cnt forever

I'm Married to a 28 Year Old!

2012-01-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

This is old news, but yes my hubby turned 28. At this rate, we are going to be grandparents before we know it! So these pictures were on our point and shoot camera that Tanner won from his work. I always forget to take the photos off it, so these are from over a month ago.

We celebrated at Tanner's favorite restaurant, El Charro on December 12th, which one a side note is actually my Grandpa Rowley's birthday also. His birthday is 12-12-12! This year he would have been 100 years old!

Tanner got his traditional "Letter H" and he loved every bite.

After dinner, I surprised him with reservations at the Melting Pot for some delicious fondue dessert. Kaydence loved the concept of dipping everything on our plate in melted chocolate.

I can't express how incredibly lucky I am to be married to my best friend. I often forget how blessed I am until I notice other people's problems. Our marriage is far from perfect, but we're both in it together to the end and I have to say, we deal with anything that arises very well. I know it's because we are trying our best to stay close to the gospel and apply it in our lives. I don't know where our marriage would be without the gospel. I feel so blessed to go through all my experiences, good and bad, with him. All of my weaknesses are his strengths and all of his weaknesses are my strengths.

So that said, Tanner is one year older, and only 2 years from being 30! Let's please slow it down a bit...

Freestone Park

2012-01-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

Deb came down for the holidays and I got to steal her away from her family for a couple hours. We played with the kids at Freestone Park. I can't believe how warm it was. I almost wanted to be wearing shorts! It was so good to see her! Miss you Deb!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

2012-01-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

2011 has come and gone! I can't believe it's already 2012. I remember in movies it would be "in the future, 2012" and there would be cars flying around and stuff like that. I guess we're a little behind haha.

So we started New Years Eve off by going to a little place we like to call "Gecko", but it's actually called Moreno's. Gecko Grill closed down, but his brother has a place in Queen Creek that is very similar and they actually adopted a lot of Gecko's menu items. We love it! I wish it wasn't in Queen Creek, but it's still worth it!

After dinner, we headed out to Clint and Jodi's house, which is literally 30 seconds from Moreno's, for a midnight breakfast. Until then, we played games and hung out all evening. It was fun to just enjoy each other's company and relax for the last few hours of the year.

The wonderful host and hostess.

We rung in the new year with sparkling orange juice and sparklers. Kaydence loved the sparklers. She could have spend the rest of the night outside if she had a choice.

Kaydence was out by 12:30am. I am suprised she even stuck it out that long. We ended up having a spend the night there at Clint and Jodi's and woke up at 11:30am! I was so mad I slept in that late. I don't think I've even slept that late when I was in high school. We were able to eat round two of the delicious breakfast and it was still amazing. Thanks Jodi and Clint for having us over!!

Happy 2012 to everyone! Hope you all had a good New Years!

Insight Holiday Party

2012-01-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

Tanner's work throws an awesome holiday party. They had food galore and tons of giveaways! Of course we didn't win anything, but I didn't expect anything. I NEVER win anything! But we still had a lot of fun. They had this fun photobooth... I'm excited for next years. Maaayyybbbee I'll win something then.

Courageous - Movie Review

2012-01-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

Tanner and I went with my sister and her husband to a very good movie at the dollar movies last night. My mom really wanted us to see the movie, so she babysat Kaydence and my sister's newborn, Jaxson. We got there 5 minutes late and the movie was sold out. Apparantly dollar movies sell out! Who would have thought??? But we just bought a different movie and then went to check the theater and there were still a few seats to spare so we helped ourselves. The movie is called Courageous. It has such a positive message throughout the entire movie. I was either crying or laughing during the entire movie! One of my favorite characters was Javier (Javi). He's so darn funny. I definitely recommend this movie. I will say that it seems a little low budget, but I promise you won’t be disappointed. You will walk out of the theater wanting to be a better parent, spouse, and a better person all together. It’s still playing in the dollar movies at Superstition Mall, just get there ahead of time so it’s not sold out.

Thanks Mom for babysitting the kids for us!

Happy New Year!!!!!

2012-01-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas Evening 2011

2011-12-28T13:24:00.000-08:00

We got to spend Christmas evening in Maricopa at my brother-in-law's house. We had lots of delicious food, including one of my new favorites, sweet corn tamale from Mi Amigos (I think). My sister in law also made the best cake! After dinner, we played lots of Kinect and some other games. We even convinced Papa Goodman to play Just Dance, but I failed to get a picture because he officially banned it. Although, it will be forever engraved in my mind! Good times. I got to meet my sister-in-law's boyfriend, Max. He fits right in with the fam. Aren't they so cute together!???? I told them it works better when they hold hands, hehe. I'm so sneaky.

