¡Cuatro Años!

Four years ago on this fateful day Will and I got married. Our wedding day, though rainy like it is today in Atlanta, was absolutely perfect. We had a sweet, faith-confirming experience in the temple, a yummy luncheon at Maggiano's and then a fabulous reception the next day. And our honeymoon cruise was awesome! Seriously, everything went off without a hitch and I have such fond memories about the entire time. No freakouts for us.

As I think about the past four years, I'm filled with love, happiness and lots of laughter. Will and I have the best marriage for us. We complement each other so well. We are similar people and really don't argue. While some may say that makes for a boring marriage, I would have to strongly disagree. It's so nice to know that we don't have to argue or disagree about all of the little things in life. Instead, we get to focus fully on enjoying the journey. There is no one I'd rather journey through life with than Will. He is my sweetheart, my love, my best friend, my eternal companion. I'm forever grateful that we met and fell in love when we did.

Sometimes I feel like we've always been married, that we've always shared our life together. And while I'm so grateful for the time we had to be single and the lessons that we learned, I can't say enough about what a blessing being married to Will is to me. There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't make me laugh. And as you guys know, I love to laugh!

In our short four years we've traveled to five countries and seven states.

We've lived in five different places and gone to two different wards. We've had a total of eight jobs between the two of us. We've owned four different cars and been in one car accident. And we've become parents to two of the cutest little folks out there. Who knows how much those numbers will change over the next four years?!
If time, money and responsibilities were not a factor, as anniversary gifts I would get Will the following four things (one for each year we've been married):

1) New ankles and feet. And maybe legs and I might as well throw in a new back while I'm at it.

2) A trip back to where he served his mission in the rainforest of northern Brazil.

3) Dinner with his man-crush Brad Pitt.

4) Incredible seats to a Manchester United match in England. Or perhaps tickets to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. It's a toss up.

And since four is the magic number today, here are four things I love about Will. Being careful not to duplicate any of the things I said last year.

1) He is incredibly tender hearted.

2) He works so hard for our family.

3) He loves to read and learn.

4) He is, quite possibly, the funniest person on the planet.

Four years under our belt and still going strong. Go Team Giddens!!

Cuteness x2

Last week I took the kiddies to see my sweet friend, Natalie, and her baby boy, Blaine. Natalie and I have been friends for a few years now. Will was in Natalie's ward growing up, and Natalie's husband Jesse was my home teacher when we were in the singles ward. We were all in the same ward until a few months ago when there was a mass exodus of young married couples who were expecting babies in September. Natalie and I were actually due a day apart at the end of September, but due to other circumstances, we both delivered two weeks early - still a day a part! Juliana was born on the 10th and cutie pie Blaine on the 11th.

It was so cute to see Juliana and Blaine together! They are both dolls and Blaine is such a boy. It's nice to know that wide eyes, bibs, onesies, pants and socks are just standard 4 month old attire.

A few days later Everett decided Juliana must be having all the fun with her 24/7 bib wearing, so he chose to don one of his own.

A Contented Sigh...

It took him three tries, but he finally got a good grip.

Modesty Rocks!

To all of my Atlanta-area friends,

Guess what?!?! My mom is opening a modest bridal and formalwear shop! How neat-o cool is that? We are super excited for her and are trying to get the word out to as many people as we possibly can.

As many of you know, finding a modest, formal dress outside of the state of Utah can be a challenge. Many times we're relegated to simply wearing some sort of jacket over a sleeveless dress or sewing on sleeves. It is so much nicer when the dress is already modest and all you have to do is try it on, make sure it fits and then purchase it.

My mom has been toying with the idea of opening her own shop since Paula and I were in high school. She saw how difficult it was for us to find formal dresses. When I got married, I found a lady in Acworth that had a shop so I bought my dress there. Paula had to fly to Utah to find her wedding dress.

