Valentine's Day

The kids woke up to their Valentine goodies all laid out!

For breakfast they had red and white heart shaped pancakes, strawberries, and pink milk.

All ready for school.

Nikki and I attempted hearts in Ella's hair...it was pretty hard with all those curls.

Ella and her friend Megan about to walk to school together.

Later that day the kids were on the tramp and I wanted to get a picture with all three of them.

It didn't work out...need I say more?

That night Matt and I went to dinner while Nikki babysat. (the advantages of having a single sister living with you!). It was a fun day and we are so happy to have Daddy back!

Dad is Back

The night before Valentine's Day Matt got back from his annual business trip. He had been gone for 23 straight days. He hardly got through the front door before he was literally attacked by his three children!

Evie was a little wary of him at first but it didn't take her too long to warm up:)

Valentine time

We had lots of cousins over to our house to make valentine treats. Gina brought Adam, Emily, and Aubree and we made chocolate covered oreos. They dipped them in white chocolate and then covered them with sprinkles. The ones that didn't get eaten right away turned out pretty cute!

Here is Gina explaining the rules and demonstrating how it works.

It didn't take long for these 5 cuties to dig right in.

First, dip the oreo in the chocolate...

Second, pour an entire jar of sprinkles on top.

Third, eat immediately.

I love how these two both scrunch their noses the exact same way!

The end.

Seriously?

Is this normal?

My wise kiddos

Short conversation with the kids:

Me to Ella: Well, I'm a little busy right now because I am cleaning up all of the clothes you and Kash threw on the floor.

Ella: (with a knowing chuckle) Oh Mom, sometimes kids just do that!

Kash: Ella, don't say that to mom.

one hundred

Ella celebrated her 100th day of kindergarten! All of the children were supposed to come dressed as if they were 100 years old. Ella was so excited for this day, she had been talking about it for weeks. Every morning she would ask how many more days until 100. She kept asking questions about being 100 years old and how you got to be that old. She told me that she didn't want to be 100 years old because then she would be as big as a house! Because the older you get the bigger you get, right? Makes sense.

When I was about to take her first picture she grabbed Kash's hand and insisted on taking a picture together.

Her favorite part of her outfit was her pink glasses.

My favorite part was her knee high nylons that kept rolling down!

Her she is walking like an old lady, with an aching back.

Then we all walked to school together to see her friends all dressed up.

Hank was a pretty cute old man.

And her sweet friend Kenlee was one fancy old lady!

The Three Mario's

Ella and Kash were playing Super Mario on the DS (in their Mario pajamas of course) and Evie did not want to be left out. She climbed right up there with them to watch.

She was the only one that would look up to cheese it for the camera!

Poor Evie

Matt loves to tease the kids, and he doesn't take it easy on Evie either! He put her shirt over her head and she didn't even seem to mind. She thought she was pretty funny and kept walking around laughing nonstop at herself. She never even wanted it off, she just kept playing like that.

My First Time Repelling!

Yes I live in St. George where there is a ton of opportunity to repel, but I have never been. It might be because I have a slight fear of heights OR that I have 3 small children at home and would much rather my husband get to go. I'm sure its the second. But after Christmas my mom insisted on watching the kids, even though I begged to stay and help her. Matt had to pretty much throw me in the car! The real reason we were going was because Karlee and Jaren were in town and they had been wanting to go. They are the adventurous ones! Nikki also went who is now an expert because Matt had taken her for the first time a couple months ago when she was here. At the last minute we also took Kash, and I am so glad that we did. Being the middle child sometimes he needs that extra attention (he has two very demanding sisters!) and he loved it. So Cody came over with the gear and we were off!

I'm not going to lie, I was scared. I might have peed my pants a little.

This is my attempt at a "happy" face.

I'm supposed to be going down at the same time as Matt...Yep that's me still at the top.

I did it! I'm really quite proud of myself.

So happy to be alive and able to hug my hubby!

Nikki and Karlee going together.

Of course the newlyweds took a moment for a kiss!

Jaren and Karlee

The boys kept coaxing us to "jump". Nikki was pretty good at it!

After some encouraging Karlee got the hang of it.

I think my big toe might have left the rock.

Kash had so much fun climbing all over the place.

It is so pretty and it was such a PERFECT day.

Nikki took Kash on a little hike.

He found a rock to climb through.

If someone wasn't actually holding Kash's hand we had him clipped in so we knew he wasn't going anywhere!

He had no fear up on that mountain!

I'm so happy we took this sweet boy with us.

Sisters. I think we grew closer after this terrifying experience:)

Nikki found this whole in the rock and thought it was the perfect hiding place to scare Matt as he walked by. Wait for it....Wait for it....

And there you go.

I think I might actually do this again. Maybe.