A tribute to my 20's

Well it has happened. I am officially 30 years old. I was pretty sad to see my 20's go bye bye but looking back so much happened during those 10 years that I am kind of looking forward to my 30's being smooth sailing. Some facts about my 20's...

When I was 20 I got married. Wow was I young.

From age 19-22 I lived in Arizona

At age 22 I gave birth to my beautiful baby Kaiya

I worked for Corporate Express for almost all of my 20's...stopped working there at 29 when I got laid off.

Got divorced at age 24

Met the love of my life (Cirdan) at age 25 and married him at 27

Gave birth to my beautiful baby Ella at 28

I have moved a total of 14 times within those 10 years

The night before my birthday Cirdan took me out to dinner with two of the closest people in my life. My cousin Stephanie and my friend Sandy. He wanted me to pick where to go so I picked one of my favorites...Claim Jumper. I didn't even think about the fact that the only thing I always order there is the rotisserie chicken with mashed potato's...and with Thanksgiving and plenty of leftovers that was the last thing wanted to eat. We had a lot of fun and were at the restaurant for about 3 hours talking and laughing.

Cirdan asked me what I wanted to do on my birthday. I told him I just wanted something low key and intimate. He emailed some friends and family asking them to come over for cake and ice cream the night of my birthday. The day of my birthday I stayed home and really did nothing. I cleaned a little, Cirdan gave me some gifts and some flowers and I didn't even leave the house! Around 5:00, he and the girls decorated the house with birthday stuff. It was fun to watch them...Cirdan has good decorating skills. Family and friends dropped by the house and it was fun to visit with them and to be surrounded by good people on my birthday.

Cirdan had asked some people to write a memory that they had of me. These are the ones he got back...

Nathan said...

Here's some memories I have of Heidi:

1. One time when we were young Heidi encourage me to burp. A lot. I kept on burping until I nearly threw up on her.

2. Heidi had her hair cut really short one summer - it must have been the "cool" thing for girls to do at the time. We took our annual trip down to Utah and visited our great grandma Holland in Brigham City. Grandma Holland was in her 90's I believe and that combined with Heidi's short hair, mistook her for a boy and asked "What's your boy's name??" Heidi's hair hasn't been that short since.

3. We would always watch Saturday morning cartoons when we were little.

4. When we used to play nintendo, Heidi would try to help me beat a level by saying all kinds of candy like: "licorice, candy bars, snickers, cookies, caramel, ..."

Stacey said...

A long time ago, Heidi and I were in her bed. I believe it was a lazy Sunday after noon.. Heidi made up a game.. It was called.. " Find the eye lash"... She had a loose eyelash and she would hide it somewhere on her face as I was closing my eyes. I would count to ten, then I would try to find it.. When we would lose an eyelash in the bed... She or I would pull out another one... and the game would be on again!

Keely (old co worker/friend) said...

Hard to believe Heidi is 30.... are you sure????? haha What a bright little bug she is! So, hey-- my fondest memory-- when Heidi was pregnant with Ella, she came to work each day in these impossibly high heels; we all told her that her feet would swell and she would give up on the heels. But she said no and said it with such conviction I thought she'd put up with the swelling just to be stubborn and prove us all wrong.We were all wrong. I swear she must have delivered that kid in those 5 inch heels. Heidi is the tallest short pregnant woman I have ever known. Keely

Greg wrote...

The Martinsons family, in what could only be described as "playing match-maker", tried to save the both of us from our troubled relationships by hooking us up on a date. Even though I went to Kentridge, I was a real sport and went to Kentwood Sadie Hawkins with you. Luckily, you didn't put the moves on me. That would make things a lot more awkward now right? Happy Birthday "H"!

Sandy wrote...

It all started with a sales pitch aka harassment. I worked for a company that wasn't getting a great deal on their office supplies and Heidi was gal to change that! It was a single phone call that started this friendship. Heidi and her boss showed up with a few free samples and offering promises if a better life. However my boss wasn't so inclined to change. Meeting after meeting, email after email and basically all for nothing. Prior to our company makin the change to corporate express Heidi was laid off. Shortly after I was laid off too.Through all the emails, meetings and calls I had found a friend where I least expected it. Heidi, a gal who only wanted my business.Happy Birthday Heidi!!! (hope this works? Think it's better than the time Heidi accused me of passing gas in Step class).

Kristel wrote...

So I keep thinking about all the different things I could remember but did not have a great story. The only real thing I can come up with is not really funny or anything but here it is. Last April, when the kids and I were really sick (and Matt was out of town), I called Heidi to see if I could get help. She did not hesitate to bring over dinner and asked if there was anything else she could do to help. Heidi has been a great friend to me. She has consistently been helpful and I know that whether we are jogging, at church, or just out it will be fun and I will be laughing!! I am really glad that we friends!

Happy Thanksgiving...Gobble Gobble!

