Home Town

I love going back to my home town. I love when I drive around the last bend on the freeway, when the red mountains and the broad valley all come into view. I love driving down main street noticing what has changed and what is still the same. Most of all, I love seeing my family.

We just got back from my home town where we celebrated Chelsea's upcoming wedding with a family bridal shower...and a girls trip to Pizza Factory (a must) where we laughed pulling funny faces for the camera.

Being raised with, and now being best friends with, these two beauties is one of the things that makes me the luckiest person on this planet.

Levi got to be a kindergartner while we were there. He ate.it.up. And he made this outstanding Leprechaun mask which he donned for the remainder of the day.

While Isaac only sampled being a kindergartner-for-a-day, he did join the kids and Grandma for school lunch.

Since when did they start using Styrofoam trays and plastic silverware wrapped in a plastic package for school lunch? What are we teaching these kids about the world we live in? What are we doing to the environment? Regardless of the flatware, Levi LOVED school lunch.

Before we headed off to the home town, we celebrated St. Patrick's day with our new friends the Hall's. We played "Green Clover, Green Clover" (red rover) ate a wide variety of green food...

...and even found this treasure box after a rhyming hunt.

I won't be headed back to my home town for over a month. But don't worry, my family will come here to visit me before then. And whether it's here or there, making memories with them is what I look forward to when I go to my home town.

Celebrate!

When I woke up and saw headlines of entire communities washed into the ocean, it

made me a little more thankful for the small things. One of those things is Levi discovering his inner artist. He wants to draw and color and paint all the time, and he is endlessly curious, which is simply delightful. Daisy has been begging for months for 'bangs.' I was against the idea from the beginning, knowing it would require more maintenance for a girl who already wants the most simple hair style possible. Trying to talk her out of it, I explained that when she got tired of having bangs, she would have to wait for them to grow out and that it would take a very, very long time. So one Sunday when Jamie was visiting, she did the deed. When Daisy-with-bangs looked in the mirror, she said, "I hope they grow out by Tuesday." Daisy has developed a self-perpetuated love for the Utah Jazz this year. I must confess that we are not big sports fans in our family, and since we don't have television, we never see games of any sort. Daisy, however, has become very interested in the Jazz. She would ask me who won last night's game, what the score was, and when the next game would be. So for her 7th birthday, Jeff and I let her choose between having a birthday party (boo) or going to a Jazz game. It was a no-brainer for her. She was ecstatic to think we would really go there and see the game. We invited the whole fam and headed up one Friday night. We rode Trax, which the kids thought was very cool, and sat about as high up in the arena as you can get, which the kids didn't mind.

Daisy got to invite one friend, so she chose her cousin Ashlyn. They got these (way to big) Jazz shirts and had them signed by the Jazz bear. What could be better?

Another one of those small things I'm appreciating? This small bum. This guy has a serious love for his cowboy boots. He wore them out of the store the day we bought them, and he hasn't taken them off for long since. He can put them on by himself, and he thinks they go well with everything, including his pajamas, or...nothing. I agree.

A major highlight in our lives was the visit of our family in Ohio. Davis and Levi were born only a few weeks apart. Although they have lived most of their lives hundreds of miles apart, they are two of a kind. When they are together, they exist in an entirely different universe where they are both Iron Man, and they can destroy all the bad guys with their hand-crafted matching super spears. Very cool.

With the celebration of Daisy's 7th birthday came the realization that I have been a mom for SEVEN years. That's a long time! I thought I would have it figured out by now, but I don't. What I have come to understand is that being a mom is the most amazing, fulfilling job I thought I never wanted. Celebrating Daisy's birthday was a reminder of how much purpose my kids bring to my life, and how they inspire me to be a much better person than I could ever be without them.

Daisy's teeth have been falling out like crazy. But the crazy thing is that she pulled the first one out during her rehearsal, and the second one she pulled out at school. Totally characteristic of Daisy...no big deal, no attention or fanfare or applause needed. She just pulled her tooth out and moved on.

Jeff and I were able to drive up to the Tabernacle for an evening with President Uchdorf in association with the Church Education System. I had never been in the Tabernacle for a meeting before. It was amazing and beautiful. Julie B. Beck and Russell M. Nelson were there too. Talk about being a better person? Being in that caliber of company for a night is motivation for me.

Jeff and I celebrated our ninth anniversary, our 29th and 33rd birthdays, and the coming of another Spring. We celebrate making it through a few more exams, surviving another Sacrament meeting, and sleeping past 7:00 on a Saturday morning. We celebrate the big and the small, and look forward to it all.

The Trading Post

Since my computer caught a deadly virus and is having an extended stay at the computer doctor, I have to use Jeff's computer to do this post. What this means is that I don't have any pictures to show off what we've been up to lately...including lots of fun things like birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines Day, and much more. Since all of that has to wait, I just had to post about the greatest new blog that you are going to want linked to yours: The Trading Post (http://jmtradingpost.blogspot.com/) It is one of the coolest ideas ever. I can't wait to be a winner, a trader, and a donator. And I can't wait to see what you have to offer too! Let me know what you think.