Valentine's Day Part II

What an awesome Valentine's Day we had!

I was up at the crack of dawn working on finishing the games for Sam's class party. Bryon liked the kisses I had made and wanted me to make some so he could take them to work. This meant I had to make two extra batches. We made one the night before but I still had one more batch to make plus wrapping them all in aluminum foil.

Thursday's are also speech therapy days for Logan and Natalie which means I do a lot of running. So at 9:00 I took Natalie to speech and dropped her off. Logan and I then rode out to the school. I still needed to print off one more page of the words, "Happy Valentine's Day" to put with the kisses I was making. I was having trouble getting our printer to print and so instead of mess with it anymore, I went out to the school to print it off. While I was at the school, I printed off the sheet I needed and then made my grocery list. It was then time for me to go pick up Natalie and drop Logan off. Natalie and I then went to the grocery store to get a few groceries for dinner. While I was checking out, my good friend, Brenda, called. She wanted me to get home so she could come over. So I ran home and put the groceries away and Brenda came by. She had gone down to Idaho Falls shopping. Her and I both will be working in the temple on Saturday mornings. She works in the laundry from 6-9. I work in the office from 9-11. She works every Saturday. I only work every other Saturday. She bought a new white dress and I will be buying a new one in the next couple of days. We have talked about how if we are going to be workers, we probably need something a little more supportive than slippers. She had found these adorable Sketcher shoes at Kohls. They are white with rhinestones all over. They are absolutley adorable. I went to get the checkbook to write her a check and she said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" Brenda really has been such a good friend to me. She didn't stay long and I also had to go back and get Logan from speech. So once she left, I loaded Natalie in the car and we went and picked up Logan. We then drove back out to the school (trip number 2) to pick up Conner from preschool. We then came back home. I hurried and loaded all the things I would need for Sam's party in a basket. I had made arrangements for Logan, Conner, and Natalie to go to a babysitter. I had planned on making them each a sandwich. I ran out of time and instead threw the bread, peanut butter, some chips, and drinks in a sack for the sitter. I ran to the sitter and dropped them off and then it was back to the school for me. If you are keeping track this is my third trip out to the school. I got there about 12:10. Sam's party wasn't until 12:30. I had planned on being there a little early so I could get set up. I got the cake walk set up and the Bingo game set up. The teacher said that Sam informed her that when I got there I would probably be way stressed because I had been working so hard on this party. The teacher came in for a closer look to see if I "looked stressed". The class party was a huge success! I had Mrs. Farmer, the teacher, do the cake walk. The kids loved the rice krispy kisses. I did bingo. Each of the kids got their own box of conversation hearts to play bingo with. I also gave each of them a yo-yo. The other room mom was in charge of a craft and making sugar cookies. When we finished with the class party, we let them sit in their seats and eat their goodies while she read them a book about how Valentine's Day came to be.

I then came back home. I worked on preparing a few things for dinner and getting the table set with China. I then had piano from 3:30-5:30. Once I finished piano, I helped Bryon in putting the finishing touches on dinner. We had shrimp, baked potatoes, green salad, and Jell-O salad. I had also mixed grape juice and Sprite for a drink. Unlike my mom, I didn't make my kids get dressed in their Sunday best for dinner. It isn't that I didn't want to but I knew that meant I would have to get myself plus three kids dressed for dinner and that just seemed like so much work! On each of the kids plates I had put their Valentine's we bought them. We gave Sam the movie "The Game Plan". We gave Conner a part for his Geo Trax. We gave Logan and car from Cars. We gave Natalie a princess DVD. I gave Bryon a pair of navy pants. So romantic I know but he desperately needed a new pair.

After dinner, it was back to the grind. Sam had homework to finish and I needed to bathe three kids. So Bryon did the dishes while I bathed kids and did homework. Once all of that was done, we sat down and ate a huge sugar cookie I had bought.

