7.14.18

- went to the gym early on a Saturday so he could be home to help get the girls up and ready for the day

12.2.17

Just a few of the things Brad has done lately on top of his crazy busy paramedic school schedule:

• Cleaned up dinner and emptied the dishwasher while I did a haircut.
• Has cleaned up dinner and done all the dishes several times in the last few weeks (let it be known he is usually really good at this, but with school and studying, he just hasn't had time).
• Washed and dried our sheets, and then made the bed before I even realized the sheets were clean!
• It usually takes us like a week to get the sheets back on the bed in the cleaning process haha so this was a huge deal!
• Helped me get Christmas lights up by the day after Thanksgiving.
• Got his mom to watch our girls for like 20 hours (overnight) so I could have a night and morning to myself while he got some studying done.
• Tolerated me watching White Christmas several times already since Thanksgiving.
• Clipped Afton's fingernails...seems silly, but I always end up doing it because he's afraid of hurting the girls - totally did it to make me happy.
• Took time out of studying to help me take around Christmas cards for the neighbors.
• Supported me in Anna's Baskets of Hope.
• Vacuumed main floor.

There are so many little things every day that I miss.  I want to be better about noticing every tiny thing my man does for me.

10.19.16

Brad brought me a dozen gorgeous, fall colored roses the other day...after I had been yelling at him all morning.  How did I get so lucky?  These hormones have been brutal for our whole family, but he just trudges on and keeps loving me unconditionally.  I don't deserve that man and am so grateful he is mine!

10.5.16

- Has done the dishes a lot lately - makes sure we don't go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink, which is really important to me.
- Frequently empties the diaper genie before I even think about it.
- Cuddled with me on the couch all morning watching Criminal Minds - I need snuggles lots lately!
- Has been so patient with my hormones and my mood swings, even at 1:00am!
- Takes such good care of Afton while I do Relief Society stuff and hair.
- Takes such good care of Afton in general.
- Lets me take naps almost every day he's home the last few weeks.
- Has been more conscientious of our kisses and hugs lately - makes sure we stop and make time for each other throughout the day.
- Looked me in the eyes for several minutes last night to make sure I know how much he loves me.

9.21.16

- Sat by and fed Afton at the restaurant and gave me a break.
- Cleaned up dinner when he didn't really have time before he had to go to work.

9.12.16

- Made the bed.
- Cleaned up our room.
- Took care of our "baby" girl while I did hair.
- Spent the afternoon and evening with us.
- Gave the lesson for FHE (w/the Moreaus) off the cuff and it was adorable.
- Watched just the end of the Peanuts movie per my request so I didn't have to watch the beginning for the 4th time w/out seeing the end.
- Lots of hugs and kisses of encouragement while I've been sick.

9.4.16

- Got Afton ready for church so I didn't have to stress about anything on top of my lesson.
- Fasted while I can't and didn't say a word about me eating in front of him.
- Took a nap and snuggled with me even though he didn't really feel like sleeping.
- Let me pick dinner and was very complimentary on the meal...even though it was just grilled cheese haha.
- Spent good quality time with Afton and me before he had to go to work tonight... Played outside with us, wrestled with Afton and her toys, watched a movie (of my choice, again) with me.
- Really made me feel like a priority today.

9.2.16

I'm so grateful for your humility and your positive attitude.  So often I let negativity take over and you are always there to ground me.  You are also teaching me how to be humbly confident and that it's ok to be confident!  No one sees the good in me like you do, and that helps me every day to get closer to seeing myself the way I should.  You truly make me want to be a better person, and I love you so much for that.

7.26.16

- Made the bed.
- Packed the truck for Bear Lake trip before he left for work.
- Took care of Afton all day.
- Cleaned whole upstairs this week.

4.6.16

Brad came home on Wednesday with flowers...just because.  That is a rare sight without an occasion, but he knew I needed a pick me up.  Later that day he took me to the temple, which I also desperately needed.  I'm very thankful he's worthy to go to the temple with me.

Then he helped me clean the house yesterday after he helped his sister moved all day, and is basically all around a typical American hero 😉 So grateful for my amazing man and all he does for our little family.

12.28.15

- He got up with Afton during the night and let me sleep in during the morning.
- He spent the whole day with me.
- Played games with Steels and laughed our heads off.
- Told me I'm beautiful/"hot" more than once.
- Helped me clean up before bed.
- Took care of Afton a lot so I could rest and get rid of a migraine.

Just a Few Cute Texts.

Sometimes Brad says really cute things and make me smile:

Cute! Look at you go baby! Those look great. You are so wonderful, and i love seeing you be excited about being a mommy.  You're going to be the best.

You're adorable sweetheart. I love you so much. I really do appreciate everything you do for us. And we are totally gonna have the loan paid off in time. Look at us go! It's you really, I didn't have anything to do with it.

