Up to date

I've been so busy....I don't know how I got so far behind. Then, when I did have a little bit of time, it felt like I couldn't blog about anything current because I had so many old posts not updated. Sigh! The truth is....our wedding invitation company has really picked up lately. It's good! It's really helping us with our debt plan. Weddings are such a seasonal thing that I have to be grateful for the orders when we have them! But, all the time on the computer designing wedding invitations sure makes me want to get right off when I'm done. So, our poor blog is what suffers!

Well...hopefully catching up will help me stay caught up!

Valentine's Day!

We had a lovely V-day this year!  I think the kids were equally as excited as for Christmas. I love how everthing is so magical to kids!

Dave really spoiled them this year with Pillow-Pets. I'm relieved - I've heard about pillow pets on nearly a daily basis for over a year! Even though she has one, Bria still points out all the different varieties every time we go to Walmart! Sigh!

The kids and I also surprised Dave with a little love note after school:

(please ignore the fact that Max is still in his PJs at 4:00. Obviously that never happens around here..... I apparently made him get dressed before his dad got home and gave them the pillow pets.)

We finished the day with a lovely heart shaped pizza!

It was perfect!!

A Busy Week:

The end of February brought about an incredibly busy week! Dave (or rather Pix & Flix) was hired to shoot a video and run live feed for the IASC conference. It's for all the high school student counsels in the state and is sort of like three days of constructive partying. They have music, dancing, motivational speakers and more music and dancing. Dave's been going for the last 4 or 5 years to do this job. He always take one of his guys with him to help, but this year he took me! It was so fun and nice to get out of the house for a while! I wish I had pictures, but we were so busy with the video, we didn't have time for pictures.

My favorite part was the motivational speaker. They brought in Dr Taylor Hartman. He's the guy that created the Color Code. Most people know it as the Color Code, but the book is actually titled The People Code. I had heard of it before, but it was completely different coming from the creator. I thoroughly enjoyed it and went and bought the book right away. It's a really good read and I highly recommend it!

We were gone to the conference Thursday through Saturday. On Saturday, Dave also had a bridal fair. So, we had his guys fill in during the morning and we came as quickly as possible to trade places. I really should say Dave got there as quickly as possible. I pretty much dropped him off and headed up to pick our kids up.

Well, Dave got home really late Saturday and hurriedly got un-packed and re-packed for his work trip on Sunday. His school district invited 5 people to go to a Positive Behavioral Support conference. We feel really honored that he was invited and definitely a lot more secure with his job. With all of the budget cuts, it's scary being at the bottom of the totem pole!

Here's one of the only pictures Dave took while on his trip:

Isn't he amazing at photography! I guess he's already so busy with videography, though.

Anyway...he got home late Wednesday night. I mean late, like midnight. He went to work on Thursday and Friday. Friday, the kids and I picked him up from school for yet another small getaway. His cousin got married in the Manti temple and hired Dave to do the video. For this type of thing, normally Dave would go it alone, but since it was family, we all went.

I love this picture! We had a really hard time getting Logan to stay for the picture. I think we tried at least 20 times. I love how Max is putting his hand on his forehead in frustration!

Well, that wraps up our busy week in February! It was fun, but we were sure glad when it was over....especially Dave. I do have to say, I love it when work is also fun and allows us to got on mini-trips. Especially after such a long winter!

Other goings on:

Logan turned 18 months old! He has been such a handful! I really love this little stinker!

Max is in love with all things Star Wars. He was so exited about finding the lost Star Wars Wii game yesterday, he began chanting "Star Was! Star Was!" He was too excited to remember to pronounce his Rs. He's such a cutie! He is getting into full Kindergarten mode. We registered him for kindergarten a couple of weeks ago. I can't believe he's already old enough! Where did the time go!

