My Valentine

I'm a couple days late to the party, but this is the only amount of "social media" I'm a part of so every once in awhile the sappy posts are necessary.

6 years ago on Valentine's Day Caleb was in Afghanistan and Casen and I were alone in California.  He was heading out for a mission and I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but that didn't phase him.  He still made sure to let me know he loved me and took the time to plan ahead even while literally being in the middle of a war.  Around 9pm on the 14th this beautiful arrangement came to my door.

Fast forward to Valentine's Day 2018.  He's still working super hard, 12 hour midnight shifts, still in harm's way.  And he remembered.
He remembered how special those flowers were to me and he had the same ones sent to our front door that morning while he was busy in court.

And my day didn't even end there.  He knows me the best.  He knows social anxiety basically rules my life and the thought of going to a gym surrounded by people would most likely keep me up at night and i'd probably end up sitting in my car in the parking lot.  I've been working out at home pretty religiously for 2 years now and we've slowly but surely been adding to my baby home gym.  He checked a gigantic need off my list!  And he even did all the research so I didn't have to and found one piece that fits lots of my needs.

Box jumps without falling over here I come!

Then thankfully he was off so we got to spend the rest of the evening together.  We made our first attempt at guacamole and it turned out amazingg. 

Thanks for knowing me best.  Thanks for staying up late finishing our latest puzzle and beating me in darts.  Thanks for sitting through my scary drs appointments this year.  Thanks for taking me to Sonic when you know I need it.  Thanks for wandering Target with me.  Thanks for being the best dad to our babies.  Thanks for making fried rice and sharing First Cut with me.  Thanks for always being up for watching Smallville...again. Thanks for working a really hard and most of the time thankless job because it's what's best for our family. Thanks for the incredible amount of laughs we've already had this year.  But most of all, thanks for being you and loving me.

Arya is 5!

Yesterday we got to celebrate our crazy little lady turning 5.  Holy smokes, where does the time go?  She'll be starting Kindergarten this fall.

She's living in her own little world most of the time.  She's usually singing or dancing or coloring.  Barbies and tiny toys are her current obsession.  She has the biggest heart of any kid I've ever met.  Every day she asks me if i'd like a back rub because she "just wants me to be super happy."  She'll give you anything she has and she cries at i'm pretty sure every movie she's ever watched because she's always feeling for the characters.  And lastly, she NEVER stop talking...ever.  We usually have to ask her to stop for a minute to give our ears a break.


Making her birthday brownies

 She requested a Trolls party this year

 She had a list minute change of heart and chose Buffalo Wild Wings instead of Sonic for her birthday

 She wanted to do another movie theater night for her party.  We, of course, screened Trolls.

 For the second year in a row she asked to have brownie sundaes for her "birthday cake."

She makes us laugh every single day and we love her so much!  What a huge year 5 is going to be.

January

Here's a couple that I didn't get to post for our trip North for winter.  The kids lovee my parents dogs!

Caleb was working on New Year's Eve, but he was able to run home really quick at 11:59 to bring the kids some treats and have a super quick celebration with us.

Enjoying their Christmas presents from our California family!

And it was technically February, but we of course have thoroughly  enjoyed watching the Patriots the entire football season.  It, obviously, wasn't the outcome we hoped for, but being able to watch your favorite team play in the biggest game of the year for the past 3 out of 4 years is a pretty amazing thing and if you don't think so....we probably wouldn't be friends :p

Now it feels like a piece of our family is missing until next September!