Anna's first Daddy-Daughter Date

Anna had her first daddy daughter date with Ken today. They went to Costco. She got all dressed up for the occasion.

 While she was waiting for Ken to be ready to go, she sat on couch. My friend's son, Tyler was on the couch too, and I had to take a picture because the look on his face is too funny. I'm not sure if he didn't want her there or if he just hadn't seen that much pink on one person in his life, but he was a little confused.

They had a good time and spent our life savings at Costco...again.

Fashionisto?

Ken and I went into Tacoma on Friday night to go suit shopping. The place that was recommended to us what a scary little dive in the ghetto of Tacoma. AND it had nice suits for not a lot of sweet moola. The coat Ken is wearing in this picture...not a nice suit, and even less moola.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Have you ever met 2 people that were so similar in mannerisms and sense of humor that it was scary? It's even worse that they  know it and feed off of each other.

Meet Ken and Eric. They meet the above description.

 

When told to do something funny, they both grab their ties. One day they dressed exactly the same. Marsha said it was excruciating. We told them they didn't really look alike and Eric replied, 'Exept for the fact they are both VERY good looking. Hmmm (Say it the way Nanny McPhee does.)

 Now meet Marsha. She's an angel saint that works with them. Every. Day.  I heart Marsha!

I'm thankful for Ken. I like his friends. I love Marsha. (She's his friend too.)

The Big Little Dipper

Ken was just telling Nicole and me about a nurse that was Virginia Mason Hospital last night. He found out she was from Manhattan (KS).  I asked him how he knew that and he said he was just talking to her. He wasn't able to find out her birthday or her favorite cereal, yet he knew where she grew up. (They are dating.)

He told us she was from Manhattan and Nicole asked "New York or Kansas?" He said Kansas, the Big Little Dipper. I corrected him, 'You mean the Little Big Apple?'

HAHAHA!! Funny to us. Funny also that Manhattan, KS (did you know that town existed?) is nicknamed the Little Big Apple. It is NOTHING like NYC - I'm sure of it.

Go Wildcats.

scripture study from my point of 'view'

Right before we started reading scriptures, this is what my family looked like from my view. Ken's phone he was playing on is on his knee now. Nicole was 'conversing' with her magic 8 ball as opposed to the scriptures sitting on her lap. I'm not really sure about that face...She's funny...and 12.

 Matthew was just taking up far more than his 1 cushion. He did turn 180 degrees before it was his turn to read.



Good Times! We read Mormon 5 tonight. We should finish the Book of Mormon by Christmas...very exciting!

Birthday dinner

To celebrate my birthday which was last Sunday, the 24th, we went out to dinner on Friday to Red Robin--my favorite restaurant. I ordered the California Chicken Burger, something I don't usually order but used to often enough. It was not as good as remembered. They sang to me and we got a free sundae. I videoed them singing because, really it's no fun to watch a video of a person being sang to. My favorite part was when the waiter told the restaurant that I was celebrating my 21st birthday. That's correct too. 21 for the 12th time. Writing that makes me a little bit sad. I'm not going to lie.

Here are some pictures of Ken and me. The usual kind. The 2nd one reminded me of a Picasso painting...kind of.

The other thing I like about this video is Ken's face because he was embarrassed. muhahaahha Also, the singers seem to be SO excited, don't you think?

Would you like any pie with that?

We just got home from the temple. Would you like some pie with your whoopcream? Poor photo quality do to cell phone photograph. My nephew, Zachary, called whipped cream whoop cream, so we do to.

Ken's birthday cake.

Ken turned 32 on 11-15. We made his cake.  The kids 'designed' it after looking through a cupcake decorating book.  It was fun to decorate and it tasted good.

No news is...

KEN'S FAULT!!!

As many of you know, Ken had a VERY IMPORTANT appointment with a nurologist on Monday. That morning he did not get up with us as we got ready for school, I figured he was getting a little more rest before going to the Dr. in Hays...an hour away. I was at work for a couple of hours and I called him to see if he got to the Dr alright and I dounf out that he DID NOT GO!!! He canceled the appointment. I have to admit that it is a scary thought be agree to be electricuted, one nerve at a time, with out the possibility of any pain meds, but seriously! We have had this appointment for well over a month and to reschedule it will be another 6+ weeks. BLASTED!