Bria is coming along nicely in school. She is learning to read better and better every day. She also love to listen to me read to her. She is such a wiggler, but when a book comes out, she listens on the edge of her seat. We've been reading American Girl books and most recently Anne of Green Gables. That one surprises me the most. The language is so advanced for a seven-year-old. But, she loves every minute of it! She is also quite the player. When I say player, I mean as much as a girl her age can be. I suspect she spends hours crawling around the playground at school. I washed her pants and realized that she only had 2 good pairs left! He shoes are also quickly wearing out and she's outgrown half of her school shirts. I can't believe how big she's getting!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I have been in blogging time-out for 34 long days. It's been torture!!! TORTURE!!! Okay, so maybe it was more of a self-induced time out. Oh........Oh....I know....a life-is-so-busy-that-I-don't-have-time-to-blog-very-much time out. Yeah...let's call it that. I have a very large and lengthy update post in the works. I want to say I'll get it done tomorrow....that's what I want to say anyway.

Anywho...just wanted to say "Happy Saint Patrick's Day Everyone!!!" From our house to yours (since we missed getting Christmas cards out). (Same thing, right?)

Bria came home from school with tales of leprechauns ransacking their school and leaving behind treats. Apparently leprechauns are quite naughty and make a rather large mess of things - then validate their bad behavior by leaving behind treats. After getting home, Bria wondered where the leprechauns had left the treats at our house. (I guess I somehow missed the memo. I don't remember leprechauns making messes and leaving treats when I was a little girl.) I was about to ask her why she thought the leprechauns had even been here when I looked around and realized what had given her the idea. So, we all did a little tidying up and went about our treatless day. I really don't think I want leprechauns visiting our house and adding to the mess. Do they make "Keep Out" signs for the little rascals? I might need to be more prepared next year.

For dinner, we had some really yummy green cauliflower that we got from Bountiful Baskets last week. It tasted just like regular cauliflower only green! In this house, that's enough.

Sorry for the blurry picture!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone!

Luau

The other day it was 22 degrees outside. It was actually a really nice day. I could feel the warmth of the sun and I really encouraged our kids to go enjoy the outdoors. Then it dawned on me....I really felt like 22 degrees was warm! But, it's only 22 degrees! We've had a really cold few weeks here with temps lingering below zero ~ getting cold enough one day to cancel school. So, 22 degrees was 40 degrees warmer than it had been only a week before! I always struggle this time of year. It's not that I don't love the beauty that winter brings, but why does it have to last so long? Spring and summer always seem to take a long time to find themselves here in Idaho, so during February it sometimes seems like winter will never end!

But, having a Luau in the dead of winter sure helps! Our ward put together a huge luau party last night. We got all decked out in our Hawaiian clothing, piled on our coats and gloves, and headed to the church. It was tons of fun! They fed us dinner, had games for the kids and even had some live entertainment! It was great!

What We've Been Up To

Sometimes during these winter months, it seems like days just blend together. It's too cold to go outside and everything inside is pretty routine. It's been really, really cold this winter too. We've had quite a few days the last few weeks that the morning temps were hovering at near 20 below! Better inside than out, I say!

We've still been pretty busy, which is not out of the ordinary for us, but still....pretty busy. It seems like everyone has had a lot going on.


Dave:

Dave is, of course, the busiest. He's had a ton going on! Between being a school counselor, balancing all of our businesses and being the Elder's Quorum President, he barely has time to eat or sleep.

He does occasionally take time to relax..... or should I say watch football. Hands down, Dave's favorite football team is the Green Bay Packers. So, we were all pretty excited that his team made it to the Super Bowl this year. (We almost thought Bria was rooting for the Steelers, but when she found out that she would be kicked out of the family for such an atrocity, she quickly changed her vote.) Well, Dave works with a few die hard Steelers fans and as a joke, they thought they would start a little friendly rivalry. While Dave was at a district meeting last week, they left him a little surprise in his office.

It was really funny. The kids at the school got such a kick out of it too. I think it was a sweet revenge when the Packers ended up beating the Steelers and winning the super bowl.

We're also really excited because Dave got invited by the school district to go to a conference next month. They only chose 5 people from the whole school district to go and we were very surprised they would even consider Dave being that this is his first year as a certified counselor. But, we're very greatful for this opportunity.


Bria:

Bria has been busy, busy, busy.  That girl really keeps me on my toes. She goes pretty much non-stop 24 hours a day. We set her alarm clock for 7:00 am in the morning and she consistently beats her alarm clock waking up. I don't know where she gets all of this energy.

