Round 2

I think Dallas must have felt bad that Joni got to go into the big city and he didn't, so they all came back for another little visit. I was telling Dallas some of the options for the night, some things I thought they would might like and when I told him about 16th Street Mall, the look on his face was hilarioius! So we ended up going to Bass Pro Shops. The kids all had fun shooting the targets in the arcade, they loved watching the fish.

We were a little slow getting the camera out, but for a few seconds ALL of these fish had their eyes on Hayden, it was freaky! After exploring the store, we went into the restaurant to eat some alligator and dinner.

The kids all had a hard time falling asleep, which I knew they would. I wasn't too worried about it because my boys are used to having a late night once, and sometimes twice a week, but when it got to be about 11:00 I decided we better do something about it. I went up and laid on the couch and told them I was going to lay there for 5 minutes and didn't want to hear a single sound. Joni came up and joined me, and the kids zonked out so fast, or so we thought! We talked and talked, exchanging stories for 2 hours. About 1:00 we decided we better get to bed and Dusty popped his eyes open wide. He said he heard everything. We quizzed him, and sure enough, it seems he really did hear our whole conversation! I don't know how he could stay up that late, and pretend he was asleep. Luckily, he woke up fine the next morning to go to school. We had lots of fun, Kyrie misses her abc friend and Hayden keeps talking about his "boy cousin". I'm glad we were able to spend some time with them! Thanks Dallas and Jo for changing your plans!

Sluffers!

My boys sluffed school yesterday, it was the first day of school they missed all school year. But it was for a very fun reason, to spend time with some of their first best friends - COUSINS! It's a VERY rare occassion when cousins get to come to our house. These ones happened to be in Fort Collins for the week, and my sister Joni got brave enough to drive into Denver by herself. Well not ALL by herself, her 3 kids, and her friend came too. They debated whether to go to the zoo or the Museum of Nature & Science. We ended up going to the museuem for a few hours.

Kenzie was so excited to see the dead people, these mummies are guessed to be about 3000 years old. She later told us she was expecting to see the mummies with their arms stretched out, walking around like zombies. We didn't see any walking mummies, but she said the mummies were still her favorite part.

Gavin, Dusty and Hayden in front of the croc-agator, I always forget how to tell an alligator from a crocodile. Gavin was so easy to get a picture of, he sat there still, with a smile on his face the whole time. Dusty always wiggles around, and usually won't smile, and Hayden can't keep his head or eyes still.

Avery and Kyrie look so excited to be there. I don't think Ky was feeling well, she was not very happy, but she was happy to see her "ABC friend". I told her that her friend Avery was coming, and she repeated "friend ABC?".

No, really Avery was pretty happy, it was just Kyrie that wasn't.

Dusty, Kyrie, Avery, Mackenzie, Gavin, and Hayden - I hope they all had fun, I wish we could get together more than just 2 times a year! Thanks for coming Jo!

Derby

Dusty had his very first pinewood derby and was so excited. He had the block of wood for about a month and couldn't wait to turn it into his car. Well he got to wait and wait for the whole month, him and his dad finally pulled it out 2 days before the race and got it carved, painted and put together. His car did really good, and won 2nd place. He was really excited, and Hayden couldn't wait to tell him, "good job" - he was pretty proud of his brother!

