Snow

So, it snowed the other day.
I won't lie. I didn't get excited. Well, maybe just for a second because it was kinda pretty.
I can't figure out why snow and cold weather love me so much.

Anyway, the kids ran around in it when it was falling and the next morning, they wanted to play it in.
Too bad I didn't bring our snow boots that we had in Utah. I really didn't think that we would ever need them. Who came to the rescue? Matt, of course. He rigged up some "boots" with some of his athletic tape. Yay- FOR Dad!


We had a fun Valentines Day. I had a coupon, so I was able to get the girls these little cute matching dresses, tights and headbands.
We all color coordinated and went to church.

Someone found a cool hot pink heart to surround their amazing family.

I love Valentine's Day

I have always loved Valentine's Day. Not the gift giving or candy or commercialization of it, but just the idea of being thoughtful and expressing how much you care to the special people in your life.
Not to mention, I have the best valentine in the world. Matt always does something thoughtful and creative for me. Remember last year?


I helped Jonah cut out hearts for his valentines to give to his classmates and to decorate his valentine box and it was just so much fun. I convinced him to make homemade valentines this year to pass out at school and he actually had a lot of fun coming up with the sayings.
I thought he was really creative and the best part was when he realized that homemade valentines were more fun to create.



We also had to decorate sugar cookies. Valentine's Day and sugar cookies just go together. It is always entertaining to watch kids try and cover their cookie with 2 tons of sprinkles. I just had to laugh. Those little nonpareils really can make a mess.

I guess I just like hearts and love.
Pretty great things to celebrate if you ask me.

I love my girls.
I love the warm sunshine.
I love smiles.
I love hugs.

"Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish. Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel. Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."

I have had the words to this hymn running through my mind all day.
I don't really feel like going into all the details of the people and sorrows that have been on my mind, but the last sentence-"Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal", has really made me feel better about some things.
It's just hard to deal with the pain sometimes here on earth and the unanswered questions, but I know that Heaven really can heal all of our sorrows, hurts, and pains.

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

My thoughts today

Sometimes it is really hard for me to see all the suffering and disparity in the world. I feel so helpless as to how I can make a difference. It can be really discouraging if you think about all the horrible situations that people all over the world are in. War, natural disasters, poverty, inhumane living conditions, unfair treatment of ethnicities, etc. All of these things weigh on my mind at times.
I struggle with the hopelessness of it all and somehow wanting to solve everything and knowing I can't, all alone.

Then last night I finally had a light bulb moment.
I don't have to change the entire world. I don't have to save the world.
But I can do something. I can help someone.
I may not be able to heal all the wounds of the suffering, but I can help someone by taking action and doing something to help. Every little act of charity or kindness helps.

Someone has already saved the entire world. My Savior, Jesus Christ has already done it. He has already taken it upon himself to heal the wounds of all those who hurt, every unfair thing and all I have to do is try my best to be like him.
That is what I can do, to make this world a better place.

Our Quick Trip to DC

These pictures loaded backwards, so I guess I will just talk about this trip from the end to the beginning.
This is me and Matt at the airport, on the way home from our whirlwind, less than 24 hour trip to go to Whitney and Richard's sealing at the Washington DC Temple.
It was soooo cold.
My mom, dad, and Andrew were visiting with Audrey and Scott, so we were able to stay with them and they came to the temple too. Andrew was mainly a baby holder.
We got to meet our newest nephew, Lucas while we were on this trip and he is sooo cute!
Matt took a picture of the temple from the outside. I have never been to this temple before. It is so big and beautiful.
I stayed inside. It was about 16 degrees with really strong winds, so we took lots of pictures inside then the happy couple went outside for a couple of minutes for more pictures. I stayed inside and helped hold Lucas.
Matt went outside and held coats and things.
After the ceremony, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for a yummy lunch.
Then we went to Audrey and Scott's house for a few hours and got to see the other kiddos and visit.
This is Lucas. He really is the sweetest baby ever. So smiley and happy. Never cries. I wanted to bring him home with me.
I really did. His brothers got quite upset when they heard me say that and quickly had him taken out of my arms so I couldn't steal him.

Fun trip!
I am so happy for Richard and Whitney. So glad that we were able to make it up to the wedding.
Thanks to Grandma Becky and Papa Frank for watching our kids, so that we could actually afford to go up there without being completely broke.
It was a great trip!

Disney World

We decided this year to take a trip for Christmas. My friend Jaime and I, had been throwing the idea around for a couple of years of going to DisneyWorld, together with our families, and talked about it, but hadn't ever really had the chance to plan it until this year. We both decided we were serious about it happening and this summer we decided Christmas was the perfect time to take our trip. We knew our kids would have a blast since they are great friends.
We left Sunday night, around 10 pm and drove to Orlando. The kids did pretty good sleeping in the car and we arrived at DisneyWorld at 4:30 am. A little bit earlier than we had expected.
Luckily, our hotel let us check in early and we got to take a nap for a couple hours before we headed out to the Magic Kingdom.
We had a blast. The kids were loving every minute of it. That first night we ate dinner with Cinderella and her family.


The stepsisters and the stepmother were just awful, meaning they were in character and acting just the way their characters would. It was kind of funny and I messed with them a little bit.
Prince Charming chose Ryanne to get up and dance with him. She was smiling from ear to ear.

We met tons of characters, which was really exciting for all the kids (well, except Jonah sometimes. He didn't want to act too excited about meeting so many princesses)
We took a spin in the tea cups. Jaime and Danny opted out on this one- they didn't want to get sick. The people who wanted to spin a lot, loaded up with Matt.
Madelyn and I took it quite slow and had fun too.


Jonah's face in this one just really made me laugh. He wouldn't even pretend that he was glad to get his picture taken with Sleeping Beauty.
The next day we ate lunch with Pooh Bear and his friends. Ryanne told Pooh that she was fat like him. Not sure where she got that idea from, but it made us giggle. She was laughing too.
Savannah just wanted to pet all these guys.



If only you could see the crazy antics that happened while we were waiting in line. I took a series of pictures while we were all waiting and it is quite hilarious to see how the kids dealt with it. Here Madelyn and Jonah were talking seriously about something.

On Matt's birthday we went to the Animal Kingdom and the safari was really neat. We got to see some animals up close and they made the ride really exciting and fun too.
Jonah's favorite ride was Expedition Everest, which was in this park. I went on it too. It was a great rollar coaster, but slightly nauseating.


The morning of my birthday we ate with Lilo and Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. I got to join in the parade because it was my birthday.
Pluto was really fun with the kids. He was hugging them and on all fours making everybody laugh.

We went to Hollywood studios and were able to meet more characters and also watch some great shows, like a shorter version of the Broadway show, Beauty and the Beast. They also had amazing Christmas lights, which for some reason I completely forgot to take a picture of.
On Christmas we read the Christmas story in our conjoining rooms in the morning before we went to Epcot. It was a beautiful day. Very warm and humid.
By friday night, Savannah was really worn out. Well, we all were! She was just wanting to lay around while we waited for Matt and some of the others to come back from a ride.

The last night we met a couple more characters and got a family pic with Mickey.
Ryanne stuck her head under a hand sanitizer dispenser and somehow had her entire head covered in hand sanitizer right before we took the last batch of character pictures. It was pretty slimey and gross.
I am still not sure how she managed to do that.

We had a great time and made lots of memories.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas!