5 Years of Wedded Bliss

♥ What are your middle names? Crystal Lynn and Joshua Gary

♥ How long have you been together? Since September of 2003, so about 5 1/2 years!

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? A year or so.

♥ Who asked who out? Josh asked me out first in Round 1.

♥ How old are each of you? I'm 25, and he's 29.

♥ Whose family do you see the most? It's probably sixes. We see each family at least once a month.

♥ Do you have any children together? 3 beautiful babies! Kaley - 4, Thomas 2 1/2, Bella - 1.

♥ What about pets? Names? Ugh. No.

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Um, I'm not sure.

♥ Did you go to the same school? Not the same high school, but we did go to the same college!

♥ Were you born in the same home town? Josh was born in New Mexico, and I was born in Utah.

♥ Who is the smartest? Josh is pretty smart....but I'm the brilliant one who stays home with the kids!

♥ Who is the most sensitive? I am pretty sensitive! I have "soft feelings," but Josh is very sensitive to me!

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? As a couple...without kids? We like Goodwood - it seems like that's where we've gone most recently. With the kids, it's usually something cheap!

♥ Who has the craziest exes? Um, probably me.

♥ Who has the worst temper? I do, but not usually toward Josh. Mostly just when the kids are buggin'!

♥ Who does the cooking? I do. Josh will of course step in when needed though!

♥ Who is more social? Me by far! Josh will go to social things, but only if he really knows the people there!

♥ Who is the neat-freak? JOSH!!! I thought I was a pretty neat person, but Josh begs to differ! I always have "piles" of stuff on the bar, and it drives him nuts! When we built our house, Josh was the most excited about having separate bathroom counters! I like my stuff spread out, and he likes his away and not seen! We also have separate toothpaste.

♥ Who is more stubborn? We both are pretty stubborn.

♥ Who hogs the bed? Oh, me. Poor Josh. I have to sleep with extra blankets on, so the covers naturally gravitate to my side of the bed.

♥ Who wakes up earlier? We usually wake up when the kids do - and at the same time.

♥ Where was your first date? Bowling and ice cream.

♥ Who has the bigger family? Josh does - 4 sisters, 2 brothers.

♥ Do you get flowers often? Just as often as I like!

♥ How do you spend the holidays? We try to do our own thing with our little family, then split the rest of the time between our families. It's difficult.

♥ Who is more jealous? Me.

♥ How long did it take to get serious? For Josh, not long. For me, a little longer. Once I decided to date him though, I was sold!

♥ Who eats more? It depends on if I'm pregnant! We probably eat about the same though.

♥ Who does/did the laundry? I do - but now I have Kaley and Thomas to help! They love it!

♥ Who’s better with the computer? Josh is! He is so patient with me when I try to make handouts for Primary! I just tell him what I want it to look like, and Walla! He does it!

♥ Who drives when you are together? Josh always does!

♥ How did you meet? We met at the dear old Bountiful Court. We lived in the same apartment complex at BYU. I dated his roommates; he dated mine. Then we dated each other!

♥ What do you love most about your partner? What isn't to love?! He is a great husband, father and friend! I love that he does everything to make me happy! I love that he makes me smile even when I don't want to smile. :)

♥ What is your favorite thing to do together? Just being together! I don't really care what it is! I just get really protective of "my time" with Josh! I love the couple hours after the kids go to bed, and we can just chill.

♥ .Who picks where you go to dinner? The kids.

♥ .Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? It depends on who's wrong! Josh usually just makes peace, then I apologize.

♥ .Who wears the pants in the relationship? Equal pants wear-ers.

♥ Who eats more sweets? Ooh, that's hard. We both love the sweets, but probably I eat more.

♥ .Who cries more? Oh, me again!

♥ Who said "I love you" first? I think Josh did, but I quickly said it back! It seems like we talked about it alot before any one actually said it.

♥ Craziest memory you have with each other? That one time I left another date feeling "tired" so that we could "break" into the Marriott Center and play a game with a bunch of friends!

I love you, Babe!

Haley's Baby Shower

Christina, Lindsey and Emily

Staci and Ashley

Michelle and Haley

Cute Hales

This one's for you, Mom! Isn't she the cutest?!

Ah, so cute! We missed you Kjersta!

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, no pictures for this post! I think that's a first! I just wanted to give a little update on what's been going on here! There are many reasons for no pictures - we have been sick; we have been potty training; we have been bored.

