Finally updating my blog

(June 11th) So I'm like 4 months behind.  My mom told me that she's tired of opening up my blog and seeing "and now for the mushy part" - the post about our anniversary.  She asked me to please change my blog to something besides "mush".

Well mom, you don't get your wish!  More "mushy" stuff... SNOW CREAM!  Hehe.  Pretty mushy, huh?

Caleb and I decided to make snow cream one day just for fun.  It's made from milk, sugar, food coloring, and of course snow!  He said he liked it, but I don't think he liked it much as evident by his face. Oh well, it was something to do.  He's often bored when the kids are at school.

So now I'm back to updating my blog.  I'll try to do a post a day till I'm caught up.  I'm still going to keep the dates the same as the day they happened.  Just makes it easier to keep track.  So while today is June 11th, the snow cream happened on Feb 28th.

20 Year Anniversary!

20 years today!!!

The non-mushy part:

Has it really been 20 years? Are we really that old?

The mushy part: (You can skip this if you don't like mush.)

Happy Anniversary to my best friend and the only person in this world who really understands me - sometimes even better than I understand myself! At our wedding, *our song* was "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago (that dates us right there!) A line from that song: "You know our love was meant to be The kind of love to last forever." 20 years later, that song holds even more true. 20 years and counting on our journey to forever. I couldn't ask for a more amazing, wonderful person to spend forever with! I love you Blake!!! P.S. This is copied from Facebook because apparently I update FB a whole lot more often than I update my blog. Easier to just copy it rather than rewrite something, right?

Happy Birthday Katie!!

14 years old!!!  I can still remember this like it was yesterday:

She sure is growing up.  Newest milestone is that KATIE READS!!!  As in picks up a book and can read it.  And she read a verse during family scripture reading the other day all by herself... including words like "thou".  Go Katie!!!  I believe in always setting the bar high and I do with Katie.  But honestly, I didn't think she would ever be able to read.  Way to go proving your mom wrong Katie!

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!!  Also thought I'd share a little blurb from my journal about Katie:

Katie has "magical powers".  We've known this since she was a baby.  My mom pointed this out to me when she was teeny tiny.  People would hold her and instantly be healed or comforted by her.  I had a couple people who would come over for a visit when she was a baby just to hold Katie and bask in her peace.  Yesterday I was having a particularly hard day.  When bedtime came, I was dreading the battle of getting the kids ready for bed.  I was particularly dreading Katie's bedtime battle.  She can be stubborn when she wants to be!  She sat stubbornly on the couch, going as slow as possible because she knew that would annoy me the most.  I sighed and tried to find the strength to fight the battle.  I wondered silently if I should just leave her sitting there on the couch and go to bed myself because I didn't have the fight in me that night.  Katie sensed this.  She always knows when someone needs her.  And she always knows just what they need.  So I sat there contemplating how I could persuade them all into bed and feeling very tired.  Katie knew I was at my limit.  She came over and wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. She pressed her cheek to mine and whispered, "I loooove you mom!"  She told me over and over that she loved me and  squeezed my neck tight and wouldn't let go.  The world stood still for a moment.  It seemed as though her spirit talked to mine, in a way that words can't communicate.  Hearts uniting, sharing, loving.  My heart was full, and so were my eyes...  full of tears.  My sweet Katie knows how to melt my heart.  As crazy as she drives me every morning with her stubbornness, moments like these help me remember the real Katie.  I like to think that we were friends in the pre-earth life.  And that maybe she chose me to be the one to take care of her physical body on earth since she knew she would have a hard time.  And maybe I chose her to take care of my spiritual body since I knew I would have a hard time.  I'm honored and truly blessed that she chose me to be her mom and that we both get to share this journey together.  I don't know if we really got to choose our families, but it seems right to me when I think that Katie and I chose each other. I love you my Katie Bear!

Date with Daddy

Lydia is in the orchestra this year and is learning to play the cello.  When we rented her cello, they gave her a free ticket to the symphony. Anna got a free one somehow too.  They went on a Daddy Daughter date.  They first went to a candy/ice cream store (I don't really know what it was since I wasn't there), and then they went to the symphony.  They all loved it and raved about it for days.  Everyone had fun!  

[If you're wondering about the gorilla... Elizabeth was the Star Student of the Week so she had to take Gus, the class gorilla, everywhere she went... including the symphony.  Gus guarded the car while they went to the actual symphony.]

Daddy Daughter Date

Lydia is in the strings class at school - learning to play the cello.  When we rented her cello, she got a free ticket to the symphony.  So Blake and the girls had a daddy daughter date at the symphony.  They went for ice cream before the symphony and then headed downtown.  They all LOVED the music!  I'm so glad our kids love and appreciate music!  Blake really enjoyed it and said the girls were riveted.  

(Oh an explanation of the gorilla... Elizabeth was student of the week during this week.  She got to bring the class gorilla home and had to bring him everywhere and document her weekend.  Hence the reason "Gus" is in all the pictures.)