Lovefest

It's been a LOVEFEST around here!It all started with our anniversary. 10 YEARS! We used a gift card we've been saving since I was pregnant to go to the Cheesecake Factory. They don't officially do anything for anniversaries, but our sweet waitress decorated our cheesecake plate for us. So cute! Both the kids had the flu, about a week apart, so I was LOVING the extra snuggles and the fact that Jeremy is old enough to puke in a bowl! Of course, we are LOVING Pie Month! Jeremy LOVES licking the bowl. We went roller skating for the first time as a family. Jeremy LOVED it! He fell down a lot, but got right back up and wasn't discouraged. So proud of him! He held our hands at first, but really wanted to do it on his own. Great job Jeremy! My fun friend threw a Valentine's party. We all had to make each other Valentines and a red treat to share. I made these lavendar heart sachets. Everyone made such cute things! I was feeling the LOVE! One of the silly things I missed out on when being homeschooled was the Valentine's class party where everyone exchanged valentines, so this was fun for me. I intended to make cheesecake brownies bites with cherries on top, but I burnt the brownies. So I crumbled them up and they turned into Cherry Cheecake Brownie Parfaits. I can't say I was disappointed! They were yummy! I found this cute reader at a craft show a few months ago. It's part of a series called the Alice and Jerry readers. We LOVE them! They were published in the 1940s so of course they are considered vintage which equals expensive! I snagged this one for a few dollars, not knowing how valuable it was. They're very popular, so now I'm hunting on Ebay

for deals so I can get the rest of them for my kids. Valentine's Day Eve we went to an adult dinner at the church, and we LOVED Grandma taking care of the kids at home! Sunday morning was Valentine's Day and we made whole wheat blueberry pancakes and let Daddy sleep in, which he LOVED! We've been LOVING the rain! And the rainbows.

Hope you're feeling the LOVE this month!

Yesterday

Yesterday I went to a funeral. I didn't want to go. I dreaded it like no other funeral I'd ever been to. I started to cry before I even got there. I cried the whole way through. I usually have a good handle on death. I have always felt the hope of a better life for those who have passed on, and have never felt the pain. But not this time. The death was of a 3-week-old baby girl. I had never met her, never met her good mother, and am not close to her father. But her sudden death rocked my world. Losing a baby has always been my worst nightmare. I watched the family come into the chapel. Her father carried her tiny body in the smallest casket by himself. No pall bearers needed, just her daddy. The tiniest things are so heavy sometimes. Her mother amazes me with her strength. Her poor little brother wept and could not be comforted. He is the same age as Jeremy. I told Jeremy that his friend's baby sister had died. He said, that's not good. I told him that the cupcakes I made had to go to their family, so there wouldn't be any left over for him. He was okay with that. I hugged and hugged and hugged some more, and found the strength I needed. I learned so much yesterday. All from the death of a little one I never knew. I was reminded by our sweet bishop of the everlasting love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I was reminded how precious my time is with my own children. I came home with a renewed vow to cherish the time I have with them, to soak up their fun, and relish the demands they put on my life.

I am so blessed.

10 Years

Today, as you see on my cute blog counter, David and I have been married for 10 years. Amazing how fast it has gone in retrospect. It has been the biggest adventure of my life. Happy times when I wanted to just capture the moment and freeze it forever. Hard times that weighed me down and felt like they would last forever. I come from parents who had a hard time finding a good marriage partner, so I was determined to ask all the right questions and choose wisely. And although I thought I knew what I was getting into, and certainly am glad for my choice, it turns out that there were many surprises along the way. I've learned and continue to learn much about David and myself, about our strengths and weaknesses, and even after 10 years, I am little wiser than when we started, just more humbled. There are things we do well, and so many things we need to do better. I've learned that raising my voice never helps anything, that neither one of us is better than the other, and that sometimes, it really is better to go to bed angry. Most things look better in the morning with some rest and time. I've learned much about commitment, patience, and forgiveness. I've learned lessons I never wanted to know, but am glad for the experience that has opened my mind and given me great empathy toward others' struggles. I feel blessed to have chosen the companion that I did. He is always willing to do whatever I ask of him, he loves me and our children and supports us well, and he is easy to please and quick to forgive me. Despite our struggles, we have found great love and joy together and are determined to succeed! Here's to the next part of our adventure together!

I love you baby.

