happy valentine's day!

this is a picture of dave putting on my ski boots.  i realized, when we took vivian skiing, that i have never, not even once, put on my own ski boots.  dave does it every time.  

when dave and i got married, it was THE COLDEST day of the year.   by the time we were done with pictures at the temple, my feet were frozen.  as soon as we walked in the building, dave knelt down took of my shoe and rubbed my foot until it was warm.   

that is the kind of guy he is and continues to be.  

he always wants to make sure i am good and happy and comfortable.

 the last two weeks, he has worked a ton!  he got home late saturday night.  i was up talking to sadie about her date and since it was after midnight i gave him my little valentine's day gift.  he ran back out to the car and brought in this giant panda bear for me.  haha!  it was a joke because at our kids'   high school, there is a group that give each other these huge stuffed animals for valentine's day.  

anyway, we laughed and the night ended with sadie telling us that we are weird= success!

anyway, i love dave!  he makes my life happy.  he works extremely 

hard to take care of us in every way possible.

sandfish

abe started a band three weeks ago and they had their first gig this weekend.  

it was impressive!

i have rarely seen abe so pumped.

he LOVED it!

he was completely in his element.

they were invited to play at a 7th grade girl's surprise birthday party.  they were invited at the beginning of the week and at the time, they only knew two songs.  they learned at least ten more songs and invited the bass player to play with them that day, and it all worked out.

the mom kept sending me videos and it just made me absolutely happy watching them.

it was a good day.

well done, sandfish!

vivi skis

vivi went skiing for her very first time!

she liked it.  

she wasn't too daring and wanted her dad next to her the whole time.

i loved watching dave help her.  so patient.  it was a beautiful day!

awesome

MAX IS AWESOME!

the scouts had their blue and gold banquet.  the cub master made this awesome stand and made each boy stand on it and say their name and one thing that made them awesome, then the crowd would yell back, "you are awesome, max!"  max said he was awesome because he has a good family.  then the cub master took his cub master minute and explained the most important reason we are all awesome is because we are children of God.  it was a good night!  

band practice

moms-n-muffins

i had the privilege of going early to school and reading with max.  

a few things:

i felt prompted to look max in the eye while he was talking to me - i got down to his level and listened with my whole self.  that is hard to do sometimes because i usually have a lot on my mind.

next, i walked in the gym and saw so many moms there with their kids.  trooper moms, towing babies and other siblings- so early in the morning!  all of a sudden, i felt the spirit.  it was a little unexpected, and i looked around while the primary song "if you listen with your heart"- the line that says, "this is how God shares his love" went through my mind.  it hit me and i had to hold back a tear.  

of course this is how God shares His love, he sends 

moms (and dads and families) to love and care for each other.  

i went to visit my niece who had a baby last week at 35 weeks.  he is in the NICU because they have discovered he has a genetic disorder.  me niece told me she never understood a mother's love until this last week and that she has never prayed like this before.

I KNOW THE FEELING!

a mother's love has to be so close to God's love.

anyway,

i love this max of mine.

he is kind hearted, smart, genuine, and a tad bit embarrass-able.

we read cs lewis and had an awesome conversation about the symbolism of the lion in the book.  why the lion came to the boy in his moment of sorrow and then the darkness all around him turned to light.  i was able to bear testimony that Christ does that for us.  

haha!  it was an unusually spiritual moms and muffins for me.

i liked reading that today.

then the bell rang, and max said, "i didn't forget" and gave me a huge hug.

(i've been making a big effort to hug each of my kids before they head out the door)

right as i was leaving, i got a text that said kai missed the bus.

he was pretty nervous about it, so as i drove him to school, i told him i was SO GLAD he missed the bus because now i got to have a real hug. (he was in the tub when i left earlier with max, so i yelled 'air hug' through the door.)  he laughed the 'oh-my-word-you-are-a-weird-mom'  laugh, but he smiled and hugged me, then i sent him on his way. 

...and thats what happened today at moms-n-muffins:)

color-full

vivian hosted preschool at our house this week.  

she was ecstatic!

theme for the week:

COLORS

here's a glimpse.

m&m's graphing

colorful "scat the cats"

string art

 you put the string on the paper, close it like a book, hold it shut while you pull the string out.
fun to see the fun designs and where the colors mix and make different colors. 

 mable painting

dip the marbles in paint then-

shake, shake, shake it off

happy days spent with vivian and her good friends.