Happy Anniversary #3!

The week before we got married it was BYU's graduation. My parents came up to Utah for the graduation of my brother-in-law Danny and my sister AmyLyn. We decided that would be a great weekend for me to go through the temple. So, on April 23rd, 2005 (exactly 12 years after I was baptized) I went through the Utah, Timpanogas Temple. It was such a wonderful experience and it got me SUPER excited to get married!

It was so fun to be at the temple with so many family members! John's mom and dad also came down for the occasion. Just one hour after our session, John and I walked back in the temple to see our good friends, Josh and Cheryl Garn get married. It was such a special day.

On April 30th 2005 we tied the knot! Best decision of my life. The entire day was PERFECT. I would not change a single thing... and I am so thankful that I can say that. The weather was beautiful, I loved my dress, loved the flowers, loved my hair, loved the photographer and videographer, and most importantly, I loved my man! I just wish Alan and Adena could have been there. But, in a family of 13 kids, it's kinda hard to coordinate with everyone's schedule...11 out of 13 aint bad! (Alan was finishing his finals and Adena was 9 months pregnant!) We sure missed you guys.

My sister Jana made my bouquet, and AmyLyn did my hair. My sisters rock!

We had a "pre" eating of the cake before anyone got there. The lighting was beautiful and we decided to do a practice run. We were really nice to each other in these pictures. When we did it later that night, at the end of the reception... it was a lot messier! John claims he had no intention of smearing the cake all over my face, however, why was I the one with chocolate all over my dress at the end of the night? Interesting...

As you can see, we had a very colorful reception (in my backyard). It was full of beautiful fresh flowers, a gorgeous gazebo, yummy crepes and delicious snow cones! It was a beautiful and romantic, yet so much fun. We had such a party... just what I wanted! Our colors were hot pink, lime green, and orange. Yah, my brothers were thrilled when they got to choose between those colors for their ties! They're such good sports- I'm sure they're collecting dust in the back of their closets!

Beautiful cake ha? My cousin Monica made it.

Then, there was of course dancing (yes, those are bubbles... thank you nieces and nephews!)

After our reception in AZ, we spent a fabulous week in Cancun Mexico. After our honeymoon, we headed to Burley for another fabulous reception up there. Here's some pictures.

We arrived to the reception in non less than a horse and carriage! I felt like such a princess! Uncle Dan drove us in with a white horse and the carriage was green velvet. To this day, we are still going back and forth over who has better sunsets... Arizona, or Idaho. Desert and farming, both have a lot of dust!

Our reception in Idaho was at "Harris Pond". There was a huge island in the middle of this pond that we had the reception on. It was so much fun. There was a beautiful bridge decorated with all kinds of flowers, twinkle lights, you name it! We ate yummy fondue and enjoyed the beautiful Idaho weather. It was so relaxing and so much fun!

When I got married 3 years ago I thought I had picked the perfect match for me... and after 3 year with this man I can honestly say that I KNOW he is the perfect person for me. I am amazed by the amount of patience he continues to have with me day after day. His ambition for life and desire to learn is so inspiring to be around. He's so smart. He's such a hard worker, he grew up on a farm for crying out loud! He makes me laugh, (and anyone that knows me, knows that I like to laugh!) He is such a wonderful daddy to Jack. I fell in love with him all over again when Jack came into our life. He's such a hotty! How can anyone resist those blue eyes and curly blond hair? He is constantly thinking of others. He's so personable and easy to talk to. Bottom line: I am the luckiest lady in the world.

To my wonderful husband, best friend, and soul mate... Happy Anniversary babe. I love you!

Laughing Baby

The best sound on earth!...

Friday Park Days

We have been taking full advantage of the BEAUTIFUL weather lately. Last week we went to the park. (Every Friday ward members and friends get together at various park around the area. We let the kids run wild while the mommies sit on blankets under a tree and chat the day away.) This particular day Anna brought her awesome camera and sweet photography skills. Minus the dump truck pictures taken by yours truly, she took all of these pics. Isn't she good? Thanks so much Anna.

He was pushing this around all over the park. Thanks for sharing... I don't even know who it belonged to, but Jack sure enjoyed it!

Jack was trying to sit in the back of it... He would go to sit down and would push it further and further away with him little tushy! Poor little guy, never made it in!
Highly entertained by the squirrels chase each other in the grass!
After the squirrels ran up the tree he turned to me and said, "where'd it go?" He was very concerned he could no longer see the squirrels. Mommy and Jack learning about the birds and the squirrels!
He LOVES the swing!

Cock the ball...

...And release!
Future Quarterback?! "You wanna piece of me?"

Spike after a sweet touchdown! Maybe he'll be a reviever :-) I love little boys. I love being a mom!