Valentine's Day Part I

I just love Valentine’s Day. I think I got that love of Valentine’s Day from my mother. Growing up she always went out of her way to make Valentine’s Day the best. We always had a very nice family dinner on Valentine’s Day. We had to get dressed up in our Sunday Best. We ate dinner in the dinning room on the fine china. My mom always made us a shrimp dinner. It consisted of deep fried shrimp, baked potato, toast, a green salad and I can’t remember what else. I also remember that always sitting on our dinner plate was a little gift from my parents to each one of us. I also remember a Valentine’s Day that my parents sent us three girls on a scavenger hunt and we wound up getting Cabbage Patch Dolls. I think that was the year that Cabbage Patch Dolls were in such high demand that Santa was unable to take our order that year and we had to wait until Valentine’s Day to get our dolls. To this day she and my dad still send the grandchildren a Valentine Goodie Box and each of their children money to spend on a night out together without the cI just love Valentine’s Day. I think I got that love of Valentine’s Day from my mother. Growing up she always went out of her way to make Valentine’s Day the best. We always had a very nice family dinner on Valentine’s Day. We had to get dressed up in our Sunday Best. We ate dinner in the dinning room on the fine china. My mom always made us a shrimp dinner. It consisted of deep fried shrimp, baked potato, toast, a green salad and I can’t remember what else. I also remember that always sitting on our dinner plate was a little gift from my parents to each one of us. I also remember a Valentine’s Day that my parents sent us three girls on a scavenger hunt and we wound up getting Cabbage Patch Dolls. I think that was the year that Cabbage Patch Dolls were in such high demand that Santa was unable to take our order that year and we had to wait until Valentine’s Day to get our dolls.

This year I have really tried hard to go out of my way to make this Valentine’s Day a great one for my husband and children. On Tuesday I went to Idaho Falls shopping for Valentine’s presents for not only my husband but for each of my four children. I will have to write more about what they got for Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

For Sam’s class there is just me and one other room mom. I have worked hard today putting together a class party for Sam’s class tomorrow. I am in charge of a “cake walk”. Instead of the winner receiving a cake, I made homemade kisses. They turned out adorable. I made a batch of Rice Krispy Treats. Then I packed them into a small funnel that I purchased at the Dollar Store. They came out looking like this: Then on the computer I typed: Happy Valentine’s Day and printed that out on pink cardstock. I cut those up. Then I wrapped the shaped Rice Krispy Treat in aluminum foil. In the top I stuck in the little tag that said “Happy Valentine’s Day.” They turned out so cute. Here is a picture of the completed project.

I am also in charge of a “Bingo” game. I have spent all afternoon trying to find Valentine’s Day clip art on the computer and making up various “Bingo” cards.

Last year we made homemade Valentine’s for Sam’s class they turned out adorable. This year we decided to try again to make homemade Valentine’s cards. While, they are not as cute as last years, I still think the glow sticks will be a hit. They are supposed to look like an arrow. On one heart I had Sam write: To. On the next heart I had him write “From: Sam”. Then I wrote on the main heart, “Valentine, you make my heart GLOW!” Then we attached them to Glowstick bracelets we bought at the Dollar Store. I am so burnt out of making games and homemade Valentine’s and trying to get Valentine’s Day planned for my family tomorrow that Logan and Conner ended up taking store bought Valentine’s for their little class parties. They have been learning about the post office. They each got to take a field trip to the post office and mail homemade Valentine’s that they had made for Bryon and me from the post office. We got their Valentine in the mail today. They are so cute!

I will have to write more tomorrow about our Valentine Festivities. I better get back to finishing up all those homemade projects.

