The best surprise party ever!

I have been trying to post this all week, but life has been yet again crazy tyring to get ready for Christmas. On December 19th I got the biggest surprise I have ever received. My amazing husband spent weeks trying to get this ready for me and hoping beyond hope that I would truly be surprised. I am going to be 30 on the 28th of December, I still cant quite believe it. But, I have been telling Ben for years that I want a 30th birthday party, not just any birthday party, a surprise birthday party. I would tell everyone this. Everyone would say to me, well if you know about it its not going to be a surprise boy did they underestimate my hubby. On that Saturday we were planning on going to Provo and meeting friends for lunch. I would normally be very excited and happy about this. However, seeing as how we had just spent tons of money on Christmas and we had a Christmas party at 4:00 that afternoon, I didnt see how on earth we would be able to meet them. I gave Ben crap about it for days. Finally, Saturday is here and I am getting Cambree and I ready. My amazing husband spent most of the morning cleaning our house. I thought he was just being nice because he knew I wanted a clean house for Christmas. Around 11:00 Ben tells me he is getting called out to work and is ticked because he hopes he will be done in time to go meet our friends Jake and Erin for lunch. We were supposed to leave at noon. Noon comes and I call Ben he says he still has a couple of things left to do but he will hurry. I'm freaking a little because we are already on a tight schedule to be back by 4. Finally at about 12:15 Ben comes and we hurry and run out the door. As we are pulling out he "remembers" that he forgot to do something at the office. We run over there and he tells Cambree and I that we need to come in. I keep telling him I will just wait in the car. He says its going to be about 10 min. So I come in and I had just been coughing in the car so I was out of breath. He starts going down the stairs. I say, "are you kidding me? I am going to take the elevator." He says, "Just come on." So I come. We turn to go in the big room where the Cox party is going to be held later and low and behold there are about 100 people standing in the dark. I hear SURPRISE! and the lights come on. My eyes start to well up and I dont hear anything after that. I look around and see all of these familiar faces that I know and love so much. Then I see my dear friend Karole that is supposed to be in Arizona and I began to cry even more. It was simply the most amazing thing. Nearly 100 people all there for me the love that I felt in the room was more than I can explain. It was truly perfect! I went around and hugged everyone, I felt bad that I didnt get to spend quality time with everyone. Ben had this great idea of instead of having people bring gifts, to bring a letter wrapped up of their favorite memory of me and their feelings about me. I couldnt open them at the the party because that would take too long. I did open Bens along with my present from him which was a trip to Hawaii!!! I cant believe he did that. We leave in April and I am so excited. After I got home I opened all of my presents. I still didnt read them because I knew I just needed time to myself to read them all and take it all in. After our Cox Christmas party I read every letter and just let the tears flow. There were many times when I had no idea who these people were talking about could that really be how they see me? It was amazing to read though, people think much too highly of me. I truly received the best gifts I could have ever received to be able to see myself through other peoples eyes. I truly have the most amazing family and friends anyone could ever hope for. This birthday is a very special birthday to me. Most people dread turning 30, but I have been looking so forward to it. I remember when I was in High School and wondering if 30 was even something I could hope for and I am here now and see where I have come from and what I have experienced and it truly is a miracle that I am here and I pray that there will be many many more ahead. I feel better than I have in years and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for preserving my life to have all of these wonderful experiences. As I look ahead I see great things happening for our family. We are so very blessed and it is hard to put into words the way my heart is overflowing with love and appreciation for my most amazing husband and beautfiul daughter my life is truly complete because they are in it. I want to thank each one of you, my friends for your love and support through the years and for all that each of you individually for all that you have taught me and helped me to be the person that I am. Words cannot express how grateful I am to have you in my life. I love you all and hope that we all have many more years together! Me being completely speechless and crying.

I just opened my gift from Ben

All of Bens family that was able to be there. They are so good to me. My Ericksen family, Benji and Jenny had to leave so they werent able to get in the pictures. What an amazing bunch!

My Cox family again amazing people!

A few of my friends that were able to be there, Karole and I had matching shirts, how crazy is that? My crazy husband that would absolutely do anything in the world for me and I hope he knows I would do the same.

Halloween and New family pics

Not much has been going on with us lately. I never feel like I have anything to blog about so I just let it go for months without saying anything. We are just plugging along in this crazy life and trying to enjoy every bit of it. Cambree just keeps learning more and more and never ceases to amaze me with her attention to detail. She is quite the little eavesdropper as well. She is listening to every word I say. I have to be really careful. Ben is plugging along at work continuing to learn and grow and I am just trying to stay out of the hospital during this awful "swine" flu season. So far so good. I hope I can continue to do well. Here are our new family pics and pics from Halloween. Hopefully I'll be a bit more prompt after Christmas! Cambree and her daddy! Ben and I have not had a "good" picture taken of us since our engagements, so I thought it was time to try for a new one.

