Valentine's Day with my sweetie!

I got to plan Valentine's day this year.  Soo, we painted pottery.  We were there with about 15 eight year olds and several crafty ladies.  Darin was a good sport about it though and he really is quite artistic.  We had a good time trying something new together.

Decor

Since moving to this new place of ours, we've been trying to paint, update fixtures, door knobs, decor.  Now something about me--I CAN NOT DECORATE!  I'm a very fuctional liver.  HOWEVER,  I am trying.  Pinterest is my new best friend and I've found a few ideas that I can do.  I'm slow--REALLY slow. But one project at a time, I'm starting to get a few things done.

Here is Meg's bed and bookshelf.  She likes to read books in her bed and I was tired of having lots of books piled by her bed.  Another thing about me.  I HATE book shelves.  I think they are a lot of work to keep looking organized and nice and otherwise, they just look like clutter.  SO, this was perfect for me.  A book shelf that has a bit of style!  :)  And not a 'bookshelf' that books get piled on.  :)

I made the pillow cases on her bed, I have a few throw pillows left to sew and D and I painted her room purple.. yep, she wanted purple!  :)  She was so happy when we were painting and kept coming to look at her room in purple!  :)

FHE when Dad is gone!

Darin is in Europe for 2 weeks.  When he is gone, I always try to plan a few fun outings to help the time pass.  Tonight we went to Jump N' Jacks for Family Home Evening.  It was especially fun because we saw another family in our ward there whose dad was also out of town!  So it was fun for me to chat and the kids had fun playing!!!

Meg's choice of outfit!

Meg picked her outfit today and THIS is what she came down in!!!  Stylish, no?  She's so cute, she can pull it off (if it weren't like a negative 1000 degrees outside!)  :)

Cousinssssssss

We love living close enough to family that we get an occasional visit!  D and S came with their boys for a night and we had so much fun!!!!  All the boys but one had a sleepover in the basement.  They would just giggle and giggle while trying to fall asleep, they were so excited they couldn't calm down.   I went downstairs at about 11 p.m. and told them 3 very long drawn out stories of when I was growing up on the farm and they were ALL out!  :)  It was fun to have them.

 After a late night with cousins, THIS is what happens during sacrament meeting at church!!  LOL  

We LOVE COUSINSSSSSSSS!!

Pretty Paintings!

Meg and Z-man love preschool time.  Meg loves the craft part and Z loves everything.  They are getting really good at their letters and sounds.  I mostly do this for Z so he can be ready to go to Kindergarten next year, but Meg has soaked it up like a little sponge and also knows most of her letters (upper and lower) and sounds.

It is really fun to see them progress.  I need to start throwing in some other subjects.  They get quite a bit of letter learning and number learning, but I think it's time to add maybe some geography or science experiments.  They would like that.

(just to note.  D's mom made us those aprons after we were married and before she passed away! She would be proud they are getting used ;) )

 

Lovin' the snow!

There is something magical about snow.  It brings us to life--well, some of us I guess! :)  We weren't lucky enough to have ANY snow last winter, but we are getting a bit this year and lovin' it.  We are missing out hill in KY to sled down, but it is still fun to play in and roll around in.  Lo and Z were wrestling in the snow today and Z kept coming in to tell me he had snow somewhere on his body (It changed places each time).  Once while wrestling, Meg jumped on Log's back and took them all out!  LOL  just kidding.  But it ended up a cute pose for a picture! :)

SNOW ANGELS!

Nobody would open their eyes for me.  They didn't want snow to fall in and the sun was super bright!  LOL ok.  I guess we can have a picture with eyes tightly shut! :)

My red heads!  Meg tackled Log!  LOL  She is pretty fighsty when she wants to be!  :)

President of the United States of America

J had a unit in school on the Presidents of the United States.  They were able to get in groups and give oral reports on the presidents.  They invited parents to come to the presentation and it was so fun to see J.  She is a good presenter.  She is so fun to watch.  Here is a picture of her little group!

Raspberries on the Window!!!!!

Z and M are quite the little pair at home.  Today I was getting ready for the day-- doing my hair/makeup and trying to get out the door so I could go have lunch with a friend for her birthday.  I heard massive amounts of giggles coming from downstairs.  Ya know the kind of giggles that are so hard you can hardly breath?  Yup, those giggles.  It was music to my mommy ears.   When I came downstairs to see what was so funny, this is what I found.

raspberries on my windows!!!  They were having so much fun and laughing so hard, I didn't have the heart to tell them to stop!

And here I am all pretty-ish to go eat lunch with my friend... that is a rare occurrence for me, so it was pretty fun for me also!

To the BEST man in the world!!!

Today is my AWESOME D's birthday.  Sometimes I get a chance to look back in time and remember things.  Birthdays usually do this to me.  Today I've spent a lot of time going back in my mind to when D and I were dating, our early married years, the struggles he has been my rock for, the joy that I feel whenever I'm with him.  Today is a great day!  I look back and see how close I was to missing out on him.  I'm SOOOO thankful D waited for me to be ready for marriage (anyone that knows our dating history will understand that).  He is patient, kind, and always looks at things a little differently than I do which helps me learn and have an open mind.  He is smart--really smart and loves to solve problems and dream big.  He loves to travel and loves to meet people who are different than him.  He is the least judgmental person I know and always has an ear out for someone who needs help.  He is rushed by a choir of "daddy's home" when he walks in the door and kisses as he leaves for work.  He is a god fearing man who teaches those same things to his children.  He laughs at the same things I do, He does the dishes and sweeps the floor, He hangs up my pictures and fixes sump pumps--even if it takes three tries  ;)  He gathers everyone for a run or bike ride and loves to be active.  He ALWAYS encourages me to live my dreams and supports me in those dreams.  I have never felt belittled or less of a person--infact I always feel like I'm the BEST in the world when I'm with him--even when I know I'm really not and quite limited.  :)

I feel SOOO happy and grateful that I get to spend FOREVER with this MAN!  He truly is the man of my dreams!! :)

Happy Birthday D!!!  I love you!


I was making D's cake and he said it looked like a WWF arena... so we went with it.  It's TAG wrestling!  :)

 what's a birthday without a lot of noise!!!  LOL  :)

 D weated to go on a bike ride for his Birthday!!!  J and Lo got new bikes, so Z got to move up to the next biggest bike which gave Meg a bike to ride which she was THRILLED with.  She did awesome and was so proud of herself!!!  We had a great run while the kids rode their bikes.  FUN was had by all!! ;)

Scrap it UP!

 Every year, I take the best pictures from the month and make one scrapbook page for each month of the year.  I try to pick out highlights that happened that month.  I then turn it into a calendar for D and the grandparents for the next year.  I'm not a huge scrapbooker, but this seems to work for me.    SOoooo,  Here are the scrapbook pages from last year!