12 years...

Yesterday Jeff and I celebrated 12 years of marriage...
I say this every year but the time has just flown by.
Looking for the right words to describe us is almost impossible. We've both grown and changed since our wedding day. Thankfully...
We've added kids and changed jobs. Struggled with crazy work schedules and rejoiced in the fact that we have been blessed enough to always have one of us home with the kids. We have not only survived the odds that label most young marriages but we have thrived. We're both dedicated to one another, still very much in love.
Now, before I paint an unrealistic picture...
We've shared our struggles as well. If I could get him to pick up after himself I'd be a very happy wife. :) His housekeeping skills leave a lot to be desired...
he has a love of wasting time surfing the net. Some days I'd like to slap him silly...
I of course am darn near perfect...

In honor of 12 years I'll give you 12 facts/useless info. about us as a couple. :)

1. I met Jeff in the parking lot of the Meadows Mall. I pursued him. :)

2. He said I love you first!

3. He asked me to marry him in a parking lot at the Meadows Mall. The same lot we met in. I was having a bratty moment (hard to imagine, huh?!) and he just popped the question. We went to the grocery store afterwards. :)

4. Jeff kept all the notes and cards I had ever given him. We still have them in a box.

5. Our 1st date was to the Cue Club. We went with a group of friends. Jeff bought me drinks and attempted to perfect my pool game. I remember feeling all "giddy" when he touched me. Afterwards we went to Blueberry Hill for breakfast.

6. On our 2nd date we went to the Treasure Island at midnight for breakfast. After his car club meeting :)
I remember he had to go to the bathroom SO bad so we went to the Sunset Station on it's opening weekend to use the bathroom. The place was sooo crowded!
I remember feeling so nervous I held a shoe horn in his car...
and the orange Gatorade...I'll never let you live that one down.
I should have known on that night that life with Jeffrey would be crazy!

7. We still can make each other laugh with the dumbest things

8. We talk on the phone 100 times a day.

9. He calls me bacon and baby cakes and I call him binnie. :)

10. We had our 1st kiss on August 4th 1997 after watching Jerry McGuire. When we see the movie on TV we ALWAYS watch it.

11. We loved each deeply on on wedding day.

12. We love each other, truly, in a way I never imagined you could love still today.

Happy 12 years, Jeffrey. I love you!

Vegas Grappler

Yesterday Brandon wrestled at the Vegas Grappler. Typically he wrestles at his true weight, but this past week we wrestled him up with the 50 pound kids. Locally, the competition is not as tough as it is when we travel to the bigger tournaments and at the risk of sounding cocky...Brandon just blows through the kids in his weight here in Vegas. He'll never get any better doing that. To our surprise, he had 23 kids in his bracket. That's unheard of here....
It was a long day and Brandon wrestled his heart out. He took 4th place. Not bad considering the weight difference. He had some pretty intense matches, only losing two and to the same kid both times. He had one match where the kid was winning by points but Brandon ended up pinning him in the 3rd period. That was a great match!
Next weekend it's off to Utah for the Beehive Brawl.

Jacobs Challenge

Not the best picture...it was a long day...
Team champions!!

Just a reminder...wrestlers don't smile.

With his 2nd place trophy...

Last weekend we traveled to Mesquite for a Rocky Mountain Nationals wrestling tournament. The competition was tough and Brandon had a few good matches. In the end he took 2nd place. We are very proud of him. The match that he lost was actually the best match I have seen so far. Yes, he lost. But he wrestled hard and listened to his coaches. Even the kids dad who beat him came up to us afterwards and commented on how tough Brandon is. It was a long day...but Gabriella did very well. I'm starting to feel better about the long days ahead when we attend the Beehive Brawl and the State tournament.
The best part of the day was hearing TEAM GV announced as the team champions. We won by a mile...just another reminder how hard our boys work and how lucky we are to have the coaches that we do.

UFC 108

On January 2nd we had the awesome opportunity to go watch UFC 108 live at the MGM. It was so much fun. The atmosphere alone was great, nothing like being packed into an event center with a bunch of fight fans. We went with two of our good friends, Bill and Kas, who love the sport as much as we do. The seats were great and our fighter won...even if his fight did suck.
I can't wait to do it again!

Wrestling- 1/2/10

These pictures are from the Wild Cat wrestling tournament.
Brandon took 1st place.

New Years

This is pretty much how we spent new years eve. In our jammies...doing NOTHING!
Jeff had to work, Brandon stayed the night at a friends house and Alyssa had her friend over for the night. The girls had fun making 2010 headbands and confetti to throw in the air at the stroke of midnight. Gabriella went to bed and I stayed in my room like a hermit crab. :)

Looking back...

I'm stealing this idea from other blogs that I have read.
I think it's a cool way to highlight some of the big events from the last decade.

2000:
* January 21st Jeff, Alyssa and I moved into our brand new and what seemed like at the time, spacious home.
* Jeff was hired in the surveillance dept at Coast Resorts
* I took a job as a dispatcher at the Desert Passage.
* Our beautiful niece, Alexis was born!!
* Gabby our dog joined the family
2001:
*On November 17th, after 2 years of trying, we found out that Brandon was on his way. Look out world!

I'm sure we had many more wonderful things happen that year...but I'm getting old and my mind is drawing a blank...

2002:
Of course the HIGHLIGHT of this year was the birth of Brandon on July 16th.
* Alyssa had a VERY short stint in pre-school.
* Alyssa started taking ballet classes. We thought at the time that we would use the studio just to get things started....
* Alyssa started playing soccer

2003:
*Our nephew, Ryan was born on March 21st
*Alyssa started school!

2004:
sheese...I'm sure something GREAT happened this year...just not exactly sure what it could have been...

2005:
it's all starting to run together...

2006:
I took the job that I currently have in the accounting dept.
We took a wonderful Disneyland vacation.

2007:
*In January, Jeff was hired with the post office. FINALLY!
* Of course nothing compares to the arrival of our sweet Gabriella.
* Brandon started wrestling...1 single day a week at Liberty HS.
* Alyssa is, of course, still dancing. We all know that drill. What we thought would be a temporary dance home ended up being the best thing for Alyssa. Here we are 7 years later dancing in Boulder City...6 days a week!
* Brandon started school.

2008:
*Brandon starts wrestling for Green Valley! I am a proud Gator mommy.
* Jeff and I celebrated 10 years of marriage.

2009:
* Alyssa ends her FINAL year in elementary with a bang. Straight A's again! We're very proud of her!
* Alyssa takes on Jr. high with a vengeance. She becomes part of the student council and SAVE program. She has (so far) sailed through with outstanding grades...
* Brandon wins Big Horn Nationals 8 and under 40 pound division in Ft. Collins, CO.
Gabriella finally starts walking at 16 months
* the ENTIRE family gets the SWINE flu. wooohooo. Now, that is something to remember.

It was a great decade for our family. I can't wait to see what this one has in store for us.