Five Years....

December 19, 2013

 

FIVE Years

FOUR different kitchen tables (and still waiting to get the perfect one)

THREE different homes (hoping to stop paying rent and buy our own this coming year)

TWO imperfect people who sometimes drive each other crazy, but are still crazy in love,

ONE Marriage for eternity.

Brought to you the thoughts before you fall asleep of yours truly! 

Seriously though... Five Years! 

I can't believe it, and I can.

It has been a wonderful road full of twists and turns, and I feel like quite a few steep slopes.

I am so grateful Justin chose me, because he is my best friend.

 Here is to many more years of laughter,date night movies, pick up rides, disagreements, dinner conversations, buying our first home, babies, and sticking it through because you know that you made the best decision back in 2008. 

Our anniversary celebration consisted of a salmon dinner at home, 

watching a movie because this is our favorite date night activity, 

and attending the temple the following Saturday to perform sealings. 

Justin of course brought me flowers, because he does that every year, and yes

some of them were Red because that is my favorite color.

 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

9 Months, Yikes!

- Started crawling the day before Thanksgiving. Grandma Corn's kitty cat was the ultimate motivation to getting her moving.

- Has two teeth on the bottom. They came in within about 10 days of each other. She didn't seem to be to bothered by them. There was a lot of drool though.

- LOVES to sit and look at her books. She talks while looking at them and it is adorable.

- Eats more solids now, but still isn't a huge fan of vegetables. She did really enjoy the lasagna I made a couple of weeks ago.

- Loves bath time and Justin does a great job of making it fun

- Got her first real cold after Thanksgiving, and currently has another one. It is no fun for either of us to constantly be whipping snot, but she is still pretty happy.

- The sounds she is making are starting to change

-Claps and waves when she is excited

- Pretty great sleeper at night and with naps, not every day but most of the time and I will take it

- LOVES to pull herself up on things. Prefers it to napping in fact and that would be the story of the picture above. 

- Such a sweet baby who loves to get people's attention. She is such a special and loved addition to our family!

Play Date

Our neighbor and friend was kind enough to watch Natalie while I ran a quick errand on the Monday of Christmas. They are three months apart in age. Such cute girls that really had fun together. 

Christmas 2013

Our Christmas was small and quiet. We spent it here in our home for the first time ever. It was nice to enjoy the tree and not be driving anywhere. Christmas Eve night we had BBQ Beef sandwiches, sweet potatoe fries, and pumpkin roll. We read the Christmas story and Natalie and Justin each unwrapped a present. Justin and I then enjoyed a favorite Christmas movie of mine, "It's A Wonderful Life." To top the night off I got a Christmas kiss from Santa. It was fun and a little bittersweet being home without extended family. It definitely taught me how much work goes into making the holidays special. Natalie

had a ball with the wrapping paper and having Justin home.

Christmas Day began at 8 am. Justin and Natalie actually had to drag me out of bed. We opened presents and then set to work making Waffles with strawberries and whip cream, and sausage. It was then a quick turn around to get Natalie down for a nap and putting together the dishes I needed to take to our friends home. I wanted a nap when all was finished and we were ready to go.... I didn't get one though. One thing I will be sure to include in future Christmas days. 

Our friends the Paul's were so kind to have us over. They had a gift for each of us and we played games and had a lot of conversation. One of their teenage sons brought out his old dump truck for Natalie to sit in. She loved it and curled up with a good book in it. Dinner was a yummy filet minon with chocolate fondue for dessert. It was a long happy day. I feel as though it went faster than it ever has before, maybe I was just busier than ever before? 

The best part of The Christmas season this year for me besides having Justina and Natalie to share it with! was reflecting on our Savior and how my testimony of him has grown this year. He truly is the reason for the season. 

Life Right Now

I realize that I post ALOT about Natalie and maybe not so much about how life is for Justin and I these days. Mostly because Natalie pretty much is ALOT of life right now. Here are a few other updates on us.

1. Justin has been home alot more this fall and early winter compared to last year. I really appreciate this and he is glad the GP is running like it should.

2. He is going to be doing a speech in front of the Oregon Logging Conference in January about this new product. I am really excited for him as they are hoping to sell a lot more next year. Right now there are 10 in production mode. Pretty good for the first year of sales.

3. I now serve as a Gospel Doctrine teacher in our ward. This has been a huge blessing in helping me study my scriptures at a deeper level. I have expanded my understanding a lot of church history as well because we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year. Next year will be the Old Testament and while I think it may be a little harder to teach, it will be great to learn about. Sometimes this calling is hard for me because I am the youngest adult in the ward and that can be intimidating. Everyone is very kind and helpful with their comments though and I call on them alot. I mean I only have 25 years experience, many have 40 plus!