Rexburg Temple Celebration

What an awesome experience our family had tonight. You see tonight was the celebration for the Rexburg Temple. The main celebration was being held in the Hart Auditorium on the campus of BYU-Idaho. There were very few tickets available and so most everyone would be watching it broadcast to the various stake centers in the area. They were going to broadcast the live celebration at 5:00 and then at 7:00 they were going to rebroadcast the celebration. I figured we probably should try to be at our stake center at 4:00 in order to get a good seat. It was about 3:00 and I was still in my housecoat. I had just pulled Logan out of the bathtub and gotten him dressed. I had just yelled outside to Sam and Conner, who had been out playing in the snow, that it was time to come in and start getting dressed. No sooner than I had done all this and my good friend, Brenda Floyd called. You have to know Brenda. She is an awesome friend. She has been determined to see the production live. She said she decided to drive up to the college and just try to get in on standby tickets. She told me the line wasn't long and if we hurried, we could probably stand a really good chance at getting in. I have never kicked it in gear faster. We were heading out the door by 3:30 p.m. Brenda was the first one in line. She had been there since 2:00. So we sat there for waht seemed like an eternity to try to get in. Then someone in our old ward came by and had two tickets that they weren't going to be able to use. Brenda and two of her children used those to go in and get seated. By now it is 4:30. We were told they were going to release the seating at 4:35. Bryon and I knew that our chances of sitting together were pretty slim. We picket out a spot to meet at once the production was over. Pretty soon, Brenda's daughter came out with two extra tickets. Another one of Brenda's daughters went in and I took the other one and took Natalie and headed in. The lady taking tickets at the door, asked if I had been in before. It being a church production and all, I decided to try and tell the truth. I told her actually we hadn't. Then she starts looking at my ticket closer. Then she asks how old Natalie is. I told her two. She informed me that everyone two and older had to have their own ticket. I informed her that Natalie was just going to sit on my lap. She said for fire code reasons, Natalie needed her own seat. The ticket lady ho-hummed for what seemed like an eternity. Finally she told me I was probably right and let me go in. I got to sit by Brenda and her son Braden. As soon as I got in Brenda had tears in her eyes as she told me how desperatly she wanted me to see it live. I was still so worried if Bryon, Sam, Conner, and Logan would make it in. What I didn't know is shortly after I went in, they came and told the standby line that they would not be releasing any seats. Bryon figured he had waited there for quite a while already he would just wait until the production started "just to make sure". Pretty soon another guy from the ticket office came and said they had four available seats. Bryon said he needed three. They followed the guy inside. They walked right by me and so I grabbed Conner so Bryon wouldn't have to wrestle three kids.

Our seats were awesome. Yes we were on the bleachers but we were not that high up and you could see the General Authorities from where we were seated. Bryon sat almost directly behind Elder Russell M. Nelson. Bryon wants to watch the newspaper the next few days because he is sure that he is going to make the paper. The paper came and took pictures of him and Logan. I also think if any pictures of Elder Nelson were taken, Bryon stands a good chance of being in those because he was sitting so close to him. The prophet wasn't there but Elder Russell M. Nelson and Elder Bednar were there. It was so awesome. As they came in, everyone stood up. You could feel the Spirit so strong. It was a feeling I hope not to soon forget. The program was wonderful. It had so much fun singing and dancing. I think one of my boys favorites was a dance some men did with sprinkler pipes! I think I cried from the beginning all the way to the end. One thing Brenda and I found amazing was it talked about the Teton Dam flood. The flood happened in June and the city held a 4th of July parade down the middle of Rexburg, just a month after the flood. I loved the ending how a small choir of children dressed all in white sang "I Love to See the Temple" and "The Spirit of God". As they sang, more and more children dressed in white joined them. It was awesome!

Tonight I am just feeling so blessed that we were able to see this production live. I don't think seeing it in the stake centers would do it justice. It was just so great to be there and see it in person and feel of the Spirit that was in that room. I am so thankful Brenda thought of calling us and getting us to go up there. I am also so thankful for having a temple in our town. Indeed, we really are a blessed people.

What I Love About Logan

I have wanted to write about Logan for some time now. I feel bad that I have wrote about Sam's Pinewood Derby, Conner's Birthday, and Natalie getting in the makeup and have written nothing about him. Over a week now, I have been racking my brain about what I could write about. Logan is my calm child.

Logan is in preschool and looks forward to going to school to play with his best friends Tristen and Zach. One of my favorite things about Logan is the days he does attend school, I have to go and get him. The school has a circular driveway for parents to go when they are picking up their children. I sit there in my car and when class is over either the teacher or one of the aides, walk Logan out to the car. When I see him I open his door and get out to greet him. He always yells "mom" and runs to me and gives my legs a big hug! Such a cutie!

Logan has a speech problem and as a mom, I am really looking forward to the day he can say, "I love you" all on his own. Until then I hang on to a moment that totally melted my heart. We had gone to the bank to do some banking, they always send out a handful of Tootsie Rolls for the kids. I unwrapped one and handed it to Logan. He said, "thanks mom." Keep in mind, he really struggles linking two words together. He also is really good at imitating but to say things on his own is also a struggle. So for him to say, "thanks mom" on his own was a small miracle and it melted my heart.

