Valentine Traditions!

Steak and Lobster

Little luvs~

Searching for clues....

Way up here!

even C- tried to read it!

So tonight we continued on with our 2 favorite traditions-- Steak & Lobster for dinner- and a Valentine Treasure hunt! The Lobster part is a little tricky for me since I am in no way near a fan of seafood! But Ry and Kel love it-- so it's worth it! Then after dinner we always do a Valentine Treasure hunt. It's something my mom always did for us and it was always so much fun! The kids go through the house searching for hidden clues and then find their little Valentine from Mom and Dad! It was a lot of fun and we had a great night together! Love you guys!

HAPPY LOVE DAY!!!

We had a fun V-day yesterday -- The kids had fun at school with their Valentine's parties. RY came home for lunch and surprised me with roses we had a fun online chat with our parents in Africa! After school we went to see our adopted Grandma Shirley and had a great time with her. Then Ry and I went on a date for dinner and a movie! WE saw Pink Panther 2 -- It was seriously so funny and just so much fun to spend time together after a week of him being gone-- Then this morning we got up and had our favorite strawberry heart pancakes for breakfast. SO far, a really fun weekend and then tonight we'll top it off with our favorite tradition -- Steak & lobster dinner and a Valentine treasure hunt -- we'll post those ones later!
HAPPY HEART DAY EVERYONE!!!

THANKFUL THURSDAY!

A few of my friends do this on their blogs and I love it! I think sometimes life gets so crazy, we pass by the things that we are really grateful for -- Today I am so grateful for many things -- We have now (in a couple weeks) been here for 2 YEARS! These past two years have been amazingly fast living here. It was a move that was hard to make -- away from family and dear friends -Many ways it was hard and in more ways - great! (you learn how grateful you are for those who keep in touch) So nice to hear from family and I cherish my weekly talks with dear girls friends in UT) (l.y.l.a.s!) It's been so neat to see our kids have some amazing experiences, and our family, really growing together and learning so much! The kids have learned that "they can do hard things". We have had some things happen just recently that have really been answers to prayers and have all the more told us that we are right where we need to be! It's such a good feeling! It's been so neat to see Ryan love his job and see the accomplishments he's made there. It's been fun to start my business over again and see that it really works! It's been neat to see the improvements we made to our home and yard and really get some satisfaction out of it -- Ry has really become quite the handy man! The house had a few issues at first, but now it's home! It's been so fun to have so many coinsidences happen that have really been "A'HA moments and shown us things we never knew were possible" It's been so great to be in a great school- It's been great to be in a great ward- And most of all -- I am just grateful for the 4 other wonderful people I get to share in this journey with! My family! They are what I am thankful for! Love you R, M, A, and little C-man!

RECORD BREAKER!

Holy hanna! I thought last night we had a lot and then it snowed another 10 inches over night-- This storm was a record breaker for Flagstaff -- Not this much accumulation in a single storm since 1939! Another day of no school and I am going to have to get creative!

Here we SNOW again!

So, last week was beautiful and 60s with most of the snow melted -- even our from mound was half way down! But then it started snowing Sunday and it's now MOnday night and it still hasn't stopped -- almost 2+ feet and more to come -- Such great timing with a hubby out of town all week (and he does feel bad --) We're ok hun! ! So thank goodness for my best bud Misti! I shoveled 3 times and then she came and rescued me with her sno blower! THANKS AGAIN GIRL!!!! It was also a cancelled day of school -- lots of books and valentines! And my favorite part was having Aubs read to me! She is loving the excitement of really sounding out words and reading -- so fun!!!

ICE SKATING!

Took the kids ice skating yesterday and had a fun time -- Carter's first time! And he did so good! He and Aubs shared the ice walker (brilliant idea for beginners) I needed one too though! Fun times!

TRAINS!

My mommy is going to get the "Mother of the Year award"
letting my sit on the tracks! Good thing she knows what time
the train rolls through!

Gotta chase a few pigeons!

walkin' the tracks!

Plop a penny on the tracks!

Here comes the train!

A little loud!

And here we have it, a flat penny!

His new favorite treasure!

A fun part of living where we do is the historic ROUTE 66 and the trains that travel along daily -- Carter has always loved trains and gets so excited when we are stopped at the tracks and he hears the whistle blow! We are in the middle of a warm spell with another snow storm on the way, so I thought we'd take advantage of a pretty morning and go to the train station on a little date! We had so much fun! Then we put some pennies on the track and decided to see what would happen (Mommy knew but buddy wasn't too sure) They came rolling through and sure enough -- FLAT! He is so delighted with his new found treasure and won't take it out of his pocket! WE had so much fun together! I gotta take advantage of it while it's just me and him for a while!

a play date and some cookies!

Today Aubs had her best buddy Sarah over and had so much fun -- We made sugar cookies and they danced to music almost the whole time! So much fun and the girls are always so sweet to include Carter whenever they have friends over-- I love sugar cookies and tried for yrs to find a good recipe -- I like 'em soft and these ones are -- Here's the recipe just for fun!

SUGAR COOKIES!

1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c. butter
1 egg
1 c. powdered sugar
2c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and margarine together- add egg.
then add the powdered sugar and mix.
Add remaining ingredients and add additional
flour until the dough is no longer sticky. I usually put mine in a
ball and in the freezer for about 10 min. roll out and cut into shapes-
Bake at 350 for 10 min. Take right out after 10 min.

