A Few Q&A's About Us

1) What is his name? Joel David Steven Herrey. His original name when he was born was Joel Steven Herrey, but when he got older he wanted someone from the family in his name, so they added in David who is Joel's uncle on his mom's side of the family. 

2) Who eats more? Definitely Joel. Except for when I'm pregnant and sometimes when I'm nursing, I feel like I can eat almost as much!

3) Who said I love you first? Joel did. I remember I had just moved up to college for the fall semester and we were skyping. He seemed super nervous, but I was a little distracted trying to move in with my friend Heidi helping me. Joel wanted to tell me so bad but wanted to tell me in private, which is why he was so nervous!

4) Who is taller? Joel is. I am 166cm and Joel is 178cm. When I use to wear heels we were close to the same height! I don't wear heels anymore because I need to chase after a toddler... which I guess would be extremely entertaining in heels! ;)

At Festinord when we officially became a couple

5) Who is smarter? I like to think we both are in different ways. We even each other out very well! He is very logical (from his dad) with a touch of intuitive thinking (from his mom). I like to think I'm a logical thinker as well, so Joel and I are usually on the same page about different things. 

6) Who is more sensitive? Gosh these questions are hard! I like to think we both are... but that's just me. Joel says I'm more sensitive, but that it's a tough question and that we are sensitive in different ways. I would say Joel is more sensitive when it comes to words. What you say to him really affects him! When you praise him sincerely, it makes his whole day if not his whole week. I'm more sensitive to quality time. If I'm spending time with someone and they have their phone out and not really "with" me, I feel hurt.

7) Who does the laundry? I definitely do! Sooo much fun... 

8) Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do. That's next to the wall and William's crib is in between our bed and the wall. It makes sense for me to sleep on the right side since I need the crib close to me... for obvious reasons. Like to get up with a baby all the time during the night!

9) Who pays the bills? Joel mainly does. He organizes the bills and I sit with him and go through our receipts for the past month. We like to sit and do it together to make sure we understand where we stand money-wise for the month.

10) Who cooks more? Haha!! Joel definitely does! I am quite lucky to have a man who loves to cook so much. I can count on maaaaybe two hands how many times I have cooked...

11) What meals do you cook together? Joel usually does most of the cooking while I distract the children. Does that count cooking together? ;)

12) Who is more stubborn? I would say Joel. I am more easy going and go with the flow. I am fine with him making decisions if I agree with him, but we are good at communicating if I don't agree with something.

13) Who is first to admit they're wrong? We're both good at admitting if we are wrong. I wouldn't really know who is first, because we both admit when we're wrong. I don't know who is first really...

14) Who has more siblings? I do. We use to have the same (he has 4 brothers and I had 4 sisters), but a little more than a year ago my parents adopted two little girls Cambria (6) and Berkley (4). I now have 6 little sisters!

15) Who wears the pants in the relationship? Joel. Definitely Joel. And I enjoy letting him wear the pants! While I wear the skirt ;)

16) What do you like to do together? We watch a lot of Netflix together (right now we're watching the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars together! #nerds) and I always request to eat a good burger when we go out to eat on dates! I can't resist a burger. And Joel always let's me get my burger ;)

17) Who eats more sweets? I would say I do! Mwahaha. Joel is more of a salty/chip lover, while I have more of a sweet tooth. 

18) Guilty pleasures? I love chocolate, ice cream, cereal, and anything caramel. I have such a weak spot for caramel! Joel likes chocolate as well, but he's on more of a chip and salty kick. Ok, he loves chips!!

19) How did you meet? Gosh... that's quite a long story. You can just read it HERE.

On our first date

20) Who asked who out first? Joel asked me out over facebook because he didn't have my number. I guess facebook is good for something, right?? :) I added him first on facebook though, so who knows what would have happened if I didn't!

21) Who kissed who first? Joel kissed me first. First he kissed my forehead, then my cheek, then my mouth! Such a romantic ;) You can read more HERE.

22) How/where did he propose? Joel proposed to me at temple square on December 22nd, right before Christmas. If you know how busy temple square is right before Christmas, you will understand why Joel was so nervous about finding a spot to kneel down and ask me to marry him! Luckily he found a spot right by the fountain across from the pedestal. You can read more HERE!

23) His best features? There is so much I love about Joel... but I would say my favorite features of his would be his eyes. He has such big and loving eyes with amazing eyelashes, which is where Emma gets her ridiculously beautiful eyelashes from.

24) What is his greatest quality? I think his loving heart and his kindess. Joel is loving and respectful to everyone he meets, and that was the first thing I noticed that when we met. He is kind and just happy! I am one proud wife, that is for sure.

Cosleeping has been Best for William, But Not Emma

When Emma was a baby, I just wanted her close to me. It just felt oh so natural, until I tried to sleep with her by my side. We were both so uncomfortable and didn't sleep well at all. She slept better in her own bed, and when she got older I couldn't even be in the same room as her while she was trying to fall asleep. If she saw me she just wanted to play! Apart of me loved that she could fall asleep so easily on her own, but the other part ached for the cuddles I so desperately wanted from her. To this day Emma is still not a cuddly person, and if she gives you a hug or a kiss you should take it as a high compliment!