Ky

I could post so much about Kyrie, she is so much fun! It just seems that everything she says and does is so sweet and cute. She still loves her babies and princesses, anything pink or girly. She is so concerned about others and is always asking the rest of us how we are, if we are happy, if we are hungry, if we are tired. She just started asking herself those same questions, it is so funny to hear her "Kyrie, are you hungry? No! Are you tired? Ya! Okay!" A couple of weeks ago we were watching a neighbor friend all day and she kept asking "Are you okay friend? Are you happy friend?" She says please, welcome and thank-you for everything. I could put on my own pair of socks and she would say, "thant-you mama, thanks!". If only I knew how to get the boys to be as polite! She loves to sing and be sung to, one of my favorites is when she sings the Barney song, "I love you, I love me, we're a happy follow me, great big hug and kiss too, I love you too!" Whenever she doesn't want something she says, "I don't want want to". And another one of my favorite things about Ky right now is how everything is a "sceery sneek". In December we stopped by Arby's after seeing Zoo Lights and I handed her a curly fry. She held it straight out in front of her, barely hanging onto it, and cried "sceery sneek". The funny thing to me was she seemed so terrified, but she wouldn't drop it, she waited until I took it from her. Since then, ANYTHING that is in a line, curly or straight is a scary snake, a hair, a cut on her finger, anything! I tried giving her a gummy worm, and she wouldn't eat it because it was a scary snake. But then she ate it after I ripped it into pieces. She has always been fun so fun to have in our family, I still can't get enough of her!

Valentines

A month ago we had a happy Valentines Day. Our day was full of pink, red, hearts, class parties, candy and flowers. We somehow got a few smiles too! We had our first ever candle lit dinner at home, yummy heart pizza, punch and berry cheesecake trifle, it was yummy!

Abundance

Our family has had some situations to think about lately, and it has made me realize how greatful I am that we live in such abundance. Growing up we always had what we needed, and we still have the same blessing today. I do remember the first few years of our married life we really struggled. I remember having 1 pair of work pants and 1 pair of jeans, and that was it. My regular jeans had holes in the knees and it was humiliating to wear them everyday - back then holes were not the style. But we didn't have any money to buy anymore for quite awhile. I remember adding the cost of the few groceries in my cart up in my head and having to put a can of soup or two back on the shelf because I knew I didn't have quite enough money to cover it all. Things were very tough, then I had Dusty and I was so emotional thinking about having to go back to work, I knew that wasn't a possibility. He had very few clothes, and I had no way to purchase him a blessing outfit - so he was blessed in dark blue! I was able to stay home with him instead of returning to work. We struggled, but we always had what we needed. Now it seems we live in abundance. We have so much, partly because I have a hard time getting rid of anything. We have collected toys for 8.5 years, and it's time we get rid of some! I was thinking about all of the baby items we now have, and they are not all necessities, most of them luxuries. I was thinking about what we could get rid of if we really were put in a position if we were to downsize, and I think we could get rid of about half of the items in our house. We have so much, and so much to be greatful for. Then I taught the nursery class and the lesson was on "I am greatful for water". And then we had snack time, which included water, and as I was pouring the water into cups I thought how lucky we really are. A lot of people don't even have that - they are drinking brown, dirty water. Over the weekend we left to meet up with some friends for a few hours. Before meeting with them, we ran into Arby's for a quick bite. A guy came up from behind us as we were eating and handed both Chris and I a laminated card. Without even looking at him we both said "thanks". We both started looking at the card, and it had some uplifting message with a great big smiley face. It then said he was both deaf and mute, and if at all possible, he was asking for whatever we could "purchase" the card for. On the reverse side of the card was the alphabet in sign language, so we could learn to spell with our hands. Chris turned around and motioned with his finger "just a minute". We didn't have any cash on us, so he ran out to the truck and came back in with my bag. All I had was a $20.00 and a $10.00. The guy came back over to us with a few ones in his hand, and we handed him the $10.00. He then signed "thank-you" with tears in his eyes. He was so truly greatful and he left the store crying. It made me cry too! And it made me wish we had given him the $20.00. I usually ignore those on the corner asking for money. But for some reason this was different, and he acted different. The way he responded when he saw that money - what a HUGE gift to him. And to me, it was just a few dollars that will never be missed. He showed so much gratitude for just a few dollars, really it was an emotional moment. I have been very greatful lately for our many blessings, but this experience has made me even more greatful for what we have. We are so lucky, and we are so blessed, and I am greatful!