Only because I have you to show me how to be the best parent there is.

There are plenty more. Just like to remind myself how sweet my man is when he doesn't even try.

Just Grateful.

I went to a dear friend's funeral today and as heartbreaking as it always is to lose a loved one, sometimes it gives you the opportunity to reflect on the blessings in your own life and realize how much you really have. She and her husband had a wonderful, sweet, and very passionate love story, and I never want to take my sweet man for granted again.

I am grateful for a sweetheart who loves me unconditionally. I am grateful that God brought us together and made us perfect for each other. I am grateful that Brad is by my side through everything I am experiencing in this life, the good and the bad. I am grateful that we are both healthy and have good qualities of life. I am grateful he is my best friend and I can tell him anything. I am just grateful he is mine. Forever.

Found Some Goodies - Summer 2014

I found some little notes that I wrote over the summer when I was on bedrest, and I will definitely need these for future reference!

Reasons I'm Grateful for Bradley:

• For being patient with my g's struggle
• All the little gestures:
• getting me my pills
• packing up our stuff at Bear Lake while I napped
• getting me drinks
• playing with my hair
• forehead kisses
• driving me around while I couldn't drive - doctor, groceries, cravings, etc.
• Being friends with my family
• Loving the cabin
• Comforting me for the dumbest little things, but not criticizing me
• Dropping everything when he came in and saw me crying
• Making me feel beautiful

He's basically just wonderful and I'm so grateful he's always been there for me.  I couldn't do the good times or the bad without him!

My Husband: My Life.

I'm so grateful for my sweet spouse.  Not really for anything in specific lately, but just kind of for everything lately.  My Bradley is so good to me.  Every day he comes home from work and tries to be so supportive.  I complain and whine and moan about being pregnant and he is so wonderful and is always there for me.  Regardless of how far I push him and what mean things I say, how unreasonable I am, he just continues to trudge on and be sweet with me and do everything he can to help me.

Brad is my true Prince Charming.  He is wonderful.  He is perfect for me.  He is a long list of things I couldn't ever finish.  I'm just so grateful that he is mine.

My Amazing Man

There are some days I look at my life and I am just overwhelmed with how wonderful it has turned out to be. It is in no way perfect, but in a lot of ways it couldn't get any better. My Bradley is mostly to thank for those days. He has been especially attentive and amazing lately and I don't know what I would do without him.  Just to name a few examples of things I love:

-When he talks to sweet baby girl.
-When he comes up behind me to hold me and baby girl.  Or any time he rubs my tummy and gives me that look of pure bliss and excitement. 
-He is always on top of the garbage... Sounds silly, but it's so nice to have one thing that I never have to worry about, and trust me, I'm great at worry!
-With how crappy I've felt (this whole pregnancy) he has picked up SO MUCH of my slack over the last 4 months. He is ready and eager to help with any household chore. 
-He remains patient with me. I wasn't an easy wife to put up with before Nugget was created, but I'm turning out to be a tyrant of a pregnant woman and he has been so great about staying calm when I'm being a beast. 
-The way he looks at me.  I always read about it in fairy tales or saw it in movies, but Brad truly has a look and smile that he gives only to me and it still makes me melt after over 6 years of being together.
-How much he makes me laugh.  It's usually the dumbest little things, but we can just giggle for huge amounts of time and it does amazing things for my stress level!
-The many back rubs I've gotten lately.  This little chica does not do anything good for my lower back and I'm constantly whining or cringing about it. Thanks heavens Brad is right there to rub it out and try to alleviate some of the pain, most of the time without me even asking!

I could go on and on, but those are just a few of the things that I'm especially grateful for lately.  It would take me days to write all of them! Love you, sweetie.  You are my world and the best future daddy out there!

Thanksgiving Week 2014.

After the most terrifying night of my life and almost losing our sweet baby (yes, everything is ok now) I was put on bedrest for the whole week of Thanksgiving.  (Did I mention he brought me flowers the day after the craziness?  My own prince charming!)  There was so much do to and so many places to be and it made it very difficult for me to keep up good spirits while laying on the couch - especially with so much family around and so many fun things to do.

The thing that made everything ok...the thing that usually makes everything ok...was the constant and outstanding support of my amazing husband!  There was cleaning and cooking to do leading up to Thanksgiving and Brad took care of all of it.  While we were at family festivities he always made sure I had food and beverage whenever I needed it, did extra chores at my parents' house to make up for my lack, and spent time with me when everyone else was around the table socializing and I couldn't participate.  He made the holiday so much more bearable and I literally could not have handled it without him.

Not only that, but after all the cooking and cleaning was done on Thanksgiving, he voluntarily and with a smile on his face pushed me around Temple Square Friday night in my embarrassing wheelchair, and didn't complain once!  We got left several times, separated from the group, I got crabby, and the whole time he just grinned and bore all of it!  I'm positive there is no one as patient as my man.

