Happy Anniversary

Yesterday Joseph and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. Joseph was able to take the afternoon off from work so he could be home with the kids and me. We had our traditional meal of homemade eggrolls and raspberry white chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Kimball had the great idea to paint the wrapping paper that my present came in so he could be involved in the festivities.

As you look at the picture, Rebecah painted the left side and Kimball did the right.



It was a good day. Joseph and I plan on going out Friday evening for dinner.

St. Patrick's Day

We are getting into St. Patrick's more each year. This year I decided to decorate and for less than $5 I was able to make a paper garland, the rainbow paper chain and the hanging shamrocks. Kimball especially loved the decorations and it has been fun to see his excitement.

Shamrock Garland



Hanging Shamrocks in our kitchen.



An up-close shamrock that I made for my sister, Heather.



At story time this week the kids did a St. Patrick's Day craft. I thought it was super cute and the kids were excited about them. They made little leprechaun hats and beards.

Leprechaun Kimball



Leprechaun Rebecah



They were so proud of their little beards and hats that we made at the library.


The leprechauns came while we were sleeping and left a rainbow with some Rolo gold and shamrocks by our front door. The kids went on a little leprechaun hunt and were excited about the edible gold. They dressed up in their story time crafts for the hunt.



Our green dinner of pulled pork, Irish soda bread, pistachio salad, broccoli and avocado.



And for dessert...our annual green coconut cake.



I think each year we have a better St. Patrick's day.

Vacation--St. Louis & Denver

We just returned from vacation and it was nice to get away. Joseph attended his annual medical conference and this year he chose Denver, CO for his destination. While Joseph was gone I decided to spend the week with my mom so the kids and I would have more excitement.

While Joseph was in Denver he went snow shoeing at Rocky Mountain National Park. I'll admit I was nervous having him go snow shoeing in the mountains by himself but he did take all of the "Boy Scout" precautions i.e. --water, food, bright orange vest, whistle, compass, lighter, etc. He had a great time at RMNP and he said it was a perfect day for the trip. Joseph also decided that he loves Estes Park, CO and is ready to move there...probably won't happen.




Elk Crossing! Joseph said there were about 20 of them.


There is a black and white bird on this tree. It was Joseph's little friend that followed him looking for a snack. At one point, Joseph took off his glove and the bird landed on Joseph's hand. Cool!


The rest of the week Joseph attended 24 hours of class and the temple twice. He called us multiple times a day so we could stay up on the events of each day.

The kids and I had a great time at my mom's house. Rebecah and Kimball really warmed up to Heather. Most mornings my kids got up early...6:00ish...and the first thing Rebecah would say was "Kiss Heather?" I had to tell her that Heather was still sleeping.

We were lucky to be in town for David's baby blessing and it was fun to see him again. He is cute and Rebecah enjoyed being able to hold him.

Playing with Amy.



Rebecah and me with David.


Holding David.

Heather and I worked on crafts while I was there. I had made her 10 shamrocks to hang on her curtain rod. I also made about 12 Christmas tree ornaments for her and about 40 ball lantern ornaments. The ball lanterns were made with pastel colors so they are perfect for Easter. Heather shared her bounty with me and now I have some decorations all ready for Easter and the supplies to make a few of the ribbon trees.

Making the ribbon ornaments.



Christmas Tree ribbon ornaments


The shamrocks had different green fabrics on them and different buttons. They turned out really cute! If I do say so myself.



Post-craft pictures



Kimball doing a craft of his own. He wanted in on the crafting action so we found stickers, colored pencils and paper for him.


Kimball really missed his Legos while we were gone. Next time we'll probably have to bring them with us. To help ease his separation anxiety my mom broke out the K'nex and Kimball was much happier.

Kimball sleeping in Heather's new recliner. He LOVED that chair. Anytime Heather wasn't in it, he was.


One of the best parts of the week was sitting with my mom and Heather each night at our respective computers and we would all Index together helping each other as needed. It sounds a little boring, but we all enjoyed it.

The vacation ended a little rocky with Kimball and Rebecah getting a little sick. It was Rebecah's first time throwing up...I'm still sorry about the carpet. Kimball didn't have his first vomiting episode until he was 4 so it he could always make it to the designated bowl...not so with Rebecah. She had been complaining about her tummy hurting, but I just thought she wanted Tylenol because I had given some to Kimball. I'll now pay more attention to her in the future. On the way home we were on some windy roads and she complained about her stomach hurting so we got out ASAP so her stomach could rest and we made it home without incident.

Gone.

I just lost over 6 months of my life. Our computer crashed last night and we lost a good portion of the information on our computer. I had recently uploaded all of our pictures to Shutterfly so we still have pictures, but we lost most of the videos we have taken of the children.

