9 Years

9 years ago yesterday, I gave birth to that hottie. Believe it or not, she came out very tan and with a ton of dark brown hair. Matt looked at her, then at me and said she wasn't his:) Poor girl had jaundice (hence the tan) and I had lots of dark hair as a baby. She was our little monkey and we were so glad to have her.

Here are 9 things I love about this girl:

1-She has the most beautiful smile that lights up her face.
2-She will play pretend with her sister for hours!
3-She is so compassionate. She never wants anyone to be sad. I have seen her comforting friends with her arm around them, trying to make them feel better.
4-She has a crazy sense of humor. She makes us laugh with the craziness that comes out of her mouth.
5-I never have to ask her to do her homework. It is always done right after school.
6-She loves to help cook.
7-She has an amazing voice.
8-She loves to shop just like her mom:)
9-She loves her family.

Tay- we are so glad to have you in our family. I couldn't imagine life without you!

2010

Biggest Purchase:
All the items to finish our downstairs including our carpet:) But it was SO worth it!

Favorite Movie: Alison in Wonderland, Eclipse,
Funniest Movie: Despicable Me
Worst Movie: Repo Men-HORRIBLE!!

Favorite Celebrity: Sandra Bullock


Least Favorite Celebrity: Lady Gaga-NASTY

Guilty Pleasure(s):
Hot Chocolate, reading, lunch with my girls, sleeping in

Sickest Moment:
All the squishy dog poop I cleaned up that was wet from the sprinklers.

Saddest Moment:
Loosing a couple of people that were too young to move on from this life.

Achievements: Learning to really love cooking, finishing the basement,moving everyone into new rooms a week before Christmas.

2010 "Firsts": Having all 3 kids in school all day, road trip without my hubby for over 10 hours of driving, surviving a year of having Matt gone more than he ever has and making our relationship stronger than it has ever been:)

Lessons Learned:
Using my time wisely, saying "no" instead of trying to be a people pleaser.

2010 in 1 word: Exciting

2011 will be:
AMAZING!

Hopes for next year:
Financial freedom, more family trips, great health for my family, a healthy new niece.

Malia

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things."

Today I have been thinking about the New Year. That 2010 has come to an end, and 2011 will begin a new chapter for all of us. This evening as I was thinking about it a little more, I was told some terrible news. Tears run down my face as I write this. One of my sweet Young Women from Hawaii passed away today, Malia. What has happened this past year doesn't matter. What will happen this next year seems so far in the distance. All that I think of is how important our loved ones are.

We lived across the street from the Vea family our first year and a half in Hawaii. 3 beautiful girls. 2 very caring parents who were always on the lookout for their girls welfare. Nani and her sister Malia were in my Young Women's group. I love those girls! They were very close, fighting like all sisters do at times. But the sisterhood was there. I have watched from across the ocean on FB the girls grow into Women.

May we all put petty things aside. We all have differences. Forgive. Forget. Move on. Look to a positive outlook on life. Bring your family close. Love them for who they are, not what you want them to be. Tell them you love them everyday, show them you love them everyday. Leave the world behind and focus on what you have right in front of you.


“Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.

“But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.

“No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, in this life or the next, Sunday will come.”

Joseph B. Wirthlin

Hawaii Bliss

Thanks to my wonderful parents and in-laws, I was able to take a trip to meet up with Matt in Oahu, HI. Matt had wracked up enough miles for me to use, so off I went. Ahh the bliss of humidity. People hate it, I love it! My hair is a wreck, but I am cool with that. As long as I have warm weather, and the beach:)

The guys from Matt's work were all staying in a condo at Turtle Bay and they were very kind to let me crash with them. Matt's boss even gave up the master bedroom for us:) He rocks! The view out the lanai on the condo was amazing. I started to wonder why we moved back to Utah??? Oh ya, family:)





Matt's birthday was on the 21st, and it was also the day of the Dedication of the Laie Temple. We were able to go with Matt's boss and sit in the chapel on the Temple grounds and watch the dedication. What an amazing and overwhelming spiritual experience it was for me. I have been to many dedications, but none have affected me the way this one did. The Temple had been closed down for almost 2 years while they redid everything inside. Matt had worked for over a year on that project. He had alot of trips back and forth to Hawaii. I think he is so lucky to have seen the transformation of the Temple. President Monson was there and his talk he gave was utterly amazing. The members over there were so thankful to have their Temple opening again. I was overwhelmed with their emotion during the dedication. I really felt the spirit as well as the Aloha spirit from them.





We spent an evening at the North Shore. One of my favorite places to watch the surfers. They had a competition going on earlier in the day that we missed, but we were able to watch some surfers who were still at it.
Matt had told me about the Buddist Temple that he had visited before and after a few days of trying to make it over before it closed, we made it! It was so beautiful!! I love how it is nestled in the mountains. Hawaii really is a magical place. I love the culture, the people, the beaches, and just the ambiance of it. Everyone deserves a trip there.

I really loved that time with Matt. This last year I added up the days that Matt had been gone.

In October,he had already traveled for over 200 days. He works really hard for us, and there isn't a day that goes by that I am not thankful for him. I am also so very thankful for his job. They take such good care of us and treat us like family. Thanks again to all our family who helped take care of our kids! I know they were in good hands:)

Christmas Cards

The cards have been ordered my peeps, and are going out this week. Please email me your awesome address so I can send you one:) melissasovic@hotmail.com

San Diego

After Disneyland we went down to San Diego to spend a few days relaxing. We stayed at the Dana on Mission Bay and I LOVED it there! We had the bay right by us and rented a jet ski for the day. We had such a great time taking turns on it with the kids. They loved it! We loved being at the beach and the kids talked about how much they have missed the beach:( We went to Old Town in San Diego and Parker and Matt went on a tour of the Whaley House. It is the number one active ghost haunted house. Parker is all into ghost hunting so I let him take my camera in and he snapped away. After they were done, we went to a restaurant across the street. While going through his pics, Parker found something in one. Turns out he caught a pic of a ghost in it! We took the camera back across the street and showed it to the people working. They were very excited and had us show other visitors. Parker was excited that he became an instant celebrity:)

After all that fun we headed back to Utah. Yay for the snow???:)

Disneyland Part 2

What's better than getting your pictures with a princess? Not much for my little girls. They kept reminding me over and over that they needed to meet the princesses. So the boys ditched us and that's what we did. Again we were so lucky that the lines were so small, and we only had to wait for 15 minutes to meet them. Did you see the pics of Tay driving on my previous post? SCARY!!! What's scarier? Being in the car with Parker while he was driving. I had whiplash from that kid:) I nominate Matt as the parent that teaches our kids to drive! We really loved being there for 3 days. I don't think I would go any less than that. It really gave us the chance to pace ourselves and really enjoy everything we saw. I was also proud of my kids for earning this trip. We did the "Give a day get a day" deal that Disneyland had at the beginning of the year. As a family we made 5 blankets for a Charity. All 3 kids worked really hard on the blankets and Matt and I are really proud of them.