If you haven't heard this story, you MUST read!

Christmas Eve 2001 was one that I will NEVER forget.

Greg and I had been dating for almost 4 years. Now, I, myself, had known that I wanted to marry him within ONE MONTH of dating. It took him MUCH longer to decide that for himself. A lot of people asked me why I stuck around. I just KNEW he was THE ONE, so what would be the point of leaving and dating someone else? Even though he was constantly telling me that he was NEVER getting married, I patiently waited for the day that he would change his mind.

On December 24, 2001 I had to work in the morning. Greg came to pick me up when I was done for the day at 1:00. We headed to the Ice Skating rink to meet his sister, her husband and their 4-month-old son. My parents had come along to watch the baby so the rest of us could ice skate....turns out I am not made to ice skate. It was very frustrating watching Greg, Ben, and Brande frolicking around the ice. I told my mom that maybe Greg should find someone else since I wasn't able to do a lot of the fun things that he enjoyed doing.

We left the skating rink and parted ways with Ben and Brande. I had some last minute shopping to do before we were to head to my grandma's for Christmas Eve dinner. Greg was also insistent upon finding some hot chocolate for some odd reason. He went to the "K-Cafe" while I did my shopping. We left K-mart with a few gifts and two cups of hot cocoa and started to head to my grandma's house.

I was driving, and Greg mentioned that he would like to go see the lights at the park across from Cox South Hospital. I didn't feel like we had time, but he kept asking, so I turned toward the park where we found the trees all decked out in Christmas lights. He told me to park, so I did. Then, he told me that he wanted to get out and walk around. I wasn't so willing to do that! It was FREEZING cold and windy! We went back and forth until I finally agreed to get out and take a quick walk around the pond, we had hot chocolate after all. There is a little paved path that goes around the little lake. As we walked along we came to a bridge and on the bridge was positioned a single red rose. Greg handed it to me. I argued "Greg, you can't take that! Somebody obviously put that there for a reason. You can't just take it!" His reply was "Ah who cares? If they put it there then it's their fault for leaving it." We walked a little further and found a bunch of roses scattered on the ground. He began to gather those up as well. To me, it looked like someone had gotten mad and just thrown the roses on the ground, so I didn't argue with him about picking them up. He handed them to me and we continued our stroll. A little further around the bend he pointed up into a tree and said "Hey, look!" I turned around and saw a crystal figure of the Salt Lake LDS temple placed on a mirror in the tree. The Christmas lights bounced off the mirror and the temple looked absolutely stunning...and that's when I figured out that all of this had been set up for me. But, I still was not prepared for what happened next. As I turned back around, Greg was on one knee. He had a PERFECT engagement ring in hand and he uttered the most magnificent words I had ever heard. "Amber, I love you so much and I want to be with you forever... Will you marry me?" WOW, I still get all melty just thinking about it. I'm not sure if I even answered. We both knew what the answer was. Then low and behold, here come my parents, his parents, Ben and Brande and Carl and Willa. They had been watching from across a field. I was so happy that they were able to be there to share our excitement. They had all been in on the surprise. We took some pictures, but they were kind of blurry. When I get them put on disc, I'll share them just so you can see just how HAPPY we all were that day. I really had NO idea it was going to happen. I think that's what made it such an amazing experience...the element of surprise.
When we got home we started talking dates and finally decided it would be best to get married 6 weeks later when his brothers would be coming home (one from his mission, the other from Utah to visit). So we had an unusually long courtship (for being LDS) and an extremely short engagement. The last 9 years have been a roller coaster with mostly ups. I for one have no regrets and I hope that he doesn't either.

I'm 1/3 of the way there!

Today completes my 12th week of pregnancy. I've been sick for about 6 weeks now and hope to be over that part of it soon.
About a month before I took the pregnancy test Zane was telling my parents that his mom and dad were going to have a baby, then the day before I took the test, he was telling people at a Halloween party that his mom was having a baby. I denied it, but then when I got home that evening and Greg had made a banquet pot pie (and I almost puked from the smell), I decided maybe Zane was right. So I went out and bought a test. I took it the next morning and sure enough, Zane knew what he was talking about.
We waited until we had an ultrasound to tell anyone, including Olivia and Noah. Me, Greg and Olivia are kind of hoping for a girl (okay Olivia is REALLY hoping for a girl). But we will be fine with whatever Heavenly Father decides to send our way.

All about Zane

I don't even know where to begin or what to say. It's been a month since my last post. I guess I just haven't felt much like blogging. I mostly feel like sleeping and puking.

I felt like posting some cute things Zane has said and done in the last couple of days. Today he got in trouble and I put him in his room. When I let him out, he said "I real sorry, mom." So very cute. He absolutely melts my heart.
Yesterday when we picked up the kids from school he asked "Doe-uh, how was school today?" (He can say 'NO' and he can say 'ah', but he won't say Noah). Noah said "Good"...Then Zane asked, "What did you learn?" Noah's response,"Uh, I don't remember." Then Zane went on to ask about Olivia's day. I just thought it was cute of Zane to ask about how the kids' day went.
I know I already put this on facebook, but yesterday he just out of the blue said "Mom, you so piddy, mommy."
Today I was rubbing his back, so he told me to move my hair out of the way, and he proceeded to rub my back. He said "I wub you mommy."
He just fell asleep on my bed for a nap so I went in to check on him. He was laying on his stomach and when I got close he started moving his little booty back and forth. He does this quite a bit, I guess he's getting all nuzzled in.
He does really well in nursery at church. I always tell him to help the kids that are sad. He said that one of the new boy, Levi, was crying so he kissed and hugged him to make him feel better.
When he gets in trouble and I start taking him to the corner or his bedroom, he starts yelling out "No...I promise, I promise!" Usually after a few minutes in time out he's good to go for a while.
I won't lie, Zane can get pretty ornery sometimes and he can be meaner than spit, but for the most part, he is just an awesome little boy and I am so glad he's mine!