On Monday, her school is celebrating both Valentine's Day and the 100th day of school! She's been really excited! On Tuesday, she brought home a big poster that she was supposed to fill with 100 things. We spent quite a bit of time thinking of some creative ideas. Bria really wanted to do some sort of puzzle, but I didn't really want to go buy a 100-piece puzzle only to glue it to the poster board and never use it again. So, we came up with a pretty good comprimise. For Christmas, Bria got some Tinkerbell posters to color. We decided to create our own puzzle using that. So, she colored it in and we cut it into strips and  glued each piece to the poster. It was actually a lot harder than either of us thought. She spent almost 4 straight hours working on it. Thankfully, we thought to number each piece BEFORE we cut the poster up. I think it would have added at least another hour if we hadn't.

When I pulled out the camera to take a picture of Bria, Logan got excited and quickly walked right in front of it to have his picture taken. I thought that was really cute.

Bria has also been very, very busy this week planning a very elaborate tea party. We've been driving her to school instead of using the bus and we carpool with one of our neighbors. Thankfully, we do because Bria has spent the better part of her morning commute planning this tea party. She has every detail planned - including the decorations, invitations, snacks, and activities. She even had a date and time. The only thing she forgot is that she is 7 and she has to ask her mom first. I'm just glad I found out before 20 neighbor kids came over all at the same time at 1:30 on Saturday. I guess Bria forgot that even though I'm not in the car during the morning, another mom is and she caught on pretty quickly that Bria was planning this whole thing on the sly. I haven't decided if I will let her actually have the tea party yet. It almost seems like such a waste of planning to call the whole thing off. It might depend on how clean she can get her bedroom. =)

Max:

If I could trade places with anyone in the family, it would be Max. He has the least stressful life of anyone in the whole family. His days consist of defeating Darth Vader on the Wii, eating, sleeping and occasionally going to preschool. He is bored quite often with Bria gone to school all day. He daydreams of the day he'll finally be able to join her. One good thing that has come of his boredom is his new-found ability to organize. He loves to organize. I don't think he's caught on to the fact that organizing is actually cleaning. I know it's only temporary, but for now, I'll take all the organizational help I can get!

Logan:

Logan is growing like a weed! He keeps me so busy. He is such a curious boy and loves nothing more than discovering. Any drawer or cupboard that he can open he get in. Then, he takes things out and carries them through the house until he finds another nook or cranny to put the thing in. I'm constantly trying to find lost items that I'm sure Logan has gotten.

He is learning to talk more and more every day. He can say "Mom", "Da-eeee" (Daddy), "Kickle, kickle (tickle), Dee-nooo (Thank you), Doh (throw) and "WOW!". It's always fun to see the words they pick up on first. All of our kids have been so different.

Another thing he is trying VERY hard to learn is how to jump. He is really close. He gets ready and tries to jump, but his feet never seem to leave the ground. He spends hours trying to practice how. I'm sure it won't be long. When he's not trying to jump, he is running and running and running. He literally does not stop all day. It's so fun to watch! He has a mouth full of teeth - literally. The only teeth that haven't grown in are his 2-year molars.

Me:

Of course I've been busy. What mom isn't. I always used to think that moms were so absent minded, but now I realize it's just that they are the ones that keep track of all the comings and goings with everyone else. I've been trying to learn how to balance and manage things better, but I feel like lots of days the mess and the chaos win. I've been working really hard on WedAnnouncements and had dabbled in soap a little bit. I stopped working with the soap company and my sister-in-law to help with all of our other businesses. It's been a lot less chaotic and I definitely won't miss the farmer's market every week. I do find that I've missed the actual soap part of things. I've been making soap for one of the schools in Dave's district and have had a lot of fun trying new things. This is some I made earlier this week:

I cannot get over how pretty the swirls look. And if you can believe it, the coloring is all natural! This is the kind of thing that I loved about making soap to begin with and I felt like I lost it in the stress and chaos of having a business. But, making it without selling it also has drawbacks. Even a small sized batch makes enough soap to last our family at least 6 months! So, I think I might still try to sell it, but not so much and not let it be so time consuming and stressful. I'm thinking Etsy might be the way to go.

As you can see, we have been very busy. Honestly, I would rather have things happening than not during these long winter months. It seems to help time go a little faster.