Jaimies wedding!!!!

I am D-O-N-E! For the last month I have been a busy bee. My house has been taken over by red, white, and black. My friend Jaimie Grieve was married on Saturday and I did and planned with her almost everything. In the end I am super tired, my little fingers have worked like never before but I am super proud of myself. Here is all my hard work. I did a grand total of 51 center pieces... 3 on each table, 5 bouquets, and all the reception decorations minus this crazy ballon dance floor the bride wanted...... I had Nothing to do with that! 51 centerpieces


Me and the bride Jaimie . We were both sooo excited for the long awaited day. She is off Honeymooning in Italy.

Here are the food tables. Aaron took the pictures while I was busy with last minuet touches. He did not think the WHOLE food table needed a picture... He said "you get the idea". It had a round table in the middle with 2 long tables on each side. It worked well lines were quick and short.

Punch Table

Jaimie's brothers are all super talented.... (Just a little info Aubrey Aaron's little sister is dating Mathew who is Jaimie's little brother, so we could be family one day) She had her brother's band play at the reception and by far the best part of the night was when her brother Brigham wrote and surprised her with a sweet song. There was not a dry eye in the room.

The cake table

The Head table once again Aaron did not take a picture of the whole/ front of the table..... you get the idea. =)

The guest tables. Jaimie the bride decided on paper table clothes which were linen paper so you really could not even tell. They were 1/4 of the price. The only bad part were the creases. We pushed 2 of the long 6' x 3' tables to make a big square.

Close up of one of the centerpieces.

I love my hubby! Thanks babe for dealing with all the flowers everywhere and all your help.

I love you! To all my fab friends and family..... you all know who you are thanks for your help and letting me bounce my thoughts off of you. Love you all!

sneaky- sneaky

I think my kiddos are hiding cookies somewhere. 2 days in a row now I have been busy doing stuff and realized my kids were quiet only to find Oreo covered kiddos. First Harris who was so sad when I took his Cookie away..... I'm a wimp. I could not take the tears and gave in and gave him his cookie back. Then Abigail was playing in her room and I hear " yummy yummy Harris" so I went in to find them covered together. When I asked Abi were she got them from she said " mommy it is a secret and you always tell me to keep secrets" What can I do? I love my little secrets agents!

Come play with us......

... we have a swing set! For the kids birthday we decided they had a million toys and could use something to go play outside. We decided on a swing set. It is fantastic! Mam-Maw and Papa, Nana and Grumps, and Uncle Kenny and Aunt Suzi chipped in and we were able to get a really nice one for them. Aaron and his dad worked hard on it even in the dark. It took 3 days, a few not so charming words and a couple of wrong placements but Aaron did it! He was so excited. Really- Really excited. We had to leave the curtains closed and guard the door because he did not want Abigail to see it before it was done. He was adorable. I am so thankful that he is such a great Daddy!

There it is.... look at that smile. I do not know who had the bigger smile Aaron or Abigail.

Then he got the best thing ever.... she ran and played on the swing set then ran back to him and gave him a hug and Kissed. These days Abigail is not a hugger or a kisser so it made Aaron's day.

Then she decided that she wanted to have a picnic on her new swing sat. We laid Harris down for a nap, made a picnic and ate all together on the knew addition to our yard. It was a great day. Later Harris woke and we slid down the slide and swung on swing and he loved it as much as Boo did. Thanks everyone for helping us get something fun to do outside. WE LOVE IT!

Anyone need to laugh?

I asked Abigail to smile pretty and this is what I got. I think it is perfect! She always brings on the laughter! I love my Boo!

We like to PARTY!

You are looking at the cutest one year old ever!

First, I would like to publicly apologize to the Jarvis family.... for the record I sent you guys a invite I just got it mailed back to me because I wrote my own address instead of yours. Since I only sent them on Monday I got it back to me Friday but of course I did not check my mail until today. We missed you and would have loved to have you celebrating with us.... SORRY!

We had Harris' first birthday party on Saturday and due to the crazy amounts of rain we celebrated with most of the people we love in our tiny little house. Thanks for showing your love everyone. We did it in a monster theme and ate some yummy pizza and sweet cake. Since we were in the house we gathered all the little ones and ventured out into the wet and cold to play some relay games. All the kids were to little to pop the balloons, but it was fun watching them try. Then we looked up and our men had disappeared and were across the street helping our neighbor who had his truck stuck in mud..... What good men we all have!

