My Valentine

I just want to tell my husband that he is fantastic and that I love him beyond anything I ever thought was possible. He is so great to me and the kids and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Valentine. You make the sun shine for me. You make the hard times bearable and the good time glorious. Thank you for putting up with all my little quirks. You bear it with such patience and grace. Thank you for 10 wonderful Valentine's Days together. I LOVE YOU, Happy Valentine's Day!!

By the way, we went and saw the movie Valentine's Day last night and it was super cute!! A few spots that were very unexpected, but really funny. Totally recommend it!!

Update

Yes, we are still here and pluggin' along. Our computer decided to roll over and play dead right before the holidays. So buying the necessary parts needed to wait for just a bit. We are now happy to say we are the proud parents of a beautiful new motherboard. She is so beautiful and perfect. It suprises me just how much we are dependent on our computers. Not just for keeping in touch with loved ones and friends, but also for our daily tasks. I store my recipes in my computer and went without for almost 2 months. I think my family was really getting sick of spagetti. Even I was getting sick of it. I use the computer when helping Emma with school projects, when trying to create documents for church assignments, when trying to do mailing labels, for keeping our finances straight, and so on.... Man what a pain-in-the-you-know-what it has been to be without the sweet and quiet purr of our little black box under the desk.

As for our updates:

-We had a fantastic Christmas season. We went down to Phoenix for almost 10 days. We drove down on Dec. 23rd and drove back on Jan. 1st. Well, the kids, the dogs and I drove back then and Ryan flew home one Dec. 28th. It was our first Christmas Day away from our home since Emma was born. It was fun but quite a chore to back up all their gifts just to haul them all back. But it was well worth it. We had a great time. We spent Christmas Eve at my sister, Jacque's, home with all my siblings and my parents. Then Christmas day was spent opening gifts and our traditional movie, we saw The Princess and the Frog. While in Phx we also saw Shirlock Holms and would recommend it to anyone. Some people really didn't care for it, but Ryan and I loved it. We also got to visit family and friends. Thanks Beth for hanging out with me so much while I was there.

-We have had a fairly quite time the past few months. Emma has been plugging away at school, Jax with playing with his new train table from Pampa and Nana, Ryan with work, and myself with keeping us all in working order.

-The kids at first have been so bummed about the lack of snow, but when they discovered that now our turtle sandbox has been rediscovered they are in heaven again (it has a lid so the sand has stayed dry). However, I am in no way shape or form complaining about the lack of snow and the somewhat warmer weather.

All in all it has been a great 2 months.

Weekend in Providence, UT

This last weekend we went up to Providence, UT (it's right next to Logan) and spent a fun and snowy time with Ryan and Martina Davis and their family. Emma was in heaven to be with her best friend Grace. The guys took Emma and Grace on the 4 wheelers and sleds on Saturday and this is the result when they came back. All of them were soaked all the way through their snow clothes. The girls had bright red faces, but man they had a great time. Saturday night we went to their ward Christmas party and it was fabulous, great job Martina (she was in charge)!! This is Emma and Grace enjoying the YUMMY food!!

The theme was Christmas around the world and they had a production of different people performing things from around the world. Emma and Jax loved watching all the different dances and songs.

Thank you Ryan and Martina for letting us invade your beautiful new home for the entire weekend. We had so much fun and LOVE spending time with you guys. We miss you and can't wait to do it again!!

Chugga-Chugga Snow Choo-Choo

Our kids and dogs LOVE the snow. So with the last snow storm they took the opportunity again to play outside. Their favorite thing is when Ryan plays snow train with them. He goes first and they have to follow in his footsteps. After a little over an hour of playing outside, Ryan gave Jax one more ride and then they all came inside to thaw out with warm hot cocoa (one of Emma's favorite cold weather treats)!
Seeing their joy makes putting up with the snow and cold that much easier!

The Mis-Adventures of Jax Brimley

The other day we went to help at Emma's school and had some time left over before she was out so I let Jax play on the playground and he was in heaven. The only problem now is that every time we go to the school he thinks he gets to play. He is getting so big it makes me sad. So freakin' cute!!
He wouldn't even think about letting me catch him on the slide so all I could do was get a quick picture of the event.

Autumn Splendor

One of my favorite things about owning a 60 year old house isn't the constant remodeling we are always working on, it's our beautiful mature trees. I have to say they are probably my favorite thing about my house. Right now Ryan is saying he hates the trees. But there is something to be said about how beautiful my yard looks with the brown and gold leaves that are scattered all around. Although this is coming from the person who lives here that doesn't clean them up every weekend in October and November. Thanks Ry for putting up with the mess. Jax is helping Daddy rake the leaves. Although I think he made more of a mess than he did actual cleaning.
Emma looks forward each year to piling the leaves and taking running jumps into them. This is only one of the small piles we've collected this season.

Trick-or-Treat

I don't know about you, but I personally LOVE autumn and the holidays in this season. That is until I have put the Halloween costumes on one too many times. This year we did the church Halloween party, Emma's Waterford Institute party (her computer class she takes), her school costume parade, trick-or-treating at Ryan's work, and then finally Halloween night. All of these events were on seperate days too. Plus Emma's cute friend Carlyn, who lives down the street, is having a post Halloween birthday party and Emma get's to get one more use out of those tights that I love putting on and taking off. I guess I should be grateful that we get ample use out of our costumes each year though. ;-) We had a really fun Halloween, despite my tantrum. I love watching the kids get all dressed up and seeing how excited they are for each new experience. We had fun at all the parties and Emma is already talking about what she wants to be next year and then the year after. As long as there are no tights involved! Hope you all had a happy Halloween too!
Emma and her foofy witch costume!! It's one of my favorite costumes she's had yet.

Aarr matie!! Jax was a pirate again this year and just like last year he wouldn't keep his hat on. I love having such a small peanut that can get 2 years worth of wear out of one costume!