Valentines Day

We had a fun Valentines Day. We did all our favorite traditions:
• We had pink, heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast.
• We all wore red or pink (I even made Jason wear his maroon scrubs.)
• Shaylin got a heart hair do.
• The Valentines Fairy brought everyone gifts and cheesecakes.
• Jason brought all his girls flowers.
• We decorated sugar cookies for our friends.
• Jason and I went on a romantic date.
• All day long Sawyer told everyone, “Merry Valentine’s Day!”

We tried to teach Macey how to say “Happy Valentines Day!” She could only say “Appy Day!” Now the kids love to say that. “Bye Mom. Appy day!” Cute.

Bad Day

I have to tell you a cute thing that Skyler did this week. He had a rough morning one day because everyone was staying home from school sick but him, plus he was running late and he couldn’t find his gloves.

I kept thinking about him all day. I felt like something was telling me that he needed a little extra TLC.

By 4:00 I could tell that my sick kids at home were all fine, so we decided to do something special for Skyler. We packed up all of our swim gear and hid it in the back of the van.

When we picked Sky up from school, he was very depressed because there had been a lunch change (hot dogs) and he had lots of long-division math homework. He worked on his homework while we drove, and I could tell that he was fighting back tears.

When we stopped the car he looked up and said, “Why are we at the Rec Center?” That was our queue, so we all yelled, “SURPRISE! WE ARE TAKING YOU SWIMMING!” Skyler burst into tears and threw himself into my arms. He said, “Thank you, Mom. I had the worst day of my life. Thank you for making it all better!” It was such a precious moment.

I know that God was probably answering a lot more important prayers that day, but I was so grateful for His answer to mine. I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves us enough to care about something as seemingly insignificant as a little boy who had a really bad day and just needed his mom to take him swimming.

Puking

This is going to be a short, boring update because this is what I did last week:

1. First, Shaylin was sick and throwing up. Then she got better.
2. Second, Macey was sick and throwing up. Then she got better.
3. Third, Skyler was sick and throwing up. Then he got better.
4. Fourth I was sick and throwing up. Then I got better.
5. Last, my dryer broke - not good timing when you have lots of vomit-covered things to wash.

I am feeling very behind today. Ugh.

Chili

Jason did want me to make sure that you all know that his chili won the “Judge’s Choice” and the “People’s Choice” awards at our ward chili cook-off on Friday.

He is planning on getting his certificates framed so that he can hang them in his office. Really.

Another Reason Not to Buy a Treadmill

This week, Sawyer was playing on the treadmill (while I ran into the toy room to check on Macey for like TWO SECONDS) and he fell and his arms got “sucked” under the treadmill. The belt rubbed the skin off of his little arms in a few places. But I was mostly concerned because he cried over it for an hour before he finally fell asleep whimpering on my lap. (Sawyer never cries over getting hurt for more than 45 seconds. Then he’s off and running again.)

After he woke up, his elbow had swollen up like a tennis ball. And I SWEAR that it was bent at a weird angle! So, naturally, I freaked out and drove to my parent's to have Grandpa check it out. Then, as my mom put it, “Somehow his guardian angels put him back together on the way from his house to ours. We are sure that Sawyer has guardian angels that are always running to save him. And if they aren’t fast enough, they heal him. Poor angels. I’ll bet they’re completely worn out at the end of every day.”

I was kind of embarrassed that, after all that fuss, he was perfectly fine, but I am soooo glad that he is okay. He is such a sweet boy.

I had a long talk with him about staying off of the treadmill at ALL times. He said, “But Mom, I’m really fast. I only fall when I try to do flips or turns.” I am hiding the start key.

Our Spontaneous Trip

Since we were in Utah, and the roads were terrible and the kids had Friday off anyway, we just decided to stay. We relaxed at Grandma’s, went to McDonalds, went bowling, and mostly just watched the snow fall.

On Friday, we took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo where they have tons of big, bouncy inflatable jumpers and slides. The kids had a blast. Even Macey was climbing and sliding and having a ball.

Uncle Kenny came and convinced the kids that he worked there. Then he organized several races and games. He’s such a big kid.



That night, Jason drove up and joined us. We had a big dinner with all of my cute sisters and their families. After dinner, the Moms (and Shaylin) played games while the little kids watched Cars and wrestled. The Dads went and played at a Nickle Arcade until midnight. Skyler and Isaac were very honored because they got to go too. They had a great time. Skyler is still talking about it.

On Saturday, we went to the baptism of our cute niece, Kylee. Afterwards the kids played with their Smith cousins until we drug them all to the car. We had to start driving home because we knew that more snow storms were coming.

It was a great spontaneous trip except that I didn't have a camera or enough underwear.

Snow Days

The kids had Monday and Tuesday off for snow days. (Why did we never get those in Utah? They are the best!)

This is how Shaylin spends her snow days.



This is how Skyler spends his snow days.



You should see how much snow we have now! It’s crazy. Our van got stuck in the driveway on the way to church this morning. We all had to pile in the truck.

Today was fast Sunday, and I think that Skyler fasted for another snow day tomorrow. We’ll see.