Kaydence loves her Grandma Goodman

Jen frosting her masterpiece. She was so proud of it.

Aunt Jen let Kaydence play with their bird. She fell in love. It even flew on her head and she didn't even cry. The rest of the night she kept wanting to go upstairs to see the bird, so she spent most of her time on the staircase.

We had a lot of fun that night. Thanks Brandon and Jen for having us!

Christmas Morning 2011

2011-12-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning was so much fun this year! Kaydence really enjoyed everything about the holiday's. We all woke up at 6:30am to open presents before the sunrise!

All of my siblings put together this cute "Rowley Memories" scrapbook. We filled it with tons of childhood stories/memories that we could remember. It was a success! It was fun to read all of them together because everyone didn't know what stories each person wrote. There were lots of laughs and tears. Mom said it was the "best gift" we have ever given her. Then she clarified, "well it's tied with the mother's day video you made me".

All the kids minus Dustin, plus two grandkids!

Grandma and Grandpa Rowley got Kaydence this cute little doggie that barks and walks. She loves it. Funny she's got 3 real dogs of her own, but she favors the fake one.

Kaydence's classic bed hair do.

Kaydence does love her real doggies though.

After swapping presents, we had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast with the Rowley cousins. Tanner and I were in charge of the pancakes and they were delish! Most of Tanner's were burnt though, but he claims he meant to burn them! haha.

I caught Tanner in mid-story telling. After making Tanner and Mckay come up with awesome stories for the book, they now have stories up the wazoo to tell!

Kaydence had so much fun with my cousin's little boy, Tiedyn. They are almost a year apart, but they played so well together.

One of Kaydence's favorite presents was her Lion King playhut. She is playing in it this very moment as I write this.

The Eve Of Christmas

2011-12-28T11:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve crept up on us so quickly this year! We had a surprise visit from my cousin Jennifer, and her husband and two kids who live in Utah. It was a lot of fun to spend some time with them.

We normally have our annual Christmas Eve Dinner at my grandma's house, but this year my Dad cooked and we had it at our house. We had a Mexican feast! Tanner and I went to Moreno's the day before (which is Gecko's brother's restaurant), so we bought some of the amazing green salsa for the dinner. It was the cherry on the top!

I also planned the white elephant gift exchange this year. There were some good gifts, and some not so good gifts. Tanner and I got stuck with the not so good gifts, haha.

We finished off the evening with egg nog, milk chocolate, snuggling, and the traditional Scrooge movie. It was fun to have another addition to the family, baby Jaxson, but we were missing Dustin. Next year we will have everyone here!

Ten Years Ago...

2011-12-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

On December 21st, 2001, Tanner and I went on our very first date and made gingerbread houses. Ever since then, we made it a tradition to make gingerbread houses every December 21st (excluding while he was on his mission). Just a couple days ago, we celebrated our 10th anniversary of our first date!!!!! I can't believe how old we are getting!

Here's a photo of us ice skating in our fresly frozen over pool.

Kaydence loved it this year. She ate about 10 Hershey Kisses, plus tons of other candies here and there. That was a mistake! She wouldn't go to sleep.

Here's our very first date photo. Tanner was kinda blinded by the light!

Jaxson's Birth Story

2011-12-19T17:29:00.000-08:00

My little sister had her first baby, Jaxson Mckay Johnson, on December 8, 2011. I was one of the lucky ones that got to witness the birth. It was the most amazing experience I have ever witnessed. I also got to photograph his birth story. I am so glad I did. There were such tender moments that you cannot ever replace or replicate. When I look at these photos, I still get teary eyed. I am so proud of Alissa. She handled it so well. And Mckay was right by her side. He was so sweet. Alissa had a long drawn out labor and was on the verge of getting a C-secion, but luckily after many prayers, she delivered Jaxson naturally and he is beautiful and healthy. Congrats Alissa and Mckay! I love my new nephew. He is absolutely perfect!

Soon to be parents just found out that Alissa doesn't have to get a C-section afterall!

Apparently . . .