4. Justin is serving as the First Counselor in the Elder's Quorom Presidency. He is enjoying it and is learning a lot about leading by example.

5. We are saving, praying and hoping with all our might to buy a home next year! We still live in a little apartment and most days I am grateful for the safe shelter over my head, but getting into a home will be a big needed step for us. I feel like I will be able to do so many more things for my family that I can't right now. Like have a chest freezer, DIY furniture projects, have a garden, be able to host people for parties, and give my children space to play and not worry about being to loud for the neighbors beneath us.

6. This will be our first Christmas with just our little family. I am very excited to not be traveling, but a little nervous about really making the day and the whole vacation special. I have definitely been doing some planning, so here we go! Bring in Christmas Morning and a Happy New Year!

7. One of the best parts of my day each day is to work out. After having Natalie I had obviously acquired some extra pounds. I was excited to get back into my daily routine of working out. It was very difficult at first. However, as I have kept my consistency of just doing anywhere from 10-45 minutes a days, I have been able to fit back into all of my clothes and they are loose now! This has reaffirmed the principle of small and simple things. By doing a workout everyday, even if some days it was not much at all, I have seen great results over the period of 7 months. 

8.  We are glad where life has taken us and are learning just how important each person's role is in the family unit. Justin is an awesome and amazing husband and father. I could not do all that I do without him. We are celebrating our 5 year anniversary on Thursday! So crazy how quick and slow life seems to go. Quick while looking back, and slow in the moments. We never thought we would make it out of college, but some how we did!

We have been richly blessed with wonderful family and dear friends. 2013 has been good to us and we look forward to all 2014 has in store.


Justin and Ruth Blazzard

The Christmas Season

Our ward had their annual Christmas part last weekend. I had the opportunity to be the over seer of it and what a blast it was.The theme was "Christmas at Winter Quarters," and we had a wonderful old fashioned roast beef dinner, sang Christmas Hymns, and Square Danced! For any of you who have never square danced, as hick as it may sound, it is so much fun!

Natalie was very curious about Santa Claus. When Justin went to gather her up from Santa she swatted him away because she was still looking at his beard. We brought the 90's back that evening as she sported an outfit from my youngest sisters closet.

Thanks to my mom for shipping it to us so quickly.

Lastly, her Christmas dress! I was so excited to buy this for her as it was a tradition that I always grew up with. She likes it except for when it is time to crawl in it.

  

The night Justin carried in the Christmas tree she lit up with excitement as if to say, "I always wanted a real tree in my house." She likes to look at it especially when the lights are on, but has been pretty good about leaving it alone. She doesn't know what is coming, but she is going to love the wrapping paper on Christmas morning!

We have the power to....

I got barked at the other day by an older gentleman. I went with the missionaries for our church to visit a lady. It was freezing cold and I was in a hurry. I pulled up to the curb and thought I had pulled past the mailbox stationed on the curb close to me. I didn't check it though and just headed into the house. Forty five minutes later we emerged. I went to my car and began the process of strapping Natalie in to her car seat with her big puffy purple coat. I suddenly hear a very gruff voice asking me to not ever block his mailbox again if I come back. 

I looked out and quickly apologized and said I would be pulling forward. It seemed to fuel his anger. He gave me a few more short sentences with stern looks and a voice dripping with irritation. Again I apologized and quickly left.

I really felt terrible about this. I had not set out today to inconvenience anyone, but it happened because I am human and didn't realize the impact that split decision would have. 

I have also been greatly blessed by the kind actions of strangers the last couple of days. At two different stores I had individuals offer to take my cart back so I could take care of Natalie. While checking out at Joann's today I was taking longer than I should have because of having to search the diaper bag for an item I needed to return. When I glanced behind me to the growing line, an old lady greeted me with a smile and said that I was no problem. I actually made her feel better because she often forgets things as well. We exchanged a laugh and I left. Her patience, humor and warm smile brightened my day immensely and made me feel of worth.

As I pondered my different experiences the over those 48 hours, my reflections brought clarity to many truths I already know but continue to refine with experience.

1. Be kind to strangers! Your words and actions impact others for better or worse whether you know that person or not.

2. Be conscious of your decisions and way you choose to do or say things. They can cause frustration, more work and hurt feelings for others.

3. Realize that very rarely do people intentionally do things to hurt or inconvenience others. Most often they simply don't realize they have wronged you.

We are all imperfect beings with great power. I want to be more conscious of being kind and help leave a person with a better day than they already have.

Favorite Toy

Shoelaces just happen to be Ms. N's favorite toy these days. During the stretching portion of my workout videos she notices the stillness of the shoes. She will bee line it to get to the laces. If I leave them in the living room she is bound to get them. One morning I forgot they were there and came out of the kitchen to find her chewing on the bottom them. Nice right? Your can't accuse me of not exposing her to lots of different biological organisms.