Now with little William. That boy wants to be glued to me all day every day. I really don't mind, and I have really grown to love getting used to him wanting me and wanting to sleep on me all the time. It's not super realistic since I have Emma to take care of as well, and I'm trying so hard to balance the two of them. I am trying to get into the habit of "wearing" William a bit more, so I can fill his needs of needing to be with me while I take care of Emma. I guess it helps that Emma isn't a cuddly person and hasn't been jealous at all of little William, so I can cuddle with him a little bit more!

William loves to sleep on me during nap time, and next to me at night. It's hard for me to fall asleep with him right next to me, so I put him to sleep in his crib next to my bed and when he wakes up to eat next, he sleepishly eats and stays asleep as I lay him next to me. I love that he stays asleep and I can go back to sleep so much faster. Right now I have to sit up at night to nurse and burp him, because this boy needs to be burped a lot! If I don't get out all the burps he'll wake up after a few minutes and usually spits up everywhere, which is not fun cleaning in the middle of the night. I really look forward to the day when he won't need to be burped anymore, or as much.

When he was smaller I tried laying him down in his own bed and swaddling him, but he always woke up and it took foreverrrr to get him back to sleep. I find it amazing how natural it is to sleep with him, I didn't think I'd ever be able to cosleep with any of my kids after my experience with Emma. We both sleep just fine, and I sleep even better knowing how happy and content he is sleeping next to me.

I know he might grow out of wanting to sleep next to me, and maybe this is just a newborn phase. I am trying to soak in every moment I can and hold him, since I've now realized how fast he'll grow up. I mean, how did Emma get to be almost 2 already?! I asked Joel the other day if it was legal for us to have a 2 year old, we don't feel old enough haha!

It has been fun and interesting for me to have two completely opposite kids so far. It has been tough but also wonderful getting to know William and figuring out what works best for him, what he loves, and also what comforts him. I love the feeling as he falls asleep on my chest knowing he feels 100% safe and content with me, and I am always near tears because I feel so blessed.

Snow Day!!

Her eyelashes though... I am beyond jealous!!

The winters where we live on the West coast of Sweden aren't too great, I'll be honest. I've now experienced four winters here and Sweden, and so far this winter has been the best so far. We actually have SNOW, and lots of it! Well not a whole lot to what I'm used to in northern Utah, but I'm quite happy with how much we have. The west coast winters are very humid, since it stays just above or just below freezing. Having strong winds blowing horizontally with snow mixed rain right around freezing is the worst. Those are the words Joel just described Gothenburg, he's pretty passionate about hating the slushy and grey winters.

Lucky for us it has been below freezing for a little more than a week!! It has been beyond beautiful, and I am sad that it will start to get a bit warmer and all turn to slush now. Well, it was pretty while it lasted! I couldn't resist taking Emma outside, even though it was so cold. I knew the snow wouldn't last, so I tried to make the most of it by taking her out. She didn't really enjoy it, I think she will more next year when she's older... hopefully ;) It doesn't help that William was super fussy so I had a hard time balancing the two of them. I wish I could have shown Emma how to go out and play in the snow, but I couldn't. I kept thinking over and over, "Gosh I wish Joel was here to help me!" There's hope for next year, right?! ;)

"Emma, come here!!"

Then she starts running as fast as her little legs could carry her in her snowsuit ;)

She had completely lost it by this point. I just wanted a picture!!! I guess I got one haha

William's Blessing

While my parent's were visiting, Joel gave William a name and a blessing in church on January 3rd, 2016. We had so many of Joel's family come and support us, and it was extra nice to have my parent's there as well! Right after Joel gave William his blessing, little Will smiled up at everyone. Joel said it was such a sweet and tender moment! I feel so grateful to have such a happy baby!! Trying to finish the food after church was a little crazy... I have no idea where Emma was or what she was doing. She was off running around somewhere and playing I guess! Here are a few pictures I took while waiting for the food to be ready after the blessing:

Joel and his cute cousin Leo

Grandpa sneaking in kisses as much as he could ;)

Joel's sweet aunts Emma-Karin and Malena

My sweet Mother-in-'love' is so cute at decorating

My only request was my mom to make a cheese ball, and gosh was it good!!^^

"FEED ME MOM!!!" Poor William was starving because he just took a 3 or 4 hour nap!

Joel's brother and his cute wife Eva

My goal of the day was to get at least one family picture of all of us on William's blessing day. We didn't have time and by the time I remembered it was dark outside, so I was super sad and decided not to take any. When we got home I told my mom how sad I was that I didn't get a family picture of the 4 of us, she made us get dressed back in our church clothes to take some pictures haha! So, here is the result ;)

Emma was being quite the turd. Also, William's face here ;)