james birthday + byu football

i had to include the first two pictures because nothing makes this guy happier than byu football and his girls dressed up to cheer for byu football.

 

we celebrated the birthday boy with french toast for breakfast and burgers for dinner at five guys. then he was off to play the night away with jeremy at boondocks, their favorite birthday tradition.

we love this guy and we're so grateful for how hard he works for us. he always puts us first and would always rather be with us than anywhere else. it's true! go ask him!

to james...

on father's day, i wanted to express to you and the world how grateful i am for you. the past couple months you have gone to work and come home and taken care of everything and everyone. you did dishes, cooked meals, straightened up the house, kept up on the lawn, got groceries, took the girls to lagoon, did your calling, helped your parents, and did it all with a willing heart and a smile. i am beyond grateful for you. you've put your needs in the back seat and put all of us before yourself. you are such a good teacher to our girls and you teach them so many important life lessons because you care about the kind of kids they are now and the adults they will become. we are so blessed to call you ours. you have provided such a wonderful life for us and we'll never be able to repay you. thanks for being the best girl dad the girls could ever ask for!

 we love you so much!!!

james' birthday!

the girls were so excited to celebrate their daddy on his birthday! they sang to him in the kitchen, while he was in the shower, any chance they got, they were telling him or singing it to him. they couldn't wait for him to get home from work to open his presents!

it wouldn't make sense not to eat burgers on his birthday, so we hit up red robin with the whole ruesch clan (we missed you tori). the girls love eating there and so does their dad!

after dinner, everyone headed home but the birthday boys...they went to boondocks for their annual night of free fun! from all the snap chats i got, i think they had maybe too much fun!

we finished out the celebrations with lunch at rodizio grill with no kids, thanks to my awesome in laws. it was so fun to go out to eat, visit, and just relax. we loved celebrating with them!

james is the best dad and husband we could ask for! we are always his number one priority and our happiness comes second to none. everything he does is for us and we'll never be able to repay him for that. we loved getting to celebrate him even though he's a little sad to be getting older.

h a p p y  32!

sunshine + snow

highlights of the week:

- james having monday off! we went to see the greatest showman again, this time with brooklyn and kendall in tow. to say they loved it is an understatement! we listen to the album in the car, at home, and their grandparents' houses as well.

- i accomplished something at the gym that seemed impossible to me a few months ago.

- i lucked out and got to go see it again a third time with chelsea late tuesday night. such a fun movie to go to again and again!

- brooklyn had monday and tuesday off from school and i loved having her home!!!

- thursday i went to a girls' night with friends i haven't seen in forever!

- friday night we went up to coalville to support the lady braves + coach holmes and have a sleepover at my parents'. the girls had been begging!

- my mom spoiled us with crepes saturday morning that were too too good!

aside from all the good stuff, the younger two girls have been fighting the worst coughs. they sound horrible and i know they've been a little miserable. not to mention, adalyn is getting teeth and has an ear infection. i kept them away from people as much as possible and i'm hoping they'll be able to join regular society in the next couple of days.

unfortunately, i caught their cough and was down and out most of the weekend. moms should not get sick! that's the second saturday in a row james has had to step up and take care of all of us. i'm so grateful to him for that!

one of the highlights of the week not mentioned above was going to the park thursday afternoon. it was the most beautiful day! my girls were in heaven swinging, climbing, and running outside.

fast forward to the weekend's snow storm!!! my girls were even more excited about the snow than they were the sunshine. they definitely don't have spring fever like their mama. they could hardly wait to be suited up in all their snow gear and go out and play in the white stuff.

this was adi's first time and we loved watching her try to maneuver in that snow suit. cutest thing!

she loved eating the snow and being pulled around in the sled with her sisters. then, her daddy pushed her in the swing and it was all belly laughs!

the veterans: brooklyn and kendall had a blast making snow angels, also eating the snow, and just being outside playing in it! they were so happy!

then, it got dark and cold. james took them to nana's for some delicious hot chocolate and the night was perfect to them. it's all about the simple things!

so while i'm jonesing for spring to get here quickly, i'm also super happy for the moisture and the joy this snow brings with it! i imagine i'll be suiting the girls up a few more times this week and that effort really is all worth it. 

james turns thirty.

last monday james finally joined me in the 30's club. crazy! now we're just two old people trying to do this adult thing. not really, thirty really isn't old. is it? we celebrated that night at pizza pie cafe with my parents and sister and ate ourselves sick. before bedtime, the girls and i sang happy birthday to him and he blew out his candles. 

he never makes a big deal out of his birthday. ever.

i gave him his birthday present early so he didn't open presents on his bday, and i felt bad. but he really doesn't care about that stuff. he's happiest being with those he loves. quality time is one of his love languages big time. i love him for that.

the rest of the week we found any excuse to continue to celebrate him. i stayed up with him and watched movies of his choice, we met him for lunch at red robin so he could get a free birthday burger, and luckily byu won that weekend. he's such a good dad and handles living with all girls very well. he goes along with all of my silly crazy ideas and would literally do anything for me if he knew it was important to me. 

we love this guy and we feel so lucky he's ours!

james' mba graduation.

james has really been done with school since december, but didn't officially graduate until last week. we'd planned for him to walk in logan at that graduation but it wasn't until may and we found out that the graduation in brigham city would be sooner, so with baby girl coming in may, we opted for the brigham city one.

we had a great evening celebrating james' success and accomplishments over the last two years.

we're proud of this guy! and i told him when we got married i'd find a way to make him an aggie!

the graduation was a lot smaller than it would have been in logan so it made it short and sweet. and with kids, that was nice!

my parents met up with us before and treated us to dinner at maddox. we stuffed ourselves silly and then waddled over to the graduation. it was so nice to have them there. my mom basically had kendall out in the hall the whole time letting her run some energy off. their support meant a lot too.

we also had support from the jeremy ruesch clan. james was glad to have his brother there for this momentous occasion. it was so nice of them to make the trek up to brigham city to support us.

man it felt good to have this night come. the two years james was in the mba program really did go quickly. but having him gone two nights a week was hard on this weak mama. i like having him around. we've definitely enjoyed the fact that he's not working on projects or papers anymore when he gets home from work or on saturdays. as good as it feels for me to be done, i can't imagine how he feels! after all, he did do all of the school work.

he surprised me with roses and one of my favorite treats that night too. i loved both and felt bad that i didn't get him anything. he wins for being most thoughtful.

brooklyn was obsessed with the flowers. as soon as we got home she wanted some put in her room.

i'm so grateful for james' example of the importance of education for our girls. they won't remember him being in school, but i can promise you we'll tell them about it. i hope it gives them the desire and motivation to pursue and love education as they grow up. they'll never regret it.

i really am so grateful for the opportunities that have allowed james to gain an education. we truly feel so blessed and are happy to add this chapter to the book of our lives together. it's something we're proud of, grateful for, and obviously happy to have finished.

lastly, it was fun to reminisce about james' road of education as we drove up to brigham city. pictured below shows that i was basically pregnant any time something momentous happened:

left to right: pregnant with brooklyn when he graduated from the u with his bachelor's degree, pregnant with kendall when he started the mba program, and pregnant with #3 when he finished the mba program.

and with that, a bump pic that is a little outdated now but taken the day after the graduation.

h a p p y  s a t u r d a y