Well, no more! As of February 16th, 2008, my mom's shop, The Yellow Rose, will be open and ready for business. She will be carrying the Beautifully Modest dress line, with other lines to follow as business picks up. She will be open by appointment only, so that she will be able to give her undivided attention to the young lady trying on the dresses. To kick off her grand opening, she will be hosting an open house. There will be refreshments, a mini fashion show and a raffle to win coupons to go towards the purchase of a dress. Fun times will be had by all.

If you are prom/homecoming age, bridal age, or if you simply need a dress for a formal occasion, The Yellow Rose is the place for you!

Ticket to Ride: It's a Good Thing

For all of you who enjoy a good game, could I please suggest one of my new favorites? It's called "Ticket to Ride" and it is simply fabulous!

We received this blessed game as a gift from a secret Santa. This secret Santa was good because not only have they yet to reveal themselves (hence the entire purpose of it being secret), but they also know us pretty darn well to send us such a fun game. We've played it plenty of times since Christmas and each time we play I get more ideas of effective strategies.

Basically, the point of the game is to build railroad routes between major cities in the U.S. You gain the ability to "lay tracks" by drawing different colored rail cards. Once you have enough of the same colored rail cards, you can lay down your route between two cities.

To add to the fun, at the beginning of the game each player draws destination cards. You are responsible for fulfilling those cards and by doing so, you get bonus points. For example, if your destination card says "Los Angeles to Miami: 26 points", when you build the route from L.A. to Miami, you get the 26 points. Should you fail to do so, you are penalized those 26 points.

The real excitement of the game comes from the fact that the other people you're playing with are trying to fulfill their own destination cards and at any point in time, may completely mess up your strategy. The direct route may not always be the easiest to complete!

And should you need more convincing, it might interest you to know that "Ticket to Ride" won the German Game of the Year in 2004. As you may, or may not, know games that win the GGotY award are usually stellar. Those Germans really know their board games.

So if you are hankering for a fun, new game to try, my endorsement goes to "Ticket to Ride." It's fun, it's easy to learn the rules and if my sister, Paula, likes it, then you KNOW you have a winner on your hands. That Paula, she's a tough cookie.

A Boy, His Dad and Snow

The weathermen predicted it and this time they were right - it SNOWED! in Georgia! in January!

We had a snow day on Saturday that reminded me of my days in college. It started snowing around 11 a.m. and didn't stop until evening. Granted, it was only about 3 inches, but it has been probably seven or eight years since the last time it snowed down here in the Dirty South.

Will took Everett out to enjoy the falling snow.

And Everett? Well, he was gracious enough to copy everything Will did. Smarty pants.

I sure do love these two guys!

Size is a Relative Thing

Thanks to Paula and Lydia, we dusted off the ol Exersaucer yesterday. It's nice to know that even though Everett is way above the recommended age guidelines, he didn't let a little thing like the fact that he can stand up straight in it deter him from having a grand time.

It made me a little nostalgic for earlier times,
But glad he's a kid after my own heart and is determined to get his money's worth out of it!

Confession #57

I have a habit. One that I'm not particularly proud of, but one that I just can't seem to quit. I'm thinking/hoping I'm not alone in my habit, but here it is: I LOVE to blog surf.

You know how it is: You give yourself five minutes to check a few blogs, see what folks are up to, and before you know it an hour has passed, you've squandered away nap time (for the mommies out there) and you've found a long lost friend, but with absolutely no recollection as to how you really stumbled across their site.

Sadly, the thrill I get from finding the blog of someone I used to know is intoxicating. I always get giddy when I find a new blog that has loads of folks on their sidebar. You never know who you might find next!

So for any other surfers out there, feel free to check out my update sidebar. You might be surprised who you happen to find out there in the Internet ocean. Surf's up!

Fancy Schmancy

I haven't been to many black-tie affairs in my day. And I've been to exactly zero since becoming a stay-at-home mom. So when Will told me that he had a "Kick Off to 2008" work party that was black tie, I admit, I was less than thrilled. I hate dress shopping and just didn't know if I would find something that was a) appropriate and b) I'd like. But, I think I faired alright and I do have to say, I felt pretty snazzy getting all dolled up and going out with my handsome husband to a party with all the grown ups. We're talking sit-down dinner, tables set with something like four different glasses and seven pieces of silverware per person, an open bar (you KNOW we took advantage of that. Hello, cherry Coke!), a d.j. AND karaoke too. What a night!