Our little family. We dont change much from year to year, but I felt like after 2 years we needed a new picture.

My Juliet and Gnome, arent they a great pair?

Cambree getting ready for the school parade. She is such a beautiful Juliet.

All the crazies for our annual Ericksen Halloween party.

First day of school and grandmas birthday

So its been quite some time since I blogged and so much has happened. First and foremost, my baby started Kindergarten. I cannot believe it. The first day was actually not bad, we got to go with her and just get the rundown. Then came the second day when I had to go and just leave my baby there. She was so prepared and didnt look back. I went and got back in the car and I'll admit I cried a little. I cant believe how big she is. She is so smart and I am amazed at all she learns everyday. We also celebrated my grandmas birthday. I was so happy that we could go and celebrate with her. This summer we had a scare and I was worried she wouldnt be here with us. I am going to have an awful time when that time really does come but I am so thankful that we can still enjoy her while she is here. She is such an amazing woman and I love her dearly!

3 generations! We have so much fun together. Me and my grammy

So happy about the first day of school

Isnt she just the cutest?

Her Diamonds

So I absolutely love Rob Thomas and most of the music that he puts out. I loved matchbox 20 and I love that he went solo as well. When the new song Her Diamonds came out I knew it was a very deep and emotional song. I then read an article about the new album he put out and it mentioned what the song her diamonds was all about. It is about his wife that has an autoimmune disease. I looked up the words to read them more closely and I just began to cry. Every so often I come across a song that describes something in my life so clearly. As I read the words, clear images of Ben and I came to my mind and I thought of the nights like this that it is describing. For the most part I am able to deal with CF with dignity and grace, but every now and again I get overwhelmed with the dealings of it all and it spills out into the night as pent up raw emotions. It doesnt happen very often and I usually only need a little bit and then I am fine, but eventually it always comes. I felt like this song portrays very well what I cant put into words. I am pretty sure it is a great way of how Ben feels which is really what made me cry. Although a somewhat depressing song for me. I absolutley love it! Her Diamonds Oh what the hell she says I just can’t win for losing And she lays back down Man there’s so many times I don’t know what I’m doing Like I don’t know now By the light of the moon she rubs her eyes Says it’s funny how the night Can make you blind I can just imagine And I don’t know what I’m supposed to do But if she feels bad then I do too So I let her be Chorus And she says uuuh I can’t take no more Her tears like diamonds on the floor And her diamonds bring me down Cause I can’t help her now She’s down in it She tried her best and now she can’t win it’s Hard to see them on the ground Her diamonds falling down She sits down and stares into the distance And it takes all night And I know I could break her concentration Oooh but it don’t feel right By the light of the moon she rubs her eyes Sits down on the bed and starts to cry And there’s something less about her And I don’t know what I’m supposed to do So I sit down and I cry too Don’t let her see Chorus And she says uuuhI can’t take no more Her tears like diamonds on the floor And her diamonds bring me down Cause I can’t help her now She’s down in it She tried her best and now she can’t win it’s Hard to see them on the ground Her diamonds falling down Bridge She shuts out the night Tries to close her eyes If she can find daylight She’ll be all right She’ll be all right Just not tonight Chorus And she says oooh I can’t take no more Her tears like diamonds on the floor And her diamonds bring me down CauseI can’t help her now She’s down in it She tried her best and now she can’t win it’s Hard to see them on the ground Her diamonds falling down(repeat) I can’t take no more Diamonds on the floor Her diamonds falling down I can’t take this diamonds falling down

Dogs and more!

Well we did it. We finally got a puppy! Isnt he just adorable? My brother brought him to us from his sister in law and I couldnt resist. Ben was not too happy about it, but I think he has warmed up to the idea. Cambree and the kids decided to name him Doug (we had just been to the movie up, so Doug was fresh on their minds) That night Cambree said, "mom I dont want my dog to be named doug." I told her we could think of a different name for him. I woke up that morning and looked for different names online. I finally narrowed it down to a few and when Cambree woke up I gave her the options. She was then adamint that her dog was going to be named Doug. I was now completely disliking the name Doug. We finally found something we both loved. Oz! So here is our dog. He has many names actually, Oz, Ozzie, Oswald, or Ozzie Bear. Everyone says he looks like a little bear.

The dog formerly known as Doug.

We had a birthday party at my moms house for my cousin Dakota. He loves Star Wars so I made him a darth vader cake. I think it turned out pretty good.

Here's whit with two of her beautiful nieces

The whole crew in their cool sunglasses. They all had so much fun!

