A Little Bit A...

Over the weekend, Kristoffer and I had some time ourselves, it was fabulous.  Trine and Barry took our children Saturday afternoon over to Sunday afternoon, so we had an overnight alone, so nice!!  We tooled around town and just had so much fun being together...alone!  Later that evening, we went to the BYU men's volleyball game. 

 It totally made me miss being on the court.  I played in HS, and I really miss it!!

 Just being a little weird.

Ok, so this picture below.  The man on the left was handing out programs/flyers for the game and these two blondies to the right were completely rude to him.  This guy is quite old, heavyset, very gray in color (which, as a nurse, tells me he has at least  a few other things going on), can hardly hear, and who knows how much oxygen his brain is getting.  So these blonde brutes come in, and start haggling with him that those three seats are theirs, they've paid for them, we had this problem last night, you need to move out of our seat, blah blah blah.  It was so uncomfortable to watch, because this poor guy can hardly walk, or hear, or even understand what they are saying, and these girls....in a room with more than one empty available seat on the front row are just raking him over the coals.  They looked back at us for maybe some validation, but they weren't gettin' any from me.  I get it, you paid for three seats, and this guy is sitting in one, and there are two of you.  But why ya gotta be a jerk??

 We met up with some friends from Saratoga Springs.  So this is Claire and Dan.  We met them in NY six years ago when they were living there and we had come back to visit.  I was pregnant with Marin, and she was pregnant with her first girl also....we ended up delivering within a day of one another, how funny!  I'm telling you, Claire and I seem to go through such similar things at almost the same times...it's uncanny.  SO SO good to get together with them!

Then we drove back up to Salt Lake and stayed the night at a little hotel.  Our room was super tiny, with no fan, so I was dying that night, and poor Kristoffer felt so bad.  I just love that he made an effort to get us out of the house.

Sunday we went to church, without children...which was also very strange, and then Trine and Barry came to drop off the kids shortly thereafter.  They ahd taken the kids to Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museam, and Marin got some cute, colorful rocks...just like my girl.

 She's my sweetie!

 That weekend, Trine and Barry picked up their brand new 8 week old English Golden Retriever puppy, Sofie.  She is just adorable!

It was pretty nice out that day, so I took my girl across the street for a walk in the park.  We made a little tiny ice house for the fairies.

 It was on our walk I remembered that Marin was going to be the student spotlight that week, and I hadn't made a poster!  I scrambled to find some pics and had them printed at Walgreens (I know, I know....) and threw this poster together.  I think it turned out OK!

Marin had been depserately wanting to make cupcakes using a recipe she had found.  I was a little hesitant looking at the recipe...it didn't seem like it was going to turn out, but we made them anyway; and they so di NOT turn out.  Poor Marin, she was so disappointed.

 When I was sick last week, my sweet and wonderful husband bought me some gorgeous roses.  I love that guy, he is the best things EVER.

Owen at 2 years and 11 months

Owen is our little buddy.  He is tender-hearted and ALL boy.  There is no fooling around with the kinds of things he likes.  He and Marin and as opposite as can be in that department!  These are some of Owen's favorite things right now, just so I don't forget!

Owen's toolbox.  He is our little fixer and loves to follow daddy around and see what he can help with.  Kristoffer loves it.

 If I had to pick one shirt Owen loves, it would be his sports shirts.  He loves his baseball and football shirt, and they are only ever clean for less than a day before they are back in the hamper.  He loves any sport with a ball.

 Owen's froggy blanket.  I made him this blanket when I was pregnant, and he loves snuggling under it.  I missed getting a picture of his actual froggy stuffed animal that he sleeps with (it was in the wash).

 This rocking chair has rocked both of my babies, and for now, it still resides in Owen's room.  We read a book and snuggle in it every night.  I love those precious tender snuggles with my boy, mostly because I know that when he grows up and get's married....he'll be gone and have a life with another woman; so I'll take all the sweet snuggles he'll give me.

 Puzzles.  Owen is so good at puzzles, and loves putting the pieces where they belong, a great start to initiating how to clean...right?