Ken had a second appointment on Monday was with an orthopedic surgeon for his knee. Because he was sure this surgery would be the answer to all his medical woes, he put the nurologist out of his mind. When he got to his appointment Monday afternoon, the Dr. told him he wouldn't do surgery or even scope his knee until the nurologist has either solved his mystery or told him there was nothing more he could do for him.

So...here we are. 2 months later and no news. I'm a little frustrated but I'd be lying if I said I couldn't see Ken's point of view on this. I secretly hoped that the knee surgery would fix everything...I just wanted to know what the nurologist thought ALSO.

So that's my story.

12 years of AwSoMeNeSs!!!

Today Ken and I have been married for 12 years. It is hard to believe that we have made it that far and it's also easy to see that we have. Sometimes our wedding day feel like it was just yesterday and other times I feel like it was 50 years ago. The only reason I can tell you that is because I know pretty much every married couple has had both emotions. Luckily for me, I feel like it was just yesterday A LOT more often that I feel the other way.
I know this picture is a rerun but I LOVE IT!

In honor of 12 years married, here are a few fun facts about US!

*We stole salt and pepper shakers from The Old Spaghetti Factory in Seattle, WA the first time we went there. We were with my sister, Heather. After about 4 years of holding said shakers hostage, I confessed to a manager and asked if we could pay for them. He said no, and told us to buy a dessert and we'd be square. I don't know how that can be the case, but we did and my conscience is clear-er now.ps, the reason we stole them in the first place is because we thought they looked like Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper from Blues Clues. Today, the kids don't watch that show anymore and ironically, we don't use the shakers either.

*In 1 day Ken and I ate breakfast is Lehi, Utah, lunch in Newport Beach, California, and Dinner in Bremerton, WA. We were tired when we finally got home.

*This is our 12th anniversary and our 5th that we have actually spent in the same state and or town. For many years I was working summers with my parents and I had jobs away from home over our anniversary. Our reasoning then and our belief now is still the same...it's okay if we aren't together on the 9th of August every year. Although that is our anniversary, we love each other every day and don't need 1 special day to celebrate it.

*We take a separate vacation every year in July. Typically Ken goes and visits with his family and in years past I have gone and spent that time with my family. For many it wouldn't work out, but for us it does and we look forward to that time. Let it be known that we also go on vacations together every year as well.

So often when people find out how we met, they want to know the whole story with all the details...In honor of 12 years, I'll tell all my reading audience...

When I was a senior in HS, Ken was a Full Time Missionary for our church. Missionaries are not allowed to date while they are serving and I wasn't interested in that anyway. The first time I saw him, we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting on a Fast Sunday and he stood up to bear his testimony. The first things he said were, 'Hi, My name is Elder Cheney. I'm from Provo, Utah, please don't hold it against me.' At that moment, the spirit whispered to me, 'you're going to marry him.' My response back (in my head) was, 'what about him companion? He's really cute!'

After I had this experience I non chalantly asked my Mom if we could have the Elders over for dinner. She agreed and we signed up only to have them cancel the night before they were supposed to come to our home. When they canceled, we didn't invite them again for over 4 months. During this time I continued with HS and taught my Primary Class every week. Occasionally the missionaries came in for Sharing Time, but Ken and I never had 1 conversation.

About 4 months later, Ken and his new companion approached us, asking us to sign the dinner calendar. My mom did and they came over later that week. I was so NERVOUS!! For no good reason. Beside the one thought I had 4 months earlier, there was no indication that he even knew who I was and if he didn't, that would have been completely appropriate since he was a missionary!

They ate dinner with us. My parents videoed them so they could send home a tape to each of their families. Garen and Adam, 2 of my little brothers, agreed to go on splits with them. (Splits is when 2 non-missionaries volunteer to work the full time missionaries so they can creat 2 companionships and cover more area. They now call it exchanges.)