Both of my brothers also got puppies from the same litter. This is shadow that is curled next to Oz. They were so pooped after a big day. Oz is honestly the best dog. He sleeps in our garage and is so good to not go the bathroom in their as long as we leave an escape for him. He adores Cambree and when we go walking in the morning he has a hard time coming with me if Cambree isnt with us on her bike. We just love our new addition to the family.

All things May

I have been the worst blogger lately. I am not exactly sure why, its certainly not because the weather has been fabulous and I have found so many fun things to do. Just being a slacker. Anyway, here are some of the fun things we did in May. It was really filled with tons of stuff. Cambrees dance recital. She had to dance with her dad, it was pretty cute. We are a happy family... Cambree with Grandma and Grandpa Ericksen

I decided to bite the bullet and teach Cambree how to ride a bike. My great friend Kevin let me have his little girls Dora bike and I found it was much easier to teach her on this than on her bigger princess bike. I watched a Youtube video to see what to do since I dont have the first idea of teaching someone how to ride a bike. It gave me this great idea. I started her at our front porch, started running with her and then kept telling her to pedal. Because she ends up on our dirt filled front yard it teaches her to pedal harder and if she falls she doesnt get hurt. Thanks Youtube:)

It honestly took her about an hour and then she started to get the hang of it.

I put her on the road and off she went. I was so proud that I could say I taught her how to ride a bike. I even pulled out the oxygen to run with her. At one point going downhill I was running with her and I knew I could have let go, but was scared to. I realized I hadnt taught her very well how to stop. The next day her dad took her out and taught her the ins and outs of riding, turning around, stopping, slowing down etc... what a good dad. She is a pro now!

Cambree officially graduating from preschool. I cant believe she will be in Kindergarten this year.

Cambree with Grandma and Grandpa Cox

We are so proud:)

Girls night out. KC was so sweet, he took all the kids and let us go have a night out. We went and got pedicures and went to dinner. It was so much fun.

This is somewhat telling of their relationship. They dont always get along the best.

And then there are these two, I dont know maybe a romance will evolve:)

Crazy kids bowling

The day we had to leave, Braxton kept saying, "Don't leave me!" It was so cute.

Karole has the cutest boys. Cambree and I wanted to take Kole home with us.

We honestly had the best time.

Cambree missed her daddy so much. One night she said, "mom I miss daddy." I said, "I know honey, we will call him."

"I don't want to call him, I want to hold him." It was so cute.

My gorgeous daughter, so happy to be home.

The day after we got home Cambree was playing around and went to jump in a chair, the chair fell backward with her in it and she hit her head on our speaker. She ended up getting 3 staples. Oddly enough it didnt hardly bleed. I still cant believe it happened. I have never had stiches or staples other than in surgerys and my girl has had both. It healed great though and luckily it healed great and is in the back where you wont ever see it unless she gets some crazy idea to shave her head.

Cambree turns 5 and a whole lot of parties

We have had quite an exciting two weeks. We had 3 days of celebration for Cambrees birthday. Friday was her friend party and then party with Grandma and Grandpa Ericksen, Saturday was dinner with mom and dad and she got to take a friend with and Sunday was her actual birthday. We had dinner at the Grandma and Grandpa Cox's and all her cousins. The next week was her tumbling state competition and she did such a great job. Then my wonderful husband got me tickets to Wicked for mothers day. What an amazing show! I loved every minute of it and would go to it again in a heartbeat. It was fantastic. The present table Well its official, my baby is no longer a baby. I can't believe that she is 5 already. Time flies too quickly. She had a great birthday and of course the theme was High School Musical. If anyone has spent any time with us as of late this should not be a surprise. The girl is obsessed. I believe she received 7 presents all having something to do with High School Musical. She is such a spoiled girl. But hopefully not a spoiled brat:) Dont let the balloon touch the ground game Opening presents The party crew, yes I know that is way too many kids. They had a great time though.

Freeze dance. If you ever need a good laugh play freeze dance with a bunch of 5 year olds. Its a riot.

Every year Ben and I take Cambree to do something fun and out to dinner wherever she chooses. This year we let her choose a friend to bring. She chose her cousin Adam. These two are crazy.

Oh the wonderful free cake

We then went to jumpin jacks and the kids had so much fun

Her actual birthday, Sunday the 26th. Ben and I opted out of buying toys and got her a map of the United States to learn all of the capitols and other info. I told her her gift was interesting and when she opened it she said, "Wow, this is interesting."

We sure love our girl!

Her birthday cake This year Cambree has been in a tumbling class. She also was on the competitive team and it has been a lot of fun for her. Due to a trip to cancun, and then a trip to the hospital this is the first meet I was able to go to. I was so proud of my baby.

3rd place on the trampoline. How adorable. Everybody gets a trophy, but it was fun to actually have her place 3rd.

Stretching with the older girls, they love her.

She also took 3rd on her floor routine.

Here is her routine on the double mini. She took 2nd in the routine.