The Bread that keeps on Giving

Thanks to my dear friend Brianne Stewart, I have had this lovely Amish Friendship Bread fermenting on my counter for the past 10 days. I would love to share the bacteria with anyone else that so desires. It made 4 loaves of bread, 7 muffins, and there's 3 new bags just waiting to go to a new owner. The bread/cake is delicious! We ate tonz of it for breakfast, but I'd love to share the joy. Let me know if you want it!

PS. The recipe calls for Vanilla instant pudding. I've heard that if you use Chocolate Instant pudding, omit the Cinnamon, and add chocolate chips instead, it's really good. How could it not be with all that chocolate in it? Yummy...

Happy Birthday AmyLyn!

So, today I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister AmyLyn. Here are just a few of the MANY wonderful things I love about Amy: She is good at everything she does (sewing, cooking, painting, photography). She is always happy and forgiving, kind and sincere. She is one of the most unselfish people I know. She always gives complements, and means them full heartedly. She gives some pretty wicked hair cuts with her sweet beauty school skills. She is my BFF. She makes everything pretty (no matter how long it takes). When we played church softball (primary or YW) she spent more time curling her pigtails than she did warming up her throwing arm! She would set up elaborate tea parties for our dollies when we were little. She was the lead in the high school musical... Tis Mabel!! She showed me the ropes on to be the Student Body Vice Pres. I love that she lets me bring her her shoes, lunch, backpack, wallet... after she has already left for school! She has 2 gorgeous little girls and a wonderful husband. Amy is very optimistic. She laughs and smiles at everything and makes each day a party. John says he loves everything about Amy. She is motivated about this "new way of eating" because she really does want to "Eat to Live". She lives in Hemphill TX... where the hunt alligators and wild boars. She always makes ya feel good. She is a sweetheart. She has great taste in decorating. Her house has become a BEAUTIFUL home. She is super thoughtful. She has a strong testimony. She sings more than she talks. She loves red delicious apples. She gives great advice. She is a wonderful mommy, sister and friend. I love you AmyLyn. I'm so glad you were born.

AmyLyn sent me these beautiful flowers... today... on her birthday. Ya, read that again. She sent ME flowers on HER birthday. I know that seems a little turned around. When I got them delivered to my door step this morning I was a little confused, then I read this note, "Dear Melanie, If I couldn't make it for your birthday, I thought I would celebrate your birthday on mine! I'm so glad you were born! Love, AmyLyn" Seriously, who does that? Isn't she just the most thoughtful person? I was practically in tears as I read the note. I love the flowers so much and I have been smelling them all day long. PS just if you were wondering...they don't have any floral delivery place in Hemphill!

I made you a birthday cake! I wish you could come over and eat it with us! Maybe someday! I love you AmyLyn! Hope you had a wonderful day.

Hear Jack Talk!

Jack is learning so many new words! Here are just a few...

Little Fingers

Delicious French Bread!

When we were kids, we would often sneak into the kitchen and stick our fingers in my mom's homemade bread while it was rising on the counter... I'm not sure if its cuz we liked how it felt, or if we liked to eat the dough, or if we were just really curious. But, now I know how she felt when she came in and found little finger prints in her beautiful bread she had worked so hard on. At least Jack was nice enough to wait until after it was baked!

Fun with Daddy

We love when daddy takes a little break from studying to hangout with us! I had just finished cleaning our bedroom when John came home and I put Jack on the bed so I could finish vacuuming. John decided to take over from that point on... enjoy!

The walk with Daddy!

So, we told Jack that we were going on a walk outside to get the mail. He ran over to a brown paper grocery bag on the floor, put the handles all the way up his arm (like a purse) and went to stand by the door. He turned around to look at us and John and I started laughing so hard. I guess he has gone out one too many times with Mommy and my obsessions with purses! Goes to show, little kids learn from example. He knew we couldn't go outside without our purse! Just push play to come on a walk with us!...

jack's new do!!

So, Jack's hair was getting a little too long, but when we pulled out the clippers we thought, "Ummm we're going to AZ for the summer maybe we should just buzz it!" I love his hair too much to do that so I put on the largest setting we had (#8) and did it all over his head. Well, to say the least, it looked HORRIBLE! I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it until we got together with some friends later that night and they said, "you just forgot to cut where his rooster is!" So it was short all over and really long in the back. So, we decided to give him a Fohawk before I cut it off for real!

I tried to do it by myself, but I had no clue what I was doing. So, thanks to Brianne for coming over to teach me how to officially do a fohawk. Now I know for next time :-) Jack's wasn't so sure how he felt about us putting product in his hair!!

The new do!

What do you think? Can he pull it off?

It eventuallt turned into a whole head of spikes... which I fell in love with. I put him in the tub, pulled out the scissors, and worked my magic. It looks a lot better, but I had a scare for a little while. I'm still learning how to cut hair on a toddler that pushes my hands away any time I come near him with scissors (or clippers) and doesn't hold still for more than 2 seconds! Thanks John for distracting him best you could! I loved his spikey hair so much that I've been doing it like that pretty much everyday! I love it.