2011-12-19T06:05:00.000-08:00

So we had Kaydence on a good schedule and sleeping in her own bed by her self at the beginning of this year. Then in May I started a summer school class and I was literally leaving for work while she was sleeping and then coming home at 5:30 to stuff my face in 2 minutes to make it to my 6:00-10:00 class. I would be home by 10:30 and come home to Kaydence sleeping. I felt so bad so I started letting her sleep in my bed with me so we could have some snuggle time. Well it's been 7 months and we are still having some snuggle time. Apparently, this is how we sleep. I had no idea. I literally couldn't stop laughing when Tanner showed me this picture on his phone!!!!

Maybe it's time we get her in her own bed again????

Mesa Temple Lights and Hot Cocoa

2011-12-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

We got to see temple lights last night. We stopped by QT to get our hot cocoa with delicious mixins so that we could stay nice and warm. Mmm...

Kaydence loved the hot cocoa. She drank more than I did!

We had a little fun with Tanner's flashlight on his phone.

I just love the Mesa Temple, especially at this time of year! Isn't is gorgeous!??

Cabin Adventures - Payson, AZ

2011-12-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

Tanner, Kaydence, Macie, and I went up north to my sister's in law's cabin last week for my other sister, Nicole's birthday getaway with her friends. We were the "responsible parents". We had a lot of fun up there. It was soooo cold, so we got to dress all wintery and there was still snow on the ground from the snowfall the week before. Kaydence loved playing in the snow and loved the playground. You'd think she'd never seen a playground by the way she reacted to all the toys on the playground. So cute!

Nicole's friends. Aren't these girls gorgeous!?!?

Kaydence loves putting the key in the ignition. This may be a problem if she can learn to shift...

Thanks Johnson family for letting us staying in your fabulous cabin!

Annual Nielsen Christmas FHE - 2011

2011-12-11T21:45:00.000-08:00

We had our annual Nielsen Family Home Evening last week. We have a program, visit from Santa, donuts and then go to see Christmas lights at am amazing neighborhood in Chandler. Kaydence loved the Christmas Lights ("Kismis Yites"). Holidays get funner and funner for her each year.

Kaydence was terrified of Santa again this year, but as soon as he gave her a piece of candy, she felt more comfortable. She has been talking about Santa so much since we've been watching Christmas movies, so I thought she might be excited to see him in real life, but nope.

Kaydence Updates

2011-12-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

Kaydence is already 2! It's already been about 2 weeks, and I still can't believe it. I can't imagine how much faster it's going to go when I have more children. I remember my mom always telling me that she really doesn't feel as old as she is, and I always thought she was crazy and in denial, but I am starting to feel that way!

So what's new with Kaydence?

She's loving the Christmas season this year. She can't stop talking about Santa and Frosty.

She is copying EVERYTHING she hears. Her vocabulary has quadrupled this past couple weeks.

She is learning how magical the word please is. Yesterday she was having a meltdown (she's been sick and cranky this week), and I literally saw the light bulb go in in her head. She immediately stopped in mid-crying and said "peas" (please).

Her favorites movies right now are: "Gru" (Despicable Me), "Santa" (Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer), "Dog" (Fox and the Hound), and "Shark" (Shark Tale).

She still loves taking baths, specifically bubble baths. But then again, who doesn't???

She is learning her colors. She is always talking in colors.

Some of her favorite foods/snacks: Peas, pizza, salad, ranch, "bites" (Dinosaur Chicken Bites), powerade, bananas, and pears.

She LOVES eating her gummy vitamins! The other night she woke up crying and crying. She finally said, "biamin" and she got her vitamin and went back to sleep.

She loves being rocked on the rocking chair.

She is starting to fight getting in her carseat. We have tic tacs in the car specifically for that reason.

She loves all her stuffed animals. Her favorites right now are whale, giraffe, doggy, unicorn, and "bug" (ladybug).

She is growing like a weed and still as cute as ever!

Snow and Ice Skating

2011-11-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

Last week Tempe Marketplace had an ice skating show and fake snow fall. Kaydence loved it.

Afterward we went to Logans Roadhouse. I love that place now! I always like it, except for the fact that they didn't have the cinnamon butter like Texas Roadhouse, so I asked them if they had any honey or something to put on the rolls and she said, we have cinnamon and sugar mixture. It was wonderful. We are totally going to go to Logans from now on. Texas Roadhouse has such a long wait!

Give Thanks

2011-11-29T19:41:00.000-08:00

There is so much I am thankful for in my life, but just to name a few.

