a surprise... his own "Elf on the Shelf". If you're not familiar here's how it works: The elf is magical. He can listen to Max but cannot talk. Every night he flies to the North Pole to report to Santa on all the good and not-so-good things Max does, then magically reappears in a new spot in our home for Max to find the next morning. Max can tell him his wishes knowing he will report directly to Santa himself. It's a big deal in "kid world" and many of Max's friends have elves as well.

Max, while Chris and I still slept, woke up at 7am and found his new friend sitting on top of the tv on the wall in the great room. Along with the elf came a book in which Max could write the name he chooses for his elf. Max found it and named the elf long before we were awake. His name? Sweety. Yes, with a "y". Not "sweaty"... "Sweety". If that doesn't show what kind of tender heart Max has then I don't know what does!

Before school I snapped a few pics of him wearing his new "7" shirt I ordered from an Etsy seller to wear on this very day. Later we surprised Max at school with a visit during lunch. We brought him Subway to eat and cookies to pass out to his classmates. He was so surprised! :) After school we promised him a trip to Toys R Us to spend his birthday money and then dinner out at his place of choice. As you know from my last post, he chose Golden Corral. I tried to convince him to go to The Greene... the huge lighted tree, camel rides, The Cheesecake Factory or Brio... LOL! Didn't work. The Corral it was. He invited Austin to join us and they had such a fun time!

So another year is in the books for Max. He is such a good boy! He loves school, is generous, shares, cares about his friends and others, shows respect and is so smart. We couldn't be more blessed!

Happy birthday to the sweetest boy I know!

Max's Pancake & Pajama Birthday Party Brunch

This morning at 9:30, twelve 6 and 7 year olds joined Max in celebrating his 7th birthday! And they celebrated in comfy, cozy style... in their jammies! It was a Pancake & Pajama birthday brunch, complete with pancakes, scrambled eggs, muffins, donuts, yogurt, fruit and toppings galore.

Max woke up at 6:30 and changed into his new 'rock n roll' flannel jammies and counted down the minutes until it was time for his friends to arrive. He was so excited to have long-time friends, school friends and teammates all here together to have some fun. Here he is patiently waiting by the front door at 9:15...

The two-hour party was a wild and crazy time and Max loved every single minute. We had brunch, of course, on purple tablecloths, played a few silly games, decorated pillow cases and had a pillow fight, put a movie in the theater room and just played! Max was so thrilled to just have all those friends here and while opening gifts was sure to say "thank you" to every single one of them, genuinely. We were so proud of him!

Next up, a family pizza party tomorrow night and then on his actual bday, the 30th, lunch delivered at school topped off with a trip to Toys R Us to spend some birthday money and dinner at the place of his choice. Lord help me because his choice is Golden Corral. Gag me. Of all places! I'd rather eat McDonald's.... but it's not my birthday so... :)

Slacker.

I am a total slacker. I've been so very busy with work I have neglected my poor blog. A lot has happened since my last post on Max's first day of school. Shame on me!

First grade is going very well for Max. He is a great reader and according to his teacher has mastered all the math skills so far. He aces all his spelling tests. (and they are tough!) He has made good friends (mostly girls, go figure) and is learning lots! He says his favorite things about first grade are: 2 recesses and lunch in the cafeteria (he literally buys lunch every day, much to my dismay)

One funny first grade story: Max got off the bus one Monday and showed me his library book. He said "I got the same book as my gf". So I said "what's a gf?" and he said "girlfriend" so I asked "well what do you do when you have a gf?" His reply, "anything she says". ;) By the way, her name is Abby.

Max started and finished his soccer season already this fall. They were the K&W Dragons and they were mint green. Max had a great time with Daddy as the coach but the team didn't win but one game. They came in second to last in the league. Ho hum. This year they played on a huge field and most of the kids were too tired to even run by the third quarter. We lucked out with great weather this year though; no freezing cold games to worry about. It was a fun season!

Winter swim team is something new Max joined this year. It was a try out program and he made the cut. It is SO hard core. He swims three nights a week for an hour straight. No stopping. It's no joke. Max missed the first swim meet due to croup (ick) but had so much fun at the second meet. He swam a 25 (one length of the pool) backstroke and 25 freestyle and nailed them both. Swimming is something he really loves; I'm worried he may get burned out with winter swim though because it is so serious and doesn't involve as much play as summer swim team. We'll see... He's really good at it so I hope he sticks with it! (ps Abby is on his team)

Halloween is tomorrow so today we spent the morning at the SCCC Halloween brunch. Max has known for almost a year he wanted to be a vampire this Halloween. He typically chooses his costume a year in advance and seriously doesn't waiver. He is already saying next year he wants to be a zombie. ?? Anyway he loved the contests (limbo, hoola hoop, costume, dance), the food, the friends and just dressing up! It was a good test run for tomorrow, Trick or Treat! He also had a parade and party at school (more pics to come if I ever get around to writing another post! ha) so he'll be vampired out by November 1.