16 months

So, Jack had his 16 month appointment. (alright, so I was a month late! But who knew you needed a 15 month apt? I thought just 12 and 18). He's a healthy boy and right on schedule developmentally. He was showing off so much to the doctor! He was climbing up on the little mini chair in the doc. room, pointed to his nose, eyes, ears when asked, "where's Jack's nose?", took doc's pen, took the lid off, and put it back on (doc was impressed by his fine motor skills), said the few words he knows, etc! Anyway besides getting a few immunizations, all went great. Here are his stats:

Weight: 24.1 lbs ---5oth% of others his age

Height: 30.2in.--- 25th% of others his age

Head: forgot the numbers but,---also 50th%

Well, we might have a shorty on our hands. (With his mom being 5ft. 5 in. and his dad being 6ft... I'd think he'd be about average!) He still wears some of his 12 month clothes, but the 18 month clothes he has, are a little big on him. Notice, these pants are pulled all the way up to his armpits? Ya, thats cuz he'll trip over them if I don't. He's got short little legs! The thing is, his friend (Ethan... one week older) is 2.5 inches taller and in the 97th%! So, I guess every inch counts when you're this young!

Moot Court!

So, I am married to perhaps the most humble and modest man alive. Often times I hear about the wonderful things he has done that day/week/month not from him, but from his friends. John keeps me pretty updated about things going on at school, in his classes, in the news... But, I have to beg for details and ask a million questions to get any info out of him, when its about himself. Well, one of the privileges of being a wife is getting to brag about your husband every once and a while. Believe me, I do not do it enough. But the time has come and I've got to do it fast before John sees me! I just want to publicly congratulate my husband for making the MOOT COURT BOARD. When I first heard that he made it I was so excited for him and was so proud of him, but I didn't really realize how big of a deal it was until I heard some of his friends talking about the tryouts and how hard it was, and how badly they wanted to make it, etc... For those of you that don't know what that is (and I didn't until about a week ago), here's a very brief summary. Members of the moot court board represent Duke in various national competitions throughout the year. They compete as lawyers in cases are on appeal. So basically they pretend they are arguing before the supreme court and just talk for like 20 minutes while judges ask them really hard questions about arcane legal rules etc. (at least that is what he told me...he could be making it up). Out of 125 people that tried out, only 20 made it... and my Johnny Boy was one of them!! Way to go sweets. I'm so proud of you.

Barristers Ball!

So, this past weekend was the Barristers Ball... or in other words... the Law School Prom. What a great way to celebrate the ending of a great year at Law School? We had a very fun time. Who doesn't like getting all dressed up anyway? I found my dress the day of the dance (that's right... the day of!), got ready in less than an hour (thanks Nat for your help), and had a fabulous time over all. Before the dance, we ate at PFChangs with the Pelfreys and the Mills. Yummy yummy food!

I must say, a night on the town (without Jack) was very nice. However, I still feel so bad for our babysitters. Our dear friends (Adam and Ariel Laughton) watch Jack for us. We pushed back our dinner reservations so we could put Jack to sleep before we left. We assumed he'd just stay asleep the whole time we were gone because he rarely wakes up after we put him down? But, this time he woke up and cried for an hour! I'm so sorry. Maybe he's got ear infections... again. (I'm taking him to the doctor tomorrow) Thanks for watching him guys, you're the best!
The handsome boys!! John, Brian and Eric

Way to go boys! You're (almost) done with your first year of law school :-)

The Girls! Melanie, Natalie, and Lindsay

Our "group" picture! (nice back drop ha? Lovely horse and a parking sign!) Well, here we are!John and Mel, Eric and Natalie Pelfrey, Brian and Lindsay Mills. As you can tell by our dresses, it was more of a cocktail party than an acutal formal dance. YES everyone got (3) free drinks at the party and I got a very crazy look from the guy when I simply asked for "Cranberry Juice". He replied by saying, "You don't want anything in it?" A simple "Nope" is all I said! Why would anyone turn down free alcohol... I'm sure he thought I was crazy? Anyway, we all left our babies with sitters and had a great night, great conversation, and great food! It was all GREAT!

Officially a Toddler!

