4 years!

Today, I've been married to the most wonderful man in the world for 4 years!

WOW...4 years! We have had SOO much fun, made so many memories, experienced so many blessings, and brought 2 little angels into this world!

I thought it would be fun to look back at our last 4 years in pictures (plus some)...

For those of you who don't know, we met in March 2003 at K-State....when my fork broke! It's quite a cute little story...some of you know it!

December 2003 - My sorority date party...some 40's or 50's theme?

Christmas 2003

February 2004- Pi Phi formal....man, wasn't Dave just a lucky guy to get to attend all these events with me!

Easter Weekend 2004 in Vegas - with Dave's whole family...great place to be for Easter, huh?

May 2004 - the night he proposed!

Christmas 2004 - a few weeks before our wedding

January 8, 2005 - He's MINE!

January 2005 - Honeymoon in Cabo

September 2005

December 2005 - Our first Christmas TOGETHER

December 2005- Celebrating our first anniversary in Colorado

October 2006 - PARENTS!

Christmas 2006 - Christmas with our baby girl

September 2007 - KSU tailgating

Christmas 2007 - our family is about to grow more!

February 2008 - Now a Family of 4

December 2008

Happy Anniversary Babe! You are my best friend and I love every day that I've gotten to spend with you. Thank you for wanting to spend forever with me. Thank you for being the most wonderful husband and spoiling me everyday! You are a dream come true! I LOVE YOU!

little monkey

This little monkey is just a few months short of being ONE!

I think I have a cute idea planned for his party!

Man, the second child grows up so much faster than the first.

Stop little guy, STOP!


He had such a wonderful first Christmas...well, I guess he didn't care too much about anything, but we had such a wonderful first Christmas with him!


I'm sad that we only have a few months left of bottles....our bank account isn't sad, but there's just something about feeding him bottles that I love.

I'm sad that he'll be walking soon. His crawl is just so cute.

I can't wait for him to be done with baby food though...Taylor was great with baby food...Mason is just difficult at meal time no matter what we give him...baby food, table food...anything!

My little girl is such a cuddler, so snuggly and loving.

I don't want this little guy to get past baby stage and run from me all the time...but I should probably prepare myself, huh?

I just want to give him snuggles and kisses all the time.

Love you little guy!

oops

So I've noticed that I've had some major spelling mistakes the last few posts...let me blame that on a few things...

1. I started uploading my pictures from photobucket and for some reason every time I do the spell check, the pictures get all messed up and I have to redo them.

2. I have some MAJOR eye problems right now..seriously. I went to the eye dr. and found out I have some "crazy long word, medical problem" with my cornea. He said you could compare it to a piece of plastic wrap wadded up and then laid over my eye...vs. looking through a flat smooth surface....not THAT explains why I can't see straight! Friday I couldn't even open my eyes. I'm not in as much pain now, but I can't see anything clearly. I'm not supposed to be wearing my contacts, but I've tried so hard to wear my glasses and I REALLY can't see clear at all with them. So I've been wearing them just for short periods...and even with them, most of what I see on the computer screen is blurry. But don't worry Smiths, I really could see Lily, I wasn't just saying she was cute...I meant it!

So there....excuse my mistakes...I'll try to go back and fix them, but in case I make more...now you know.

Welcome Lily!

Congrats to our good friends, Joel and Kendall Smith, and Ollie....on the new addition to their family!

It was a LONG day...okay, I guess the day was longer for Kendall and Joel than it was us. But it was long for the rest of us too...if only they knew how worried we all were! Seriously Kendall, no more time estimates

"hopefully I'll have it by early to mid-afternoon"

it just causes more worry! Or maybe we should learn to add 5 or 6 hours to whatever you guess.

We waited and waited to hear the big announcement of their new little one.


And she finally came! YES SHE!!!


Welcome Lily Mae!


Is that not the cutest name EVER!!! I LOVE IT!
And of course a VERY VERY cute baby!

I stole this picture from Courtney, Kendall's sister. To see more, check out Joel and Kendall's blog.

You guys kept a good secret!

Although, if only I had of stopped by your house like I was about to do, to see if Courtney had heard if everything was okay....there's no way Courtney could have kept those pink circles above the crib a secret!

I was SO hoping for the call before my jewelry show...I even kept my phone in my pocket during my show...and snuck away 5 minutes before it started to call Dave and see if he heard (this was 6:55)....come to found out later, she was JUST about to arrive! But wouldn't ya know...Dave got the call instead, while I was gone. So I had some exciting news when I was done!

