Valentine's Day

 Holidays are always a special time at our home.  The girls had a blast making their own Valentine's box.  The boys helped also and I love how they turned out.  I woke up early and made a jello braid for breakfast before Nathan left for seminary.  The kids love traditions like the little boxes of chocolate and conversation hearts, Greg's annual poems and of course the Crazy Cupids Cafe for dinner.

 

 The girls let me do their hair and Greg sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, complete with tulips which he knows are my favorite.  I got to help in Callie's class and even too cookies to Annabelle's to celebrate her Half Birthday.

 My Daddy gave me this kiss necklace many many years ago and I love wearing it every year.  It makes me feel closer to him instead of 2 states away.

 

 All ready for Cupids Cafe.  The menu ended up being a lot bigger that usual and we had lots of leftovers, but it was yummy and the kids didn't complain.  We had steak, baked potatoes, rolls, cookies, fruit salad, and veggies.  Even I couldn't finish all the food.

  Trying to get a picture of everyone smiling and not making goofy faces is pretty tough.  I love the goofy, but it does get a little tiring.

  I love seeing my family get more healthy.  Greg has lost over 15 pounds since Christmas and is feeling better than ever.  We are all eating more protein and it feels great.  Nathan continues in Rock climbing and Ryan has started track.  He wasn't too sure about it the first day and I had to drive him back to the school, but after a week he really likes it and is looking forward to it.

Changing Things Up

 As usual I get a little antsy and when I decide there needs to be change I don't waste time  I was tired of the girls having two rooms filled with toys and messes.  It took some persuading but the boys moved downstairs, the girls moved into their room and the smallest room became our library.  Yes, I know have a library in my home.  Something that truly makes my heart glad.  It was quite a production.  The boys luckily didn't care for a paint job so we just moved their stuff down.  Ryan was pretty upset about it at first.  I think it was partially because the room was smaller and he thought it would be too small, but I think he felt sad being pushed downstairs away from the rest of us.  It's been over a month and I am pretty sure he enjoys it more than he realized possible.

 The girls room took a little more work since we had to paint over the boys' cool striped wall.  Annabelle came up with the idea to sponge paint their two favorite colors-purple and teal.  It was A LOT of work but they love how it turned out.  I had wanted to build some shelves and dressers but Greg wanted something less permanent so we bought some stuff and put it all together.  The girls love their shelves and the freedom I am giving them to put their treasures on them.  I love that most everything is off the floor and the girls have more space to play and only one room is a disaster.

 We got the books shelves and the day I spent putting all the books onto the shelves was a joyous day for sure.  I love that all my Baby-Sitters Club books are out of the closet and I love seeing that all of our books have a place.  The kids now use this room to read, do homework and to play board games together.  Just yesterday all four of them played Monopoly for a few hours in there and it warmed my heart that they all had a place that was clean that they could play together.  It took awhile to decide what to hang up on my walls.  Candace had a cool poster from the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival and it was the perfect fit.  Then I sorted through all of our family pictures and found over 70 pictures of our family reading at various times and various places.  I love looking at the collages and just being in this new room at our house.

Saturday with Ryan

  Ryan loves taking selfies on my phone.  I love finding these gems.  Ryan and Nathan have been doing archery in the early mornings and Ryan really wanted to go to a pre-tournament one Saturday.  It was fun to watch him do something he really loves.  I love that Ryan prefers to wear his big snow boots when he shoots.   After archery he had a deacon basketball game.  It was an intense game that they were winning 23-3 and then all of a sudden the other team did a turnaround and won the game.

 Greg held down the fort for me and did some Saturday housework.  The broom may have broken but it was worth it to have the chores done for me.

Cross Sitch & the Heaps

 For Christmas the kids each got a little cross-stitch and it has been fun watching them focus on work on it.  No one has finished yet, but I have told them that when they finished we would go on a 1 on 1 date.

 Greg and I met at college and his roommate at the time was Kevin.  We went on double dates with him and his now wife, Whitney.  We got married 1 week apart and we have loved getting together at least once a year (we wish it was more often) and watching our families grow up together.  We love our times together and love that the kids get along so well.

Regional Reflections and Late Nights

 Callie's story for Reflections made it all the way to regions where she received an award of merit (2nd place).  Way to go my Callie girl! It was on a scout night so it was just us girls and we went and celebrated with ice cream.

 

 We had a late night the next day where everyone had 3 friends and so our house was packed and loud and crazy, but I didn't mind too much, I loved seeing my kiddos hang with their friends and siblings.