Wanna Bet?

I have my 20 week Ultrasound in a week and so I'm starting the poll. Boy or Girl? Cast your votes. I'm not letting any information leak about what I think. Good Luck!

5 Years of Eternal Bliss!

I didn't forget, I just got busy! Jason and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on 09/09/09! We've been together 6 and it seems like a lot longer than that. We've had many trials and road blocks that not every couple has to deal with (like a baby on your dates) but it has helped us grow tremendously! Just a little synopsis on the last 6 years. Dating-dealing with a divorce and having a little person to think about while on dates. First year anniversary-had baby Emma 4 days before our anniversary so not very romantic but very exciting! Maddie started her seizures this year and so we also had that trauma to deal with. Got worse as the year went on and we added a second job (for the both of us) into the mix to try and pay for the medical bills that were piling up. We had tremendous help from family and friends and people who wanted to remain anonymous. 2nd Anniversary has been my favorite so far. Maddie was adopted and sealed to Jason on the exact day of our anniversary and it was a wonderful moment. The girls looked so angelic in their white dresses. Em was just barely a year and wasn't quite sure what to make of the funny looking people in the weird clothes smiling at her and talking to her. She didn't like me in my temple clothing! Then we went to the BYU football game with my parents after that and had a fun day. A month or two later we moved to American Fork and struggled with work and a little bit of depression on my part. All that's better now-thank you. 3rd Anniversary-Jason surprised me by booking a special room at the Castle Creek Inn. I've always wanted to go there. We went over conference weekend and had a nice relaxing weekend. We bought a house and moved again but this time only a few blocks. Can't say that I've enjoyed being home owners with all of the fix-it stuff we've had to do, but it's nice to be someplace permanent...for now! (sorry, not a very good pic but it's the only one I could find) 4th Anniversary-had our son Nathan a month before and so once again, not very romantic. But we did go to dinner and had a nice night. Actually, I think I made dinner that night...yes I did. I made his favorite and we still had a nice night. Which brings us to the 5th Anniversary-Every year we go and do sealings on our anniversary if it's on a day that we can do that. So, we spent two hours at the temple giving other couples and families the opportunity for the same joy and bliss that we enjoy by being an Eternal Family. And because our sealer was a little long winded and we didn't feel like we could just get up and leave, we ordered take-out from one of our favorite restuarants, picked up the kids, popped in a movie that really wasn't worth seeing and ate our dinner together on the couch. Hey, I didn't have to cook it and it was silent while I ate instead of the kids yelling for more or saying they don't like what we're having or Nate yelling at us and we can't understand what he wants and then he chucks his food and- well- you get the point. We still live in the same house-not by choice on my part-and we are expecting El Numero Quatro as we are lovingly referring to the new baby that we are anxiously awaiting. And thus sums up the romance and lives of Jason and Cara Childs. The best part is we don't fight, or argue, or ignore one another and we truly are happy and in love with each other and our children. Of course, now that I've said that we'll have a big argument tonight and someone will end up sleeping on the couch! I LOVE YOU J! YOU ARE THE BEST! THANKS FOR MAKIN IT FUN!

Emma's Birthday

I'm a terrible mother! I didn't post anything about Emma's birthday. It lasted several days and I'm still recovering from it. We have preschool at our house twice a week, so rather than throw a "friends" party (which I don't do until they are 5 anyway, but all of her other friends have been doing parties) I decided since we'd have everybody there anyway we'd just do a little more "party" things. The girls were given crowns to decorate and the boys were given shields to play with (as the prince or the knight). Then we played a Disney bingo game and decorated cupcakes. I gave the girls some princess rings and the boys toy cars as favors. She seemed to have fun. We took her out to dinner that night-her choice was Golden Corral so that she could have a little bit of everything. She DID NOT want anybody coming to sing to her at the restaurant. This was two days before her birthday. The day before her birthday I tried to make special for her, but we ended up going to Swiss Days with my sister in-law and her boy that is three days older than Emma. We had the family over that night for cake and ice cream and she hit the jackpot with presents. Baby dolls, dance outfits, baseball with mitt, bat and tee, a game, lipgloss, clothes and a princess tent complete with sleeping bag, flashlight and compass. We tried to set up the tent in the living room for the girls to have a "sleepover" but it wouldn't stand up and then broke right in the middle of one of the poles. So now I need to try and return it. The day of her birthday her best friend had her own princess birthday party because her birthday was the following day (sunday) so Emma went there all confused about whose birthday it actually was. She had a lot of fun though. She's 4, she still doesn't know WHEN her birthday is, just that she had a party and presents.

Her cake, by the way, was a complete disaster. I had this great recipe for a cheesecake poundcake that I wanted to do and I even added strawberries to it which are Em's favorite. I went to great lengths to make this stupid cake be the best ever...and it totally flopped! Em wanted me to make her a barbie dress cake. This is the cake with the actual barbie doll stuck in the top of the cake and then you decorate it to look like the dress. Anyway, I made this cake for her two year birthday but she wanted it again. The cake that year didn't look right because the Barbie doll was a little too small. So this year I had the right size, made my own buttercream frosting and had everything ready. the cake wouldn't come out of the bowl despite my tricks and then when it did finally start to come out it started to run, the center wasn't cooked all the way through! Blast that homemade recipe! This all happened about 10 minutes before family was supposed to arrive. I grabbed the card and handed it to Jason and said, "go buy her a cake." They came back with kind of a lame one because the bakery had closed already. Anyway, I had made another cake that wasn't a frosting cake because I know the adults don't really like all the sugar and my parents are weight watcher gurus and I wanted them to have something. So I made this really yummy fruit layer cake...well, I was told it was yummy, I didn't actually get to taste it. I had the sugar cake and in fact (if you tell Emma this I will deny it) I ate the whole thing by myself over the course of two days. What? I'm pregnant ok? It's what the baby wanted! So, this fruit cake tasted better than it looked because to me it looked like it was going to fall over. All the pics will be in the slide show as soon as I get that up.

Well, Emma I hope you had a memorable 4th birthday because I certainly won't forget it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!