Here we are in our formalwear. And yes, my dress was very sparkly.

You know, sometimes it really comes in handy to have a husband with long arms. If I had taken this picture, it'd be A LOT closer.

Will the Thrill treating everyone's ears to a rousing and incredibly spot-on version of Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places." Seriously good. So good, in fact, that one old man swore Will has a career in Nashville in his future. If only I could sing, we could be the next Tim and Faith!

A Momentous Day

We have an announcement to make concerning the status of our little girl's ears (drumroll please): They're pierced!

(Shocking, we know.)

Getting Juliana's ears pierced has been part of our plan since the day we found out we were pregnant with a girl. We both think it's cute and I had my ears pierced when I was two months old, so we decided we'd do the same with our daughter. Now, before I get loads of comments about how 1) inappropriate, 2) cruel/mean, 3) tacky, 4) ugly or 5) wrong it is to have pierced her ears, let me simply say, 'Thanks, but no thanks'. Will and I both happen to think it is darling on little girls and thankfully, Juliana is our daughter. I do have to say though, I am amazed at the amount of emotion people feel about the topic of piercing little girls ears. Don't believe me? Check it out.

So we wandered over to Claire's today with Paula and Lydia (yes, it was a piercing party). Here's a pre-pierce shot of Juliana:

And a pre-pierce shot of both the girls. Despite this picture as evidence to the contrary, Juliana really is quite a bit chubbier than Lydia. Must've been the camera angle.

Grandma offered to hold the babies so the moms could snap some pictures.
And there you have it. Lest you think me cruel for subjecting such a sweet little girl to this kind of pain, the crying lasted for seriously 10 seconds max. She cries more than that when I'm slow to get her out of her crib after a nap.
So there you have it. Pierced ears. So cute!

Afterwards we grabbed lunch at this new diner. To give you an idea of the caliber of food at this fine dining establishment, take a look at some of the tastier treats on the menu:

#5 looks great! Wonder if that's the same thing as Chicken Cattatorie?

Hmm, hmm, hmm for #11

Paula-walla and Lydia, post pierce:

Juliana and me, post pierce:

And one more shot of the cutie pie herself:

Whadda Ya Know?

So apparently Juliana isn't the only Giddens who looks good in pink. And a pink bow to boot.

(He's actually saying the word "cheese" in the above picture. And yes, eyes closed is a classic Kilgore pose.)

Yea for 2008!

Is anyone else super excited for 2008? I sure am!! I'm glad 2007 is behind us and I'm so looking forward to everything 2008 has to offer. Besides, 2008 has quite a few components about which I'm particularly pumped. Namely, it's an even numbered year. I really dig even numbers. Our wedding anniversary is 02/06/04, so this year we'll celebrate our 4th anniversary, I'll be 28 all year, we have two kids, etc. I just know 2008 is going to be wicked awesome for the Giddens gang. Yippee!!

Christmas was nice. Very low-key, but nice. I have a couple of cool stories to share, but I want to wait just a bit before sharing. Our family was extremely blessed by folks who truly embraced the Christmas spirit. So if any of our "Santas" are reading this blog - a big thank you!

We spent the Christmas holidays enjoying lots of family time. Business really slows down for Will during the last two weeks of the year, so it was nice to have him around quite a bit. We visited with family, watched movies, ate yummy food and as you can see, Juliana did quite a bit of sleeping. She slept alone in the Bumbo chair:

With Grandpa on the couch:
And with Dad on the couch:

(Notice how her pacifier matches her outfit/blanket? Man, I'm good!)

Everett spent the holidays playing with his new bounty of toys (thanks grandparents!), but most of his joy came from finding new and interesting ways to utilize that Bumbo chair.




Ahh, life's simple pleasures. Here's to a happy new year to all of you and a wonderful 2008!