When we went back inside we did the cake. Harris had his own little chocolate cake. He did not like it and once given a yellow cake he was in love. It was so cute! I bent over to try to get him to share and he was only willing to share the chocolate cake. After a quick bath we were off to open all the presents.

Thanks everyone. Our family is lucky to have so many great friends and family! One of our many favorite gifts was the one the Clarkson family gave him. We were banging balls all night....... no really that's what the package said. We had a great time and enjoyed watching as everyone we love had fun and shared in celebrating our son. He is great and it was a great day. Thanks again for all of you and all you did and shared with us this last year!

The 2 babies on the Graden side.... both a year old.


Mam-Maw and Harris

Daddy, Harris and Abigail getting ready to blow out his candles.

Harris sharing the chocolate cakeChocolate vs. yellow. Which do you think won?
I love that face!!!!! Dirty and all I just want to kiss it!

ONE big year!!!

I decided while the kids were asleep I would blog about Harris' big day tomorrow and how lucky I feel to be his mom. I know every women in the world feels deep love and joy at being a mother. I as well look at my life and feel completely blessed. To have all my dreams come true and the knowledge that I only have to try to be the best person I can be and do my part and I can have my family forever. What a Life! I remember very well on this night one year ago thinking about how our family would change and was I really going to be able to love another child like I loved Abigail. Then I held my son in my arms and knew I had just started a life long love affair. I had a son. I love both of my children not one more than the other just differently. When I dream of my dream future for my daughter I think of a education, a temple marriage, a love for herself and a understanding of the depth of the love not only Aaron and I have for her but the love her heavenly father has for her. I want her to love being a women. When I held Harris for the first time I had dreams of kindness, respect, a mission,a temple marriage and a love for the priesthood. I hope he knows the values that are so amazing about being a man, a husband and a father. I hope he realizes the strength and the impact of being not only a worthy priesthood holder is but a son of God. I am thankful so thankful that I have my children. I am amazed at the funny, loving, and wise things that they say and do. I think back to a year ago and wonder how I ever made it threw life without him. I am 100% in love with EVERYTHING he does. I love how even at one year old he looks at his daddy like I do. I love how he cuddles with me when I need a little cuddle time. I love how he plays and adores Abi. I do not know how we ever enjoyed mornings without hearing him on the monitor announcing he is up, or waddling around the house with his tiny little legs, or hearing the infectious giggle. I am so thankful for my family! I am thankful for a year full of love and blessings. Most of all I am thankful for Harris. I love you, son!

Music, Surprises, and John Mayer

Aaron always has a way of catching me off guard with a wonderful surprise or being sweet and AMAZING! For example I love John Mayer and ever since I found out about him coming to Jacksonville I have been talking about how I would LOVE to go. However with the kids birthdays and life I knew we would be better to save the money for a rainy day. In the mean time Aaron was saving and I was surprised Saturday with tickets to his concert. We love music. Every memory I have with him for the most part I think of a song that was playing, or a song that reminds me of that moment. I love the way you feel when you hear a song. When we got tothe arena Aaron had bought the practical tickets which I was thrilled with whether a nose bleed was received during the concert or not. However once we climbed all the way up to our seats we were greeted by an employee who said that there wear empty seats in section L and we could upgrade if we wanted. Once we got to our new seats we were delighted to find out we were 10 rows back right next to the stage. The seats were amazing! The opening band was Micheal Franti and Spearhead. I love them! They were a happy reggae type of group and most of their songs were about love. Then came John Mayer who was AMAZING! Aaron who likes all music but certainly would prefer some head banging and "rocking" even enjoyed it because he would play these unbelievable guitar solos. It was perfect!

Then he played my all time favorite song "Say". I thought that was fantastic until to my excitement he played a cover of Fleetwood Mac. Which is band I have grown up listening to with my mom and dad. It was a perfect night, a perfect surprise and a perfect date! Thanks for always keeping me on my toes and loving me! I love you, Jammes! Thanks for keeping our marriage F-U-N!