"My Butt is Buzzing"

Does anybody else have children that say embarrassing things when you have company over?

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner. We were just finishing up our biscuits and gravy when Noah announced "Uh Oh, My Butt is Buzzing." "What?" I asked.
"My butt is buzzing...I think there might be a tick crawling around up in there." BOY was I sorry I had asked him to repeat himself. The missionaries got a good laugh out of it, though. A little while later Olivia started talking about diarrhea...still at the dinner table. WHAT THE WORLD?!?!? Didn't these children's parents teach them not to talk like that, especially at the table, especially when they have guests? I guess not. I never do know what is going to come out of their mouths.

A little later in the evening, Zane and Noah were playing together. Noah asked Zane if he would like some of his silly bands. Zane said yes. Noah got them down and let him pick out 2. Zane wanted more. Noah said, "Tomorrow, if you play nice with me and do what I tell you to, you can have two more, okay?" "O-Tay" Zane said.

YOU ARE UNDER MY CONTROL

Olivia's birthday is coming up in a couple weeks and for her birthday she would like legos, silly bands and silly rings, and a pocket watch. I said "Do you even know what a pocket watch is?"..."Yeah, it's a watch on a chain and you can use it to hypnotize people."...."Are you wanting it so you can hypnotize people?"...."Well, does it work? Can I hypnotize people with it?"....."No"...."Oh, well maybe I don't want one then."

A boy at school put his arm around her in music class and the rest of the kids were laughing at them. She was so embarrassed. She asked the teacher to be moved. She came out of school that day with a disgusted look on her face and said that she needed to talk to me in private. Then she told me the whole story. The next day she was with my mom and she said "Grandma...I have a confession to make." My mom says "Yeah?" Olivia asks, "Wait, what's a confession?" So my mom explained it to her, then Olivia proceded to tell the story of the boy putting his arm around her shoulder.

I just thought those were funny stories worthy of sharing.

I DO NOT pee on Cheerios

Zane is STILL not potty trained. He has absolutely NO desire to pee or poop anywhere but in a diaper or in the floor. I am trying not to put too much pressure on him, because I know that it can backfire if I do. The other night I thought I would try something new. I placed a Cheerio in the toilet and had Noah pee on it while Zane watched. Then we placed a cherrio in Zane's potty and told him to do the same. He stood there "pointing" his "turtle" at the potty. Zane proclaims "IT NOT WORKING!" Olivia and Noah were both cheering him on. Olivia went and got a big glass of water to "help things along". Zane sat down on the potty and drank his glass of water. A tiny drop of pee came out and that was it. I left the room, and soon Zane came to me stating "I Don't PEE on Cheerios!"

Then what did he do? He went to the back door of the house and PEED in the floor. What a terd.

Okay, this next story I was NOT going to post on here (and Greg might kill me for doing it anyway), but it is just so darn funny and I feel like you people could use a good laugh today, so here it goes:
Noah was getting ready to get in the shower and was therefore naked...Now, I won't mention which part of the body he did this to (you can probably guess), but he pulled the skin out on both sides and exclaimed "FLYING SQUIRREL!" I just about died of laughter. I told Greg about it and he tried to say that Noah gets that behavior from me, but I think we all know where it comes from.

Somebody call D.F.S.

I ask you one question...HOW CAN ANYBODY GET MAD AT THIS CHILD?!?!?

Turns out...Very Easily.

Yesterday Greg brought home a truckload of items from the lab. They were cleaning the place out and trashed a bunch of stuff. They let the employees go through it and take what they wanted. Greg was able to grab a significant amount of porcelain and metal that he plans to sell. We estimate the value of these items to be at least $3000.00. Greg began unloading the items and Zane was there to "help" him out. And then Greg closed the garage door and left Zane in there (with the porcelain and metal).

A little time passes and I ask "Where's Zane?" Greg's reply "I don't know." A little more time passes and we hear him in the garage. Greg gets up, walks to the garage, and then his head exploded...literally. I had to pick up all the pieces of his bald head and patch them back together and then I saw what Zane had done. The porcelain comes in little screw-top bottles and Zane was joyfully un-screwing the tops and dumping them in the garage floor. Now, Greg did not lay hands on that child, but he might as well have. Zane was so upset to have his daddy get on to him. I got him calmed down and Greg kind of got himself calmed down and we started eating dinner. Zane was sitting on my lap and he grabbed my head and whispered in my ear "daddy mean." Greg heard him and kind of played along "I'M WHAT?" he said. "You mean!" Zane confirmed. Me and the kids then went to the soccer games. Upon our arrival there, Zane's first words to grandma Smith were "Daddy Mean." I told her what he had done. Greg arrived a little later and Zane said to him "I Dump Your Ebay." "Yeah you did!" Greg said. We figure he had dumped out about $200.00 worth of porcelain powder.

This morning Zane went in the garage while I was outside. I said "You're not going to dump daddy's ebay are you?"..."NO", he quickly answered. "What happens if you do?" I asked. "Daddy HURT me," he replied. He started to get into Greg's things again so I got on to him. He kept getting into them so I said "Do I need to call Daddy?" He immediately put everything back where he found it.

It's about time the kids think somebody around here besides mommy is mean. I think it just always hits harder when daddy gets mad at us....mommy does it all the time.

Oh, and as we were leaving the soccer games, Greg 'accidentally' kicked our soccer ball at Zane's head. We're still not sure if it was just bad aim or revenge. I think you both are even now.