Then, on Saturday, after a crazy morning of family pictures, Brad and my siblings proceeded to decorate my whole house, including the tree, for Christmas, per my request.  Even though he was exhausted from the crazy week and his really only time off this whole year, he trudged up and down the stairs, carrying boxes, unloading red after green after sparkly decoration, and proceeded to help "deck our halls" AND did it all while letting me watch "White Christmas" from my spot on the couch, for the first time this year (yes, I said first...I'm a little obsessed and he's wonderful about putting up with it playing over and over again in December).

He made it the perfect holiday week.  What could have been an excruciating week filled with worry and more trauma, ended up being a wonderful holiday with my family and zero concern about things getting done.  I love how dependable my Bradley is and it's so nice that I can count on him always.

To top it all off, while I still haven't been feeling 100% this week and trying to get back to normal life while he goes back to work, he's taken the days in between shifts to put up Christmas lights, and clean up the house.  Could he be any more wonderful, and could I be any more ungrateful?  I've been a pretty terrible pregnant partner and he has been a champ through this whole thing, just asking how he can help me while I vent and complain to him every day.

In a nutshell, I'm just so grateful for a man who takes such good care of me, even when I don't deserve it.  He loves me unconditionally and is constantly serving me, and I need to be better about being grateful and acknowledging the many, many things he does on a daily basis.

I love you, honey.  You truly are the best!

Taking Care Of Me... August 2014

I didn't realize how traumatic a week in the hospital could be.  I have always considered myself a fairly tough girl, and even though I have a lot of medical problems, I feel like I tend to bounce back quickly most of the time.  Well, this time has been different.  I'm hormonal, crazy emotional, clingy beyond reason, super sore, having hot flashes like I'm 60, not healing like I think I should be, and all around kind of impossible to please.

  I know this sounds like it's a lot about me, but I had to give some background as to what my sweet husband has had to put up with for the past few weeks.  Not only did he spend every minute that he wasn't working for 8 whole days in the hospital at my bedside/my beck and call, but since we've been home he has done anything and everything to make me as happy and comfortable as possible.  He's been picking up any and all of my slack, doing laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, taking care of the dog, you name it.  Not only has he taken care of the things that I can't do for myself yet, but he has gone above and beyond to take care of my personal needs: making sure I take my meds on time, getting me food and water... Like I said, I've been overly clingy and needy and he has done more than his best to be with me and hold me and comfort me... Back massages, arm scratches, I could go on and on about all the things he has done for me, let alone working a full time firefighting job, and all the while keeping that smokin' hot smile of his plastered on his face.  I really don't know what I did to deserve such a loving, caring, and patient man, but I am so grateful and humbled to have him by my side thru thick and thin... And lately it definitely seems like we excel in the thick department.  Thank you so so much for everything you do for me honey 😊 I don't know what I would do without you! Really though, no idea.  I love you!

11.18.14

I had an especially hormonal day yesterday.  Crazy grumpy. Extremely outraged over dumb little things. Just ridiculous really.

Needless to say, I was no fun to be around...especially for the husband who gets the brunt of everything... But when I came home from work I found the following:
-Main floor cleaned up
-Clean towels hanging up
-New over-the-stove fan installed and ready to use
-Bed made
-Laundry put away
-Dog walked and fed

I'm sure I'm missing something, but you get the picture. My man is amazing. On top of that we had planned to make and take dinner to some friends so as soon as I got home he went right to work helping me get that done after he had already gotten meat out to thaw and rolls out to rise.

We had a fun night with friends and he did so much for me so of course I came home and just loved on him, right? Yeah, no... After all of those wonderful things he did during the day, we got home and I went right back to being pregnant and crazy 😵 I proceeded to chew him out for nothing and be a lameface and he just took it. And then in the middle of the night when I finally came back to rationality and woke him up to apologize and kiss away my sorrows, he just forgave me right away and followed it up with a completely unnecessary apology.

I just don't deserve him, but am so grateful he is mine. I don't know how he always has so much patience and continues to love me, but I know it means the world to me. I love you Bradley Withers! You're the best man I know... By a long shot!

I'm lazy.

I've had these sitting in my Wunderlist forever, so I just figure I'd put them where they belong :)

-Made the bed as close to how I like it as he could - 3.2.14
-He makes sure to "take care of me"
-He is always concerned with my well being
-For putting up with me throwing game night and parties on the fly
-He makes me laugh

• 10/29/13 "They're in the first drawer with the rest of the stuff"...where the streamers are...while he's half asleep

-He takes out the garbage every week he's home
-He mows the lawn every week he's home

I am just so lucky.  I can't believe I ever even forget that for a second!