Share the Love!

My Valentine! Karl and I celebrated Valentine's Day Saturday night by going out to eat. He surprised me with a dozen yellow roses (my favorite!). We had a great time just being alone together. Love my man!

                            
Sunday evening we met as a family for an extended Family Home Evening.  My mom invited all the grandkids to shape, bake and decorate sugar cookies. MMMmm!

The bakers in charge of the oven...my sister-in-law Stephanie is due April 1st with her 4th baby...go Steph!!

Our works of art were placed on cute plates, and delivered to families in my parents ward as a service.

Getting in the car to go deliver the goods! The families were so gracious, and treated our children with such kindness. 

Following the deliveries, we gathered together for Nathan's lesson on testimonies.  He is an outstanding teacher, and knows how to relate to kids.  He put together this awesome object lesson and combined it with President Monson's Conference Address entiltled, Deadly Maka-Fekes.

We topped off our evening by celebrating Melissa's birthday.  She is a Valentine's  Day baby, and a tremendous blessing to our family!

Steer Clear of Ordinary!

We enjoyed a gorgeous, I mean GORRRRGEOUS day at Solitude Ski Resort on Saturday!  This was the resort that my dad broke his leg on last year, so I was a little leary of returning, but all went well! 

Parker, Connor, Rachael and I met up with my brother Ryan, and my mom.  We got there around noon, and decided to start with lunch. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches...YUM!

As we packed up our stuff and got ready to head to the slopes, I heard Connor say,

"Let's go take down this mountain!" 

That's my boy!

OK, so this picture is significant!  I had been skiing some pretty benign slopes, and then... my mom took me on a different lift, where I found myself standing at the top of what looked like a cliff to me! 

"Shall I just get on my bum and slide down? I'm in major TROUBLE!!" I thought. 

But inch by inch, I traversed the mountain and finally made it to the bottom!  I know it doesn't look like much, but it was steep, I promise!  Sooo darn proud of myself!!

The kids skied with Ryan most of the day, but finally we saw them towards the end. I love, love, love to watch my kids ski and snowboard!  They are so good!

Grandma and Connor.  This was our last run, and I was feeling quite confident. (remember the big hill?)  Connor and Rachael were going down this last run with us, and I decided to show off a little.  I don't like the steep runs, but I like speed, so I decided to go fast and pass up the kids.  I knew I needed to turn as I neared the edge of the groomed trail, but didn't, and found myself hitting a small branch in the snow, and flipping over.  Connor came quickly to my rescue:

 

"Are you alright mom?  Wow, you were hauling!"  

While flat on my back, skiis and poles everywhere, I squeeked out, "did it look awesome?" 

"oh, yeah!  You're really good!"

Mission accomplished!

On our way home we saw this tag line on the side of a shuttle bus.  It's my new motto:

Steer Clear of Ordinary! 

I added, "and any branches in your path!"

Gymnastics and Futsol

All winter Connor has been playing Futsol, and has learned some great foot work.  Can't wait for Spring Soccer!!

Ashlyn was in a gymnastics/dance performance on Friday.  She is one of the little red riding hoods...they combined their gymnastics stunts with some cute dance moves.

Sundance

Great day on the slopes!  My mom and I went to Sundance Ski Resort and enjoyed beautiful weather...the sun really does just dance on the mountain...spectacular!!  There were lots of people just learning how to ski or snowboard, so I felt among friends.  The cute little kids were my favorite to watch, I just wanted to yell from the lift, "you're doing so great, way to go!"

Looking forward to going with my boys on Saturday!!!

We took a break and ate at the Foundry Grill.  Yummy food, great company and rustic Sundance ambiance!

There is this beautiful mural that just takes your breath away in the restaurant. Amazing!

Kindred Spirits...

I love C.S. Lewis, I think we could have been friends. He often can articulate what I'm feeling, and is a master with words.  I ran across a quote that I can relate to...

"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."



— C.S. Lewis

Baptism Day!

Our sweet girl was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Saturday, February 5th, 2011.  It was a beautiful winter day with a few snow flurries.   She was baptized by her dad, and we had great support from our wonderful family.  Here are the highlights:

All dressed up.  My good friend Stephanie McBride took her on a photo shoot.  Steph is amazing!

Just following her baptism.

Proud parents of a wonderful daughter!

We celebrated with a luncheon at our home following the baptism. I decorated with lime green balloons on light yellow table cloths, with a picture of Ashlyn as a center piece.  They were her colors, and turned out really cute.

The food was delicious!  We put together a Cafe Rio burrito bar, and had everything you could imagine.  Many hands make light work for sure!  Karl and I have the best families!

For dessert, Karl dipped some chocolate strawberries, and we had valentine sugar cookies, and key lime pie.

I was able to fit in 4 banquet tables and feed about 35 people. 

The Par-taay!

Saturday was Ashlyn's big friend party day!  It was quite the event.  I know it seems really crazy to have 20 kids over, but it's just what I like to do.  Ashlyn has a lot of great friends in the ward, and super nice girls at school, and...well...how do you limit it?   When my kids turn 10, they don't get a big bash anymore, and just invite 1 or 2 friends to the movie or an activity.  So the end is in sight..:) 

So sad for me.  

Here's what she did:

We had a few circle games in the house, then came outside (nice weather actually...) and hit a pinata.

So the cheapo pinata only made it through 1/2 the kids, and had to be duck taped part way through.  It started out as a cute yellow cake, and ended up as a rocket ship....:)

We then went to the basement for some skits.  The girls divided up into 3 groups and were given a bag of props.  They acted them out for each other, while Connor video taped them, then they watched themselves on our big screen TV.  It was hilarious!  I believe they are all ready for girls camp now.

Finally, they each decorated jumbo cupcakes with all kinds of frosting, and candies.  The cupcakes didn't look very edible when they were done, but they had a blast!

Our basement is getting closer to being finished, and I'm loving all the room.  We can put up 4 banquet tables in our "cultural hall" and comfortably accommodate 20 kids. Can't wait until it's all done!