Valentines

Daddy (Nic) made sure his girls were treated right this Valentines Day. We all got flowers and treats and he even cooked me a fantastic steak dinner. I just soaked it all in and enjoyed not stressing about anything.

A Tale of Two Lovers

It was the Fall of 2001. Steff, in her infancy, had arrived at BYU-Idaho with her high school boyfriend. The bookstore was one of her first stops. This was where Nic spotted her for the first time. He told his roommate, "I'll be dating that girl". Nic and Steff started seeing each other at more and more places. They were both at the bonfire at the sand dunes the first weekend of school...which is when Nic realized Steff had a different dude she was hanging around. The next day, they saw eachother at church and were soon not only placed in the same ward, but the same FHE group.

Steff tried to be strong, but Nic's overwhelming charm was too powerful. She started changing her routes on campus to purposefully see him and also started going to the devotionals where she was bound to be seated by Nic and his roommates (Nic and Steff's apartments were buddies and liked to hang out)



A couple months later, Nic was dating someone else and Steff was sending off a missionary. Steff struggled for a couple weeks. This life change was a little hard since she'd been in this relationahip for a few years. However, she and Nic had signed up for guitar class together and she couldn't help but feel excited to spend more and more time with him.

Steff and Nic were soon free to date and the two of them KNEW it was time. February 2nd, 2002- the first kiss. After hours of tension watching movies and tv, finally he mustered up the courage to kiss her.




Their relationship fizzled a bit when Nic departed to Orlando for the Summer to sell restaurant services with his roommates. Steff was back in Bountiful where all her memories of her missionary came flooding back and she was feeling guilty for having such serious feelings for Nic- who was irritatingly tempting. She decided to focus on work, and dating different people while he did the same.

Well, the first day back at school the next fall, Nic and Steff saw eachother in the parking lot that separated their two apartments. All the will-power Steff thought she had was deflated to nothing at that point. He'd NEVER looked better. Nic felt the same way when he saw her. Nic took about a month to decide that Steff would make a great new girlfriend. At this point, Steff realized it was useless to try and deny how she felt about him. Nic and Steff started dating again. This time...in turbo speed.




January is when it all finally went down. Greta and Steff had planned a Las Vegas trip for Nic's birthday. It was a COMPLETE surprise for Nic when they got to the airport and instead of "picking someone up" like they'd told him, they all hopped out and boarded a plane to Sin City, where Brian lived. It was a FABULOUS weekend. Tournament of Kings, Nascar Rollercoaster, Cheesecake Factory, and the talk. Yep, the night before Nic's 23rd birthday, Nic and Steff stayed up late and decided that it was time to admit that they were totally in love with eachother and it was time to get married. They were so giddy thinking about how awesome their lives together were going to be. It was the best talk ever and they couldn't wait to break the news to people.



Nic proposed to Steff on February 13th. He'd bought the perfect ring and had the perfect proposal set up. He'd told Steff they were going to drive to Jackson Hole for the evening to meet up with some friends that were staying up there at Greta's aunt's mansion. It was snowy and scary driving to Jackson, but Nic was especially nervous thinking about what he was about to ask. When they pulled in to the driveway, Steff couldn't help but wonder where all the other cars were. When they walked in to the guest house, the room was lit with hundreds of candles and decorated with dozens and dozens of roses. Steff knew he was finally doing it. Nic sat her down on the couch, whipped out his guitar, and serenaded her with the most beautiful song he'd learned on his mission. He'd been hiding the ring on his pinky the whole time he sang and when the song was over, he presented the ring in the most suave fashion and popped the question. Steff said, "of course". It was like a dream. Nic had made dinner reservations at the Blue Lion and the two of them where whisked away for a magical evening.


The next day was Valentine's Day. Steff made Nic dinner (chicken parmesan), and he gave her the most treasured gift she'd ever received. He'd typed up about a dozen journal entries he'd written from the time they met up until that day. The book was laminated, bound, and there was a picture of the two of them on the front. Till this day, it's one of Steff's most priceless pocessions.




