Happy 15th Anniversay To Us!

Todd and I celebrated our 15h anniversary today. WOW -- 15 years! We spent our day doing the usual -- basketball practice, scouts, etc. We decided to rekindle our marriage by going on 2 dates a month. We have let the boys and their activities dictate much of our social calendar but now that the boys are older and can stay home for a few hours by themselves we decided a couple hours here and there would be good for Todd and I. I love Todd more now than I did 15 years ago but for different reasons. It's such a blessing to be married to your best friend and to have such a fun time together.

Happy Birthday Todd!!

Today is Todd's 46th Birthday. Todd doesn't really like his birthday - in fact he actually hates his birthday but he tolerates it so the boys and I can have some fun.

46 Interesting Things about Todd--

1. He loves to tease.

2. He enjoys horse riding

3. He works hard for our family.

4. He puts up with my continual "decorating or re-decorating."

5. He has a degree in elementary education.

6. He has a great sense of humor.

7. He likes to go 4 wheeling

8. He loves to eat hamburgers.

9. He does not like seafood.

10. His favorite color is blue.

11. He is the second oldest in his family.

12. He makes me laugh.

13. He honors his priesthood.

14. He is a great father.

15. He is my best friend.

16. He likes to take Sunday naps.

17. He served a mission in Minnesota.

18. He doesn't like the water (ie swimming, boating etc.)

19. His favorite church calling is the back row usher.

20. He has a soft spot for his parents.

21. He loves his 1988 Truck --- Lazy Jack.

22. He doesn't like to mow the lawn.

23. He likes to paint ceramic horses.

24. He collects Bryer horses.

25. He is very organized with his farm records.

26. He likes to watch American Idol.

27. He loves to listen to George Strait.

28. He thinks Carrie Underwood is "HOT".

29. He doesn't like when I cut my hair too short.

30. He is very thoughtful.

31. He is very sentimental.

32. He doesn't throw anything away!

33. He's very good at saving money.

34. He loves his 10:00am morning break.

35. He always has a tan line around his watch - year round.

36. He loves traditions.

37. He hadn't been farther south than Provo (to the MTC) when we got married.

38. His favorite snack is potato chips.

39. He can tinker for hours on Saturdays.

40. He has never broken a bone but has had a total knee replacement.

41. He gets very excited at sporting events.

42. He likes to have fun.

43. He hasn't shaved his mustache (except to trim it) for 14 years.

44. He sleeps with a C-Pap machine.

45. He likes frosty's for a treat.

46. I LOVE HIM!!!

Black & White Days 2009

Another Downs Family Tradition, Richmond Black & White Days has come and gone for 2009. Todd really enjoys this horse show. He enjoys finally being able to play with his "babies" after the winter and getting them ready to show at the horse show. This year Kody showed in a few classes also. Todd has always wanted one of his sons to take an interest in his hobby -- I think Kody may be his only hope. Kody did very well, he was nervous, therefore, the horses were nervous but I was really proud of Kody for trying.

Blackjack

Snickers

Peaches

Happy Anniversay to Us!!

Today is our 14th Anniversary. Holy Cow! In some ways it seems like a few years ago and in other ways, I have to really think hard to remember that day. These 14 years have been the best, not without a few "discussions" and some heart ache but the best knowing that I have my best friend by my side along the way.

Todd is pretty quite in public but within the walls of our home, he is the jokester of our family. We laugh until we cry, we wonder what else he can come up with, we wonder where he gets his wit, his energy and his love for life.

I'm the luckiest person in the world to be married to a hard working, loving, patient, and kind husband. I look forward to many, many more anniversaries with Todd.

This and That

Since it's been a couple of weeks since I posted, I'm going to give a quick run down of what has happened the past two weeks.

Last weekend, Oct 24-25, I went with Shalise, Audrey, Marci, Amy, Amy's sister Jess, Amy's mom and Amy's Aunt Chris scrapbooking in Park City. I was extremely nervous about going -- only because I'm not a huge scrapbooker but I went with a specific project and I was able to accomplish that project. (More details later, don't ask questions at Christmas time!) Shalise, Marci and I left about 1 on Friday afternoon, we stopped and shopped at Tia Pan. It was fun to wonder around without kids or husbands pretending that it's not boring!! We got to Park City about 5, ate dinner and then scrapbooked until 12:30 and then went back to our room and chatted until about 1:30 before we all crashed! I didn't know how much I missed "girl talk" without kids. Saturday morning we scrapbooked until about 10:30 and then we all went to the outlets and shopped. Again, we had lots of laughs and a great time. I hope that this can become an annual event.

