Happy Father’s day to my sweet husband.

 I couldn’t have asked for a better “daddy” for my girls.  He has spent a lot of one on one time with them lately. Teaching them skills like building closets. Building workbenches, and mowing the lawn together.

I am so lucky to have him as my husband. He makes it possible for me to stay HOME and be a MOMMY!   

I am grateful for his sacrifice in serving our country.

 For his example to the young men in our ward. I am proud of him for all that he does!

For Father’s Day he wanted POT PIE’s for dinner… not a BIG FAT steak… Pot pies! Seriously, he is so easy going that he makes my life easier!  After dinner we gave him all our cards and presents.  Here is what I made for him

I got the idea from here.

We also gave him a camo USA hat and lots more CANDY! (the girls picked it out)  He has already gone out saturday and picked out his "other" gifts. He bought himself a gas weedeater and an air compressor. 

Also I want to wish my daddy a Happy Father’s Day!  I am lucky to have him as my daddy.  What an awesome example he is to me.  I know that I can ALWAYS count on him!  Ya know, all my sister’s say they are “daddy’s little girl”… Well I KNOW that I am!  There is not a day that goes by that I don’t talk to him.  I love you daddy!

 now for some FUN things I found for Father's Day.....

 

15 years later

Well as of May 31st, I have been married to the man of my dreams, my hero, my marine for 15 years!  Hard to believe that it has been that long… we have been together for over 20 years now. We started dating my senior year in high school- yes that means I graduated 20 years ago. Wow!  I am totally dating myself huh?

When My sweet husband woke up that morning, he came and gave me a kiss and wished me a happy anniversary.  That is all I was expecting.  He is not a big gift, or even card giver!  He called me at lunch time and said he’d be home “early” from work.  When he got home, he handed me the sweetest card.

I felt bad, because normally I am the gift giver, but this year I did nothing! Ziltch! Nada! Oh well he was ok with that.

So we enjoyed a fun evening at home celebrating with our girls.  We had a great dinner. With lots of laughs and teasing. The kind of night I wish we always had.

We looked through our wedding album…. Here are just some of the pictures. Sad to say we did not spend the money of a good photographer. My hubby had his best man’s stepdad (who was more interested in drinking & smoking out in the parking lot) take the pictures.  We only ended up with 1 picture of us together, in front of our cake. Oh well, you live and learn.  I can say for a fact we will spend them money for our girls weddings.

Our wedding party

me and my sister (maid of honor) Jeanne

my cute nephews and niece

me and my mama

 me and my parents

  Me and my daddy

My marine and his best man (Nick jenish)

All the guys

My marine and my mil- his mom

my marine and his parents

my marine and his sister, marlana, that introduced us eons ago
 

Walking down the isle with my daddy

Our 1^st kiss

 

Daddy daughter dance

Our cake- it was a gift
 

our first dance 

My family- minus 1 sister, who was on her mission.

 The one and only picture of us that turned out

Cutting the cake 

My marine’s family

Happy 15 year Anniversary to my wonderful husband! Thanks for a lifetime of happiness (and trials J)

VaLeNtInE's

 Oh how I LOVE Valentine’s Day!  I must say that ever since I was little and my parents celebrated VALENTINE’S MONTH  (YES you read that right, I said MONTH))I have LOVED Valentine’s .  I am a hopeless romantic.  I think it drives my husband nuts! He is so completely opposite from me.  I remember how things USED to be…. The hand holding, the snuggling, the little gifts here and there.  I LOVED that.  Where has that all gone? Well, we have 4 girls now and busy lives and I guess we have just lost that.  I WISH with everything in me that I could just snuggle on the couch and watch tv. But instead, my husband is in his recliner and me across the room on the couch. I guess after 20 years of being together we have just gotten used to each other and in a rut.  I wish I could find SOMETHING to jump start that passion again. Is it possible?  I know it CAN be.  My parents have been married for 40 years now and they act like newlyweds. 

  So my question is… would celebrating VALENTINE’S MONTH help?  Doing something EVERYDAY in Feb. to show my husband how much I LOVE him.  Things as simple as a card or as extravagant as filling his truck with balloons. 

When I was younger, we (as kids) spent MANY days in Feb. throughout the years HEART ATTACKING cars, decorating the house, filling cars with balloons and so many other FUN ideas. 

To this day my parents have a heart shape on the ceiling in their room- made out of yarn- done by my husband 20 years ago. Just simple little things like that.  I THINK we bring back that SPARK!  I miss that. I don’t EVER want to get COMFORTABLE in our marriage.  That is when TROUBLE happens!

So this month I am going to TRY to put forth MORE effort to show my husband how much I LOVE and appreciate him. 

Happy Valentine’s MONTH everyone!

Merry CHRISTmas to all....

 I wanted to wish all my "followers" a very Merry CHRISTmas!  I love this time of year to sit back and reflect on all that I have and have been given.  I saw something on FB today....

I truly am RICH!  I have all that I NEED and more!  A family who loves me.... wonderful parents, great kids and a good husband.  Who could ask for more???

May this season bring you joy and peace..... Pray for all those who are serving our country STILL in harms way.

Kelsee's Special Day

Well the OTHER special event that I have yet to blog about is my sweet 8 year old, Kelsee Nicol,  was baptized on October 30^th, 2011.  She turned 8 on aug 28^th but with moving and all we had to put it off a bit. PLUS we had to wait til Gramma and Papa could come out for the SPECIAL OCCASION. 

My parents flew into Detroit, MI Friday night.  We got to spend all day Saturday playing and just catching up.  Gramma and Papa were such troopers and were sleep deprived, I am sure. The girls had them going all day long and they LOVED it!  We went to Mickey D’s for lunch and to SuperWally World (they don’t have one in California where they live) We also went to our ward Trunk or Treat that night.  It was fun to have them here to see the girls dressed up. They haven’t been with them at all… only seen them dressed up in pictures.  Although it was FREEZING cold (40 degrees) outside we went from car to car “trunk or treating” and the girls LOVED it!

Sunday morning we all slept in til 8am (that is a HUGE feet for us Conrads. There is usually someone up at the crack of dawn!) we all got ready for Kelsee’s SPECIAL day!  Collecting all the clothes and odd’s and ends, making sure to not forget anything. We went to church and then shortly after church was Kelsee’s baptism.

 (the dress she wore today was the same dress that I wore, as well as my sisters and all my nieces and Kelsee's 2 big sisters; so far)

Haylee, her big sister gave the opening prayer. Gramma Lightbourn gave the talk on Baptism.  Sister Evans gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and gave Kelsee some fun “gifts” to remind her about the things that Holy Ghost will do for her. Then Papa Lightbourn preformed the baptism with her daddy as a witness.  Then when she was all dried off her daddy confirmed her a member of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. As well as Papa, Bishop Torrance, and the missionaries stood in the circle.

What a special day to have so many people there from our new ward to support us and make us feel welcomed.  We loved every minute having my parents here. Shortly after returning home from church we were loading the truck again to take my parents back to the airport.  The trips are NEVER long enough.  We wish we lived closer but such is life.

To find out more about our faith and what Baptism is, check out 

mormon.org