Thanksgiving is the best! This year we went to my parents house for dinner. All my siblings were there along with my aunt and uncle (Brad and Andrea), their kids, the missionaries and one of Stacey's friends.
Cirdan and I wanted to make and bring something different this year. Cirdan looked at a bunch of different recipes, widdled it down to the finalists and then finally decided on the dishes we would bring!
The winners....
Green beans with caramelized onions and almonds
Hawaiian Bread, apple and cranberry stuffing
Pumpkin cheesecake
They each turned out to be delicious!
After dinner we talked, looked at the ads for Black Friday, did crafts with Stacey's cricut and played the Wii. Cirdan and I went to Nathan and Amy's new house on our way home...it's so nice!!

I think that I love Thanksgiving so much not just because of the food and spending time with the family but most importantly its a day to think about all the things I am thankful for.

I am so thankful for Cirdan and my girls. They bring a smile to my face every day. I am so thankful to have healthy, happy daughters. I am proud of Cirdan for starting a moving company which has been a huge blessing for our family.

I am thankful for the ability to be a stay at home mom. Its been wonderful to watch my girls grow up.

I am thankful for my wonderful friends. I have a few of those friends that if we don't talk for a month or two we can pick up the phone and talk like we talk everyday. I also have a friend (Sandy) that I talk to everyday.... we met through work last year and I am very thankful for her...she really keeps me sane.

I am thankful for my family. Even though we don't always get along I love hanging out with them and I am glad that they all live close by.

2nd grade Thanksgiving

The 2nd graders had a Thanksgiving feast...and a feast it was!! They ate all sorts of veggies (carrots, celery, olives, pickles etc), fruit (grapes, watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew), crackers, string cheese, nuts, popcorn, chips and dip and pumpkin pie. It was fun for the kids and I was glad I was able to be there to help with the festivities.

Our weekend with Ava

Ava flew into town for a visit the weekend before Thanksgiving. She came over on Friday for 4 hours and then Saturday she came back in the morning and we had her for her 1st overnight visit until Sunday. It is crazy to look back and think about how long we have waited for her to be able to spend the night at our house! Cirdan had a crib set up for her when she was a baby, expecting to see her all the time...but that day never came. Its been a long 4 years but we are so thankful for her to now be in our lives. On Friday the girls played most of the time. They liked playing dress up and dancing around the living room. Kaiya and Ava get along really well and you can tell that Ava really loves having an older and younger sister. She is always wanting Ella to sit on her lap or help Ella find her binkie or blanket or toy.

I asked Ava what she wanted to do on Saturday and she said that she wanted to go to the mall. I think she was remembering the last time she was here and her and the girls got matching dresses. We decided that it might be a good idea to get the girls pictures with Santa...this way Ava could be in the picture. On Saturday Kaiya wore a knit dress and Ava wanted one like it so I called Kaiya's dad (cause he was the one who bought it) and we headed to Target hoping they had some left. We finally found the perfect outfit that was comfortable to Ava (picky dresser) and got one for Ella to match. We also got the girls matching pajamas for their 1st sleepover. Then we went to the Supermall for what would be one of my favorite Santa pictures. 

We shopped around a bit and went on the carousel at the mall.

Ella and Kaiya enjoyed sitting in the back of the car. They colored and wrote letters to Santa.

When we got home the girls played Wii, we made some homemade chocolate chip cookies and watched the movie UP. We were thinking (hoping) that it would make the girls sleepy but they were still awake and ready to play. We tucked Ava and Kaiya in Kaiya's bed and Ava wanted Kaiya to read her some books. I think Kaiya read her at least 20 books. It was getting pretty late so we turned off their light and soon enough they were fast asleep.

The next morning we got Cirdan out of bed to come and make us some delicious pancakes. Kaiya and Ava wanted to play Wii. The girls got ready for the day and I took them to get their nails painted at the salon and we bought a hot chocolate at Starbucks. Before the guy gave me my drink Ava had already drank all hers! She must like hot chocolate! We came home and Stacey came over to take some pictures of all of us. Kaiya had taped a couple papers on her door...her and Ava started Ava's Fashion Designer Store. Cirdan and I would both take turns and go buy something at their store. One took care of the cash register and the other walked us around the store showing us all the clothes and accessories that were for sale.

Cirdan and Kaiya took Ava to her mom. It was good because by the end of the weekend the girls were really tired. Kaiya isn't used to a kid tattling on her every move so her feelings were starting to get hurt. Ava was supposed to be back right after Christmas but tickets weren't bought far enough in advance and the price got way expensive. Cirdan agreed to have her instead come visit us again in February. We will miss her but know she will be back in a few months!

Nate's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Nathan's birthday with pizza and green bean casserole. We then ate some super delicious pie (lemon meringue and apple). Kaiya was so excited to show everyone she can play Happy Birthday on the piano so after dinner we gathered downstairs to sing and hear Nate and Kaiya's duet. We told funny stories about Nathan when he was younger and then played a really fun game.

Emma's card to her daddy...