Well, I always knew my baby wouldn't be a baby forever, but it wasn't until I saw this picture that I thought... he's officially become a little man. The turning point could have been when he said his first sentence, "Bye bye Daddy" a few days ago, or the fact that he can open and close drawers and cupboards all by himself, or when obeys when I say, "Go throw this away for Mommy"... and he comes back beaming having done exactly what I asked, or the fact that he can go down the slide all by himself at the park, or that he insists on buckling his own car seat and feeding himself oatmeal, or that he looks over his shoulder at me with very suspicious eyes as he tiptoes into the forbidden bathroom (he knows thats a big no no), or that he gives hugs and kisses on demand and exclaims "Momma" when I come get him up from his nap, or asks for "nana's" whenever he's hungry, and put food on his head when he's done eating, or when he says, "Uh Oh" as he dumps his food off his high chair, or when he starts flapping his arms and bending his knees whenever he hears music (his unique dance moves, pretty sure he got those either from his dad, or Napoleon Dynamite!... they both have curly hair), or that he calls the plug-in air freshner "No No" because that's what I say when he pulls it out of the wall, or the fact that he'll be 16 months tomorrow... All of these things happening and I guess I just didn't want to admit that my baby is no longer a baby, but I think its time for graduation...congrats Jackers... you're officially a toddler!

Sleepin on the job!

So John is rarely home on Saturdays cuz he says its a great day to get caught up, plus finals are coming up way too soon so the next few weeks we will hardly be seeing him at all. Anyway, since it was conference Saturday daddy got to be home with us. (PS Wasn't general conference so wonderful. We had such a great weekend. I can't wait till the Ensign comes out. Thanks Adam and Ariel for letting us watch a coulple sessions with you guys. Thank goodness for friends and the internet when you don't have TV to watch conference on!) Anyway, I thought I would take advantage of John being home and decided to get some cleaning done in between sessions since I don't get much done with Jack running around. So, I did the dishes (without Jack climbing into the dishwasher) and folded some laundry (without Jack running through my neatly folded piles). I came downstairs and this is what I saw... Yah, I guess Jack got bored with Daddy and decided to venture out. At first he started to just pull on the blind cords and figured out that the blinds magically go up and down the harder and faster you pull. He thought that was pretty cool, but then he wanted to go one step further...There he goes climbing up and over the couch and into the window pane and was beaming as no one stopped him. And through all of this, John is completely zonked out ... I was laughing, snapping pictures, and Jack was crawling all over him... I was amazed. Jack thought he was pretty cool stuff. Then Jack started reading daddy some bedtime stories from one of his favorite books that we lost a long time ago... he found it behind the couch! Looks like Jack was helping mommy clean after all! I guess I don't give him enough credit! So, for the next litle while, Jack was reading Daddy bed time stories. Isn't that so sweet? Well, it was really cute until Jack ripped a page out of his book (hence the reason most of his books are still board books). I quickly put the camera down, took the book away before he could rip another page, Jack started crying because he wanted to keep reading, Daddy woke up... it was all over. Well, sorry to shorten your nap John, but next time maybe Daddy won't be sleepin on the job! Hee hee. Love you babe-

April Fools

This year I decided to play an April Fools joke on John. We have never really celebrated this holiday... I didn't ever know why until today. I realized (after the joke) that I don't like playing jokes on people because I do not enjoy the anticipation of their unknown reaction. Ding ding ding... that should have been my signal to NOT do the joke. But, of course I did it anyway. I don't know what suddenly provoked me to think of such a joke, but when I bought a pregnancy test for Jack, it came in a 2 pack. So, it was just laying around upstairs, taking up space, just dying to be used. So, I asked my (pregnant) friend Ariel to take the test for me. I wrapped it all up in a box with a ribbon and went to pick up John from school. I assumed that by the end of the day the joke wouldn't work becuase someone would have reminded him that it was April Fools Day. Boy was I wrong. He ripped open his "present" and held out the pregnancy test that read: "PREGNANT". He said, "WHAT? Honey are you serious? Oh babe, I'm so excited!" It was then that he hugged me, and I almost burst into tears because I felt so bad. Seriously, I got that huge lump in my throat and I was fightin the tears. "This was NOT a very funny joke!" I thought. I felt HORRIBLE! I would very soon have to take this excitment away from him and then what?... ha ha... funny joke, and then it would all be over. LAME! Well, the guilt in me lasted about 2 minutes when John asked the question, "How far along are you? When was your last 'girl week'?" I looked at him and said, "I'm on it right now". The wheels started turning and he said, "I thought you weren't suppose to have those when you're pregnant". I replied by saying, "you're not". He thought about it a little longer, looked over at me, and I shrugged my shoulders and a gave him a half smile and then it hit him. "NO! You wouldn't joke about this? You mean to tell me that this is a joke?" I sheepishly said, "Happy April Fools Day!?" He about died. His emotions went on a high speed rollercoaster in those 2 minutes. He went from extremely shocked, to very excited, to overwhelmed, to confused, to shocked again, to dissapointed and ended up being slightly relieved (simply because I'm not on maternity insurance right now). He did say that "It was the best April Fools Joke ever played on him!" Way to go me...I guess??? I honestly didn't think that it would turn out to be such a cruel joke, and I had no idea that he was going to get so excited... Sorry sweets! He still can't believe I did that to him... neither can I.