Congrats Joel, Kendall, and Ollie....what a PERFECT addition to your cute little family! Ollie will be such a sweet big brother! Kendall, I'm glad you can have some PINK around the house now. We can't wait to hold little miss Lily Mae!

tutus

After Taylor and her 2 cousins, Sydney (4) and Paige (2) got their matching tutus for Christmas....we knew they would make such a fun little photo shoot! I, of course, know a few people who could have taken WAY better pics...BUT, we just had to get it done, and we wanted to add the rest of the family too...so it was off to JCPenney's!

Ooops, that's not very good advertisement for them, is it? I can't get in trouble for that, can I?Oh well....I guess SOMEONE spoiled us!

In my head I imagined the girls frolicking around and playing together and just being too darn cute! Who was I kidding??? Especially mine...she was ONE tough little gal! We bribed her with EVERYTHING! At one time I was pulling her back into the studio while she was dragging her legs. I guess it could have been worse...at least she wasn't crying/screaming!

So anyway, not much action from them...but I think they turned out pretty cute anyway.

Especially this one....

Then we got the boys...Mason and his 3 older boy cousins...Jaden (3), Jeremy (8), and Tyler (almost 6!)

Soon...very soon.....too soon.....he will be running around like crazy with these boys!

All of these pictures were a surprise to Dave's parents for Christmas. The most recent family picture that is displayed above their fireplace has one grandchild in it (Jeremy), Stef was pregnant with Tyler and Dave was single.... So I guess that was over 6 years ago...8 people were in that picture....me plus many kids were missing.

15 are in this one....

So now we're good for awhile...unless SOMEONE goes and adds another one to their family...STEF you BETTER not mess this up!

sorry for the quality of these photos...they are thumbnail versions available to share online....I can't get them any bigger or clearer.

girls night in

We decided it was time for another girls night...this time IN, not out.
Kendall's about to pop, so we wanted to get it in before the little one arrives (which is TODAY sometime...YAY!)

And we also figured that her baby belly wouldn't quite fit in at the dance club.


So the alternative...my basement.



tons of food...way too much!

sweats and pjs

Mama Mia!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

a night away from the kiddos

and a BIG apology to Alisha and Sarah for cutting you out of the picture.
Sarah even said "was I in that?" and I guess I lied to her...I seriously thought she was, I wasn't paying attention.



After the first movie, I gave everyone a chance to leave if the really felt the need to get back home to husbands and kids, I didn't want to make them feel they HAD to stay, I wasn't tying any hands...there were no takers.

I say we need to have another night solely dedicated to the performance of Mama Mia songs....including dance moves.

Thanks for a fun night girls...can't wait for the next one!

AAAND......CUT!

The holidays have come and gone. Seems like we've hardly been home lately...trying to spend as much time with family from out of town as we can. But now it's back to the normal routine of life.

Here is the last round of pictures from the last week or so...


My parents were at our house Dec. 26 and 27...we were suppossed to have them longer, but they came a day late due to our germ-infested house.

Taylor didn't mind...she got to open presents AGAIN!

Thanks mom and dad...we loved having you...you spoiled us all with gifts! Next year, assuming we don't spend the week and half before Christmas sick, I promise to be a better prepared hostess!

Many of our days the last 2 weeks were spent over at Dave's folks' house where his brother and family were staying. Taylor got to the point where she knew where we were going pretty much every day after waking up from nap. Before laying down for nap she'd say "I wake up from nap I go Papa Nana's house to see my friends?" She is now having a hard time understanding why Jeremy and Sydney are not at Papa and Nana's house anymore.

One afternoon the Coleman Santa Claus (aka: Dave's cousin Terry) came to visit!
He works for Coleman and gets the hook up every year on some awesome stuff....and he's so nice to share it with us all. He came in with bags and boxes full of goodies! Our favorite was a fold up table to use when we're camping!

The kids all got camping chairs!

There were so many goodies that came out of his bags, I can't even remember all that we got! He definitely spoiled us!

Thanks so much Terry!


Mason was such a good sport...all his cousins wanted to do was hold him, carry him, sit by him, and pose with him.

Jaden, you better start growing...Mason MAY weigh more than you do!
And cousin Jeremy....always SO good to the little ones!
Mason has some good steps to follow.



Oh these girls....for now, they are happy playing dolls...well, happy ONLY if they each have their own!

I can't imagine Christmas's when they are wanting to play with their makeup, cell phones and whatever other gadgets will be the big thing then!