I am thankful for my husband who honors his priesthood and loves me unconditionally.

I am thankful for my sweet little daughter Kaydence who is the perfect example of the pure love of Christ.

I am thankful for my righteous parents who are such a great example to me and my family.

I am thankful for my brothers and sisters who are always there for me.

I am thankful for my second family (inlaws). They have adopted me like a daughter/sister and I am grateful for the relationship I have with each and every one of them.

I am thankful for the truthfulness of gospel.

I am thankful for Christ's atonement for my sins.

I am thankful for cheesecake.

I am thankful for mine and my husband's job. Both have been answers to our prayers, they just took time to be answered.

I am thankful for prayer.

I am thankful for Christmas.

I am thankful for repentance.

Last but not least, I am thankful for cameras.

We started Thanksgiving at the Rowley house for the Nielsen Thanksgiving. It was delicious as usual and the weather was beautiful.

Alissa is about to pop! She is scheduled to be induced next Monday! We are so excited to meet Jaxson.

Best cousins!

Kaydence loves walking Zoey around on the leash, so for Thanksgiving dinner, she walked around everywhere with Zoey. I was so proud of Zoey. She did very good with all the people (thanks to the bark collar!)

After the Nielsen dinner, we headed over to the grandma and papa Goodman's house for round two! It was delicious. After dinner we painted each other's nails while the boys watched lol. We are going to make it a Thanksgiving tradition. Kaydence had so much fun being pampered by Aunt Rachel.

Annual Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-29T14:38:00.000-08:00

Catching up finally! We carved pumpkins last month. It was so much fun. Everyone had such creative cute ideas. Except those that used a pattern. Lame! I won't mention any names! You know who you are! haha

These kids just love eachother! They are so sweet.

Kaydence's hair is getting pretty long (well about 10 of them are). I should trim soon, but she's had such a hard time getting hair, I'm scared to touch it!

Order left to right: Dallas, Katie, Nicole/Randall, Tanner/Chandra, and Alissa/Mckay

Thanks to all that came over for the halloweenie festivities!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-29T14:37:00.000-08:00

Halloween sure came and went this year! It was so much fun this year because Kaydence was totally into the "knocking on random people's doors and getting free candy". It took her about one or two houses to feel comfortable, but after that she was catching on. We dressed up this year as Wizard of Oz theme. It was so much fun. I have to say our costume as a whole was a lot better than last year. Tanner couldn't even figure out something until last second and it was pretty lame, but it worked.

Tanner workin his costume!

This was Kaydence's original costume, until we figured out our Wizard of Oz theme. I think she was adorable as a bunny, but it was such a small costume, we had to cut the feet out!

Fun with Jack

2011-11-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

Last month my friend came down with her kids to visit finally! Kaydence and Jack were so cute together. We took them to the park and we got some super cute pictures of them holding hands! Ah young love!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-11-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

My little sister was able to take a few photos of us for our annual family photoshoot. She is a great photographer. Thanks Nicole for taking our pictures!

Alissa's Baby Shower

2011-11-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

My little sister Alissa is having a baby next month! We are so excited for her. We threw a shower for her a few weeks ago. We had lots of good food, great company, fun games, and lots of gifts for Baby Jaxson.

Kaydence's Birthday Carnival

2011-11-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

Kaydence turned 2 on November 10th! She is growing up way too fast. We decided to throw her a fun carnival while we are still young and have the energy. It turned out super cute and it was well worth all the work.

My awesome friend throws "Pony Parties". Check her out here. She is awesome and the kids loved the pony.

Kaydence doesn't really like cake, but loves cookies and ice cream, so I made her a pazookie cake.

My little cousin is an awesome magician, so we were able to get him to do some awesome magician tricks for us.

Tanner and I made this cute "insert head" board. I have to say it took a lot longer than I expected, but it got it's use. It also was super cheap to make because I bought most of the paint at a garage sale. They turned out pretty cute. I love it how most of the people that did it are adults! haha.

My cousin rents out this awesome vintage photobooth. Check her out here.. She was nice enough to bring it to the party. Here's a few of our fabulous guests.

Thank you to all that came to party with us and also that helped set up/clean up. Kaydence had such a fun time with all her friends and family! She is so blessed to have so many people that love her.

Best Friends

2011-11-07T16:39:00.000-08:00

Deborah was able to come visit a few weeks ago. It was so fun to see her. We went to dinner with the girls from work. I miss her! I can't wait for her to move back here.