Better Late Than Never...

For Christmas, our sweet neighbor Janae brought us a gingerbread house kit.

Finally, on January 25th - a full month after Christmas! - we got around to building it. 

Better late than never, right?

 YUM!

Baby Chef

Blake loves to help in the kitchen. 

He always runs to help me when I am unloading the dishes.  And he is truly really helpful!  

He LOVES to know what is happening when I'm cooking dinner, and I try to always give him a job to do.  He loves to dump the pasta into the pot of water, help get items out of the fridge, or stir up spices for me

The other day I went upstairs to get something and returned to find Blake "cooking" on the kitchen floor!  He had a frying pan he had gotten out of the cupboard, and was using a plastic spoon to saute some dry cereal in it!  Ha ha!  I tried to get a good picture of him working on stirring that cereal up in the pan, but I missed it. Still, these pictures of him working are pretty adorable! 

Maybe we have a future famous chef on our hands?  I wouldn't complain!  :)

Building a village

Last week, I let the kids bring all their toys down to the family room to build a 'village.'

We had so much fun!  Katelee set up the zoo.

The train track ran up the mountain to get to the zoo:

Here was the shopping area, including stores, a library, ice cream stop, and more.

And the residential part of town, where the regular people lived.  :)  The palace was on the other side of town.

These kiddos are so imaginative and creative.  I don't always sit on the floor and play with them as much as I wished, but when we do it is always tons of fun!

I love my kids!

A Bouncy Family Night!

Our church teaches us to have a weekly Family Night, and this is something that we try to be very consistent about doing.  It's pretty easy for us to do because we all love family night!

Our typical family night begins with singing songs.  Lots and lots of songs, generally with actions, as this is by far Blake's favorite part!  There is nothing cuter than seeing him bounce and hop around the room to Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam!  :) 

Then we say a prayer, followed by a short lesson where we teach each other about the gospel and living good values.  

After the lesson it's time for the activity and sometimes a treat - and this is by far Katelee's favorite part!  We usually play some sort of game, such as hide-and-seek, a board game, or tickle tag.  Last Monday night, however, our activity was a bit more exciting than usual.  

Katelee had received two free passes to Kangaroo Zoo, a local bouncy house, and so we took the kids for a free night of bouncing fun!

Katelee was in heaven from the moment she walked in the door! 

Blake, on the other hand, needed some convincing.  

He was scared of the unstable surface of the bouncy toys when he stepped on them.  After a half an hour or so, and some help from mom and dad, he began to enjoy himself finally!

 We played hard, and had a great time.

By the time we left, both kids were ready for a good night's sleep.

This is the night we've waited for;

Always a treat we have in store!

We love each other more and more

With every family night!

Stories and games for everyone;

Learning the gospel can be fun!

Father and mother, daughter, son,

Together on family night!

No school!

Yesterday school was cancelled for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Gerald still had to work, but the kids and I had such a fun, relaxed day.

In the morning we spent time with some dear, dear friends that we don't get to see very often.

Lisa Thayne and her kids came to Lehi, and we met at Kara Nelson's house with Tiffany Shill to visit.  I really love these women.  They are such amazing, wonderful people who inspire me.  The kids also had a super fun time!  Katelee had a 'loom band' party with the other big girls, and Blake was in little boy heaven playing with all the interesting new toys!  Kara took this adorable picture of construction-worker Blake riding his pony to the construction site!  :)

Smartie Pants

Pardon my bragging....

 but this girl is a

SMARTIE PANTS!

She comes home week after week with a perfect score on her spelling tests.

It's probably because she does this so much.  :)

I love this girl, and am grateful that school comes easy for her and that she is blessed with such a bright mind.  However, the times when things are not easy for her, and she hangs in there and works hard despite the difficulty, I admit I feel even more proud of her.  I am one lucky mama.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

With the beginning of a new year, our church time changed from 9 to 11 a.m.

There are definitely pros and cons to both start times, but one thing that I am LOVING about having church at 11 is Sunday morning breakfasts.

 Homemade.  Warm.  Leisurely.  Together.

Blake kept covering his mouth this morning when he laughed - ha ha!

This may be my new favorite time of the week.

Happiness By the Dozen

Today, I am lucky enough to say I've been married to this man for
12 years!

I am so blessed!

Katelee made us this Anniversary card.  :)

We celebrated the day with a visit to the
BYU Art Museum to view the art exhibit
Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, 
Heinrich Hofmann & Frans Schwarts.
 
It was exquisite.  So gorgeous and uplifting, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see all these original paintings together.  We felt so blessed to experience it.


Following the museum we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Rodizio Grill.
And Gerald sent me a rose for each year we've been married.

What a beautiful day!

Thomas S. Monson, a man whom I respect and love and believe is a prophet of God once said this:  

"Happiness does not consist of a glut of luxury, the world’s idea of a “good time” Nor must we search for it in faraway places with strange sounding names. Happiness is found at home."  

I am grateful to be married to a man who makes this true for me everyday, and with whom I am building a happy life.  It's not a life free from trials, but it is a happy, joyful life and everything I've ever wanted.  Thank you, honey!  I love you!

Coolest Kids I Know

These are the two coolest kids I know!

 Love their guts.  :)

A Piece of the Puzzle

This little man LOVES puzzles.  

 And he's really good at them!  Every time he fits a piece in, he pumps both fists in the air and whisper-shouts "Yes!"

 This kid melts my heart.  I love him so much!

Today he figured out how to twist the doorknobs in our house and open doors.  

Life as we know it will never be the same - yikes!

Olaf the Snowman

This morning we had a ball playing in the snow as a family!

It was the perfect way to start off our Saturday.  Blake shoveled snow to his heart's content and carried buckets of snow back and forth for us.  Katelee helped with the shaping and creating of this guy.

 I'm pretty sure thanks to the new Disney movie Frozen, every showman in America is named Olaf this winter.  However, meet our version of Olaf.

Blake was sooo happy to be outside and playing!

 And then suddenly, he realized it was cold and he was done.  ;)  At least Olaf was finished by this time and we were all ready for some hot cocoa and the warm house.

 This girl has a million dollar smile.

 What fun times!

New Year - New Blog Style

Once upon a time I was a great blogger.

I posted updates several days a week, never getting behind.

I was entertaining.  I wrote well.

There are several factors that combined to make my blogging go downhill.

Unfortunately, I can't control most of those factors.

But I am going to try to stay more on top of things, and so I want to change the things I can control.

Which is why I won't be blogging by 'months' anymore.

It just didn't work for me!

Instead I am going to go back to my old ways of blogging about life's events on a more daily basis.

My goal is to write a post at least once a week.

I feel strongly that writing my family's history in this way is important.

It blesses us in small ways now, and I hope will be a blessing to us all in the future.

I have been working recently on printing and preserving blog posts from 2008 and 2009.

The things I wrote then are so priceless to me now

that I can barely remember Katelee at the age of two and three!

I don't want to miss any of those details or memories now that she is a little older.

I don't want to miss any of those memories for Blake.

Which is why I will keep trying to keep this blog alive!

Thanks for reading!