 And we can't forget his CARS!  They are his love.  He always has a hot wheels car in his hot little hands for the whole day.  It changes periodically, but nevertheless, he always carries on with him.  I love watching him play with them when no one is around, it's magical.

 He just got this book for Christmas last month, and loves it.  All about construction vehicles.

 His blanket/quilt that was made my Grandma Sallie.  It's green and has cool animals on it, and super soft minky on the reverse, which he loves.  Owen is a sucker for soft blankets.

 His little water bottle.  It has dinosaurs on it, which are also way cool in Owen's book.  And, big sis has had one just like this for a couple of years, so he get's to feel like a big boy now, too.

So happy to have our little guy in our family!

Marin, 5 years and 5 months

I can't believe how big my kids are getting, it is absolutely blowing me away!  I wanted to capture some pictures of a few of Marin's favorite things at this time in her life, just so I'll never forget.

Marin's crayons.  She is so creative and loves to color and draw.  She makes the sweetest pictures for all of us and it's kind of little kid art that makes your heart melt.

 Marin likes to set up a little pretend world for her 'squinkies' (just teeny, tiny play animals), and she decorates their castle/house.  It makes me smile because I remember doing exactly the same things when I was little....except, I used a Q-tip (funny, I know).  And that world was 100% alive to me 25 years ago, as it is for her, and I love that her imagination is alive and well.

 Jewelry.  Marin loves jewelry, and it's so sweet to see her put it on to complete an outfit. 

 Kitties.  My girl *love* her kitties.  The white one is a kitty Kristoffer and I picked up for her two years ago at Lagoon, and she has taken it to bed with her every night.  The little one came with her Veterinarian kit for Christmas, and she cares for it so sweetly.

 We've been getting into reading chapter books, and for Christmas, Grandma gave Marin the very first installment in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, Little House in the Big Woods.  We plowed right through it in about two weeks, she LOVED it!

 Her clothes, they make me happy to see all the things she loves to wear.

 If I could pick a pattern to describe Marin, it would be this, pink with white polka dots.  So sweet, so simple, so classic and innocent.

 Purses, does Marin ever loves to fill her purses with *everything* she can find.  It's so cute to peek in there and see what she's stuffed away and what she treasures.

 Marin loves to serve food from her play kitchen, and takes a lot of time to prepare and make things look nice for us.

 And this is Marin's Dream-light.  She wanted one for so long and two Christmases ago, Santa brought her one.  It's a girly, pink unicorn, totally her style, and it makes me smile.

We love our sweet girl!

Reinforced

After my contemplation a few weeks ago on what my New Years Resolution should be, I determined to closely follow this:  A House of Order, closely tied to my motto of Prepare Ye Every Needful Thing.  You can imagine my surprise when, at Ward Conference today, they announced the 2014 theme for our Stake: (as seen in the picture)

My eyeballs almost popped out of my head as our Stake Relief Society President announced the theme and read the accompanying scripture...which was precisely what I had chosen for my personal resolution this year three weeks ago.  What a testimony to...well, I don't know, myself maybe?  Just to know that I'm not way off in left field, and that I'm in tune enough to the Spirit to receive those promptings.  

I was so grateful for such a wonderful Stake Conference today.  It was just perfect.  Satan, as always was trying desperately that morning to keep us from going to church, but it seemed he was trying extra hard this morning, we were all stressed.  And I am so glad we fought the good fight and WENT!  Such wonderful topics, such hardworking, dedicated, spiritual leaders with hearts full of love and compassion.  An example to me of what I need to work harder to become.  I've felt prompted for a while to find a way to make temple visits a priority in our home, and we are still working out the details, but today's Stake Conference reinforced that prompting, and so many others.  I am so blessed.  So, so, SO incredibly blessed to have this Gospel in my life.  To know that while I am far from perfect, I can still receive promptings from the Spirit, those promptings are not just reserved for perfect people!  I am working hard this year to create a HOUSE OF ORDER, just as it needs to be, and while I'm sure the journey will have rough patches, I look forward to the harvest of our good intentions and efforts.