I love Valentine's Day! I love making my kids and Steve feel extra special on this day, I love crafting Valentine's for kids to pass out and making boxes to collect them in. Unfortunately the day we put together the Valentine's this year I wasn't feeling great and was transferring stuff to the new van so I didn't take any pictures. We bought these little alien containers of slime and the girls cut and glued little sayings to the top that either said, "you are out of this world" or "you are the best in the galaxy" then we made little labels that the kids signed their names on:

The kids had fun working together and using a hot glue gun and I really like giving something besides candy. Lila was the only one that needed to make a Valentine box this year and she loves Pandas so she crafted this up out of a cereal box.

As tradition they woke-up to a little present. I tried to trick them by saying that our ski trip the Saturday before was their present -- the girls didn't buy it, but Andrew was ok with that and grateful he got to go skiing at Powder Mountain with us even though we all about froze (we left early but not early enough and we were out a ways from the parking lot so by the time we decided to leave it took us 4 lifts and 4 runs to get back to our car and Lila was shivering and Andrew was a hysteric mess most of the day so it was crazy, but I'm still glad we went). Anyway, they each got colored headphones so I know who's is who's a movie and one item of clothing.
 

















I had asked them earlier in the week if they still wanted our traditional fondue or if we should try something new and it was unanimous fondue -- so for the 10th year we had fondue on Valentine's and it was tasty (even if the blue cheese I traditionally use had gone bad so we had to sub in Feta it was still delicious and the kids ate more than I remember them eating in past years). We watched Madly Madagascar and had this delicious Fallen Chocolate Cake for dessert.



Steve helped me whip it up after our 4 mile run. Ellie was telling us that she was running the mile for the 2nd time that day in PE and I had been watching the weather and knew it would be a lovely day so I was hoping to get outside for a good jog #1stJogOutside2019#AWESOME. Steve said his gift to me was staying home and spoiling me so he went on the run with me and pushed the stroller the whole time and pushed my speed. ;) Then we came home and whipped up that cake and we may have had a piece after lunch just to make sure it was an ok Valentine dessert. I traditionally find some shirt to give Steve for Valentine's and this year I thought it was time for him to get a hoody and some fun ski shirts.













 




I love these people so much! I'm so grateful for families and the knowledge we have that we can be together forever. I thought it was fitting that during our Come Follow Me study we read John 3:16

I told you I had been fighting a little head cold last week/weekend and poor Marcus Saturday/Sunday was running a fever and I thought he can not be sick on his birthday again (remember last year) so I said a special prayer asking Heavenly Father to please help him feel better and was so grateful when he started to perk up Monday evening and Tuesday. 

Every morning I would ask him who's birthday is on Friday and he would say "Marcus's". Then I would say how old are you going to be and he would say, "3" and hold up 3 fingers. Then I would ask what he wanted for his birthday and he would say, "cupcakes, ice cream, and presents". We can do that. It was hard to wait because when he woke up this morning the girls were off to school so we couldn't do anything too special or they would feel left out and when they got home from school he was napping. I told him after his nap we would do cupcakes and presents and he remembered -- as soon as he woke up he wanted a cupcake, but I made him wait because we went up to Mimi and Pancas in Mt Green and cooked pizza and let the kids play with Nessa's kids for a bit.

 








Marcus helped Steve and I make cupcakes on Thursday. I had planned to make strawberry cupcakes and just put it in red, green and blue liners for the PJ Masks, but he insisted we make green and blue cupcakes to go in the green and blue liners and since his requests have been pretty simple I obliged. Of course we had to taste one after baking.















Loving his catboy birthday sign and his favorite breakfast of pancakes. He inhaled 2 and then later while I rested (I fell asleep for 30 minutes on the bed -- Lila had precomp the night before and I was still recovering from my head cold and I just passed out) the boys helped themselves to more pancakes and they didn't make too big of a mess -- they were happy and I got to rest, that is a win-win.

Remember how I promised him cupcakes after his nap well I let him have one while we frosted and the pizza was cooking -- it was his birthday after all! :)

Each of my girls loved on the baby -- she's adorable and about the size of an American Girl doll. ;)



After the party Marcus spent the night with Mimi and Panca because we were taking the other 3 skiing at Powder Mt on Saturday. He loved it and didn't want to come home. When Mimi got him up she asked him how old he is and he said "2". Mimi said wasn't your birthday yesterday he said, "oh yeah, yeah I'm 3". I love how any time Marcus hears the garage door go up he runs over and opens the door from the house and stands on his tippy toes to wave to you as you pull in - he knows he can't leave the stairs while you are driving in because I ran after him several times when he first started doing it; I love every time we pick up Andrew and the carpool boy from preschool Marcus says, "ok now we go get Ellie then we go get Lila" - he knows they are at different schools and he misses them and thinks that we should pick them up while we're out; I love that this year we started taking him skiing with us on occasion and he loves it - he loves being with everyone and he loves skiing down but the little stinker won't snowplow, the funny thing is now every time Steve comes home he says, "how was skiing Dad" and most of the time Steve's been at work. 😂 Happy Birthday Marcus! We love you!

 

Do you know the Bernstein Bear story "Old Hat New Hat"? Steve gave me the board book version after we had Ellie -- it was a favorite of his nephews and we have enjoyed reading hundreds of times over the years, the rhyming and the crazy hats make it a fun story as Brother Bear explores the concepts of size and shape as he shops for a new hat. He tries on frilly hats and silly hats, bumpy hats and lumpy hats, until he finds the most perfect hat of all--his own! 

Well I've been on the hunt for a new car. I've been researching for months. I felt like it was time to get an AWD car that would seat the whole family. Nothing fit what I wanted -- I love my van and wanted to keep the sliding doors and the storage space and all the nice features a van has for a family our age and size, I also like having 8 seats because it is nice when my parents or Steve's parents come to visit to have them just hop in with us, but alas the only mini van in AWD does not come with 8 seats so it was a matter of going to a big SUV or giving up the 8th seat. . .I finally decided to give up the 8th seat. So then I began watching KSL and looking for deals. I finally convinced Steve to go test drive some and then one popped up that met all my basic requirements and it was a deal and it was in Draper near a place Steve consults twice a week so I sent him over to check it out and he called me pretty stoked about it. So two days later after having it checked out by the dealer we bought it.


That Saturday I went through the process of moving everything from the Honda to the Sienna and getting the Honda ready to sale. And I had a little sellers anxiety -- I didn't regret buying the Sienna I think it will be a great vehicle for us and has a lot of nice upgrades (hello it's almost 10 years newer), but I have loved our Honda and it has been so good to us that it made me pause for just a minute. It probably didn't help that I was fighting a little head cold that turned sinus infection that knocked me out for 48 hours with a really bad migraine so I was probably a little extra emotional and I continued to drive the Honda for a few days with a for sale sign on it saying it was advertising but when the storm came and I didn't feel like cleaning the snow off of the Honda parked outside I started driving the Sienna and have really enjoyed it and I'm getting used to the fancy bluetooth calling and keyless start which have given me a few growing pains, but will be so nice to have along with the back-up camera. So there you have it, we're all on the mend from this little cold and enjoying a new car (well new to us).