The two of them were married August 8th, 2003 in the Bountiful, Utah temple after a 6 month engagement. It was far too long to be engaged, but Nic spent the summer in Chicago doing sales again...it was hard to be apart. The wedding day was perfect and Nic and Steff didn't have any doubts that this was meant to be. The first year of marriage was bliss and every year since has been amazing.


Happy Valentines Day to all the Lovers out there! And especially to my True Love, Nic.

25 Weeks

Well here's the official picture. Sorry about the black shirt in front of the black fireplace. And I realize the flash brightens up my under-clothing a bit ;) Oh well, it's the shade I had on under my sweater today and I was too lazy to change!
So... at this point:
*I'm not very sick anymore (thank goodness), but I have that "taste" in my mouth that makes me want to eat all the time so I don't have to deal with it.
*I'm starting to feel heavy and I'm pretty sure my first few steps out of bed are a waddle.
*I got my first calf cramp this morning in bed. OH they hurt SO BAD!!
*My patience is dwindling with my poor children. If I could just have a 2 hour nap each day, I swear I'd be happier ;)
*I've gained almost 25 pounds. HA HA! It actually makes me a little nervous thinking about how much more I'm going to gain in the next 15 weeks! Oh well though! Nature will take its course just like it did the other times.

Last Week

Today was WONDERFUL! The sun was shining and we hardly needed a sweater when we went to the park. It was exactly what I needed to escape my seasonal depression. No, I haven't been diagnosed....but this winter is KILLING me! Perhaps it's the pregnancy. When kids are stuck inside all day, they make messes, get whiney, and need constant entertainment. I'm losing my ability to combat those issues- I just want to go outside, sit in the sun, and let them run wild and have fun. Anyway, we were STOKED to have the sun shining today and I'm already nervous for the clouds to roll back into town. It's February for crying out loud- it's going to get cold and snowy again.

Here are a few pictures of the last week. Kendyl has been in her swim suit (sim soup) CONSTANTLY for the last couple weeks. This particular swim suit is a bit more challenging to put on....it cracked me up. The poor thing is DYING to go swimming. Grandma...TURN ON YOUR POOL!!


(youtube video "swimsuip"

The girls have been having fun making bridges and dancing all over the furniture lately....Lovely :)


Ashley and Ryan were in town last week to move their furniture out of their apartment. That makes their move to Denver pretty official! No, we're not very happy about it...but it makes their visits all the more exciting. Here's Ashley handing out cupcakes. You can always count on her to bring lots of yummy treats. And get this- she's 31 weeks pregnant!! I know, where in the world is she hiding that baby!?

And I just posted this because these little girls LOVE to climb all over their daddy. Seriously, the second he sits down, all 3 of them are on his back. He was obviously happy to be playing with them in this picture....sometimes you've just got to roll with it!

Morgan Douglas Chamberlain

Holly and Clark had their baby on Monday, Jan 31st. He is so cute and doesn't look a whole lot like Ella and Owen (who are clones of eachother) did when they were born. Everything went well and we're so happy to have a new nephew!

St. Regis and Ice Castles

Tammy's buddy has some connections through his work and got us all rooms for $99 at the St. Regis last week. It's a new resort right on the Deer Valley resort. You get to ride on a glass enclosed funicular from the parking lot up to the hotel. This place was fancy. We got upgraded to a $1500 a night room (the cheapest rooms are $1000) and had our own butler. We're too ghetto to understand the rules at these places and went in carrying all our own bags. They looked at us like we were idiots. Apparantly the butler is supposed to take care of all that. Anyway, we had a great time pretending like we were rich ;) Our favorite things were: the hot tub, the tv in the mirror, the sauna, the tub and all the free toiletries I shoved in my bag and brought home :)






On our way up there, we stopped at the Ice Castles in Midway. Pretty cool stuff.

Happy Halloween!

The other day I was driving to Costco with my 3 girls. All of a sudden, Kendyl declares, "It's a Happy Halloween!". I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that she was pointing to the person outside, walking around dressed like the Statue of Liberty. (Liberty Taxes...sending those poor suckers out in the 5 degree weather dressed as a statue...sad). Anyway, I got a good laugh out of it :)