A Day Off

Thank you Washington and Lincoln for having February birthday's that allow us to have a day off of work/school! We had a great day in Salt Lake.

We picked up Oma and Opa and brought them to the zoo with us. It was a little rainy, but pretty good temperature. They hadn't been to the zoo in a very long time and had fun seeing all the animals with us. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the baby elephand, Zuri. Maybe next time. We did get to see the tigers being really active though. They were roaring at eachother and pacing around their cages. Really cool!

After the zoo we went to the Valley View cemetery to visit Jon's two brothers' graves. I put a red rose on Adam and Billy's headstone. It was a lot colder there, so we made it a quick visit.

After a yummy lunch we visited with Oma and Opa while the kids gambled away on Opa's slot machine and played in his room.

It was a really fun day. I'm glad we got to spend the entire day together as a family. It was wonderful!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day 2010

The day started out with a yummy breakfast all decorated for Valentine's Day.

The centerpiece was a couple of roses that Leah and I got from my mom
We had pink waffles with strawberries, whipped cream and nuts

with grapes and strawberry milk

I gave Jon and all the kids a boutineer/corsage to wear to church.
Here are my beautiful kids decked out in their church clothes with their flowers.

When I told the kids the flower was to wear to church Alex said,

"Please, no, mom!"

He was afraid of getting teased, but it all worked out.

By the time church was over Caleb's flower had ZERO petals left on it.

Caleb and a kid in his class picked them all off. :)

Sorry the pictures are dark, but we were in a hurry to get out the door.

This was our Valentine's Day dinner.

Hawaiian Chicken

Rice Pilaf

Asparagus

Look good?

My kids didn't think the asparagus was good at all.

They sat at the table for more than an hour to finish their 4 pieces of asparagus!

I thought it was fabulous!

Happy Valentine's Day!

BYU Basketball

We got $1 tickets to go to a BYU basketball game. It was a lot of fun. The kids loved it. After buying dinner for our family of 5 at the game it cost more like $9/person! It was a fun game to go to and...BYU won!!

By the time the game was over we were all able to go home and I made it just in time to SLC to pick my parents up from the airport (they just came back from a Mexican Riveiera cruise).

Alex's 9th Birthday

I can't believe Alex is 9 years old already! Time does fly by too fast. He had a great birthday.

Alex started his day out with a number "9" pancake.

I made a Chinese Checkers cake for him. I used gum balls for the game pieces.

Alex loved the cake,

he also loves being goofy for the camera

Alex wanted to keep the design of the cake a secret, so the only clue I gave my mom and dad was that they were supposed to come ready to play games. We did indeed play Chinese Checkers on the cake!! :)

Make a wish, blow it out

That's what birthdays are all about!

10th Anniversary

Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 years already! Time goes by so fast. As Jon and I have reflected over the past 10 years we both agree that it has been a great journey together so far. There have been ups and downs, but we have been there for each other through it all. We had the chance to have a little anniversary get-away to Manti last week. We had a great time. Thanks mom and dad for watching the kids so we could go.

The Yardley Inn

Bed and Breakfast

Here's to many more decades together! Happy Anniversary!

Weihnachten mit Oma und Opa

Oma

Opa

Die Weihnachtsgurke
"The Christmas Pickle"
Caleb was the one who found the pickle and got a bag of Hershey Kisses



Oma's Decorations

Me and Jon

Oma with the kids

Opa with the kids

Oma and Leah are good friends. Leah loves to tease Oma by sitting in her chair.

One of the first places the kids go to play is in Opa's room.

It's full of fun things!

The fish hanging on the wall is actually singing in this picture
"Don't Worry, Be Happy"

And...the best part of all...

The slot machine in Opa's room!

Opa also has a bunch of small tops and toys that the kids love

playing with on his glass topped desk

Christmas--a Picture Memory Book

So, I don't have a lot of time to blog about every detail of our fabulous Christmas this year, so I'll do it through a bunch of pictures and captions. We did have a wonderful Christmas though and we were so glad to visit with a lot of family and friends during the season.

Caleb, Leah, Braydon and Alex on our way to Salem Ponds

The lights

Leah's favorite gift from mom and dad

Caleb on his Razor Spark Scooter from Nanny and Papa

Alex on his Razor Spark Scooter from Nanny and Papa

Gum, gum, gum and more gum!

Caleb and Alex's favorite gift from mom and dad

Hope everyone had a great holiday! We had a lot of fun spending so much time together as a family over the Christmas break. Jon took two weeks off of work so we could all spend a lot of time together. It was so great!