Valentine's Day 2013

Love is In the Air.. when is it not at our house?! On Valentine's morning Mike always has a yummy breakfast for us and lot of sugar!

  
I feel like it was kind of naughty of me to take a picture during the prayer, but I just had to capture the moment. Jessie has to say the prayer now all the time and even if Dad has called on someone else she says her own prayer right along with them. Also let us take note who has their eyes open.



Brigham taking a peak.


We were in charge of a game for Tyler's class party. We took a poster of Cupid and you had to pin the heart on the poster for Cupid to shoot.The kids had a good time and Mr. C and Jess just loved all the fun and attention they got from Tyler and his classmates. Not to mention the yummy candy and cupcakes!


Then we made our way to Amy's class because we were in charge of bringing the doughnuts. They were in the "gym" learning some line dances. Good fun!

This was a special day for Amy too. Turns out her "crush" still likes her too even though they are in different classes this year. We thought the love had fizzled, but about 1/2 hour after being home from school Brigs came in the house screaming for Amy. He said,"A boy just ran to our house and brought this big thing of candy and told me to give it to Amy and then he ran off real fast!" I wish I would have captured a picture of Amy as her face turned red and her smile got bigger and bigger as she realized what was happening. Her valentine consisted of lots of Dove chocolates, gum and some Vday charms with a note. Amy was flattered! We quick ran to the store and got a grape Gatorade and Katelyn helped make a card that said "I think Your GRAPE! Happy Valentine's Day Heart, Amy"


Mike and I had a wonderful little valentine's date. Thanks to Gma for last minute babysitting!

13 Wonderful Years

 I love this picture! Look how giddy I am to be next to Mike.  We weren't even dating at this point, but me and roommates had had so much fun hanging out at Mike's apartment. We invited them all to go up to SLC and look at the lights at Temple Square and the ZCMI Candy windows. Then we went to my aunt's home afterwards for some hot chocolate.
One of my roommates liked Mike a little as well as I and I was being cheeky and getting close to him and someone snapped a picture. I keep this picture in a frame in our room to always remember the "giddiness"!

 

13 Years! You think you are really in love when you are dating and become engaged. You hate to be seperated and you can't eat, sleep, and drink without thinking of your love! Oh how love can grow and mature and be exponential! I love Mike plus 6 more these days!

 

 

I watched this video today and bawled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5FxdCgD-qI&feature=youtu.be

 

 

My cup runneth over! All that Mike does for me and our family and it is all through our loving Father in Heaven.

Happy Anniversary!

Eternal Families

 

"The plan of salvation is the fullness of the gospel. It includes the Creation, the Fall, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and all the laws, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel. Moral agency, the ability to choose and act for ourselves, is also essential in Heavenly Father's plan. Because of this plan, we can be perfected through the Atonement, receive a fullness of joy, and live forever in the presence of God. Our family relationships can last throughout the eternities."

 

 

I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. In participating in all the festivities this weekend I just looked around and felt so grateful for our family. I loved sitting in the sealing room with my husband and being reminded of the wonderful blessings that are available to us if we will follow God's commandments. We are children of our Father in heaven and he loves us and is so happy when we do what is right.

 

 

 

 

 

 Blessing the Babies

 

Families can be together forever!

Marcia and LeGrand can fill a whole banquet room at Golden Coral! Quite an accomplishment! 

Here Kitty, Kiddy

It has been the coldest January here in Utah since 1949 ( or something like that). It has been cold!! We have two cats... Short Tail and Long Tail. I know we aren't very creative in the name dept. They mostly live outside year round, but with the frigid temps this winter we didn't have the heart to make them stay outside.

One morning after having the cats were in all night I discovered that one or both of the cats had used the back of our leather couch as a scratching post. I was livid. They also had been using the sand under the gas fireplace logs as a litter box. Zero tolerance for this!! Especially when they had all they needed ( littler box and other crappy couches) in the house.
I jumped on KSL and found this nifty and inexpensive Cat Tower with scratching post! We had quite the adventure trying to catch them and then locked them in the laundry room with their new "fort". They wanted nothing to do with it. So I thought it must need to be cleaned and deodorized so it can be "theirs". So Mr. C and I cleaned it up real well and we went down to the pet store and bought some Catnip spray for it to attract and relax the cats. Now Short tail likes it a bit more, but Long Tail still wants nothing to do with it.

 So in the long run all that work and time spent on a new Cat Tower has been well received by the kids instead of the kitties. B plays on it with cars. I found A and her friends using it as a doll house one day.Jess loves to climb it despite the heart attack it gives her mother and Mr/ c has multiple uses for it. Who knew? Who knew!

Short Tail is very social and has taken to laying in the girl's bathroom sink while they get ready for bed. She loves to drink out of the tap too! Funny cat!

Katelyn's 12th Bday Party

Kates wanted a friend party this year so she invited some friends over for some pizza and games. She has a good group of friends from school and they had a blast playing Just Dance 4 on the Wii and RockBand and Spot it.

 

Katelyn was ToTAllY spoiled by her dad this birthday with pretty much a good start on a "recording studio" and new Ibanez Guitar!

Winter Sports

We have some winter sports going on to try to keep the lbs off during this wet winter slump.
Katelyn is taking group volleyball lessons with the plan to play in Junior High. She has really enjoyed it and learned a lot!

Amy is playing Jr Jazz basketball for the first time and is doing great! In her first game, Amy made all 4 points. They just had their first win this last week and she made a couple points there too. She really likes it and has 4 other girls from her school on the team. Always fun to play with friends!

 

 

 

 

Tyler is also taking a basketball training class and the rec center again. He loves basketball too! I think it runs in their blood!

 

 

A Young Women...

Today is Katelyn's Twelfth Birthday! Really 12?!!! Last week she had her Primary exit interview with the bishop and today was her first Sunday in Young Women's. She was super nervous, but said everything was fine and that everyone was friendly. Katelyn is amazing. She has grown up so much and turned into an awesome young lady. She has always had strong standards and is unwavering. I could not have six children without her help. She is always helping me and cleaning for me and babysitting for me. I will be sad to loose her to the sisters in the ward- they are all so excited to get her babysitting for them!
Katelyn always cares about the underdog and wants everyone to feel comfortable. She can't stop till' the party is over! She is amazingly talented in art and music. Always keeping us entertained!

Happy Birthday Katelyn! We love you!

Winter Wonderland

Holy Snow!! It was too hard to believe the Ground Hog when he said there would be an early spring! It seems like the snow is never going to stop. The one thing that is good about the snow storms is that it blows the smog out of the valley. There is always a silver lining right? 
 Another silver lining ... Katelyn gets some great pics with our new camera.


Some of my favorites..

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Teasing keeps you humble...

Mike is a teaser. I am not. Thus we struggle.

Some of our kids are teasers. Some are not. Thus they struggle.

Teasing might just be for the fun of it, but I still, after 13 years of marriage, think that teasing is a way of telling the truth, but making it lighter so it doesn't hurt as bad. I have come to accept that a certain amount of teasing, if done with love ( if that is possible), can help us be more humble. Teasing helps us laugh at ourselves. I want my kids to be able to laugh at themselves.

Tyler and Brigham have always had little "ticks". Brigham's latest is to pull his upper lips up to cover his nostrils and sniff his nose. He does it all the time and does it several times in the time of one complete sentence.  We were giving him a hard time one night during dinner. Hopefully, he will be more humble because of it.