Todd went to Wisconsin last Monday - Wednesday. I now have a greater appreciation for single moms. The boys were good but just going, going, and going without an help, or an ear to lean on was a challenge. Actually, the real challenge was sleeping at night without Todd. I've never been able to sleep when he isn't home but with the help of some prayers, I did okay. I was relieved when I saw him walk into the Ward Fall Festival. There is just something about knowing your spouse is in the same town! I'm grateful that Todd doesn't travel much for work. I'm sure you would get used to that schedule, but I'm glad I don't need to get used to it.

Aggie basketball started on Friday night. The boys choose to go to the game instead of Trick-or-Treating. In fact, I hadn't even bought any Halloween candy until Thursday, since I didn't have to worry about costumes I pretty much forgot there was even a holiday coming. Thankfully, I remembered and bought some candy just in case we got some Trick-or-Treaters. We did have about 7 or 8 kids total, so the Halloween candy was consumed by the Downs Family!

Tyler also started his basketball games on Saturday. He switched coaches and teams this year so I was somewhat apprehensive about the first game but I was quite surprised at how well they played together and seemed to mesh. Tyler actually played really well for the first game. I'm hoping that by not having a coach yelling at him from the sidelines constantly will help his self-confidence. Whether I'm ready or not, I can say that BASKETBALL season has officially begun. Our family LOVES basketball, however, we'll see how much we LOVE basketball when we start having 2 or 3 games every Saturday. When I look and the calendar for the next several months, I get really tired -- let alone trying to live that schedule. I keep telling myself that it's all good and worth it, we'll see!!

Tomorrow night, April and I are hosting a Neighborhood Holiday Open House. Our intent is to have the families on our street bring food to donate to the Food Pantry and then visit with each other for an hour. This would be in place of "neighbor" gifts at Christmas time. A few neighbors have been thrilled with the idea so we'll see how well it goes over. We have talked about doing this for a couple of years now but always seem to think of it a little too late in the holiday season. We are hoping that this could become a tradition to remove some of the stress of the holiday season.

Speaking of the holiday season, I hired some young guys to get my Christmas lights up and running this year. They look great! I don't know if I can wait until Thanksgiving night to turn them on. Todd wanted to leave them on last night while we ran into Logan so I agreed but wondered what the neighbors all thought! Todd doesn't have the patience to accomplish such a tedious task, and I don't like heights but I LOVE Christmas lights so I decided to hire it done and know that it was done right. Todd's idea of replacing a blown fuse is tin foil or a screw. Can I say FIRE HAZARD!??

I can't believe it's November, and in some ways I think the calendar is all wrong, but since the calendar really does say November, I'm starting to get excited for Christmas and the holiday season. I'm thinking of getting the Christmas trees out the end of next week. When we were at Tia Pan last weekend, all of their trees were out and I started to get excited to decorate. It is just such a huge task but I'm going to try and do a little each day and see if that makes it any easier for me. When I was at Walmart last night, the day after Halloween, they were playing Christmas music! and the Halloween candy isle had been changed to Christmas candy! The most wonderful time of the year is coming!!!

TGIF!!!

Thank Goodness It's Friday!! Fridays are one of my mostly enjoyable days. I've decided it's because the boys don't have school tomorrow so we don't have to rush to get homework done, nobody has a sports practice, nobody has scouts, usually nobody has anything so I can relax (or at least not have to go 90 mph all day long!!) Although tonight we are going to have to get ready to leave for Tyler's football game at 6:15am.

Yesterday I had Activity Days. We talked about budgeting money and how the money that you receive has to be used to pay alot of different items and things to run a household. I was surprised how much the girls understood or knew about their families budgets. It's probably me that hasn't done a very good job explaining to my boys how budgeting works. After realizing that most kids their age do understand -- at least to some degree -- how budgeting works, I've made a resolve to do a better job at teaching the boys how to better manage their money.

Kody went to basketball practice and I took Brooklyn wit us. She and I talked while Kody practiced Basketball and then we went and got Tyler from football practice. Todd had gone to a horse tack auction so the boys and I were going to surprise him and have the horses taken care of before he got home. That planned was ruined when we realized that the hay was moldy -- I don't know what moldy hay does to the horses, I just know Todd has said DO NOT feed the horses moldy hay. Also, none of us knew what the latest "creation" Todd has come up with as far as feeding grain and supplements to the horses so we had to wait for him to get home.

Not a very exciting post but just a typical day in our lives. Hopefully, I'll have some good news to post on Saturday about the out come of Tyler football game.