Weekend

This weekend was a bunch of busy fun. On Friday we went to meet our cousins at Disneyland. We had fun going on rides and being together. Jeremy and Kelsey always like this big fire boat at CA Adventure. There are lots of things to climb on and noises to be made, a children's paradise. One of the last things Jeremy went on with our cousins was the Grizzly Rapids Run. They got soaked, but had so much fun! Jeremy's clothes were wringing wet, and as the sun was going down soon, we headed for home. Daddy had a scout campout that night, so we had a slumber party in my bed and Jeremy got to stay up till 10:00! The next day we went to a really fun birthday party at Atlantis Park. Our friend turned 5 and he had a pirate party. The kids got to make mini oceans in water bottles, frost shark cookies, color, and make pirate flags. Super fun. All that on top of the super fun park that the kids love already! Kelsey really got into the cake.Sunday morning I decided to see if I could french braid Kelsey's hair. It worked! It was tricky, but turned out so cute!!! I love love love it. People ask me all the time if Jeremy is a good big brother. He is excellent. He loves his sister and rarely gets upset with her getting into his stuff. He tries to keep her safe and is very conscientious about her putting things in her mouth that she shouldn't. He likes to help her and tell people that she is his baby Kelsey. We are so blessed to have each other.

My Baby

My baby, sweet baby,

so tender and true,

my heart longs to hold you,

so precious and new.

My baby, sweet baby,

so busy and fun,

my arms are so tired

when the day is all done.

My baby, sweet baby,

so big and so strong,

my loving embrace

is still where you belong.

Pigtails!!!

For those of you who know me, this is a dream come true. Today my little girl's hair fit in two pigtails!!! And I think it's pretty cute.

Puddle Jumpin'

So the torrential rains that we've gotten this week have been absolutely magical for me. In fact, I think that it would take a seriously long time before I could grow tired of them. However, I realize that this is probably due to the fact that I can stay indoors and enjoy the view without actually getting personally soaked. When I was younger I loved to play outside in the rain but now I consider myself more of an indoor rain person. Kelsey has been begging to go outside all week and was quite upset that I wouldn't let her in the backyard. Well, yesterday we went to the graduation of a friend of ours from beauty school and consequently were forced out into the elements. I bundled us all up and brought the umbrella and cautioned Jeremy against getting his shoes wet in the puddles. All of a sudden I wondered why I was preventing my children from getting wet. It's water. They weren't in their Sunday best on the way to some important function. Clothes and shoes will dry and a warm home awaited us just a few miles away. I told them to go ahead and we had a ball all the way across the campus back to our car. And I fell in love with the rain all over again.

Rain

Rain

falling

drop by drop

rushing faster

coming down to earth

making everything new

alive once again

pitter patter

filling me

up with

peace.

Weekly Recap

Well, here it is, Sunday afternoon. David's out home teaching, the small one is down for her nap, Jeremy is playing quietly, and my pajamas are on! Time for the rundown on our week! Last Sunday we went to my sister's house to make aebleskivers. I loved them so much in Solvang that I bought some of the mix to make them since my BIL has an aebleskiver pan. We had dinner together and then made lots of the yummy little dough balls to dip in raspberry jam and powdered sugar. So Yummy!!! On Monday I was giving Kelsey her bath in the kitchen sink and noticed the paneling was separating from the wall, and termite droppings were falling out. I started to peel the paneling away and found this lovely sight underneath. I waited for David to come home and I told him I was ready to redo the kitchen. The next day I peeled the rest of it off and started thinking how I'll survive without a kitchen. It will be a long process as we'll have to do it little by little as we save the money, but it will be worth it!!! It's exciting and daunting all at the same time. Thursday we had my niece for a few hours. Of course I had to do her hair, cause that's how I roll, and then I gave her and Kelsey suckers. So cute! Friday we went to Disneyland. Jeremy had fun going on rides by himself for a while. There he is waving at me from the Golden Zephyr. Our friends came a little later and we had lots of fun with them! Our little girls are so cute together! The boys and the bumper bugs. The kids on the rapids. They got soaked!

While everyone else was on Tower of Terror, Kelsey bit into a sucker before I could stop her. So I had to buy it and take cute pictures. What else could I do? ;)

We had fun learning how to draw Grumpy the dwarf in the Animation Studio. We were all tired but we wanted to see the fireworks, so we went to the parking structure and watched them from the roof. They were big and beautiful and colorful!