Valentine's Day

Love Day!!

Oh, how I love my family, and especially my PERFECT hubby! No, actually neither of us are perfect, but that's what makes us so great together, we love each other just the way we are. I am extremely blessed to have someone who adores me and who I can count on for anything!! My heart aches when he's away...

For our family Valentine's Day dinner, I put hearts on everyone's plate and wrote something I love about them. Karl filled mine in...see how wonderful he is?
Love Notes.

My boys like to write poems, and will leave little notes for me...here are their Valentine poems...

Our love dinner, complete with red dishes, a red drink, love notes, and candle light.

Emma and Skiing

I don't think there truly is anything better than welcoming a new little one into the world! My little niece Emma was born in Dec. and I had the privilege of going to AZ to see her blessed. She is absolutely the cutest thing ever, and Matt and Ally are stellar parents!

I went skiing for the first time in 20 years! I know, I know, I was super proud of myself! I actually didn't do so bad, like getting back on a bike right? I took my boys and their friends, and my parents came as well. Trying to keep up with my mom and dad was a feat, but I managed...when do we go again??? (sure wish it wasn't so expensive!)

Testimony Meeting

Yesterday Parker bore his testimony in Sacrament Meeting. He just got up, surprising us all, and went to the pulpit. Here is his testimony as I remember it. He began by saying,

"So, yesterday I had the great opportunity of cleaning out the chicken coop."

hmmm, we all anxiously wondered...where is he going with this?

"It is a really stinky job and not very fun. And I began thinking about how it can be compared to life. We start out in Heaven, all warm and happy, just like I was in my house, then we come to earth, where it can be cold and dirty. We have lot's of challenges, but we have a job to do on earth. We need to spread the gospel, just like I had to spread around new hay. It makes things less smelly, and we're happier and others are too."

He continued by bearing a sweet testimony of the things he knows to be true.

That's my little Aaronic Priesthood holder!

Happy Birthday Ashlyn!

7 yrs old!! Yipee!!

Call me crazy (wouldn't be the first time...) but I invited 16 kids to Ashlyn's birthday party. (15 girls, and 1 boy, who was a twin to one of the girls and plays with Ashlyn..:) Anyway, it was quite the event, and we had a great time making bakers' hats, creating individual pizzas, playing games, breaking a pinata and having cupcakes. The decibel level was quite high, and it was nice to send them home one at a time...very fun though, such cute kids!
Rollin' out the dough

Karl and I took Ashlyn to a restaurant for her birthday present. Having just had Christmas, and with 16 new presents, she didn't need anything, so we just suggested we have a fun date night for her birthday, and she was all for it!

Odds and Ends

Ashlyn's gymnastics class put together a darling program! Her class did a dance/gymnastics routine to "Doll on a Music Box".

Absolutely darling!

Rachael, Connor and Parker went skiing/snowboarding at Sundance and had a blast!
Up, up and away!!
We visited some ice castles in Midway, that were beautiful!
They were HUGE!