A couple weeks later, after Garen had been hanging around with them A LOT, he announced one afternoon, 'Elder Cheney said when he gets home off his mission, he's going to come back and date Dedra.' I WAS FLOORED! How many times in a girl's life is she certain she's going to marry a certain boy? ESPECIALLY in HS? Since my experience in the dating department was being friends with my guy friends and not being the girlfriend, it would be putting it mildly that I was nervous and didn't really know how to respond.

After this announcement was made, I told my mom about the experience I had when Ken was first transfered into our ward. Shortly after that, Ken had written me a long letter that was kind of a getting to know you letter. I wrote one back. He gave me a picture of himself and wrote me a lovely little poem. I said thank you and giggled a lot. While he was in our area, I graduated from HS, started working my PT job FT and we wrote letter back and forth, even though he was in my ward.

Near the end of his time in Bremerton, I started having trouble with gall-bladder, but couldn't have surgery since my insurance hadn't kicked in yet at Fred Meyer. I was off work for about 10 days, which allowed me more time to know Ken, as a missionary. I was able to drive them to appointments when my brother was on splits. On a p-day they came to our home to do laundry. 2 days after he went to a new area, I went back to work.

That was all! We wrote a couple letters back and forth and then he got a new Mission President who wouldn't allow us to converse. We spoke on the phone I think 3 times for about 5 minutes each time...he was calling to talk to my Mom and I answered the phone. All of our communication ended in July 1996.

We did see each other 1 more time before he went home but I don't really remember it. I had my Gall Bladder out in October of '96 and he in town for a Zone or District Conference. My mom was at the church dropping something off and saw him. He got permission from his president to come to the hospital and give me a blessing. That took place approx. 40 minutes after I was woken up from being under general anestesia.

Ken got home from his mission January 1997. My mom had been in contact with his mom and she had volunteered to cater his homecoming party, so we went to Utah very shortly after he got home.

January 24 was our first date. I was really sick when he arrived to pick me up but I went anyway. We went out with Ken's friends, the Darringtons, now our friends, along with a few other people that I don't remember. We went ot Mexican, my favorite, but I was too sick to eat. I had a temperature over 100 degrees and secretly just wanted to go home. After dinner, we drove around looking for something to do, the bowling alley was packed so we went back to Randy's parents house...they were out of town. Everyone started doing their own thing, so Ken and I left and went back to his hose and watched a movie with his parents.

The next night we doubled with his Brother and Sister in Law, Brian and Susi. Went to the movie, 'That Thing You Do' at the dollar theater in Provo.

The next night was his homecoming talk at church and his homecoming party that night at his home. That night we played phase 10 with 6 other people and ate a lot of good food. When he drove me back to the house we were staying at that night, I told him that I got my temple recommend but didn't have a date set yet. He told me that night that he'd fly up when I went through. While he was driving me home that night, he ran a red light ON PURPOSE and I told myself when I got out of the car I could never marry him.

The next morning I flew back home and we talked on the phone every night. I set my temple date on February 15 and flew in on the 12th. On the 14th we ate dinner together at Heather and Farrell's house. He spent the night in my parent's living room and the next morning I went through the temple. On the 16th, we went to church together in my ward, the ward he served in. That night around 10 we went for a walk around my neighborhood and down to Lion Field, about a mile away...

This is how our engagement came to be...We were walking and talking and it was mostly Ken doing the talking. He was saying things like...I don't want to be engaged a very long time. I'd like to start a family soon. I think I'll probably live in Washington. I don't want my wife to have to work after the kids get here. I think getting married in Seattle would be perfect. Finally I asked him, 'are we engaged?' His reply??? 'Yeah, I guess so.' YOU CALL THAT AN ENGAGEMENT? HMPH! But that is how it went and we were engaged that night. We got home around midnight and since it wasn't Sunday anymore, we went to Shari's the celebrate. The next day we set our wedding date. He called his mom and told her he was moving back to Washington, and 3 1/2 weeks later, he did. He lived with my sister, Wendi and her family while we were engaged except for a short week or so where he stayed with Heather and Farrell...but they moved out of their hosue.

August 9th, we got married in the Seattle Temple. I was 19, he was 21 and had been home from his mission a short 7 months. We lost our clutch in my clunker car on the way home from Bellevue, so we ended up piling Ken and me, the Darringtons--Jessie was 8 1/2 months pregnant, along with Mom and Dad and 4 siblings into their car and drove home on one of the hottest days of the year with no AC. It was AWESOME.

and that's our story...12 years later, I wouldn't change any of it. I LOVE YOU KEN!!