25 random things

Okay, I have been tagged too many times and never done it -- so here goes -- This one's for you Deb, Kelli Green, and you cute little funny ones who sent this to me on FB--
So, 25 random things about me:

1- I have never been out of the country

2- I completely fractured my left ankle and it was filled with screws

3- I've been in YW for almost 9 years

4- I HATE any kind of seafood

5- I served my mission at the Palmyra Historic sites and was Sis. Smith
in the Smith Home :)

6- I'm married to my very best friend!

7- I am blessed to have friends who are truly like family to me

8- I have wonderful in laws on a mission in Zambia

9-I love watching American Idol still

10- One of my dreams is to play the guitar

11- I love phone calls from friends and family!

12- I took 2nd in state throwing the javelin and am coaching one
of my YW now

13- My kids are the light of my life and never cease to amaze me

14- I'm into herbal and natural health! Go Jen!!!

15- I'm going to Women's Conference this year with a group
of amazing ladies and can't wait!

16- I have a Bachelor's degree in Business

17- I'm a year older than my hubby :)

18- My favorite color is red -- Barn red

19- I'm a country freak!

20- I'm the only girl in my family and was a HUGE tom boy! (still am)

21- I love BYU even though I get flack from my U of U hubby and most of
my family

22- That being said, one of my favorite things is running on the
treadmill while I watch a devotional

23- I love to laugh and think life's too short to be uptight!

24- Another One of my favorite things to do is go camping with my family and
I love campfire smell! They even have that scent in Gold Canyon candles!

25- I LOVE MY LIFE!

little trip to Oak Creek Canyon

Me and Daddy

The icy river

cute little clan of buddies

Aubs and Alex -- best buds

Mower fam

A HAPPY GIRL!

sisters

Oak creek canyon

signs of fall and winter

Spring trying to come up

our new Gore coats

This morning RY wok up at 5:45 to go to a GORE sale -- they do them every year and offer all the GORE employees a GREAT deal on Goretex jackets! He got us both one! Then we got a call from out buddies to go an a jaunt down to Sedona to Oak Creek canyon -- WE went down wnd hiked the West fork! It was beautiful and warm -- There was still snow and crossing the river was tricky but the kids did great! It is so much fun to be in such a beautiful place! We love it!

THE WHOLE REASON I BLOG!!!

Oh happy day! This is the nifty little present that I got in the mail today!!! My blog book of all my blog post in 2008! 178 pages of our year of 2008 bound into a hard cover book! My dear buddies Lichelle and Misti turned me on to them -- Them being blurb.com. They slurp up your whole blog and then you can format it with whatever font, text, color, picture arrangements you want -- and for a steal!!! This is the whole reason that I blog so much because it truly is our family journal/scrapbook. I love it! We sat down as a family and looked through it tonight and had a blast -- Even RY was totally impressed and loved it!

What a Day!

Holy cow -- Just for journal's sake -- Have to write down the details of this day!

7:00 a.m. -- Wake up and get everyone ready for school and eat breakfast

8:05 a.m. -- Get carpool and take kiddies to school

9:00 a.m.-- Drop Carter off at preschool and run to the elementary school

9:15-10:30 - Go help with Aubrey's 100th day of school party and Kel's PJ party






10:45 -- run a couple errands to get ready for tonight

11:15 -- Got to the rest of preschool and the party to say good bye to Carter's buddies moving to Germany this weekend

12:00 -- clean up around the house and eat lunch with C-man





12:45 -- run back to the school and pick up the carpool

1:20 -- come home and try REALLY hard to get Carter to take a nap while I get ready for the night

1:45 -- finally give up on the nap idea and get to work and make reminder calls for the activity

3:00 -- make two dutch oven desserts (apple crisp and peach cobbler) and get them prepped while Carter tries to go through my drawers and find the sharpest knife for his playdoh


4:00 -- Take the kiddies with me to the Church to set up for our YW/YM mentor dinner. The girls get to talk to Sis. Thurber who brought her whole doll collection to decorate the tables with -- They also helped us set all the tables and were a huge help to me --

5:15 -- Ry arrives at the church to get the kids and take them for dinner and home




6:00 -- Had the best night -- Each of the youth have had a mentor assigned to them -- We had a dutch oven dinner with all the youth and the mentors -- The mentors brought things about themselves to share and all had a great time!

8:00 -- finish cleaning up and arrive home to my cute family! Bless their hearts for baring with me every Wed. for most of their lives -- Out of our almost 9 1/2 yrs. of marriage -- I've been in YW for 8 1/2 yrs -- And truthfully -- I LOVE IT! And wouldn't want to be anywhere else -- I love my girls and the great ladies I get to work with so much and more than that -- I love my family! I couldn't ask for more wonderful little buddies to spend forever with!

8:30 -- Finish getting kiddies to bed and say good bye to RY who leaves for the church to do his ward clerk responsibilities! What a day! A good day but a day like so may others - tiring! Thank goodness for sleep! Like I always say, "I'd rather be busy than bored!"

My cute presidency -- Tash, me, and Laura -- minus my wonderful sec. Kelly (she had to take her cute boys home)
I love them to death!!!!

San Fransisco Peaks

Carter was out of preschool today so we went on a little drive up to see the Peaks- It snowed last night and today the sun and blue skies came out and I couldn't resist! It was a beautiful day -- The San Fransisco Peaks are my favorite picture in Flagstaff! And season -- Here are a couple from today!