valentine's day

nothing starts a day out right, like pop rocks.... and kai climbing in my bed to snuggle (dave was still at work)
dave came home from work with flowers and a card with a heart-shaped box of chocolates for me. He also had chocolates and a card for sadie, and candy hearts for the boys. i was lucky to find a babysitter and dave and i took off for a lunch date. we hit the irish pub downtown and enjoyed cottage pie and plain (not spiked) hot chocolate. being the dreamers that we are, we planned a trip to ireland someday and then dave beat me in a game of pool. we laughed and both concluded it is fun to just hang out. we walked around downtown-- looked through a few favorite shops....and sadie only called us once because kai locked max in his room and they couldn't get him out :)

we spent the evening with the kids watching a movie and eating pizza and homemade ice cream.

At My Baptism: by abram

At my baptism I smiled alot. When I got out of the water I was cold. Sadie sung 'when I am baptized'. I felt the holly ghost and a little nervous. It was confterble when there hands wer on my head.
kai, hannah, abe, sadie dave baptized and confirmed abe abe and papa john grandma and grandpa haws tim and holly (dave's bro. and his wife) kari and abe-my brother rob, his wife and daughter came.abe had a few friends come

ms. v and her daughter

abe's baptism day was one of those great days. he did smile a lot and he was so excited. sadie sang and did a beautiful job. my mom gave a short talk about the holy ghost. dave said a few things about abe (cried, which he doesn't do very often) and gave him a wonderful blessing. abe requested a spaghetti lunch and my mom pulled it off with no problem. thanks to everyone that came to support abe. it was nice to have a few friends there. abe invited his two school teachers and it was neat that they came. it was especially wonderful, since we are far away, to have some family there and we know it was a long way to come. THANK YOU! abe, you are an amazing kid. how lucky we are to have you!

detention anyone?

so sadie came home from school the other day pretty disturbed....she got caught in the middle of a snowball fight. of course, she didn't throw a snowball...she gently placed snow on a boy. the punishment was missing recess the next day at school, otherwise known as detention. she was very worried about being in trouble and i was so grateful that i could help ease her anxiety with all my wisdom and experience. i found myself saying, "don't worry about it. i had detention all the time! it was the only class your dad and i had together. just take your ipod." nice.

can't live without you

for christmas this year, each of the kids gave dave an "i can't live without you" outing. kai and abe picked going with dave to a globetrotter game. they came to flagstaff last month. they were very happy with their choice. max enjoyed dave's company playing trains. and sadie....picked a day skiing at the snowbowl. she got to skip school and spend the day skiing with dave. this was their first experience skiing here in AZ and they both thought it was beautiful weather, fun runs, and great company!

who let the dogs out

what is a birthday without a party? abe's party was on saturday and it was "pawsome!" he has some great friends. one time i asked him why he wasn't eating his cold lunches at school...was there not enough time? did he think it was gross? his response was he couldn't eat his lunch because "my friends think i'm the BOM" they all stand around saying, "abe, abe let's go!" they needed him for the soccer game at recess. i am grateful that he has made some good friends since we moved here.
we started the party at the movie theater. we watched the movie "hotel for dogs". we took up an entire row...at one point i looked at all the kids and thought i must be crazy, but everything went well, only a few bathroom breaks. after the movie and some air hockey we headed back to our house to experience the "hotel for dogs". abe made a sign for the door to welcome everyone to the hotel where they would get to adopt their own dog. sadie and her friends were the hotel workers, welcoming everyone (with the song, 'who let the dogs out' in the background) to the hotel. each boy picked a dog to adopt and name(stuffed animal)...then the dog activities began.

there were three activities that the boys and their dogs rotated through. they each had something to do with the movie.

activity #1: the glowing fire hydrant

the dogs rode in the home-made elevator (a basket and some string) to our loft where sadie and her friends where waiting. the dogs played pin the dog on the fire hydrant. sadie was great, she had it all planned out and made it really fun for the boys.

activiy #2: dog elevator

in the movie, the dog rode in a basket that was pulled with a rope. so the boys each decorated their own dog carrier "elevator". they drew dog paws, wrote their dog's name, and put dog sticker on their elevator. then we filled their elevators with dog food (m&m's)

dog activity #3: exercise

dave had some relay races for the boys and their dogs. he timed them... everything is more fun to an eight year old when a stop watch is involved.

we had pizza and opened presents and ended with cake right as the parents where arriving. it was a lot of fun. happy birthday abe!!!

it's great to be abe...and eight

it was abe's birthday on january 20th. he turned 8!! abe is such an important part of our family. he is a great brother, a peacemaker, has a great sense of humor, works hard in school, and wants to be good. it was a busy day with school, sadie's dance, and basketball, but we tried to make it feel like his big day.... at breakfast i had his baby book out. i realized he hasn't looked through it for years. it was all new to him. he laughed at his pictures and even took a few to school to show his class.

breakfast was the standard pancake with a candle.

later, i took donuts to his class as requested.

after basketball and dinner, we finally got around to presents (around 8:30pm)

i think the wait was worth it....who wouldn't be excited about mini goals and knee hockey?

we love you, abe.

we think you are an all-star!

invite

abe is getting baptized. i can't believe it. here is the invite and if any of you are in town, let us know. we would love to see you.