I Want To Break Free

A few years ago, Ken and I, Heather and Farrell and Gina along with her date went to see Oceans 12 in the theater. We were sitting quietly in one of the back rows when the previews started. The first preview was a coke commercial. We heard the intro and recognized the commerical because we had seen it on TV a few times. About 4 counts before the actualy singers were going to start singing the song on the ad, Ken belted out, in prefect pitch, REALLY LOUD, 'I want to break free!' ALot of people turned around and looked at us. All of us on the back row--except for Ken--were laughing too. Ken just sat there with a smug look on his face, proud of what he had just done. I found that very ad on YouTube. So I hope you like the ad, and for Heather, Farrell and Gina, I hope you enjoy this little walk down memory lane. I'm smiling right now as I type it.

All About Ken...kind of

As Promised....

(X) Gone on a blind date?
(X) Skipped school? To many to count for no good reason
(X) Watched someone die? Our son, Robert.
( ) Been to Canada?
(X) Been to Mexico I went with a friend (Scott Rogers) We crossed the boarder in El Paso and we could not find a way across to get back very scary. But then we crossed again in Brownsville, TX with Scott's Sister and had a better time.
( ) Been to Florida?
(X)Been on a plane? Many times
(X) Been lost? Too many times to count!
(?) Been on the opposite side of the country--Opposite of what??
( ) Gone to Washington , DC?
( ) Swam in the ocean? Been to the beach I am afraid of the water
(X) Cried yourself to sleep? Who hasn't?
(X) Played cops and robber? I was always the robber.
(X) Recently colored with crayons?
(X) Sang Karaoke?
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only? Pennies and Nickels! I went to Taco Bell at 10:30 at night with a sack full of coins I knew how much it would cost and had just enough of eaach kind of coin that they could not be rolled. I gave it to the guy and he would not serve me the food I was so mad I got names and eventually (the next day ) a free meal. I went to another taco bell and they gave me my food. After two hours and no Phone call Dedra thought I had died. She got her food but was not happy with me. (That was while she was Prego with Matthew)
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Sorry, no details!
(X) Made prank phone calls? Everyone who knows me gets at least one. The best one was when I called up a friend (Name withheld as to not embarrass her) I had her going for about 5 minutes over some cookies and would not let her hang up until she bought these 12 dollar box of cookies; 8 cookies were in the box...something like that. She was going to buy them just when I told her who I was. It was rather entertaining to me , not to her.
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
(X) Danced in the rain?
(X) Written a letter to Santa?
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe?
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about?
(X) Blown bubbles?
(X) Been skinny dipping outdoors ? Scouts do dumb stuff! I will not expound.
(X) Gone to the movies and didn't watch the movie?



1. Any nickname? K.G., Kage or Kenbone Only by my mom
2. Mother's name? Sherry
3. Favorite drink? Dr. Pepper
4. Tattoo? no
5. Body piercing? no
6. How much do you love your job? I like it alot, very slow and at times, very mind numbing
7. Favorite vacation spot? Disneyland
8. Ever been to Africa ? No
9. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Yes
10. Ever been on TV? No He actually has, we were at graduation together.
11. Ever steal a traffic sign? Yes
12. Ever been in a car accident? Yes
13. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4
14. Favorite salad dressing? Ranch
15. Favorite pie? Pumpkin
16. Favorite number?
17. Favorite movie? A Few Good Men
18. Favorite holiday? July 4 for spring/summer, Christmas for winter/fall.
19. Favorite dessert? Chocolate Frosty from Wendy's
20. Favorite food? Mexican food from Azteca.
21. Favorite day of the week? Sunday
22 Favorite brand of body wash? Suave
23. Favorite toothpaste? Crest Whitening w/ Scope.
24. Favorite smell? FOOD IN GENERAL!!!
25. What do you do to relax? Read or take a nap.
26. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Kansas for sure, probably in Great Bend though.
27. Farthest place you will send this message? Washington to my knowledge, but since it's on a blog, it could go to China.