Sister friends!

 

These two cuties play together most of the day, every day and are best friends. They make my heart smile! (Even when I wake up to them squished into the same toddler bed.)

Puppy love

Amelie has been talking about a boy in her class, Jack, for months. At first mention, She told us she was gonna marry him. Turns out, he tells his parents the same things, and all the teachers know about it! Funny! One day at grandma's house, Amie wrote him a love note/picture. She lost it when it was time to take it to him and was quite sad. She finally find it while cleaning her room weeks later, and brought it to school to give to him. Today, when I picked her up, first thing she told me was that jack gave her a love note! And that it had 5 hearts on it. So adorable! Note all the bugs at the bottom-I guess even in love, boys will be boys.

Cousin Liam!

I failed to mention that the very earliest part of my Valentines day was spent with my sister, Mallory. On the 13th, she went into the hospital with contractions and I was privileged enough to be a part of it. Mom, Jaimie, and I, and of course Travis helped Mal through her labor. It was a long, slow process, but I suppose it could have been much worse. It was crazy for me, cause I've never been on the other end in a delivery. Mal tried her darnedest to push him out before Valentines day, but he was stubborn and said no way, coming early in the morning hours. Liam is an adorable little dude, with a petite man face! He ended up having to stay in the hospital awhile because his oxygen was low, so almost a week later, we were able to take the kids up to meet him. The girls adore him!

Minnesota!

My sister, Melissa and her family moved away to Minnesota last year, and we haven't seen them all since then. So, when Jayden decided to be baptized, we decided to go out for it. It ended up being my 5 family members, my mom and Jaimie. We stayed in THE most ghetto hotel ever to exist, but it was cheap! We actually exploded a tire on the way there, but a guy that works for incident management was right behind us and lead us to a Walmart tire center after Jeff got the donut on. We took advantage and had a breakfast break.
While there we went swimming, went to nickelodeon universe at the mall of America (there's a pic of Carson on his first ride, loving the little train), and participated in Jayden's baptism and cupcakes. It was great to be there for that. The girls slept over with their cousins that night. We went to church with them the next day, and then had a nice Sunday dinner and movie before heading back out on the road. (thanks Mary! )
It was quick, but it was lovely to visit and for Carson to meet everyone (he and his cousin Stacey have the same birthday! )
We love and miss you guys!

Valentines day!

We started off Valentines day with our usual heart shaped pancakes with strawberry topping, and this year I threw in heart (ish) shaped bacon! We got the girls a big cookie in a tin, and I made them little stuffed monsters. Grandma Chris came and heart attacked their rooms, leaving decorations, candy and jammies. Grandma Lori gave them pink bears she made for them at build a bear, and of course candy.

After lunch at McDonalds, we took the kids to sleep over with aunt Jaimie and the uncles (plus grandma and grandpa later.) We then headed to check in at anniversary inn, then to our dinner reservation at Faustina's. (it was Jeff's turn to plan) We doubled with my parents there, and they had a yummy prix fixe menu.
Apparently Jeff had ordered a dozen roses to be delivered during dinner, but they never came. He waited and called and waited, and eventually told me and as we were getting in the car, the restaurant called him and said they'd had the roses since before we got there!
Flowers in hand, we headed back to our hotel, where we were in the phantom of the opera room. There was complimentary bubbly and cheesecake, yum! We had a lovely night, recalling all of our past Valentines'and generally reminiscing. The next morning, was the yummiest breakfast, brought to our room.
On a non holiday note, from there we met up with my oldest friend Kate who was in town. We got to tour some rooms and have lunch at moochies. Not to mention ice cream... It's always awesome to see Kate, I'm so glad we've been able to keep in actual touch despite living on opposite sides of the country.