Blackfoot and Walking

I'm such a dork that I didn't take any pictures of our weekend in Blackfoot. On Saturday we hitched a ride with David's sister Carla and her husband and daughter and went to visit David's only brother in Blackfoot. It was Dave's nieces birthday and we hadn't been down there in a while. We had such a good time. We played games and the kids played with Jessica. Clare was in absolute Heaven. There were princess dolls and a doll house and a little play kitchen and best of all... there was Jesse. Her very own cousin friend. Jesse was so good to play with her even though she is a big girl now (six) and Clare is so small.
We had a blast and as always, Steve and Emily were fabulous hosts. Always good food, good company, good entertainment.
We went to churh with them on Sunday and Kaity took Clare and Hyrum in the Nursery with her so David and I got to listen to the entire block of meetings without interuption. It was so nice! That hasn't happened in nearly three years. Thankyou Kaity and thankyou Shane and Carla for lending her to us and for being such a wonderful Uncle and Aunt to our kids. They absolutely love you.
Today was a gorgeous warm day. David and I took the kids outside and ended up going for a walk around the block. It was so good to get outside and feel the sunshine. The kids were eating it up too. We ended up at the IFA that is not to far from our house. They were having an amazing sale on all of their toys. they were all at least 75% off if not more. There was tons of John Deere stuff for super cheap and Breyer horse play sets. We had so much fun shopping for the kiddos. I told David that we should probably keep some of it hidden for birthdays and next Christmas but he can never wait. I have to hide Clare Christmas presents from him or he'll give them to her early. He loves his kids, and loves to spoil them. Anyway. We had just as much fun as the kids did playing with them. Have a good week!

Mmmm Cheesecake

I have been craving cheesecake lately and I'm going to make some this morning. I have never made it before but I'm using a recipe I found on the internet. I never knew how many variations of cheesecake there are. Apparently there is Philidelphia cheesecake, Italian cheesecake, New York cheesecake (which is what I'm making) and then all of the fruit/chocolate/pumkin/coffee/peanut butter versions of each. Wow! It makes my mouth water. Wish me luck.

All is calm, All us white

We were pounded yesterday by a huge snow storm that dropped about ten inches of snow on us. I'm thinking about hunting down a certain ground hog and pinning his hide up on our woodshed. (six weeks till spring! Baaah!) Anyway, it made everything look so pretty and I had to take some pix. I love it when the snow sticks to the branches on the trees so that it turns all white. Beautiful.

Our back yard looked pretty too

It makes everything so pretty. Even our street, which is a big deal, since we live in ghettoville.

How do I love thee

I hope everyone had a great Valentines that was spent cherishing the ones you love. We spent ours cherishing our loved ones as well as David's sister's loved ones. We decided to swap babysitting so that we could both do something for Valentines day. Friday night David and I went out while Becky and Garon watched our kids and Saturday we watched their kiddos while they went out. Unfortunately Becky had experienced a bad fall on the ice that really messed up her back and she had to come back early so they only got to have about an hour and a half together before coming back. I felt so bad for her. She was in a lot of pain and could hardly move.
David and I got to go to dinner at the Coppermill Resteraunt in Logan and then we just walked around Al's Sporting goods looking at all of the terribly price inflated items that we would love to have. We made a wish list. It's something like this:
Canoe
Basketball
Backpack (for both of us)
shotgun
fly rod
fishing pole for Esther (David lost mine last year...not that I ever actually fished with it anyway.)
Treadmill for Esther (Still trying to lose that extra 20 lbs from the last baby.)
bike trailer for the kids
New bike for David
Kid backpack so that we can take walks/hikes with the kids on our backs

So anyway. If anyone was looking to spend a couple grand on us. Now you have an idea what to get. :) Just joking!
We had a great time thought just walking around and dreaming about all of the fun things we're going to do some day. Thankyou so much Becky for watching the kids so that David and I could spend some quality time. David found a great segment of a talk from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland on lds.org that I loved. here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM3mlgLAIMs

Today's Triumph

I have had my eye on this quilt for a long time but could never justify spending that much on it until today! I saw an add that advertised it at 40% off so I ran and snatched it up. I love it! the color's are so rich and varied. I still need a bed skirt but I may have to wait for that. Thanks for looking.

Random thoughts

Since I don't have anything really interesting to report I decided to include a few random pictures and thoughts. Sorry that I have so many of my kids but they are the main people that I spend my time with soooo there it is. We are grateful this week that David will have some work to do. It snowed last night so he will be busy today and it's supposed to snow more tomorrow. Thank goodness! 20 hours a week wasn't really cutting it. We are looking forward to spring so that he can start mowing and doing sprinkler repair again. Summers are always better for Landscapers. Go figure.

All boy, All girl

It's funny how different my two children are already. I haven't really encouraged them in any real boy or girl stuff either way but they definitely have their preferences. Clare latched on to princesses like glue when when she was about 22 months old and Hyrum has been facinated with Daddy and Daddy's hats and tools since he could coordinate his arms to pick stuff up. Don't get me wrong, they have their quarks. Clare is defininitely an outside kind of person and loves trucks and Hyrum likes to wear sparkly necklaces. I'd say they are fairly balanced kids. Lets hope David and I don't mess them up too bad..:) I'm so glad we have been blessed with such sweet, unique little spirits that have already taught us so much in the few years we have had them.

Out of the closet :)

We have a linen closet in our hallway that has a little cupboard on the bottom where I don't currently have anything stored. Clare recently discovered it and it's her favorite hide-out now. She loves crawling inside with a little flashlight and shutting the doors. She also brings her blanket and pillow in there to make a little bed. It's the perfect size for her and Hyrum to play. I tried coming in and it was a little tight for me. Then again. I have put on a few pounds since I was say....three. I think Hyrum has got the "say CHEESE!" thing down...don't you?