Valentines Day 2009

Okay, I'm determined to post about Valentines Day before February is over.  And as it looks now it will be the last day of the month by the time this is posted, ugh!  How dare life get in the way of blogging!

It seemed more like Valentines Weekend this year.  With the big day falling on Saturday the kids all had parties at school on Friday so I kept thinking Friday was the actual day.  The kids of course came home with lots of notes and candy, but the cutest one was this one

My real live Valentines Card.  And he had me do a video and read the poem so you could all share in the love too!  But it is too late and I've never embedded a video before and of course it is not working.  Sorry folks, the poem is really cute and he gives me a kiss at the end.

As soon as the kids came home from school we headed up to "The Cabin".  My mom's boss has a couple of cabins up above Sundance just 20 minutes away.  We get to go to the small one (can you really call something with an underground heated garage and elevator small??) two or three times a year to make sure everything is functioning and nothing is damaged and we were lucky enough to get Presidents Weekend for our turn.

I had made it to the store before leaving and put together a few trinkets for the kids and my mom.  And Mark picked up some yummy cookies at Thanksgiving Point before joining us that night.

So Saturday morning the kids found these on the table LONG before we got up.

And Mark did some fancy shopping too in between working crazy hours and moving ward members with his new calling as Elders Quorum Pres so I was greeted with these

He knows I love tulips and he doesn't always have the best luck with roses on Valentines Day (it began the year we got engaged on the big day) so he strayed from the norm and I loved them.  And please note sitting next to the flowers is the BBC versions of Jane Austen movies.  I proceeded to have a Pride & Prejudice weekend after that! (That reminds me, I really need to return Sense & Sensibility to Lori soon, oops)

The kids were excited to find out what Mark was getting because I would not tell them and it was wrapped in a BIG box.  At least big for what was inside.  I hinted that he would always be able to find his way home to my heart with it.  And so Tom Tom was adopted into our family.  Mark has wanted a GPS for a LONG time.  And this year the pricing finally came down low enough and with a coupon and a sale I splurged.  This was after he had gotten lost on several Pampered Chef errands for me so I think it counts as a business expense (bonus!)

Saturday night Mom kept the kids at the cabin and Mark and I headed up to Midway.  Word to the wise, don't call the fanciest places in town five days before a big day and expect to get a table.  On my third call I finally got reservations at Mountain House Grill.  We hit my FaVoRiTe bakery in Midway before dinner so we could take dessert back to the cabin with us and then headed over for dinner.  Tom Tom even directed us so we didn't have to make a left turn into the parking lot!  Dinner was awesome (thank you to Christy for the recommendation)  And then headed back to the cabin for a cozy evening.

Now the cabin is not so romantic with 3 kids and your mom there.  But it is such a nice place I hated every minute we spent away from it that weekend.  The kids had so much fun.  The view out the back windows was this

And yes, that is pretty much almost 5 FeeT of snow she is standing in.  The girls made a sledding hill.

And it was amazing we didn't loose any of them in the snow.

Monday morning we headed down to Sundance.  Now before you think we were taking advantage of all the fresh powder that had happened that weekend, let me show you a picture.

Do those kids look like they are dressed for skiing?  I don't think so.  We trudged into the Sundance Grill looking very out of place in our street clothes.  But we still enjoyed a delicious breakfast.  At least some of us did.  If you think Ashley looks in pain in the picture above, you are correct.  Later that afternoon the Doctor confirmed she had come down with Strep Throat.  And it took about 24 hours after that before she could finally swallow again.

Despite Ashley getting sick and having to come down on Sunday for too many church meetings we had an awesome weekend at the cabin.  And we were just lucky enough it fell on VDay.

Quilting 101

Grandma Pat decided it was time to teach her eldest grandchild her obsession.  So for Jessica's birthday Grandma got her a sewing machine with the promise of teaching her how to sew by making a quilt.  They went shopping together and picked out all the fabrics.  Then spent hours working on this project.  After 3 months of working the first project is finished.

And here are the proud workers!

Grandma has a very fancy sewing machine that does embroidery so she taught Jessica how to make these on every square.

I think this will be a much cherished heirloom!

Temple Open Houses

I vaguely remember as a small girl attending the St. George Temple Open House when it was rededicated.  In fact I probably remember it more because I've been told I went not because I remember the event.  But in the last 13 years we've had the opportunity to attend 4 Temple Open Houses.

To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the temple is the "House of the Lord." It is a sacred building, and after its dedication only faithful members of the Church may enter. Inside, members learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to serve Jesus Christ and their fellow man. In addition, they participate in religious ceremonies that reach beyond mortality, such as baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors and eternal marriage.