Thanks Aunt Rebekah!

We were all very sad we didn't get to see my sister for Christmas.

But Taylor and Mason still had a BIG present under the tree from her!

Matching chairs....SO ADORABLE!

This is how she wanted to watch her new movie...chair in the tent, tent moved by the TV, covered up with her new Dora blanket.

Thanks Aunt Rebekah (Buh-Buh) and Uncle Steve....here's a video from Taylor...

WE LOVE YOU!

remembering the meaning

After Christmas eve at Dave's parents house...we were at home, just the 4 of us for Christmas day.

The morning started out with stockings...I LOVE this sock monkey! I had one when I was little...I think it was handmade, but now they are manufacturing them. He was adorable sticking out of the top of Mason's stocking!If you've been reading our blog, you know what our condition was in the week or so leading up to Christmas. With this being said...NOTHING was getting done at our house. NOTHING! Not the grocery shopping, not the baking, not the cleaning, BARELY the wrapping of presents. What a time to be sick...when the TO DO lists are longer than ever.

The first day we all were pretty much better was Christmas eve....and we spent that whole day away from the house with Dave's side of the family...and came home really late. So nothing got done then either.

So let me just give you a recap of Christmas morning at our house...

We usually wake up with my family at the house with us...not this year. They stayed away a bit longer so we could all get over our sickness. So as much as it was nice having it be just us that morning, it was also weird....when you're used to something being a certain way, it just doesn't seem right. We were very glad when they finally joined us the day after Christmas.

The breakfast casserole and coffee cake never got prepared....so what now?

We decided on pancakes. After they were made, we found out there was no syrup.

There was also no toilet paper in the house.

The birthday cake for Jesus didn't get made (should have been done a day or 2 in advance). We had said we wanted to always have a little birthday party to remember what this day is truly about before opening presents. We couldn't just skip this. I had to think of something.

So a stack of pancakes it was. No candles though. I searched and searched. There was a #2 candle we could have used. But then I found a bag of tealights. NOTHING like I had planned.

Taylor was grumpy all morning from staying up too late the night before.

We had planned a yummy Christmas meal, but things never got bought...and I wasn't going to cook all that for just us anyway. So we scrounged for lunch. I HATE scrounging for food. And it's SO not fun to do on Christmas, when we normally would have a smorgasboard of food of all kinds!

The day went on....nothing was going right, nothing like I had planned. At one point I could feel tears coming on...feeling like a failure that it wasn't that "perfect Christmas day", whatever that is anyway.

Then I realized how silly I was being for getting upset over these small things. What IS Christmas supposed to be? I had to take a minute and stop to remember and remind myself that all these little things that I had planned are not what Christmas truly is. It's not about a yummy breakfast or the perfect candle on the perfect birthday cake for Jesus. It's not about having the house clean or stocked...or even about having toilet paper!

It's about the birth of that miraculous baby boy.

And it's about celebrating him in our lives.

So I decided to end the pity party and continue on with this day...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

(like the candle?)

This was definitely the highlight for Taylor....a doll house!and a Barbie and car to complete it...Nothing like finding some great "dress up" items on clearance after Halloween...

She doesn't know who Hannah Montana is yet...but she loves this wig anyway!You know this was coming... And while we're dressing everyone up...might as well get Anni in on it!lounging on her new chair from Aunt Rebekah...FINALLY....some boy toys!!!

Here's the best part...my MOPS group did a toy exchange before Christmas. For every toy we brought in, we could pick a new one out! Well, not exactly new, but new to us! So this dump truck was FREE! The $20 dump truck I had just gotten at Walmart went back! A toy swap every year sounds great to me! This is another favorite....the night before, she got a cute backpack that included a flashlight, waterbottle, sleeping bag and tent...all for $25!!! And to think I saw this on someone's blog way back in September and sent my sister-in-law to Target immediately to pick it up! I am loving the bright, fun colors!And just a random one of my 2 favorite guys...

hard to believe that little guy will be 1 in 2 months!I definitely feel silly for getting all caught up in the little meaningless things and forgetting for a minute what Christmas is really about....and forgetting to notice all the blessings around me. I'm a planner...and when things are out of whack and disorganized, I have to admit I can definitely get bent out of shape. But this wasn't the day to do it. I'm sure in years to come, there will be even more things that will get thrown at me that will make it easy to lose focus on the real reason for this day....so I'm thankful for the lesson learned this year.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Balzer Family!



We wish you all the greatest blessings for 2009!