Happy Birthday Kortney!!!

Today is Kortney's birthday!
(By the time this posts it will probably be tomorrow, but...)

Because we live across the country from each other - we have to communicate through the telephone. Which works ok for us because we are never at a lack for things to talk about on the phone - we usually get off the phone because the kids need us - not because we are actually done talking! So - since I can't go to her house and take her out for her birthday - here is my

"Ode to Kortney"

(This will most likely be dumb to everyone else - so feel free to stop reading at any point!)

It's fun to have a friend that you instantly click with - it is even better and much more rare if your husbands click also! We always joke that we are living the same life in two different places. When one of us has a problem - the other one has usually just barely gone through the same situation. So- it is nice to always have someone to talk to that understands the stress of your life.

I was remembering all kinds of funny things today - so I thought I'd list some classic Jarvis/Manning moments - please to enjoy...

* Playing rook into the middle of the night -
* Playing rook when I was pregnant with the twins and my belly was so big that I played leaning over the chair???
* The rook notebook - I think the girls were ahead, right?
* Learning to play Skip jack - which kind of replaced rook - then watching Devon and Greg make a skip jack board .
* Pig Mess - (what is that exactly???)
* Stopping at every gas station to find the perfect ice and diet coke!
* Going to Kirtland for youth conference and driving the Kron mobile!
* Going to Cincinnati and driving through the ghetto to see where Greg did his rotation - and I had to go to the bathroom so bad!
* Ohio State football games - need I say more...
* Watching Brother Kron dance Footloose at the stake dance :)
* Laughing our guts out over any and everything... (even when Greg and Devon thought we were dumb - we knew that we were truly funny)
* Watching Greg and Devon climb the playground tree at the Polaris mall.
* Getting the "Ditto" jitters!
* Driving to Mansfield for potato chips!
* "Enjoying?" the aquarium in Cincinnati
* Listening to the vocal stylings of Greg and his award winning song - "Let me be Your Dentist"
* All of us appreciating how hard Greg works!
* Swoobs
* Making cards - every month... (man dates to Long John Silver's)
* The "A.L." dance off
* Salty hamburgers - (Greg we know that it was first BBQ of the summer)
* Devon, Greg, and Scott dressing up for the ward Halloween party.
* Tuesday night basketball retro night - complete with socks, wristbands, and headbands - all matching of course.
* The boys trying on the awesome tight white Guess jeans at the outlet mall!
* P. F. Chang's to celebrate boards
* Eating out at every possible place in Columbus.
* Watching "Extreme Home Makeover" on Sunday nights and crying - (Devon and Greg cried too - even though they might not admit it...)
* Greg telling a story (which I can't remember all the details about) - something about a little kid's heart and then pretending to laugh to cover his tears.
* Sunday night hangout - treats of every kind

There are a million more memories ... too many to list! I am lucky to have such a great friend! I miss living close - but that's how it goes. At least we can talk - and maybe actually get to see each other again...

Anyway - Happy Birthday to Kortney - you're the greatest - I love you!

Branson

We took a mini family vacation last week to Branson. There was a doctor there that needed a fill-in because his wife had a baby - so Devon worked and we partied.

We stayed in a three bedroom condo and the twins were excited to stay in different bedrooms. They each wanted to have their own bed and their own room.
After getting tucked in (several times) Hadley finally fessed up that she really didn't want to be in a room by herself. I guess they have been sharing for so long that it wasn't as fun as she thought it would be to have her own room. So - we moved her into the other bed in Cayden's room! He was NOT happy about it. It was kind of opposite of what normally happens with them. I would have guessed that it would have happened the other way around. But - they are always surprising me!

One of the most exciting parts of the trip for the twins was getting to eat mini cereals! We had a kitchen - I took them shopping for things to eat for breakfast and lunch. They could not agree on a cereal - so I showed them the mini cereal boxes and you would have thought it was Christmas morning! They could not wait to pick and eat the cereal for breakfast! I had to hide them for a couple of days at our house before the trip! Now I have a new treat to buy them! It's always nice to find new things that excite them - or that I can use as leverage!
The very best part - (besides the cereal) was swimming in the pool! It has been a cold and icy winter! The twins have missed several days of school because of ice storms! So - swimming was great! The pool was empty both times that we went - they had the whole thing to themselves! (Which is actually how they are used to swimming - since we swim all summer at Grammy's!)

The whole trip was a great break from the dreariness of winter! I know that I have three kids and we have been married for almost nine years - but sometimes things like this make me feel like a grown -up! It probably sounds dumb, but it is something that I would do with my mom and dad - so when I am the mom on a trip it is funny to me!

Me and Dev...

My friend Heather tagged me! So here goes...
1. What is his name? Devon Paul Jarvis
2. How long have you been married? It will be nine years this August! How fast time flies when you are having fun!
3. How long did you date? Well... that gets complicated - we dated for a year, but spent two years before that dating each other's friends.
4. Who eats more sweets? I think Devon - he has an addiction to peanut butter cups
5. Who said “I love you“ first? Devon - he kind of blurted it out in the car one night - we were talking about marriage- and I wanted to know why - so he finally admitted how much he loved me!
6. Who is taller? Devon
7. Who can sing better? Devon - especially when he joins Alicia Keys at the end of "No One" - You should hear him belt out those riffs with her - it is classic!
8.Who is smarter? Devon - but he says me
9. Who does the laundry? me!
10. Who pays the bills? Devon
11.Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? we switch it up
12. Who cooks dinner? Mostly me - but Devon is king of the snackmaster - just last week he made homemade corndogs and lots of other great foods!
13. Who drives? Devon - mostly because he thinks I don't drive well- and my accident in his parent's driveway helps his position.
14. Who is more stubborn? Devon - and he agrees!
15. Who kissed who first? Devon kissed me - at the blue house in provo! I had to wake up my roommate Becca and tell her because I was so excited!
16. Who asked out who first? Devon asked me out - but he knew the answer would be yes!
17. Who proposed? Devon - he gave me a t-shirt with his picture on it - and the caption said "I'm going to marry this guy!" I know - you are all jealous that you don't have your own t-shirt!
18. Who wears the pants? Devon - I'm sure he thinks it's me, but we both know the truth!