But before a Temple is dedicated they have an Open House so anyone who wants to can see the inside of the Temple.

In 1997 we gathered Mark's family together and all went to the Mount Timpanogos Open House .  This is now the Temple we are assigned to attend.  We also got to participate and help with the Open House.

In September of 2000 we got the opportunity to go back to where I served my mission and take my mom, my husband, Jessica (then 3) and Ashley (then 6 months) to the Boston Massachusetts Temple Open House and Dedication.

This was an amazing two week trip that included a trip to the Sacred Grove. But of course the girls don't remember much of this event.

So we were excited when in January 2008 we were able to take the kids up to Rexburg for the Rexburg Idaho Temple Open House.

We went up with my Mom and visited with my brother, Brent and his family.  Their little girl, Hailey, joined our family for this picture.

When we went to dinner that night a local restaurant had an ice sculpture of the Temple.  It was cold enough I'm sure it lasted through the whole month of the Open Houses.  This was again a fun trip for me because I spent two years in Rexburg from 1983 - 1985 going to Ricks College.  It has changed a lot now that it is a 4 year university.

And now on Jan 30, 2009 we got to take our kids to another Temple Open House for the Draper Temple .

They are planning on over 1 million people to tour the Temple before it is dedicated.  In order to handle this kind of people flow they had to adjust how the open house was handled.  Our tickets "assigned" us a church to park at.  We watched a video and then loaded buses to drive us up to the Temple.

Our group was Grandma Neva, Grandpa Jim, Ashley, Christine (me), John, Mark, Jessica and Grandma Pat.
We were able to walk through the beautiful Temple.  The stain glass windows were made by my friend's husband, Tom Holdman  His work is always inspiring.

After the tour they had a gathering room at the Church building next to the Temple where we could visit and take pictures.

Then we loaded back on the bus heading to the "red" parking where they dropped us back to our cars.  We are so grateful our children have been able to see the inside to two temples in one year.  They will be able to remember these experiences so much better than I did as a child.  And we will have the opportunity to go to one more before the year is done when the Oquirrah Temple has its open house latter this year.

The Temple is a wonderful blessing in my life.  Because of the Temple I was married for time and ALL eternity to my wonderful husband and sealed to my children.  So that after this life I know we will be able to be together again as a family unit.

Ballroom 2009

Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 was the first Ballroom Competition of 2009.  This competition was about 300 elementary school children competing.  

The boys escort all the girls in to the gym.  I don't know why Jessica was the only girl in the correct position.

I think she looks a little nervous in this picture.  Next year I need to remember not to cut her hair short in December.  They are supposed to wear it in a pony tail.  We had to do a lot of little pony tails to get it all in.

Jessica and her partner did great!  They compete against everyone who has done ballroom for more than one year.  This year she did  Cha Cha first. And then their Surprise Dance was Tango.

They get the audience cheering for them.  John is screaming T A N G O at the top of his lungs.  And believe me, his lungs are loud!  Grandma Pat came along and so did Mark and Ashley is hiding beside him.

At the very end they have all the kids come out on the dance floor and they have to dance with someone from a different school they don't know.  It is cute seeing the beginnings of awkward dances.

Jessica's team took home a Bronze Ribbon and the whole school received the Spirit Trophy.  They were really excited about that.  The school gets to display the Trophy for the next year.

Great job kids!

Train Show 2009

My kids have one of two responses these days when I'm taking pictures.  First one is "This isn't going on the blog, IS IT???" or response number two is "Why haven't you blogged about MY event YET???"  So in response to the later, I'm trying to catch up.

January 23, 2009 I surprised the kids after school and took them to the Model Train Show at Thanksgiving Point (our favorite place to go).  Bonus of course is that Mark can meet us at any event!

You can tell the kids came straight from school because Friday they can wear their school t-shirts instead of collared shirts to school.  And of course John had to ham it up for the picture.  It is tough getting a good face out of him!

The very first train was the "Harry Potter" train.  It was definitely my favorite.  Amazing detail.  And the woman didn't make this out of a kit.  She had to create this on her own.  The details were incredible.

The Lego train was definitely impressive.

And here the kids are waiting to see the miniature train come around the mountain.  It was so small, I can't imagine how hard it is to work on it.

Proof the children were accompanied by an adult.

This shows the miniature train on a better scale.  They are so small they can fit in a suite case!

I think Ashley enjoyed the Train Show the most.

But we all enjoyed dinner at Chilli's afterwards.  Thanks Kim and Tom for the Christmas Gift Certificate!