5th wedding anniversary (strictly for journaling purposes)

last weekend was our 5th wedding anniversary! holy smokes has it flown by! here's a quick recap...

when we started dating...

30 days of dating, then we got engaged here... (at a cemetary)

83 days later... our wedding day <3 at the  San Diego Temple

i don't have a picture of our first anniversary! but we went to utah to see family (for me, it was the first time meeting most of them)

2nd anniversary... we went to Sea World and had dinner with Shamu, literally. it was AWESOME!!!

our 3rd anniversary... i remember taking a picture, but i was icky looking thanks to morning sickness so i deleted them all. but we went to the elephant bar for dinner. i've had better food.

4th anniversary... you can read about it here...

and finally our 5th year... the traditional gift is wood. so we ate with chopsticks! we got together with the moore's and handy's (our newfound peeps, woot woot) and all pitched in and made jarens moms FABULOUS sweet and sour pork w/ shrimp wontons as well as cream cheese wontons. thanks wendy for letting us stink up your house! and thanks willow for the dessert!!

this pic was taken a month before our anniversary, but i swear, we still look the same!

to my wonderful husband... thanks for changing my life for the better :) you should i know i love you because i don't get grossed out when the toilet seat is still warm. LOL.

our current picture...

for family... here we are... going on 5 years of marriage!

Christmas 2009

pictures in no order whatsoever...

we went to my parents house this year for Christmas. they were smart enough, with 3 little boys running around, to tie the tree to the wall so it wouldn't get knocked over!

nathan Christmas morning with his stocking dad helping nathan open his present from santa claus
radio flyer retro rocket. a gift from jarens boss and his wife. he LOVES it! he pushes it down the hallway, chases the dog with it and presses all the buttons at once to drive us nuts ;)
he's getting quite good at opening presents! nathan and my sister (aunt cynthia) who graciously let him have a piece of licorice radio flyer inchworm from his mimi and papa. when you sit on it, it bends and you bounce on it to make it move. jaren and his graham cracker house weirdo ;) our family, christmas eve 2009 nathan and his cousin aaron playing in there atv's plate of cookies for santa

chillin. opening presents is exhausting! again with aunt cynthia

my mom got my dad an atari. so here he is with jaren playing pitfall.

just a random picture of nathan on jarens shoulders. he likes doing this a lot lately.
did you know when you order a kids meal from mcdonalds, you can request an under age 3 toy? so tonight we did, and this is what we got. i think it's so cute! pefect little bath toy.

yesterday in the mail nathan received a letter from the president. pretty neat i think.

another snuggie i made. i love them and they rock!

this boy LOVES to hug his daddy!
ALL the time!

saturday we went to a birthday party and put nathan in a swing for the first time! i've been on a search for a babyswing for our swingset in the backyard, but i haven't found any! anyone know where i can find one this time of year? oh and he LOVED swinging!

oh ya, jarens growing a beard now. FUN!

i'm throwing a halloween party for nathan and his cousins on halloween day. i didn't make all the invitations this way, just one. i've been playing around with my cricut non-stop and made this box to hold an invitation.

when you open the box, there's a tombstone inside that has a big R.I.P. i used my vinyl and cut out, "are you really into partying?" get it... R.I.P. really into partying? k anyways, lol. i surrounded the tombstone with popcorn hands for each member of the family.

then i printed out the invitation, burned the edges, and glued it to the back of the tombstone. the invitation read... come one come all, creatures of the night and fairies of flight, to nathans 1st halloween fright. witches fly and ghost say boo, we're having a party and are inviting you. if you want to be you, and yet not you, dress in a costume old or new. come at 1230pm on halloween day, to the gilberts house for lunch and to play. jaren and i are going all out for this party! we'll have around 20 people here and hopefully it'll be as great as i'm invisioning it!

sorry the pictures aren't in the right order. this was the park we went to on saturday for the birthday party. it also is a waterpark, has a mini rockwall, tennis courts and basketball court. we'll definitly be going back to this one for more playing!

the party theme was ladybugs.

we finished another part of nathans room. he has a little library section with almost 50 books already, lol. i made alphabet flashcards and strung them on the wall above his bookshelf.

another picture out of order... this was the gift we took on saturday. i snagged this crate basket from the dollar tree, added her name in vinyl and weaved ribbon through the holes.

filled it with a color changing loofah, dora bubble bath, a butterfly bath toy and the dora hooded towel i made the other day.

my parents were in town this past weekend. my mom LOVES using the recycled bags some stores sell now. but she hates taking one brand bag into another store. so we took the bag...

and covered the center logo with fabric...

thanks to this tutorial on naptime journal for this idea!