Happy 5th Birthday Caitlin and Courtney!

Random picture of Rachel doing the dishes that night!  Yeah!

We took Caitlin and Courtney out to dinner for their birthday.  They picked Panera Bread, which happens to be my favorite restaurant.  Afterwards, they had their cakes and opened their presents.  It was a happy day!  I can't believe they're already 5 years old!  It seems like just yesterday I was carrying them both around the house as newborns.  I love the age that they are right now.  They are adorable, imaginative and fun. 

Kind of like the zoo, except for the dead part. . .

Cabelas
Oh, deer!

Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!

We took our little kids to the D.C. Area last weekend. Rachel spent a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge with her friend Lauren. It seemed strange not having her with us. Paul's brother, John, was in Virginia for meetings and since we don't get to see him very often (he lives in England), we decided to meet him and our niece and nephew, Camille and Aaron, (who live in Baltimore) and also visit the temple. We had dinner together and then visited while the kids swam in the hotel pool.

The highlight of our trip for the kids was our stop on a whim at Cabela's on the way down. We have never been there before. They loved seeing the fish and animals. I was impressed by all the taxidermied (is that a word?) animals and the scenes they created with them. It kind of reminded me of the Bean Museum at BYU. The kids really liked walking through the aquarium as well. Spencer begged us to get a wooden gun that made a popping noise and I relented. We did make him pay for it himself. Seriously, this is a big deal for me. . . allowing a toy gun in my house. Of course, there were all kinds of accompanying rules with said gun possession being threatened. He has managed to comply with the rules so far. But on to the good news. . . it broke today while he and a friend were playing! It was a pretty sturdy toy but somehow the barrel broke when it was accidentally dropped on the ground by his friend. Now I don't have to worry about having a toy gun in the house. Unfortunately, now Spencer will once again begin his relentless pestering for me to get him a Nerf gun since he no longer has his irritating popping rifle anymore.

Paul and I loved having a chance to go to the temple, thanks to John who watched the kids for us while we were there. I am so grateful we can attend the temple and enter a haven where our challenges seem far away and the God's spirit dwells. Afterwards, we said goodbye to John and took the kids to the temple visitor's center. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and the hyacinths and daffodils were in bloom, making everything look and smell beautiful.

Gotta love the sun in your eyes, eh?

The sun was a bit bright!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a wonderful St. Patty's Day with some of my girlfriends who took me out for a birthday treat.  Missing is my friend, Tammy, who had to leave early.  We had a great time telling stories & listening to Sven jokes.  I am so lucky to have such amazing friends!

What do we do in the wintertime when all the world is white?

And, this just in. . . the winter continues on and on! Today I see some patches of grass here and there and that gives me hope that someday the world will be green again. It's been a while since I last posted, so I'm sharing random pictures from the last couple of weeks which tell our story.


During last week's snowstorm, Caitlin, Rachel and Courtney dressed up as ladybugs and put on a play for me. It was so cute. They wrote a script, rehearsed their lines and performed it.

I finally surpassed the 50 lb. mark in my weight loss. The last couple of months have been slower than I would like. I'm still working on it, but I've made significant progress.

Rachel's been playing a lot of basketball. It keeps her VERY busy because she also got a part in the spring musical, takes piano and violin lessons and has tons of young women activities now. In a recent game, her team was way behind, came back and tied the game with a few seconds left. Her teammate passed her the ball and Rachel swished it in for the win! It was amazing! I'm so glad she had that moment of glory, making the clutch shot. In the past, she hasn't played much but because they lost one of their players to an injury, she's had a lot more playing time the last two games. It's been fun to watch her game improving as she gets more experience.

We had another big snow storm Thursday and Friday of last week. For some reason, shoveling was more difficult for me this time. I normally don't mind but there were some very high drifts I had to shovel (3 feet in some places.) I just kept thinking of "Finding Nemo" where Dori says, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" and substituted "Just keep shoveling, just keep shoveling." I also repeatedly reminded myself to "endure to the end."

Spencer lost his other front tooth so now he's missing his two front teeth! Yesterday, he had his tonsils and adenoids removed. He did surprisingly well and was up and moving at home making lego creations and playing on the computer the same day! Last night went okay. He refused to take the pain medication because it tasted so nasty so I don't think he was feeling that great. My cousin told me that the third day was the worst one for her kids so we'll see how it goes. It's going to be a long week since he'll be home from school. Keeping him entertained may prove to be a challenge.

Our kids spent much of the snow days in their pjs chillin'.

Snuggling in blankets while watching the olympics has kept the

kids happy the last couple of weeks.

The kids love to take pictures of themselves. This picture and the next are from their own Sunday afternoon photo shoot.

Rachel's such a poser!

By the way, the snow was very beautiful!