The biggest blow for me was losing the past 6 months of journal entries. (Now is not the time for comments about regularly backing up my journal.) I do regular blog posts so I can always copy those into my journal for the major family events, but I'm sick to think I have lost all of the thoughts I had recorded and the spiritual experiences I documented. I also won't have the feelings about Palmyra that I had typed when they were fresh and clear.

I have faithfully written in my journal every Sunday for 20 years and to think that 6 months of it is gone makes me cry. Lesson learned: Back up regularly and have more than one back up plan. But in the mean time, I'll mourn my loss and the loss for posterity.

Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's day! The last two years we have made it a family day instead of just a husband and wife day and we love it. It just seems fitting to make it a family day since it's a day of love. Our family wouldn't be the same without our children.

We decorated for Valentine's Day about a month ago after my sister, Kristin, sent me some pictures of some Valentine crafts she had done. I was able to replicate them fairly well and Kimball LOVED having decorations up.

We made and sent out a few Valentines and Kimball really enjoyed that too. I again, copied Kristin's ideas, and made little elephant Valentine's for Joseph and the children, the sisters I visit teach, and the Primary/Nursery teachers. It was so fun to see the joy on the faces of our friends when we gave them our Valentines. Kimball's Primary teacher called me yesterday to thank me a second time for her Valentine and said it was the first time in 10 years that she had received a Valentine. (Her husband died 10 years ago.) I was so grateful I had thought to make Valentines for the church teachers.

For Valentine's Day I made white chocolate cranberry scones for breakfast. Kimball loves them, we all do, and I had to rein him in when he wanted to eat more than 2. Joseph only ate two. For dinner I made chicken enchiladas, homemade refried beans, rice, asparagus and jello salad. For dessert we had a chocolate cranberry cheesecake. The cheesecake was really soft and had just subtle chocolate and cranberry flavors. None of my pictures turned out well, but it tasted good!

Kimball and Rebecah loved having little presents to open. Kimball got a Hotwheel Hummer and Rebecah got a dress.

Who's Pretty?



ME!



I think I did a good job framing Kimball's head between the hanging hearts.



Kimball said today that his favorite holidays are Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Christmas. He was sad when we took down the Valentine decorations, but I quickly put up a shamrock garland that I made and we will continue to decorate as I get our green decorations made.

I hope you all felt loved and appreciated yesterday.

Now, on to St. Patrick's Day!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Well, after Christmas that is. I love tax season. Call me crazy but I love to do our taxes so I can see what kind of refund we can look forward to and think about what we will do with the "extra" money. Joseph and I have a great financial relationship...he makes the money and I manage it...and we're both happy. Last week I e-filed out taxes and our return was deposited this weekend. Isn't technology great where we can receive returns so much faster than in the old days?

In other news...

Rebecah has graduated to a "big girl" cup leaving behind her sippy cups unless we are on a car trip. I decided we had to make the switch when she "lost" her sippy cup that didn't have the non-spill valve in it and it was full of milk. I searched and searched all day long for it and I finally found it after she was in bed...it was in a lower cupboard in the kitchen that I use for food storage. She thinks her sippy cup is still missing and I haven't told her I found it.

Kimball and Joseph built a library out of Legos and I think it looks pretty good. It came equipped with shelves and a little computer station. What a creative husband and child! Kimball is quite good at making creations and had an entire "Hummer" line a few weeks ago all in different colors. When I asked a friend what type of car Kimball had built she could tell it was a Hummer.


Aerial View



Walking in the door.



View from the door.



The book shelf and computer station up close.

Happy. Day. You.

Rebecah loved her birthday, there is no doubt about it. What solidified this our minds was when she started singing Happy Birthday. She doesn't get all of the words in there so she sings..."Happy, Day, You!" It is cute to hear her sing it. So, Happy, Day, You to anyone that might be celebrating a birthday today.

Other highlights from the last few weeks...Joseph and I went bowling. I haven't been bowling since Joseph and I went with Joseph's siblings when Jonathan first got home from his mission...over 4 years ago. I was rather rusty but I ended up with a 67 and then an 81. Those actually aren't too bad compared to some other scores I have gotten. At least I improved my second game. Joseph bowled a 125 and a 115. It was fun to go bowling and sometime we'll take the kids but for this last weekend it was a date.

The kids and I also got around to decorating a gingerbread tree that was given to us before Christmas. We kept waiting for the perfect family opportunity but more important or fun family activities always interfered so the kids and I did it one afternoon when Joseph was working.



We went also went on a family hike recently to Mt. Nebo State Park. In Russellville it was sunny and in the mid 50s. On the top of Nebo, a mountain for Arkansas, it was much colder than we were prepared for. I don't mind hiking or walking but we were all cold and I was glad when we had to cut our hike short because Rebecah got into some water and we didn't want her feet to get too cold.