And speaking of November 1... it's the official start of BIRTHDAY MONTH for Max. Having his birthday on the last day of the month means we celebrate all month long! WOO! He just got finished going through the new Toys R Us catalog and circling about 34234 things he would like for his birthday and Christmas. Good grief!

Enjoy the pics! Happy fall and Halloween everyone!

New School. New Teacher. New Bus Stop. Here Comes First Grade!

I have been both excited for and dreading this day all summer... the first day of school. My baby was headed to first grade. That means away from my side all day long. Sad for Mommy. Exciting for Max.

In a whirlwind this week we got to attend orientation, "Meet the Teacher" (she is awesome,

btw), and send Max off on the bus. Max is very excited about going to the "big kids school" with kids in grades 1 through 5. He is also thrilled at the idea that they get TWO recesses!!! Oh, and the subject he is most looking forward to studying is art. FYI.

This year the bus was scheduled to come to our house at 7:30 am. School starts at 8:45. Uh, no. So when I told Max I would have to take him to school he got upset (he loves the bus) and said "MOM! I can handle it" Well then I learned you can have one other address registered with transportation so we made his pick up stop be in Fieldstone; a busy bus stop full of friends and a much later (8:20) pick up time. I'll admit, I was happy for him to have friends to distract him from the possible anxiety associated with the first day of school but at the same time I was sad we wouldn't get to share a private moment at our very own (lonely) bus stop at the bottom of our driveway. After seeing him this morning though, this was definitely the way to go! He was so happy; a little timid but still happy!

So it's begun... first grade! I remember what I wore the first day of school, who my friends were, what my teacher was like, and where I sat in her class. I'm positive Max is already making lasting memories. First grade rules!!! Enjoy the photos!

Max and Kenleigh... BFF

Hayden, Kenleigh and Max

Max and Kenleigh hang back and let the other kids go first

... and they are getting on!

Short on Words (kinda), Heavy on Pictures (definitely)

It's August already? I didn't make a single post in July? Well that's because we were so busy! So in order to do just a little catching up, this post will be heavy with photos and shorter on words, you know, to make sure you stay visually entertained and all...

June 30- July 6: we were in Utah. One of my BFFs lives in SLC and had her wedding at the Sundance Resort. Gorgeous. The whole thing! And as a double bonus Amy and Baldy (aka Steve) flew out with us AND I got to reunite with 10+ sorority sisters that I haven't seen since my college days. DG forever, yo!

On the 4th itself we attended a reunion with Chris's family at a local park. But before those festivities began most of us logged a few miles racing in the Freedom Run in Provo. Max ran his first mile race and did so in 12 minutes. Not too shabby for a 6 year old. I will toot my own horn an announce that I ran a personal best at a pace of 7:08 per minute and placed second in the 35-39 age group and was the 14th fastest female over all (there were over 2200!). Got a trophy and everything! Toot toot!

We watched the parade in Provo, went to a carnival (where Max got that snazzy tattoo you can see on his arm) and then hit the park for fun dressed in red, white and blue! PS- Max also saw Brad Paisley in concert while Chris and I were at the wedding. How cool is Max?

The last day of vacay we went hiking WAAAAAAAAY up the mountain to the "Y" near the campus of BYU. I did it years ago with Tara and didn't remember anything about it; I just thought it would be a fun thing for Max. I seriously can't believe he made it! But he did! It was steep. What a relief to be at the top and what beautiful views we had...

Once home Max finished out the swim team season. He is an awesome swimmer, I don't even have to lie. He ended up swimming the championship meet in just 12 seconds! That's a 10 second improvement over the start of the year! Dude is fast! That makes him the fastest 6U boys swimmer at SCCC and guess what else it makes him? Good enough to swim for the Coffman YMCA winter swim team which is hard core! GO MAX! He got a trophy during the swim banquet as well as certificate because the coach named him 'Most Improved'. He was quite proud!

A few weeks left to live it up till 1st grade starts... cry cry! Keep on enjoying summer!!! Oh, and guess I wasn't as short on words as I thought... oops!