Logan loves to listen to the radio in the car. If a song comes on that has a dominant guitar sound, Logan grabs his air guitar and strums away. He can play a mean air guitar!

Logan has found a hat around the house and lately has walked around with this huge hat on his head. It is the funniest thing! I couldn't help but snap a picture.

Winter Wonderland

This has been the craziest winter weather we have had in a long time. Two weeks ago Bryon and the kids for two days for temperatures that dipped below negative twenty degrees. Then just Friday they were out again because we had a huge snowstorm the night before that made driving conditions difficult and even closed freeways and highways.

I remember as a little girl visiting my grandparents in Cache Valley. I remember the snow being so high. I even have pictures to prove that this really happened and just isn't an over-exageration of my mind. Bryon and I have talked a great deal lately how it just doesn't snow like it did when we were growing up. We are eating our words now! This morning I went out and snapped some pictures of our yard. I can't believe how much snow we have. This is what we have been praying for in this area for quite some time. All this snow truely is an answer to many local prayers.

A Fond Farewell to Our Beloved Prophet

Today we watched the funeral proceedings of our beloved Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. I was shocked last Sunday, when my sister called to tell us the news of his passing. I know that each of our prophets are called by our Heavenly Father, but President Hinckley has always been close to my heart. I know this is going to age me but President Kimball was the prophet while I was growing up as a girl. Then it seemed after he passed away, President Benson and President Hunter both served for such a relatively short time. I also remember them being sickly while they served as prophet and so a great deal of the responsibility fell on President Hinckley. He has just been a favorite of mine: so people oriented, so well-rounded and so divinely inspired. I think my feelings were much like everyone else’s. I am certainly going to miss hearing him speak as a prophet of our Heavenly Father but know how happy he is to be reunited with his dear wife. When we told the news to Sam on Monday morning, he took it harder than I expected. I couldn’t help but turn my thoughts back to when I was a young girl and hearing about the passing of President Kimball. I couldn’t help but think is feelings were very similar to those I experienced as a young girl. This week I got an e-mail from a friend with an article that was published in the New York Times. It was such a well written article. I couldn’t help but be amazed at all he was able to accomplish in his time as serving as President. Here is a link to that article if you are interested. Tuesday, I met a friend for lunch. In visiting with her, we began talking about the dedication of the Rexburg Temple that was supposed to take place this weekend. I jokingly commented that he really messed things up. My friend laughed and said she believed he was giving us one final test as Latter-Day Saints to see how well we can adjust. She had heard him talk one time about our need to be flexible and accommodating and she felt like this was his last test to us. I have thought a great deal about that comment and can’t help but agree with my friend.

I am not one to cry. I haven’t shed a tear all week concerning the Prophet’s passing. However, watching the prophet’s funeral on television today, I couldn’t help but shed a couple tears. One of the pictures from the media showed a picture with Elder Monson sitting in his chair and Elder Irring sitting in his chair. There was an empty chair between them where President Hinckley has sat for many years during conferences and other church proceedings. My heart was touched to see the empty chair.

It seems like all week long, I would hear comments such as this “if the church holds true to tradition, President Monson will be the next prophet of the church.” How comforted I was to hear Elder Boyd K. Packer talk about that there is no doubt who the new prophet will be, our Heavenly Father has established the order of His church in the Doctrine and Covenants. How comforting it is to know that with the passing of our prophet dear, our Heavenly Father has not left us alone. He has left us divine guidance about who the next prophet will be. I was also so touched during the closing song. What a beautiful song. I also found humor as President Monson talked about his and President Hinckley’s doctor asking him to talk to President Hinckley about using his cane for walking purposes and not as a stick to wave. I think the funeral was perfect and exactly how President Hinckley would want it: a memorial to our dear Prophet, laced with doctrine and touched with just the right amount of humor.

Digital Scrapbooking

I can't believe it has been a whole week since I published.

I have found a new love. I am in love with digital scrapbooking. My friend, Holly, is into digital scrpabooking. She is always doing the cutest layouts. I have never given it much thought. After all I have a whole office full of scrapbook supplies! The other morning I got looking into it a bit more and after talking to Holly on the phone, decided to give it a try. I have enjoyed spending my free time the past few days downloading all the freebie kits and seeing what I can actually do with digital scrapbooking. I know I still have a lot to learn but here is a sample of what I have been able to do.