It's fun to remember all of the beginning moments in relationships! I'm sure that it is boring for other people to read - but this was fun for us!
Now I get to tag some people - so I tag Maren, Connie, Casie, and Sharon.

Grandpa's Hat

I was so excited to get pictures of all my kids wearing Grandpa Sherwood's cowboy hat! Grandpa is the ultimate cowboy! Cayden was especially excited to get to wear a real cowboy hat. The one that he has is now not good enough - he says it's just a "dress -up" cowboy hat - not a real cowboy hat. I was glad that grandpa told Cayden that real cowboys do not wear boots to church. Some of the little boys in his primary class get to wear boots to church - and he wants to wear his cowboy boots to church also -which I am not a fan of. So - coming from Grandpa I think he is ok with it now. I guess we'll see. See what happens when you move to a small country town - your kids want to wear cowboy boots to church.

..and to the republic...

To understand this little story you have to know that we live in Willard - but the twins go to preschool in the town next to us - Republic...
I was driving them to school and they were telling me what they do during circle time. They do the calendar and read a story and say the Pledge. I didn't know that they had memorized the pledge - so I had them say it for me while we were driving (we have a 20 minute drive to school). I told them how great it was that they knew the whole thing because they would probably say it in kindergarten too. And then Cayden says...
"Mom, next year when we're in kindergarten, we'll have to say Willard instead of Republic."
I was totally cracking up! His brain is always going a million miles a minute -

The Cape

This weekend we went to Cape Girardeau to see Casie, Miah, and baby Brock. We were very surprised and excited to see Grandpa Sherwood (Devon's grandpa from Arizona) - who came for Brock's baby blessing. It was fun to get a picture of the babies with Grandpa, Granddad, Devon, Miah, and Brandon. Before we left, we went to see Southeast Missouri State University (where Miah coaches volleyball). You can't tell in the picture, but there is a water fountain under the twins - which they thought was super cool!

Barrett

I have not sent out very many pictures of Barrett - so sorry if it seems like I am posting a bunch of pictures! I love when babies get where they smile and look at you - instead of around you! Barrett was laying on his stomach smiling and laughing at me! It was so cute! He is the happiest little boy! (except when he is hunrgy- he goes from sweet to grouch in half a second!)

Cayden and Had are so good with Barrett. They always want to hold him and kiss on him. It seems like they were just barely little - but when I look at this picture I can't believe how big they really are.



I love this picture because you can see all of his fat rolls on his legs.

The Kids

Here is the latest pictures of the kids. Cayden and Hadley will be turning 5 on March 1. Barrett Gray (Go Bucks!) was born December 6. We love having him in our family. Cayden likes having a brother around, and Hadley is learning that it's not as bad as she thought being the only girl.

Cayden and Hadley (and Mom and Dad) are happy to be the only Sunbeams to have memorized all 13 Articles of Faith in 2007. Now that they are CTR 5, we've started over and passed off 1-4.

The Jarvii

I started this blog before Barrett was born - so needless to say I am now finally getting it up and running. I am terrible about keeping in touch with people - I hope that doing this blog will help me with this. So, here is a quick update on our family...

Devon and I have been married for 8 years. After finishing BYU in 2001, we moved to Ohio, where our wardrobe changed from blue to red! (we still love BYU) When Devon graduated from Ohio State in 2005, we moved to Willard Missouri (Devon's hometown) and opened Jarvis Family Eye Center.

Devon is busy running his practice - most days he really likes it! One month after the office opened, he was called as first counselor in our Bishopric - so now we see him even less! The few hours not spent at the office or the church are spent as the president elect of the Willard Chamber of Commerce, one of the only members under 70 of the Willard Lion's Club, attending health advisory meetings at the high school, and most importantly and never missed - Tuesday night basketball!

I am loving being a mom. The twins, Cayden and Hadley, were born in March of 2003. We timed their birth to happen just in time for Devon's finals and first set of Board exams. I can't believe that they will be 5 and starting kindergarten this fall. Barrett was born in December and I forgot how much fun it is to have a baby to hold! This year they put me in the Relief Society presidency - so I am attending Relief Society for the first time in our marriage. It was weird at first to not be in primary - but I am enjoying it.

Cayden is the older of the twins by 20 seconds (he is very proud of that). He loves anything that Dad loves and would dress just like Devon everyday if he could. He attends preschool and really likes writing. He loves to write notes to people and is getting pretty good at spelling. He is definitely a boy - he loves swords, pirates, wearing his Ohio State clothes - especially his Teddy Ginn jersey. We are trying to teach him that he can still be nice to people wearing Michigan clothes!

Hadley is our princess. She loves everything girly! She is in ballet and tap class and loves the sound of her tap shoes! For Christmas she got a pedicure spa kit - and always wants to paint her toes and anyone else's that will let her. She likes to boss Cayden around - and most of the time he lets her. She also attends preschool and comes home everyday with a new plan for a get together or party with the other girls in her class. She knows the name of every person in our ward, and tries to learn the names of every person she encounters.

Barrett is our newest addition! He is about 2 months old- and already getting so big. He is a great baby - maybe it just seems that way because there is only one this time - but I think he really is great! He brings a whole new level of fun to our family.