Happy Valentines Day!!

Let me count the ways....

I am so richly blessed to have not one valentine, but 4 beautiful valentines in my life. My fav was when Cole woke us up at the crack of dawn with a boisterous "Happy Valentimes Day!" Thank goodness my hubby got up with him. He and I had a late movie night the night before and I am not the morning person I used to be..... oh wait, I have never been a morning person. A few blessed hours later, I was woken with breakfast in bed.


Adam and I celebrate our Valentines Day on February ninth. The anniversary of the day he proposed to me. That allows us a date that is easier to find a babysitter for, and lets us spend the 14th with the other cute little valentines in our lives. Where would we be without these cute little people in our lives?

Our tradition is that we all choose our favorite meal to make on Valentines. Then we make them ALL! Needless to say, we are very full at the end of this day.




Before Valentines, I had a little party with some of my GF's from high school and college. It was so fun to get together with them again.



We played bingo....






Here's the crew. Most of them are 2 and under.

30 years old ladies!!! We don't look a day over 18. You girls know all my deep dark wild secrets - those days were a blast. Know, if we could just find that spice girls video!

The oldest of the crew. Ambra and Mariko.

Went on a heart search and decorated cookies.

My honey surprised me with flowers, chocolates, and this cute sweater band. Love these things.

My cute brother brought us up some homeade valentines. This kid is hilarious. He is taking this letter press class (along with fine chocolate tasting, shoemaking, apholstery covering, sailing, etc etc etc....) and made these cards for us. He's funny.

The kids desperately needed shoes and sheets. This need turned into their valentine gift. I know, I'm terrible.

Their cute little vday boxes. Ambra had to make hers at school. LAAAAMMMMEE! I was so looking forward to making boxes with her for school, and they are taking the fun right out of it.

For dessert today, I made these cookie icecream sandwiches. They were extra yummy.

....and last but not least, my valentines table. Good thing I have a set of SIXTEEN in these PINK plates. Have I ever told you that pink is my fav color!

Happy Love Day all!

Bit of Business

Just finished up two Bridal Shows last weekend. Joseph Smith Memorial in Salt Lake and Union Station in Ogden. Hopefully they will be a good return on my very large investment. They usually are.

Gearing up for wedding season. We are usually pretty busy March - October (very concentrated summer time). Winter is slow - this winter has been especially slow. I need it to pick up so we can save for our tenth anniversary trip:)

Not too much else going on around here. Wishing for spring.

Lovin the Snow!

Little Stinker!

Ariah found Ambra's 257 peice art set she got for her birthday and squeezed blue paint all over the carpet! Professional carpet cleaners later it still didn't come out. Am I a bad mom, because I felt better when she was crying so hard over the fact she was being naughty, naughty.

Santa Came!!

Santa came and we are oh so happy about it. Look at that smug little look! He left his Santa bag again this year! Wow - we must have been extra good.


Look at all that loot. Ariah got a shopping cart and food, Cole got a Cranium fort building set, and Ambra got Polly pocket stuff and Pet Shoppe stuff.

I love when Santa leaves us stockings too.

Cole also got swords. This fort set is way awesome. It comes with magnetic peices that you can build in any which way and make lots of fun neat things. The kids are having a blast with this.

Ambra and her pet shop and polly pocket house.

Christmas morning breakfast.

Don't you love that it takes like a week to clean up after Christmas.

Building a car with the fort set stuff.

More mess.

Christmas dinner.

Christmas was fantastic. We had my mother and her husband, and my brother to share the special day with us. Everything was perfectly wonderful and we are so blessed to have all the many comforts and friends and family and food and gifts.

Christmas Eve!!

I absolutely LOVE Christmas time. The spirit of this season warms my heart and rejuvinates my soul. I love the feelings, stories, gifts, giving, service, food, and smiles that happen at this time of year. Our holiday starts on Ambra's bday and lasts for several days. Christmas Eve is one of those. We start with a big special breakfast that morning, play games all day, and end with a program that night.



My pictures are in backwards order here... the children are just about ready for bed, but they needed to sprinkle their reindeer food they made at Ambra's party on our driveway.



Better throw some on the rooftop too!

For our annual Christmas program, we watched the Nativity and then did our own live nativity. We have makeshift costumes and Adam reads this from Luke two and from Matthew. After our reinactment, we share testimonys and sing carols around the tree.

Our little Ariah is our sheep.

I am a wiseman. I come bearing gifts.

My angelic mother!

Mary and Jospeph and our traditional donkey. Josh is so lucky he gets to be that part every year!

For one of our games, we played snowball. This is where you play Christmas carols and you pass around a ball or bean bag. When the music stops, whomever is holding the ball, gets a cotton ball lotioned to their face. There is grumbling in the begining, and outrageous laughter at the end. Funny game. The winner is supposed to be the one with the least amount of cotton, but we couldn't resist letting Ambra be the winner with the most.

We also played the present game. Josh came prepared with a present wrapped a billion times in layers of duck tape, packing tape, and many boxes. Everyone gets 30 seconds to try to open it. The trick... you have to wear oven mitts. The one who succeeds in opening the gift gets to keep it. Ooolala - money was inside the box. THis is Josh's second year running, winning this game. No fair.

Teeth get involved.

We also play the yarn game. We drew names for an inexpensive gift. Everyone gets a ball of yarn, ties it to a starting point and takes it all around the house. Inside, outside, there is no limits. This year it got wound in and around and under the cars outside, upstairs downstairs and all over the place. When many are doing this it gets a bit crazy. You end up having to crawl and hop and weave in and out of the spider web that has now taken over your house. When you are done, you find your start place and wind up the yarn to find your gift hidden at the end. It is way fun. The kids love it!! (Grandma doesn't love this one so much.)

Adam is seranading us with his Motab ensemble.