First order of business - Thomas is POTTY TRAINED! Wahoo! It literally took 3 weeks, but we did it! He is doing so well! Funny story: At church last week, I was conducting Primary and Josh was teaching Gospel Doctrine. Thomas was not willing to go to nursery, so he was in with Kristin sitting in Josh's class. He told Kristin (and the entire Sunday School class) that he need to go potty! So Kristin brings him in to me, and I dash out! We make it to the potty, and guess what?!?! He did #1 and #2 on the BIG potty!!!! First time ever!!! He was so pleased with himself, that he announced to all in the bathroom that the poo poos came out in the potty! (He also asked Kristin if she wanted to come see!) Ha! Then he was so excited that he ran into Josh's class (still teaching), and yelled, "DAD! My poo poos came out in the potty!!! Can I have a Lifesaver?" The whole class was laughing! Josh was embarrassed! We were just glad that Josh still had treats in his pocket! Kristin's husband, Jason, also treated Thomas to as many cookies as he wanted! Way to go, Thomas! (Thanks to Kristin and Jason for being such an important part of this journey! :) )

Next, Bella is very sick. She was up all night last night with a terrible cough. I took her in today to Instacare thinking that it might be croup or RSV or influenza (all of which neighbors have had this past week). The Dr there did a Flu test which came back negative. He did a chest x-ray and then sent us to the hospital lab to do a RSV test. We left our house today at 12 and didn't get home until 5:30, so it was a long day! The Dr finally called with the test results at 6:30 pm. Bella has pneumonia. We were prescribed Tylenol with codeine and Zithromax. Josh gave her a blessing, and she is now sleeping in our room with the humidifier. I am hoping that she will get much better, really soon! It is so sad to see her be so sick! On a happy note though, Bella is walking! I will have to post a little video of her when she starts to feel better!

Kaley is doing good! On Thursday, I got to go to her class and help out with their Valentine's party! It was so fun! I read the kids a story, and helped with their crafts. I think I am a pretty lucky Mom to get to see this girl grow up! I get to see her in Primary, and can volunteer to help out in her school. I just love being a stay-at-home Mom! She is developing socially so well! I love to see how smart she is! She is not afraid to raise her hand and give the answer. (At the beginning of the year she was terrified!) She also will share a "Guess What" in Primary (which is kinda like the "good news minute" in Relief Society). I am just lucky to get to be a part of her life! She is one sweet girl!

Josh and I are hanging in there! We are just trying to catch up on sleep! Thomas has been sick as well, so the combination of him and Bella has us pretty exhausted! Primary and work keep us busy, but happy! We celebrated Valentine's Day today by having Costa Vida for dinner! I have been craving it for a while! We are also enjoying the Slam Dunk contest. Last year was entertaining enough, I have to see what Dwight Howard does this year. There you have it! That's what we're up to! Hopefully, I will have some pictures soon!

Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Saturday BYU Basketball Game

Chocolate faces! Papa and Grandma gave us chocolate covered pretzels. Yum!

This was the cutest thing! Cosmo came over to talk to the boys in front of us. Thomas was waving, and waving! Cosmo waved back, and Thomas was a little in shock that Cosmo was waving at him! So Cosmo pointed at Thomas, so he knew he was looking at him! Thomas was so funny! He pointed back to Cosmo! Cosmo laughed a little. Then Thomas wanted a five from Cosmo, so Cosmo thought about it for a minute ( we are 6-8 seats in, and he was a couple rows down). Cosmo reached as long as he could across the 2 rows of people in front of us, and we reached Thomas out and he got a high five from Cosmo! It totally made his week! Thomas was grinning for the rest of the day! It was so sweet!

Waving to Cosmo

The REACH

One VERY happy boy! The boys in front of us caught one of the balls that the Cheerleaders were throwing into the stands, and gave it to Thomas! He was so excited! Needless to say, he wants to go back! He thinks Cosmo is his friend! What a kid!

Thomas

I just love this one! Thomas looked so handsome for church last week! What a stud muffin! He looks like one of the BYU Men's Chorus boys!

Last week, we started potty training Thomas! We bought him a special Froggy potty, that he thinks is the coolest! He is doing so well! We still haven't mastered #2 in the potty, so we are still doomed to be home forever until it happens! It has been hard to train JT because he has an extra large bladder! I can juice the kid up on every kind of liquid I have, and he only has to go 2 or 3 times a day! It's amazing! With Kaley, she learned quick because she has a tiny bladder. She was going every 15 minutes!
The other thing we are working on is going potty in the BIG potty. He has ONLY gone in the Froggy potty. He freaks out anytime I mention going potty on ANY other potty. Any suggestions?! He is wearing underwear all day, except for a pull up at naptime. He still wears a diaper at night, but I'm good with that. But, what to do about the fear of ANY other potty?

The Froggy

T-Man and his Froggy - he seems to be enjoying potty training - or at least the treats! :)