Valentine's Day 2014!

Paul and Alanna were off track for Valentine's day, but lucky for them, they celebrated with their classmates early. And Alanna passed out Valentine's at dance. And my kids were on a sugar high for two weeks straight! We still had to make sugar cookies though! And I surprised James with one in his face while the kids laughed hysterically. It was actually their idea, they are always plotting against him!

In case you were wondering, this cookie didn't go to waste. James was mauled and the kids ate the entire cookie off of his face. Gross!

Jackson made Steve, from Minecraft, for his Valentine box. It was so great that he could create and execute a box all by himself. I got to go in to his class to help with the Valentine party. At my station we played Valentine Yahtzee, perfect for Jackson and his friends. Even though no one got "Hearts" (Yahtzee), they all had fun and got to pick a prize from my "treasure box". Most of them picked out the Valentine Kazoos, and I could tell that their teacher was ready to send them home by the end of that hour of listening to their "music"! Haha parents!

Blaze got to attend a Valentine party at his school and decorated a sugar cookie, played a game, and of course, passed out Valentine's! His favorite of course was one of Dusty! So cute! He loved using his "Robot", R2D2 to collect his cards and candy.

My beautiful bouquet of my favorite roses from my sweetie. The roses that look yellow are actually light green, and I love this color combo.

We continued in our Valentine tradition of having take-out pizza, and of course they wanted root beer too!

Jackson was our cute photographer. He really tried to get one of James with a normal face, but even the pros find that to be challenging!

And we wrapped the night up with MORE sugar... white chocolate fondue with marshmallows, brownies, bananas, and sugar cookies. I was so happy to be with all of my loves that evening!

These decorations with jars of candy were out for about 6 weeks. I kept telling them that they could eat the candy after Valentine's day... what was I thinking?!

Uncle Caleb's Birthday!

The birthday boy turned 29!! That makes me feel old! We ate at Smokin' Bones in Bountiful to celebrate. If you love barbeque, this is the place for you!

Jackson ordered some hot wings and loved them.

Peter had his own pizza that seemed as big as he was. He also enjoyed watching the Olympics on the TV behind our table.

The mustache is back, and maybe Cache though was pretty funny!

Alanna was in a very silly mood too! They all get a little excited around the uncles :)

Luke actually posed for this silly picture and then regretted it when he saw it!

This bearded guy is Kile Kearns, owner and barbeque-er of Smokin' Bones. He and his family are great friends, and he always comes out to make sure we are well taken care of.

Uncle Andrew gave all of the kids quarters to buy candy from the machine. I don't know how one of our kids always ends up running around half naked!

Max is the sweetest cuddliest little guy. He was feeling a little under the weather and snuggled right up to me. It reminded me of holding my own babies when they were little...precious!

Alanna is very into babies and wanted to hold Max and get a picture of it.

I made Caleb a chocolate quinoa cake...he makes fun of me for eating quinoa! There was no debating this...that quinoa made this cake so moist and delicious and was completely undetectable! It was frosted with Raspberry Swiss Merunge Buttercream and then covered in chocolate ganache. So good!

Two Boston Cream pies with A LOT of candles to blow out. He didn't quite make it...so we decided he could blow out each cake separately.

And it was K.C.'s birthday too!

The End of an Era...

For the past few months I have been wanting to reclaim the master bedroom that we have used as the playroom for the past 7 years. I kept putting it off for one more playgroup, or one more babysitting swap. Finally, this weekend, we made the move. And James and I feel like we are on vacation having this awesome space to ourselves! However,  I found myself tearing up in the shower a little bit today. I know it's silly, but it feels like I've just closed the door on the toddler era for our family. We still have a playroom upstairs, but we kept it downstairs all these years so I could conveniently keep an eye on a crawling baby, or exploring toddler. Now, I can trust Blaze to go off and play on his own without checking on him every 5 minutes. And that's great, but it also means that I don't have anymore babies. And in a sense it feels like we've moved and this playroom only exists in my pictures and memory.

 Paul took some of his first steps here. Jackson and Preston dumped water all over the carpet when they weren't quite 3. Alanna went through a stage where should would hide in the closet and "nurse" her doll babies just like I nursed Blaze. I will miss hearing Blaze's make believe world he lives in all by himself while the other kids are at school. And Christmas mornings, and birthday parties! I have tears running down my face...and it's not about the playroom! It's because my kids are growing up too fast and I can't do anything about it! I was also thinking in the shower that we should be able to transport ourselves to different stages in our lives.

 

 Such as, I would love to go back to the time when Jackson was a baby and we lived in VA and my schedule consisted of nurse, play, nap all day long. It was a hard stage because I felt bored and unproductive at times, but I'd love a day of that now and then when I feel like I can't catch my breath because I'm rushing from one event to the next. Or I'd love to go relive one of those days that we've vacationed in Maui or San Diego! There is no way that I'd EVER go back to revisit any one of the approximately 1,080 days that I was pregnant! I'd love to relive those moments when I first felt my warm little bundle on my chest right after birth, or their first smile around 6 weeks, or felt their soft little marshmallow cheeks nuzzled in my neck as I walked around the house with them. And the truth is I enjoy them as much now as I ever have, and I try my hardest to savor every day. But the fact remains...life is too fast, too short, I couldn't ever get enough. And I can't control it. It's bittersweet!

January...

I've been a slacker with the camera for January! It's been a month filled with painting the new trim work in the basement, grouting tile, organizing new spaces, sealing concrete. The most exciting thing we did was celebrate our 11th anniversary! We got a room at Little America, but this time we upgraded to a really nice room in the tower. And when we got there, the place was hopping with people and they upgraded our room to an even better one and provided us with valet service. Just so you know, the staff is a little more intrusive with these nicer rooms - just dropping in (and I mean just a quick knock and then using a key to enter) to bring ice, chocolates, check on us. Kind of weird! I'll just say we had a breach of privacy and leave it at that!

 For dinner, we wanted to go light and ate at the Blue Lemon. It was so nice to just relax in our room and enjoy the pool and hot tub at the hotel. We decided to try the breakfast buffet at Little America since I've heard Caleb rave about it for years. It was pretty awesome with every breakfast item you could imagine offered in unlimited quantities! James and I both enjoyed some eggs benedict with out the ham...don't know how I made it 36 years without ever having some, it's delicious! Buffets aren't for me! It was great to try once, but I force myself to eat beyond the point of comfort because I feel like I have to get my $18 worth! And it's not worth the stomach ache!

Meanwhile, the kids were at my parents house watching movies, playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate, playing board games, etc. Even though they were with my parents, I felt kind of anxious to get back because 4 kids is a lot to deal with. When we walked in their house around 1pm, we were greeted with "why are you guys back already?" We should have stayed out for the day I guess! We just joined in their activities and had some good quality family time to finish up the weekend!